Jorge Luis Borges
... And should not be afraid ...
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Pierre tombale de Jorge Luis Borges, au cimetière des Rois, à Genève. 2001. Photo J. M.
"…AND NE FORTHEDON NA…"
… and should not be afraid… … et ne doivent pas avoir peur.
C'est un extrait du poème anglo-saxon : La bataille de Maldon.
Au dos :
"…HANN TEKR SVERTHIT GRAM
OK LEGGR I METHAL THEIRA BERT…"
"… he takes the sword Gram and lays it naked between them…"
"… Il prit son épée, Gram, et plaça entre eux deux le métal nu…"
C'est l'épigraphe Old Norse de la Saga des Volsungs, à une nouvelle de Borgès : Ulrike.
Sous cette inscription, une autre ligne :
"… DE ULRICA A JAVIER OTAROLA …"
"…From Ulrike to Javier Otarola…", "… De Ulrike à Javier Otarola…"
---------------------------
Histoire de la Grande Bretagne de 597 à 891
La bataille de Maldon, Le poème.
La bataille de Maldon, 991 AD. L'histoire.
Histoire des Volsungs, origine
Mythologie nordique : Tolkien et Wagner
Dieux de la mythologie Nordique
La Saga des Volsungs
Résumé de l'histoire de Sigurd
Ulrike, short story
Références mythologiques modernes
Histoire de la Grande Bretagne de 597 à 1007
597 - The Roman brand of Christianity is brought to Britain for the first time by St. Augustine, the missionary sent from Pope Gregory to convert the Saxons. Augustine founded a monastery and the first church at Canterbury, and was proclaimed its first Archbishop.
633 - Mercians under Penda defeat Northumbrians
642 - Mercians under Penda again defeat the Northumbrians
655 - Oswy, king of Northumbria, defeats and kills Penda of Mercia
664 - Synod of Whitby; Oswy abandons the Celtic Christian Church and accepts the faith of Rome: decline of the Celtic Church
731 - Venerable Bede, British monk, completes his history of the Church in England
735 - Death of the Venerable Bede
757 - Offa, King of Mercia (to 796): he builds Offa's Dyke to keep out the Welsh
779 - Offa, King of Mercia, becomes King of all England
782 - Charlemagne summons the monk and scholar Alcuin of York to head the palace school at Aachen: revival of learning in Europe
793 - Vikings invade Britain for the first time in a surprise attack on the monastic community at Lindisfarne (Holy Island).
796 - Death of Offa: end of Mercian supremacy in England
802 - Egbert, King of Wessex (to 839)
828 - Egbert of Wessex is recognized as overlord of other English kings
839 - AEthelwulf, son of Egbert, King of Wessex (to 858)
844 - Kenneth MacAlpin, King of the Scots, conquers the Picts; founds a unified Scotland
858 - AEthelbald, eldest son of AEthelwulf, King of Wessex (to 860)
860 - AEthelbert, second son of AEthelwulf, King of Wessex (to 865)
865 - AEthelred I, third son of AEthelwulf, King of Wessex (to 871)
871 - The Danes attack Wessex; are defeated by AEthelred at Ashdown
878 - Alfred decisively defeats the Danes at Edington; by the Peace of Wedmore, England is divided between Wessex in the south and the Danes in the north, the Danelaw
886 - Alfred captures London from the Danes
899 - Edward the Elder, King of Wessex (to 924)
901 - Edward the Elder takes the title "King of the Angles and Saxons"
913 - Edward the Elder recaptures Essex from the Danes
924 - Athelstan, son of Edward the Elder, becomes king of Wessex and effective ruler of most of England (to 939)
926 - Athelstan annexes Northumbria, and forces the kings of Wales, Strathclyde, the Picts, and the Scots to submit to him
937 - Battle of Brunanburh: Athelstan defeats alliance of Scots, Celts, Danes, and Vikings, and takes the title of "King of all Britain"
939 - Edmund, brother of Athelstan, King of England (to 946)
945 - Dunstan becomes abbot of Glastonbury
946 - Edred, younger brother of Edmund, King of England (to 955); Dunstan is named his chief minister
955 - Edwy, son of Edmund, King of England (to 959)
956 - Dunstan sent into exile by Edwy
957 - Mercians and Northumbrians rebel against Edwy
959 - Edgar the Peaceful, younger brother of Edwy, King of England (to 975)
975 - Edward the Martyr, son of Edgar, King of England (to 978)
978 - Edward the Martyr murdered at Corfe Castle; AEthelred II, the Unready (ill-counselled), younger brother of Edward the Martyr, King of England (to 1016)
980 - The Danes renew their raids on England attacking Chester and Southampton
991 - Battle of Maldon: Byrhtnoth of Essex defeated by Danish invaders; AEthelred II buys off the Danes with 10,000 pounds of silver (Danegeld)
992 - AEthelred makes a truce with Duke Richard I of Normandy
994 - Danes under Sweyn and Norwegians under Olaf Trygvesson sail up river Thames and besiege London; bought off by AEthelred
1003 - Sweyn and an army of Norsemen land in England and wreak a terrible vengeance
1007 - AEthelred buys two years' peace from the Danes for 36,000 pounds of silver
Source Britannia History dept.
...would be broken.
Then he ordered a warrior each horse be let free,
driven afar and advance onward,
giving thought to deeds of arms and to steadfast courage.
Then it was that Offa's kinsman first perceived,
that the Earl would not endure cowardice,
for he let then from his hand flee his beloved
falcon towards the woods and there to battle went forth.
By this a man might understand that this youth would not
prove soft at the coming battle, when he takes up arms.
Further Eadric desired to serve his chief,
his lord to fight with; and so he advanced forward
his spear to battle. He had a dauntless spirit
as long as he with hands might be able to grasp
15 shield and broad sword: the vow he would carry out
that he had made before his lord saying he would fight.
Then Byrhtnoth marshalled his soldiers,
riding and instructing, directing his warriors
how they should stand and the positions they should keep,
20 and ordering that their shields properly stand firm
with steady hands and be not fraid.
In the second week in August, after a profitable descent on Ipswich, 40 miles to the north-east (see map, Appendix), they entered the Blackwater estuary, and occupied Northey Island to the east of Maldon (then called Maeldun, meaning "Hill with a Cross"). For access to the mainland they depended then, as today, on a single causeway, flooded at high tide, which led from Northey to the flats along the southern margin of the estuary.
