Nordic Fairy Tales, Folk Tales and Fables

Read Nordic fairy tales and folk tales from across northern Europe including the rich collection of Hans Christian Andersen stories and more. Jump to full list of Nordic fairy tales.

About: Nordic folk tales share regional and cultural characteristics. They include folklore and fairy tales from Northern European countries, such as Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and their associated territories. Drawing from Norse mythology and Scandinavian culture, Nordic folklore is a vast collection of fables, epics, legends and fairy stories.

Foster & Cummings‘ adaptation of Nordic myth in their publication of “Asgard Stories: Tales from Norse Mythology,” unlocked an otherwise dense literature form and made it accessible and captivating as children’s stories. They believed Norse Mythology had such a rich moral center that it was superior to Greek Mythology and could inspire and ignite a child’s imagination.

Woven within Nordic folk tales is indeed a common thread of morality and character building. Positive character traits are readily praised and rewarded and faults are punished, sometimes fiercely and other times kindly. Peasants gain the respect of gods and a peaceful passage into the afterlife if they work hard and live simply. Material possessions are not to be valued, but an honest tongue and a faithful heart are. Gratitude for one’s place and lot in life is a strong theme, as well as the old adage, “Pride goeth before a fall.”

Nordic folklore brings us some of the most beloved fairy tales the world over: The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Fir Tree, The Little Mermaid and The Little Match Girl, to name a few. Most famous of all Nordic children’s storybook authors is Hans Christian Andersen, who brings the land at the top of the world alive in rich descriptions of earth and sea, ice and spring, and of adventures with fairies, and queens and courageous young girls and boys.

Listen to Nordic fairy tales and folktales in audio in the Fairytalez Audio Book App for Apple and Android devices.