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Adventures, Outlaws and Past Events
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 20, 2025
The third book in this series takes a decidedly different tone. The characters tend to be human (though there are a few exceptions), the stories much longer. There are some bad guys as main characters, too, and a few surprising sexual counters that are... not consensual, but the full male gaze of the collected work largely ignores what the female characters go through. (These are stories saved by male collectors in the 19th century; I can't help but wonder how many came from women?)
The book, with its longer, flowing stories, was faster for me to read, but still felt quite dry. A few stories are similar to more traditional European fairy tales, with places and names swapped out.
The book, with its longer, flowing stories, was faster for me to read, but still felt quite dry. A few stories are similar to more traditional European fairy tales, with places and names swapped out.
August 23, 2020
In this, the final book in the Icelandic Folktales series, we leave behind the ghosts, ghouls, and goblins of the previous books. As the title might suggest, the stories are generally longer than in the first two books, and humans are the only characters.
Magic still plays a role at times. In one story, the poor friend of two princes follows them as they seek fame and fortune. At each royal house where they winter-over, the poor boy makes himself useful to the royal family, and earns a magical boon as his reward, while the princes do nothing, but have to pay handsomely for their room and board. Finally, the three adventurers arrive at the castle of a harridan virgin queen. She allows only eunuchs in her court, and any man who refuses is banished to a desert island. The princes decide that no price is too high to be a member of the court. The boy declines, but uses his magical gifts to keep not only himself but the other men on the island healthy and whole. Despite her threats to his life, he finally wins the queen’s heart and the throne next to hers. The princes come out all right in the end too. The new king keeps one to be his advisor, and sends the other home to succeed his father.
This story is typical of the length and complexity of the tales in this volume, although not all, such as the story of the outlaw Axlar-Bjorn and his wife Steinunn doesn’t end so happily, at least not for the outlaws.
The book ends with an odd collection of sayings and jokes, like the two men complaining about how things were better in the olden days, when there were frequent fights in church! Spoken like the true descendants of Vikings, I guess.
As I have for the first two books, I’ll recommend this one especially for readers looking for folk tales from new places.
Magic still plays a role at times. In one story, the poor friend of two princes follows them as they seek fame and fortune. At each royal house where they winter-over, the poor boy makes himself useful to the royal family, and earns a magical boon as his reward, while the princes do nothing, but have to pay handsomely for their room and board. Finally, the three adventurers arrive at the castle of a harridan virgin queen. She allows only eunuchs in her court, and any man who refuses is banished to a desert island. The princes decide that no price is too high to be a member of the court. The boy declines, but uses his magical gifts to keep not only himself but the other men on the island healthy and whole. Despite her threats to his life, he finally wins the queen’s heart and the throne next to hers. The princes come out all right in the end too. The new king keeps one to be his advisor, and sends the other home to succeed his father.
This story is typical of the length and complexity of the tales in this volume, although not all, such as the story of the outlaw Axlar-Bjorn and his wife Steinunn doesn’t end so happily, at least not for the outlaws.
The book ends with an odd collection of sayings and jokes, like the two men complaining about how things were better in the olden days, when there were frequent fights in church! Spoken like the true descendants of Vikings, I guess.
As I have for the first two books, I’ll recommend this one especially for readers looking for folk tales from new places.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews