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The Little Book of the Hidden People: Twenty Stories of Elves from Icelandic Folklore
- Narrated by: Alda Sigmundsdottir
- Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins
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Publisher's summary
Icelandic folklore is rife with tales of elves and hidden people that inhabited hills and rocks in the landscape. But what do those elf stories really tell us about the Iceland of old and the people who lived there?
In this book, author Alda Sigmundsdóttir presents 20 translated elf stories from Icelandic folklore, along with fascinating notes on the context from which they sprung. The international media has had a particular infatuation with the Icelanders’ elf belief, generally using it to propagate some kind of “kooky Icelanders” myth. Yet Iceland’s elf folklore, at its core, reflects the plight of a nation living in abject poverty on the edge of the inhabitable world, and its people’s heroic efforts to survive, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
That is what the stories of the elves, or hidden people, are really about. In a country that was, at times, virtually uninhabitable, where poverty was endemic and death and grief a part of daily life, the Icelanders nurtured a belief in a world that existed parallel to their own. This was the world of the hidden people, which more often than not was a projection of the most fervent dreams and desires of the human population.
The hidden people lived inside hillocks, cliffs, or boulders, very close to the abodes of the humans. Their homes were furnished with fine, sumptuous objects. Their clothes were luxurious, their adornments beautiful. Their livestock was better and fatter, their sheep yielded more wool than regular sheep, their crops were more bounteous. They even had supernatural powers: They could make themselves visible or invisible at will, and they could see the future.
To the Icelanders, stories of elves and hidden people are an integral part of the cultural and psychological fabric of their nation. They are a part of their identity, a reflection of the struggles, hopes, resilience, and endurance of their people. All this and more is the subject of this book.
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Story
"The Other Crowd", "The Good People", "The Wee Folk", and "Them" are a few of the names given to the fairies by the people of Ireland. Honored for their gifts and feared for their wrath, the fairies remind us to respect the world we live in and the forces we cannot see. In these tales of fairy forts, fairy trees, ancient histories, and modern true-life encounters with the Other Crowd, Eddie Lenihan opens our eyes to this invisible world with the passion and bluntness of a seanchai, a true Irish storyteller.
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Fantastic storytelling but.....
- By H.A.G. on 03-30-22
By: Eddie Lenihan, and others
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Lark Rise
- By: Flora Thompson
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Lark Rise is Flora Thompson's childhood memories of a north Oxfordshire village, the people who lived and worked in it, and a way of life that has totally disappeared. The story is built around Laura and her brother Edmund, through whose eyes are seen 'old Sally', whose grandfather built the house she lived in before the enclosure of the heathland, children's games, the interaction of village and gentry, and the way in which the seasons governed life.
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A glimpse...
- By Shananiganians on 05-31-20
By: Flora Thompson
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African Mythology
- Captivating Myths of Gods, Goddesses, and Legendary Creatures of Africa
- By: Matt Clayton
- Narrated by: Mike Reaves
- Length: 3 hrs
- Unabridged
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African folktales come in many different types. Some are myths explaining the origins of things, while others are tales of heroes with supernatural abilities. Animal stories are many and varied, and they usually involve some kind of trickster who uses his wiles to get out of sticky situations and sometimes into them. There are also cautionary tales explaining why it is important to behave well and treat others with respect, while other stories have a style and shape similar to that of a fairy tale.
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The book itself is wonderful.
- By Kerry Romero on 05-20-20
By: Matt Clayton
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Classic Christmas Stories
- By: Hans Christian Andersen, Louisa May Alcott, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and others
- Narrated by: Paul Albertson
- Length: 1 hr and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Classic Christmas Stories features seven timeless classics, including Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore, A Christmas Dream and How it Came True by Louisa May Alcott, A Christmas Inspiration by Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum, The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen, and The Three Kings by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
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Classic Christmas Stories
- By kim on 01-07-17
By: Hans Christian Andersen, and others
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Wessex Tales
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Neville Jason
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Wessex Tales, a collection of short stories including "The Three Strangers", "The Withered Arm", and "The Distracted Preacher", deals with a number of timeless themes seen so often in Hardy’s work: marriage, class, revenge, and disappointed love. Many of the tales have a supernatural tinge, and all are set around Hardy’s much loved homeland.
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A Sampler
- By Tad Davis on 06-08-14
By: Thomas Hardy
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Botanical Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland
- By: Lisa Schneidau
- Narrated by: Joan Walker
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The islands of Britain and Ireland hold a rich heritage of plant folklore and wisdom, from the magical yew tree to the bad-tempered dandelion. Here are traditional tales about the trees and plants that shape our landscapes and our lives through the seasons. They explore the complex relationship between people and plants, in lowlands and uplands, fields, bogs, moors, woodlands and towns.
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Wee Folk, Giants and Witches. Oh, My!
- By Amazon Customer on 07-14-21
By: Lisa Schneidau
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Tess of the D'urbervilles
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Jennifer Dixon
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Tess of the d'Urbervilles is the 19th century novel lately thought to be one of the inspirations of E .L.James' Fifty Shades of Grey. It depicts the life of an impressionable, naive, somewhat educated young woman who yearns to be free to live her own life, but finds herself constricted by the bonds of the sexual, religious and socially hypocritical customs that have surrounded her from birth.
