1. How do the climate and geography of Scandinavia contribute to the ideas found in the Norse story of creation? Do you think that similar considerations influenced the creation stories of the Bible, of the Egyptians, or of the Greeks?

2. The World Tree stands at the center of the Norse cosmos. Human beings are created from an ash and an elder. Why do you think the tree has such a prominent place in Norse myth?

3. In what ways is the power of Odin limited? Are his limitations physical, intellectual, or both?

4. What are the comic elements in Norse myth? Are these based on exaggerations as in the American folk tales of Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill? What part does the idea of shifting sizes play in humor?

5. How do the myths treat love? Are there faithful relationships as well as sudden infatuations?

6. In the early...