Royken and the Jutlamann
A tale of heroism, of monsters and fiddles, amidst the fjords of Norway.
Sure, there's work to be done. It's Lærdal, in the 19th century--there's always work to be done. But the world needs music too, and that fiddle won't play itself.
Well...some fiddles will play themselves, at least according to the legends. For some fiddles are Hardanger Fiddles--hardingfeler--and some say that the Devil himself can teach you how to play one. And those same people say that, armed with the secrets of Troll Tuning (trollstemt), a fiddle player can work magic.
Røyken and the Jutlamann follows Ola Olsson Sande, whose fiddle playing has earned him the nickname Røyken ("The Smoke"), on a simple quest on a warm spring day--to find a place in the sun to sit and play his fiddle. But the mountains around Lærdal are full of more than fiddle players. And the magic of trollstemt got that name for a reason.
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Røyken and the Jutlamann is a combination of two legends--a very-much-real 19th century fiddle player who lived in the Lærdal valley and about whom stories of troll tuning and magic were told, and the legend of the Jutlamann, a stone formation and possibly petrified troll standing high in the mountains outside of town. Told as an illustrated epic poem, Røyken and the Jutlamann offers a playful look at the magic that we once believed lay in the cracks of the world...and maybe still does.
Fully annotated (including Norwegian words and cultural references) and easy to read (the poetry even rhymes, so that's half the battle for those who don't think they like poetry), Røyken and the Jutlamann is suitable for any age for which typical fairy tale/mythology fare is suitable, adult or child. If you already tell your child stories about mythological monsters threatening to eat people (Little Red Riding Hood?), there's nothing here more 'adult' than that. Plus your kids might learn some vocabulary too (turns out there are a lot of words that rhyme with chondrichthian).
You just might learn some things about the Hardanger Fiddle as well. But not how to play it. Because that's where things get supernatural.
(I highly recommend choosing Matte Lamination for the cover at checkout.)