Heroes of Asgard

THE HEROES OF ASGARD
THE
HEROES OF ASGARD
TALES FROM SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY
BY
A.
&
E.
KEARY
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HUARD
Neto gotfc
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

LONDON: MACMILLAN &
1909
All rights reserved
CO., LTD.
(9
New edition
September, 1906.
Reprinted July, 1909.
NottoQot fhrat
Berwick
ft
Smith Co., Norwood, Mass.. U.S.A.
PREFACE.
IN preparing the Second Edition of
this little
volume
of tales from the Northern Mythology for the press,

the Authors have thought
it
advisable to omit the
conversations
at
the
beginning
and
end
of the
chapters, which
had been objected
to as breaking the
carefully revised
course of the narrative.

the
They have
whole, corrected
many
inaccuracies
and added
fresh information
drawn from sources they had not
had an opportunity of consulting when the volume

first
appeared.
The
been
writers
to
whose works the

are
Authors have
most
indebted,
Simrock,
Mallet, Laing, Thorpe, Howitt
and Dasent
259890
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER L
THE
PART
I.
ÊSIR.
A GIANT
AIR
A COW
AND A HERO,
DWARFS,
4!
II.
THRONE, THE LIGHT ELVES,
AND
THE
51
III.
NIFLHEIM,
IV.
V.
THE CHILDREN OP LOKI, BIFROST, URDA, AND THE NORNS,

ODH&RIR,
....
.
59 67
72
8l
VL
.......
.
CHAPTER
IL
HOW THOR WENT TO

PART
I.
JOTUNHEIM.
.
II.
FROM ASGARD TO UTGARD, . THE SERPENT AND THE KETTLE,
.
.
.
.
IO9
IJO
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
FREY.
PART
I.
IIL
ON TIPTOE DC AIR THRONE,
II.
THE
GIFT,
.......
.
MM
147
152
III.
FAIREST GBRD.
157
.
IV.
THE WOOD BARRI,
163
CHAPTER
PART L
II.
IV.
THE WANDERINGS OF
FREYJA.
.
III.
THE NECKLACE BRISINGAMEN, LOKI THE IRON WOOD A BOUNDLESS WASTE, THE KING OP THE SEA AND HIS DAUGHTERS,
l6o
177 185
CHAPTER
PART
V.
IDUNA'S APPLES.
I.
II.
REFLECTIONS IN THE WATER, THE WINGED-GIANT,

.
....
.
IQI
198
III.
HELA,
212
FIRE,
*
.
IV.
THROUGH FLOOD AND
Il8
CHAPTER VL
BALDUR.
PART L
IL
THE DREAM THE PEACESTEAD,

BALDUR DEAD, HELM KIM,
WEEPING,
*3'
240
247
.
m.
IT. T.
.......
25,,
256
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
VII.
THE BINDING OF FENRIR.

PAGB
PART
I.
II.
THE MIGHT OF ASGARD, THE SECRET OF SVARTHEIM,

HONOUR,
. .
263
III.
.......
. .
272 279
CHAPTER
VIII.
THE PUNISHMENT OF
CHAPTER
IX.
LOKI,
285
RAGNAROK.
OR,
THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS,
295
INDEX OF NAMES, WITH MEANINGS,
315
ot
GIANT SUTTUNG AND THE DWARFS,
...
.
.
MOB
86
GIANT SKRYMIR AND THOR,

FREYJA IN THE DWARFS* CAVE,
. .
US
.17*
195
.
IDUNA GIVING THE MAGIC APPLES,

SKADI CHOOSING HER HUSBAND,
.
227 265 292
fYR FEEDING FENRIR,
..
THE PUNISHMENT OF LOKI,
THE HEROES OF ASGARD.
INTRODUCTION.
IF
we would understand
the religion of the ancient

to
Scandinavians,
we ought
all
study
at
the
same
draw-
time the myths of
Teutonic nations.
ing together of these,
and a comparison of one

most
beautifully
effected
with
another, has
been
his
by
Simrock,
in
Handbuch
tells
der
that
Dcutschen
whilst
Mythologie,
where
he
us
the
Scandinavian records are richer and