Before the Vikings had left their camp on the island, Byrhtnoth, with his retainers and a hastily assembled force of local militia, had taken possession of the landward end of the causeway. The Vikings, as was their way, shouted across the water while the tide was high their demands for gold and silver tribute in exchange for their leaving. However, Byrhtnoth refused and drew up his men along the bank and waited, as then did the Vikings, for the ebb tide. As the water fell the raiders began to stream out along the causeway (see photo, Appendix). But three of Byrhtnoth's retainers, tough and hardened fighting men, held it against them, and at last they asked to be allowed to cross unhindered and fight on equal terms on the mainland. Now even at low tide, the causeway is no more than a few feet wide at best, and both to the left and right is the black sticky ooze of the Essex salt marshes - I know, I've stood at the very spot! A man weighed down with arms and thick mud would be no match for those waiting on dry land. It was a virtually unassailable position, yet with what even those who admired him most called over-courage, Byrhtnoth agreed to their request: the pirates rushed through the falling tide, and battle was joined. Suffice to say it was a fearsome fight with no quarter asked or given on either side. The English were well aware of the ferocity of the Vikings who in their turn knew that there could be no surrender so far from home. The issue was decided when Byrhtnoth himself was slain.Many, even of his own men, immediately took flight and the English ranks were broken. What gives enduring interest to the battle is the superb courage with which a group of Byrhtnoth's thegns (his personal military entourage), knowing that the fight was lost, deliberately gave themselves to death in order that they might avenge their lord. A plaque has been erected at the spot to mark the site
To the raiders, the battle of Maldon was merely an exciting incident in the course of a successful expedition. During the next four months they compelled the local rulers of Kent, Hampshire, and western England to buy peace from them. Before the end of the year they had entered into a treaty with the English government by which, in return for provisions and 5 tons of silver, they undertook to keep the peace towards the king and his subjects, and to join them in attacking any other viking host descending on England. The treaty was never kept, and within two years Olaf was again openly hostile to England, and within four he had made himself master of all Norway! It is worth considering that had Byrhtnoth not acceded to the Vikings' demand for a 'fair fight', his then surely successful stand at the causeway may well have given new heart to the many Englishmen who were tired of the ruthless expansion of these highly successful Norsemen!
Now my friend Tom Bjornstad believes that no amount of bravery on the Britons' part could have saved them from a typical Viking fate, but I believe that if Byrhtnoth had made a stand at the causeway, Olaf's men would have either been defeated, or more probably, withdrawn. If we go with the latter assumption, then this would surely have given Byrhtnoth's forces time to gather formidable strength, considering their vastly improved morale. Any further battle on the Essex coast would thereafter NOT have been a foregone conclusion.
A braver and more prepared England may well have withstood the invasion of another Viking descendant, William the Conqueror, 75 years later, and British and World history could have been so very, very different...
source : http://www.airflow.net/maldon/maldon02.htm
The story of the Volsungs. (Volsunga Saga)
An Icelandic prose epic, in Icelandic (Old Norse), whose anonymous thirteenth-century author drew on the legends of Old Scandinavian folk culture. However, most of the material is based substantially on previous works, some centuries older. A few of these works have been preserved in the collection of Norse poetry known as the "Poetic Edda". This saga has in turn served as a source for authors from Wagner to J.R.R. Tolkein. The history, legends and myths contained in the sagas reach back to the great folk migrations in Europe when the Roman Empire collapsed.
Texte complet : http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Volsunga/
Norse mythology, Tolkien, and Wagner.
Many of us are familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung, but we are not familiar with the sources used to create them. Norse mythology, which both of these works developed from, is filled with pagan customs and contains many wonderful and eerie stories.
Tolkien was very well acquainted with Norse mythology, as can be seen by the use of it in his books. The name of one of his main characters, Gandalf, is found in The Poetic Edda, one of the main sources of Norse mythology. Gandalf is, in some ways, reminiscent of Odin, a major Norse god. Even the name Middle-earth, the setting for Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, comes from Norse mythology.
Wagner also referred to Norse tales. When he composed The Ring of the Nibelung, he combined the Norse The Saga of the Volsungs with the German epic The Nibelungenlied. Wagner relied less heavily on the The Nibelungenlied than some believe, and instead turned to the more pagan Volsung saga.
There are many ways to spell the names of the gods and goddessess. I have chosen the most common. In some places I have supplied alternative spellings in parentheses. I have also supplied some translations in brackets. These are mainly from Hollander's The Poetic Edda.
Sigi, the son of Odin, murdered another man's thrall (slave) so he was named an outlaw and banished from the land. His father took care of him and led him to Hunland where he became king. Eventually, he had a son named Rerir. While Rerir was away, Sigi was attacked and killed by his wife's brothers (a recurrent theme in this saga). When Rerir returned, he reclaimed the throne and married.
He and his wife could not reproduce so they prayed to Frigg for fertility. Frigg told Odin about the couple's request so Odin called one of his wish maidens (possibly a valkyrie), the giant Hrimnir's daughter, and gave her an apple. She turned into a crow (a woman turning into a bird or putting on its feathers was common in norse lays) and droped the apple onto Rerir's lap. Rerir took the apple with him on a visit to the queen, and ate some of it. The queen soon bore Volsung He married the aforementioned wish-maiden who was named Hljod.
Hljod and Volsung had ten sons, the eldest named Sigmund, and one daughter, Signy . Volsung had a palace built around the tree Branstock so that the trunk of the tree was in the palace. The King of Gautland (Sweden), Siggeir , asked for Signy's hand. At the wedding banquet, Odin arrived in his usual disguise -- elderly, one-eyed, wearing a cape and hood --, stuck a sword in Branstock and said whoever pulled the sword out could have it. All tried, but only Sigmund prevailed. Siggeir wanted the sword and plotted revenge against Sigmund. He invited the King and all of his sons to visit the newly weds in Gautland in three months.
After the Volsungs arrived, Siggeir and his army attacked them. King Volsung was killed and all of his sons taken prisoner. Signy asked her husband to put her brothers in stocks instead of killing them quickly. Siggeir agreed since he thought they deserved to be tortured. For nine nights a she-wolf, Siggeir's shapeshifted mother, ate one of the Volsungs, until only Sigmund remained. Signy had her trusted man-servant smear honey on Sigmund's face and in his mouth. That night the wolf licked the honey and when it stuck its tongue into Sigmund's mouth, he bit it off, killing the wolf.
Siggeir thought all the Volsungs were dead, but Sigmund lived in the forest underground. Signy brought him everything he needed. She had two sons with Siggeir and sent the eldest when he was ten to Sigmund to aid in the revenge of Volsung. Sigmund tested the boy's courage by asking him to knead flour which had something alive in it. The boy would not touch the flour so Sigmund didn't want him as a helper. Signy told Sigmund to kill the boy, since he was worthless. Sigmund did so. The same happened with Signy's other son.
