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mckenzee‘Let there be fog
And let there be phantoms
Weird marvels
To baffle your hunters.’
-Njal’s Saga, trs. Magnus Magnusson & Hermann Palsson, 1960
I spent a summer researching First Nations literature at Saint John’s University in Newfoundland. It was there, moldering in the archives, that I found a differing/alternate account of Thor’s battle with the Midgard Serpent, differing in significant details from the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturlason.
The original was in Icelandic, with some terminology in ancient Greek and an unknown language. My translation follows.
I. Among the Skraelings
In the year 1000, as the Christians measure time, the old ways were being forgotten. Norway and Iceland had converted to Christianity and only the western lands of Greenland, Markland and Vinland remained true to Asgard.
Thor had been hearing much of the wonders of Vinland from Thorvald, son-in-law of Erik the Red, and Thorhall, known as the Hunter. So he decided that he would go to see it for himself. Thor left his home at Bilskirnir, tucked Mjollnir, his hammer, into his belt and set out to the west.
After many days of walking across the ice, Thor came upon a strange tribe of Skraelings. They lived apart from the other Esquimaux and worshipped a carving of a winged Kraken. They claimed that the Great Old Ones had dropped the cuttlefish stone from the sky as they fled into the sea when the world was new. Those Old Ones were gone now; but their dead bodies had told their secrets in dreams to this tribe, who formed a cult that would never died.
They told Thor that the Star-Born Ones were waiting, for when their great priest, C∂ulhu, would rise from his dark house under the waters, R’lyeh, and bring the earth again beneath his sway. Some day he would call, when the stars were ready, and the secret cult would be waiting to liberate him for Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods.
The Skraelings then moved forward and seized Thor to use in one of their unholy sacrifices. There was one man among the Skraelings, of large size and fine bearing, whom Thor concluded must be their chief. The Skraeling chief lifted Mjollnir from Thor’s belt and was pulled to the ground by its weight. Thor stooped and grabbed his hammer, swinging it in a mighty circle. He swept back the Skraelings holding him and knocked off the head of their chief. The rest of the tribe then took up their hideous idol and fled into the woods.
Thor turned to the south.
Comments please! There are 5500 words to come.
And let there be phantoms
Weird marvels
To baffle your hunters.’
-Njal’s Saga, trs. Magnus Magnusson & Hermann Palsson, 1960
I spent a summer researching First Nations literature at Saint John’s University in Newfoundland. It was there, moldering in the archives, that I found a differing/alternate account of Thor’s battle with the Midgard Serpent, differing in significant details from the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturlason.
The original was in Icelandic, with some terminology in ancient Greek and an unknown language. My translation follows.
I. Among the Skraelings
In the year 1000, as the Christians measure time, the old ways were being forgotten. Norway and Iceland had converted to Christianity and only the western lands of Greenland, Markland and Vinland remained true to Asgard.
Thor had been hearing much of the wonders of Vinland from Thorvald, son-in-law of Erik the Red, and Thorhall, known as the Hunter. So he decided that he would go to see it for himself. Thor left his home at Bilskirnir, tucked Mjollnir, his hammer, into his belt and set out to the west.
After many days of walking across the ice, Thor came upon a strange tribe of Skraelings. They lived apart from the other Esquimaux and worshipped a carving of a winged Kraken. They claimed that the Great Old Ones had dropped the cuttlefish stone from the sky as they fled into the sea when the world was new. Those Old Ones were gone now; but their dead bodies had told their secrets in dreams to this tribe, who formed a cult that would never died.
They told Thor that the Star-Born Ones were waiting, for when their great priest, C∂ulhu, would rise from his dark house under the waters, R’lyeh, and bring the earth again beneath his sway. Some day he would call, when the stars were ready, and the secret cult would be waiting to liberate him for Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods.
The Skraelings then moved forward and seized Thor to use in one of their unholy sacrifices. There was one man among the Skraelings, of large size and fine bearing, whom Thor concluded must be their chief. The Skraeling chief lifted Mjollnir from Thor’s belt and was pulled to the ground by its weight. Thor stooped and grabbed his hammer, swinging it in a mighty circle. He swept back the Skraelings holding him and knocked off the head of their chief. The rest of the tribe then took up their hideous idol and fled into the woods.
Thor turned to the south.
Comments please! There are 5500 words to come.
