Sun News Tucscon: By the Fire

Review of By the Fire by Emilie Demant Hatt, translated by Barbara Sjoholm

The first English publication of Sami folktales from Scandinavia collected and illustrated in the early twentieth century

This is the first English translation of a book published in Sweden in 1922. It is based on folktales told by the Sami people of north Sweden that were collected by Demant Hatt and her husband Gudmund in their travels to that remote region back in 1910-1916.

Most of the tales related here are quite short, with typically two on a single page, although a few stretch a bit longer. It is divided into different general categories of folk tales, including one on animals and another on sickness spirits.

 

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