A collection of retold Northern myths presents the cosmogony of a misty and fiery world, the shaping of earth by the gods, and the Tree of Life, then moves through episodic tales of divine quests and mischief—Odin's pursuit of knowledge, the forging and loss of Thor's hammer, the binding of the Fenris wolf, and Loki's betrayals. It also recounts heroic sagas from the Volsung cycle, including a magic hoard, a dragon slayer's rise and fall, and the doomed romance of a shieldmaiden, culminating in the gods' punishment and the twilight of the gods. Stories vary in tone from wonder to tragedy and are presented as sequential tales.