Mythologia, Episode 03: The Aesir and the Building of the Wall

I spent two years in Sweden in my early twenties. While there, I learned more about the Scandinavian people, and their influence on the world culturally, than I had ever expected to. No, they don’t really have a national swimsuit team, but they do have a rich heritage of lore, mythology, and culture ranging from the fair-skinned, blue-eyed indigenous tribes known as the Sami people, to sacred Viking stone circles a la Stonehenge, to as many trolls and gnomes as the Irish have fairies and leprechauns.

The mythology of the Norse people is one of the greatest legacies of Scandinavian cultural history. The Æsir, as they are called, have as many, if not more, stories and legends about their tribe as do their Greek and Roman counterparts, and while many of the stories spanning the globe are almost interchangeable, the Norse Gods have an identity all of their own.

I have to admit that I can claim no great responsibility for this show, as the project sort of landed in my lap. The ancient Scandinavians first told the stories, and a teacher and really cool guy (and avid Chatterbox fan!) named Zachary Hamby decided it would be a great teaching tool to create reader’s theatre scripts out of them. He has, in fact, adapted mythology form all around the world into scripts for students to read, perform, and learn from, in his book Trickle Down, Olympus. (Way to go, Zak! I have really enjoyed the collaboration!) I simply took his script, which was presented to me by Bob Arnold, found some wonderful voice actors, and said “Let’s do this!”

The result is a fun yet rich story that introduces listeners to the characters that make up volumes and volumes of great Norse Mythology. I hope that you enjoy this episode of Mythologia as much as I have enjoyed directing the process.

—Marques Brown