Axel Olrik (1864-1917) was a Danishfolklorist, a pioneer in the methodical study of oral narrative.
His Principles for Oral Narrative Research, recently translated by K. Wolf and J. Jensen, Bloomington, Ind., 1992, was first published (in Danish) in 1921, after Olrik's early death (Nogle grundsætninger for sagnforskning).
Olrik applied his methods also on the Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus, attempting to reconstruct the sources used by Saxo.
The author, Danish scholar AxelOlrik, wrote this gem of a book in 1927 and it was translated into English by the American Scandinavian Foundation in 1930.
Olrik, on the other hand, takes those sources and is able to construct an extremely accurate picture of the spiritual and ethical life of Northern European Heathens.
Contrarary to the popular opinion of that the ethics and religion of the North were based on the “Vikings,” Olrik shows that the culture, ethics and religion of the North came from the land owning freemen.
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