they
are
also
more
of
definite,
younger than
those
to
Germany,
half
river
which
latter
may
be
compared
which
to
ancient
fuller
choked-up
flows,
streams
which,
from
it
the
but
is
be
remarked, that
10

has mingled in
the
its
river
flowing.
Grimm
the
says that
both religions
German and
identical,
Northern
in
details
were
in
the
main
though
they varied; and as heathenism lingered longer
in
Scandinavia
it
than
in
any
other
part
of
Europe,
than
is
not
surprising
that
there,
rather
anywhere
wants and
imaginings,
lised
else,
we should
fears,
find
the
old
world
hopes and
childlike
dark guesses,
expressions,
crude
crystal-
poetic
definite
into
pretty
system
of
belief
and
worship.
ice
Yes,
halls
we
the
can
old
walk
through
faith,
its
the
glittering
of
frozen
at
and
count
its
gems
and
wonder
fearful
images
but the
warm
flowed,
heart-reach ings
from which
darkly
feel,
they alike once

at
we can
pry
into
only
best
!
but
narrowly
here
the
and
there.
Ah
if
we could but break up

which follow,
picturesque
the
poem
again
into
the syllables of the far off years.

little
The
most
myths,
form,
tales
drawn from
of
the
the
striking
and
Northern
possible
to
are
put
together in
written
simplest
with
and
were
only
to
design
make
the subject
interesting
children.
By-and-
INTRODUCTION.
bye, however, as
in
II
we through
their
means become
slight
degree acquainted with the characters
belonging
to,
and the parts played

it
by, the various
deities of this mythology,
will
not be uninteresting
to consider what
try
if
their
meaning
may
be,
and
to
we can
trace
the
it
connection of one with
another.
At present
them and
to
seems
without
give a
best,
it
as an
intro-
duction to
they would be
sketch
scarcely intelligible
very slight
it
of the Northern mythology, as

the
short
earliest
is
gathered from
as
well
as
it
Scandinavian
of the
sources,
a
is
account
sources
from
which
gathered.
Laing,
in
the
introduction
to
his
Translation
of the Heimskringla Saga, says,

ture
is
"A
nation's litera-
its
breath
of
is
life,
without which a nation

congregation of indicenturies
in
has no existence,
viduals.
but a
During the five
which the
Northmen were
wheresoever
riding over the seas,
and conquering
of
the
they
landed,
the
literature
people they overcame
was locked
up
in
a dead
But
language, and within the walls of monasteries.

the
Northmen had a
literature
of their own, rude
Ia
THE HEROES OP ASGARD.

it
as
was."
Songs and sagas, mythical and heroic,

this literature
were the staple of
of the north
and
these appear to have been
handed down by word of
mouth from skald to skald until about the beginning

of the twelfth century.
Then Saemund
commit them
the Learned,
to
writing.
and
others,
began
to
Saemund the Learned was

the
bom
after
in
Iceland about
year
1057,
fifty
years
Christianity
had
been
positively
established
in
in
that
island.
He
Italy,
passed his youth

studying
at
Germany, France, and
one time with a famous master, "by

instructed
in
whom he was
So
full,
every
kind of
lore."
all
indeed, did Saemund's head become of

learnt, that
that
he had
he frequently "forgot the

his
commonest
identity,
things,"
even
own
name
was,
and
he
so
that
when asked
who he
would give
the
name of any one he had been
reading about
He
was also said

anecdote
however,
to
be an astrologer,
and a charming
this
little
is
related of
him
out
in
capacity,
which,
would
be
of
place here.
When he
the
went back to Iceland, he
became
priest of
Oddi, instructed the people about

old
religion, and, besides
him, studied
writing
INTRODUCTION.
a history of
lost,
Norway and
Iceland, which has been
transcribed
several of the
mythic and heroic
songs of the North, which together form a collection
known
by
the
name of
the
Poetic,
Elder,
or
Scemund's Edda.
The
from
songs themselves are sup-
posed
to
date
about
the
in
eighth
century
Ssemund wrote
oldest copy of
them
his
down
original
the twelfth.
is
The
four-
MS.
is
of the
in the
teenth century, and this copy
now
Royal
Library of
Copenhagen.
into
few
years
ago they
were translated
English by B.
of
is
Thorpe.
So
greatafter
much
for
the
history
the Elder
said to
Edda
grandmother the name

