Teutonic Myth and Legend - An Introduction to the Eddas & Sagas, Beowulf, The Nibelungenlied, etc. This is a good collection of Northern myths, interspersed with poems and passages in classic literature that were inspired by (or are adaptations of) these myths. Like most myth collections, each story stands alone and a search for plot cohesion or smooth continuity will end in frustration. But each stand-alone is rich in imagery and a certain dreaminess that, in aggregate with all the other stories, impart a fierce, cold, clear imaginative state that lingers far after you've closed the book.