This volume brings together Old Norse Eddic poetry attributed to Sæmundr Sigfússon and Snorri Sturluson’s prose Edda in English translation. It recounts myths of gods, giants, and heroes, offering a rich introduction to Norse cosmology and legendary tradition.
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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
THE ELDER EDDAS OF SAEMUND SIGFUSSON. Translated from the Original Old Norse Text into English BY BENJAMIN THORPE, AND THE YOUNGER EDDAS OF SNORRE STURLESON. Translated from the Original Old Norse Text into English BY I.A. BLACKWELL. HON. RASMUS B. ANDERSON, LL.D., EDITOR IN CHIEF. J. W. BUEL, Ph.D., MANAGING EDITOR.
PUBLISHED BY THE
NORROENA SOCIETY,
LONDON STOCKHOLM COPENHAGEN BERLIN NEW YORK
1906
KING GUNTHER
KING GUNTHER
(After a painting by B. Guth.)
Gunnar, Gunther, or Gunter, King of Burgundy, was probably a real persona troubled times with which his name is associated—a period distinguished for heroic characters as for tragic events. Gunther represents the best kinghood of his age; a man swayed by his affections rather than by ambit scrupled at misdeeds, yet yielded to the mastering passions of love; on instincts were loyalty to friends and country, and who shrank from crueltie his ends, but who fell a victim to woman's fascinations. History accordingl him more for a lover than for a sovereign.
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