The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths - Softcover

Colum, Padraic

4 out of 5 stars

3,825 ratings by Goodreads

9781684220410: The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1684220416 ISBN 13: 9781684220410

Publisher: Martino Fine Books, 2016

View all copies of this ISBN edition

0 Used

1 New

From US$ 25.85

2016 Reprint of 1920 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. "The Children of Odin" is Padraic Colum's popular retelling for children of famous Norse Myths and sagas about Odin, Freya, Thor, Loki and the other gods and goddesses who lived in Asgard before the dawn of time. With illustrations by William Pogany this volume contains the following stories: Far Away and Long Ago; The Building of the Wall; Iduna and Her Apples: How Loki Put the Gods in Danger; Sif's Golden Hair: How Loki Wrought Mischief in Asgard; How Brock Brought Judgment on Loki; How Freya Gained Her Necklace and How Her Loved One Was Lost to Her; How Frey Won Gerda, the Giant Maiden, and How He Lost His Magic Sword; Heimdall and Little Hnossa: How All Things Came to Be; The All-Father's Forebodings: How He Leaves Asgard; Odin Goes to Mimir's Well: His Sacrifice for Wisdom; Odin Faces an Evil Man; Odin Wins for Men the Magic Mead; Odin Tells to Vidar, His Silent Son, the Secret of His Doings; Thor and Loki in the Giants' City; How Thor and Loki Befooled Thrym the Giant; AEgir's Feast: How Thor Triumphed; The Dwarf's Hoard, and the Curse that It Brought; Foreboding in Asgard; Loki the Betrayer; Loki Against the AEsir; The Valkyrie; The Children of Loki; Baldur's Doom; Loki's Punishment; Sigurd's Youth; The Sword Gram and the Dragon Fafnir; The Dragon's Blood; The Story of Sigmund and Signy; The Story of Sigmund and Sinfiotli; The Story of the Vengeance of the Volsungs and of the Death of Sinfiotli; Brynhild in the House of Flame; Sigurd at the House of the Nibelungs; How Brynhild Was Won for Gunnar; The Death of Sigurd; and The Twilight of the Gods."

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Padraic Colum (8 December 1881 – 11 January 1972) was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Irish Literary Revival. Colum was born Patrick Columb in a County Longford workhouse, where his father worked. He was the first of eight children born to Patrick and Susan Columb. When the father lost his job in 1889, he moved to the United States to participate in the Colorado gold rush. Padraic and his mother and siblings remained in Ireland. When the father returned in 1892, the family moved to Glasthule, near Dublin, where his father was employed as Assistant Manager at Sandycove and Glasthule railway station. His son attended the local national school. When Susan Columb died in 1897, the family was temporarily split up. Padraic (as he would be known) and one brother remained in Dublin, while their father and remaining children moved back to Longford. Colum finished school the following year and at the age of seventeen, he passed an exam for and was awarded a clerkship in the Irish Railway Clearing House. He stayed in this job until 1903. During this period, Colum started to write and met a number of the leading Irish writers of the time, including W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory and �. He also joined the Gaelic League and was a member of the first board of the Abbey Theatre. He became a regular user of the National Library of Ireland, where he met James Joyce and the two became lifelong friends. During the riots caused by the Abbey Theatre's production of The Playboy of the Western World, Padraic Colum's father, Patrick Columb, was one of the protestors. Padraic himself was not engaged in the protests, although he did pay his father's fine afterwards. He collected Irish folk songs, and sometimes rewrote them almost in their entirety, including the famous She Moved Through the Fair. Colum based his poem on one surviving line, while his collaborator, the musicologist Herbert Hughes noted the tune. He was awarded a five-year scholarship by a wealthy American benefactor, Thomas Hughes Kelly. He used it to read, study and write. He did not attend University College Dublin, or any other University as a student.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.