Signy exchanged shapes with a beautiful sorceress and went to Sigmund. The two slept together and Signy later had Sigmund's son, Sinfjotli.
Leader of the Aesir. Odin had a myriad of names including Allfather, Ygg, Bolverk [evil doer], and Grimnir. He also had many functions including being a god of war, poetry, wisdom, and death. His halls were called Gladsheim Valaskjalf and Valhalla. Odin's high seat, Hlidskialf, was in Valaskjalf. It was from this throne that he could see over all the world. Valhalla is where he gathered his portion of the slain warriors, Einheriar, whom the valkyries had chosen.
The valkyries would serve mead which forever flowed from the udder of Odin's goat, Heidrun. They also served the warriors meat that came from the boar Saehrimnir, which the cook Andhrimnir would prepare for eating by boiling it in the cauldron Eldhrimnir. The boar magically came back to life before the next meal. After eating, the warriors would go outside the hall and fight each other to the death. They were, of course, brought back to life before the next feast. All of this fighting was practice for when Odin would lead the Einheriar in the final battle, Ragnarok.
Odin had a spear named Grungir which never missed its mark and a bow which unleashed ten arrows with every pull. He also owned a magic ring called Draupnir which created nine of itself every night. It was this ring that Odin laid on his son Balder's funeral pyre and which Balder returned to Odin from the underworld. Another one of Odin's prized possesions was his wonderful steed named Sleipnir which had eight legs.
The horse was the offspring of Loki, who in mare form seduced a giant's horse named Svadilfari. Sleipnir could travel to the underworld and through the air. Odin also had two wolves, Geri and Freki, and two ravens, Hugin [thought] and Munin [memory]. He sent his ravens out every day to gather knowledge for him.
Odin sacrificed himself for knowledge by hanging on the world tree, Yggdrasil, which means Ygg's horse. Ygg is a name for Odin and horse is a metaphor for the gallows. He thereby learns the runes. Another sacrifice he made for wisdom was his eye. He gave it up in order to drink from the Well of Mimir which bestowed great knowledge. Because of this, he is typically depicted as having one eye. He is also depicted as wearing a cloak, being old, having a long grey beard, and wearing a wide brimmed hat down low over his face to conceal his one-eyed visage.
Odin was destined to die at Ragnarok; Fenris-Wolf swallowed him. Knowing his fate, he still chose to embrace it and do battle. Showing the true warrior ethic. He was the god of warriors and kings, not the common man. Many heroes genealogies start with Odin, including Sigurd. His name is not found in many place names and therefore it is believed that not many people worshipped him. He was thought to be a traitorous god, as shown in the sagas, who would strike down a warrior at his whim.
GUDRUN + Sigurd + BRYNHILD = descending from Gjuki + Grimhild
THE STORY OF THE VOLSUNGS (VOLSUNGA SAGA)
The Wooing of Brynhild
Now they array them joyously for their journey, and ride over hill and dale to the house of King Budli, and woo his daughter of him; in a good wise he took their speech, if so be that she herself would not deny them, but he said withal that so high- minded was she, that that man only might wed her whom she would.
Then they ride to Hlymdale, and there Heimir gave them good welcome; so Gunnar tells his errand; Heimir says, that she must needs wed but him whom she herself chose freely; and tells them how her abode was but a little way thence, and that he deemed that him only would she have who should ride through the flaming fire that was drawn round about her hall; so they depart and come to the hall and the fire, and see there a castle with a golden roof-ridge, and all round about a fire roaring up.
Now Gunnar rode on Goti, but Hogni on Holkvi, and Gunnar smote his horse to face the fire, but he shrank aback.
Then said Sigurd, "Why givest thou back, Gunnar?"
He answered, "The horse will not tread this fire; but lend me thy horse Grani."
"Yea, with all my good will," says Sigurd.
Then Gunnar rides him at the fire, and yet nowise will Gram stir, nor may Gunnar any the more ride through that fire. So now they change semblance, Gunnar and Sigurd, even as Grimhild had taught them; then Sigurd in the likeness of Gunnar mounts and rides, Gram in his hand, and golden spurs on his heels; then leapt Grani into the fire when he felt the spurs; and a mighty roar arose as the fire burned ever madder, and the earth trembled, and the flames went up even unto the heavens, nor had any dared to ride as he rode, even as it were through the deep mirk.
But now the fire sank withal, and he leapt from his horse and went into the hall, even as the song says
"The flame flared at its maddest,
Earth's fields fell a-quaking
As the red flame aloft
Licked the lowest of heaven.
Few had been fain,
Of the rulers of folk,
To ride through that flame,
Or athwart it to tread.
"Then Sigurd smote
Grani with sword,
And the flame was slaked
Before the king;
Low lay the flames
Before the fain of fame;
Bright gleamed the array
That Regin erst owned
Now when Sigurd had passed through the fire, he came into a certain fair dwelling, and therein sat Brynhild.
She asked, "What man is it?"
Then he named himself Gunnar, son of Giuki, and said -- "Thou art awarded to me as my wife, by the good will and word of thy father and thy foster-father, and I have ridden through the flame of thy fire, according to thy that thou hast set forth."
"I wot not clearly," said she, "how I shall answer thee."
Now Sigurd stood upright on the hall floor, and leaning on the hilt of his sword, and he spake to Brynhild --
"In reward thereof, shall I pay thee a great dower in gold and goodly things?"
She answered in heavy mood from her seat, whereas she sat like unto swan on billow, having a sword in her hand and a helm on her head, and being clad in a byrny, "O Gunnar," she says, "speak not to me of such things unless thou be the first and best of all men; for then shall thou slay those my wooers, if thou hast heart thereto; I have been in battles with the king of the Greeks, and weapons were stained with red blood, and for such things still I yearn."
He answered, "Yea, certes many great deeds hast thou done; but yet call thou to mind thine oath, concerning the riding through of this fire, wherein thou didst swear that thou wouldst go with the man who should do this deed."
So she found that he spoke but the sooth, and she paid heed to his words, and arose, and greeted him meetly, and he abode there three nights, and they lay in one bed together; but he took the sword Gram and laid it betwixt them: then she asked him why he laid it there; and he answered, that in that wise must he needs wed his wife or else get his bane.
Then she took from off her the ring Andvari's loom, which he had given her aforetime, and gave it to him, but he gave her another ring out of Fafnir's hoard.
Thereafter he rode away through the same fire unto his Fellows, and he and Gunnar changed semblances again, and rode unto Hlymdale, and told how it had gone with them.
