The Norse believed that originally the world was made up of a region of ice and mist called Niflheim and another of fire and tremendous heat called
Muspellsheim.

In the course of time the warmer air from one melted the ice of the other.
Out of this sprang the giant Ymir and a whole race of other giants.

From the frost sprang a cow called Audumla. By licking the ice, the cow formed a man called Buri whose descendant would be the chief of gods and men. Buri’s grandsons were Odin, Vili, and Ve.

These three gods slew the giants and from
Ymir’s body, they formed the earth named
Midgard, and the mountains, sea, etc.
The stars in the sky were formed from the sparks erupting from Muspellsheim.

Around the earth was a land reserved for the giants called Jotunheim.

Among the giants was one named
Nor who had a daughter named
Nott, the goddess of the night.
Nor also had a grandson named
Dag, god of the day.

Between earth and heaven stretched a bridge to connect the two which was called
Bifrost.

At the end of the bridge sat a guard named
Heimdall who guarded against the entrance of dwarfs – wise, cunning and evil little creatures.
In contrast to these evil creatures were the elves who were beautiful and good to gods and men.

In the middle of the world stood a gigantic tree called Yggdrasil at the base of which the gods assembled.
The tree had three roots…
One of which went toward
Niflheim, the
Underworld.

The root which extended to earth was guarded by Norns, three sisters who controlled the fate of the Past, Present, and Future.

Once Odin and his two brothers were walking along a beach and saw two trees on the ground.
From these they created man and woman. They named them Ask and
Elma.

Odin and the other gods lived Asgard where Odin had a special place named Valhalla. Odin had a wife named Frigga. On the shoulders of
Odin sat two ravens named Hugin and Munin. Odin ate no food, but instead drank a drink called mead. Another name for Odin is Wodan which is where Wednesday comes from.

Odin and his wife had several children. One of these was Thor, the thunderer and god of war.
Thursday is named after him.
This son had three great treasures.
Hammer
Belt of
Strength
Iron gloves

Another son was considered to be the best of the gods. His name was Balder god of sunlight, spring, and gladness.
Balder’s mother Frigga made all the plants on earth promise not to harm Balder. But she forgot about mistletoe who was hidden in the oak leaves. When
Loki discovered this, he cut a sprig of mistletoe and persuaded the blind god Hoder to throw it at Balder.
When the mistletoe touched him, Balder dropped dead.
Balder died from Loki’s mischief.

Frey governed the rain and sunshine and made all things of earth to grow.
His sister was Freya, the goddess of love and music and flowers. Friday is named for her.

The most courageous of the gods was Tyr.
Tuesday is named for him.
The god of evil was Loki. He was the father of the wolf
Fenrir, of the Midgard Serpent who encircled the earth, and of the goddess Hel or Death.

The adventures of these gods were many.
In the binding of the
Fenrir Wolf, the most courageous god Tyr lost his hand.
On another occasion,
Thor pretended to be a bride in order to recover his hammer.

There is a story concerning Odin himself. It is said he left the heavens and disguised himself so he could pass as either a
Wanderer or Thrall and called himself by the name of Vegtam.
While in the land of the giants he met one named Thiazi who had a nasty reputation for taking the heads of those who could not answer his questions.

The price he paid was that of an eye.
Odin’s real purpose for this journey was to get a drink of magic mead from the well kept by Mimir.

On the bottom part of your worksheet, name three Greek gods who are similar to the Norse gods you have just read about. Remember to explain why they are similar.
For example, Loki is like Hermes because they both create mischief.