all
mean, but
she scarcely seems old enough to be called a
great-grandmother.
up,
We
have traced
her growing
and seen how she has dressed
herself,
and we
begin to think of her almost as a modern young

lady.
When we
us,
listen
to the
odd jumble of
tales
she
to
tells
too,
we
are
more than
half inclined
quarrel with her,

it
though without exactly know-
ing whether
is
with her youth or her age that

are
we
find
fault
You
too young to
know what
you are talking about, great-grandmother, we com-
I4

;
plain
but,
oh
dear
you mumble so and make
use of such odd old-fashioned words
we can
scarcely
understand you.
Saemund was not the only man

sagas; he had
who wrote down songs and

contemporaries,
some
fifty
many
twice
successors;
and,
about
years after his death,
we hear
Supreme
of Snorro Sturleson,
Magistrate
lived
for
rich
man,
of
the
Icelandic
at Oddi,
Republic,
who
also
some time
and who
has
left
many
valuable additions
to the stock of Icelandic written lore.
Laing says
for
of
him
"Snorro
of
the
Sturleson
has
done
the the
history
Northmen, what Livy did
for
history of the Romans."
Amongst
or
other things, he
wrote
sort
of commentary
%
enlargement
of
Saemund's
Edda
probably
drawn
from
MSS.
of
Saemund and of others, which were preserved

This
is
at Oddi.
called
the
Prose,
Younger,
or
Snorrds
Edda, and was translated

Mallet
of
into
French.
many Added to
years ago
by M.
these two sources
information respecting the

there
Scandinavian
to
myth-
ology,
are
many
the
allusions
the
myths
which
scattered
through
literature
heroic
lays
with
Northern
abounds.
1NTROD UCTION.
The
Poetic
Edda
consists
of two
parts
the
The mythological mythological and the heroic. songs contain an account of the formation and
destruction of the world, of the origin, genealogies,
adventures,
journeys,
conversations
of the
gods,
magic
called
incantations,
ethical.
and
one
lay
which may be
the
This
portion of
called
Edda
of
con-
cludes
with
song
it
"The Song
Ssemund
English
the
Sun,"
of which
is
supposed
the
himself
was the author.

says,
Thorpe,
translator,
"It exhibits a strange mixture of Christianity

it
and heathenism, whence

poet's
would seem
a transition
that
that
the
own
religion
was
in
state.
We
may
as well
remark
here
the only allusion
to Christianity in the Elder
Edda, with the exception

is
of this
single
last
song,
in
which stands quite alone,
strophe
an incantation
"An
eighth I will sing to If night overtake thee,
When
out on the misty way,
That the dead Christian woman
No
Which
power may have
to
do thee harm."
savours
curiously
of
the
horror
which
16

heathens
then
evidently
felt
these
faith.
of
the
new
The
indeed.
Younger
Edda
is
a very
queer old
lady
She begins by
telling
a sort of story.
She
" there was once a King called Gylfi, renowned says

for his
wisdom and
skill
in
magic ;" he being seized

about
the gods,
with a desire to
know
all
and
wishing
off
also
to get his information

to
first-hand, sets
on a journey
Asgard
itself,
the gods'
own
abode.
When
he gets there
he
finds
a mysterious
High,
the
Three seated
upon
three
thrones
the
Equally High, and the Third.
The
story-teller is
supposed to have taken
this picture
from a temple at
Upsal, where the thrones of Odin, Thor, and Frey
were placed in the same manner, one above another.

