Mountain Trolls - 35 Icelandic Tales and Legends

// tales and legends // published in 2017 // 184 pages // éditions JPV útgáfa // collected by Jón Árnason // selected by Silja Aðalsteinsdóttir // French translation by Henry Kiljan Albansson // illustrations by Fífa Finnsdóttir //

Did you know that elves (the "hidden people") are the children of Adam and Eve who were deprived of a bathroom? That sea creatures have problems with chimneys? That the Dark School's witchcraft books are written in letters of fire to be read only in complete darkness?

The tales and legends that have shaped the Icelandic imagination are not lacking in terms of crazy situations, sometimes frightening but often very funny.

The 35 tales in this collection are categorized into elves / trolls / sea people / ghosts / witchcraft / animals / outlaws / fairies. Illustrated with the delightful engravings of Fífa Finnsdóttir, they were compiled by Silja Aðalsteinsdóttir based on the extensive corpus collected in the 19th century by Jón Árnason , a passionate scholar who was also a librarian and museum director.