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Nornagest’s Hidden Life

In short: Compare the object that holds Nornagest’s life in an Icelandic manuscript and a Faroese ballad.

Nornagest’s Hidden Life · A life tied to an object FAIRY TALE ATLAS · № 124 Nornagest’s Hidden Life Compare the object that holds Nornagest’s life in an Icelandic manuscript and a Faroese ballad. Origin Icelandic manuscript tradition and Faroese oral ballad. Atlas record 1386–1394 First appearance Exact date unknown SIGNATURE MOTIF A life tied to an object Reach¹ 2/10 Suggested age² 8+ Member rating No votes yet 2 records · 2 countries or regions blackhorsestories.com

¹ Based on the number of Atlas countries, capped at 10. ² Editorial suggestion for reading this page. Discover Black Horse’s question

Origin and tradition

Icelandic manuscript tradition and Faroese oral ballad.

In the Icelandic episode his life ends when a candle burns out. In the Faroese ballad a lead casket sunk in a lake holds his life. The tellings offer different answers to the same question. If a person’s life could be kept outside the body, who could get to it?

Dated records and sources

  1. 1386–1394 · Iceland · Berlin collection
    Flateyjarbók · Nornagests þáttr · N. Kershaw, introduction and translation · Manuscript
  2. 1851 · Sumba, Faroe Islands
    V. U. Hammershaimb · Færøiske Kvæder I · N. Kershaw, Faroese Ballad of Nornagest · Published collection

Country pages

Fairy Tale Glossary

Origin
Black Horse. Nornagest’s Hidden Life. https://blackhorsestories.com/en/atlas-tale-nornagest/