Norwegian Tales

Norwegian tales, recorded and retold by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, were translated into Russian by his wife Anna Vasilyevna Ghansen and Peter Gotfridovich Ghansen. One hundred and fourteen illustrations in the book were made by Norwegian artists Erik Theodor Werenskiold, Hans Fredrik Gude, Theodor Severin Kittelsen, Otto Ludwig Sinding, and others. 

Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, the son of a simple craftsman, was born in Christiania and grew up in an atmosphere rich with fairy tales, legends, and superstitions; his mother was extremely superstitious, believing in ghosts, forest spirits, gnomes, and other supernatural beings. At that time, the lower classes even in the capital were entirely engulfed by superstition. Asbjørnsen recounts in his memoirs, for example, that in one family he knew, they would deliberately go to bed several hours earlier than other people to avoid disturbing the house spirit.