A growing treasure chamber: free knowledge PDFs with our logo, public-domain original works on Vikings and Germanic peoples, great finds and stories – plus routes to museums and rune stones.
Lovingly prepared, with our logo, free to read and share. A dedicated handbook for each runic row.
The great cosmological poem of the Edda: the seeress's prophecy of creation, Ragnarök and rebirth. All 66 stanzas in the Old Norse original (Codex Regius) beside Henry Adams Bellows' translation (1923), stanza by stanza. The first lay of our complete Poetic Edda edition.
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionYoung Sigurth rides alone to his mother's brother Gripir, the wisest of all men, who sees what is to come. In a long exchange of question and answer he draws from him, step by step, his whole fate: how he will slay the dragon Fafnir and the smith Regin on Gnitaheith, wake the sleeping ruler's daughter on the mountain and receive runes … (53 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionAfter slaying the dragon Fáfnir, Sigurð rides up the mountain Hindarfjall and sees a great light blazing to the sky. Within a wall of shields he finds a figure asleep in full armour; lifting the helm, he sees that it is a woman. (37 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionUrged on by the smith Regin, the young hero Sigurth slays the dragon Fafnir, who guards the cursed Nibelung hoard and the ring Andvaranaut on the Gnita heath. Sigurth digs a trench across the dragon's path and thrusts the sword Gram upward into its heart. (44 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionThe Danish king Fróði, a grandson of Odin, rules in a legendary time of peace, the famous Peace of Fróði, when no man harms another and a gold ring lies long untouched by the road. On a royal visit to Sweden he buys two giant-strong bond-women, Fenja and Menja, and sets them to the wonder-mill Grotti, which grinds out whatever the … (24 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionThe goddess Freyja wakes the giantess Hyndla (‚She-Dog‘) in her cave and, with coaxing words, asks her to ride with her to Valhöll. In truth she wants to trace the ancestry of her protégé Óttar: he has wagered his whole inheritance against Angantýr and must prove his noble descent. (50 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionThe god Heimdall wanders across the earth under the name Ríg and in turn lodges with three couples — with Ái and Edda (Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother), with Afi and Amma (Grandfather and Grandmother) and with Faðir and Móðir (Father and Mother). With each he stays three nights and shares the bed; thus he begets the forefathers … (48 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionThree brothers — among them Völund, the peerless smith — take swan-maidens, Valkyries, as their wives by the Wolf-Lake. For seven winters they live in happiness, but then the women long for battle and fly away. (41 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionBaldr, the fairest and best of the gods, is troubled by dark and ominous dreams that seem to foretell his death. The gods gather in council, yet none can read the omen. (14 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionThe all-wise dwarf Alvíss rises out of the rock to carry off Thor’s daughter: she was promised to him as his bride while the god was away from home. Thor refuses to honour the betrothal, yet rather than reject the suitor outright he sets him a trap – the dwarf may have the maiden if he can answer everything the god asks him. (35 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionThor is walking home from a journey in the East when he reaches a sound. On the far shore stands a ferryman with his boat: Hárbarðr, ‚Gray-Beard‘ — in truth Odin himself, unrecognised by his own son. (60 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionThe sea-giant Ægir – also called Gymir – invites the Æsir to a feast in his hall, where the ale pours itself and glittering gold lights the room instead of fire. His serving-men Fimafeng and Eldir are praised by the guests; out of envy Loki slays Fimafeng and is driven off into the forest by the gods. (65 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionNot even Frigg can keep Odin at home: the All-Father is set on testing the wisest of all giants. Under the name Gagnrath he enters Vafthruthnir's hall, and the giant stakes his own head on the outcome of the contest. (55 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionÞrymskviða, the ‘Lay of Thrym’, is one of the best-loved and liveliest of the mythological poems of the Poetic Edda. It tells, with swift humour, how Thor wakes one morning to find that his hammer Mjöllnir has been stolen. (32 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionThe Hymiskviða tells how the gods, feasting in the hall of the sea-giant Ægir, discover that no kettle is large enough to brew ale for them all. Ægir is bidden to host the feast — but first a mighty brewing cauldron must be found. (39 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionSkírnismál – För Skírnis tells one of the tenderest and yet most disquieting love stories of the Poetic Edda. The Wane-god Freyr one day sits down on Hliðskjálf, Odin's high seat, and looks out over all the worlds. (42 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionThe Grímnismál (‚The Lay of Grímnir‘) is one of the great mythological knowledge poems of the Poetic Edda. Its frame: King Geirröðr – once favoured by Odin as a foster-son over his own brother Agnarr – has a stranger in a dark-blue mantle, who calls himself only Grímnir, seized and tortured between two fires for eight nights. (54 stanzas, bilingual)
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionOur most comprehensive work: Elder, Younger & Anglo-Saxon Futhark in one volume – with real runes, a comparison table, timeline, famous finds (with photos), exercises, bind-runes and an honest separation of evidence from myth.
