Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been under mutual influence with, folklore in England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Baltic countries, Finland and Sápmi. Folklore is a concept encompassing expressive traditions of a particular culture or group. The peoples of Scandinavia are heterogenous, as are the oral genres and material culture that has been common in their lands. However, there are some commonalities across Scandinavian folkloric traditions, among them a common ground in elements from Norse mythology as well as Christian conceptions of the world.
A stave church in Norway
Mother Troll and Her Sons by Swedish painter John Bauer, 1915.
Ängsälvor, "meadow elves", (1850), painting by Nils Blommér
Theodor Kittelsen's Nøkken from 1904
English folklore consists of the myths and legends of England, including the English region's mythical creatures, traditional recipes, urban legends, proverbs, superstitions, and folktales. Its cultural history is rooted in Celtic, Christian, Nordic and Germanic folklore.
A sculpture of the mythical Green Man on the Church of St Mary and St David, Kilpeck
Poor little birdie teased, by the 19th-century English illustrator Richard Doyle. It depicts an elf as imagined in English folktales.
King Guthrum being appointed as a Christian by King Alfred before becoming the ruler of East Anglia
An image of 'The Questing Beast', a monster slain by King Arthur and his knights in Malory's Morte Darthur