That same day went Brynhild home to her foster-father, and tells him as one whom she trusted, how that there had come a king to her; "And he rode through my flaming fire, and said he was come to woo me, and named himself Gunnar; but I said that such a deed might Sigurd alone have done, with whom I plighted troth on the mountain; and he is my first troth-plight, and my well-beloved."
Heimir said that things must needs abide even as now they had now come to pass.
Brynhild said, "Aslaug the daughter of me and Sigurd shall be nourished here with thee."
Now the kings fare home, but Brynhild goes to her father; Grimhild welcomes the kings meetly, and thanks Sigurd for his fellowship; and withal is a great feast made, and many were the guests thereat; and thither came Budli the King with his daughter Brynhild, and his son Atli, and for many days did the feast endure: and at that feast was Gunnar wedded to Brynhild: but when it was brought to an end, once more has Sigurd memory of all the oaths that he sware unto Brynhild, yet withal he let all things abide in rest and peace.
Brynhild and Gunnar sat together in great game and glee, and drank goodly wine.
How the Queens held angry converse together at the Bathing
On a day as the Queens went to the river to bathe them, Brynhild waded the farthest out into the river; then asked Gudrun what that deed might signify.
Brynhild said, "Yea, and why then should I be equal to thee in this matter more than in others? I am minded to think that my father is mightier than thine, and my true love has wrought many wondrous works of fame, and hath ridden the flaming fire withal, while thy husband was but the thrall of King Hjalprek."
Gudrun answered full of wrath, "Thou wouldst be wise if thou shouldst hold thy peace rather than revile my husband: lo now, the talk of all men it is, that none has ever abode in this world like unto him in all matters soever; and little it beseems thee of all folk to mock him who was thy first beloved: and Fafnir he slew, yea, and he rode thy flaming fire, whereas thou didst deem that he was Gunnar the King, and by thy side he lay, and took from thine hand the ring Andvari's-loom; -- here mayst thou well behold it!"
Then Brynhild saw the ring and knew it, and waxed as wan as a dead woman, and she went home and spake no word the evening long.
So when Sigurd came to bed to Gudrun she asked him why Brynhild's joy was so departed.
He answered, "I know not, but sore I misdoubt me that soon we shall know thereof overwell."
Gudrun said, "Why may she not love her life, having wealth and bliss, and the praise of all men, and the man withal that she would have?"
"Ah, yea!" said Sigurd, "and where in all the world was she then, when she said that she deemed she had the noblest of all men, and the dearest to her heart of all?"
Gudrun answers, "Tomorn will I ask her concerning this, who is the liefest to her of all men for a husband."
Sigurd said, "Needs must I forbid thee this, and full surely wilt thou rue the deed if thou doest it."
Now the next morning they sat in the bower, and Brynhild was silent; then spake Gudrun "Be merry, Brynhild! Grievest thou because of that speech of ours together, or what other thing slayeth thy bliss?"
Brynhild answers, "With naught but evil intent thou sayest this, for a cruel heart thou hast."
"Say not so," said Gudrun; "but rather tell me all the tale."
Brynhild answers, "Ask such things only as are good for thee to know -- matters meet for mighty dames. Good to love good things when all goes according to thy heart's desire!"
Gudrun says, "Early days for me to glory in that; but this word of thine looketh toward some foreseeing. What ill dost thou thrust at us? I did naught to grieve thee."
Brynhild answers, "For this shalt thou pay, in that thou hast got Sigurd to thee, -- nowise can I see thee living in the bliss thereof, whereas thou hast him, and the wealth and the might of him."
But Gudrun answered, "Naught knew I of your words and vows together; and well might my father look to the mating of me without dealing with thee first."
"No secret speech had we," quoth Brynhild, "though we swore oath together; and full well didst thou know that thou wentest about to beguile me; verily thou shalt have thy reward!"
Says Gudrun, "Thou art mated better than thou are worthy of; but thy pride and rage shall be hard to slake belike, and there for shall many a man pay."
"Ah, I should be well content," said Brynhild, "if thou hadst not the nobler man!"
Gudrun answers, "So noble a husband hast thou, that who knows of a greater king or a lord of more wealth and might?"
Says Brynhild, "Sigurd slew Fafnir, and that only deed is of more worth than all the might of King Gunnar."
(Even as the song says) --
"The worm Sigurd slew,
Nor ere shall that deed
Be worsened by age
While the world is alive.
But thy brother the King
Never durst, never bore
The flame to ride down
Through the fire to fare.
"Gudrun answers, "Grani would not abide the fire under Gunnar the King,
but Sigurd durst the deed, and thy heart may well abide without mocking
him."Brynhild answers, "Nowise will I hide from thee that I deem no
good of Grimhild." Says Gudrun, "Nay, lay no ill words on her, for in all things she is to thee as to her own daughter." "Ah," says Brynhild, "she is the beginning of all this hale that biteth so; an evil drink she bare to Sigurd, so that he had no more memory of my very name."
"All wrong thou talkest; a lie without measure is this," quoth Gudrun.
Brynhild answered, "Have thou joy of Sigurd according to the measure of the wiles wherewith ye have beguiled me! Unworthily have ye conspired against me; may all things go with you as my heart hopes!"
Gudrun says, "More joy shall I have of him than thy wish would give unto me: but to no man's mind it came, that he had aforetime his pleasure of me; nay not once."
"Evil speech thou speakest," says Brynhild; "when thy wrath runs off thou wilt rue it; but come now, let us no more cast angry words one at the other!"
Says Gudrun, "Thou wert the first to cast such words at me, and now thou makest as if thou wouldst amend it, but a cruel and hard heart abides behind."
"Let us lay aside vain babble," says Brynhild. "Long did I hold my peace concerning my sorrow of heart, and, lo now, thy brother alone do I love; let us fall to other talk."
Gudrun said, "Far beyond all this doth thine heart look."
And so ugly ill befell from that going to the river, and that knowing of the ring, wherefrom did all their talk arise.
APPENDIX: EXCERPTS FROM THE POETIC EDDA
After the death of Brynhild were made two bales, one for Sigurd, and that was first burned; but Brynhild was burned on the other, and she was in a chariot hung about with goodly hangings. And so folk say that Brynhild drave in her chariot down along the way to Hell, and passed by an abode where dwelt a certain giantess, and the giantess spake: --
THE GIANT-WOMAN
"Nay, with my goodwill
Never goest thou
Through this stone-pillared
Stead of mine!
More seemly for thee
To sit sewing the cloth,
Than to go look on
The love of another.
