Norse Mythology

The book entitled "Norse

Mythology" by Karl

Mortensen, is the book I chose to read for my first

book report for this semester. The book was translated from the Danish by A. Clinton Crowell.

Karl Mortensen was a doctor of philosophy whom

attended the University of Copenhagen.

The first part of the book is the general introduction. Here, you find the author's meaning of "Norse mythology" and where he got his information. He says,

By "Norse mythology" we mean the information we have concerning the religious conceptions and usages of our heathen forefathers, their faith and

manner of worshipping the gods, and also their legends and songs about the gods and heroes. The importation of

Christianity drove out the old heathen faith, but remnants or memories of it long endured in the superstitious ideas of the common people, and can even be traced in our own day.

In the general introduction, the author tells

us why we teach Norse mythology. He tells us that for us, Norse mythology has in any case the advantage of being the religion of our own forefathers, and through it we learn to know that religion. This is necessary if we wish to understand the history and poetry of our antiquity and to comprehend what good characteristics and what faults Christianity encountered when it was proclaimed in the North. Finally, it is necessary to know the most important points of the heathen faith of our fathers in order to appreciate and enjoy many of the words of our best poets.

"Norse Mythology" is comprised of four main sections. The first section contains the creation

myth, which is extremely confusing because it talks about brother's aunt's cousin's children from second marriages and what importance they were in those golden times. It's quite hard to understand, and I had to read it over twice to make sure I understood. The second part of the first section discusses the creation of the gods and the stories of their lives. And the last part is entitled

Ragnorak, which stands for the enemies of the gods.

All of this was quite interesting to read.

The second section of the book talks about common popular belief. It says that our forefathers, like other heathen people, found one of the plainest proofs of the soul's independence of the body and its ability to take a hand in the affairs of living men in the nightmare and dream, as they lacked all other means of explaining those things. They therefore took it for granted that they were spirits, usually in the form of animals

or men.