Regine Normann

Regine Normann's Legends

Regine Normann (1867-1939) was born in Northern Norway on the Atlantic coast above the Arctic Circle. Much of her writing - she published 18 books - is about the occasionally difficult life with the women having to manage the farms while their husbands were gone fishing months at a time and it was dangerous: "she had already worn out two husbands earlier." Normann is perhaps best known for her extremely successful fairytales from 1925 and 1926. She was for many years a teacher in Oslo and very popular were her readings of fairytales. Following the tales in 1927 and 1930 were her two books of legends. Normann was perhaps the first native Norwegian author to portray the Sami (coastal Sami) significantly. Many of the leading characters in her books are either Sami or part Sami reflecting the situation in her Nordland home. One of the legends is in Sami, but never fear, it is also presented in English translation. The two books of legends each have a frame story that allows the author to introduce ghosts and goblins, headless corpses, and other eerie phenomena. A wonderful array of characters parades through these tales. There is an excursion to gather angelica. A young girl is nearly done in by matgrass that bewitches her. Two brothers pay a steep price for disturbing the dead and there is much more. But beware of reading these legends in the dark of night!There is also beautiful artwork by Kaare Espolin Johnson who illustrated more than thirty books during his productive career including Normann's two books of legends.