Asgard Stories: Tales from Norse Mythology

by Mary H. Foster

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Genres: Mythology, Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Audiobook, Religion, Reference

99 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1901

Reviews

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars for Asgard Stories: Tales from Norse Mythology (audiobook) by Mary H. Foster & Mable H. Cummings read by Keith O’Brien.

It’s a treat to get to hear the original tales of Odin, Thor, Freya and others.

[Nick Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Authors are suffering from the delusion there is only one God

When the first paragraph says that the Gods in these stories don't exist, you know the book is going to have problems. I downloaded this to read to my daughter at night to teach her about our Gods. As a Heathen and believer in the old Gods, I find it degrading to discount the entire basis for many religions (Asatrú, Odinism, Lokism, etc.)

I overlooked the beginning and read a bit farther just to give this book a fair shake. Not only do the authors say that Ragnarok has already occurred, but they mislabeled the Aesir. For instance, Sol (Sunna) is referred to as male when she is female. Furthermore, this so dumbed down and child-like it is nowhere near correct. Saying Freyja stayed with dwarves or Loki ran over hills is fine for children, but is takes away from some of the other mythology (the birth of Slepnir, how Freyja obtained Brisigamin, etc.)

If you want a dumbed down clean version of the myths for kids, I guess this okay, but otherwise this book is degrading and just plain wrong.

[César Bustíos · Rating 3 out of 5]

"But still, we know now that this new world is fairer than the old, and here, also, the loving Allfather watches over his children."

I grabbed a free copy of this book from Project Gutenberg.

Ah, the norse gods, dwellers of the sacred city of Asgard, protectors of men. But also the world of the mighty giants, always bringing trouble upon men; dwarves, elves and mermaids. Hell, one may think this must have been one of Tolkien's sources of inspiration.

These are the tales contained in this book:

1. THE STORY OF THE BEGINNING
2. ODIN'S REWARD
3. TYR AND THE WOLF
4. FREYJA'S NECKLACE
5. THE HAMMER OF THOR
6. THOR'S WONDERFUL JOURNEY
7. HOW THOR LOST HIS HAMMER
8. A GIFT FROM FRIGGA
9. THE STEALING OF IDUNA
10. SKADI
11. BALDUR
12. AEGIR'S FEAST
13. THE PUNISHMENT OF LOKI
14. THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

Great stories but poorly executed, in my opinion. If you feel like getting into norse mythology I would recommend Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology, it's a good primer on the subject, perhaps a lot less confusing, and it is, of course, beautifully written.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know I have to take into account the time period in which this was likely written, but it somehow rubs me the wrong way that the author feels the need to basically apologize for the beliefs of the people she's written about, pretty much saying "they didn't know any better, because they hadn't any knowledge of Christianity." It makes me question the translation/editing of the stories - how much of it was changed to reflect the author's Christian viewpoint/beliefs, to align itself with the story of Christ? Not saying there aren't similarities - many religions follow a pretty similar blueprint... but, I still have to wonder. Have to give it credit for being more detailed than the last volume of myths I read, though.

[C.J. Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This edition is simply not put together well and suffers from a lack of structure (note, though, that it was free). Get your Norse mythology in print. :)

[Nishkarsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it's a summary of sorts not exactly full mythos. Still a great read for evening.

[B.A. Malisch · Rating 2 out of 5]

These stories are okay, and it helped me gain a somewhat better understanding of the Gods of Norse religions, though I question if personal biases were in play here that make this a less than valid source. However, I didn’t read this for specifics, so much as just to get a baseline for some of the Norse mythology before doing further and more in-depth research into the matter. For that purpose, this was somewhat useful.

The presentation isn’t as engaging as it could be, as although the information is shared in a story format, it’s a bit flowery (lots of adjectives that are often redundant and aren’t helping the stories along). Seriously, it feels like almost every noun has an adjective to describe it, which just makes me think they should have used better verbs and nouns, so that so many adjectives wouldn’t be necessary.

Anyway, why that is annoying is because there tends to be too much telling, with a lot of passive sentences in some sections, and we all know that when it comes to engaging stories, active sentences and showing are almost always preferred over passive and telling.

Basically, this crosses the weird divide in the land of nonfiction, as it’s not presented in a textbook/ report/ essay/ lecture based nonfiction format, but it also doesn’t read easily like fiction does. In the end, it’s less engaging than fiction, which means I might have actually preferred a more clinical approach in this instance.

Book 141 read in 2018

Pages: 99 pages

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. This is aimed at children, which I didn't realize before I started it. It's also written from a decidedly Christian point of view. If you want only to begin to familiarize yourself with Norse mythology, this is a place to start. If you want to dig into them, discover the original tales, or do any academic study, this is not the book for you.

[Hayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adequate for what it is: a Victorian-era retelling of a small number of Norse tales, clean and suitable for children. While as an adult I would have perhaps liked something more sophisticated, this would be a good version to read aloud to older children. As a Christian, the little beginning introduction explaining the context (that these were the stories the Norsemen told to explain the world because they did not know about the one true God) was appreciated rather than disdained, though I've read reviews where this was complained about. I, however, found this a suitable explanation, especially when read by children.

This Christian element is only mentioned once at the beginning, though, so I think that non-Christians who may be bothered by such mentions would not have issues with the rest of the book.

So, while I would have liked it to be longer, less "cleaned-up," and more in-depth, I still enjoyed it.

[S. Spelbring · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off, the author specifically states that this ebook was formatted to introduce young children to Norse Mythology. It was developed by teachers for teachers and others wanting to teach their kids about mythology from our northern ancestors.