Download PDF Read online Deutsche VersionWhen are Yule, Þorrablót, Sigrblót & the Winter Nights? All Norse festivals with dates, how the old blóts were held and customs today – anchored to solstices and the old calendar, with honest background.
Open the calendarOdin’s wisdom for life – complete: all 164 stanzas in six chapters (gnomic poem, love, Odin’s examples, Loddfáfnismál, rune song, magic songs). English after Bellows (1923), public domain.
Download PDF Read online BilingualAll 24 runes of the oldest runic row (c. 150–800 AD) with names, sound values and meaning – to look up.
Download PDF Read onlineThe 16 runes of the Viking Age (c. 800–1100), interpreted from the Old Norse rune poem.
Download PDF Read onlineUp to 33 runes from England and Frisia, interpreted from the Old English rune poem.
Download PDF Read onlineThe 26 most important figures – from Odin to the Valkyries, presented in detail, each with its duality.
Download PDF Read onlineSix stories that bring the world of the Vikings and Germanic peoples to life.
In the early 7th century, an entire royal ship with its treasures was buried beneath a mound in eastern England. The famous ceremonial helmet and the gold jewellery mirror almost word for word the world of the Beowulf epic – a window into the Germanic heroic age.
View at the British MuseumIn 834, two women were buried in a richly carved oak ship – the most magnificent Viking ship ever preserved. Its intricate animal ornament shows just how high the standard of woodcraft and seafaring was in the North.
Oslo MuseumAround 965, King Harald Bluetooth had a mighty rune stone raised at Jelling – ‘Denmark’s birth certificate’, bearing the oldest image of Christ in Scandinavia. Today a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a turning point between paganism and Christianity.
Kongernes JellingGermany’s most important Viking gold find came to light after storms on the Baltic island of Hiddensee: the finest filigree work from the circle of Harald Bluetooth, with Mjölnir and cross side by side – an image of the age of transition.
Stralsund MuseumOn the island of Gotland, people told their sagas in stone: riders on eight-legged horses, longships, gods and heroes – picture-narratives, centuries before the Edda was written down.
Picture-stone databaseHedeby was one of the largest trading hubs of the North, a turntable between the North and Baltic seas. Here silver from the Orient, amber, furs and crafts came together – the beating heart of the Viking economy.
Hedeby Viking MuseumA growing collection: public-domain original texts and classic translations – plus freely accessible full-text portals, scholarly studies, archaeology and runology. One of the most extensive link collections on the subject anywhere.
The Poetic and Prose Edda in Karl Simrock’s classic German rendering (1876).
Read →The Middle High German heroic epic – related to the Völsung saga, in German by Simrock.
Read →The famous ancient description of the Germanic tribes, in German.
Read →Germanic tales of gods and heroes, vividly retold.
Read →‘Nordic-Germanic Gods and Heroes’ – a classic retelling.
Read →‘Handbook of Germanic Mythology’ (1895) – a scholarly classic.
Read →A comprehensive account of the Norse pantheon (1903).
Read →Jacob Grimm’s foundational work on Germanic mythology (original).
Read →Elder & Younger Edda, English by Benjamin Thorpe.
Read →Snorri's Prose Edda, English by Rasmus B. Anderson.
Read →The mythological poems, English verse by Olive Bray (1908).
Read →H. A. Guerber's great retelling from Eddas and sagas.
Read →Snorri Sturluson's sagas of the Norse kings.
Read →Völsunga saga, trans. Morris & Magnússon.
Read →Njáls saga – one of the great Icelandic sagas (Dasent).
Read →The outlaw Grettir's tale of heroism and haunting.
Read →Grettis saga in William Morris's verse rendering.
Read →Norse folk tales by Asbjørnsen & Moe (Dasent).
Read →The Old English epic, trans. Francis B. Gummere.
Read →Grimm's „Deutsche Mythologie“, English (Stallybrass).
Read →Where you can discover the Viking Age with your own eyes.
Hedeby Viking MuseumJelling StonesGotland Picture StonesHistoriska museet StockholmNational Museum of DenmarkViking Ship Museum RoskildeViking Ships OsloSutton HooRune Inscriptions (Runor)Viking Ring Fortresses (UNESCO)Birka & Hovgården (UNESCO)Hiddensee GoldJorvik Viking Centre (York)Lofotr Viking Museum (NO)Dublinia (Dublin)