SOURCE: "Mythology," in Gaelic Influence in Iceland: Historical and Literary Contacts, Bókaûtgáfa Menningarsjóds, 1988, pp. 73-82.

In the following excerpt, Sigurdsson identifies and analyzes links between Gaelic folktales and Icelandic mythology.

Scandinavian Background

Old Norse/Icelandic mythology as it has been preserved, mainly in Snorra-Edda and the Eddaic poems, mostly written in Iceland in the 13th century, has its origins, at least partly, in pagan times. It can be assumed that the general framework of ideas concerning the gods was brought to Iceland as it existed at the time of the settlement. The ties with Scandinavia never broke so that myths which were later attached to Scandinavian gods could travel back and forth and be told on both sides of the Atlantic, in Iceland and Scandinavia alike. But these were scattered stories and linked up with poems about the gods. Knowledge of these, however, was...