East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon

Genre: Fairytale
Critique of Genre: This is a lovely example of a fairytale because it has this poor ragged girl who is taken from her family to ultimately help them out of their rags and into riches. This story, handed down through generations, takes a turn for the worst when the girl sees her

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master, who is a white bear by day, in his human form at night. This dooms him to wed a nasty troll princess and the only the girl can save him.
Plot: This story has plenty of intrigue, action and conflict that is, in the end, resolved by a test the prince puts the evil troll princess through. She utterly fails and vanishes leaving him to live happily ever after with his true love.
Media: watercolo

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This represents a fairy tale because it deals with both a possible and impossible adventure. In this book I was able to distinguish between good and evil, heroes and villains, conflict and resolution.

This story is about a poor family. One day a bear comes to the family and ask for the hand of one of the daughters. The bear takes his new bride home to a castle. Every night a man comes into the woman's room and sleeps in her bed. She becomes curious as to who the man is. The bear takes her home

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to visit but tells her never to listen to her mother. She tells her mother what happens and her mother says to light a candle to see who it is. She does that one night and the man is devastated. He has to leave the to marry a troll. The young woman tries to find her husband and the winds from the west, east, south, and north help her get to the troll's castle. She comes and rescues him.

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Great folk tale and great pictures- but it gets a little wordy at times.

Dating back to 1910, this nordic tale was translated by Sir George Webbee Dasent. In this story, you will find likeness to Beauty and the Beast and also to Cupid and Psyche.

In the forest lives a poor couple with many children. The youngest daughter is by far the most beautiful. As the winds and the

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snow shake the cottage, bringing additional cold winds, at night a large white bear appears to the peasant and asks for his youngest daughter. In return, the peasant and his family will be very rich and want for nothing.

She is whisked off to a beautiful castle while her parents also live way beyond what they had ever imagined. In reality, the white bear is a man who lies beside the daughter at night. She never sees him.

She is very homesick and asks the bear to allow her to visit her family. Her wish is granted with the condition that she will never be alone with her mother who will attempt to mislead her daughter. When the mother tells the daughter to light a candle so that she may see what is sharing her bed at night, the daughter returns to the castle and follows her mother's instructions.

The daughter sees a most beautiful price, spilling three drops of melted wax on him. Upon his awakening, he explains that if she had only waited one full year, the curse placed upon him by the trolls would have been broken.

Now, all return to the original state of poverty and the handsome man must marry a very ugly troll who has a long crocked nose. Transported to the castle far, far away, located east of the sun and west of the moon, he must accept his fate.

Searching for her beloved handsome man, she must now journey far, far away to a destination near impossible to find. Soliciting help from old women she finds along the way, she is given gifts of a golden items -- an apple, a carding comb and a spinning wheel.

Taking these items with her, she must obtain help for the East Wind, the stronger West Wind and then the more powerful South and finally, the North Wind.

When she arrives and seeks access to the castle, the horrific troll princess refuses. Gradually, the daughter gives her items, one by one, to the troll princess. One night, the handsome man does not drink the poison sleeping potion given to him be the troll lady. And, discovering that the beautiful lady has sacrificed and steadily made the trek to find him, he tells her that the only thing that can save him from his fate of marriage to the troll lady, is that he will marry any one who can wash away the three drops of melted wax.

Alas, the troll princess is not successful, but the beautiful daughter is able to clean the shirt, thereby breaking the spell. And, stealing all goods and money from the castle, they impoverished family, the beautiful daughter and the handsome man escape from the castle that was located East of the Sun and West of the Moon.

This is a book I will purchase and add to my special library of illustrated books. The illustrations are incredibly beautiful, and the tale is magical.

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This magical world opens with a brave young girl who follows a mysterious polar bear to his enchanted castle. When her misstep traps the bear under an evil troll’s curse, she travels over years of time by foot, by wind, and by steed to free him. A tender story, it goes past the fairy-tale love at

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first sight to show the maturity that patience and endurance bring. In a culture that uses hardship as an excuse to skip out, East O’ the Sun & West O’ the Moon contrasts with a heroine who endures much, fighting for the preservation of a union that is dear to her. This melodic tale, easily the most told and retold of Norwegian lore, echoes themes from the Greek myth Eros and Psyche, and may bring to mind C.S. Lewis’s Narnia and George MacDonald’s At the Back of the North Wind. Asbjornsen and Moe authored the first written version of this tale, among many others, in the Norwegian tongue. Translations of the text do not vary much, but I chose this version for the wintry warmth of P.J Lynch’s illustrations.

Read the full review at Book On a Crag

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