THOR AND THE HAMMER
CHAPTER 3: THE MYTHS (PP19-24)
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Now we have 'scientific' myths like the Big Bang.
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Title: T: a precarious power-balance between good and evil forces P20 L1: The Greek philosophers attempted to prove that these explanations were not to be trusted T: tried to show ... were unreliable C: Beware Greeks bearing explanations L5: There is no need to carry coals to Newcastle C: or oil to Oslo? T: to cross the stream to get water L16: The mythological explanation for rain was ... that Thor was swinging his hammer C: But not all rain comes in thunderstorms L27: Within Midgard lay Asgard, the domain of the gods C: MIDGARD - so called because it lay between the worlds of gods and giants, Asgard and Utgard - from A Dictionary of Mythology L29: Outside Midgard was the kingdom of Utgard, the domain of the treacherous giants T: was Utgard, meaning 'the realm which lies outside', ... dangerous giants P21 L26: hammer seven leagues under the earth T: eight miles L29: good gods ... in the midst of a full-blown hostage incident T: involved in a terrible hostage-drama L37: The situation is deadlocked C: Next sentence, about modern terrorists with an atom bomb, omitted L39: Freyja ... says people will think she is absolutely man-crazy if she agrees to marry a giant C: What 'people'? C: Or 'giant-crazy'? P22 L1: With his hair up and two stones under his tunic, he will look like a woman ... Thor is not wildly enthusiastic C: Nothing queer about our Thor L6: with Loki as his bridesmaid C: Loki's comment omitted L17: When Thrym lifts (T: loosens) the bridal veil to kiss the bride T(cont): he recoils from Thor's burning eyes C: Doesn't he see the bushy beard? L23: (First Thor kills Thrym with the hammer) and then he wipes out the giants and all their kin T: wipes out all the other giants L25: hostage affair has a happy ending C: except for the giants L32: (Was there no rain because) the giants had stolen Thor's hammer? C: But he'd killed them all! Like James Bond, Thor has to keep on killing the baddies L41: a man would dress up as a bride - with stones for breasts C: They hadn't yet discovered melons P23 L22: it was said that the myths were nothing but human notions (T: inventions) C: As were the philosophers' criticisms L24: Men have created the gods in their own image, said Xenophanes C: As always:In his image Child creates Father never dyingKing in heaven King on earth Slave forever crying P23 L26: Ethiopians T: (black) Africans P24 L8: to explain where the snow went and why the sun rose in the morning T: why the snow disappeared ... rose in the sky L24: they made up ... myths ... before there was any ... science C: Now we have 'scientific' myths like the Big Bang.
