Norse Myths

I was doing some reading, mostly Greek and Norse mythology, for it seems to me aspects of my character has been forged by both these cultures. The Greeks at first depicted their gods with very human qualities, and then as their culture became more sophisticated, the idea of gods who behaved as humans did, became unbelievable. Socrates, in the last half of the fifth century B.C. said, “The wise are doubtful and I should not be singular if I too doubted”. The myths had begun to lose their hold on men’s minds.

The Norse mythology, the one I most relate to, is unlike any other dreamed of by man. It was shaped no doubt by the harsh environment, the long dark winters and the fragility of such a life. Their notion of Asgard is foreign to us; there is no joy or assurance of bliss. To attain Valhalla one must die a heroic death, and then await doom. Asgard, its gods and its humans know that in the last battle between evil and good, the evil giants will defeat the alliance between man and Gods. Asgard will fall in ruins, while the cause is hopeless, both man and the Gods will fight for it until the end. The only sustaining support for the human spirit is to choose heroism and heroism depends on lost causes. The power of good is shown by the continued resistance while facing certain defeat. It may at first appear fatalistic, but there is always a choice: to yield or go down fighting to doom. The heroes’ death is like the martyr’s, a triumph. The hero says, in effect, you can do nothing to me, because I do not care what you do. The Norse poet saw victory was possible in death and that courage is never defeated. Stern in its own way as the Sermon on the Mount, but the easy path has never held the allegiance of man for long.

We are, lucky for somehow the two Icelandic Eddas survived the purge of all things pagan by the Christians. Elsewhere in northern Europe all the old stories, ways songs and traditions were obliterated A few fragments here and there survived, Beowulf in England and the Nibelungenlied in Germany. If not for these works, the Elder Edda (circa 1300) and the Younger Edda (circa 1100), we would know little of the great Teutonic races. The Younger Edda is mostly a treatise on how to write poetry, with some prehistoric mythology not in the Elder Edda.

It is the Elder Edda comprised of purely pagan poems, often of the same story, yet never connected that is the greater of the two. It contains the basics for a Norse Iliad, but no great poet came to work the poems as Homer did his source material. The Edda has pages of nothing but names; it is often childish, repetitive, crude and common. Nonetheless, the epic comes through, it seems as if the poets held greater conceptions than they could pen. The most splendid tales hold a hero, both men and women, who go to meet death, a deliberately chosen death, and often long planned for. The only light in the dark is heroism.

THE CREATION

“Of old there was nothing,

Nor sand, nor sea, nor cool waves.

No earth, no heaven above.

Only the yawning chasm.

The sun knew not her dwelling,

Nor the moon his realm.

The stars had not their places. ” as told by an old wise woman.

There is prophecy in the Elder Edda, singularly like the book of Revelations, that after the defeat of the Gods~

The sun turns black, earth sinks in the sea,

The hot stars fall from the sky,

And fire leaps high about heaven itself

~there would then come a new heaven and earth~

In wondrous beauty once again.

The dwellings roofed with gold.

The fields unsowed bear ripened fruit

In happiness forevermore.

Then would come the rule of one even greater than Odin and beyond the reach of evil~

A greater than all.

But I dare not speak his name.

And there are few who can see beyond

The moment when Odin falls.

This remote day is the only hope the Eddas offer as sustenance. Asgard will fall ,all be obliterated yet one day the world will begin anew.

Oddly another part of the Eddas contain collected sayings of good sense that reflect no heroics ,and give a view of life that dispenses with it altogether. Like Proverbs, the writers here seem old men, ones who have returned from battle ,have reflected on life from a different point of view, even with a touch of humor.

There lies less good than most believe

In ale for mortal men.

A man knows nothing if he knows not

That wealth oft begets an ape.

Tell one your thoughts, but beware of two.

All know what is known to three.

Some show shrewd knowledge of human behavior.

A paltry man and poor of mind

Is he who mocks at all things.

Brave men can live well anywhere

A coward dreads all things.

A tolerant spirit appears occasionally~

No man has nothing but misery ,let him be ever so sick.

To this one his sons are a joy ,and to that

His kin, to another his wealth.

And yet to another the good he has done.

None so good that he has no faults,

None so wicked that he is worth naught.

Sometimes a depth of insight~

Moderately wise each one should be, Not over wise ,for a wise mans heart

Is seldom glad.

Cattle and kindred die. We also die.

But I know one thing that never dies,

Judgment on each one dead.

These two line are among my favorite~

The mind knows only

What lies near the heart.

It is these thoughts and beliefs that are the undercurrent that hold me up in times of trouble. I will die, my choice is in how and why. Courage is all I have in the end. Fight the good fight.

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