Gylfi
introduces
himself as Gangler,
a name
for
traveller
(connected with the present Scotch word

to question the
gang),
origin
and proceeded
of
the
Three upon the

adventures
world,
the
nature and
of the
gods,
&c, &c.
Gangler's
questions,
and
the answers which he

to
receives, will, with
reference
the Elder
Edda
talcs,
help us to get just
the
hort
summary we want of
the Scandinavian myth-
INTRODUCTION.
the
ology
mythology
grown
it
up
and
old,
and
frozen tight, as
we
find
in the Eddas.
"What was
and Har
the beginning of things?" asks Gangler j
(the highest of the Three), replying in the
words of an ancient poem, says,
" Once was
the age
When
all
was not-
No sand, nor sea, No salt waves, No earth was found,

Nor over-skies,
But yawning precipice
And nowhere
grass."
This nothingness was called Ginnungagap, the gap

of gaps, the gaping of the chasms
to relate
:
and Har goes on

the north side of
the shadowy
;
what took place

says,
in
it.
On
Ginnungagap, he
nebulous
lay Niflheim,
home
of freezing cold and gathering gloom
but on the south lay the glowing region of Muspellheim.

called
There was besides a roaring cauldron
Hvergelmir, which seethed in the middle of
Niflheim,
and sent
forth
twelve rivers
called
the
froze
strange waves; these flowed into the gap

there,
and
and so
filled
the gap with ice:
but sparks
l8

flakes
and
ice. filled
of
fire
from Muspellheim
the
fell
upon the
was
Ginnungagap on
north
side
now
with ice and vapour and fleeting mists and
whirlwinds, but
southwards with glowing radiancy,

still
with calm and light and wind

continues
air;
and
so,
Har, the heat met

drops,
the
frost,
the frost
life,
melted
into
the drops quickened into
and there was a human form
called Ymir, a giant
a god?" asks Gangler. "Oh! dear no," answers Har ; " we are very far indeed from believing
"Was he
him
to have
been a god; he was wicked and the

" I wonder what he
father of all the Frost Giants."
ate ?" said Gangler.
" There was a cow,"
Har went
"
on
too,
to
explain; "she was made out of the drops,
and the giant fed upon her milk."
Good,"
" Slu
answered Gangler; "but what fed the cow?'*

licked
the
stones
salt
of
Ginnungagap, which
were
covered with
hoar frost;" and then Har goes

degrees a man, Bur, grew up
on
to relate
how by
out of the stones as the
cow
licked
them, good,
not like Ymir, but the father of the gods; and here
we may remark
that the giant
and the god equally
the sole progenitors of their immediate descend-
INTROD UCTION.
ants.
Ymir was
the father of the
first
giant,
Bur
had a son called Bor.

to
But
after that the races
mix
a certain extent,
for
Bor married a giantess and
became the
father of three sons, Odin, Vili
and Ve.
"Was
there any
degree of good
races?" asks
understanding
between these two

from
it,"
Gangler.
tells
"Far
replies
Har; and then he

all
how
the
sons of the god slew
the frost giants but one,

into
dragged the body of old Ymir
the middle of
it,
Ginnungagap, made
the earth out of

flesh
" from his
blood the seas, from his
the land, from his

trees,
bones the mountains, of his hair the

skull
of his
clouds.
the
heavens and
of
his
brains
the
Then the^ took wandering

and placed them
says the Voluspd.
flakes
from Muspellheim,
Until this time,
in the heavens."
" The
sun knew not Where she a dwelling had, The moon knew not What power he possessed, The stars knew not Where they had a station."
About
the
this
time
it
happened
that the
sons of
god took a walk along the sea-beach, and there
20
found two stems of wood which they fasnioiied into

the
first
man and woman

'
Spirit gave them Odin Sense gave Hoenir Blood gave Lodin (Loki)
And
After this
it
goodly colour."
is
said that the all-holy gods, the
Êsir, the Lords, went to their judgment seats, held " council, and gave names to the night and to the
waning
moon,
morn, midday, afternoon, and eve
whereby
to reckon years."
Then
they built a city
called Asgard in the middle of the earth, altars
and
temples,
tools
" made
furnaces, forged tongs

after
and fabricated
and precious things;"
which they stayed

tables.
at
home and played
joyously with
This
was the golden age of the gods; they were happy.
"To
want
them," says the old song, "was naught the

of gold,
until
there
came
three maids
all
powerful from the giants."
In some mysterious way

for gold seized
it
appears that a desire

in the midst of their
upon the gods
innocent golden play.

