Comprises two remarkable Icelandic tales. The first, Hreidars Thattr, is in an ancient narrative form. It is one of the oldest Icelandic short stories preserved and its archaic style adds greatly to its interest. The story also gives an insight into medieval humour, very different from that of today. The second tale, Orms Thattr, differs greatly in age and type. It is a late composition and reveals a taste that grew in Iceland in the late Middle Ages, a taste for stories of adventure, magic and feats of strength. For this new edition the text has been entirely reset and numerous additions and corrections made, as well the binding being restored to something like that of the original edition.

The course has a linguistic purpose and is designed to give students a reading knowledge of Old Norse through the study of Old Norse-Icelandic grammar and selections of Old Norse-Icelandic texts. The course begins with an introduction to Old Icelandic grammar through the study of Kenneth G. Chapman's Graded Readings and Exercises in Old Icelandic. Next, students move on to Michael Barnes' A New Introduction to Old Norse. Part I: Grammar at the same time as they read, translate, and analyze a selection of literary texts in Anthony Faulkes' A New Introduction to Old Norse. Part II: Reader.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

But the king's heart swells, bulging with courage in battle, where heroes sink down...
Over a period of twenty years Snorri Sturluson, scholar, courtier and poet, compiled the prose "Edda" as a textbook for young poets who wished to praise kings. His work surveys the content, style and metres of traditional Viking poetry and includes a lengthy poem of Snorrie's own, praising the king of Norway. Ironically, Snorri was killed in his own cellar in Iceland in 1241 on the instigation of the king of Norway, as a result of political intrigue.
The "Edda" contains the most extensive account of Norse myths and legends that has survived from the Middle Ages as well as the popular stories of Odin winning back the mead of poetic inspiration and Thor fishing for the Midgard serpent.

"Hattatal" is a treatise in Old Icelandic on the metres and verse-forms of Old Norse poetry. It forms the third part of the "Edda" (known as the "Prose Edda") of the Icelandic historian and poet Snorri Struluson (1179-1241). The first part, "Gylfaginning", deals with the mythological background to the diction of skaldic poetry; the second, "Skaldskaparmal", with the language of poetry. "Hattatal consists of a poem in 102 stanzas in various verse-forms in praise of the rulers of Norway, the young King Hakon Hakonarson (1204-1263) and Earl Skuli (1188-1240), composed by Snorri in about 1222/1223, after he had just visited the Norwegian court, together with a commentary which points out the main features of the variety of verse-forms that the poem exemplifies.;As the earliest medieval treatise on the metres of poetry in a Germanic language, it is of great importance to the understanding of the metres not only of Norse poetry but also of those of Anglo-Saxon and Medieval German, and it also provides insight into the ways in which a medieval vernacular poet perceived his work. This edition, the first one with English apparatus, is in normalized spelling and comprises an introduction, notes and glossary and is intended to make the text accessible to students with some knowledge of Old Icelandic.