Norse mythology Summary

One of the main books that preserves the myths of the Norse gods is the Prose Edda (also called Snorri's Edda), written in the 13th century by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson. Its first part, Gylfaginning ("The Deluding of Gylfi"), takes the form of a question-and-answer dialogue: a human king, Gylfi, travels to the land of the gods and learns the story of the world from its beginning to its end. This manga is based on Gylfaginning.

Episode 1 begins in the land that is now Sweden. King Gylfi promises a traveling woman, as a reward for entertaining him, as much land as four oxen can plow in a day and a night. The woman is really Gefjon, a goddess of the Æsir (the main family of Norse gods). She turns her four sons, fathered by a giant, into oxen, cuts the land away deep into the earth, and drags it west into the sea, where it becomes an island. That island is Zealand, in present-day Denmark, and the hole left behind is said to have filled with water and become a lake.

Wanting to learn the secret of the gods' power, Gylfi disguises himself as an old man, calls himself "Gangleri," and sets out for Asgard, the home of the gods. He is led into a hall roofed with golden shields, where three figures sit on three high seats stacked one above another: High, Just-as-High, and Third. Told that he will not leave safely unless he proves wiser than they are, Gangleri asks his first question about the gods.