Where are these legends from?

May 9, 2007 3:06 PM

NordicFolkMusicFilter: I'm writing about folk legends and myths in Scandinavia and the development of Nordic music (both in the past and in the modern era). Two bands that I think deserve specific recognition for their blending of ancient and modern, and for which I plan to highlight, are Garmarna and Sorten Muld. The only problem is, I'm not finding a lot of detail about the myths/legends these bands allegedly take their texts from.

(I'm aware that much of their works are modern compositions and don't stem from ancient stories, etc., but I know that many of them do). Though I have found some information (including--thankfully--evidence of "Margjit" and "Venelite" as preexisting tunes), I'm curious if anyone is aware of existing stories, folktunes, or events in Scandinavian history related to the following: The legend of the "two sisters", Herr Holkin, "Hilla Lilla", King Vallemo, a fable about a young girl being stuck in the mud after using her mother's bread as stepping stones, a legend about a young girl and a werewolf that bears significant resemblance to our "Little Red Riding Hood", a girl named "Maya of the Mountain", a (very old) Danish poem about the Linden tree, Ramund, a king of Havsgaard, and especially "Kirstin", whose father forces her to eat her secret love's heart. Are any of these real stories/songs? Have any of you Danes/Swedes/Norweigans/Finns ever heard them?

posted by dmaterialized to society & culture (7 comments total)

I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but here's the Wikipedia entry on the two sisters myth.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 3:38 PM on May 9, 2007

Oh, the horrors of the Kalevala. A Finnish epic spanning hundreds of pages more than it really needs to and is full of music, poems, and the like.

Additionally, you may like bands such as Finntroll and Borknagar who have folk sounds in their metal music. It sounds like an odd mixture but it can be enjoyable.
posted by munchingzombie at 4:23 PM on May 9, 2007

Corvus Corax.
posted by davy at 5:04 PM on May 9, 2007

I saw Garmarna years ago at a small venue just outside Chicago. They were quite approachable afterward.

Their website hasn't been updated in a long while, but there is some contact information there. Why don't you drop them a line and see if they respond? They might be able to point you in some interesting directions.
posted by aladfar at 7:27 PM on May 9, 2007

It's been way too long since I read the collected works of Asbjørnsen og Moe Norwegian text, not all the stories and not helpful to you, I know, but apart from King Vallemo I can't say of the stories you mention ring a bell (and King Vallemo only if it in fact is the Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon story).

So, I'd guess that they get their inspiration from other sources than the most famous (are there others?) collection of Norwegian of folk/fairy tales.

If you are interested in Nordic bands that take inspiration from old tales I can recommend Gåte. They have had quite a lot of success in Norway with their Folk-Rock music based on old Norwegian songs mostly stever afaik, but they may also have thrown in a few cow-calls too.
posted by esilenna at 1:28 AM on May 10, 2007

ugh, link I posted above was not to the main menu of the story site... seems it may have all the stories after all.
posted by esilenna at 1:30 AM on May 10, 2007

I'm not very into folk music, so even if these would be old and "famous" songs, I probably wouldn't have heard about them. The myths that lie behind this sort of folk songs are today normally not known outside the songs, you don't tell them like folk tales. Since the actual songs are not very known either outside small folk music circles, most people haven't heard about them at all. The stories from the German Brother Grimm are an exception (for example Little Red Rinding Hood). Those are still told but I don't think they've resulted in many folk tunes. The Brother Grimm collection of folk tales are from the 19th century and therefore quite modern compared to the more traditional folk tunes. Even though the actual folk tales are older than the Grimm collection of them, I'm not sure wether they were told in Scandinavia before the Brother Grimm or if it was only in Germany.

I did some googling in Swedish and Danish and found at least something:

The legend of the "two sisters" - Like soundsofsuburbia said: wikipedia.

Herr Holkin - Every google hit seems to be about Garmarna.

"Hilla Lilla" - Nature mystical folktune in at least sixteen variants from the 17th century, according to Swedish wikipedia . They also give a description of the myth which I can translate if you're interested.

King Vallemo - Traditional folk song according to Swedish Public Service Radio

a fable about a young girl being stuck in the mud after using her mother's bread as stepping stones - Couldn't find anything.

a legend about a young girl and a werewolf that bears significant resemblance to our "Little Red Riding Hood" - The story about Little Red Riding Hood is one of the most well known stories in Sweden (and in the rest of Scandinavia I suppose). Originally from the german Brother Grimm stories. Could find anything about the song though.

a girl named "Maya of the Mountain" - I could find anything searching for this in any of the Scandinavian translations I could make up, do you what it is in original?

a (very old) Danish poem about the Linden tree - No result.

Ramund - Like many folksongs it exists in many quite different versions, the version at skjaldesang.dk comes from "Agnete og havmanden og andre gamle danske folkeviser" by Asger Lund Christiansen and Erik Sønderholm, which litteraly means it's an old Danish folk song.

a king of Havsgaard - Old Danish folk tune with sources from the 16th century, according to a Danish folk music archive (http://www.skjaldesang.dk/estrato.php?Page=vissang&sid=267)

"Kirstin", whose father forces her to eat her secret love's heart - Old Danish folk tune according to http://www.skjaldesang.dk/estrato.php?Page=vissang&sid=414.

On preview: Asbjörnsen & Moe!
posted by pica at 1:56 AM on May 10, 2007