"What dost thou, going
From the land of the Gauls,
O restless head,
To this mine house?
Golden girl, hast thou not,
If thou listest to hearken,
In sweet wise from thy hands
The blood of men washen?"
BRYNHILD
"Nay, blame me naught,
Bride of the rock-hall,
Though I roved a warring
In the days that were;
The higher of us twain
Shall I ever be holden
When of our kind
Men make account."
THE GIANT-WOMAN
"Thou, O Brynhild,
Budli's daughter,
Wert the worst ever born
Into the world;
For Giuki's children
Death hast thou gotten,
And turned to destruction
Their goodly dwelling."
BRYNHILD
"I shall tell thee
True tale from my chariot,
O thou who naught wottest,
If thou listest to wot;
How for me they have gotten
Those heirs of Giuki,
A loveless life,
A life of lies.
"Hild under helm,
The Hlymdale people,
E'en those who knew me,
Ever would call me.
"The changeful shapes
Of us eight sisters,
The wise king bade
Under oak-tree to bear;
Of twelve winters was I,
If thou listest to wot,
When I sware to the young lord
Oaths of love.
"Thereafter gat I
Mid the folk of the Goths,
For Helmgunnar the old,
Swift journey to Hell,
And gave to Aud's brother
The young, gain and glory;
Whereof overwrath
Waxed Odin with me.
"So he shut me in shield-wall
In Skata grove,
Red shields and white
Close set around me;
And bade him alone
My slumber to break
Who in no land
Knew how to fear.
"He set round my hall,
Toward the south quarter,
The Bane of all trees
Burning aloft;
And ruled that he only
Thereover should ride
Who should bring me the gold
O'er which Fafnir brooded.
"Then upon Grani rode
The goodly gold-strewer
To where my fosterer
Ruled his fair dwelling.
He who alone there
Was deemed best of all,
The War-lord of the Danes,
Well worthy of men.
"In peace did we sleep
Soft in one bed,
As though he had been
Naught but my brother:
There as we lay
Through eight nights wearing,
No hand in love
On each other we laid.
"Yet thence blamed me, Gudrun,
Giuki's daughter,
That I had slept
In the arms of Sigurd;
And then I wotted
As I fain had not wotted,
That they had bewrayed me
In my betrothals.
"Ah! For unrest
All too long
Are men and women
Made alive!
Yet we twain together
Shall wear through the ages,
Sigurd and I. Sink adown, O giant-wife!"
source : http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Volsunga
Once upon a time there was a King in the North who had won many wars, but now he was old. Yet he took a new wife, and then another Prince, who wanted to have married her, came up against him with a great army. The old King went out and fought bravely, but at last his sword broke, and he was wounded and his men fled. But in the night, when the battle was over, his young wife came out and searched for him among the slain, and at last she found him, and asked whether he might be healed. But he said 'No,' his luck was gone, his sword was broken, and he must die. And he told her that she would have a son, and that son would be a great warrior, and would avenge him on the other King, his enemy. And he bade her keep the broken pieces of the sword, to make a new sword for his son, and that blade should be called Gram.
Then he died. And his wife called her maid to her and said, 'Let us change clothes, and you shall be called by my name, and I by yours, lest the enemy finds us.'
So this was done, and they hid in a wood, but there some strangers met them and carried them off in a ship to Denmark. And when they were brought before the King, he thought the maid looked like a Queen, and the Queen like a maid. So he asked the Queen, 'How do you know in the dark of night whether the hours are wearing to the morning?'
And she said:
'I know because, when I was younger, I used to have to rise and light the fires, and still I waken at the same time.'
'A strange Queen to light the fires,' thought the King.
Then he asked the Queen, who was dressed like a maid, 'How do you know in the dark of night whether the hours are wearing near the dawn?'
'My father gave me a gold ring,' said she, 'and always, ere the dawning, it grows cold on my finger.'
'A rich house where the maids wore gold,' said the King. 'Truly you are no maid, but a King's daughter.'
So he treated her royally, and as time went on she had a son called Sigurd, a beautiful boy and very strong. He had a tutor to be with him, and once the tutor bade him go to the King and ask for a horse.
'Choose a horse for yourself,' said the King; and Sigurd went to the wood, and there he met an old man with a white beard, and said, 'Come! help me in horse-choosing.'
Then the old man said, 'Drive all the horses into the river, and choose the one that swims across.'
So Sigurd drove them, and only one swam across. Sigurd chose him: his name was Grani, and he came of Sleipnir's breed, and was the best horse in the world. For Sleipnir was the horse of Odin, the God of the North, and was as swift as the wind.
But a day or two later his tutor said to Sigurd, 'There is a great treasure of gold hidden not far from here, and it would become you to win it.'
But Sigurd answered, 'I have heard stories of that treasure, and I know that the dragon Fafnir guards it, and he is so huge and wicked that no man dares to go near him.'
'He is no bigger than other dragons,' said the tutor, 'and if you were as brave as your father you would not fear him.'
'I am no coward,' says Sigurd; 'why do you want me to fight with this dragon?'
Then his tutor, whose name was Regin, told him that all this great hoard of red gold had once belonged to his own father. And his father had three sons--the first was Fafnir, the Dragon; the next was Otter, who could put on the shape of an otter when he liked; and the next was himself, Regin, and he was a great smith and maker of swords.
Now there was at that time a dwarf called Andvari, who lived in a pool beneath a waterfall, and there he had hidden a great hoard of gold. And one day Otter had been fishing there, and had killed a salmon and eaten it, and was sleeping, like an otter, on a stone. Then someone came by, and threw a stone at the otter and killed it, and flayed off the skin, and took it to the house of Otter's father. Then he knew his son was dead, and to punish the person who had killed him he said he must have the Otter's skin filled with gold, and covered all over with red gold, or it should go worse with him. Then the person who had killed Otter went down and caught the Dwarf who owned all the treasure and took it from him.
Only one ring was left, which the Dwarf wore, and even that was taken from him.
Then the poor Dwarf was very angry, and he prayed that the gold might never bring any but bad luck to all the men who might own it, for ever.
Then the otter skin was filled with gold and covered with gold, all but one hair, and that was covered with the poor Dwarf's last ring.
But it brought good luck to nobody. First Fafnir, the Dragon, killed his own father, and then he went and wallowed on the gold, and would let his brother have none, and no man dared go near it.
When Sigurd heard the story he said to Regin:
'Make me a good sword that I may kill this Dragon.'
So Regin made a sword, and Sigurd tried it with a blow on a lump of iron, and the sword broke.
Another sword he made, and Sigurd broke that too.
