Edda

In Norse mythology, the god Rig was travelling and happened upon a farm owned by Ái[?] and his wife, Edda ("great grandmother"). They offered Rig shelter and a low quality meal. He slept between the pair at night; Edda gave birth nine months later to a son whom they named Thrall. Thrall grew up strong and ugly. He married Thir and had twelve sons and nine daughters. They became the serfs of Norse society.

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The Edda are collections of poetically narrated folk-tales relating to Norse Mythology or Norse heroes.

These are fragmentary parts of a (presumably) much larger scaldic tradition of oral narration which has been written down by scholars prior to the tales being lost absolutely.

There are a number of theories concerning the origins of the word edda. One theory holds that it means "great-grandmother". Another theory holds that edda means "poetics". A third is that it means "the book of Oddi", Oddi being the place where Snorri Sturluson was educated.

There are two Eddas:

• The Elder Edda, also known as the Poetic Edda
• The Younger Edda or the Prose Edda