In the saga tradition Aslaug is presented as daughter of the legendary hero Sigurd and the shieldmaiden Brynhildr; after the deaths of her parents she is hidden and fostered for safety. Her foster-father Heimer crafted a large harp in which he concealed the infant and travelled as a poor harp-player. While staying at a peasant household at Spangereid (Lindesnes) Heimer was slain, the harp was broken open, and the girl was raised by the peasant couple Áke and Grima under the byname Kráka. The saga frames these events as measures to preserve noble lineage in the turbulent legendary past recounted in the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok.
Saga summaries record that Aslaug's foster-parents deliberately concealed her noble appearance because beauty was taken as a sign of noble origin: they "rubbed her in tar and dressed her in a long hood" while she lived with them as Kráka. On at least one occasion the disguise was removed (a bathing scene in the narrative), where those present were entranced by her beauty, revealing the contrast between her tarred, hooded disguise and her natural appearance. Later, when summoned by Ragnar she presents herself in a striking riddle-like manner — arriving "dressed in a net, biting an onion, and with only a dog as a companion" — a set-piece in the tale that emphasizes both concealment and conspicuous display when her true status is revealed.
The saga material attributes to Aslaug exceptional intelligence, quick wit, and social acumen rather than overt supernatural powers. She solves Ragnar's riddle-test by arriving "neither dressed nor undressed, neither fasting nor eating, and neither alone nor in company" (in a net, biting an onion, accompanied by a dog). The narratives emphasize her prudence and counsel: she refuses to submit sexually to Ragnar before marriage and advises delay, a decision the saga links to consequences for the health of their offspring when Ragnar disregards her. Secondary scholarship situates her tale as the prototype of the Aarne–Thompson No. 875 "Clever Peasant Girl" motif; the supplied sources do not attribute prophetic, magical, or shape-changing powers to her, and she is presented as a legendary human figure rooted in heroic genealogy.
Asius
Asius (Ancient Greek: Asios) is a personal name borne by several mortal leaders allied with Troy in Greek epic and mythographic tradition. The figures called Asius appear in leader-lists, genealogies, and battle narratives of the Trojan War cycle rather than as a distinct supernatural entity.
Asiya bint Muzāḥim (Asiya)
Asiya is the Qur'anic figure presented as the wife of the Pharaoh in the era of Moses who secretly embraced monotheism, adopted and preserved the infant Moses, and is venerated in Islamic tradition as an exemplary righteous woman promised a house in Paradise for her faith and steadfastness.
Ask and Embla
In Norse myth Ask (Askr) and Embla (Embla) are the first human man and woman, fashioned from wood/trees by the gods at the beginning of the cosmos and endowed with the gifts that make them human; they serve as the progenitors of humankind in the Norse cosmological narrative.
Askafroa
A female tutelary spirit identified as the localized soul or guardian of an individual ash tree in southern Swedish folk belief (notably Scania). Traditionally propitiated annually on Ash Wednesday to prevent illness or damage that was believed to follow injury to the tree.
Askeladden
Askeladden (Ash-lad, Cinderlad) is a stock human folktale protagonist from Norwegian oral tradition, typically the youngest and least-valued child who, through cleverness, patience, and boldness, succeeds where elder siblings and conventional figures fail, often by outwitting trolls or solving enchanted tasks.
Aslan
Aslan is the singular, talking lion figure at the center of C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, functioning as creator, king, judge, savior, and moral authority within that fictional cosmology. The name also appears in unrelated contexts (personal names, a lion-like alien in Traveller RPG) but those are distinct referents.
Asmodai
Asmodai (variants: Asmodeus, Asmodaeus, Ashmedai) is a named, kingly malign spirit attested in late-antique and medieval Judaeo-Christian narrative traditions — most prominently the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit and legends about Solomon — where he functions as a leading hostile spirit who troubles humans.
Asmodeus
Asmodeus (Heb. Ashmedai/Ashmeday; Gr. Asmodaios; Arabic Sakhr in some accounts) is a named malignant spirit appearing in Near Eastern Jewish, Christian deuterocanonical, and later Islamic storytelling. Traditions portray him as a princely or kingly figure among malevolent spirits who intervenes in human affairs—notably hostile to marriages and in contest with King Solomon—and who can be driven off or bound by ritual fumigation and angelic agency.
Asopis
Asopis is the name borne by two distinct women in ancient Greek genealogical traditions: (1) a naiad listed among the daughters of the river-god Asopus and Metope, and (2) a Thespian princess, one of the fifty daughters of King Thespius, who bore Heracles a son named Mentor. The name is explicitly glossed as 'daughter of Asopus' in the cited sources, marking it primarily as a patronymic/eponymic identifier within Greek mythic genealogies.
Asopus
Asopus is a Greek river-eponym: both the name of several rivers and of mythic personages identified with those rivers. Traditions alternately present Asopus as a divine river-god (often as a child of Oceanus and Tethys, or in variant genealogies a son of Poseidon or Zeus), and as a local founding king; he functions as progenitor of many eponymous daughters and as an agent in myths explaining springs, city origins, and river characteristics.
Aspalis
Aspalis is a local heroine and cultic eponym from Melite (Melitaea) in Phthia, Thessaly. According to the tradition preserved via Antoninus Liberalis (summarized in modern compendia), she hanged herself to avoid enforced concubinage under a tyrant; her body vanished and was said to have been replaced by a wooden statue that became a cult image of Artemis, giving rise to an annual ritual in the city.
Aspidochelone
A massive sea creature in Arabian tradition that lures sailors to their deaths with its 'island' appearance, emitting a sweet smell to attract fish. (Note: 1. Power tier should be Primordial (as it's described as a "giant sea monster" and its appearance is often mistaken for an island). 2. No source material mentions any connection to the symbolism of Sa)
Community Record
- [1]Aslaug — Wikipedia. Wikipedia: Aslaugwiki
- [2]Wikidata: Aslaug. Wikidata entry for Aslaugother
- [3]Archive images and captions relating to 'Aslaug' (ship name references). Archive.org holdings (referenced in provided notes)other
- [4]Marilyn Jurich / scholarship cited in Wikipedia (on folktale parallel). Wikipedia summary citing scholarship that identifies Aslaug's tale as prototype of ATU 875wiki
- [5]Project Gutenberg texts and related notes referenced in research notes. Project Gutenberg holdings referenced in research notesother