Then Sigurd went to his mother, and asked for the broken pieces of his father's blade, and gave them to Regin. And he hammered and wrought them into a new sword, so sharp that fire seemed to burn along its edges.
Sigurd tried this blade on the lump of iron, and it did not break, but split the iron in two. Then he threw a lock of wool into the river, and when it floated down against the sword it was cut into two pieces. So Sigurd said that sword would do. But before he went against the Dragon he led an army to fight the men who had killed his father, and he slew their King, and took all his wealth, and went home.
When he had been at home a few days, he rode out with Regin one morning to the heath where the Dragon used to lie. Then he saw the track which the Dragon made when he went to a cliff to drink, and the track was as if a great river had rolled along and left a deep valley.
Then Sigurd went down into that deep place, and dug many pits in it, and in one of the pits he lay hidden with his sword drawn. There he waited, and presently the earth began to shake with the weight of the Dragon as he crawled to the water. And a cloud of venom flew before him as he snorted and roared, so that it would have been death to stand before him.
But Sigurd waited till half of him had crawled over the pit, and then he thrust the sword Gram right into his very heart.
Then the Dragon lashed with his tail till stones broke and trees crashed about him.
Then he spoke, as he died, and said:
'Whoever thou art that hast slain me this gold shall be thy ruin, and the ruin of all who own it.'
Sigurd said:
'I would touch none of it if by losing it I should never die. But all men die, and no brave man lets death frighten him from his desire. Die thou, Fafnir,' and then Fafnir died.
And after that Sigurd was called Fafnir's Bane, and Dragonslayer.
Then Sigurd rode back, and met Regin, and Regin asked him to roast Fafnir's heart and let him taste of it.
So Sigurd put the heart of Fafnir on a stake, and roasted it. But it chanced that he touched it with his finger, and it burned him. Then he put his finger in his mouth, and so tasted the heart of Fafnir.
Then immediately he understood the language of birds, and he heard the Woodpeckers say:
'There is Sigurd roasting Fafnir's heart for another, when he should taste of it himself and learn all wisdom.'
The next bird said:
'There lies Regin, ready to betray Sigurd, who trusts him.'
The third bird said:
'Let him cut off Regin's head, and keep all the gold to himself.'
The fourth bird said:
'That let him do, and then ride over Hindfell, to the place where Brynhild sleeps.'
When Sigurd heard all this, and how Regin was plotting to betray him, he cut off Regin's head with one blow of the sword Gram.
Then all the birds broke out singing:
'We know a fair maid, A fair maiden sleeping; Sigurd, be not afraid, Sigurd, win thou the maid Fortune is keeping.
'High over Hindfell Red fire is flaming, There doth the maiden dwell She that should love thee well, Meet for thy taming.
'There must she sleep till thou Comest for her waking Rise up and ride, for now Sure she will swear the vow Fearless of breaking.'
Then Sigurd remembered how the story went that somewhere, far away, there was a beautiful lady enchanted. She was under a spell, so that she must always sleep in a castle surrounded by flaming fire; there she must sleep for ever till there came a knight who would ride through the fire and waken her. There he determined to go, but first he rode right down the horrible trail of Fafnir. And Fafnir had lived in a cave with iron doors, a cave dug deep down in the earth, and full of gold bracelets, and crowns, and rings; and there, too, Sigurd found the Helm of Dread, a golden helmet, and whoever wears it is invisible. All these he piled on the back of the good horse Grani, and then he rode south to Hindfell.
Now it was night, and on the crest of the hill Sigurd saw a red fire blazing up into the sky, and within the flame a castle, and a banner on the topmost tower. Then he set the horse Grani at the fire, and he leaped through it lightly, as if it had been through the heather. So Sigurd went within the castle door, and there he saw someone sleeping, clad all in armour. Then he took the helmet off the head of the sleeper, and behold, she was a most beautiful lady. And she wakened and said, 'Ah! is it Sigurd, Sigmund's son, who has broken the curse, and comes here to waken me at last?'
This curse came upon her when the thorn of the tree of sleep ran into her hand long ago as a punishment because she had displeased Odin the God. Long ago, too, she had vowed never to marry a man who knew fear, and dared not ride through the fence of flaming fire. For she was a warrior maid herself, and went armed into the battle like a man. But now she and Sigurd loved each other, and promised to be true to each other, and he gave her a ring, and it was the last ring taken from the dwarf Andvari. Then Sigurd rode away, and he came to the house of a King who had a fair daughter. Her name was Gudrun, and her mother was a witch. Now Gudrun fell in love with Sigurd, but he was always talking of Brynhild, how beautiful she was and how dear. So one day Gudrun's witch mother put poppy and forgetful drugs in a magical cup, and bade Sigurd drink to her health, and he drank, and instantly he forgot poor Brynhild and he loved Gudrun, and they were married with great rejoicings.
Now the witch, the mother of Gudrun, wanted her son Gunnar to marry Brynhild, and she bade him ride out with Sigurd and go and woo her. So forth they rode to her father's house, for Brynhild had quite gone out of Sigurd's mind by reason of the witch's wine, but she remembered him and loved him still. Then Brynhild's father told Gunnar that she would marry none but him who could ride the flame in front of her enchanted tower, and thither they rode, and Gunnar set his horse at the flame, but he would not face it. Then Gunnar tried Sigurd's horse Grani, but he would not move with Gunnar on his back. Then Gunnar remembered witchcraft that his mother had taught him, and by his magic he made Sigurd look exactly like himself, and he looked exactly like Gunnar. Then Sigurd, in the shape of Gunnar and in his mail, mounted on Grani, and Grani leaped the fence of fire, and Sigurd went in and found Brynhild, but he did not remember her yet, because of the forgetful medicine in the cup of the witch's wine.
Now Brynhild had no help but to promise she would be his wife, the wife of Gunnar as she supposed, for Sigurd wore Gunnar's shape, and she had sworn to wed whoever should ride the flames. And he gave her a ring, and she gave him back the ring he had given her before in his own shape as Sigurd, and it was the last ring of that poor dwarf Andvari. Then he rode out again, and he and Gunnar changed shapes, and each was himself again, and they went home to the witch Queen's, and Sigurd gave the dwarf's ring to his wife, Gudrun. And Brynhild went to her father, and said that a King had come called Gunnar, and had ridden the fire, and she must marry him. 'Yet I thought,' she said, 'that no man could have done this deed but Sigurd, Fafnir's bane, who was my true love. But he has forgotten me, and my promise I must keep.'
So Gunnar and Brynhild were married, though it was not Gunnar but Sigurd in Gunnar's shape, that had ridden the fire.
