Stories of gods and men
Norse Myths
The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland
I love a good Norse Myth and Kevin Crossley-Holland does a great job of writing them. During this reading, I took more notice of Loki. Without Loki, there wouldn’t be nearly as many interesting tales to tell. Loki is the mischief maker. Whenever life for the Aesir gets stale, Loki is there to make things interesting. Kevin Crossley-Holland gives Loki life in his writing and shows us how important the trickster is to these stories.
One of my favorite myths involves both Loki and Thor as key characters. Thor is the God of Thunder, the Charioteer, and basically the enforcer of the gods. In Loki’s Flyting, the gods are being tormented by a bored Loki. His words have driven them to the brink of eruption. Of Freyja he says, “You’re a foul witch with a string of evil works to your name. The bright gods caught you in bed with your own brother, and then, Freyja, you farted.” Soon, Thor walks into the hall with his mighty hammer and gives Loki reason to leave, but not without a few parting words. As Thor tells him, “Hold your tongue, you scum, or my hammer Mjollnir will shut your mouth!” Loki replies with, “I’ve shown the gods and sons of the gods the sharp edge of my thoughts. But because of you and you alone, I think I’ll take my leave now. I know all about your strength.” It isn’t long before Loki is taken care of, but I’ll leave it you to find our how the entrails of his son are used for this.
The Greek Myths are obviously more popular than the Norse, but there is something about these gods of the north that keeps me coming back to their stories. All the drinking, fighting, trickery, and more drinking are highly entertaining.
Levi Muller
War Over Pizza
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