Tales about wicked stepmothers are traditional in Iceland, maintaining their popularity from medieval times to the modern era. Typically, the stepmothers are skilled in magic and cast spells on their stepchildren. Given the frequent pairing of stepmothers and spells, folklorists often treat them as a single narrative motif: the “stepmother-and-casting-of-spells motif”. However, this dual component is sometimes overlooked, and the tales are simply referred to as either “stjúpusögur” [stepmother tales] or “álagasögur” [tales of spells]. Einar Ól. Sveinsson considered stepmother tales, and consequently the connection between these two motifs, of Celtic origin. He suggested that these motifs were already linked as a unit when they were introduced to Iceland (232-33).

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1350 words

Citation: Guðmundsdóttir, Aðalheiður. "Icelandic Stepmother Tales". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 January 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19703, accessed 18 January 2025.]