A is for Askeladden

Happy 1st April everyone! If you are new here, welcome! I'm so pleased to meet you :)

My A - Z theme is Characters from Nordic Literature ☆

Today, I'd like to introduce you to Askeladden.

Askeladden can be found in quite a few Norwegian folktales. His name would be 'Ash Lad' in English,  and I think this comes from his tendency to sit and daydream whilst poking at the ashes in the fire whilst his older brothers display how they are going to succeed in life. You could therefore say that Askeladden is the typical unsuspected hero of these tales. 

The story that I'm most familiar with is called "Askeladden som kappåt med trollet". In this story, Askeladden meets a troll in the forest, while he is chopping down trees. The troll is angry, but Askeladden tricks him into helping him. Afterwards, Askeladden is taken back to the trolls house. Askeladden tricks the troll by challenging him to an eating competition. While the troll is spooning food into his mouth, Askeladden is sneaking it into a bag that he has tied to his front. The troll complains that he is full and cannot eat any more, but Askeladden tells him that if he cuts a hole in his stomach, then he can make room and eat as much as he likes. Askeladden shows him: he takes a knife and slits the bag that he has been putting the food in, telling the troll that it is his stomach that he is slitting. The troll copies him, but instead slits his stomach open and dies.

If you follow this link you can find a short video of the story.

I can't wait to read what you have all come up with for the letter A! Have a beautiful Monday, everyone.

the little nordic cabin

x

A is for Astrid Lindgren

Hi newcomers, welcome to my blog :) My posts during this challenge will be Nordic-themed and I very much hope you enjoy them :) I'm beginning this morning with A for Astrid Lindgren:


"En barndom utan böcker, det vore ingen barndom. Det vore att vara utestängd från det förtrollade landet, där man kan hämta den sällsammaste av all glädje.”

-       “A childhood without books would be no childhood. It would be like being shut out from the enchanted place where you can go and find the rarest kind of joy.”

Astrid Lindgren was a Swedish Author, born in 1907 and most popularly known for her stories of Pippi Longstocking, a character she had invented whilst taking care of her daughter, who was very unwell at the time.

Have you read any of her books? I read the Pippi Longstocking stories as a child and am currently reading “Mio, min Mio” (English title: Mio, My Son) and Madicken. The thing that I love most about these stories, is their simplicity. Lindgren takes simple childhood activities and turns them into great adventures.

Mio min mio is the story of a young boy who is being looked after by a horrible elderly couple. One day, a genie takes him to a land far, far away, where he finds his real father, the king. However, beyond this far away land is another place, where an evil knight resides. This knight has been stealing children and it is Mio’s destiny to fight him. Lindgren builds a beautiful world in the telling of this tale. It is both sad and moving but also fills the reader with hope. The storyline might sound like a typical ‘kid gets adopted by awful people, escapes and finds his real father, who happens to be a hero” but Lindgren brings so much more to the story than that. All of her stories can be found in English translation and I recommend them whole-heartedly, not only for children, but for adults too! 

Astrid Lindgren truly did create that “enchanted place where you can go and find the rarest kind of joy”.

Just look at her, she was so very sweet! I’d love her to be my grandmother! Did you know that an asteroid that was discovered in 1978 was named after Astrid Lindgren? It is called the 3204 Lindgren and after it was named, Astrid Lindgren joked, “From now on you can address me Asteroid Lindgren!” Adorable!


(PS: Please let me know if my text size is too small. As a fellow glasses-wearer, I know it can be annoying to read teeny-tiny text!)

(pictures lovingly taken from here, here, here & here) 

inspire nordic