A Viking maid in traditional attire.

Odin could traverse great distances on his sleek, eight-legged horse Sleipnir. He was escorted by Hugin (Thought) and Munin (Memory), two dutiful ravens who would report to him their findings.  His faithful spear, Gungnir, was always on target, and from his ring Draupne dripped eight rings of equal magnificence every ninth night.  Odin possessed only one eye. As a young man, he pawned the other to the giant Mime for the privilege of drinking from the miraculous fountain of wisdom.  Though Mime was beheaded, he became one of Odin’s most cherished advisers. Anointing the giant’s bloody skull with healing herbs, Odin enabled its eyes to open wide and its mouth to talk.

Odin was known as the god of the bards and the master of runes.  Before the Latin alphabet was introduced into Scandinavia in the year 1000, the only method of recording was the runic script.  These mysterious symbols, incised on stone, were believed to have been created by Odin. Associated with sorcery, magic, and the supernatural, they inspired the men of the North with awe and fear.

Tar is prepared for shipbuilding, just as in days of old.

Two famous verses from the Havamal reveal the pain Odin endured to receive the runes:

I know that I hung
On the tree lashed by winds
Nine full nights,
And gave to Odin,
Myself to Myself;
On that tree
The depths of whose roots
No one knows.

No bread sustained me
Nor goblet.
I looked down.
I gathered the runes,
Screaming I gathered them;
And from there I fell again.