I've just about finished reading through the Grimm brothers collection of fairy tales, and I'm realizing old tales and legends are really fun to read. However, I don't really know of many other old stories that I can actually get my hands on.
I'm looking for stories from a pretty much anytime, anywhere, as long as I can actually buy the book in English or Swedish. To give you an idea, here's what I've come up with so far:
I'm especially interested in old Germanic folk tales featuring fairies (the tales that the Grimm brothers wrote down were surprisingly lacking in this regard considering they are usually referred to as "fairy tales") and other magical creatures.
Maybe this is the wrong place to ask (where would the right place be then?), but I figure you might know some interesting stuff I've never heard of, and it seems to fit with the theme of the week.
I would check out the Icelandic sagas. While most of them focus on families or individuals, they have many of the trappings of legends. A few of my favorites:
The Saga of Egil Skallagrimson: Tales of a semi-historical Norwegian skald (poet) who gets into fights, recites poetry on the fly, engraves runes both to cure and to curse, and swears vengeance upon the King of Norway for daring to exile him to Iceland.
Njal's Saga: A family saga, detailing the family feud between two major Icelandic families, and how easy it was to spiral from petty fighting to outright murder. Also features Gunnarr Hámundarson, a remarkable warrior who, once he was outlawed, refused to leave his home in Iceland and decided to enact a heroic stand against his pursuers.
The Poetic Edda: You mentioned this one above, but it's worth seconding it. The Prose Edda and The Poetic Edda are both great reads and explain so much of how we view Norse mythology.
Heimskringla: One of the greatest sagas known to us, written by Snorri Sturluson. It details the history of Norway from the mythic past up to Snorri's present day in the 13th century. It's very long, but has some amazing legends and stories, especially about Harald Hard-ruler and his adventures working for the Byzantines.
Eyrbyggja Saga: Hard to find, but if you can, there's a section detailing what happens when zombies invade a Viking's home in Iceland. Spoilers: it involves Viking lawyers.
On the Irish side, if you can find the Ulster Cycle, it's worth a read; I think we get a lot of our popular Irish mythologies from that cycle. This one on amazon doesn't look bad, I think it's focused on the Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley) side of the stories.
Arabian Nights/1001 nights. I had a great time getting stoned and reading that. There are a bunch of versions in circulation.