in
Then
they formed the dwarfs,
order that these might get gold for them out of the
INTRODUCTION.
The
2i
earth.
dwarfs
till
then had been just like mag-
gots in Ymir's dead flesh, but

likeness.
now
received
human
A shadow
is
begins to creep over the earth,
the golden age

things
past.
At the same time

discover the
three
happen.
;
The gods
first
use
or
want of gold
the
war breaks
,out, as it is said,
"Odin hurled
was the
first
his spear
amid the people, and then
war;" and the three all-powerful giant maids appear. " Gold," says the old song (and calls
her by a
name
as
if
" she were a person), they pierced
with lances,
"And in the High one's

Burnt her once, Burnt her thrice,
Oft not seldom,
Hall
Yet she still lives. Wolves she tamed,
Magic arts she knew, she Ever was she the joy
practised,
Of evil
people."
The
sisters,
three giant maidens are the three Fates

Past,
the
Present
and
in
Future.
this
They
came
came
from giant land, which

first
place typifies the

at
mixed cause of
all
things; they
the
moment when
the golden age was disappearing; they
22

its
stand upon the very edge of

the bringers
existence, at
once
and the avengers of evil
"
The golden
is
age ceased
saying.
when gold was invented,"

the
an old
is
"After
or,
golden age,
of a
time begins"
another,
in
the words
German
proverb,
let
"To
the
happy no hour
strikes."
And now
us see what sort of looking world these giants, gods,
men, dwarfs and
fateful
maids
in.
whom Har
has been
talking about were living
"Round
without," Har
circle
says so; but a
fat
round.
The outmost
giants
;
a frozen region
;
full
of frost
inside that circle, the sea
in the
middle of
the sea, the earth in which
men
live, called Midgard,
and made out of Ymir's eyebrows;

the earth Asgard, the
to
in the
midst of
It
city of the gods.
seems
be rather a disputed point whether or not Asgard

hill.
was on the top of a

mentioned
in the
Heavenly mountains are

at the
Edda, but they are placed
edge of heaven under one end of the rainbow, not

at all near Asgard,
if
Asgard was
to
in
the middle of
the earth.
However,
make
it
the city
more conhill
spicuous we have placed

in
on the summit of a
the
picture
of the
Scandinavian World which
INTRODUCTION.
stands at the
beginning of this chapter, and here

picture
remark that
this
must
not be
looked at
exactly in a geographical light
even from a Scandi-
navian point of view.
It is rather
an expression of
ideas than of places, for

it
we have
tried to figure
by
what
its
is
said about the great
World Tree Yggdrassil

"
ash,
and
three roots.
" That
says Har, which
was indeed the earth-bearer, "is the greatest

best
and
of
all
trees."
Its
branches spread over the

heaven.
It
whole world and even reach above

has three roots, very wide asunder.
One
of them
goes
over
down
it,
to Ginnungagap.
this root is
The
frost giants live
and over
a deep well which
we
this
shall hear
more of by-and-bye.
In the picture
root could not be shown, but the branches which

encircle the ice region are
it
supposed to spring from
Another root extends to Niflheim, the old roaring

lies
cauldron
under
it,
a great snake called Nidhogg
gnaws
it
night and
day
as
the
old
lay
says.
"Yggdrasil's
ash
suffers
greater
hardship
than
men know
of.
Nidhogg
tears it"
Under
this root
also lies Helheim,
a home of the dead.

:
The
under
third
it,
root
is
in
heaven
gods and men
live
in

Asgard and Midgard; the giant
under
it,
fate-sisters also live
at the top of the
Rainbow's arch
in their
palace very beauteous, which stands by the Holy
Urda Fount.
They water
the tree every day with
the holy water, so that ever "it stands green over
Urda's Fount."
These maidens are called Norns;

destinies
they
fix
the
of
men, Har says; "but besides them/'
he adds, "there are a great many other norns

indeed, for each
man
that
is
born there
is
a norn
to decide his fate."
"
Methinks, then," says Gangler,

far
" that these Norns
were born
race,"
asunder; they are not of the same
"Some
belong to the JEsir, some come
from the Elves, and some are dwarfs' daughters."

