CONTENTS 6 Introduction 53 WAGERS TREASURES 8 Note on Norse Names 61 SHAPE SHIFTERS II CREATION 69 HEIMDALL S MANY CHILDREN 19 THE COSMOS 77 FREYJA S SHAME 29 THE GODS CLASH 85 THOR S HAMMER 37 ODIN S QUEST 93 THOR THE GREEDY 45 LOKI S MONSTROUS CHILDREN 103 1IDUNN S APPLES 113 SKAD1 NJORD IEEEEEEEEEEET ORKXPNSCMRMIRPORMAADDIMIRy
KNE KNOR SHERMAN EXETERE 123 FREY GERD 180 Map of the Ancient Norse World 180o Time Line of Norse History 13 DEATH BY BLUNDER 182 Cast of Characters 141 THE CODS TAKE VENGEANCE 186 Bibliography 188 Index 149 KVASIR S ENDURING POETRY 163 DESTRUCTION 175 AFTERWORD DONOGGNOOOOO ONO GO GO ONO O ON KNSKYKLYNoe RRRRISTEN IMG is
INTRODUCTION uring the Middle Ages Latin became the language of writing and of much religious storytelling in many lands of Europe So for example in Germany and France people would speak German or French to friends and business associates but when they wrote books or told Christian stories they used Latin The countries in what is today Scandinavia spoke Old Norse common to all three countries Norway Denmark and Sweden However even after Latin writing came to lceland which was settled by Norse people they wrote their own stories in Old Norse not Latin In Iceland the tradition of skaldie poetry and song was fundamental to daily culture People gathered in large halls at any excuse to listen to stories often because a visiting poet had come to the village Stories could warm a long cold night after all This might well be the reason why some Norse people tenaciously maintained the worldview you will encounter in the stories here until the middle of the 12th century in opposition to the rising strength of Christianity in neighboring countries The Norse stories in many ways reflect the geophysical world the people of Norway and Iceland inhabited Norway is covered with mountains the tallest of which are essentially barren and four are volcanic Iceland is covered with volcanoes many of which are active And both countries INTRODUCTION EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
have snow and ice in many areas in winter and in some areas even year round and each has a long coast lapped by an icy ocean In such an environment the land and sea themselves must have seemed alive At any moment the earth might roar spit fire and swallow you or it might shake and an avalanche of snow could smother your homestead Even a piece of rock if smacked against a glassy stone could produce hot sparks that set afire whatever dry twigs were at hand It s no wonder then that not just living beings had names but all sorts of objects had names too Bridges and halls trees and swords nimate objects of so many kinds had personalities and powers and it was important to show respect through calling them by name and never never to do so frivolously The world must have seemed outrageously dangerous death waited behind any door and oh how savage that death might be Nevertheless these people got in boats and braved seas turbulent with storms as they explored and exploited other worlds The Norse both paid homage to and defied the unknown The spirit of courage colors their mythology even as trickery leads to tragedy And perhaps facing adversity all the time is at least partly the reason why they had a democratic society in which all free men not women and not slaves had a vote just as all gods had a vote in the assemblies that the major god Odin led Lives depended on decisions made in communal meetings so it was best to share both the privilege and the responsibility INTRODUCTION
