Various Authors - Norse Mythology

The legendary tales of the Norse gods Odin, Thor, Loki and their companions, as they fight amongst each other, battle fierce enemies and meddle with troublesome humans, are some of the most entertaining and fascinating stories of all mythology. Their names remain with us in the days of the week: for example, Wednesday is Wodans Day (Wodan being an alternative name for Odin). The myths and legends of the Norsemen were shared by all the Germanic peoples of Europe, and provided a unique alternative to the two competing cultures of the continent in the early centuries ce the increasingly powerful and prescriptive Christianity, and the slowly fading, if widely known, tales of Greek and Roman mythology.

The old stories of the men and women of Scandinavia have been retold countless times and inspired many works of fiction. Fantasy and science fiction owe much to Norse mythology, with its characters, creatures and deities worming their way, in altered forms, into J R R Tolkiens Lord of the Rings and Neil Gaimans American Gods. In music, Norse mythology has inspired as diverse creations as Richard Wagners Ring Cycle and modern heavy metal. While the names of Mjllnir, Asgard, the Valkyries and Ragnark have crept into modern usage.

The tales found their first written expression in two Icelandic Eddas. The elder of the two is known as the Poetic Edda and derives from the medieval manuscript of the Codex Regius, often attributed to the twelfth-century priest Saemund. The younger collection is the Prose Edda, written by Snorri Sturluson in the early thirteenth century. It is from these two sources that almost all knowledge of the Norse mythological world derives.

The gods of the Norsemen were strangely complicated. Like the Greek inhabitants of Mount Olympus, they were often selfish, petty and quick to anger, but they could also display great generosity and were prepared for immense sacrifice. Thor, with his trusty hammer Mjllnir, held immense power, but could easily be tricked; Loki was the trickster, but he was far more than the mere personification of evil; the one-eyed Odin was a wise and cunning deity locked in pursuit of knowledge. In short, the gods were not so different from men.

In Norse cosmology, the world began after Ymir, the first giant, was formed from the meeting of the frost of Niflheim and the flames of Muspelheim. The cow Audhumbla uncovered a group of gods known as the sir that included Odin, who slew Ymir and created the earth from his corpse. The Ash Tree of Life, Yggdrasil, sat at the centre of the Nine Worlds. The gods resided in the upper world of Asgard while humanity dwelt in the central world of Midgard. Mary Litchfield explained more about this in the Introductory Chapter (see page 13). Through these worlds were found creatures such as elves, dwarves and frost giants. In death, men might be condemned to Hel; be carried away by the Valkyries to Valhalla, a heavenly feasting hall reserved for the brave who died in combat; or chosen by Freyja to dwell in the field of Folkvangr. In Valhalla, the martial heroes of Midgard joined Thor in preparation for Ragnark. Also known as The Twilight of the Gods, Ragnark consisted of a great battle between the gods and the frost giants, culminating in the destruction of the world before its eventual rebirth.

War beset the divine world just as it did the mortal one. The Norse gods divided into two tribes the sir and the Vanir, who were often at odds with each other. Gods, such as Thor, Heimdall and Frigg, belonged to the sir, with Odin as their leader. The Vanir included Njrd and his children Freyr and Freyja, amongst others. The sir were known for their warlike qualities and the Vanir for fertility and wisdom.

In the myths collected here, we discover how the world began and how Odin lost his eye. We follow Lokis adventures, his courting of Idunn and his troublemaking, to the cost of the beloved god Baldr. We learn of Thors adventures and his efforts to recover the famous hammer Mjllnir. We hear of Freyr and Freyja, of the great wolf Fenris, of the sirVanir war and of the origin of poetry. And of course, we learn of Ragnark, the Twilight of the Gods.

The fabulous tales of the Viking world do not end with the occurrences in Asgard. Unlike early literary accounts from many other cultures, the storytelling tradition of the Eddas found its way into the recording of history. For centuries, the men of the North recounted the tales of their heroes, their kings and their great adventures in the Sagas. Pages are filled with legendary figures, such as Ragnar Lodbrok, the man who rose from obscurity to become perhaps the most famous Viking of all time, terrorizing the shores of Anglo-Saxon England and West Francia and fathering a crop of sons who would dominate European history in the ninth century ce ; and Halfdan the Black, who carved out a great kingdom in Norway over a series of violent battles. These men, who may well have been true historical figures, take on mythical proportions as they overcome trials and tribulations with which even the gods struggled.

Some of the tales from the Sagas are short, self-contained stories, such as The Tale of Thidrandi. Others are detailed epics, telling the whole life story of an individual. Of these, a few have been reproduced in full. The story of Sigurd, recorded in the Vlsunga Saga, has everything to recommend it power struggles, a battle with a dragon, heartwarming romance, a cursed ring and even moral lessons to take away. The tale of Frithiof the Bold and Ingeborg the Fair is one of the latest of this volume, recorded in c. 1300 in The Saga of Thorstein Vikingsson. In a story of star-crossed lovers long before Shakespeare, the titular Frithiof rages against the kings who prevent him from attaining his love, before eventually realizing his destiny. The Story of Gunnlaugh the Worm-tongue considered one of the masterpieces of Old Norse literature is unlike most of the other sagas in that it takes two poets as its protagonists; gift-giving, courts and honour are at the centre of this fascinating and emotional tale.

Like the fairy-tales of medieval Europe, the legends are often infused with moral lessons. They explain to men and women how they should behave but they are also used to provide a sense of history. It is from the Sagas that we derive most of our knowledge of Scandinavian and Icelandic history in the era before Christianity took hold. Sometimes literal, sometimes allegorical, they are both entertaining and powerful reminders of a half-forgotten world.

For centuries, the stories of the Norsemen vanished into obscurity. In the late nineteenth century, however, a determined effort was made to restore them to public view. This was largely thanks to the work of writers like Mary Litchfield, Sarah Bradish, Edward Ernest Kellett and William Morris whose interpretations and translations are included in this collection, in all their variety of writing styles and viewpoints, sometimes overlapping or contradicting but ultimately combining to create a charismatic picture of a world both familiar and mysterious. As evidenced by its influence in so many fields of literature and creativity today, Norse mythology has, deservedly, never been more popular.

as told by Mary Litchfield

Our ancestors who lived hundreds of years ago believed in many gods. The stories of these gods, however, were written, not in sacred books, but in the memories of the people; for in those early days the Teutons living in northern Europe had no written language. For centuries the fathers handed down to their children the traditions they had received from former generations; until finally Christianity took the place of the old religion.