Padraic Colum is a Newbery Honor-winning author, famous for collecting folklore from around the world and for being a significant part of the Irish Literary Revival in the early 20th century.

He was born in Ireland, the oldest of eight children, and moved to the United States in his later youth. There, he created collections of children's stories honoring various heritages across Europe. Some of his works include The King of Ireland's Sons, The Adventures of Odysseus, The Castle Conquest, and The Flying Swans. Three of his children's books have been awarded the Newbery Honor Prize and a first edition copy of At The Gateways of the Day was gifted to President Barack Obama.

He also wrote poems, plays, and created the screenplay for an animated film. His plays helped found the famous Abbey Theater, one of the country's biggest cultural centers. Some of his plays include The Saxon Shilling, Mogue the Wanderer, Broken Sail, and The Land. Additionally, he compiled Irish folk songs and adapted them.

Thanks to the efforts of Padraic Colum, a rich heritage of international lore has been preserved and shared throughout the world.

Loki - The Mischief Behind the Legend by Padraic Colum

The Norse myths that inspired generations of superhero fans and mythology-lovers.

Before he was the infamous movie villain….

Loki was the beloved God of Norse lore.

From Padriac Colum, three-time Newbery honor winner, comes this delightful collection of some of the greatest myths ever told, highlighting Loki's grand adventures.

Loki's antics are plentiful:

Convincing Thor to wear a wedding gown. Chopping off Sif's golden locks. Masquerading as a maiden among the Giants. Tricking dwarves into molding the ever-popular hammer.

And he does it all to save Asgard, time and again.

But Loki tires of the Gods' idiocy. And he's done being their lackey.

Could his anger lead to the destruction of Asgard and all the Gods?

Or will the Gods win?

Including a foreword from legendary Marvel writer Peter David, this is the origin story that all true Loki fans must know!

CURATOR'S NOTE

Let's face it, no StoryBundle curated by me would be complete without at least one anthology or short story collection. This one is packed full of stories about everyone's favourite Norse trickster. It's pretty tough to go wrong with a collection of Loki stories, amirite? – Rhonda Parrish

 
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

PartOne

The Dwellers in Asgard

Far Away and Long Ago

Once there was another Sun and another Moon; a different Sun and a different Moon from the ones we see now. Sol was the name of that Sun and Mani was the name of that Moon. But always behind Sol and Mani wolves went, a wolf behind each. The wolves caught on them at last and they devoured Sol and Mani. And then the world was in darkness and cold.

In those times the Gods lived, Odin and Thor, Hödur and Baldur, Tyr and Heimdall, Vidar and Vali, as well as Loki, the doer of good and the doer of evil. And the beautiful Goddesses were living then, Frigga, Freya, Nanna, Iduna, and Sif. But in the days when the Sun and Moon were destroyed the Gods were destroyed too—all the Gods except Baldur who had died before that time, Vidar and Vali, the sons of Odin, and Modi and Magni, the sons of Thor.

At that time, too, there were men and women in the world. But before the Sun and the Moon were devoured and before the Gods were destroyed, terrible things happened in the world. Snow fell on the four corners of the earth and kept on falling for three seasons. Winds came and blew everything away. And the people of the world who had lived on in spite of the snow and the cold and the winds fought each other, brother killing brother, until all the people were destroyed.

Also there was another earth at that time, an earth green and beautiful. But the terrible winds that blew leveled down forests and hills and dwellings. Then re came and burnt the earth. There was darkness, for the Sun and the Moon were devoured. The Gods had met with their doom. And the time in which all these things happened was called Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods.

Then a new Sun and a new Moon appeared and went travelling through the heavens; they were more lovely than Sol and Mani, and no wolves followed behind them in chase. The earth became green and beautiful again, and in a deep forest that the re had not burnt a woman and a man wakened up. They had been hidden there by Odin and left to sleep during Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods.

Lif was the woman's name, and Lifthrasir was the man's. They moved through the world, and their children and their children's children made people for the new earth. And of the Gods were left Vidar and Vali, the sons of Odin, and Modi and Magni, the sons of Thor; on the new earth Vidar and Vali found tablets that the older Gods had written on and had left there for them, tablets telling of all that had happened before Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods.

And the people who lived after Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods, were not troubled, as the people in the older days were troubled, by the terrible beings who had brought destruction upon the world and upon men and women, and who from the beginning had waged war upon the Gods.