Besides these wonders,
we
are told that an eagle
perched amongst the highest branches of Yggdrasil

with
hawk between
his
eyes,
four
harts
ran
amongst the branches and

squirrel
bit off the buds,
and a
called
Ratatosk or branch
borer
ran
up
and down, carrying messages between the Eagle

and Nidhogg, as one account
between them
says,
causing
strife
a kind of typical busybody, in fact
INTRODUCTION.
Such
the
35
is
myth of
"it
Yggdrasil, of which Jacob
Grimm remarks
bears
the
stamp of a very
fully
high antiquity, but does

unfolded."
not
appear to be
Of
course,
it
was only the symbol of
a thought, the Scandinavians could not have believed

that there
was such a
tree.
But of what thought
was
ern
this
it
the symbol ?
says,
The
editor of Mallet's North-
Antiquities
"We
are inclined to regard
mythic Tree as the symbol of ever-enduring

or rather of universal
nature,
time,
in its
ever
varying
eternity."
aspects but subsisting throughout
It is called
somewhere "Time's hoary nurse," and

and of renovation
we
see the principles of destruction
acting
abyss,
its
upon
it.
One
root in the formless elemental
one in the formed ice-frozen-over giant land,
branches spreading over the whole world; one " Its name means reaching up to the unseen. Ygg"
terror,
horror, fear
first
" drasil "

is
horse or bearer
and the
syllable
one of the names of Odin
the chief god.
We
must not omit to mention that
our Maypoles and the German Christmas trees are

offshoots of Yggdrasil,
"that ash, the greatest and
best of trees."

"But who
Gangler
asks.
is
the
first
and
eldest of the
gods?"
Har,
"We
this
call
him
Allfather," says
"but besides
Allfather,
he has twelve names."

or
is
Odin
Woden, the
eldest
son
of
Bor by a
giantess,
the chief god of the Eddas,
and
it
is
quite true, as
Har
says, that
he has
many
names.
He
was called Allfather
the father of gods
and men, and Valfather or the chooser, because he

chose which of the slain in battle should come and
live with
him
in
heaven
he called himself by many
names when he
but generally,
of the
first
travelled,
he was known as Ygg,
chiefly,
he was Odin.
The meaning
is
syllable of this last
name
terror (like
air
Ygg), or violent emotion.

in
Simrock says that
calm or storm
this
lies at
the root of Odin's being;

spirit,
from
he grew up to be a god of the
" as in the king of gods, simple ideas of the people,"
he
as
says,
"nature and
spirit are
inseparable; he
spirits of
became
as of
much a commander
1
of the
Air,
men
the forces of nature.*
widespread and
naturally akin
it it
most
seems
spiritual of the elements,
how
to that wind, blowing where

in
listeth,
which moves
Inspiration,
hidden ways the
spirits
of
men.
INTROD UCTION.
madness, poetry, warrior-rage, the storm of wind,
the storm of
mind
we
find
Odin
in
them
all.
Thor
the thunder-god
stood next in importance to Odin.
Odin was
Jord
(the
his father,
earth).
and he had a
these
giantess mother,
Besides
Har enumerates
Bragi, all called
Baldur, Tyr,
Vidar, Vali,
;
Hodur,
sons of Odin
to
we
shall hear the stories that
belong
them by-and-bye.
All these were of the race of the Êsir or Asgard
gods ; there were other
deities
counted amongst them,

the Vanir gods
different race,
and yet kept a

goddesses.
is
little
distinct
and
it
These were of a
and
not clear
how and when

What
the
they became mixed with

it
the JEsir.
Eddas say about
is
simply
this, that the JEsir
made peace
with the Vanir and
exchanged hostages with them.

find
Amongst
the
his
these
we
Niord a kind of sea-coast god,

still
original
of Nipen
known
in
Norway,
son and
" beauteous and mighty," daughter Frey and Freyja,
Frey presiding over
rain, sunshine,
and the
fruits
of the earth; Freyja goddess of the beautiful year
and of
love,
and Heimdall, a god who
lived
upon
the heavenly hills at one end of the rainbow.
,8

called
-Dgir,
sea-king
whose nature
is
not quite
defined whether he belonged to the god or the giant

