Frozen, Santa, Moomin, Trolls…
The birthplace of fantastic stories

32 mysterious fairy tales from Northern Europe
Kai Nielsen, one of the world's top three illustrators
Meet unique illustrations!

“Nordic fairy tales are strange yet familiar,
I was numb to the unfamiliarity
“It makes me feel the truth of the world again.” _Cheon Seon-ran | Science fiction writer, author of A Thousand Blues

Contains 32 magical fairy tales from Nordic countries including Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland.
In "The Widow's Son," a young man joins forces with a trapped horse to defeat a troll.
In "The Three Princesses of the Blue Mountain," the officer and adjutant are executed after their misdeeds are revealed in detail.
In "The Giant's Mistress," the main characters, a prince and a princess, achieve love despite the witch's mischievous interference.
The settings and characters of Nordic fairy tales—snowy mountains and meadows, witches and curses, trolls and heroes—may be unfamiliar to us, but the important, unchanging values ​​of life, such as solidarity, honesty, and love, are not much different from ours.

The illustrations by Kai Nielsen, one of the world's top three illustrators known for his sensual and dreamy style, enhance the immersion of the reader, making them feel as if they have become the main character in a fairy tale.
The Nordic Fairy Tale Map, which allows you to see fairy tales from each country at a glance, the heartwarming lines from Moomin, Finland's representative character, and even our old proverbs that summarize the moral of the story are all hidden throughout the book, adding to the enjoyment of reading fairy tales.

The youngest daughter rubbed her sleepy eyes and cried until she was exhausted, then came to her senses and got up to go on her way.
She walked for days and days until she reached a high cliff.
At the bottom of the cliff there was a witch who played by throwing golden apples.
The youngest daughter asked the witch if she knew of a prince who would live with his stepmother in a castle east of the sun and west of the moon and who would marry a princess with a nose over three meters tall.
Then the witch asked.
“How did you come to know that prince? Are you the girl he was planning to marry?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Aha, so that girl is you? Hmm, but actually, I don’t know much about her either.
All I know is that the prince lives in a place east of the sun and west of the moon, and that you will either never be able to get there, or if you do get there, it will be very late.
First, I'll lend you my words, so go to where my neighbor lives.
Maybe that guy knows.
When you get there, slap the horse below its left ear and tell it to go home.
“Take these golden apples too.”
--- p.27 From “East of the Sun and West of the Moon”

The prince hid himself in the grass growing around the tree and waited for the bird to appear.
After a while, the garden was filled with the sound of millions of birds singing.
The fire-fire bird appeared! The bird landed in its cage and looked around cautiously.
Then he asked in a sorrowful voice.
“Everyone else is asleep.
“Isn’t there anyone who can tell me, ‘Hey, you should go to sleep too, Fire-fire Bird?’”
The prince thought to himself.
'If that's all you want, there's absolutely no reason I can't grant it!'
He said right away.
“Fire-fire bird, you too, go to sleep!”
At that moment, the fire-fire bird spread its wings and struck the prince, and the prince turned into a birch tree on the spot.

--- p.64 From "Fire-Fire Bird"

But after a while, the giant spoke to his mother.
“If you just get rid of your son, the two of us can live happily ever after.”
The mother answered.
“Do you know how to deal with my son? Do you have any ideas?”
"hmm.
“It won’t be easy, but we have to do something.”
The giant asked his mother to look after the house for a day or two.
Then he said he would take the young man to the top of the mountain and crush him to death under a large rock.
The young man heard all this conversation.
The old giant was hit by a troll!
--- p.123 From "The Blue Belt"

“You can wander anywhere in the house as you wish, except for the rooms I told you not to enter.”
The adoptive mother said that and left.
But the girl, unable to overcome her curiosity, peeked open one of the rooms her adoptive mother had forbidden her from entering.
Then, with a 'bang!' sound, the star flew away.
Meanwhile, when the adoptive mother returned home, she was very angry to find that the star was gone.
“I told you not to go into that room.
I can't live with you anymore.
“I have to kick you out of this house!”
“I’m sorry, Mother.
I won't do that again.
“Please don’t kick me out.”
The adoptive mother's heart sank when she saw the girl crying and crying.
In the end, he couldn't chase the girl away and went on another trip after a while.

--- pp.174-175 From "The Girl and the Godmother"

The soldier who received permission immediately took out the flint and struck it once, twice, three times.
Then, in an instant, a dog with eyes as big as a searchlight, a dog with eyes as big as a windmill wheel, and a dog with eyes as big as a round tower appeared.
The soldier shouted at the three dogs.
“Help me avoid being hanged!”
The dogs attacked the judge and the torturers.
They bit off their legs, tore off their noses, and threw them far away.
The king, seeing the sight, cried out loud.
“Don’t touch me!”
The biggest dog, hearing the king's voice, growled terribly and rushed at the king and queen, throwing them both away.
The crowd of soldiers and people shouted in fear.
“Soldier, please be our king.
“Please marry the beautiful princess.”
--- pp.212-213 From "Bushitong"

The king had no choice but to strike the horse's head.
Even as he swung his sword, he couldn't bear to see the horse's head fall off, so he turned his head away.
But as soon as the horse's head fell off, a prince of extraordinary appearance appeared where the horse had been standing.
The king was surprised and asked the prince.
“No, where on earth did you suddenly appear from?”
“Actually, it was me.
I was the original king of the country whose head you beheaded yesterday.
He turned me into a horse and sold me to a troll.
But when he died, I was able to regain my original form.
Now you and I will be neighbors.
Let us never go to war with each other again.”
--- pp.232-233 From "The Widow's Son"

“Son, that snake is actually your twin brother who was born with you.
Since the snake was born first, it is right for that child to get married first.
Ha, what should I do with this?”
If the prince wanted to get married, the only way was to find a snake bride.
The king wrote a letter to a distant land, saying that he was looking for a princess to marry, without revealing that his son was a snake.
Soon a princess arrived.
The king did not allow the princess to see the prince's face until they entered the wedding hall.
Because once the wedding ceremony was held, it was difficult to cancel it.
But the morning after the wedding, the princess from a faraway land disappeared.
The snake was sleeping alone.
People were convinced that a snake had eaten the princess.

--- pp.326-327 From "The Snake Prince"

As soon as Boots hid under the bed, the giant came in.
“Sniff sniff, what is that smell! It smells like human blood?”
“Yes, you did it right.
"A magpie carried a human bone and dropped it down the chimney. I hurriedly cleaned it out, but there's nothing I can do about the lingering smell."
The giant said nothing more and soon went to bed.
After a while, the princess asked the giant.
“I have something I really want to ask you.
“Can I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
"Where the hell is your heart? You don't carry it around with you."
“Oh, that’s none of your business.”
“I’m just curious.
“Can you tell me?”
“If you really want to know, I’ll teach you.
“The truth is, I hid my heart under the threshold.”
--- p.352 From "The Giant Who Hidden His Heart"

“I think I can show this to people.
But if you add a little corned beef and potatoes, even the most picky eater will enjoy it.
But, what's the point of worrying about something that doesn't exist?"
Grandma thought about it carefully and then brought me some beef and potatoes.
Then he watched the traveler stir the porridge again.
“Wow, this is definitely the best porridge I’ve ever had.”
“Wow! The porridge made with nails is so good!”
The traveler was a very smart man.
At that point, he might have taken a bite, but he muttered again.
“If you could add a little barley and milk, I think it could be presented to the king.
This is what the king eats every night.
I know because I used to work under the king's chef."

--- p.369 From “The Miserly Grandmother and the Traveler”