#studyblr: folklore

[trollcloak]

"Trúin og sá andi sem sögurnar skapar, er ávalt af gömlu bergi brotin, en hjúpr- inn, sem þær eru í klæddar, er frá ymsum öldum, og skipta sögurnar hömum öld írá öld. Hverr þáttr í bók þessari ber merki um þessi hamskipti sagnanna, og hvernig þær koma fram endrbornar öld frá öld."

Translation: The faith and spirit that the stories create are always broken off from ancient rock, but the guise in which they are clothed comes from various ages, and the stories stretch over many centuries. Each tale in this book bears the mark of these transformations of the narratives, and how they reappear, renewed, from century to century.

from Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri, 1. b. (1862)

[trollcloak]

"[...]og þetta kemr af því, aö þjóösögurnar eru engin fornfræði í hinni vana- legu þýðíngu þessa orðs, er gejmist öld frá öld, óbreyttar að öðru, nerna aö þær eyðist og fækki. I>ær eru fornar í anda en nýjar aö smíð ; hinar gömlu sögur hrörna og líöa undir lok, en í staöinn koma upp nýir inenn, og nýjar sögur, sem skáldahugr þjóöarinnar leiöir æ fram nýjar."

Translation: "[...] and this is because folk tales are not antiquarian knowledge in the usual sense of the word, which is preserved unchanged from age to age; instead, they are ancient in spirit but new in composition; the old stories wither and perish over time, but in their place new minds arise, and new stories, which the imaginative spirit of the folk continually shapes anew."

from Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri, 1. b. (1862)

[trollcloak]

"These tales [...] can be roughly classified into two major groups: the 'folk legends' [...], which are believed to be true by the teller and hearers, and are generally attached to real places and persons; and the 'Wonder Tales' or 'Fairy Tales' [...], told as fantasies."

Icelandic Folktales & Legends, Jacqueline Simpson