As such, it is very much a beginner's guide to Norse Mythology. It gives all the more famous stories, most notoriously the ones leading up to Ragnarok and the one with Thor in a dress. Having said that, a lot of the details are missing - there are a lot of duels during Ragnarok which the book glossed over. Mythology is also notorious for violence, killing, raping, and torture, which the book also glosses over.

If you want to get into Norse Mythology this might be a good place to start, but you will need find other resources for more in depth research.

[Ikayuro · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hoo boy. Where to begin.

Like some of the other readers have mentioned, this book appears to be written by Christians, for Christians- children, especially. The Tale of Creation literally states;

"... but they did not know about the one and loving God, who is the Father of all, who made them and the world..."

Stop. Just stop. I get it, the original copyright date of this book is 1901, and it's a "product of its time". But you don't get to just... cast away an entire belief system because it's different than yours.

Other than that, the stories are okay. They're watered down and censored, as they've been re-written for children. If you're looking for a serious reference point for Norse Mythology this isn't it, but it may work for some quick bedtime stories.

[Ciara · Rating 5 out of 5]

So big thank you to my best friend for buying this for me for my birthday. Loki inspired obsession really, plus she knows how into mythology I am. I loved this collection of stories. Brilliant.


Ciara Elizabeth
http://yafangirlreviews.com

[Jay Teper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few basic Norse stories

I would think it's a good introduction to the Norse gods for young children. Very basic, simply we short stories.

[Zackary · Rating 1 out of 5]

A poor rendition of the Norse myths.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was far more readable than the straight translation of the Prose Edda, even if they did censor out some of the more graphic and/or gory details (Loki getting pregnant by a stallion, anyone? Or on a less silly note, how about what Odin went through to gain knowledge of the runes, which could have been quite a compelling story?) and even if the storytelling was a tad too black and white for my tastes - while the Æsir were far more sympathetic than the Olympians, they most certainly were not flawless saints. Given that this was written for children, though, the dumbing down isn't exactly unexpected.

[Books by Kimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice re-visit to the old tales of the North. Being Scandinavian, it's fun to hear the English names for the gods and otherworldly creatures I know so well. However, while I generally prefer reading in English, the nostalgia of these childhood stories begs me to keep Norse mythology in its original language (some things are definitely lost in translation).

Throughout the years, my favorite gods have changed a few times but I've always loved how loyal and family-oriented they are (especially compared to the Greek gods) - and how they treasure humans instead of stomping on them.

As I said, a nice re-visit.

[Surreysmum · Rating 3 out of 5]

My e-version of this book alas lacks the illustrations that would make it so much attractive to its principal intended audience, children. I'm afraid that this pared-down retelling of what I assume are the principal Norse myths is also pretty much my speed these days, with my need for enlarged type and short chapters. That said, I enjoyed this quite a bit; the stories are full of non-sequiturs and bizarre characterizations, but behind them there lurks the world they were meant to explain (was there in fact an ice age? I'd have to look it up). And sitting grandly beside them in my associational brain, of course, is Professor Tolkien and his Middle Earth. Good fun.

[S. Bavey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book written In Victorian times for children and teachers, aimed at introducing the Norse myths to children. It covers 14 of the more well-known myths in a very simplistic and matter-of-fact manner, with no passion or imagination to be found anywhere. The lack of descriptive detail is a shame and I would only recommend this book to teachers or children who need a quick introduction to Norse Myths for a school project, since it is a fairly quick read (around two hours with interruptions) rather than for entertainment purposes. The print version may be better (I read it on Kindle) as I think there are illustrations and without those and with such a dry writing style it was tough for me to make it through to Ragnarök at the end! If I was a child I might have liked it more and maybe would have given it 3/5 😂

[Skye · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a dumbed-down, scrubbed clean, awful version of Norse mythology. I listened to the audio version and the narrator had the weirdest ways for pronouncing the names of the gods. Honestly, if I heard him say "Oh-DEEN" instead of Odin, I was going to scream. There are so many better versions of Norse mythology out there to enjoy instead.

[Augurey · Rating 5 out of 5]

[book 44/50 of 2024 reading challenge]

I can't recommend this book enough for those looking for a simpler and straightforward way to get started in Norse Mythology. It englobes numerous stories written in an uncomplicated storytelling style, with a direct and simple language for all those interested in Norse Mythology. It can also be a good bedtime book for children.

[Rachel N · Rating 3 out of 5]

*2.5/3 stars!! Listened on audio 🎧

These collections of stories are ok, they would be fine for a young childs bedtime story but not much else. By the end I didn't really like thor or odin most of the time.

[April Newman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gave context on the mythology for those new to the subject. The storyteller was engaging enough to hear read aloud.

[Anna Francesca · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️s.
Really enjoyed this audiobook and thought it was a very good introduction to Norse Mythology as it is a collection of stories including Thor, Loki and many others.

[Nick Broce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great stories still, but I much prefer the slightly different and more complete versions offered in Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.

[Annm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glad to have reinforced my memory of these stories, as I read Neil Gaiman’s version last year. Both have something to offer.

[Kumar K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is as well written and explored as the Neil Gaiman book about Norse mythology, in my opinion.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides the basic, although not the best, information about the Norse gods. It makes a good introduction to further reading.

[Sylvana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The audiobook by Novel Audios with booktrack is amazing! It was so immersive, I loved every second of it

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this aloud. A fun introduction to norse mythology which we didn't know much about other than what the kids picked up from Marvel movies.

[Moa Ånberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely love and adore Norse mythology<3
This retelling was not really it though, I mean it wasn’t bad but it was like meh