A god who rides an eight-legged horse and plucks out his own eye to gain the gift of wisdom. A rainbow which makes a shimmering bridge between the worlds of gods and men. A creature whose body is half alive and half stinking decay. A serpent so vast its coils encircle the world. A necklace so beautiful it drives even a goddess to madness …
These are just a few of the unforgettable stories that are waiting for you in this book.
But, first, what actually is a myth? It’s a story that people tell about ancient times in order to explain some aspect of their lives. Maybe they want to understand why storms sink ships, or what stars are, or why things die. And the sorts of stories they tell depends on where they live, and what kind of people they are. So I want to tell you a bit about the Norsemen – or the Vikings, as they’re sometimes called – because that’ll help you get even more out of their amazing myths.
The Norsemen were the people of ancient Scandinavia: that’s what we now call Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. They wrote down their myths in about ad 800–1200, although it’s thought that they’d been speaking or singing them for much longer than that.
Their land had, and still has, a harsh beauty all its own. It has stormy seas and glittering fjords, brooding mountains and endless forests. It’s a place of extremes. In the far north of Scandinavia, the summer sun never sets, but winter brings blizzards and months of darkness. So it’s no surprise that the Norsemen peopled their land with ice giants and stone trolls, underground dwarfs and shadowy elves. I’ve been to Scandinavia many times, and, believe me, when you’re alone in the mountains and the fog’s rolling in, it’s easy to imagine a troll lurking behind every boulder … Or was it the boulder itself that just moved?
The Norsemen were brave, self-reliant people. Their lives could be brutal, but they loved singing and telling riddles, as well as feasting on roast boar and mead. They liked fast ships, beautiful horses and strong-willed women. They also went in for quite a lot of fighting, and they weren’t above using trickery to get what they wanted.
Above all, the Norsemen were tough. They were the best sailors of their day: they discovered Iceland, Greenland and North America – and they did it in open boats. Just think about that. You’re out on the north Atlantic, icy waves sloshing over the sides of the ship, no sign of land – and no cabin to warm up in. It’s not surprising that the Norsemen believed that at the bottom of the sea lived a green-haired Giant with nine beautiful Wave-Daughters, and a merciless wife who dragged sailors to their doom …
Toughness, cunning, bravery, determination and a fierce love of beauty. The Norsemen had all these qualities, and so did their gods and goddesses. Their myths have come down to us in many pieces: some long poems, and lots of fragments. It was the brilliance of Roger Lancelyn Green to form these into a coherent whole, while keeping many of the original words and images, so that we too can hear the echo of those ancient Viking voices. As he says in his Author’s Note, his aim was to preserve ‘that air of “Northernness” ’. He succeeded magnificently.
I first read Myths of the Norsemen when I was eight, and they’ve haunted me ever since. I’ve just re-read them to write this Introduction, and I’ve been astonished to find how much of an influence they’ve had on my own stories. If I hadn’t read them over and over when I was growing up, I don’t think I’d have written about the ghosts of the far north, or about Torak and Wolf.
Myths are powerful things, and the myths of the Norsemen are among the most powerful in the world. When you read this book, you’ll be taking your own journey over the rainbow bridge, and into the strange, violent world of the Viking gods.
Who knows where your journey will take you after that?