Norse Gods, Heroes, and Mythology

Norse Gods, Heroes, and Mythology — page 3 — GOLD IN NORSE MYTHOLOGY Gold plays a large role in Norse mythology Norse poets sometimes called gold Sif’s hair because of the new hair she got from the dwarfs The gods most precious jewelry is made out of gold A god named Heimdall has gold teeth One famous Norse story tells of a cursed gold ring The ring drives family members to crave it so badly that they murder one another trying to possess it The story warns of the dangers of greed Loki went to two dwarfs named Brokk and Eitri Loki bet Brokk his head that Eitri could not make a treasure better than Sif’s golden hair The dwarfs agreed to the bet but said that if they succeeded they would have Loki’s head Eitri made a boar out of pure gold and a magical golden arm ring The ring created eight new gold rings every nine days But he had one more treasure to make Eitri forged a hammer that would never break in any battle The hammer would always hit its target Best of all it worked like a boomerang It came back to the 6

Norse Gods, Heroes, and Mythology — page 4 — person who threw it All the gods loved this magical hammer They gave it to Thor the strongest god The dwarfs won the bet and asked for Loki’s head But Loki wasn’t ready to give up so easily He pointed out that he had bet his head but not his neck The god dared Brokk to take off his head without taking off even one bit of his neck Brokk knew that this was impossible He’d been tricked He was furious Brokk decided to sew Loki’s mouth shut instead He wanted to keep him from tricking others But Loki broke out of the stitches He has had a crooked mouth ever since NORSE MYTHOLOGY The story of Loki Brokk and Eitri is a classic of Norse mythology the collection of beliefs and stories that are important to Norse culture The gods of this story are treasure lovers They need weapons for war They do not always keep their promises And even though they have magical powers they are not immortal they can get injured or die 7

Norse Gods, Heroes, and Mythology — page 5 — OTHER NORDIC CULTURES The Norse were not the only traditional culture in and around Scandinavia The Sami people have also lived in the region for thousands of years Sami and Norse people traded but they had different cultures and beliefs In addition Finnish myths and cultural traditions are different from Norse and Sami ones Norse mythology is a term for the beliefs and stories of Norse culture Norse culture existed in the northern European countries of Sweden Norway Denmark Iceland and other nearby areas from approximately the 600s to the 1300s CE Their stories or myths were part of a traditional religion and way of life Like all myths these stories feature supernatural characters and events They also contain truth Myths help explain the world They tell where people come from and where they are going They also show which gods and values a culture thinks are important The Norse people survived in cold harsh lands They worked and lived alongside many kinds of animals 8

Norse Gods, Heroes, and Mythology — page 6 — WHERE NORSE PEOPLE LIVED The Norse people lived in what are now Sweden Norway Denmark and Iceland What can you tell from the map about the landscape of these places How do you think this influenced Norse peoples daily lives W N S E ICELAND SWEDEN NORWAY DENMARK 9 NORWAY DENMARK

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