Zeus and Typhon - Part One

Zeus was the God of the Sky and he was the king of all the Greek Gods. However, that was not always the case.

The older Greek Gods were the Titans.

Titans were the children of Gaia, the earth and Uranus, the Sky.

The youngest Titan was Cronos, the God of Time.

Cronos overthrew his father and ruled over the ‘golden age’.

However, Uranus prophesied that the same thing would happen to Cronos. “Just as you overthrew me, one of your children will overthrow you too.”

Cronos felt that his father’s words would come true.

So, just to circumvent his father’s prophecy, Cronos swallowed all but the last of his children as soon as they were born.

Cronos and Rhea had six children. 

Their last son was Zeus.

When Zeus was born, Rhea gave a rock for Cronos to swallow and Rhea managed to convince Cronos that the rock was their latest child.

Cronos swallowed the rock and then felt that he had nothing more to fear.

Zeus grew up to be a strong man away from the eyes of his father and subsequently, Zeus got Cronos to throw up all the children that he had swallowed.

Then together with his siblings, Zeus fought a long and hard war against the Titans and finally overthrew his father.

Zeus then became the ruler of the Greek Gods and he set up his kingdom in Mount Olympus. That was the reason that Zeus and his other siblings are called Olympians.

However, during the early times, Zeus’ rule was not without any troubles. 

Zeus was frequently challenged and one of the most intimidating challenges to Zeus came from Typhon.

Adapted from Greek Mythology

The Story of Yagnasoma and Kirtisoma - Part Three

 

“Show this vessel and ask for alms,” the snake told the woman. “And they will give you alms. If they refuse, their head will burst into a hundred pieces.”

Yagnasoma took the vessel and studied the snake. “If what you say is true then give me my husband back, as alms. That is what I ask from you.”

The snake realized that it had no choice and brought the husband out of his mouth and Yagnasoma was alive and unharmed. 

Yagnasoma’s wife was thrilled and her husband was back.

Both Yagnasoma and his wife were shocked when they turned and saw the snake.

The snake disappeared and in its place stood a heavenly being. 

The heavenly being smiled happily at the couple. “I am Kanchanavega and I am a king of the Vidyadharas. By a curse from Gauthama I had become a snake.” The celestial being smiled even more happily at Yagnasoma’s wife. “I was told that when I met a good and clever woman, my curse would end.”

The king of the Vidyadharas then filled the gold vessel in the hands of Yagnasoma’s wife with jewels.

Then Kanchanavega flew up into the skies.

Yagnasoma and his wife went back to their kingdom and this time they lived happiness because the wealth that they had got from the Vidhyadhara king was inexhaustible.

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara

The Story of Yagnasoma and Kirtisoma - Part Two

 

Yagnasoma was silent and walked away from his brother’s house. He went back to his house and told his wife that they would set out on their journey and only Heaven would help them.

The couple started with their journey.

They soon reached a dense forest. This forest had a monstrous serpent in it.

Just as Yagnasoma’s luck would have it, as soon as they entered the forest, the serpent swallowed Yagnasoma.

When Yagnasoma’s wife saw this, she fell on the ground and wept. 

The serpent studied the woman. “Why are you crying?”

“What else can I do when you have deprived me of my only means to live on alms. Who will give alms to a woman? I need my husband for that. And you have swallowed him.”

The serpent frowned for some time and then opened his mouth.

From the serpent’s mouth, there came a vessel of gold.

The serpent gave the woman the gold vessel. “You can take this vessel to receive alms.”

Yagnasoma’s wife was in despair. “No one would give alms to a woman, even if she asked for it with a golden vessel.”

The snake however smiled and revealed the secret of the golden vessel to the woman.

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara

The Story of Yagnasoma and Kirtisoma - Part One

Once there lived two brothers in the city of Pataliputra. The elder brother was Yagnasoma and the younger brother was Kirtisoma. The father of the two brothers was extremely rich and on his death, the two brothers shared the father’s wealth and both became wealthy.

Kirtisoma invested his money in business and was able to become even more richer.

But Yagnasoma wasted away his money in his indulgences.

Soon Yagnasoma was reduced to poverty.

Yagnasoma turned to his wife sadly. “Now that we are poor, we cannot live in this city anymore. I cannot live and face my relatives here anymore.”

Yagnasoma’s wife realized that her husband had spoken the right thing. But she was still worried. “We do not have money for travel. How can we travel?”

Yagnasoma was startled. “I do not know how we do it. But we must leave.”

His wife sighed. “In that case, you must first go to Kirtisoma and ask him for some money for the journey.”

Yagnasoma realized that his wife was right and went to his younger brother’s house.

There, Yagnasoma met Kirtisoma’s wife first. 

Kirtisoma’s wife flatly refused to help Yagnasoma. “How can we give money to a man who has lost all his wealth. If we do that in your case, then every single poor person around will come to us to give them money.”

Kirtisoma realized that his wife’s words were right and he also refused to help his brother.

