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Valhalla
the mansion-hall of the gods, indicated by the "VH" on the waving flag. The tree in the background is the cosmic tree Yggdrassill, since the deer upon it is labeled "Eikþyrnir" and the goat is likewise "Heiðrun". The figure holding a sword is "Heimdallur".

This Valhalla illustration and the midgard-serpent on the top of this webpage both come from a rather modern manuscript, the so-called "Oblong Edda" (codex oblongus [Langa-Edda / AM 738 4to], dated 1680.

INDEX

* Note: Most of the material is Japanese only. The short treatises I've patched together on the Hauksbok, Landnamabok, and Islendingabok could be of use to the Norse interest group communinity, but I foregone writing the material in English.

Manuscripts — handrit

  ◊ <Hauksbók> [Japanese text only]

Sagas of the Icelanders Íslendinga sögur

  ◊ Landnámabók [Japanese text only]

Sagas of Antiquity (heroic or fantastical sagas) fornaldar sögur

* Sagas and thatturs (prose edda portions), I've rendered in Japanese here can be found readily in English translation.
  • Freyja peering into the dwarves' den Sórla þáttur (a.k.a. Heðins saga og Högna ) [Japanese translation]

    In the opening chapter, Freyja is so covetous of the «Brísinga necklace» crafted by the dwarves that she consents to recompensing them by certain ignoble deeds.
    Odin is irate to learn of this, and to expiate her sin, she demands that the goddess bring about an eternal war between Hethin and Hogni. This was the cause of the Hjadninga conflict.

  • ⇒ Hjadninga-vig (the slaying of the Hedinians) [Japanese translation]

    The tale of the twisted fate of the two heroes, Hethin and Hogni. It is also an account of the baneful sword Dáinsleif.

    * Snorra Edda, Skadskparmál, ch.49. My Japanese translation includes the quotes from the Ragnarsdrápa, which is something that's skipped over in the Taniguchi's [?] translation in print.
  • Saga of Hervor and Heithrek (English tr.)

    Chronicles the dwarf-struck magic sword Tyrfing and four generations of leaders who come to own it. The adventure of the tomboyish Hervor, the riddle contest between Gestunblindi and King Heithrek, the lay of the Hunnish war are some of the highlights. See Nora Kershaw's translation (1921) and its base text, the Nordiske Literature-Samfund edition of Hervarar Saga, ed. N. M. Petersen (1847),

Edda

Svipdagsmál: A bridal quest tale of the hero Svipdag. Ordeals are imposed upon him before he can knock upon the door of the mansion that houses his would-be bride Mengloth. The gatekeeper reveals that the weapon Laevateinn is necessary to complete his task.

  • Bugge's supplementary chapter, Excursus into the to the Svipdagsmal (translated into English).
  • Sophus Bugge ed., Edda Sæmundar (1867). I have also transcribed his footnotes in Danish, (* English tr. maybe eventually) to go with the edited text of the two Svipdag lays. (This is interesting to examine since Bugge was the one who emended the text to read "Laevateinn" -- "wand of evil", but other emendations were made by subsequent generations of scholars.).
    I also uploaded his Abbreviations and symbols to decipher his shorthand for the manuscripts he used as well as uther notations.

Bugge's interpretation of the lays (in particular, his combining of Groa's Spell with the Fjolsvinnsmal) relies heavily on a certain bridal quest ballad passed down in Danish, which he identifies as an adaptation of the orignal eddic lay.

I've now made available online from Sven Grundtvig's Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, the transcription of DgF 70: Ungen Svejdal (06.04.23). The chapter contains that variant versions A ~ E; but note that version Bc (Peder Syv's recension) is appended at the end.
I have also uploaded various English translations of this ballad.

STAMPS AND MYTHOLOGY

* Archaeological finds are quite often passed off as being representations of deities, and mythological creatures. One example is the iron plate labeled as "Fenrir and Tyr" in e.g. Arthur Cotterell's Norse Mythology book. But if you obtain the Swedish stamp booklet-pane featuring this artefact, you will get more info, and the Swedish hist. mus. pictures. The first webpage discusses this in Japanese, and maybe I'll put it up in English at some juncture.
  • Metal plate dubiously identified as "Fenris-wolf and Týr" [Japanese only]

  • The lady of the woods skogsrået and the water-sprite näcken [Download Bulletin 2 of 2006 in English (.pdf) @ Swedish PO "Collectors' Items" page ]
  • Grotti, the wishing-mill ground by Fenja and Menja

    RUNE MAGIC

    "CH. XXIV: MAGIC" [Japanese] is a translation from the title chapter in "The Religion of the Norsemen" (updated)

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