"Once upon a time......" is how most Norwegian folk tales start, and it was once upon a time in the 1840s that two Norwegians Asbjørnsen and Moe, started collecting and writing down the old folk tales which previously had only been passed on by word of mouth from generation to generation. Many of these stories shared common roots with folk tale tradition in other countries and if you were to read one today, you would doubtless recognize many familiar elements.

Our most famous author, Henrik Ibsen, found inspiration in folk tales when writing his play "Peer Gynt" and most people have heard "In the Hall of the Mountain King", music which was written for the play by Edvard Grieg, one of our greatest composers. Although Øyvind and Kari are proud of Edvard Grieg, they do not listen to his music very much. Like other young people, they are more interested in rock and pop music. Their favourites include both Norwegian groups and foreign artists.

The Norwegian painter, Edvard Munch, is today regarded as one of the greatest of modern artists. Although he is perhaps most famous for the painting "Scream", he painted many other outstanding works.

Today cultural life in Norway finds expression in a variety of different fields such as the theatre, films, music, painting, arts and crafts, folk dancing and literature.

Cultural life in Norway is very varied and many Norwegian artists have achieved international fame. Kari and Øyvind sometimes wonder how a small country as Norway has been able to produce such a variety of great artists, but feel that it perhaps can be explained to some extent by the tradition of education for all, food for everybody and the absence of war. Culture is the opposite of war. Culture creates, but war destroys.