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara

Thor’s trip to Jotunheim - Part Ten

 

“It is the same with your own trials.” Skrymir told Thor. “When you took such deep draughts from the cup of penance you had no idea about what a wonderful feat you had performed. The other end of the horn - the cup of penance - is the ocean. Now when you go to the sea, you will see how far the waters have fallen away from the shores.” The giant smiled at Thor. “After today when people go out of the tide they will call it the ebb or draught of Thor.”

Thor was speechless as Skrymir continued. “In your second feat you lifted the paw of the cat. That was no cat. It was the Midgard serpent that encircles the world. When you moved the paw, the very earth shook by your strength.” The giant smiled. “Do not be ashamed of your third feat. Elli looks old, but she has never been defeated before and she never will be defeated either.”

Thor did not know what to say when the giant nodded at him. “This is where we part. Do not come back here, because I will always defend my city from everyone who tries to harm it.”

Thor was about to raise his hammer to challenge the giant to a round of strength, but the giant vanished.

The city vanished too and Thor found himself in an empty plain.

“I was fooled by a mountain giant.” Thor cried out aloud.

A voice from the skies smiled at Thor. “I told you that you would learn lots of things about yourself during this travel. I think you did.”

Thor realized that this was Skrymir, but he could not find the giant anywhere, but he saw a cloud capped mountain in the horizon.

Realizing that he would not find the giant, Thor returned to his place a wiser man.

Adapted from Norse Mythology

Thor’s trip to Jotunheim - Part Nine

The king of the giants invited Thor and his friends to sit at their table and to spend the night with them, as their guests.

Thor was confused at the behaviour of the giants, but he knew that he had been defeated by the giants and decided to bear that with good grace.

The next morning, the king of the giants accompanied Thor and his friends to the gates.

That was when Thor could feel that the king of the giants was Skrymir, the giant whom he had met in the forest.

Skrymir looked at Thor. “I told you that you would meet better men than yourself. Wasn’t I right?”

Thor sighed at Skrymir. “It makes me sad but I realize that in Jotunheim, I will always be considered as a man of little worth.”

“No! That is not true!” The giant cried at Thor. 

Thor was surprised as the giant continued. “All this while, I have deceived you with my enchantments.”

Thor was shocked.

“In the forest when you threw your Miolnir at my head, I should have been crushed by your blows. But I placed a mountain between you and me. The three blows from your hammer fell on the mountain. These blows created deep ravines in the mountain which shall henceforth be called as verdant valleys.” The giant told Thor.

“In all the contests in my kingdom too, I deceived you. Logi, who was against Loki in the hunger competition, was fire. That is why Logi was faster. Hugi, who ran faster than Thialfi, is my thought. What can be faster than thought?”

Adapted from Norse Mythology

Thor’s trip to Jotunheim - Part Eight

 

A great gray cat came into the hall.

Thor tried to lift the cat. First Thor tried it gently and then put in all his strength and tugged hard like he had never done before.

All Thor could do was lift the paw of the cat a little way off the ground.

The king of giants smirked at Thor. “We can all see that the cat is large and we think you, Thor, are but a little fellow.”

“Think what you want!” Thor cried. “I dare one of you to wrestle with me.”

The king looked around the hall. “I do not think anyone here would want to wrestle with you. But I will call an old crone Elli. She has defeated far better people than Thor.

An old, withered and toothless old woman came to the hall.

Thor felt horrified that he had to fight with an old woman. But he realized that he had no choice.

After the fight started, she threw her arms around him and dragged Thor to the ground.

Thor found it almost difficult to break from her grasp.

The two of them fought for a long time, but suddenly Thor felt a strange weakness.

He tottered and fell on his knee.

The giants all laughed at Thor.

Utgard, the king of the giants then came to the old woman. “Please leave the hall.” The king of the giants then turned to Thor. “The trials are now over.”

Adapted from Norse Mythology

Thor’s trip to Jotunheim - Part Seven

The king of the giants turned to Thor. “Most of us can drink the contents of the cup in a single draught. Some take two, but the puniest among us, manage it in three draughts.”

Thor took the cup and had one mighty drink because he was thirsty. He thought he had finished the drink and looked at the cup and was shocked. Instead of being empty, the cup was now not so full that it could not even be moved without the danger of spilling.

Utgard, who was the king of giants, laughed at Thor. “I see that you have been saving your energy for the second pull.”

Thor took another pull from the cup and this time he did not stop till his breath failed. But when Thor put his cup down, the drink had gone down a little from the brim of the cup.

The king of giants laughed at Thor. “Do you mean to take the drink in three draughts? Then you have a very unfair share in the third cup.”

Angrily Thor took a long gulp for the third time, but the drink had not reduced much this time too.

“I will not try to empty the cup anymore.” Thor told the king of giants wearily.

The king of giants then shrugged. “That means that Thor, you are not the kind of man whom we are supposed to be with.”

“Choose another feat.” Thor told the king of giants. “I will try that.”

The king of giants studied Thor. “We have a game that children play.” The king of giants had a sly smile. “It is a childish amusement actually. I would not have suggested this any other time. But now I will. You have to lift my cat from the ground.”