is
occasionally mentioned
in
the
Edda
is
tales,
and
also
a wise giant Mimer.
But there
last
is
besides a
mysterious being
requires a
little
whom we name
explanation.
because he
Loki.
This
He
was one of the JEsir; we read of
his being with
Odin when
that
god took
his fateful
walk along the
seashore and
work
the
yet
evil
made man, he helped Odin in the we come upon him frequently travelling with
sometimes
at
least
gods,
it
as
friend,
and
is
evident that Loki was looked upon as an
being.
"Some
call
him the calumniator of

all
the gods," says Har, " the contriver of

mischief, the
fraud
and
Loki is disgrace of gods and men. " and well made, but of a very handsome," he adds,
fickle
mood and most

all
evil
disposition.
He
sur-
passes
beings in
those arts called cunning and

fire lies
perfidy."
Simrock says that

as
air
lies
at the root of
Loki's
being
in
it,
that
of
Odin,
fire
which has good and

destructive
evil in
but most outwardly
power; hence the beginning of the idea
of his evil-hcartedncss.
From
simple nature myths,
INTRODUCTION.
29
it is
quite easy to conceive that the moral principle,
as
it
grew up in a people, would develop
spiritual
ones, and the character of the gods would materially

alter with
the growth of the religion.
Good and
evil are scarcely
conceptions which the wars of the

to.
elements give birth

of
sin.
By
the law
it is
is
the knowledge
The name
of Loki,
said,
may mean
the
bright element.
Amongst
the goddesses
who were
called Asyniur,
Frigga stands 'out chief in the Eddas as Odin's wife,
but several others are named, and also the Valkyrior,

swayers of the battle and heavenly serving maidens.
The peace between
the Êsir and the Vanir, and
the perceptible difference between these races of gods,

points to an amalgamation of the religions of two
tribes of
Teutons in very early times

similar,
their
faiths
would be
drawn indeed from one source,
but would have been modified by the circumstances
and requirements of the divergent
tribes.
Simrock
supposes that the Vanir worshippers

dwellers
for
airs.
may have been
by
the sea, and have had a special reverence

deities
little
wind and water
mild, wide, beneficent
Their gods are a
milder in nature than

those of Asgard, they are also
deities,
ters,
more purely nature
with less of the moral element in their characif
which looks as
the two faiths had joined at
dif-
ferent stages of development, at different levels
one
still
may
say,
so
that
the
line
between them
is
discernible.
We
have seen how Har explains to
Gangler the formation of the universe in Ginnungagap

out
of the
strange
ice
waves;
gods;
primeval
its
giant;
beneficent
might
of
the
endurance,
rooted in the mighty Tree, that reached from depth

to height,
Laved with limpid water, Gnawed by more serpents
Than any one would think Of witless mortals. "
He
had also something
to
say
concerning the
to
tell
future of the world.
"What
hast thou
me
"In
and
about it?" said

the
first
Gangler; and
there
will
Har
replied,
1
place
come a
winter;*
then he described the destruction of the world

flood
and storm, and

conflict;
all
ice
and
fire,
and
of
warfare, a
evil,
supreme
the
powers
the
chaotic powers
primeval chaos surging again
out
INTRODUCTION.
and
of Niflheim
Muspellheim
on
one
side, the
gods, the forming orderly principle of
the course
within,
of
the
universe,
on the other
ash,
all
rage
itself
and through the mighty
which
trembles,
"Groans
alike
fall,
that
aged
tree."
Monsters
and
gods
killing each other, and one cannot say
with
whom
sinks
the
stars
victory lies; for though
the sun,
moon, and
earth
are
made away
flood,
it
with,
and the
into the
soon emerges again,

it
"
beauteously green," destined, as
would seem,
purer?
to
run a second course.

is
Brighter,
The
account
so
mixed
that
one
cannot say, and
why should we puzzle over it; perhaps they knew as little what they thought and hoped as
we know about them

myth-spinners
says,
those old song-singers and

by,
of
days gone
as one of
them
"Few may
see
Further forth
Than when Odin

Meets the wolf,"
Notwithstanding,
we cannot
myth,
help
feeling,
as
we
contemplate
noble,
this
that there
was
its
something
fatalism,
very
grimly
courageous
in
3a

