Bergtagning: la leggenda del rapimento nella montagna nelle ballate e nei racconti popolari svedesi

The Swedish term bergtagning means ‘abduction into the mountain’andindicates a popular belief, whose first literary evidence is in a skaldic poem dating back to the 12thcentury. According to the legend, the mountain could magically abduct people who were wandering among woods, keeping them prisoner forever or setting them free in a deeply changed state of mind. This motif is the subject of many oral folk tales, recorded in rural areas of Sweden during the 19thcentury, and it also recurs in several ballads written in the 19thbut belonging to ancient oral traditions that date back to the Middle Ages. The bergtagning motif is deeply rooted in the popular culture; references and allusions to ancient lore occur in numerous literary works even in modern times. This article aims to analyse how the phenomenon is described in some of the contexts in which it occurs: folk tales and medieval ballads, and, in order to understand its roots in popular culture, in Norse sagas and skaldic poetry.