Peer Gynt Peer Gynt Peer Gynt (; ) is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen published in 1867. Written in Danish—the common written language of Denmark and Norway in Ibsen's lifetime—it is one of the most widely performed Norwegian plays. Ibsen believed "Per Gynt", the Norwegian fairy tale on which the play is loosely based, to be rooted in fact, and several of the characters are modelled after Ibsen's own family, notably his parents Knud Ibsen and Marichen Altenburg. He was also generally inspired by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen's collection of Norwegian fairy tales, published in 1845 ("Huldre-Eventyr
Per Gynt Per Gynt "Per Gynt" () is a Norwegian fairy tale which originated in the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. It encompasses the themes of identity and relationship. "Per Gynt" tells the folktale of the eponymous Per Gynt and his various exploits. Per Gynt was a hunter from Kvam in Oppland. He rescues three dairy-maids from trolls and shoots the Bøyg, a troll which takes the form of a gigantic serpent and stands as a hindrance to travellers. The fairy tale is most famously recorded by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in "Norwegian Folktales" ("Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn") which was first