Be transported from the limestone caves of Slovenia to the coast of Norway, and from French salt pans to a village in Poland.
John Weeks retells nine folk tales, each one set in a different country of Europe. They introduce the reader to an Irish weaver, to Scottish fishermen and to a Jewish dealer in violins.
The stories share the familiar narrative features of folk tales all over the world – quests undertaken, wicked plots thwarted, mysteries revealed and kindness rewarded. Many of the familiar characters are there – trolls, an ogre and a cheating miller.
But have you ever wondered what the characters in folk tales ate and drank? When not adventuring what work did they do to support themselves? What did they believe? As they journeyed what sort of landscapes did they cross?
In his retellings John Weeks answers some of those questions. Each tale is grounded in a real landscape, with the features and the creatures distinctive to it. Something of the culture of each country is shown, so the reader will encounter the rivalries of tribal chiefs, piracy preying upon merchant shipping, and the poverty of feudal peasantry. Local ways of life are depicted, showing, for example, trade in amber, peat cutting and salt production. The tales are peopled by folk who embrace Christianity, by Jewish people and by those who acknowledge pagan spirits and Celtic deities.
In notes to each of the tales the author briefly explains details, where necessary, and he refers to the sources, both literary and oral, which lie behind the stories.
The result is a collection of tales richly contextualised to present a picture of Europe not in one era, but in an unspecified, distant past, a Europe at a time before modernity dulled the sparkle of its magic.
John Weeks has been listening to stories all his life. An early memory was sitting with his mother listening to the stories told on the radio programme, “Listen with Mother”. As an older child he loved to hear the tales his grandfather told of his travels.
John studied Classics and English at Oxford University. During a career in Social Work he spent much time listening to the stories people told, through which they sought to give meaning to their experiences.
On a visit to Oslo he saw Theodor Kittelsen’s painting, “The Castle of Soria Moria”. Intrigued, he did some research and discovered it was an illustration for a collection of Norwegian Folk Tales published in 1883. Reading that tale he decided to have a go at retelling it himself. Having enjoyed that, he looked for more tales to research and retell.
John has travelled widely around Europe. He has drawn upon those travels in describing the landscapes in which his folk tales are set. Like characters in them, he has walked the shore at Travemunde, he has skirted Lake Bracciano and he has explored the peat bogs of Connemara.
He has drawn too upon his wide reading of European Literature and history. Chaucer, Shakespeare and the Irish epic, “The Tain” are all referenced in the tales.
Asked what relevance old folk tales could have to today’s world, John responded:
In these dark days there is something to be said for moments of escape. I admire the work
of William Morris. In the introduction to a collection of his poems Morris acknowledged
they would do nothing to banish peoples’ fears or relieve their cares. He presented himself
instead as one:
“Who strives to build a shadowy isle of bliss
Midmost the beating of the steely sea”.
It is in that spirit that I offer my retelling of folk tales
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