Odd and the Frost Giants
Odd and the Frost Giants is a 2008 children's book by Neil Gaiman that uses elements from Norse mythology . The book is considered to be one of the more child-friendly or less dark children's books by the author. The German translation by Andreas Steinhöfel was published in 2010 under the title The Smiling Odd and the Journey to Asgard .
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Odd is a young, handicapped Viking whose father once robbed his mother from Scotland, but later drowned during a foray. Odd's mother then marries a widower who prefers his own children. Odd is also raised and sometimes beaten by the other residents of the village because of his handicap and his strange smile. When an unusually long winter ravaged the country, Odd moved into the forest. There he meets a bear whose paw is stuck in a tree hole. He helps the bear despite the danger; now a fox and an eagle join them. It soon becomes clear that these are not normal animals, but the gods Loki (fox), Odin (eagle) and Thor (bear), who were outwitted by an ice giant and banished from Asgard . In addition, the ice giant had turned into a beautiful woman and had Loki bring him Thor's hammer . Now winter will reign forever and bring death to the land of the Northmen.
When he hears that the road to Asgard leads over a rainbow, but that it is blocked because there is simply no rain in winter, Odd has an idea. He assumes that rainbows are trapped in the snow; so he breaks off a piece of ice and cuts it for his own purposes. When he holds it in the sun, a rainbow appears. The companions are transported to Asgard.
In Asgard, everything seems bigger and truer to Odd. Thor, the now huge bear, leads him to Mimir's source , from which he drinks. He then sees his parents' past in visions; his father fell in love with his mother's beauty, robbed her, but only took her as his wife after he had taught her his language and she had given her consent. He also sees his father working on a wood carving that Odd has with him, unfinished. He finishes the carving and goes to Asgard the next day, where he meets the ice giant.
The ice cream giant lets himself into a conversation with Odd because of his strange smile. He reveals to him that his brother built the mighty wall around Asgard, for which the sir had promised him the most beautiful things in the world: the sun, the moon and the hand of the goddess Freya . But instead of giving him these things, they cheated and killed him. He also reveals to him that he is now engaged to Freya, but she is always nagging and does not do justice to her beautiful appearance. He also feared that the other ice giants would not come to him. Odd explains to him that he should just go home; he, Odd, had defeated him. In order not to come empty-handed, he gives the giant the carving, the exact nature of which is not revealed.
Now the sir reign in Asgard again; Freya gives Thor, Loki and Odin back their old form and fixes Odd's leg as best she can. Odin gives him his walking stick. Then he returns, now a taller man, to Midgard , where the long winter ends. In his village he learns that his mother has separated from her second husband.
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Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
