Völsungasagan

(The Volsunga saga)

It's an ancient norse tale about The Völsunga clan, who's ancestor was Oden.

The first part of this tale is about King Volsung who held a wedding for his daughter, but falls victim to his treacherous son-Siggeir. Völsungs son Sigmund avenged the deed with Sinfjötli. (Whom btw was Sigmunds son that he has with his own sister.) Not too popular with the gods. The former became a mighty king with the help of Oden's sword Gram, which later Oden dismantled. Sigmund was also the father of Sigurd Fafnesbane.

The tale's second part follows the plot of the Edda poem Niblungs cycle. Another chapter is taken from The Didrik tale, and a third piece is taken from Ragnar Lodbroks story. King Sigmund married Hjördis, but Sigmund died shortly thereafter. The son Sigurd is born after his death, and growing up with foster brother Regin. Regin made ​​a sword for Sigurd from the two parts of Gram. After Sigurd avenged his father, he killed the dragon Fafner and took the gold he guarded. He then also killed Regin, who was suspected of treason.

This is all so very confusing isn't it? But this is how old norse tales go. Many people, many weird names and many weird side stories.

So, let me tell you the story about Fafner.
The man Sigurd Fafnesbane is the son of Sigmund and Hjördis. A descendant of the Völsungas, and a famous Hero amongst the vikings and the Gods. He got his name Fafnesbane because he killed the vicious Dragon Fafner (Fafnir) who guarded a great treasure.

As with all old norse tales there are lots of side stories that needs to be told.
Let's take Fafner for instance. He used to be a Dwarf once, and son of Hreidmar and brother of Regin and Utter. And he turned himself into a dragon to protect the great treasure.

And that treasure was a way to amend for a wrongdoing Loke had made to Hreidmar before. Loke "accidentally" killed Hreimars son Utter. See Utter could, just like Fafner, turn himself into an animal. And as Loke didn't know it was Utter he killed him, and then shared his prey with Oden and Höder.

When Hreidmar found out about the deed he went berserk and kidnapped Oden and Höder and demanded a ransom from Loke.


Hreidmar took Oden and Höder hostage and demanded the fine that Loki would fill the otter skin (Utter) with gold and then cover the gold-filled skin with more gold.
Hreidmar suggested that Loki would steal Andvares fabulous treasure which would surely perform penance. Andvari was a sharp toothed pike which could not be caught with a rod nor regular line. Loki succeeded in using sea giantess Rans nets and entrap the pike and extort him the treasure including a magic ring. The Ring incubated under Andvari a curse that caused violent incidents for their owners.
Loki wanted to keep the ring for himself, but the ring was needed to cover the last whisker of Utter and then perform penance. The ring spread its evil and greed and while Regin was gone and worked with the dwarfs, Fafne decided to kill Hreidmar and claiming the entire treasure. Then Fafne took his dragon shape to better defend his treasure and keep looters away.



Sigurd managed to slay the mighty dragon Fafner and came across a great treasure. That treasure included the magic ring Andvaranaut that made their owners rich. Earlier, however, Loki wrung from dwarf Andvari ring, but he; in retaliation, provided the ring with a curse: the ring might destroy the one who took it. Ring destroyed so first Fafnir father Hreidmar, then Fafner and eventually Sigurd as well.

Thus his name was Sigurd Fafnesbane.


In the German Nibelungenlied Sigurd is called Siegfried.
The main events of the Sigurd Fafnesbanes life depicted on Sigurd Carving and Gökstenen.



See, and I made thing EASY for you.
In these old tales, the side stories are ridiculously many and odd. haha

A must watch

One of the Skarsgård brothers is in this too.
YaY Swedes!

The swedish santa

Right-o then.. I figured it's been a long time since I wrote anything about swedish/norse mythology and now is a good time to write about the swedish Santa (Tomte).  The "real" santa was actually from germany in the beginning (Saint Nicholaus)

In sweden, santa during christmas doesn't really have anything to do with religion. It comes from old beliefs that every farm and house has a Tomte/santa who took care of all the cattle and chores. We've believed in this little "santa" for hundred of hundreds of years. Tomten belonged to the same kind as gnomes, goblins and elves which is called väsen or oknytt.
And people were very superstitious,  it was said that if you didn't treat him well with gratitude he could get very offended and stop helping out at the farm. And even cause misfortune and bad luck. And he did not like to be joked with or being treated without respect. I guess for you guys our santa would be more like a Gnome to you? Well, anyway... He was very fair. Both to humans and animals. Overworking an animal or a farmworker could also bring you bad luck cause he would not take kindly to people who mistreated their workers and animals ya know? Apparently his favorite animal was the Horse and the ram. Which is also why sweden has christmas rams made out of wheat and red ribbons on it. And later on gingerbread pigs was highly appreciated by him :)


