In the Days of Giants: A Book of Norse Tales

In Short

A retelling of Norse mythology for younger readers, the narrative chronicles the mythic battles between the warm, sun-loving gods of Asgard and the cruel, cold-hearted frost giants of the mountains. It follows the gods as they seek wisdom, hoard magic treasures, and rely on the thunderer Thor to defend their home, while the mischievous Loki drives them toward eventual ruin. The narrative endures because it grounds cosmic elemental struggles—the changing of the seasons and the certainty of winter—in deeply human traits like vanity, jealousy, and the fear of growing old.

The Story

The universe begins as a stark divide between the bitter cold of the rocky mountains and the pleasant warmth of the sun. High above the earth, the gods build the glorious city of Asgard, establishing a realm of light where All-Father Odin watches over the world. To protect his people from the constant threat of the frost giants, Odin seeks ultimate wisdom, willingly sacrificing his own eye to the giant Mimer for a single draught from a magic well. Thus enlightened, he guides the gods through their early trials, securing magic mead and exchanging hostages with rival factions to establish a lasting peace in heaven.

With Asgard secure, the gods fall into a rhythm of grand adventures and petty squabbles. Odin occasionally slips away in disguise to wander the earth, while the mighty Thor defends the realm with his magic hammer. However, the true catalyst for change is the cunning and malicious Loki. Time and again, Loki's deceit places the gods in terrible danger. He orchestrates the kidnapping of Idun, whose magic apples keep the gods young, forcing him to fly into Giant Land in a stolen falcon dress to rescue her. He drives Thor to a furious rage by ruining his wife's golden hair, then appeases the thunder god by tricking the subterranean dwarfs into forging incredible treasures, including Thor's hammer and Odin's unerring spear.

Despite his occasional usefulness, Loki’s heart remains aligned with Asgard's enemies. He secretly marries a hideous giantess and fathers three terrible monsters: a giant wolf, a monstrous serpent, and the half-black, half-white Hela, all of whom prophesy doom for the gods. The tension finally breaks when Balder the beautiful, the most beloved of the gods and the bringer of springtime, suffers prophetic dreams of his own demise. His mother, Queen Frigg, desperately travels the world extracting promises from all things that they will not harm her son.

The effort fails, and Balder is killed, plunging Asgard into irreversible grief. The gods place his body upon a great ship, light it as a magnificent pyre, and watch it sail out to sea like a dying sunset. In the bleak and joyless world that follows, the aged gods hunt down Loki. They bind him deep underground beneath a venomous serpent that drips burning poison onto his face. Though his faithful wife catches most of the venom in a bowl, the drops that escape cause him to writhe in agony, shaking the earth itself. He remains trapped there in the dark, suffering for his sins until Ragnarök brings the end of the world.

How It Unfolds

The foundations of the world — The gods establish the wondrous city of Asgard to defend against the bitter frost giants of the mountains. Seeking an advantage, Odin sacrifices his eye to drink from Mimer's well, gaining the supreme wisdom needed to rule.

The theft of youth — Weary of constant perfection, the gods wander into danger. When the giant Thiasse kidnaps Idun and her youth-giving apples, the gods quickly age until Loki uses a magic falcon dress to rescue her.

The forging of treasures — To make amends for ruining the hair of Thor's wife, Loki ventures into the underground workshops of the dwarfs. He tricks the subterranean smiths into crafting magical gifts, including an unerring spear, a foldable ship, and Thor's legendary hammer.

The thunderer's quests — Thor embarks on a series of bruising and embarrassing adventures in Giant Land to keep Asgard safe. He dresses as a bride to recover his stolen hammer from a vain giant king and wrestles the old crone of Age, finding his immense strength constantly tested by magic.

The monstrous children — Odin discovers that Loki has secretly fathered three horrible monsters with a giantess. Realizing these creatures threaten the future of Asgard, the gods take steps to neutralize them, deepening Loki's quiet hatred.

The fall of springtime — Balder the beautiful suffers terrible dreams that the sun and joy will vanish from the earth. Despite his mother's frantic attempts to protect him, he dies, and his funeral pyre is set adrift on a burning ship.

The final binding — A dreary, aging darkness falls over Asgard following Balder's death. The gods capture Loki and chain him beneath a venomous serpent, leaving him to writhe in agony and cause earthquakes until the world's absolute end.

The People

Odin wants ultimate knowledge to protect his kingdom, but the price of foresight is steep. He sacrifices his eye for wisdom and finds his carefree days replaced by the heavy burden of leadership, forced to wander in disguise just to escape his throne.

Loki desires only to amuse himself by manipulating others, but his inherent malice constantly isolates him. He uses his sharp wit to save the gods from disasters he himself caused, yet his secret love for the giants transforms him from a tolerated trickster into a tortured prisoner bound beneath the earth.

Thor wants to crush the enemies of Asgard with straightforward, physical might. He struggles when faced with illusions and magic that his hammer cannot smash, yet he learns to swallow his immense pride—even dressing in a woman's clothes—to retrieve his stolen weapon and protect his home.

Balder wants nothing but to spread warmth and joy, existing as the living embodiment of the sun. His prophetic dreams of darkness expose his vulnerability, and his tragic death permanently strips Asgard of its youthful springtime, leaving a sorrowful world behind.

Frigg desperately wants to keep her favorite son alive, challenging fate itself to do so. She travels the world demanding safety for Balder, but her failure forces her to watch the light vanish from Asgard forever.

In Its Own Voice

As he bargains for supreme knowledge at the edge of a magical well, the king of the gods proves willing to pay a terrible physical price.

"Give me the glittering horn," he answered. "I pledge you my eye for a draught to the brim."

When the thunder god's temper flares over a ruined meal, a terrified peasant family faces utter destruction.

His knuckles grew white as he clenched the handle of Miölnir, ready to hurl it and destroy the whole unlucky house and family; but the peasant and the other three fell upon their knees, trembling with fear, and begged him to spare them.

The narrative frames the natural disasters of the earth as the physical writhing of a tortured trickster god in his subterranean prison.

And when his great strength shakes the hills so that the whole ground trembles, men call it an earthquake.

What It's Really About

Beneath the magical battles and soaring flights, the narrative is an elemental argument about the fragility of life in the harsh northern climates. The gods embody the fleeting, precious warmth of summer, constantly besieged by the giants who represent the encroaching, lethal frost of winter. Magic apples and golden hair are not merely treasures; they are desperate attempts to stave off the natural decay of the world. By chronicling the gods' inevitable aging, their vulnerability to deception, and the tragic death of the sun-bringer Balder, the text suggests that even the divine cannot escape the turning of the seasons or the chilling finality of death.

Why Read It Today

Readers drawn to the foundational myths of Western literature will find an accessible, atmospheric entry point here. Reading it feels like sitting beside a crackling hearth while the winter wind howls outside, listening to a storyteller who treats the gods not as distant, infallible deities, but as flawed, anxious beings striving to protect their fragile home. The prose retains a deliberate, mythic cadence that elevates simple betrayals and heroic feats into grand cosmic tragedies. The image of a bleeding, chained Loki shaking the earth in his agony stays with you long after the final page.

Modern readers should approach the text knowing it reflects the period of its translation and compilation. The narrative carries a stark, black-and-white morality that links physical ugliness to inherent wickedness, as seen when the text bluntly declares Loki’s giantess wife to be hideous and describes the dwarfs as ugly, crooked little men in brown. Furthermore, the prose occasionally drifts into old-fashioned, moralizing direct addresses to the reader. However, for those willing to navigate these older storytelling conventions, it remains a vivid, emotionally resonant portrait of a world destined to fall into the dark.