Children Of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths (1920)
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Before time as we know it began, gods and goddesses lived in the city of Asgard. Odin All Father crossed the Rainbow Bridge to walk among men in Midgard. Thor defended Asgard with his mighty hammer. Mischievous Loki was constantly getting into trouble with the other gods, and dragons and giants walked free. This collection of Norse sagas retold by author Padraic Colum (1920) and narrated by Andre Smuts gives us a sense of that magical time when the world was filled with powers and wonders we can hardly imagine.
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1Once there was another Sun and Moon, different from the ones we see now. Sol was the name of that Sun and Mani was the name of that Moon. But wolves always followed behind Sol and Mani. The wolves caught them at last and devoured Sol and Mani. Then the world was in darkness and cold.
There had always been war between the Giants and the Gods—between the Giants who wanted to destroy the world and the race of men, and the Gods who wanted to protect the race of men and make the world more beautiful
In Asgard there was a garden, and in that garden there grew a tree, and on that tree there grew shining apples. Anyone who ate those shining apples never grew a day older, for eating them kept old age away.
Everyone who lived in Asgard, the Æsir and the Asyniur, who were the Gods and the Goddesses, and the Vanir, who were the friends of the Gods and the Goddesses, were furious with Loki. It was no wonder they were angry with him, for he had let the Giant Thiassi abduct Iduna and her golden apples. However, their anger made Loki want to do more mischief in Asgard.
Loki wanted the Æsir and the Vanir to be friendly to him again so he brought out the wonderful things he had obtained from the Dwarfs—the spear Gungnir and the boat Skidbladnir. The Æsir and the Vanir marveled at such wonderful things. Loki gave the spear as a gift to Odin, and he gave the boat Skidbladnir to Frey, who was chief of the Vanir.
Loki went through Asgard silent and with head bent, and everyone in Asgard said to each other, “This will teach Loki not to work anymore mischief.” They did not know that what Loki had done had sown the seeds of mischief and that these seeds were to sprout up and bring sorrow to the beautiful Freya, who the Giant wanted to carry off with the Sun and the Moon as payment for his building the wall around Asgard.
Frey, the chief of the Vanir, longed to see his sister who had been gone from Asgard for so long. (You must know that this happened during the time when Freya was wandering through the world, seeking her husband, the lost Odur.) In Asgard there was a place from which one could overlook the world and have a glimpse of everyone who wandered there. That place was Hlidskjalf, Odin’s lofty Watch-Tower.
Hnossa, the child of Freya and the lost Odur, was the youngest of all the inhabitants of Asgard. And because it had been prophesied that the child would bring her father and mother together again, little Hnossa was often taken out of the City of the Gods to stand by Bifröst, the Rainbow Bridge, so that she might greet Odur if he returned to Asgard.
Odin had two ravens. Hugin and Munin were their names.They flew through all the worlds every day, and coming back to Asgard they would land on Odin’s shoulders and tell him of all the things they had seen and heard. Once a day passed without the ravens coming back. Then Odin, standing on the Watch-Tower Hlidskjalf, said to himself,I am afraid for Hugin in case he doesnt come not back but I watch more for Munin.
So Odin, no longer riding on Sleipner, his eight-legged horse, no longer wearing his golden armor and his eagle-helmet, and without even his spear in his hand, traveled through Midgard, the World of Men, and made his way toward Jötunheim, the Realm of the Giants
Once, when he was less wise, Odin lived in the world of men with Frigga, his Queen .They lived on a bleak island, and were known as Grimner the Fisherman and his wife.
It was the Dwarfs who brewed the Magic Mead, and it was the Giants who hid it away. But it was Odin who brought it from the place where it was hidden and gave it to the sons of men. Those who drank the Magic Mead became very wise, and not only that but they could put their wisdom into such beautiful words that everyone who heard would love and remember it.
Odin showed himself not only to Giants and Men in the days when he went through Jötunheim and Midgard as Vegtam the wanderer. He met and he spoke with the Gods also, with one who lived far away from Asgard and with others who came to Midgard and to Jötunheim.
All but a few of the inhabitants of Asgard had come to the feast offered by Ægir the Old, the Giant King of the Sea. Frigga, the queenly wife of Odin, was there, and Frey and Freya; Iduna, who guarded the Apples of Youth, and Bragi, her husband; Tyr, the great swordsman, and Niörd, the God of the Sea, Skadi, who married Niörd and whose hatred for Loki was fierce, and Sif, whose golden hair was once shorn off by Loki the mischievous. Thor and Loki were there. The inhabitants of Asgard, gathered together in the hall of Ægir, waiting for Odin.
Loki told another tale about Thor and Thrym, a stupid Giant who had a cunning streak in him. Loki and Thor had been in this Giant’s house. He had made a feast for them and Thor had not been paying attention.
The time between midday and evening wore on while the Æsir and the Vanir gathered for the feast in old Ægir’s hall listened to the stories that Loki told in mockery of Thor.
Now old Ægir’s feast was over and all the Æsir and the Vanir prepared to return to Asgard. However two went another way, Odin, the Eldest of the Gods, and Loki the Mischievous.
He stole Frigga’s dress of falcon feathers. Then as a falcon he flew out of Asgard. toward Jötunheim.
The Æsir were the guests of the Vanir. Everyone in Asgard met and feasted in friendship in Frey’s palace. Odin and Tyr were there, Vidar and Vali, Niörd, Frey, Heimdall, and Bragi. The Asyniur and the Vana were also there—Frigga, Freya, Iduna, Gerda, Skadi, Sif, and Nanna. Thor and Loki were not at the feast, for they had left Asgard together.
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie (from Old Norse valkyrja "chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who choose those who may die in battle and those who may live. Selecting among half of those who die in battle (the other half go to the goddess Freyja's afterlife field Fólkvangr), the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin.
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