So therefor people always made sure to leave some food for him outside. Especially during christmas cause he'd walk through the snow with his christmas ram and work very hard. But in those days it was the people who gave HIM gifts as thanks for him working so hard. And people who saw him said that he was a very small being, like the height of a child with an old mans face, and very long grey beard (sometimes white) And he'd wear a red, grey or a green suit and often a red woolen cap (Or a pixie cap if you prefer that)

Well, since everyone wanted to show gratitude for him being the hard worker as he was they'd
leave out a plate of warm rice pudding (Actually it's more like Rice grain porridge) with cinnamon and sugar on top and milk for him to eat on christmas eve's morning (we celebrate christmas on the 24th)  And back in the old ages it was rice grain porridge with a bit of butter on it. And to eat it with they'd leave out a spoon made out of wood since Tomten hated metals. Hence, we eat Tomegröt (santariceporridge) during christmas in sweden.
See, my family left out a plate of porridge for him as well when I was a kid. It was always such fun! Cause my aunt and mother would always take time at making the porridge and then the entire family would sit down at the table and eat. And it's also custom to leave a penny, an almond and a piece of apple in the porridge for luck, fortune and love, but that's another story. I guess leaving a plate out in the snow is something a family with young kids do so kids can see that santa was there in the morning to eat the rice. We were always so excited to see that santa ate all of it :D

Anyway, moving on.
Our santa looks a bit different from the "american" santa indeed.
And he changed his looks during the early 1700 century (1800 in swedish counting) when a lady called Jenny Nyström painted him. Her painting became famous and we often have her paintings as christmas cards even now. He was a bit more modern and looked like a mixture between our homestead gnome and Saint Nicholaus (The german saint) And that's how our santa is even today.

The american santa was actually created by Coca Cola company believe it our not. Pretty cool huh?

Oh and one more thing, in sweden...we don't believe that santa has little elfs like you see in many movies and so on. In swedish folklores he just has those little helpers. Miniature santas :D



Here's some pics of swedish Tomtar :D

När månen går med långa ben

"Lyssna noga nånting hörs, mörk är natten timman sen.
Allt kan hända om du törs, när månen går med långa ben.


OH MY FUCKING GOD!

This is like... aaah, pure happiness.
I stumbled upon this site by accident and this is the music we grew up to!
När månen går med långa ben! <--- One of the favorites! HOLY SHIT!

Ah! I'm like bouncing of joy hahaha

I love these songs!!
You need to listen to the fourth album on that site. That's the one.
Aaaaaw...
Me, my little sister and Annica used to hide in a dark room and listen to this story and the songs over and over again. By the way, this story was so spooky. And the song Bäckahästen Joik. Holy shit we got so scared cause Bäckahästen was really creepy haha.

• När månen går med långa ben.
• Valurei
• Bäckahästens joik
• valurei

Maybe Xi will like these songs?
I love them :)

http://www.markatta.net/pages/sida_cd.php

Myling

Once again I have a fascinating story for you guys ;)

Hooray more norse mythology!

This story is about mylingar. 

Back in the old days, just as in most other countries as well...it wasn't accepted to have a child if you weren't married. It wasn't uncommon that they would kill the children that were born outside a marriage. Such a child is called a myling. The mothers would kill the baby and hide it. Sometimes even hide under the floor in their cabins just to hide an unwanted birth.

Mylingar are said to be the spirits of those dead babies. Taking the vengeance on their mothers that killed them.

According to the tales of the past, it is told about how the mother was revealed when the myling sings a song about his cruel fate. Mylingar was believed to be buried at places were a young unmarried woman could have hidden a dead child (go figure..) like mires, outhouses, cairns and forest jaws.

From such places, you could often hear child screams and cries in the night.

Sometimes the child could even scream for help. Yelling "help, give me a name!!" You could then save the child by saying "her, you can have mine. My name is ----" You could also help the child by finding it and bury it on holy ground.

The word myling, comes from the old swedish word myrding, from the ancient swedish myrða, (which means murder) In short, mylings simply means murdered.


There's a tale about a myling in Bergslagen here in sweden. An old man was walking home from the pub, late one night. When he was spoken to by a little boy saying "Grandfather, grandfather may I suckle?" "Morfar, morfar, får jag pappa?"  That word, pappa. Is an ancient dialekt in sweden, it means to breast feed basically. (though pappa means father here nowadays just so you know) The old man refused to answer, but as the child kept asking this question he finally answered: "If you have someone to suckle from, then suckle, but thou shall not suckle from me" The little boy then disappeared. When the old man finally came home to his cabin he then found his daughter dead in the pull-out couch with blood flowing from her breasts. The old mans answer to that child gave the boy the possibility to have revenge on his mother, with the tales words: When the boy got permission to suckle, he then knew where to go"  "När pojken hade fått lov te papp' så visste han vart han skulle gå".

well, that's about all about Mylingar.

