Norway: TheThree SistersWho FellInto theMountain

BackgroundNorway’s natural features have long influenced its folklore. This is evident inNorway’s vast body of folk literature featuring trolls. According to legends,the mountains of Norway are a perfect place for trolls to roam. These giantbeings often live in dwellings inside the mountains, have magical powers andtravel at night because daylight would cause them to turn to stone. Many ofNorway’s spectacular rock formations have been explained as the remnantsof a petrified troll caught in the daylight. Norway: The Three Sisters Who FellInto the Mountain is a tale that explains the origin of one particular rockformation near the home of three girls and their mother. Folk literature termsrelevant to this tale are provided below:

folk literature/folklore — Traditional tales, knowledge and beliefshanded down from generation to generation by word of mouth.folktale — A type of folk literature that has grown from the lives andimaginations of people. Folktales often tell of the adventures of human oranimal characters and sometimes attempt to explain the physical or spiri-tual world. Folktales can be organized into several different categories.magic and wonder tale — A type of folktale. Magic and wonder talescontain some element of magic. This magic can be used for good or bad.Transformations from human to animal or animal to human are commonin this type of folktale. pourquoi tale — A tale that is also referred to as a “why” tale. Thesestories attempt to explain a scientific event, such as the reason for stripeson a tiger or why snow falls during the winter.

Program SummaryIn the shadow of a mountain, lives a poor family — a sick widow and herthree daughters, Kari, Mari and Mai. At night, they rest soundly in their home,because after the sun sets in Norway many things are not the way they seem.The trees and mountains shift their shapes and trolls go about their strangeand magical ways. One morning, Mai cannot find the family’s only hen. Thethree sisters set out looking for the hen. While searching on a mountain path,Kari falls into a troll’s lair and is cast into stone when she refuses his requestsfor her to be his sweetheart. The same thing happens to Mari. Mai, theyoungest sister, discovers the troll’s lair and realizes what he is doing. Shemeets the troll and when he asks her to be his sweetheart, she accepts. Maisoon realizes that the troll also has her beloved hen, but it has also been castinto stone. She tricks the troll into showing her how to restore life to the henusing a jar of magical dust. Mai sends the troll on an errand to gather woodso that she can save her sisters. Kari and Mari escape in a sack that Mai says isfilled with food. (Continued)

The troll travels through the night to drop the sack off at the home of thegirls’ mother. The troll can only travel at night because sunlight would causehim to turn to stone. While he is gone, Mai begins her escape. When hereturns to find her gone, the troll is furious. He chases her down the moun-tain to her home but is stopped by the rays of the early morning sun. That iswhy a mountain near their home is in the shape of a troll.

Pre-viewing Discussion• Have you ever been able to come to the aid of a family member in need?

Allow students a moment to reflect upon and share responses to this ques-tion. How did this make them feel? What did they learn from the experi-ence?

• Find Norway’s location on a map. Discuss its Northern European locationon the Scandinavian Peninsula. Use the map and other geographical infor-mation to make inferences about the landscape and people of that place.How might this information be relevant to a story set in this location?

• Review some of the different types of folktales so that students can classifythis tale after viewing.

Follow-Up Discussion • Recall the events and characters of this tale. Which parts are realistic?

Which parts are magical?• This tale begins with the narrator saying, “Sometimes even the land where

you live can surprise you.” What surprises did Mai encounter over thecourse of this tale? Have you ever been surprised by a change in your dailysurroundings?

• What does this folktale reveal about Norway’s culture? What elements inthis tale are common to other people and places? What elements are spe-cific to this culture?

Follow-up Activities • Folktales involving siblings are common worldwide. In some instances,

such as in Cinderella stories, one sibling is mistreated by the others. Inother instances, such as in Norway: The Three Sisters Who Fell Into theMountain, one sibling must come to the rescue of another in need. Havestudents compare this tale to other sibling tales. Consider watchingTaiwan: Aunt Tiger or Russia: The Two Brothers. Discuss why storytellersmight choose to feature sibling relationships in their tales. Encourage stu-dents to come up with their own tales with siblings as the main charactersand share them in the form of an illustrated booklet or comic strip.Students with brothers and/or sisters may wish to cast their own familymembers in their tales.

