Myths of the Norsemen

<p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>There are many books on mythology but we do not know any quite like the present. It gives in a convenient compass all that the ordinary student need know and the stories are carefully classified. Mr. Guerber has produced a book which is a delight to mind and eye alike.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>- </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The Aberdeen Free Press</em></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Richly illustrated and remarkably comprehensive </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Myths of the Norsemen</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> opens the gates of the ancient Northern world-where </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Odin rules Valhalla Thor wields his thunder Loki weaves cunning schemes and Ragnarök foretells the twilight of the gods</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>. Drawing directly from the Eddas and heroic sagas H. A. Guerber gathers the essential legends that shaped Scandinavian culture and inspired centuries of literature and art.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Beyond storytelling this volume reveals the </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>spiritual depth tragic grandeur and fierce beauty</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> that distinguish Norse mythology from all others. From the saga of Sigurd to the fall of the gods each page carries the echo of a heroic age whose symbols still live in modern imagination.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>In fact these old Norse songs have a truth in them an inward perennial truth and greatness... a rude greatness of soul.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>- Thomas Carlyle </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Heroes and Hero Worship</em></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>A timeless and beautifully presented classic-</span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>essential for every reader drawn to myth legend and the enduring power of the Northern imagination</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>.</span></p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Excerpt</strong>: <em>Undoubtedly Northern mythology has exercised a deep influence upon our customs laws and language and there has been therefore a great unconscious inspiration flowing from these into English literature. The most distinctive traits of this mythology are a peculiar grim humour to be found in the religion of no other race and a dark thread of tragedy which runs throughout the whole woof and these characteristics touching both extremes are writ large over English literature.</em></p><p><em>But of conscious influence compared with the rich draught of Hellenic inspiration there is little to be found and if we turn to modern art the difference is even more apparent.</em></p><p><em>This indifference may be attributed to many causes but it was due first to the fact that the religious beliefs of our pagan ancestors were not held with any real tenacity. Hence the success of the more or less considered policy of the early Christian missionaries to confuse the heathen beliefs and merge them in the new faith an interesting example of which is to be seen in the transference to the Christian festival of Easter of the attributes of the pagan goddess Eástre from whom it took even the name.</em></p><p></p>