DK Eyewitness Books - Viking

53

PICTURES

OF VALHALLA

A hero arrives

in Valhalla on

this picture stone

from Gotland (p. 58).

He is riding Odin’s

eight-legged horse,

Sleipnir. A Valkyrie holds

up a drinking horn to

welcome him. Under the

curved roof of Valhalla,

another Valkyrie gives a drinking

horn to a man with an ax and a dog.

Sail and rigging

Runic inscription

Valkyrie wit h

drinking horn

greets a dead hero

Valkyrie (left) and

a man wit h an

ax (right)

Curved roof of Valhalla

A HERO’S WELCOME
The Valkyries were warrior women who
searched the battlefields for dead heroes. They carried
warriors who had died bravely to Valhalla, the Viking
heaven. Here Odin welcomed the dead heroes, joining
them in feasts in the great hall every evening. Dead warrior

HIS LIPS ARE SEALED

Loki was part god and part devil. He could

change his shape, and was always getting

into mischief. In one story, Loki made a

bet with a dwarf that he was a better

metalworker. While the dwarf was

heating up the furnace with bellows,

Loki tried to distract him by turning

into a fly and stinging him. But the

dwarf won the bet anyway. To punish

Loki and keep him quiet, he sewed his

lips together. This stone bellows-shield

shows Loki with his lips sewn up.

THOR’S HAMMER

Thor was popular with peasants

and farmers. He rode through the

sky in a chariot pulled by goats.

There are many stories of his battles

against evil giants and monsters,

which he clubbed to death with

his mighty hammer (p. 7).

Silver Thor’s

hammer from

Denmark

A GIANT TAKES A BRIDE

In one story, the giant Thrym

stole Thor’s hammer. He said he would

only give it back if he could marry Freyja. So

Thor dressed up as Freyja and went to the ceremony.

He nearly gave himself away by drinking too much!

When Thrym brought out the hammer to bless the bride,

Thor grabbed it and killed him and all the giant guests.

WATERFALL OF THE GODS

In Iceland, gods were worshiped at Godafoss,

which means waterfall of the gods.

Hero riding t he

eight-legged

horse Sleipnir

arrives in

Valhalla

TEARS OF GOLD

Freyja married a god named Od, who left her.

All the tears she wept for him turned to gold.

In this romantic picture, she is searching the

sky for him in a chariot pulled by cats.

Ship full of armed warriors