An interest in the Swedish people, their language, their literature and
history; the important part the traditions of a people play in their
history, character and domestic life, and that the traditions of the
world play in its history and that of mankind, and that I would, if
possible, add to the growing interest in that far-away, beautiful
country, and that generous, hospitable people, have been the incentives
to the labor involved in this translation; a labor not unmixed with
pleasure, and not a little of that pleasure coming from the
encouragement of my Swedish acquaintances.
No embellishment and not more than a faithful reproduction of the
author’s ideas have been attempted, and I shall be happy, indeed, if I
have done so excellent a writer as Mr. Hofberg, approximate justice in
this regard.
I have taken the liberty to leave out a number of the author’s notes as
unimportant, and not likely to interest the general reader, also to
follow the stories with their notes instead of grouping them in the
back of the book as in the original.