One of the many legends in sweden

So this is the story about Liten Agda and Olof Tyste. (The little Agda & Olof the silent one) And it's said to have taken place the year 1526 in Wadstena. One of the first legends in the First king of sweden, Gustav Vasas reign.

Agda was the daugther of a rich merchant, and she was in love with a young boy called Olof. And Olof loved her dearly in return. Unfortunately their love was not accepted by her father and they were forbidden to see each other. Which drove Olof into a deep depression making him turn silent. Hence; The name Olof Tyste.

Agdas father demanded that she either married a rich nobleman whom she did not want, or join a convent and become a nun. She choose the latter.

When she had been at the monastery for about a year, she finally managed to meet Olof in secret and the two of them decided to elope. She climbed the wall of the monastery and below, Olof was waiting with a boat.

Now, back in those days it was considered a mortal sin to break a vow of chastity and the penalty was execution. The woman was to be buried alive. And the man who broke it with her was to be burned at the stake. So the two of them kept running away. Bishop Hans Brask sent out a banishment making them outlaws. Which meant that anyone was allowed to kill them.

When they finally found a church to be married at, right before saying 'I do'. The news of the banishment reached the priest and they drove them away. (hey, at least they didn't kill them..)

So Agda figured that they should go to the king and explain their situation and express their love for each other. Maybe the King could help them? The king was in Vadstena for a visit and he had ordered that no citizen was to be denied to visit him this day. So Agda and Olof managed to meet him and explain everything.

The king then ordered the Bishop to revoke their banishment, making them free citizens once again. He then sent Agda and Olof to her father, with soldier escort. Ordering her father to welcome his daughter and his future son in law. The father refused and said it was none of the kings business. He said he'd order his servants to chase them away with dogs. The kings chansler Laurentius who was part of the lifeguard then said on his own initiative that the The King had ordered him to either care for his "children" carefully OR become one head shorter before the night is out. The father believed the threat and did so. Everything ended well and the day after Gustav Vasa meddled between them and not long after Agda and Olof were married.

It is also said that The King himself attended the wedding and even danced with the bride.

Gustav Vasa later changed the laws of the convents in sweden. And ordered the Bishop that no woman was allowed to become a nun without a certain permission from the king. So that no woman would have to be forced into monastery against their will again.



OH YAY a happy ending for once! WEEEEEEEIIIH!

lawl, well..that's your good night story kids.
Enjoy it.

Troll

Now, I'm quite bored tbfh... and I'm about to take a stroll in the park with Lei Lei and then go grocery shopping. Having the family over for tacos tonight ;D

Anyway, since I'm bored. I'll just pass the time by writing some more norse mythology and such.

I thought I'd tell you about trolls :)
I've always been fascinated by trolls. Honestly, a part of me still believs trolls exists. And don't fucking judge me. How can one not believe in them? :P lawl I once wrote about trolls in a fairytale remember? the tale of the four big trolls and Vill-Vallareman?

Anyway, A troll is a being from the norse folklores...said to descend from the prehistoric ice and fire giants. They differ in both looks, temper and size. There are trolls as big as a mountains (it is said that a sleeping troll could actually BE that mountain.) And they can be tiny as a cat. But the size has nothing to do with their kindness. Some could be kind once in a while, others mischievous and malicious. But all of them were tricksters. They may be slow witted, but not stupid.  There's also many dfferent kinds of trolls. We have skogstroll (forrest trolls) grott troll (cave trolls) and bergatroll (mountain trolls) and also stentroll (stone trolls <--- they're said to MADE out of stone.) Here's the thing, some believe that forrest trolls, as well as stone trolls and tree trolls can actually handle sunlight. (?) But cavetrolls, and mointain trolls can't. The stone trolls can do it only because they turn themselves into stone before sunrise. While in norway it's mostly believed that they can't handle sun at all. Hmm, what else... ah, All of them are incredibly fast. They can run like the wind. And take a step big as 7 miles.
Well, nowadays trolls, alongside with giants are believed to be extinct. Some say that they simple hidd deeper in our forrest since they felt that sweden became too "christian" and the christianity took over sweden. Also, they can become veeeery old. Several hundred years old. So why would'nt some of them still be lurking in the dark forrest of Svearike huh? Everyone knows that trolls used to stay hidden deep inside our forrests. Fearing the sunlight as they might turn into stone if their bodies meets the sunlight. THAT is what i was told as a kid. And THAT is what I believe. They'd die from sunlight, unless they turned themselves into stone before the sun rises :D

Not only do they come in different shapes and sizes, but their looks differ just as much as us humans do. But there's a few things they all have in common. The troll tail, the pointy ears, the broad nose and peering eyes that glows like burning charcoal in the night . Many of them have beards as well :) Some can look just as we think a troll looks like, and some can actually be considered beautiful.  They love glittery sparkling things and always wear big heavy jewelry. On the other hand, troll ladies are considered pretty. And with their shaggy tail they could easily be mixed up with skogsrået.

