Tale
Svenska folksagor och äfventyr
Not translated into English
Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius · 1844
Synopsis
The forest troll who swaps children in the cradle, the skogsrå, fair in front and hollow behind, who leads the woodcutter astray, the näcken who plays the fiddle in the rapids, the princess shut away underground, the boy who had never known fear, the lame dog, and younger sons who win through patience. The tales come mostly from the south of the country, noted down from peasants who had them from oral tradition; under Swedish names and settings, one recognises tales known elsewhere, the ogress's house, the three spinners, beauty and the beast.
Context
The collection appeared in two volumes, in 1844 and 1849, three years after that of Asbjørnsen and Moe in Norway and within the same Scandinavian movement of collecting; it was compiled with the Englishman George Stephens, on the model of the Grimms, with comparative notes. The two men divided the work, one supplying the texts and the other the scholarly apparatus; the main author was twenty-six when the first volume appeared. Nineteen years later he published a survey of the beliefs of his native province, in which he also noted gestures, remedies and prohibitions. Stephens stayed in Scandinavia and became a professor in Copenhagen.
Who it is for
Short tales with comparative notes. His major work on Småland is more original than this first collection.
Prizes and reception
This collection is the first scientific corpus of Swedish tales and served as a model for later Scandinavian collections.