Public-domain ebook
Teutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the Northland, Vol. 3
Language: en1,131 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Mythology, Legends & Folklore
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #58830.
About this book
Viktor Rydberg’s Teutonic Mythology offers a scholarly survey of Germanic and Norse legend, and Volume III begins with a vivid retelling of Thor’s perilous encounter with the giant Geirrod. The narrative opens as Loke, disguised as a falcon, tricks Thor into confronting the giant without his usual weapons, leading the god to wrestle a raging river until he hurls a stone at Geirrod’s daughter Gjalp and finally scrambles ashore with the aid of a shrub. From this episode the work expands into a detailed table of contents that lists essays on the Seven Sleepers, the anthropology of myth, and numerous heroic cycles, all accompanied by illustrative photogravures. The volume thus functions as both a narrative compendium and a comparative analysis of mythic motifs across the Teutonic tradition.
Rydberg writes in a learned, nineteenth‑century academic voice, blending meticulous philological commentary with literary description. His prose is dense yet richly descriptive, reflecting the era’s fascination with mythic origins and the integration of Christian and pagan sources. Readers who enjoy rigorous mythological scholarship, historic‑critical essays, and the romantic tone of early‑modern Germanic studies will find this volume rewarding.
Characters in Teutonic Mythology
- ThorBroad‑shouldered Norse god, long red beard, winged helmet, wielding hammer
- GeirrodColossal giant, shaggy brown hair, wild beard, massive stone‑clad armor
- GjalpTall maiden, flowing golden hair, fierce eyes, draped in river‑blue robes
The opening · free to read
No. 99
COPYRIGHT, T. H. SMART, 1905.
(From an etching by Lorenz Frölich.)
Loke, in the guise of a falcon, having been captured by Geirrod, promised if released to bring Thor into the power of the giant without his hammer, belt or iron gloves. Thor being persuaded by the crafty Loke, started upon the journey. When he came to the river Vimer he attempted to ford it, though the stream had become a great torrent. As he reached the center the waters rose rapidly until they washed over his shoulders and he seemed to be in imminent danger of being carried away. At this juncture, looking toward the source of the river, he perceived Gjalp, Geirrod's daughter, who stood astride the stream and was causing its rapid growth. He thereupon seized a stone and threw it with his usual precision at the offending woman, who retreated. But it was with much struggling that Thor reached the bank which, however, he would have had great difficulty in ascending but for his fortune to seize a projecting shrub, by the aid of which he drew himself out of the raging waters.
See page 933.]
TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
The book keeps going
Keep reading, and see it illustrated
Reading is free forever. Sign up and watch scenes appear while you read.
Scenes Storieta drew for other classics.
