Trolls And Rural Magic

These original folk tales are inextricable from the rural life from which they evolved. The author’s translation captures this ancient oral history of fables passed down through centuries.

In his review of Robert Gambles’ previous book of Norwegian folk tales, Espen Ash Lad, Paul Binding in the Times Literary Supplement in 2015 wrote:

“The kings are really landowners and farmers who made often impossible demands on those in their employ: the allocated tasks – such as finding out what mysterious interloping animals are cropping the valuable grazing grass too short – reflect real threats to the husbandry on which all depends. The princesses are often snooty farmers’ daughters.”

Binding adds that the illustrations by “eminent Norwegian artist of the time Erik Werenskiold combine a rootedness in the countryside… while those of Theodor Kittelsen virtually define trolls for posterity.”