Åbo Akademis bibliotek

We have collected three classic Christmas tales among the best authors, rewritten in modern language.

First up is "The Holy Night" by Selma Lagerlöf, which is a story Selma's grandmother used to tell to Selma, when she was a little girl.
The story is from very long time ago on a very cold night, a man needs help to warm his newborn child. A truly classic Christmas story.
Then the fantastic "The Fir Tree" by HC Andersen, where we hear the story of the little fir tree's problem of not being able to live in the present.
The tree does not appreciate the sunshine and the flowers out in the open forest and once it gets its dream fulfilled and becomes a Christmas tree, the tree cannot enjoy his dream either. He gets "bark pain" when the Christmas lights burn, and starts to wonder if the life in the forest wasn’t that bad, after all.
HC Andersen animates things such as animals and objects in his fairy tales, which makes his stories truly fairy-tale-like.
Last, but not least, we have "Little Vigg's Adventure on Christmas Eve" by Viktor Rydberg, which is about the little boy Vigg, who lives with old Gertrud.
He gets a ride in the sleigh with the Christmas Elf, who is both righteous, strict and kind and this story contributed to the Swedish image of Santa Claus.
This story’s background is based on Viktor Rydberg childhood though he grew up as a poor foster child and behind the poor old woman Gertrud looms a beloved foster mother named Sara.

All the stories are timeless classics and have the same reading- and listening value today as when they were written. Hope you’ll enjoy!