THE SWEDISH FAIRY BOOK

"NO SOONER HAD HE SPOKEN THE WORDS THAN HE WASLYING IN THE MOST MAGNIFICENT ROOM HE HAD EVER SEEN.—Page 14"

THE SWEDISH FAIRY BOOK

EDITED BY
CLARA STROEBE

TRANSLATED BY
FREDERICK H. MARTENS

WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR BY

GEORGE W. HOOD

NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1921, by
Frederick A. Stokes Company

All Rights Reserved

Printed in the United States of America

PREFACE

The following volume of Swedish fairy-tales representsa careful choice, after the best original sources,of those examples of their kind which not only appearedmost colorful and entertaining, but also mostracially Swedish in their flavor. For the fairy-tales ofeach of the three Scandinavian countries, Sweden, Denmarkand Norway, have a distinct local color of theirown. The wealth of material available has made itpossible to give due representation to most types offairy-tales, from the stories of older origin, the talesof giant, troll, and werewolf, to such delightful talesas "Lasse, My Thrall", and "The Princess and theGlass Mountain," colored with the rich and ornate stylisticgarb of medieval chivalric poesy. There has beenno attempt to "rewrite" these charming folk-andfairy-tales in the translation. They have been faithfullynarrated in the simple, naive manner which theirtraditional rendering demands. And this is one reason,perhaps, why they should appeal to young Americanreaders—for young America by instinct takeskindly to that which is straightforward and sincere, inthe realm of fairy-tale as in life itself.

Frederick H. Martens

CONTENTS