Norse Mythology

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Stories 1-4

Reading Check

1. What does Surtr wait at the edge of Muspell for?

2. What kind of creature is Audhumla?

3. What species of tree is Yggdrasil?

4. What does Odin exchange an eye for?

5. What does Loki take from Thor’s wife, Sif?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What motivates Odin and his brothers to kill Ymir?

2. What is Asgard?

3. For what purpose does Odin give the drinking horn, Gjallerhorn, to Heimdall?

4. What does Loki go to Svartalfheim to get the dwarves to do?

5. After Brokk and Eitri win the contest, what condition does Loki put on Brokk before being allowed to cut off Loki’s head?0

Paired Resource

“The Challenge of Thor”

• This accessible selection by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow from the section of Longfellow’s narrative poem Tales of a Wayside Inn called “The Saga of King Olaf” depicts Thor challenging Christ at the time of Christianity’s introduction to Scandinavia.
• How does Longfellow’s interpretation of Thor’s character compare to Gaiman’s? To whom is Thor boasting throughout this poem? How can you tell? Given Longfellow’s cultural context and the historical fact of Scandinavia’s conversion to Christianity, what point do you suspect Longfellow is making about Thor’s power and his ability to understand his fate? Based on your reading of Gaiman’s book, how would you guess believers in the old Norse religion would have reacted to Longfellow’s poem had it been written when they were alive to read it?