The mighty Woden laughs upon his throne,
And once more claims his children for his own.
The voice of Thor resounds again on high,
While arm'd Valkyries ride from out the sky
H.P. Lovecraft, The Teuton's Battle Song
"But a god must be more than well loved: he must show the attributes of godhead, and this Thor did, abundantly. By name and quality he was the thunder god, who rumbled in his goat drawn chariot across the heavens and was armed with the thunderbolt in the shape of his short-handled hammer Mjollnir. Red-bearded, massive of frame, enormously strong, he was cast in a protecting role for Asgard and the gods and by implication for
Midgard and the race of men."
"It was Red Thor, not Odinn, who stood out against White Christ. It was the hammer, not the spear, which warded off the cross."
Gwyn Jones, The Vikings
"Thor has two he-goats, that are called Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr,
and a chariot wherein he drives, and the he-goats draw the chariot;"
He has also three things of great price: one is the hammer Mjöllnir, which the Rime-Giants and the Hill-Giants know, when it is raised on high; and that is no wonder, it has bruised many a skull among their fathers or their kinsmen. He has a second costly thing, best of all: thegirdle of might; and when he clasps it about him, then the godlike strength within him is increased by half. Yet a third thing he has, in which there is much virtue: his iron gloves; he cannot do without them when he uses his hammer-shaft. But no one is so wise that he can tell all his mighty works; yet I can tell thee so much tidings of him that the hours would be spent before all that I know were told."
He has also three things of great price: one is the hammer Mjöllnir, which the Rime-Giants and the Hill-Giants know, when it is raised on high; and that is no wonder, it has bruised many a skull among their fathers or their kinsmen. He has a second costly thing, best of all: thegirdle of might; and when he clasps it about him, then the godlike strength within him is increased by half. Yet a third thing he has, in which there is much virtue: his iron gloves; he cannot do without them when he uses his hammer-shaft. But no one is so wise that he can tell all his mighty works; yet I can tell thee so much tidings of him that the hours would be spent before all that I know were told."
"About evening, Thor took his he-goats and slaughtered them both;
after that they were flayed and borne to the caldron. When the cooking
was done, then Thor and his companion sat down to supper. Thor invited
to meat with him the husbandman and his wife, and their children: the
husbandman's son was called Thjálfi, and the daughter Röskva. Then Thor
laid the goat-hides farther away from the fire, and said that the
husbandman and his servants should cast the bones on the goat-hides.
Thjálfi, the husbandman's son, was holding a thigh-bone of the goat, and
split it with his knife and broke it for the marrow.
"Thor tarried there overnight; and in the interval before day he rose
up and clothed himself, took the hammer Mjöllnir, swung it up, and
hallowed the goat-hides; straightway the he-goats rose up, and then one
of them was lame in a hind leg."
Gylfaginning
"On his way to meet the giant, Thor spends the night with a friendly giantess,
who lends him her magic staff."
Heather O'Donoghue, From Asgard To Valhalla: The Remarkable History Of Norse Myths
who lends him her magic staff."
Heather O'Donoghue, From Asgard To Valhalla: The Remarkable History Of Norse Myths
No comments:
Post a Comment