This little book has provided rather more pleasure than expected. These two Viking Romances were written around 1300 and are both easy reading, albeit sometimes a tad confusing with so many unfamiliar names! The back cover paints a picture better than I possible can: "Unlike the Icelandic sagas with their firm grasp of realism and their moral imperative, these two Viking romances feature, gods, heroes, trolls, kings and warriors, and are rich in imaginative power, Blending a range of influences from folklore, mythology, heroic tales and legends, they set out to amuse rather than inform, and as well as depicting the traditional Viking raider in his longboat, they also transport the reader to an imaginary world beyond history or geography. [These stories] appear in "Seven Viking Romances", which is published in Penguin Classics."

Tfere's a lot of blood and guts and surpringisnly graphic descriptions of sexual intercourse on a few occasions. I suppose this plays into the traditional idea of Viking rape and pillage ... ( )

Interesting to read, but not written as I expected. The romances are like quite violent fairy tales. With great heroes fighting it out. The first romance is Bosi and Herraud, I did find the sex talk funny, as I bet the Vikings did in their time. Overall this was not my favourite, that was the second romance Egil and Asmund. I thought the story was more logical, while still maintaining that fairy tale air. ( )

As I was between books, I decided to read one of my Penguin Classics 60s from the box set my i was given as a present years ago. Two Viking Romances contains two of the stories from the Penguin Classics book Seven Viking Romances.

Bosi and Herraud

The first story, Bosi and Herraud, is the story of a Swedish price and his troublesome best friend who gets them both banished from court, and only a poetic curse recited by Bosi's foster mother, threatening him with lame horses, sinking ships and impotence, prevents the king from having them both killed.

And what a shame
you play the game,
When she's on her back
But you've lost the knack:
Would you like some more . . .

Their adventures include rescuing a kidnapped princess, kidnapping another princess and various battles, often aided by magic. And everywhere they go Bosi successfully seduces their hosts' beautiful daughters with chat- up lines such as "I'd like to water my colt at your wine-spring".

Egil and Asmund

Egil and Asmund haven't known each other since childhood like Bosi and Herraud, but once they meet and find that they are equally matched in a fight, they become sworn-brothers. When they meet a giantess called Skin-Beak who invites them to the home of her mother Queen Eagle-Beak for dinner, I was convinced that the friends would end up on the menu, since the giantesses kept commenting on how slowly the food was cooking, and suggested that they should all tell their life stories while they waited for their meal. Rather than planning to eat them, Eagle-Beak and Skin-Beak actually become good friends of Egil and Asmund, and help them in a scheme to rescue two princesses from some other giants.

Eagle-Beak has had an adventurous life herself herself, including a long-standing rivalry with Queen Ingibjorg who married the man Eagle-Beak loved. After capturing Eagle-Beak, Hring and Ingibjorg sent her on a quest to retrieve three lost treasures, which ended with a journey to the underworld guided by Odin himself, in search of the final treasure, a cloak that fire couldn't burn.

One of the men I had to have was Hring, son of the king of the Smalands. I set out to see him, but he’d gone off to Gotaland to ask for the hand of Ingibjorg, the daughter of Earl Bjarkmar. I hurried on my way but when I arrived in Gotaland, Hring was already celebrating his wedding feast and his bride was about to be led into the hall. I lay down in the street intending to play her some dirty trick, but she saw me first and gave me a kick that broke both my thigh-bones. Then she was led into the hall to her seat. I followed her inside, turned myself into a fly, and crept under her clothes with the idea of ripping her belly open at the groin. But she recognized me right away, banged me in the side with a knife handle and broke three of my ribs, so I thought I’d better get out of there.

This story is full of adventure and the presence of the proactive Queen Eagle-Beak makes up for the princesses who just sit around waiting to be rescued. It would have been even better if there had been less of Egil and Asmund's back stories (all that fighting can get a bit samey). The author seems to have been familiar with the Odyssey, as one of Egil's adventures involves blinding a giant and trying to escape from his cave disguised as a goat. ( )

Two delightfully ribald tales of Viking heroes and their various quests and captured maidens. Very enjoyable and something I would like to search out more of – especially if I could find a good volume with copious notes for some of the mythology. ( )