First recorded by Asbjørnsen and Moe in the nineteenth century, The Master Maid (Mestermø in the original Norwegian) is the story of a willful young man who, against the advise of his father, finds work with a troll. The tasks he is given - cleaning out the troll's stables with an enchanted pitchfork, fetching his fire-breathing stallion, collecting a tax from the fairies - would have proven impossible to complete, were it not for the help of the Master Maid, a beautiful and wise young woman held captive by the troll. But when the troll finally loses patience, and orders the Master Maid to make Leif into stew, the young couple must escape, with their erstwhile captor in hot pursuit...

Aaron Shepard's retelling of this traditional Norwegian tale contains only the first half of the original, omitting all of Leif and the Master Maid's adventures, subsequent to their being rid of the troll. Although I personally prefer a complete retelling, the author's approach here works fairly well, as the original is so episodic, and he cuts off at a natural spot. I did like that Shepard included a brief note at the beginning, discussing his source material, his decision to abridge it, and some of the other variants of the tale to be found in world mythology, most notably the ancient Greek tale of Jason and Medea. Pauline Ellison's watercolor illustrations are very pretty, with their incorporation of folk motifs into the details, although her human faces somehow didn't look quite right. All in all, a very appealing folktale retelling. ( )