The Edda, Volume 2

Written for David Nutt’s Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folklore series, The Edda, Volume 2: The Heroic Mythology of the North (1902) is the work of L. Winifred Faraday (1872-1948), the Manchester scholar who two years later produced the first English translation of the Irish epic Tain Bo Cuailnge. Issued in London as number 13 of the series, the booklet continues the survey begun in her companion volume on the divine myths. Faraday walks through the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda, covering Volund the smith, the Helgi lays, the Sigurd and Nibelung cycle behind Wagner’s Ring, and the Ermanric legends, comparing the Norse versions with their German parallels. It remains a clear period introduction to Old Norse heroic verse for general readers. Free PDF download available on BDeBooks.