Cold seas, blue mountains, and mossy hillsides fill these pages with stories where anything can happen. Here, three hungry goats dare to cross a bridge guarded by a grumpy troll, a bold lad marches up to the North Wind to demand his stolen meal, and a magic mill at the bottom of the ocean keeps the water forever salty. Children will meet a girl who rides a goat and fights trolls, a pancake that refuses to be eaten, and a farmer who discovers that looking after the house is much harder than he ever imagined. The tales move from cozy kitchens and crowded farmyards to glittering halls inside the hills and bright white castles in faraway snowfields. Clever girls and youngest sons outwit giants whose hearts are hidden far away, rescue princesses from icy spells, and outtalk sharp tongued royals who always have to win every quarrel. Along the way, greedy cats, stubborn husbands, and boastful wanderers learn what happens when pride and hunger collide with true northern magic. Not every story is soft and sweet, and that is part of their charm. Troll wives wait in lonely houses, a mysterious church appears in a snowstorm and then vanishes, and sailors glimpse an island that rises for one night of peace before sinking again beneath the waves. Whether read aloud at bedtime or discovered by an older child curled up alone, these adventures carry the chill of sea wind, the warmth of firelight, and the feeling that just beyond the dark trees another story is waiting to be told.