Sagas of Giants and Heroes

by Ben Waggoner (TRanslator)

Huge in stature; living in far-distant wastelands; sometimes comically stupid or crude; but possessing vast wealth and knowledge—such are the giants of Norse myth and legend. Four Icelandic sagas and six tales, spanning five centuries, are brought together for the first time in all-new English translations. All tell of mighty giants, and of the heroes who dared to face them, fight them, and sometimes befriend them. The giants and trolls of old still live on in these legendary sagas of old times. These tales of epic voyages, wars, and romance will appeal to both scholars of Norse mythology and fans of Viking adventure. The sagas include the Saga of the Kjalarnes People, the Saga of Halfdan Brana's Fosterling, the Saga of Sorli the Strong, and the Saga of Illugi Grid's Fosterling. The six shorter tales the Tale of Halfdan the Black, the Tale of Hauk High-Breeches, the Tale of Jokul Buason, the Tale of Brindle-Cross, an excerpt from the Saga of the Fljotsdal People, and the Tale of Asmund Ogre-Lucky.

258 pages, Paperback

First published May 26, 2010

About the author

I've been studying Old Norse (close to modern Icelandic) in my copious spare time since about 2006. Now I translate, study, annotate, and periodically publish Old Norse sagas (longish prose narratives that come in a great many "genres"). Why? It's fun if you like that sort of thing, and someone has to do it. . . My focus has been on the fornaldarsögur or "sagas of olden time" -- legendary narratives set in Scandinavia, some of which transmit very old legendary material.

For the record, I am *not* the Ben Waggoner who's written books on video file compression. I'm sure he's a great guy, but he's not me.

Reviews

[S.W. Wilcox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Admirable intro for its breadth, but there's an ultimate lack of convincing conclusions. The stories samples online are also stunningly lacking in plot, like all the sagas I've read: any illustrated encyclopedia on the gods themselves really is the jewel in the crown of this period and place in historic lit., excepting maybe some highlights from "Beowulf," but that's from half a millennium before these sagas.