Adapted from Norse Mythology

Thor’s trip to Jotunheim - Part Six

 

The chief of the giants turned to Thialfi. “What can you do?”

“I am the swiftest runner among all the people in my country.” Thialfi replied.

The chief of the giants then called Hugi to compete with Thialfi.

They came to a huge open space in the back of the banquet hall which was to be the race ground.

The first time, Thialfi ran fast, but Hugi was faster. So much so that Hugi reached the goal and ran back and met Thialfi who was halfway to the goal.

The king of giants asked Thialfi to try again.

This time Thialfi ran as fast as an eagle flew before swooping down on its prey. But Thialfi was still a bow-shot from the goal when Hugi reached it.

The third time, Thialfi was too tired and could not even run a little further away from the starting line when Hugi had already reached the finish line.

The giants realized that Thialfi could not run and the running competition was stopped.

The chief of giants set a competition for Thor. “How would you like to prove your worth, Thor?”

Thor studied the king and nodded. “I would like to have a drinking match with any of you.”

Thor suggested this competition because he did not want to perform anything more worthy than that before these giants.

The chief of giants and the other giants then went back to the banquet hall.

“Bring the cup of penance.” The chief of giants told his people.

Adapted from Norse Mythology

Thor’s trip to Jotunheim - Part Five

The streets of the huge city were gloomy. Thor and his friends walked on and finally came up to a huge building where the doors were open.

“Let us go inside that.” Thor told his friends.

They agreed.

Inside the place, they found that it was a banquet hall. There was a massive table in the centre of the hall and stone thrones around the table. There were giants sitting on the stone thrones around the table.

One of the giants looked like the leader and so Thor went to him and greeted him.

The giant carelessly studied Thor. “I am not going to ask you any questions about your journey. I know that you are Thor. And the others are your friends.” The giant waved at the table. “We have a rule that only the worthy can sit on this table. So if you wish to sit here, you should be able to prove your worth by some feat.” The giant studied Thor. “What are you going to do?”

Loki came forward. “I am known to eat food very fast.” Loki studied the giants. “Keep some food before me and I can eat it faster than any one of your giants.”

The chief giant nodded. “That is a good trait.” The giant turned to his people. “Get Logi here.”

Logi was a thin giant who came to the table.

A huge trough of meat was placed on the table and Loki was on one side and Logi was on the other side.

The competition started and both of them ate as fast as possible and it almost seemed like Loki and Logi met at the middle of the table eating exactly half.

But it was found that Loki had eaten only the meat, but Logi had eaten the bones too.

So Logi was decided to be the winner of this competition.

Adapted from Norse Mythology

Thor’s trip to Jotunheim - Part Four

Thor threw his Miolnir at the giant.

The giant turned and smirked. “Did a leaf touch me?”

Thor caught the Miolnir which always returned to his hand and was shocked. But Thor threw his hammer again.

The giant caught his forehead. “I think an acorn fell on my head.”

Thor threw the Miolnir again, the hardest that he could manage.

The giant laughed out aloud. “There must be a bird on that tree that let a feather fall on my face.”

The giant then turned and walked towards the forest. But before that, the giant gave a word of advice to Thor. “Thor, you think I am a tall man, but there are much taller giants than me. Turn back now and be satisfied with what you have learnt from your trip to Jotunheim.”

Thor shook his head and shouted after the giant. “I will never turn back. We will meet again and there is something that we will learn from each other at that time.” 

The giant did not reply and walked into the forest.

Thor and his friends looked for the giant in the forest and then when they could not find the giant, they continued their journey.

It was noon, when Thor and his friends reached the end of the forest. After the forest was a vast barren plain land and a great city stood there.

Thor and his friends came to the city and found that the gates of the city were closed. But the space between the bars of the closed doors was so huge that Thor and his friends were able to pass through the space between the gates.

Thor and his friends easily went inside the city.

Adapted from Norse Mythology

Thor’s trip to Jotunheim - Part Three

Thor took his hammer, the Miolnir and watched the door of the house, all night.

At the dawn of the day he went into the forest.

Thor was stunned to see a gigantic man lying in the forest. The giant’s breath swayed the treetops. 

Thor realized that this giant was the reason for their disturbances last night.

Thor bravely went up to the giant to wake the giant up, when the giant itself woke up and looked at Thor.

“Who are you?” Thor demanded. “You made enough noise last night to prevent your neighbours from sleeping well.”

The giant looked at Thor. “I am Skrymir.”

Before Thor could say anything else, the giant continued. “I know who you are. You are little Asa Thor of Asgard.”

Thor was surprised as Skrymir continued. “What have you done with my glove?”

Even as the giant spoke, the giant picked up the ‘hall’ in which Thor and his friends had spent the night.

The hall was the glove and the room where Loki and Thialfi had slept was the thumb of the glove.

Thor was sure that this was a dream.

But Thor raised his hammer. “I have come to Jotunheim to fight and win against evil giants like you.” Thor nodded at the giant. “I am ready to try my strength against yours.

The giant studied Thor. “Try it then.”

Thor picked up the Miolnir and threw it at the giant’s head.

Adapted from Norse Mythology