“The Devil is not so Black as He is Painted” – a Comparative Analysis of the Devil Figure in Polish and Norwegian Folktales

The aim of the article is to analyze the devil’s character in Polish and Norwegian folktales. The article describes his appearance, behaviour towards people, and shows in which situations he appears most often in fairy tales in those countries. The study is based on Asbjørnsen’s (1812– 1885) and Moes’s (1813–1882) Norwegian Folktales and on folktales collected by the Polish folklorist Oskar Kolberg (1814–1890). At the end of the article the author compares the most characteristic features of the devil figures to see if the devil is so different in Poland and in Norway