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Popular Tales from the Norse. By GEORGE WEBBE DASENT, D.C.L. With an Introductory Essay on the Origin and Diffusion of Popular Tales. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. lxix., 379. The tales of which this volume presents the first English translation though, as regards some of them, hardly the first English version appear to have been collected about twenty or twenty-five years ago.
For the same reason we must omit the fairy tales of ancient Greece, some of which are told so beautifully by Mr. Kingsley in his book about the Heroes; and we must also pass by the legends of King Arthur, and of romances of the same kind which you may read at length in Mr. Ludlow's "Popular Epics of the Middle Ages;" and the wonderful tales from the Norse which are told by Dr. Dasent, and in Mr.
Mr. Dasent mentions it as an admirable trait of the tales, that, "in the midst of every difficulty and danger, arises that old Norse feeling of making the best of everything and keeping a good face to the foe."
For further illustration we may refer to the Norse tale of the "Giant who had no Heart in his Body," as related by Dr. Dasent. This burly magician having turned six brothers with their wives into stone, the seventh brother the crafty Boots or many-witted Odysseus of European folk-lore sets out to obtain vengeance if not reparation for the evil done to his kith and kin.
In his introduction to The Story of Burnt Njal, George Dasent very justly sums up as follows the qualities of a Northman, as they appear in the sagas: To utter nothing against any man that he would not dare to tell him to his face. To turn no man from his door who sought food or shelter, even though he were a foe. The same or still better principles permeate the Welsh epic poetry and triads.
Dasent characterizes these people as "an honest and manly race, not the race of the towns and cities, but of the dales and fells, free and unsubdued, holding its own in a country where there are neither lords nor ladies, but simple men and women. Brave men and fair women," etc.
Oxford Essays: "Comparative Mythology," p. 69. Popular Tales from the Norse, by George Webbe Dasent, D.C.L. Orally collected, with a Translation by J. F. Campbell. Edinburgh: Edmonton and Douglas. 4 vols. Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands, i. 112.
Dasent, Mr. John Thaddeus Delane, Mr. W. Hepworth Dixon, Mr. Commissioner Fonblanque, Mr. William Forsyth, Q.C., Mr. Edward Foss, Mr. William Carew Hazlitt, Mr. Thomas Hughes, Mr. Leone Levi, Mr. Lawrence Oliphant, Mr. Charles Reade, Mr. W. Stigant, Mr. Tom Taylor, Mr. McCullagh Torrens, Mr. M.F. Tupper, Dr. Travers, Mr. Samuel Warren, and Mr. Charles Weld.
Tent and Harem. By Caroline Paine. New York. D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 300. $1.00. The French Revolution of 1789, as viewed in the Light of Republican Institutions. By J.S.C. Abbott. With One Hundred Engravings. New York. Harper & Brothers. 8vo. pp. 439. $2.50. Popular Tales from the Norse. By George Webbe Dasent, D.C.L. With an Introductory Essay on the Origin and Diffusion of Popular Tales.
The part of the hall with the dais in later days was partitioned off as a stofa or parlour. In early times cooking was done in the hall. Dr. Gudmundsson, if I understand him, varies from Dasent in some respects. I quote an abstract of his statement. "About the year 1000 houses generally consisted of, at least, four rooms; often a fifth was added, the so-called bath-room.
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