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Jenny Dixon
- By Amazon Customer on 08-09-15
By: Thomas Hardy
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The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales
- By: Brothers Grimm
- Narrated by: Andrea Giordani
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales by Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, first published in 1812, is a collection of 62 classic folk stories including "Rumplestiltskin", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Hansel and Gretel", "Snow White and Rose Red", "Iron Hans", "The Golden Goose", "Clever Hans", "The Frog Prince", and many more. These classic tales will keep you entertained for hours to come!
By: Brothers Grimm
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The Celtic Twilight
- By: William Butler Yeats
- Narrated by: Jack Chekijian
- Length: 4 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the best-known collections of W. B. Yeats' prose, The Celtic Twilight explores the old connection between the Irish people and the magical world of fairies. Yeats, by traveling the land in the early 20th century and talking to the common people about their experiences with the creatures, yielded a colorful overview of Celtic fairy folklore.
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A compilation of Irish folklore in prose
- By MolllyT on 07-26-16
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My Name Is Resolute
- By: Nancy E. Turner
- Narrated by: Mhairi Morrison
- Length: 25 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The year is 1729, and Resolute Talbot and her siblings are captured by pirates, taken from their family in Jamaica and brought to the New World. Resolute and her sister are sold into slavery in colonial New England and taught the trade of spinning and weaving. When Resolute finds herself alone in Lexington, Massachusetts, she struggles to find her way in a society that is quick to judge a young woman without a family. As the seeds of rebellion against England grow, Resolute is torn between following the rules and breaking free.
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A life well lived!
- By Anonymous User on 06-20-23
By: Nancy E. Turner
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Smith of Wootton Major
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Tolkien's acclaimed modern classic 'fairie' tale, read by Derek Jacobi. Smith of Wootton Major journeys to the Land of Faery thanks to the magical ingredients of the Great Cake of the Feast of Good Children.
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Charming
- By Babbi on 01-18-17
By: J. R. R. Tolkien
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Stranger in the Shogun's City
- A Japanese Woman and Her World
- By: Amy Stanley
- Narrated by: Joy Osmanski
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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The daughter of a Buddhist priest, Tsuneno was born in a rural Japanese village and was expected to live a traditional life much like her mother’s. But after three divorces - and a temperament much too strong-willed for her family’s approval - she ran away to make a life for herself in one of the largest cities in the world: Edo, a bustling metropolis at its peak. With Tsuneno as our guide, we experience the drama and excitement of Edo just prior to the arrival of American Commodore Perry’s fleet, which transformed Japan.
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Lovely microhistory
- By JS on 07-26-21
By: Amy Stanley
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Old Peter's Russian Tales
- By: Arthur Ransome
- Narrated by: Greg Wagland
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Arthur Ransome (1884-1967) wrote Old Peter's Russian Tales while he was in Russia during the First World War, prior to becoming a war correspondent for The Manchester Guardian. There are 22 stories in all and are told by Old Peter at the behest of his grandchildren, Ivan and Maroosia, in a cozy log cabin in the middle of the forest. These are delightful re-tellings in Ransome's own words of Russian folk tales, and include stories such as "The Little Snow Girl", "Baba Yaga", "Frost", and "Salt".
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Brings back memories
- By Max K on 07-03-22
By: Arthur Ransome
What listeners say about The Little Book of the Hidden People: Twenty Stories of Elves from Icelandic Folklore
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Johanna
- 05-22-20
An Enchanting Book of Magic and Mystery
I have read many collections of folktales about elves, trolls, and fairy peoples yet this was one of the best. The stories are gripping, suspenseful, and humorous (often darkly so) with the author's notes at the end of each chapter, which offer context and interpretation in regards to Icelandic history. The narration is beautiful, just the right speed and easy to follow as an audiobook. I listened to the whole thing over a few days of walking outside. Then immediately bought another of her books. I highly recommend this book!
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- GHC007
- 06-12-19
pure enjoyment
The stories were simple and rich at the same time. loved listening to the crisp clear voice in a beautiful cadence. The introduction felt long at first and I wanted to get to the tales, but once the tales started I was entranced and appreciated some of the explanations given.
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- Virginia A. Hipszky
- 07-22-19
Love this book
Iceland is a gorgeous place like nowhere else on earth. I enjoyed hearing all of these stories. When I lived there in a very rural area it was easy to believe in elves. Especially if you are miles from other people and things are always getting moved around the house or yard. I highly recommend this book to everyone.
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- Nicholas C Cook
- 05-28-19
Fantastic
A very enjoyable and illuminating listen. A glance into a beautiful tradition and culture
of Iceland
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1 person found this helpful
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- C Bilton
- 01-26-22
interesting fun and informative Tales from Iceland
I do love hearing the story read by an Icelander. the author's notes are interesting, insightful, and personable. It was a fun book to listen to and a joy for me to learn more about these Icelandic folk Legends.
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