Myths and legends in ancient times were passed down from one generation to another through the wonderful art of story-telling. As the Vikings or Norsemen travelled from one place to another, they would share their magical stories filled with monsters, gods and titanic battles with other races. Characters from Viking legends such as dwarfs and giants, also survive in fairy tales.

Throughout the world, ancient cultures worshiped nature spirits: spirits linked with the earth, sea and sky, animals, trees and the forces of nature. In their need to understand the world around them, our ancestors would form beliefs around how a place came into being, how the world was created or as a way to explain natural phenomena like rainbows or shooting stars.

Great forests covered the land in the time of the Vikings and Norsemen relied on trees to build their homes and ships and therefore to provide protection, transport and food. They had huge respect for these gifts that nature had to offer and would hang sacrifices on the branches of magic trees in sacred groves.

Within the forests lived dangerous animals such as wild boars, bears and wolves as well as the giants and monsters of their imagination. Norsemen revered strong gods and heroes who were able to fight the forces of nature and the monsters they believed to exist in the environment around them.

Before setting out on fishing expeditions, the Norse people would ask for protection and guidance from Njord, the god of the sea and merchants at sea as well as the god of wind and fertility. The gods Frey and Freya were Njord’s twin children. Offering due respect to these gods would earn their pleasure and approval so they would grant Norse farmers rich harvests and healthy cattle.

In their desire for a good crop, farmers would travel their lands in a wagon carrying Frey’s image. Inspired perhaps by the sight of shooting stars, the Norse believed that Frey had a golden chariot that shone in the dark and lit up the sky as it flew over the earth; the chariot was pulled by a magic boar made by dwarfs. No one would shed blood on land dedicated to the god Frey.

Frey had superhuman strength as well as certain mystical powers that included the ability to manipulate ambient energy and to control the earth.

His sister, Freya was goddess of crops (grain) and fish. Also Goddess of love, beauty and fertility, it was to her that the Norse people would make sacrifices in the hope of being granted healthy babies and animals. Guardian of elves and fairies, anyone wanting to get close to nature spirits would call upon the generous and giving goddess Freya.

The Norse would evoke nature spirits for protection from evil or to help them in their everyday plights. These nature spirits or wights included elves (Alfar), dwarfs (dvergar) and giants (jotnar.)

Dwarfs were small and cunning. They lived under the ground where they would hoard precious metals and stones to satisfy their greed. The dwarfs made exquisite pieces of jewellery for the goddesses but they were clever and would demand payment for their work. The dwarfs Alfrik, Berling, Dvalin and Grer forged an incredible necklace for Freya and in order to receive the necklace, she had to spend one night with each of them.

Dwarfs also made weapons for the gods but they were disliked by the gods who used them as slaves to mine silver and work as smiths.

Giants and trolls were huge creatures and often as strong as the gods. Giants were like the forces of nature itself and could forge the landscape with their mighty power. Some were friendly and some were as hostile as the climate in which they lived. Frost giants for instance personified the huge mountains of their homeland. These evil giants hated the gods and lived in fear of the god Thor, the only one able to kill a frost giant!

Njord, god of the sea married a giantess called Skadi whose father had been killed by the gods and she wanted revenge. To avoid an ugly battle, the gods offered to let her marry one of them on the condition that when making her choice, she would only be able to see their feet. Skadi chose the feet, the only feature of beauty, of the old and ugly god Njord, mistaking them for the feet of a younger god. Not surprisingly, the union between Njord from the sea and Skadi from the mountains did not last long!

Land spirits (Landvaettir) were guardians of wild places and farms. The Norse had much respect for these nature spirits and therefore when approaching land from the sea, they would remove the carved dragon heads from their boats in order not to attract bad luck from the Landvaettir.

To attract the Landvaettir and therefore good luck into their homes Norse people would leave food outside for the nature spirits.