When Gods Walked The Earth
and Warred With Giants

Long ago, in a Northern paradise called Asgard, dwelt many gods and goddesses. They were wise and they were beautiful. They lived in peace, untouched by evil. . .until the day the Giants from Jötunheim cast envious eyes upon their happiness. Let us steal the gods' sun and moon, thought the Giants, let us steal the Goddess Freya who watches over their flowers and grass, let us even steal the golden apples which keep them young and beautiful, then we will be as great and noble as they.

Gods with hammers so mighty open clefts and gaps in a mountain of rock; Giants change their shapes to eagle and wolf; Gulveig, Witch with the poison heart, turns friend into enemy; and Fafnir the fire-spouting dragon hoards-his gold and jewels.

Padraic Colum has been faithful to these old Norse myths, but he has made them his own. His stories speak quickly to children, for they are filled with the rich, musical narrative of the storyteller, flashing new beauty and truth.

Thousands of today's adults discovered the joy in reading great literature when, as children, they read these Norse myths. Now reissued by popular demand, THE CHILDREN OF ODIN, with the original illustrations by Willy Pogany, is available once more to touch and enrich the lives of boys and girls today.

From the dust jacket of the 1948 reprint