Ghosts, Witchcraft and the Other World

by Alan Boucher (Translator)

Icelandic These samples from the rich folklore of Iceland are selected and translated by Professor Alan Boucher, former Chairman of the Department of English at the Univeristy of Iceland. Professor Boucher is an Englishman, but has lived in Iceland for many years, and has been very active in translating Icelanding literature into English. In introducing this selection he expresses the hope that it will offer English speaking readers a fair sample of some of the best Icelandic folktales, "For those who wish to know and understand the Icelandic people of today, there could be no better introduction. The age of technology may have altered the outward character of life in Iceland beyond recognition, but the roots are still there."

Genres: Ghosts, Nonfiction

91 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Beth Cato · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short book, the first of a three volume set, with very dry Icelandic supernatural tales. Many involve deals with the devil

[Ross Lampert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Icelandic Folktales series. The stories were originally collected by Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson in the 1800s, and were translated by Alan Boucher in the 1970s. This volume features stories of ghosts, witches, and the Devil himself.

Iceland is a beautiful but rugged country with ferocious and highly changeable weather. Early farmers lived far apart on isolated farmsteads. Life was hard, so it’s no surprise that the supernatural world was real and near to them. Ghosts and other spirits walked among them, often with malicious intent. The Devil was around too, but not as the nearly all-powerful being imagined in Continental Europe and the Americas. Here, he could not only be bargained with, he could be beaten or fooled, and often was. On top of this, unlike Christian clerics elsewhere, many priests were also adepts, with various magical powers, and they could often be called upon to undo a curse or relieve a spell or haunting.

Boucher has not tried to pretty-up the language of these stories, retaining the plain wording and simple styles that Árnason and Grímsson originally captured, but readers are likely to stumble over the place names, whose origins are in old Scandinavian tongues, especially Norwegian.

If you’re interested in the folktales from faraway lands but are tired of those from England or Central Europe, you can be transported back in time and space with this book and its companions. Recommended.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

"But that was not all: there was a dozen or more devils and ghosts there, all playing merry hell, screaming, belching flames, vomiting forth their entrails and throwing their heads about" (p. 30).

"They dared not but let him have his own way in all things, though they were often filled with horror" (p. 24).