The Serpent Bride

Susan McKnight is an administrator with the Ontario government.

The Serpent Bride is a collection of stories reworked from Scandinavian
ballads. The stories are replete with witches, trolls, brave and not so
brave knights, spells, and liberated medieval women. Most deal with the
struggle between good and evil, with the former usually triumphing in
the end. For example, in “The Mighty Harp,” an evil troll plagues a
family by claiming its brides on their wedding days; all attempts to
vanquish the troll fail until the arrival of William and his magical
harp. In “The Serpent Bride” and “The Maiden in Bird’s
Plummage,” true love wins over jealousy. Probably the most liberated
woman in this collection of stories is Ellensborg, the heroine of
“Bold Ellensborg”: when her betrothed fails to return to her after a
period of seven years (he is in another kingdom pledged to a princess),
Ellensborg dons men’s clothing and sails off to retrieve her man. Each
of these beautifully written tales manages to teach a life’s lesson
without being heavy-handed.