H. A. Guerber

Myths of the Norsemen - From the Eddas and Sagas


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      Myths of the Norsemen

      -

      From the Eddas and Sagas

      by

      H. A. Guerber

      Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

      This book is copyright and may not be

      reproduced or copied in any way without

      the express permission of the publisher in writing

      British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      Contents

       Myths of the Norsemen - From the Eddas and Sagas

       A Short History of Fairy Tales

       Introduction

       Chapter I: The Beginning

       Chapter II: Odin

       Chapter III: Frigga

       Chapter IV: Thor

       Chapter V: Tyr

       Chapter VI: Bragi

       Chapter VII: Idun

       Chapter VIII: Niörd

       Chapter IX: Frey

       Chapter X: Freya

       Chapter XI: Uller

       Chapter XII: Forseti

       Chapter XIII: Heimdall

       Chapter XIV: Hermod The Nimble God

       Chapter XV: Vidar

       Chapter XVI: Vali

       Chapter XVII: The Norns

       Chapter XVIII: The Valkyrs

       Chapter XIX: Hel

       Chapter XX: Ægir

       Chapter XXI: Balder

       Chapter XXII: Loki

       Chapter XXIII: The Giants

       Chapter XXIV: The Dwarfs

       Chapter XXV: The Elves

       Chapter XXVI: The Sigurd Saga

       Chapter XXVII: The Story of Frithiof

       Chapter XXVIII: The Twilight of the Gods

       Chapter XXIX: Greek and Northern Mythologies

      A Short History of Fairy Tales

      A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features European folkloric fantasy characters, such as dwarves, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, mermaids, trolls or witches, and usually magic or enchantments to boot! Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends (which generally involve belief in the veracity of the events described) and explicitly moral tales, including fables or those of a religious nature. In cultures where demons and witches are perceived as real, fairy tales may merge into legends, where the narrative is perceived both by teller and hearers as being grounded in historical truth. However unlike legends and epics, they usually do not contain more than superficial references to religion and actual places, people, and events; they take place ‘once upon a time’ rather than in actual times.

      The history of the fairy tale is particularly difficult to trace because only the literary forms survive. Still, the evidence of literary works at least indicates that fairy tales have existed for thousands of years, although not perhaps recognized as a genre. The name ‘fairy tale’ was first ascribed to them by Madame d’Aulnoy in the late seventeenth century. Many of today’s fairy tales have evolved from centuries-old stories that have appeared, with variations, in multiple cultures around the world. Two theories of origins have attempted to explain the common elements in fairy tales across continents. One is that a single point of origin generated any given tale, which then spread over the centuries; the other is that such fairy tales stem from common human experience and therefore can appear separately in many different origins.

      Some folklorists prefer to use the German term Märchen or ‘wonder tale’ to refer to the genre over fairy tale, a practice given weight by the definition of Thompson in his 1977 edition of The Folktale. He described it as ‘a tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes. It moves in an unreal world without definite locality or definite creatures and is filled with the marvellous. In this never-never land, humble heroes kill adversaries, succeed to kingdoms and marry princesses.’ The genre was first marked out by writers of the Renaissance, such as Giovanni Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile, and stabilized through the works of later collectors such as Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. The oral tradition of the fairy tale came long before the written page however.

      Tales were told or enacted dramatically, rather than written down, and handed from generation to generation. Because of this, the history of their development is necessarily obscure. Many fairy tales appear in written literature throughout different cultures, as in The Golden Ass, which includes Cupid and Psyche (Roman, 100–200 AD), or the Panchatantra (India 3rd century BCE). However it is still unknown to what extent these reflect the actual folk tales even of their own time. The fairy tale itself became popular among the French nobility and among the tales told in that time were the ones of La Fontaine and the Contes of Charles Perrault (1697), who fixed the forms of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Cinderella.’ Perrault largely laid the foundations for this new literary genre, with some of the best