Danish Folktales. Introduction

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Introduction
Temptations

Introduction

What makes a Danish folktale Danish, is simply that someone in past or present Denmark has told or retold it or written it down in Danish. Many of the Danish folktales exist in neighbouring countries too, and some are borrowed. Hans Christian Andersen, for example, borrowed fairy tale motifs from Germany. Some Danish tales are rooted in Icelandic lore.
Some folktales have ancient roots. Fights with dragons originate in the East; the ancient Gilgamesh contains an ancient description of a dragon fight, and the source of it is a Sumerian folktale. Similarly, the fairy tale "The Princess on the Glass Mountain" stems from ancient Egypt, from about 1400 BC. The couple that flees from trolls and uses magic, is there in the Greek Argonautica story already, about the couple Jason and Medea. Lauritz Bødker tells in a similar vein that Amor og Psyche by Apuleius from over 1800 years ago, has almost 1300 folk variants (Ramløv 168-70; Bødker 1967: 365-66, 369).
William Shakespeare in turn borrowed from the Medieval Danish Saxo Grammaticus when he wrote the play "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark".
The Danish folktales reflect customs, traditions and ways of living in Denmark earlier. Various traditions are amalgamated or blended. Superstitions are interspersed. Various parts of the Norse fare appear in some folktales (Boberg; Piø).
And Danish folktales are greatly adapted to the flat Danish landscape. Its three highest natural points are these hilltops in Jutland: (1) Møllehøj: 170,86 m; (2) Yding Skovhøj: 170,77 (or ,56) m and (3) Ejer Bavnehøj: 170,35 m [source: tv2.dk of 28 February 2005]

Collectors and Translators

Danish fairy tale collections were collected and edited in the middle 1800s, and in Norway and Sweden, but some Danish tales are older, and were first formed in the 1400s and 1500s AD. The early tales contain names of towns and regions. Lauritz Bødker points out that "In reality it is hardly possible to discern clearly between fairy tales and legends when it comes to form and content, because fairy tales and legends blend into one another (Bødker 1967: 364-65)
Among the most prominent Danish folktale collectors are Svend Grundtvig and E. Tang-Andersen (Bødker 1967: 375).
Many Danish folktales are translated into English. The British Benjamin Thorpe was the first to translate a sizeable amount (1888). He used the folktales in a collection by Carit Etlar from 1847. Later, Lauritz Bødker published Danske folkeeventyr (Danish Folktales) (1960), and European Folk Tales (1963). And Claire Booss has published a sizeable collection of Nordic tales, including Danish folktales and Andersen tales.
The last twelve tales so far in this series are from books that were edited by the Scottish scholar Andrew Lang (1844-1912). He has earned special praise for his 12-volume collection of fairy tales. The first volume of them was The Blue Fairy Book of 1889. Helped by his wife, Leonora Blanche Lang and others, the scholar and poet edited traditional stories for children. Outside of that venture, he also made some popular children's stories of his own.
Lang thought that from one country to another fairy tales are much about the same kinds of adventures. Courage, youth, beauty, and kindness have many trials to win in the long run, he thought, and also that witches, giants, and unfriendly, cruel people have a losing hand. It is true for some tales, but not all tales, however.
The language here is slightly modernised. Somewhat sanitised, well-loved tales of the over-sentimental Hans Christian Andersen are found on another page. - Tormod Byrn Kinnes

Literature

English translations

Booss, Claire. Scandinavian Folk and Fairy Tales: Tales from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland. New York: Gramercy Books, 1984.
Grundtvig, Sven, E. Tang-Kristensen, Ingvor Bondesen, and L. Budde. A Collection of Popular Stories and Fairy Tales From the Danish. Tr. Jens Christian Bay. London: Harper and Brothers, 1899.
Thorpe, Benjamin. Yule-tide Stories: A Collection of Scandinavian and North German Popular Tales and Traditions, from the Swedish, Danish, and German. London: George Bell, 1910.

Danish literature

Boberg, Inger M. Dansk folketradition i tro og digtning og deraf afhængig skik. (Danmarks Folkeminder 72). København: Munksgaard, 1962.
Bødker, Laurits. Danske folkeeventyr. København: Rosenkilde og Bagger, 1960.
Bødker, Laurits. Sagn og eventyr. København: Gyldendal, 1967.
Ellekilde, Hans. Vore danske folkeæventyr. 1. utvalg. København: Schønbergske, 1928.
Høvring, Erik. Den bortfløjne mødom. København: Nyt Nordisk Forlag, 1985.
Molboerne. 8.utg. København: Gyldendal, 1965.
Nielsen, Egon. Skyggen og andre danske folkesagn. København: Vindrose, 1980.
Piø, Iørn. Den lille overtro. Copenhagen: Politikens, 1973.
Ramløv, Preben. Danske folkeeventyr. København: Gyldendal, 1983.
Thiele, Just Mathias: Danmarks folkesagn, 3 band. (red. Per Skar). Rosenkilde og Bagger. København, 1968.
Toggerbo, Rasmus. De gamle molbohistorier. Ebeltoft: Elles, 1982.

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