• Trolls are popular characters in Scandinavian folklore. In some tales, trollsare described as tall and beast-like, with other features such as multipleheads, tails or tusks. In other tales, trolls are given a more human-likeappearance. In most instances, they are mischievous with magical powers.Share with students other tales from this region that feature trolls. The“Three Billy Goats Gruff” is a well-known tale, but also consider sharingstories from Lisa Lunge-Larsen’s The Troll With No Heart in His Body andOther Tales of Trolls from Norway (Houghton Mifflin, 2003). As studentslisten to these tales, have them imagine what these trolls might look like.Students can turn their visual images into colorful and detailed trollsketches. Post these drawings around the room.

• Act it out! Recreate this tale in your classroom. This can be done as apuppet show, a mime skit, a student play, etc. In preparation for the produc-tion, examine and critically think about the story’s elements of characters,setting and plot. Consider how the story might change if the setting was adifferent time and place.

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• Norway: The Three Sisters Who Fell Into the Mountain is an example of afolktale that uses elements of three. Here, we see three sisters searching fortheir hen and encountering a troll. We see the presence of “threes” in otherwell-known tales, such as the “Three Little Pigs,” “Goldilocks and the ThreeBears” and the “Three Billy Goats Gruff.” Discuss why storytellers mightchoose to use “threes” in the stories they tell and list other tales with“threes” in them. Students can get creative and come up with their owntale with “threes.” They can write and illustrate their stories or prepare for adramatic storytelling.

• Jon Scieszka’s The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs (Penguin Young ReadersGroup, 1996) is a familiar tale retold from the point of view of the story’ssupposed villain. Discuss with students how Norway: The Three SistersWho Fell Into the Mountain might change if it was told from the point ofview of the troll. What reasons might he give for turning Kari and Mari tostone? As an extension, work with students to create a class book that tellsthe story from this perspective, titled The True Story of the Three SistersWho Fell Into the Mountain. Each student can contribute an illustration tothe story.

• Before folktales were written or turned into films, they were passed downorally, from one generation to the next. Introduce students to the art of sto-rytelling. Discuss different ways in which the storyteller can engage listen-ers (e.g., using sound and gestures, giving vivid sensory details). Practicestorytelling techniques by having each student retell a portion of this tale.

• Compare Norway today with the setting and people portrayed in the folk-tale. Organize these similarities and differences using a Venn diagram.

Suggested Internet Resources• www.norway.org

The official site of Norway! Features up-to-date information on the history,art, people, economy and culture of Norway.

• www.culturalprofiles.net/Norway/Directories/Norway_Cultural_Profile/-1.htmlDiscover Norway and what it is like to live there! This web site providesinformation about the culture, geography, history, government and language of Norway.

• www.darsie.net/talesofwonder/This archive of folk and fairy tales from around the world presents a sampling of the many stories that make up our world’s oral tradition.

Suggested Print ResourcesTo learn more about the land and people of Scandinavia:• Gan, Delice and Leslie Jermyn. Sweden. Benchmark Books, New York, NY;

2003.• Kagda, Sakina. Norway. Benchmark Books, New York, NY; 2006.• Murphy, Patrick J. Denmark. Capstone Press, Mankato, MN; 2002.If you are interested in tales from Scandinavia, you might also enjoy: • Osborne, Mary Pope. Favorite Norse Myths. Scholastic, Inc., New York,

NY; 2001.• Huth, Holly Young. The Son of the Sun and the Daughter of the Moon.

Atheneum, New York, NY; 2000. A tale from the Saami — an indigenouspeople of northern Scandinavia.

• Kvideland, Reimund and Henning K. Sehmsdorf. All the World’s Reward:Folktales Told by Five Scandinavian Storytellers. University ofWashington Press, Seattle, WA; 1999.

• MacDonald, Margaret. Fat Cat: A Danish Folktale. August House, Atlanta,GA; 2001.

• Shepard, Aaron. Master Maid: A Tale of Norway. Dial, New York, NY;1997.

Teacher’s Guides for titles in this series are available at www.LibraryVideo.com

Teacher’s Guide Copyright 2007 by Schlessinger Media, a division of Library Video CompanyP.O. Box 580,Wynnewood, PA 19096 • 800-843-3620

Programs © 2005 S4C International All Rights Reserved

Teacher’s Guide written by Megan Carnate, M.Ed., Curriculum Specialist, Schlessinger Media

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