Christmas gift-bringer the leader of the Wild Hunt at the time of Yule. Santa Claus's reindeer has also been compared to Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse of Odin in Norse mythology. Jacob Grimm ("Deutsche Mythologie") traces the threatening or scary companions of Saint Nicholas (such as the Krampus of the Austro-Bavarian dialect region) to Christianized versions of house-spirits (kobolds, elves). After Christianization, the benign mid-winter gift-bringer was associated with the 4th-century Christian Saint Nicholas of Myra. This association took place mainly in the territories of the Holy Roman Empire, including German-speaking Europe, the Low Countries, the Czech lands, Hungary and Slovenia. The basis
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen rich jewels taken from a secret store of treasure under the Edge in payment for his horse. The majority of the non-English words used in "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen" have been adopted from Norse mythology. For instance, the svart-alfar are described as the "maggot-breed of Ymir", a reference to the primeval giant of Norse myth, while the realm of Ragnarok, which in Garner's story is the home of the malevolent spirit Nastrond, is actually named after the Norse end-of-the-world myth. Fimbulwinter, the magically-induced winter weather that hinders the children's escape, also refers to Norse eschatology. Other terms are taken not