Valhalla

Valhalla

Valhalla was the great hall, or palace, that stood in the Grove of Glesir in Asgard, the realm of the Norse gods. It was presided over by the head god of the Norse pantheon, Odin. The name Valhalla means hall of the slain.

Valhalla was said to be truly enormous, with 540 doors. Each door was large enough for 800 warriors to pass through at once. The walls were made of spears, the benches of breastplates, and the roof of shining shields. The hall held countless warriors, all of whom were former mortals. A wolf guarded Valhalla’s main door, and an eagle flew watch over it.

Valhalla was home to the Norse heroes called the einherjar, who had died bravely and honorably in battle. Those who came to Valhalla were chosen for this honor by the Valkyries, the nine warrior daughters of Odin. Each day, these warriors rode out to take part in military games and mock battles.

Valkyries

Valkyries

The Valkyries were the daughters of Odin, chief god of the Norse pantheon. They escorted the spirits of the bravest slain warriors, the einherjar, to Valhalla, Odin’s great hall. The name Valkyrie means choosers of the slain.

The einherjar were taken to Valhalla to prepare for the final battle, called Ragnarok. This battle would mark the end of the gods and change the fate of everything.

The Valkyries’ names were Brynhild, Göll, Göndul, Gudr, Gunn, Herfjoturr, Hildr, Hladgunnr, Hlokk, Hrist, Sigrdrifa, Sigrún, and Svafa. They were portrayed as beautiful young women armed with helmets and spears, and they rode winged horses.

Vampires

Vampires

Vampires are undead beings who feed off the blood and life of the living. They have existed in the folklore of many cultures for thousands of years.

The fear that the dead can return to spread disease or sap the vitality of the living has caused many superstitions and beliefs to spring up concerning how vampires are made, detected, and destroyed. Legends of vampires are most common in Eastern Europe but also occur in China.

Although the vampire in recent fiction is often depicted as lanky, tall, and pale, the most common of the folkloric vampire are bloated and ruddy. In Greece, vampires sometimes are thought to have dark blue or black faces.

Vanishing Hitchhiker

Vanishing Hitchhiker

The tale of the vanishing hitchhiker may be the most widespread and popular folktale of all. It has been collected by folklorists in, among other countries, the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Malaysia, China, and the Philippines.

The vanishing hitchhiker is the ghost of a victim, usually female, of an automobile accident. The ghost is trying to get home and is picked up by a Good Samaritan. When the Good Samaritan arrives at the ghost’s house, the ghost vanishes.

The bewildered Good Samaritan then learns from the still-grieving family that yes, this was a ghost that had been trying to get home for days, weeks, or years. Some variants add the detail of the ghost being cold, and the Good Samaritan lending her a sweater. When the ghost vanishes, the sweater is left behind, or, in a neat twist, is found draped over her tombstone.

Vegetable Sheep/Lamb

Vegetable Sheep

Plant-animal hybrids, vegetable sheep and vegetable lambs, were believed to produce cotton as sheep produce wool and are depicted in the bestiaries, the medieval collections of fact and folklore about real and imaginary animals.

Also known as the lambs of Tartary, these creatures were believed to live in the Asian land of Tartary, which is part of present-day Eastern Europe and Russia.

The origins of this odd belief are almost certainly connected to the arrival of cotton bolls from the East into Western Europe. Since no one in Western Europe had ever seen cotton in its unspun, natural form, they assumed that the bolls were a form of wool.

Vietnamese Storytelling

Vietnamese Storytelling

Vietnam is made up of more than fifty ethnic groups, each one with its own oral traditions.

Folktales and storytelling are both still popular throughout Vietnam. But storytelling generally takes place on a smaller scale in the cities than it does in the more isolated mountain areas because large gatherings are still discouraged by the government.

However, the Vietnamese government has worked with the Association of Vietnamese Folklorists to conserve as much as possible of the country’s oral tradition. Many stories have been collected and are compiled in massive volumes of Vietnamese tales and legends.

Vodianoi

Vodianoi

In Slavic myth and folklore, the vodianoi is the unpredictable, dangerous king or spirit of water, particularly of freshwater.

As a water spirit, the vodianoi needed no clothes. He generally was seen by humans as a being that was half fish and half human, or as an old man covered in scales and mud. His hair and beard were green, and his hands were webbed.

When he chose to have a tail, he looked something like a heavyset merman. When he decided to take a two-legged shape, his long toes helped him to propel himself underwater.