Now trolls were rarely seen since they only move around after sunset, and some say that they can move around while being invisible. They used their invisibillities to steal food from the humans and do mischievous acts. Ooooh And switch their troll babies with a human baby.  See, a trollmor (trollmother) would very much like their children to get a human upbringing since humans (usually) treats their children so well, and educate them and dress them and feed them and so on. So the mother would switch the children. If a family suspected to have a changeling in the house, they could threaten to throw the child into the oven. And then trollmor would come running fast as fuck and save the baby. Despite how trolls may seem, they love their family and protects them as well as they can. Unlike many swedish entitys and spirits etc...trolls actually live in packs. With their "families".They have many friends and they're very social and loud in their own crowd.

And back in the old days, a few hundred years ago... people really did believe in these things and they were very affraid of trolls and skogrået and all the other beings that we have here ;) But it's the same as the famous With hunt we had here hundred of years ago. it was horrible. And so easy to point out a poor girl and accuse her of witchcraft. They'd burn all of them, and sometimes drown them.
So, if a child was accused of being a troll changeling..their lives could easily be ruined forever. Some could even get abandonned by their families and thrown into an orphanage or into the streets. :/ But, the best thing to do would be to baptise the child as fast as they could. Trolls hate everything that has anything to do with christianity. They also feared churchbells, and Tor and his hammer Mjölner.  It is also known that trolls are very greedy and they collect all the gold and silver they can get their hand on. Hence, the saying "rich as a troll" :) haha



And many people utside the north, have no idea what a real troll looks like. You've all been mesmerized by world of warcraft, lord of the rings, and such fantasy bullcrap. THAT IS NOT HOW TROLLS LOOK. After all, that's fantasy. This is real :P Swedish folklores and mythology is not fantasy at all. It's a part of history and a part of our ancestors beliefs.

This is what a real troll looks like.
these are swedish trolls though. But as I've said before, finland,norway,denmark...we all share our mythology :3

oh btw, there are still people that say that trolls aren't bad beings. On the contrary, quite kind. They are the balance of nature. And the humans have blamed the trolls for their own mistakes and failures. Using the trolls as a scapegoat. Sound logical enough if you ask me. Same as the witch hunts. If there was someone you were jealous of or didn't like. Just accuse them of being a witch. problem solved. Such cunts really. Doing such mean acts.

I myself think that it totally depends on what troll you may stumble upon :P




well, this does it for today. :D

Swedish /north mythology

Well, I've noticed that there's quite a few of you that are instrested in norse mythology, especially swedish. Let me tell you, that since sweden, norway and denmark all used to be one big country our myths and creatures are all the same but different names.

So, I'll tell you about a few.
Skogsrået. Ramon was intrested in hearing about her so here we go.
(technically, she's probably know to the world as siren of the woods...) But she's not a siren. She's a troll entity.

Skogrået has many names, Huldra, Elverpigen, mosekonen, or even Vittra in other parts of sweden. But she's mostly knows as Skogrået. She lives deep in the dark forests. She is said to be the most fairest of women, But also the most repulsive one. Depends on what her mood is. Her back on the other hand is hollow, and looks like a rotten tree trunk and she has a tail. Which she is very ashamed of having (for some odd reason, personally I find a tail AWESOME but hey..) In some parts of sweden, especially up north and other pasture fields it is said that her tail looks like a fox's tail. What I've heard from old people (and many of my old patients) is that she had dark dark hair, sometimes even green.

Some say that if a man made love to her, he would stop speaking. Cause his soul would remain with her. She lured men into the deep forests and if she liked them she'd seduce them, and if she didn't like them she'd mislead them, making them get lost and disappear in the dark woods.

In some parts, mainly Svealand (where I come from) and southern Norrland, She is said to have cattle in the forest whom she herded. She would also have a dog there.

She could be kind to those who had shown kindness to her though. As a hunter, it was very important to stay on Skogsråets good side. She would then bring you good hunting fortune. She would blow down the riffle barrel making the weapon unable to miss it's aim. BUT she would also make it so it could'nt shoot one of her own riding mooses. She would also help little chaletgirls wth their cattle...


According to old stories from the northic mythology,  Oden held a grudge against Skogrået and he would hunt her like she was a prey.

Despite Skogrået being a solitary entity,  she might've belonged to (hard to translate this) the colletive entitys similar to the southern swedish trolls.

 

well, I think that it turned into a long blogpost so this will have to do for now :D haha
Next time, I think I'll write about Näcken :D Mesa mesa like Näcken!