Norse Mythology Essay Research Paper name

Norse Mythology Essay, Research Paper

name = Monica McKirdy

email = monicam@proaxis.com

publish = yes

subject

= MYTHOLOGY

title = Norse Mythology

papers = The book entitled “Norse

Mythology” by Karl

Mortensen, is the book I chose to read for my first

book report for this semester. The book was

translated from the Danish

by A. Clinton Crowell.

Karl Mortensen was a doctor of philosophy whom

attended the University of Copenhagen.

The first part of the book is

the general

introduction. Here, you find the author’s meaning

of “Norse

mythology” and where he got his

information. He says,

By “Norse mythology” we mean the

information

we have concerning the

religious conceptions and usages

of our

heathen forefathers, their faith and

manner of worshipping the gods, and also

their legends and songs

about the gods

and heroes. The importation of

Christianity drove out the old heathen

faith, but

remnants or memories of it

long endured in the superstitious

ideas

of the common people, and can even be

traced

in our own day.

In the general introduction, the author tells

us why we teach Norse mythology. He tells us that

for us, Norse mythology

has in any case the

advantage of being the religion of our own

forefathers,

and through it we learn to know that

religion. This is necessary if we

wish to

understand the history and poetry of our antiquity

and to comprehend

what good characteristics and

what faults Christianity encountered when

it was

proclaimed in the North. Finally, it is necessary

to know the

most important points of the heathen

faith of our fathers in order to appreciate

and

enjoy many of the words of our best poets.

“Norse Mythology”

is comprised of four main

sections. The first section contains the creation

myth, which is extremely confusing because it talks

about brother’s

aunt’s cousin’s children from

second marriages and what importance they

were in

those golden times. It’s quite hard to understand,

and I had

to read it over twice to make sure I

understood. The second part of the

first section

discusses the creation of the gods and the stories

of

their lives. And the last part is entitled

Ragnorak, which stands for the

enemies of the gods.

All of this was quite interesting to read.

The second section of the book talks about

common popular belief. It says

that our

forefathers, like other heathen people, found one

of the plainest

proofs of the soul’s independence

of the body and its ability to take a

hand in the

affairs of living men in the nightmare and dream,

as they

lacked all other means of explaining those

things. They therefore took

it for granted that

they were spirits, usually in the form of animals

or men. Through the smallest crack or crevice the

nightmare slips to the

sleeping one, and torments

and troubles him so sadly that he becomes ill

or

that it causes his death. It is felt as an

oppressing weight upon

the breast or throat; the

mare “treads” or “rides” the sleeping one from

his

legs up to his body and thrusts his tongue into the

victim’s throat

to hinder him from crying out. The

Northern people have clung this very

day to their

belief in the “mare” as a supernatural female

being, and

many legends about it have arisen. A

“mare” can slip out only by the same

way that it

came in; if one stops up the opening, it is caught.

The

same thing happens if one names its name.

In the Ynglinga Saga

it is told of

King Vanlandi, who had betrayed his

Finnish bride, Drifa, that he in

punishment

for that had been killed by a

‘mare’ with which the magic arts

of the

Finns had tormented him. He became

suddenly sleepy and lay down to rest,

but when he had slept

a little he cried

that a ‘mare’ was treading him. The

king’s men hastened to his assistance,

but when they

turned to his head, the

‘mare’ trod upon his legs so that they

were nearly broken, and if they went to

the legs,

she was directly occupied at

the head; and so the king was actually

tortured to death.

Also found in the second section

are chief gods

and myths of the gods. Here, there are stories told

of Thor, Odin, Frey and Njorth, Heimdall and

Baldur, and Loki. It c

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