Contents

Translator's Note

Norwegian Folktales

About Ash Lad, Who Stole the Troll’s Silver Ducks, Coverlet, and Golden Harp

The Gjertrud Bird

The Griffin

The Quandary

Richman Peddler Per

Ash Lad, Who Competed with the Troll

About the Boy Who Went to the North Wind and Demanded the Flour Back

The Virgin Mary as Godmother

The Three Princesses in White Land

Some Women Are Like That

Everyone Thinks Their Own Children Are Best

A Tale of Courtship

The Three Aunts

The Widow’s Son

The Husband’s Daughter and the Wife’s Daughter

The Rooster and the Hen in the Nut Forest

The Bear and the Fox

Why the Bear Has a Stump of a Tail

The Fox Cheats the Bear Out of His Christmas Meal

Gudbrand Slope

Kari Stave-Skirt

The Fox as Shepherd

The Blacksmith They Didn’t Dare Let Into Hell

The Rooster and the Hen

The Rooster, the Cuckoo, and the Black Grouse

Lillekort

The Doll in the Grass

Paal Next-Door

Soria Moria Castle

Sir Per

Little Aase Goosegirl

The Boy and the Devil

The Seven Foals

Gidske

The Twelve Wild Ducks

The Master Thief

The Three Sisters Who Were Taken Into the Mountain

About the Giant Troll Who Never Carried His Heart With Him

Dappleband

Nothing is Needed by the One That All Women Love

Ash Lad, Who Got the Princess to Say He Was Lying

The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Who Were Supposed to Go Up to the Mountain Pasture to Fatten Up

East of the Sun and West of the Moon

The Hen Who Had to Go to Dovre Mountain, or Else the Whole World Would Perish

The Man Who Had to Keep House

Tom Thumb

Haaken Speckled-Beard

Master Maiden

Well Done and Poorly Rewarded

True and Untrue

Per and Paal and Esben Ash Lad

The Mill That Keeps Grinding at the Bottom of the Sea

The Maiden on the Glass Mountain

Butterball

Big-Per and Little-Per

Ragged-Cap

The Bushy Bride

The Tabby-Cat on Dovre Mountain

Farmer Weather-Beard

The Blue Twine

The Honest Four-Skilling Coin

The Old Man of the House

Foreword to the Second Norwegian Edition

From the Introduction to the Second Norwegian Edition

JØrgen Moe

Foreword to the Third Norwegian Edition

Peter Christen AsbjØrnsen

Foreword to the Fourth Norwegian Edition

Peter Christen AsbjØrnsen

Notes on the Regional Collection Sites of the Tales

The Complete and Original Norwegian Folktales of Asbjørnsen and Moe