2026  ·  MMXXVI Scandinavian stories and tales NorskPortuguêsEnglish Subscribe

Boreal Saga Play

by The Boreal Times · Duna Press Editions
ᛉ Did you know?
The Gjermundbu helmet, the only nearly complete Viking helmet ever found, is round and has no horns.Read →About 170 medieval swords bear the name Ulfberht engraved on the blade.Read →In 1206, two skiers crossed the mountains with a baby prince to save him.Read →The gods bound the wolf Fenrir with a ribbon made of six things that do not exist.Read →The Vikings played hnefatafl, and the original rules of the game were lost.Read →The Jelling stone, from around 965, has the name of Denmark written in runes.Read →In Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, there are runes carved by a Norseman, and one of them ends with the name Halfdan.Read →An Icelandic saga mentions a sunstone that shows where the sun is, even behind the clouds.Read →Frigg made all things swear not to harm Baldr, but forgot a sprout of mistletoe.Read →

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Four doors into the Scandinavian world, from the gods to fireside tales.

31 stories Myths & Gods Enter → 29 stories Sagas & Kings Enter → 35 stories Viking Age Enter → 26 stories Tales & Folklore Enter →

Myths & Gods

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Illustration of a traveller in a broad-brimmed hat and blue cloak seated before a grey-bearded giant in a stone hall lit by a fire, with a board of white and black stones between them and runes scratched on the wall Myth or legend Odin and Vafþrúðnir: the wisdom contest where the head was the stake In the poem Vafþrúðnismál, a disguised Odin challenges a giant famed for wisdom to a contest of questions, wagering his head. The last question, about Baldr, reveals who he is. Read Illustration of a broad-shouldered bearded god in iron gloves catching a glowing iron bar in mid-air in a giants' hall, with a giant hiding behind an iron pillar and orange sparks everywhere Myth or legend Thor and the giant Geirrøðr: the glowing iron, the iron gloves and the rising river According to Snorri and the poem Þórsdrápa, Thor went to Geirrøðr's hall without hammer or belt, crossed a swelling river and caught a glowing bar with iron gloves. Here is the story. Read Illustration of a tall woman with half her face pale and half dark blue, standing before a great hall of dark stone under a grey sky, with a bridge covered in gold over a black river behind her and a small rider arriving Myth or legend Hel and Helheim: the queen of the dead who lived in a house where Hunger was the plate According to Snorri Sturluson, Hel, a daughter of Loki, ruled those who died of sickness or old age in an underground realm where even the tableware had grim names. Here is what the sources say. Read Illustration of a red-bearded god hurling a hammer at a stone giant with a rock shield, on a cracked plain under black clouds, with sparks in the air, a nimble boy beside the god and a large clay figure in the background Myth or legend Thor against Hrungnir: the duel with the stone-hearted giant and the shard that stayed in the god's head According to Snorri, the giant Hrungnir got drunk in the gods' hall and challenged Thor to a duel. See how it ended and why a piece of stone stayed in the god's head. Read

Sagas & Kings

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Illustration of an old white-bearded warrior in a dark cloak standing in an open field, the tip of his spear touching a half-buried horse skull in the grass from which a viper emerges, with three slim arrows stuck in the ground beside him Saga or medieval source Örvar-Oddr and the horse Faxi: the hero who buried his horse to escape a prophecy In the Örvar-Odds saga, a seeress says the hero will die because of his horse Faxi. He buries the animal and travels the world for many years, but the prophecy waits for him at home. Read Illustration of a young warrior woman in a dark cloak and helmet, holding a torch before a stone burial mound ringed by blue flames on a windswept island, with the pale figure of a warrior rising from the mound in the moonlight Saga or medieval source Hervör and the sword Tyrfing: the woman who woke her dead father to take his sword In the Hervarar saga, Hervör, raised as a warrior, goes to the island of Samsey at night and wakes her dead father to demand the cursed sword Tyrfing. Here is what the text tells. Read Illustration of an Icelandic turf farm at night, with pale wet figures standing at the door, cloaked men holding torches in a semicircle before them, and a seal's head rising from the packed-earth floor in the firelight Saga or medieval source The haunting of Fróðá: the door-court that tried the dead in Eyrbyggja saga In the Eyrbyggja saga, the dead return to an Icelandic farm and leave only when a door-court summons them one by one. Here is what the saga tells, and what we know about it. Read Illustration of warriors fighting on a moonlit beach, with a woman in a dark cloak standing among the fallen bodies, which rise in silence, while the silvery sea beats against low cliffs and mist covers the island Saga or medieval source Hjaðningavíg, the eternal battle: Hild, Heðinn and Högni, the fight that restarts every night until the end of the world According to Snorri, two kings fight without end because Hild raises the dead every night. See how the legend appears in the sources, from a 9th-century poem to Saxo's account. Read