And when the wedding was over and all the feast, then the magic of the witch's wine went out of Sigurd's brain, and he remembered all. He remembered how he had freed Brynhild from the spell, and how she was his own true love, and how he had forgotten and had married another woman, and won Brynhild to be the wife of another man.
But he was brave, and he spoke not a word of it to the others to make them unhappy. Still he could not keep away the curse which was to come on every one who owned the treasure of the dwarf Andvari, and his fatal golden ring.
And the curse soon came upon all of them. For one day, when Brynhild and Gudrun were bathing, Brynhild waded farthest out into the river, and said she did that to show she was Guirun's superior. For her husband, she said, had ridden through the flame when no other man dared face it.
Then Gudrun was very angry, and said that it was Sigurd, not Gunnar, who had ridden the flame, and had received from Brynhild that fatal ring, the ring of the dwarf Andvari.
Then Brynhild saw the ring which Sigard had given to Gudrun, and she knew it and knew all, and she turned as pale as a dead woman, and went home. All that evening she never spoke. Next day she told Gunnar, her husband, that he was a coward and a liar, for he had never ridden the flame, but had sent Sigurd to do it for him, and pretended that he had done it himself. And she said he would never see her glad in his hall, never drinking wine, never playing chess, never embroidering with the golden thread, never speaking words of kindness. Then she rent all her needlework asunder and wept aloud, so that everyone in the house heard her. For her heart was broken, and her pride was broken in the same hour. She had lost her true love, Sigurd, the slayer of Fafnir, and she was married to a man who was a liar.
Then Sigurd came and tried to comfort her, but she would not listen, and said she wished the sword stood fast in his heart.
'Not long to wait,' he said, 'till the bitter sword stands fast in my heart, and thou will not live long when I am dead. But, dear Brynhild, live and be comforted, and love Gunnar thy husband, and I will give thee all the gold, the treasure of the dragon Fafnir.'
Brynhild said:
'It is too late.'
Then Sigurd was so grieved and his heart so swelled in his breast that it burst the steel rings of his shirt of mail.
Sigurd went out and Brynhild determined to slay him. She mixed serpent's venom and wolf's flesh, and gave them in one dish to her husband's younger brother, and when he had tasted them he was mad, and he went into Sigurd's chamber while he slept and pinned him to the bed with a sword. But Sigurd woke, and caught the sword Gram into his hand, and threw it at the man as he fled, and the sword cut him in twain. Thus died Sigurd, Fafnir's bane, whom no ten men could have slain in fair fight. Then Gudrun wakened and saw him dead, and she moaned aloud, and Brynhild heard her and laughed; but the kind horse Grani lay down and died of very grief. And then Brynhild fell a-weeping till her heart broke. So they attired Sigurd in all his golden armour, and built a great pile of wood on board his ship, and at night laid on it the dead Sigurd and the dead Brynhild, and the good horse, Grani, and set fire to it, and launched the ship. And the wind bore it blazing out to sea, flaming into the dark. So there were Sigurd and Brynhild burned together, and the curse of the dwarf Andvari was fulfilled.
The Volsunga Saga. http://www.anglia.co.uk/angmulti/vikings/sigurd/saga.html
By Jorge Luis Borges
My story will be true to reality or, in any case, to my personal memory of reality, which amounts to the same thing. The events took place only a short time ago, but I know that literary habit is also the habit of adding circumstantial details and of underlining high points. I want to give an account of my meeting with Ulrike ( I never knew her surname and perhaps never shall) in the city of York. The narrative will encompass one night and a morning.
It would be easy to say that I saw her for the first time by the Five Sisters of York Minister, those stained- glass windows which, pure of any image, Cromwell''s iconoclasts respected, but the fact is that we met in the small lounge of The Northern Inn, which lies outside the city walls. We were a handful, and Ulrike stood with her back to us. Someone offered her a drink and she refused it.
" I am a feminist," she said. " I am not out to ape men. I dislike their tobacco and their alcohol."
The remark was meant to be witty, and I guessed that this was not the first time she had delivered it. I later found out that it was not typical of her, but what we say is not always like us. She mentioned that she had arrived at the museum too late, but that they let her in when they learned she was a Norwegian.
One of those present remarked, " It''s not the first time the Norwegians have entered York."
" That''s right," she said. " England was once ours and we lost it-- if one can have anything or if anything can be lost."
It was at this point that I looked at her. A line in Blake speaks of girls of mild silver or of furious gold, but in Ulrike were both gold and mildness. She was tall and slender, with sharp features and gray eyes. Less than by her face, I was impressed by her air of calm mystery. She smiled easily, and the smile seemed to withdraw her from the company. She was dressed in black, which is strange for northern lands, which try to liven the drab surroundings with vivid colors. She spoke a crisp, precise English, rolling her r''s slightly. I am not much of an observer; these things I discovered bit by bit.
We were introduced. I told her that I was a professor at the University of the Andes, in Bogotá. I explained that I was a Colombian.
She asked me in a thoughtful way, " What does it mean to be a Colombian?"
" I don''t know," I replied. " It''s an act of faith."
" Like being Norwegian," she affirmed.
I can remember no more of what was said that night. The next day, I came down to the dining room early. Through the windows I saw that it had snowed; in the early morning light the moors faded away. We were the only ones there. Ulrike invited me to her table. She told me that she liked going out for solitary walks.
Recalling a joke of Schopenhauer''s, I said, " So do I. The two of us could go out together."
We walked away from the inn on the new fallen snow. There was not a soul about. I suggested that we go on to Thorgate, a few miles down the river. I think that I was already in love with Ulrike; I could never have wanted any other person by my side.
All at once, I heard the distant howling of a wolf. I had never before heard a wolf howl, but I knew it was a wolf. Ulrike was impassive.
A while later she said, as if thinking aloud, " The few poor swords I saw yesterday in York Minister moved me more than the great ships in the Oslo museum."
Our paths had crossed. That evening, Ulrike would continue her journey on to London; I to Edinburgh.
" In Oxford Street," she told me, " I shall follow De Quincey''s footsteps in search of his Ann, lost amid the crowds of London."
" De Quincey stopped looking for her," I replied. " All my life, I never have."
" Maybe you''ve found her," Ulrike said, her voice low.
I realized that an unexpected thing was not forbidden me, and I kissed her on the mouth and eyes. She drew away firmly but gently and then declared, " I''ll be yours in the inn at Thorgate. Until then, I ask you not to touch me. It is better that way."
To a bachelor well along in years, the offer of love is a gift no longer expected. The miracle has a right to impose conditions. I thought back on my youth in Popayán and on a girl in Texas, as fair and slender as Ulrike, who once denied me her love.
