Full of humorous exaggeration, supernatural creatures and violent daring-do (an average ballgame includes maiming and battle wounds are described in graphic detail), these two Viking tales read a lot like fairy tales in their original, pre-Disney form. Fun reads for the history buff or Viking aficionado, they offer plenty of insight into Norse mores and morals (e.g. a man wins his wife after defeating her in single combat, nursing her back to health, and even though she wears her armor to the wedding the marriage is described as happy). One of the stories even includes an interesting Norse variation on the tale of Odysseus and the Cyclops.

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