Reddit mentions of The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes (Hackett Classics)

Cheers. Honestly, I really recommend reading the actual source material of the Norse sagas where all of these originate from - the Poetic Edda, Prose Edda, Heimskringla, Ynglinga saga, Völsunga saga, Egil's saga, etc. I grew up hearing these stories here in Scandinavia (added: hadn't heard of Ratatoskr until now though) but there are still a lot to discover and appreciate anew even for me. There's a new translation of the Poetic Edda by Jackson Crawford that is supposed to have a much more natural flow to our modern language sensibilities. Often these materials seem translated to sound old, with a rather stale language which makes the wonder and magic of the stories harder to soak up. This new one should be much more natural and possibly more entertaining to read.

Holy crap I actually know this guy IRL. Uhm. Wow.

Yeah he's one of a dozen or so people in the world doing the work he's doing. He wrote a book a few years ago that is a translation of an Icelandic epic poem from the 13th century. Well worth the ~$15. I think my dad has a signed copy floating around somewhere.

He also worked with the production team of Frozen to help with translations, and providing cultural/linguistic authenticity to the story and worldbuilding.

He was also working on a retelling of the Star Wars saga in the style of an Old Norse epic poem a few years ago. IIRC he might have recieved a C&D from George Lucas's legal team for it, but don't quote me on that.

Super cool guy, incredibly knowledgeable.

Link to his retelling of SW: https://tattuinardoelasaga.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/tattuinardoela-saga-if-star-wars-were-an-icelandic-saga/

Link to the full pdf retelling of all 6 episodes (then extant) of the Star Wars saga: https://tattuinardoelasaga.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/tattuinardoela-saga-complete.pdf

The same guy from the video translated that!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1624663567/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_0BqFybN17GJPS

Every time questions similar to this pop up, people recommend Neil Gaimen. Well, his book is not bad (I own it), but recommending it to a person asking for a detailed recount of the original myths is downright silly. It's a pretty short collection of myths retold into short-stories by Gaimen. They're well written and absolutely closely based on the original myths, but he still invents new stuff, and again, it's a novel-like retelling, not a detailed account of the actual myths. Here are some further suggestions:

Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H.R. Ellis Davidson is a great and thorough description of Nose myth and religion by an acclaimed specialist in the field. It's also laymen-friendly.

The Poetic Edda is arguably the single most important source of Norse myths. It's a collection of poems, written down in Christian times but many dating to well into the Pagan era. I've linked the new translation by Jackson Crawford (whose channel is great for learning about Norse myth, btw), but there are others.

Then there's the Prose Edda, which is likewise a very important original source. Whereas the Poetic Edda is a collection of poetry, the Prose Edda sees many of them retold into more consistent prose narrative (hence the title). As a source, however, the Prose Edda is less reliable than the Poetic, since the latter is a collection of actual Pagan myths, while the former is a compilation and retelling by an (early medieval Icelandic) Christian.

The Sagas of Icelanders important sources to Norse myth and particularly religious practice. The Sagas are actual prose stories (and good ones, too), written in the first few centuries after conversion. Figures from Norse mythology, particularly Odin, are often prominent, but the narratives tend not to primarily concern the mythology.

A notable exception is the Saga of the Volsungs, which is one of the most important narratives in Norse myth. Wagner's Ring Cycle and Tolkien's works were both heavily influenced by it. The Volsunga Saga features Norse gods, viking raids, dragon-slaying and much more.

There are more good books, but those ought to be a decent start.

Welcome!

A Practical Heathen's Guide to Asatru is a great beginner book. Probably essential for new heathens.

If you want to start reading about the gods, the Poetic Edda is our main source for Norse mythology. I recommend Jackson Crawford's translation. I have it, and it is a simple English translation. Crawford also has a great Youtube channel about Old Norse language and mythology. Heathen Talk, the mods' Youtube podcast, is pretty good as well for getting a feel for everything.

I second The Longship.

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Asatru is a type of Heathenry. Heathenry is an umbrella term for religions, philosophies, piety, lifestyles that are based in Germanic Paganism and/or Germanic Pagan culture.

A good place to start is reading books.

Here are the ones I recommend:

A Beginner's book: https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Heathens-Guide-Asatru/dp/0738733873/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542673929&sr=8-1&keywords=heathenry

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And the Poetic Edda translated by Jackson Crawford: https://www.amazon.com/Poetic-Edda-Stories-Hackett-Classics/dp/1624663567/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542673980&sr=8-1&keywords=jackson+crawford

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Also, for some spiritual music to meditate to, I recommend starting with

Wardruna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fnPwj1AMpo

And this song by Heilung: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqdk34f210w

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Ancestors are very important to Heathenry, so I would meditate on some of your ancestors that have passed on, if you don't already.

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Connect with the energies of your local land and woods. Some Heathens think these energies are literal beings called Land Wights. Some see them a bit more fluid and amorphous but still relational energies tied to the local land.

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I also recommend learning a bit about the three major ritual forms: Blots, Sumbels, and Fainings.

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At least, these are the places I would begin.

Crossley-Holland oversætter de nordiske mytologier til et mere gammeldags engelsk, som kan være svært at forstå for nogen.
I anbefaler at vælge Jackson Crawford's oversættelse af den poetiske edda. Den er mere ny, og er mere forståelig fordi det er oversat til nutiddags engelsk.

A few? He did the first 88 if I recall. Not the whole thing, but at least it's all of the practical advice section which is best suited for this style anyway.

On a bright note, the author (who shows great skill in translation by being able to accomplish this) is releasing a translation of the whole Elder Edda in modern English later this year.

EDIT: Now that I look again, by later this year I mean in three days. Awesome, now I know where part of my paycheck is going... I needed a new physical copy to supplement my digital anyway. Maybe I'll not give this one away for a while.

https://www.amazon.com/Poetic-Edda-Stories-Hackett-Classics/dp/1624663567/ The Poetic Edda by Jackson Crawford is good, he makes pretty interesting videos on youtube about Old Norse as well.

Excellent channel. I also recomend his translation of the poetic edda. Ive really enjoyed reading it.

If you're looking for an intro, try Our Father's Godsaga by Viktor Rydberg. Other than that, you can't go wrong with the already mentioned one by Kevin Crossley-Holland.

Besides that, Dr. Jackson Crawford (Ph.D., Scandinavian Studies; Taught Old Norse, Norse myth, Sagas, Vikings, etc. at UCLA) is releasing a version of the Poetic Edda which is worth checking out. It's available for Pre-Order here

Great video! His translation of the Poetic Edda is also another awesome resource.

I want to also plug an awesome pagan religious work; the Nordic “Bible”: the Poetic Edda.

You reminded me of it when you said the ‘thirukkural’ was written like psalms; the Edda is a collection of poems telling many stories that is like that too, with parts giving words of wisdom accredited to Odin himself. A recent 2015 translation by Dr. Jackson Crawford is very good.

This translation of The Poetic Edda came out earlier this month. It is very readable.

I like Dr. Jackson Crawford's translation. It's easy to read.

Link

Here you go if you are getting charged too much for shipping then it's Amazon just being a bitch....

I prefer the originals. And if you want a story that's actually about a Viking family, try this one.