Per Gynt is a Norwegian fairy tale

Scandinavian folklore

Scandinavian folklore is the folklore of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and the Swedish speaking parts of Finland.Collecting folklore began when Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden sent out instructions to all of the priests in all of the parishes to collect the folklore of their area...

 from Gudbrandsdal

Gudbrandsdal

The Gudbrandsdalen is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Oppland. The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer at Mjøsa, extending 230 km toward Romsdal...

. It is the loose basis for Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

's play, Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...

.

Per Gynt tells the story of the eponymous Per Gynt (literally, "Peter Gynt"), a hunter from Kvam

Kvam

Kvam is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. The parish of Vikør was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . Parts of Strandebarm were merged with Kvam on 1 January 1965...

, and his various exploits. Gynt rescues three dairy-maids from troll

Troll

A troll is a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, the term troll was a generally negative synonym for a jötunn , a being in Norse mythology...

s and shoots the Bøyg

Bøyg

The Bøyg , also referred to as the "Great Bøyg of Etnedal", is a troll in the Scandinavian folklore of Gudbrandsdal and Telemark. Characterized as a giant, slimy serpent, it stands as a hindrance to travelers. The Bøyg is most famous as a character in Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt....

, a gigantic, worm-shaped troll-being. The fairy tale is most famously recorded in Norwegian Folktales, by Asbjørnsen

Peter Christen Asbjørnsen

Peter Christen Asbjørnsen was a Norwegian writer and scholar. He and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe were collectors of Norwegian folklore...

 and Moe

Jørgen Moe

right|thumb|Norske Folkeeventyr Asbjørnsen and Moe Jørgen Engebretsen Moe was a Norwegian bishop and author...

. Ibsen believed that the legend of Per Gynt was rooted in fact.