Title: Islendzk aeventyri
Subtitle: isländische Legenden, Novellen und Märchen
First published: 1882
Description: H. Gering compiled these (mostly ecclesiastical) tales from old handwritten Icelandic vellum and paper manuscripts into a two-volume set. The first volume contained the legends, tales and novellas in a "standardized" old Norse/Icelandic.

Volume II relates most of these tales (excepting those commonly found elsewhere at that time) in German. Both volumes contain extensive detailed foreword information on Gering's processes and work, and back matter (old Norse glossary, bibliography, etc.).

A summary of the Volume content follows:

VOLUME I

Dedicated to Gustaf Cederschiöld, this Volume comprises in turn, Books 1 (legends) and 2 (novellas and tales):

• Preface (ca. 35 pp.) describing the author’s process and a brief history of the project, plus exhaustive analysis and conclusions about the original manuscripts.

• Books 1 (chapters I – XLVIII: Legends) and 2 (XLIX – CI: Novellas and Tales). Chapters XCIV – CI are fragmented and are included in interpolated form with missing portions taken from other non-Icelandic sources.

• Corrections (Berichtigungen) made by the author to errors, either as they were originally found in the original Old Norse sources or created during the transcription before translation to German.


VOLUME II (begins on reader p. 361)

With acknowledgment to fellow author Reinhold Köhler, who contributed much in the way of elaboration, critique and literary source material, this Volume contains the legends, novellas and tales in German but without the subdivision into books as in Volume 1.

• Preface (ca. 73 pp.). This comprises an over-view of Jón Halldórsson, 14th century bishop, scholar and contributor to Icelandic literature, and author’s notes on grammatical and orthographical points with the numerous citations and excerpts in Old Norse/Icelandic and other languages.

• Chapters I – CI, less 28 chapters (XLIX – LXXVI) that are direct translations of the Latin morality tales in Petrus Alphonsi’s “Disciplina Clericalis” and so viewed as redundant by the author, although chapters XCI and XCII repeat two stories from “Disciplina …”.

• A 90-page glossary covering words not explained in A. Theodor Möbius’ “Altnordisches Glossar” (Old Norse glossary ) plus an index of character names.

• An appendix with related Latin and old English texts about or from Vincent of Beauvais , Martin of Troppau (a.k.a. Martin of Opava , Martinus Polonus, Martin of Poland, Brother Martin), Caesar of Heisterbach , 12th-century rhymed couplets by Robert Mannyng (Robert de Brunne) , excerpts from Alfonsi’s “Disciplina Clericalis” and “Gesta Romanorum” .
Subjects: Icelandic Legends, Fairy tales, Translations from Icelandic and Old Norse, German literature, Translations into German, Icelandic Tales, Icelandic and Old Norse literature
LC classification: PT7433 G4