Note 12 — INTRODUCTION.

Further gleanings of legendary lore concerning Peer Gynt may be found in the Norwegian periodical Syn og Segn, 1903, pp. 119-130. The writer, Per Aasmundstad, is of opinion that Peer Gynt’s real name was Peer Haagaa (the owner of Haagaa farm) and that Gynt was either a name given him by the huldra-folk, or else a local nickname for humorists of his kind. According to this authority, he probably lived as far back as the seventeenth century. Per Aasmundstad’s article is written in the local dialect, with such ruthless phonetic accuracy that I read it with difficulty; but he does not seem to have discovered anything that has a definite bearing on Ibsen’s work. From the wording of Ibsen’s letters to Hegel, however (p. viii), it would seem that he had some knowledge of the Gynt legend over and above what was to be found in Asbjörnsen. (For access to Syn og Segn, and for other obliging assistance, I am indebted to Herr Halvdan Koht, the author of the excellent biographical introduction to Ibsen’s Letters.)