Note 17 — INTRODUCTION.

Deeming it unnecessary to trouble our readers with niceties of pronunciation, we have represented the “Böig” of the original by the more easily pronounceable “Boyg.” The root-idea seems to be that of bending, of sinuousness; compare Norwegian böie, German biegen, to bend. In Aasmundstad’s version of the Peer Gynt legends (see Note, p. xvii) when the Boyg names itself, Peer answers “Antel du æ rak hell bògjë, saa fæ du sleppe mé fram”—“Whether you are straight or crooked, you must let me pass.” The German translator, both in the folk-tale and in the drama, renders “Böigen” by “der Krumme.” So far as we are aware, the name occurs in no other folk-tale save that of Peer Gynt. It is not generic, but denotes an individual troll-monster.