Viking Age

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Illustration of an artificial four-tiered grassy hill on a green plain on the Isle of Man, with a stone chapel behind it and a procession of people in dark and colourful clothes climbing to the top, under a blue sky with clouds Documented history Tynwald: the Isle of Man assembly whose name comes from Norse and which still meets on a hill The name Tynwald comes from the Norse *þingvöllr*, "assembly field". Every year, on 5 July, new laws are read from a four-tiered hill on the Isle of Man. Read Illustration of a market street beside a river in 8th-century Denmark, with rows of small timber houses and stalls, carts with barrels and furs, merchants in colourful cloaks bargaining and a silver balance on a table Documented history Ribe: the Danish market town that existed before the age of Viking raids Excavations at Ribe show a seasonal market from about 704, with glass beads, imported pottery and coins. In the 9th century the monk Ansgar received permission there to build a church. Read Illustration of a large grey runestone in a Swedish meadow at dusk, covered in runes and a carved serpent, with a woman in a headscarf and blue dress kneeling before it, and in the background a fjord with a warship departing Saga or medieval source Ingvar's stones: the Swedish expedition to Serkland that was carved in stone About two dozen Swedish runestones remember the men who set out with Ingvar around 1036 and died far away. One says they went in search of gold. Here is what the stones and the saga tell. Read Illustration of two armies meeting in a rain-soaked valley: on one side Anglo-Saxon soldiers with round shields and dragon standards, on the other Vikings in helmets and Scots with spears, under a heavy cloudy sky with a river behind Documented history Brunanburh, 937: the battle where an English king faced Vikings, Scots and Britons In 937, King Æthelstan defeated an alliance of the Viking king of Dublin, the king of the Scots and the king of Strathclyde. We know the battle's name, but not its exact place. Read

Tales & Folklore

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Illustration of a huge black cat with yellow eyes prowling a snowy turf farm at night, with a lit window where a family wears new woollen sweaters, and a child with no new clothes standing outside, under a greenish aurora Myth or legend Jólakötturinn, the Yule Cat of Iceland: whoever got no new clothes might become its dinner In Icelandic folklore, the Yule Cat threatened to eat anyone who got no new clothes before Christmas. Many scholars link it to wool work. Here is what the sources say. Read Illustration of a young woman in a red skirt and headscarf walking alone at dusk along a rocky Norwegian hillside, with the opening of a cave lit by golden light behind a stone, and hazy figures of tailed creatures peering between the rocks Myth or legend Bergtatt: the Norwegian belief in those taken into the mountain In Norwegian folk tradition, someone who was "bergtatt" had been taken into the mountain by the hidden people. Here is what accounts collected in the 19th century say, and how the idea reached Peer Gynt. Read Illustration of a woman in a blue dress with loose hair at the edge of a Danish beach at dusk, looking at the waves, with a blue-green-skinned merman rising from the water to the waist, reaching out a hand, and a small church with a tower in the background Myth or legend Agnete and the merman: the Danish ballad of the woman who lived at the bottom of the sea In the Danish ballad "Agnete og Havmanden", a young woman follows a merman to the sea floor and lives there for years, until she hears the bells of a church. Here is the ballad and its long life. Read Illustration of an enormous figure in rusty chain mail and a white beard stooped under a hide tent in a tundra landscape at dusk, with snow, reindeer in the distance, a small clever figure in colourful clothes sitting by the fire and a steaming pot Myth or legend Stállo: the foolish giant of the Sámi tales, who always loses to the cunning of those he wants to devour In Sámi tales, Stállo is a being of iron and hunger who chases people but is almost always tricked by someone cleverer. See what the tradition tells and how scholars read it. Read

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