General Discussion

I
love
mythology

As much as I love to study it, daily life gets in the way of the stories
So I ask you FR, to share with me your favorite Myth(s) or tales from all cultures, from all around the world!!

And to sweeten the deal, every story sent will get a semi-related item from the game!

(prizes limited to once a day, but you may post as much as you want)

UPDATE 11/30/20: I should clarify that you can get a prize for every day that you post, it can be skins to a familiar. Just whatever I deem closest that I have.

(I am subbed to this thread, but I won't get upset at pings)

i'm in a myth class, and my favorite so far is a native american myth called emergence.

so in this particular tribe's culture 4 is a very important number, and so are the compass directions and colors white, yellow, blue, and black. the first world, black(?), is made of burning resin and insects, who fly up through the ceiling to the blue world, with birds. the two run out of food and eventually fly to the third world, i think it's the yellow world. the humans there have bug features, and they all want to elect a leader. they choose wolf, mountain lion, bluebird, and hummingbird based on their location (north, south, etc) and they're all asked to find gifts for humanity. in the end they realize they need all the gifts, and some masks appear from the sky and invite them to the fourth world. side note, first man, woman, boy, and girl are created from buckskin, corn, and feathers at some point. there, coyote is born through a dust storm and cheats water monster out of a fur coat, that just happens to have the monster's babies in it. he floods the world in anger, and the humans and animals flee through a bamboo stalk to the fifth world. they give back the babies and water monster disappears for good.

@hershel that's quite a ride![emoji=coatl scared] Thank you so much for sharing with me [emoji=coatl laughing]

reminder that every story gets a free prize!

Ragnarok:
The Vikings believed that one day the world as we know it would come to an end, they called this day for Ragnarok, (old Norse Ragnarökr). Ragnarok is not only the doom of man but also the end of the Gods and Goddesses. It will be the final battle between the Aesir and Giants. The battle will take place on the plains called Vigrid.

It is here that the mighty Midgard serpent will be emerging from the sea, while it splashes its tail and sprays poison in all directions, causing huge waves crashing towards the land. Meanwhile, the fire giant Surtr will set Asgard and the rainbow bridge Bifrost on fire. The Fenrir wolf will break free of his chains and spread death and destruction. The sun and the moon will be swallowed by the wolves Sköll and Hati, and even the world tree Yggdrasil will shake the ground.

Odin and the Fenrir wolf will fight each other to the death And Loki will turn on the Aesir, and fight Heimdall, and they will kill each other. Tyr will fight the watchdog “Garm” that guards the gates of Hel,and kill each other.

Thor will fight the Midgard Serpent and kill it, but he will die of the poisonous wounds left behind by the Midgard Serpent. Freyr will be killed by the fire giant named Surtr. Finally, Surtr will set all the nine worlds on fire and everything sinks into the boiling sea. There is nothing the Gods can do to prevent Ragnarok. Odin’s only comfort is that he can predict that Ragnarok will not be the end of the world.

Signs:
There will be some warning signs if Ragnarok “the end of the world” is coming. The first sign is the murder of the God Baldr, the son of Odin and Frigg which has already happened.

The second sign will be three uninterrupted long cold winters that will last for three years with no summer in between. The name of these uninterrupted winters are called “Fimbulwinter” during these three long years, the world will be plagued by wars, and brothers will kill brothers. The third sign will be the two wolves in the sky swallowing the sun and the moon, and even the stars will disappear and send the world into a great darkness.

Ragnarok's Beginning:

The rooster “Fjalar” which name means the “All knower”, will warn all the giants that the beginning of Ragnarok has begun. At the same time in Hel, will a rooster warn all the dishonorable dead, that the war has begun. And also in Asgard, will a rooster “Gullinkambi” warn all the Gods.

Heimdall will blow his horn as loud as he can and that will be the warning for all the einherjar in Valhalla that the war has started. This will be the battle to end all battles, and this will be the day that all the Vikings “Einherjar” from Valhalla and Folkvangr who had died honorably in battle, to pick up their swords and armor to fight side by side with the Aesir against the Giants.

The Gods, Baldr, and Hod will be returned from the dead, to fight one last time with their brothers and sisters. Odin will be riding on his horse Sleipnir with his eagle helmet equipped and his spear Gungnir in his hand, and lead the enormous army of Asgard with all the Gods and brave Einherjar to the battleground in the fields of Vigrid.

The Giants will together with Hel, and all her dishonorable dead, sail in the ship Naglfar, which is made from the fingernails of all the dead, sail to the plains of Vigrid. The dragon Nidhug will come flying over the battlefield and gather as many corpses for his never-ending hunger.

When most of the Gods had perished in the mutual destruction with the Giants, it is predetermined that a new world will rise up from the water, beautiful and green. Before the battle of Ragnarok, two people, Lif “a woman” and Liftraser “a man”, will find shelter in the sacred tree Yggdrasil. And when the battle is over, they will come out and repopulate the earth again

Several of the Gods will survive, among them Odin’s sons Vidar and Vali and his brother Honir. Thor’s sons Modi and Magni will inherit their father’s hammer Mjölnir.