I did not make the mistake of asking Ulrike whether she loved me. I realized that this was not her first time nor would it be her last. The adventure, perhaps my last, would be one of many for that splendid, determined follower of Ibsen. Hand in hand, we walked on.
" All this is like a dream, and I never dream," I said.
" Like that king who never dreamed until a wizard made him sleep in a pigsty," Ulrike replied. Then she added, " Listen. A bird is about to sing."
A moment or two later we heard the song.
" In these lands," I said, " it''s thought that a person about to die sees into the future."
" And I am about to die," she said.
I looked at her in astonishment. " Let''s cut through the woods," I urged. " We''ll reach Thorgate sooner."
" The woods are dangerous," she said.
We continued along the moors.
" I should like this moment to last forever," I murmured.
"` Forever'' is a word forbidden to men," Ulrike said and, to soften the force of this, she asked me to repeat my name, which she had not caught.
" Javier Otálora," I said.
She tried to pronounce it and couldn''t. I failed, equally, with the name Ulrike.
" I shall call you Sigurd," she said with a smile.
" If I am Sigurd," I replied, " you will be Brynhild."
She had slowed her step.
" Do you know the saga?" I asked.
" Of course," she said. " The tragic story spoiled by the Germans with their late Nibelungs."
Not wishing to argue the point, I answered, " Brynhild, you''re walking as if you wished a sword lay between us in bed."
Suddenly we stood before the inn. It did not surprise me that, like the other one, it was called The Northern Inn.
From the top of the stairs, Ulrike called down to me, " Did you hear the wolf? There are no longer any wolves in England. Hurry."
Climbing to the upper floor, I noticed that the walls were papered in the style of William Morris, in a deep red, with a design of fruit and birds intertwined. Ulrike went on ahead. The dark room was low, with a slanted ceiling. The awaited bed was duplicated in a dim mirror, and the polished mahogany reminded me of the looking- glass of Scriptures. Ulrike had already undressed. She called me by my real name-- Javier. I felt that the snow was falling faster. Now there were no longer any mirrors or furniture. There was no sword between us. Time passed like the sands. In the darkness, centuries- old, love flowed, and for the first and last time I possessed Ulrike''s image.
- The story of the Volsungs. (Volsunga Saga) with Excerpts from the Poetic Edda The text of this edition is based on that published as "The Story of the Volsungs", translated by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson (Walter Scott Press, London, 1888). This edition is in the public domain in the United States.
- The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer
Translated with an introduction by Professor Jesse L. Byock, University of California, Los Angeles . A Medieval Studies and Folklore Studies title from Hisarlik Press, 1993. ISBN 1 874312 03 6 (this edition not available in US or Canada) - The Poetic Edda translated by Lee M. Hollander, University of Texas Press, 2nd ed., 1962.
- The Saga of the Volsungs translated by Jesse L. Byock, University of California Press, 1990.
- Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H.R.Ellis Davidson.
- The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland, Pantheon Books, 1980.
- Prose Edda translated by Jean I. Young, Berkeley, 1971.
- A Pageant of Old Scandinavia edited by Henry Goddard Leach.
- Heimskringla translated by Lee M. Hollander.
- Eirik the Red and other Icelandic Sagas translated by Gwyn Jones, Oxford University Press, 1961.
- The Well of Remembrance by Ralph Metzner, Shambhala, 1994.
- Myths of the Norsemen H.A.Guerber, Dover Books, 1992
Modern Mythological References. Berkeley University
- http://www.stst.net/Scandinavian/Mythology/Modern/
- "The Hobbit" (1937) and "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy" ("The Fellowship of the Ring", 1954; "The Two Towers", 1954; and "The Return of the King", 1955), by J.R.R. Tolkien -- Many of the places, characters, and creatures were based on Norse mythology, as well as Germanic and Celtic mythology. From 1978-79 three animated movies were released and in the next few years there will be live-action versions produced by Saul Zaentz and directed by Peter Jackson.
- "The Vikings" (1958) -- There were many references to Odin and Thor in this Kirk Douglas movie about two Viking half-brothers who compete for a British princess.
- "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back" (1981) -- This is stretching it, but, in our solar system the planets are mostly named after old Greek or Roman gods, so perhaps in this movie the planet Hoth was named for the Nordic god, Hoð who accidentally killed Baldr. The planet Hoth is indeed a planet of ice, snow, and glaciers, somewhat like Scandinavia.
- "Gauntlet" and "Gauntlet II" -- Three of the characters that one could choose to play in these classic 1980s video games were Thor, a Valkyrie, or an Elf. The fourth was Merlin from the Arthurian legends.
- "Adventures in Babysitting" (1987) -- One of the little kids in this movie was obsessed with Thor and went around wearing a Viking helmet. Unfortunately, this is often the only acquaintance that many people have with the character Thor. I mention him and people will reply, "Oh, you mean like that girl in that Elizabeth Shue movie?"
- "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" (1988), by Douglas Adams -- Odin and Thor are still alive in the 1980s. This is the second Dirk Gentley novel.
- "Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers" (1989) and "Red Dwarf: Better Than Life" (1990), by Grant Naylor (Rob Grant and Doug Naylor) -- In the Cat’s perfect world, he is constantly grooming and admiring himself in the mirror, while always being served by the Valkyries at an ancient Hall.
- "Jurassic Park" (1993) and "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (1997) -- This is not a real Norse reference, but it was interesting to note that the character Lewis Dodgson is played by an actor named Cameron Thor.
- "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993-1997) -- There is an alien barfly who always hangs out in the background of Quark’s Bar on the Station. His name is Morn, just like the name of the giant son of Thiassi. Probably a coincidence, since Morn is actually an anagram for Norm from Cheers.
- "The Mask" (1994) -- Jim Carrey finds out that the Mask might be a representation of the Norse god Loki.
- "Aladdin and the King of Thieves" (1996) -- Acting as an announcer, Genie interviewed several bystanders at Aladdin and Jasmine’s wedding, one of them being Thor. Genie made a pun as if Thor spoke with a lisp, so that "I am Thor" became "I am sore".
- "Hercules" (1997) -- There was a brief shot in this Disney movie of Hercules (instead of Thor) fighting with the Midgard Serpent.
Sources
- C. Jared Loewenstein, Ph.D. Reference Services Librarian. Curator, Jorge Luis Borges Collection University of Virginia Charlottesville
- Berkeley University, Medieval department.
- Britannia History department.
- Norse mythology.
- Borges, œuvres complètes, La Pléiade.