tailieunhanh - Old Norse Poems

PARENTAGE There was a man called Halfdan the Black, who lived and died long ago, when the folk of Norway were still ruled by many small kingdoms, and folk still followed the old customs, believing in Odin, Tor, Freya and other old gods. Halfdan grew up in the small farmingtown of Os, in the kingdom of Fjordane. He was fathered by Gødrød the Toothy and mothered by an outlander woman called Aasa. As a young man, Gødrød had killed a few other local young men, for no reason other than boredom; as punishment for these wrongs, the Fjordane Assembly had. | BERSERK REVENGE A Norse Saga Berserk revenge a norse saga by Mark Heggen Coakley markcoakley A T bell DOT net TIP DOWNLOAD AND PRINT FOR EASIER READING 2 1 PARENTAGE There was a man called Halfdan the Black who lived and died long ago when the folk of Norway were still ruled by many small kingdoms and folk still followed the old customs believing in Odin Tor Freya and other old gods. Halfdan grew up in the small farmingtown of Os in the kingdom of Fjordane. He was fathered by Godrod the Toothy and mothered by an outlander woman called Aasa. As a young man Godrod had killed a few other local young men for no reason other than boredom as punishment for these wrongs the Fjordane Assembly had sentenced Godrod to three years as an outlaw. Forced into exile Godrod rode east across the mountains. After twelve years in the east -- when nobody in Os knew if he was still alive and few even thought about him much anymore -- Godrod had returned home with a surprising woman. Aasa had very dark skin. Nobody in Os could remember ever seeing a person like her before. Aasa s hair was completely black tightly curled and formed a soft ball around her head. She said that she was from Nubia a place far to the south that nobody here had ever heard of. All of the gossip-loving folk in Os wanted to know their story. How had they met Briefly this is what happened. Aasa s first husband had travelled with Aasa from Nubia to Constantinople where he was a diplomat to the Roman Empress. Godrod had also lived in Constantinople then. He had learned to speak Greek and to pretend to worship Christ these qualities and his skill with spear and ax had earned him a job in Constantinople as a bodyguard for the Empress Irene. Godrod and Aasa were often at the palace at the same time. Aasa s odd-looking and darkly beautiful face -- so different from Roman women and from the pale and pointy-nosed girls he remembered from Os -appealed to him. He spied on her learning that Aasa was lonely and that her .