Meet the Hulders (Whether You Want to or Not)
The Norwegian hulder-folk pursue Christian-folk – kidnapping their children, making them their partners and servants, and getting their help to steal food.
Author: Simon Hughes
Simon Hughes is a British philologist who lives, works, and (mostly) plays in Arctic Norway, where he has resided since 1992. Simon's work can be found on Facebook: Norwegian Hulder Tales and Folk Legends. His latest work, the first ever translation in English, is now available on Amazon: The Complete Norwegian Folktales and Legends of Asbjørnsen & Moe. Find out more on his website.
Íslensku Jólasveinarnir: the Yule Lads of Iceland
On the evening of 11th December, Icelandic children place shoes on the sills of their windows, before they go to bed.
Norwegian Folktales: The Ring in the Fish
The motif of the discarded ring recovered from a fish appears in the folklore of various regions
Tellers of Tales
Folklore is at heart oral and behavioural traditions, so the notion of written folklore is somewhat oxymoronic. Any attempt to preserve oral traditions in writing involves a transformation of the material