Myth Information
Most of my exposure to Norse myths comes from a few chapters in Bulfinch’s Mythology vaguely remembered and allusions in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. I studied for a semester in Denmark and I enjoy many aspects of Scandinavian folklore and fairy tales, but their mythology was confusing to one weaned on the Greek and Roman pantheons. Frankly, Snorri left me snoring.
So, the mythic implications of the squirrel on the foul pole in the first game of the series eluded me, but Teddy Kidder of the New York Times provided a toothsome tidbit on the incident.
Believe it or not, the squirrel’s actions closely resembled those of Ratatosk, or “gnawing tooth,” a squirrel in Norse mythology that climbed up and down a tree that represented the world. Snorri Sturluson, an Icelandic scholar and poet, recorded the story in his 13th-century work “Prose Edda.”
