True and Untrue and Other Norse Tales
A selection of Norwegian folktales chosen by Sigrid Undset, True and Untrue and Other Norse Tales is based on the classic folklore collected by Pieter Christian Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe. These wonderful stories tell of worlds similar to our own, worlds with love and hate, sorrow and joy, humor and pathos. Beginning with brothers named True and Untrue, the book takes readers through tales of princes and princesses, giants and trolls, husbands and wives, and a castle that is “East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon.” Strikingly illustrated by Frederick T. Chapman while under fire in Italy during the Second World War and with a remarkable foreword by Undset, True and Untrue and Other Norse Tales has a story for everyone.
Sigrid Undset (1882–1949) was a prolific Norwegian writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1928, and is one of the most important writers of the twentieth century. From 1940 to 1945, she lived in the United States in exile because of the German occupation of Norway. She is best known for her epic medieval trilogy, Kristin Lavransdatter.