"Tomten" ("The Tomte"), also known as "Midvinternattens köld är hård" ("The Cold of Midwinter Night is Harsh"), is a poem written by Viktor Rydberg, and originally published in Ny Illustrerad Tidning in 1881. While outwardly being an idyllic Christmas poem, the poem asks about the meaning of life.
A short film, Tomten, was recorded in 1941 by Gösta Roosling, where Hilda Borgström reads the entire poem.Hilda Borgström reads Tomten youtube.com Retrieved: December 29, 2013.
Lotta Engberg's 2009 Christmas album Jul hos mig closes with a final, hidden, bonus track with Sven Wollter reading the poem.
The poem has also been recorded as an audio book, with Torgny Lindgren reading it.Torgny Lindgren reads Tomten youtube.com Retrieved: December 29, 2013.
In English Rydberg's poem has been translated into English by Charles Wharton Stork,Anthology of Swedish lyrics by Charles Wharton Stork (New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1917). Anna Krook,Songs of the North by Anna Krook (Helsingfors, Söderström & Co., 1926). Elias GordonBards of the North by Elias Gordon (New York: American Cultural Federation Press, 1936). Judith Moffett.The North! to the North! by Judith Moffett (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2001). In 1960 Astrid Lindgren published a prose version of the story with illustrations by Harald Wiberg.The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren (New York: Coward-McCann, 1960).Astrid Lindgren adaptation youtube.com Retrieved: December 31, 2013. Both films based on her Tomten stories were made: Tomte Tummetott and the Fox in 2007, and The Tomten and the Fox in 2019.
American Translation An American translation of Tomten was published as a children's book in 2017 by Spencer Harden,[https://www.amazon.in/stores/inkauthor/B07VD8D9PJ/about Tomten as told by Spencer Harden illustrated by Georgia Stylou.[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/01692888896/ref=ewc_pr_img_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 An audio version of the children's book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PISkbPcskqA was recorded in 2018, narrated by American Hercules actor Kevin Sorbo, who is of Scandinavian heritage.
Set to music Julens önskesångbok, 1997, under the lines "Traditionella julsånger", with music by Lyyli Wartiovaara-Kallioniemi.
See also List of Christmas-themed literature
References
External links Tomten: Swedish lyrics Tomten: English translation Anthology of Swedish Lyrics from 1750 to 1915 at the Internet Archive