The few Gods who survive will go to Idavoll, which has remained untouched. And here they will build new houses, the greatest of the houses will be Gimli, and will have a roof of gold. There is also a new place called Brimir, at a place called Okolnir “Never cold”. It is in the mountains of Nidafjoll.

But there is also a terrible place, a great hall on Nastrond, the shore of corpses. All its doors face north to greet the screaming winds. The walls will be made of writhing snakes that pour their venom into a river that flows through the hall. This will be the new underground, full of thieves and murderers, and when they die the great dragon Nidhug is there to feed upon their corpses.

Here's a myths that is actually from the very town I'm from. I live in a small German town that has been here for ages, including, of course medieval times. And what's more medieval than a story about a dragon? There are a few different versions of this story, here's what's my favourite one.



Once, there lived a terrifying dragon atop the nearby mountain. It's breath of fire and smoke covered the mountaintop. Few dared to go there anymore, since the beast snatched up all the people and unfortunate farm animals that got too close to its residence, eating them all.

But the land is beautiful and fertile, so there must be a way to reclaim it, surely? That's what the owner of this town thought too. So, he promised a reward. If a person rids the town of this dragon problem, they'll get their own castle on the very top of that mountain.
But even with this, the dragon remained. None of the knights seeking their fortune ever returned, falling to the beast's jaws and hellfire.
Eventually, no one dared to try their luck, and for generations, the dragon stood unchallenged once again.

Until the day a boy was born to the family of the name von Spiegel (meaning 'of Mirror'). He grew up to be a knight. Albeit a very vain one.
He decided one day that he'd like more land, and a castle on the mountain sounds promising. The reward was still up, after all this time.
His good looks alone won't help him against the dragon, and so he got his sword. But for a moment he hesitated when he saw his plain-looking shield. Surely the people would want to know who their glorious hero is.
With that though in mind, and true to his family's name, he attached many of his mirrors to his shield. He looked at his works, approved of the sight (maybe less of the shield itself and more of his mirror image) and went to fight the beast.

There he was now, atop the smoke-covered mountain. His surroundings were covered by old bones and charred pieces of armour. Then, he heard a low rumble. He turned towards it and saw the dragon. It looked much more terrifying than any of the tales had told. But he couldn't falter now. He only had one chance.
He saw the beast breathing in and instinctively raised his shield to block the incoming barrage of flame. But that never happend. Instead, the dragon caught a sight of itself in the mirrors and let out a screech in terror. The sight of its own horrifying face scared it so much that it turned tail and flew away. Never to return.

The knight, of cause, earned his castle. And even to these days you can visit the ruins. And yup, as far as I know, the land still belongs to the von Spiegel family.

@Sevlyna
@Xionahri
super cool stories guys! I've never heard that last one before :)
gifts are headed your way!

In the Scandinavian countries, stringed instruments are associated with magic and shamanistic purposes. Finland have their kantele, but in Sweden and Norway, the most famous magical instrument is the fiddle. There are a lot of tales associated with fiddles, but the one from Hårga is perhaps the most famous due to 'Hårgalåten', a Swedish folk song that is fairly well known. This is the tale behind it: Once, in the village called Hårga in Hällsingland in Sweden, saturday turned to sunday. It was now the rest day when everybody should take a day off and focus on God, but the youth that had been dancing the whole saturday evening didn't want to stop. A traveling fiddler appeared, with burning eyes and an alluring smile, and he started to play a song on his fiddle that no one had ever heard before. He was a masterful musician, and everyone immediately joined in the dance. But, once they had started to dance, they couldn't stop. The next morning, they were all still dancing, and the fiddler started to lead the dance outside. One man stabbed his knife into a wooden pole and held onto it in an attempt to stop his feet from following the fiddler, but it only ended in his arm being torn off, the knife still stuck in the wood. Their families watched in horror as the dance kept going up onto the Hårga mountain, and noticed that the fiddler had cloven hooves and was the devil disguised as a man. The dance kept going for several days. Even when the dancers died from wearing out their bodies, they kept dancing. One version of the tale says that even when only their skulls were left, they were still rattling and jumping until only dust remained. This is why the top of the Hårga mountain is flat, having been worn down by the dancing feet. This is what the place looks like today, quite flat as you can see: [img]http://www.wiljo.se/images/halsingland/harga_a.jpg[/img] The devil kept their unfortunate souls, and some claim that on certain days, one can still hear the tones of the fiddle in this location.

@KitchenOfDeath okay wow XD I have never heard that one for sure! Thanks for sharing it! I'll be sending a treat your way [emoji=mirror love]

I don't know if this can be counted as a myth,but it's more of a trickster tale from my country.
There was a man who wanted to take the train home without having to pay the fee.While thinking of a solution,he overheard two men saying:"Both of us will hide in the toilet when the ticket master comes.When he knocks on the door to ask for the ticket,one of us will slide it under the door.After he is gone,both of us will come out."Hearing that,he devised a plan.

When the two men hid in the toilet,he knocked on the door and said:"Ticket please!"A hand slid under the door to give the "ticket master"the ticket.He gleefully took it and ran away,leaving the two men with no ticket.