"the course of Northern mythology
Simrock
is
says,
like
drama."
the
The
first
world's
beginning,
evil,
the
that
golden years,
shadow of
fated
to
evil
came with
of various
times,
evil
all
come, the troubles
kinds,
death
shall
shadows
trace
all,
which
in
fell
upon
the
gods
(we
them
the
all,
following tales);
and above
twilight,
it
hanging over
struggle,
it
crowning
all,
the
for
the
the
end,
the
the renewing;
is
not,
be
observed,
end of the world, of time, of succession of events

that
is
recorded
in
this
myth
(called the
Ragnarok
that
Myth), but rather of
the
struggling
that
powers
had
these.
been
brought
by
these,
this
had
two
formed
things
Looking through
strike
us,
drama
chiefly
fatalism
and combat.
The two
fight
do not contradict
the giants
fighting
one
the
another.
The gods
they go
from
in
earliest
times;
ways,
final
on
them
a thousand
their
even though
defeat
they
know
that
own
and
destruction
arc fixed
possible,
they ward
off
the evil day

its
as
far
as
hoping
through
to
shadow
It
is
again
and
again,
dauntless
the
end.
impossible
to
help
admiring
the impulses
which
INTRODUCTION.
led to the
33
building up,
the
and dictated the worship
of this idea,
to
die,
worship of the gods

in
all
it
who were
courageous
of the
who
it,
were,
after
spite
of
the
most
defiance of
inevitable.
but
servants
Of
course
was
perfectly
simple and
strife,
natural
that
this
conception
of
unceasing
of
the
alternate
victory and defeat of
light
and
the
darkness,
cold
and
heat,
should
arise
in
minds of any
but
it
worshippers of the
natural
world,
must,
one
would
to
think,
have
acquired
some moral
significance
these
heathen North-
men by
Allfather,
the
time
that
Odin had
come
to
be
even Valfather, and Frigga, through the

earth,
nourishing
of
the
the
lady
of married deal
love
and
hearth.
spirit
good
of
this
coura-
geous
into
of conflict and
self-surrender
comes
tales.
the
Scandinavian
of
myths
and
heroic
We
cause
read
one of the gods' messengers, who,

to
desist
when implored
was
from an undertaking be" For one day danger threatened, replied,

age
my
but
decreed
and
my
it
whole
"
life
deter-
mined."
die,
In a lay of Odin,
the
fair
says,
We
of
ourselves
fame
never
dies
him who
34
has

earned
it;"
and
this
reminds
the
us
of
the
of
Scandinavian custom of engraving

their
records
warlike
deeds upon
their
shields.
"When
it
young
"they
which
warrior
was
a
at
first
enlisted,"
is
said,
gave him
white
the
*
and
shield
smooth
of
buckler,
was
called
expectation,'
its
which he carried
It
is
until
he had earned
record."
related
of
one of the celebrated Jomsburg
sea-rovers called Bui, that finding himself defeated

in
an
engagement,
and
seeing
that
his
all
further
resistance
was
fruitless,
he took
treasure
two
chests
all
full
of gold
and, calling
out
"Overboard
"
Bui's
men," plunged into the sea and perished.

far
is
But
better
the
following
his
warrior
wrestling
having been
with
his
thrown
upon
the
back
in
enemy, and
the
latter
finding
himself
without arms,
wait
vanquished person promised to
without changing his posture while the other
fetched
sword
to
kill
him,
and
he
faithfully
kept his
word."
traits
Such
as these
lie
on the
light
side of the
is
Northern character, pity that the other side

dark one.
Craft, avarice, cruelty
such a
shut
we cannot
INTRODUCTION.
our eyes to them
stories of the gods,
35
cropping up everywhere, in the
and
still
more frequently
in the
sagas whose
details are
sometimes most revolting.

sea-
Amongst
other stories,
we have one of a young
rover, called
Sigurd, by-the-bye, a son of that very
Bui mentioned above.
Sigurd and his companions
had been taken

be beheaded.
prisoners,
and were condemned to

seated
They were
all
on a log of wood,
off,
and one
king
after
another had his head struck

their capturer
whilst
Hakon
looked on
the account
says, that
he came out
after breakfast to
watch the
fate with
execution.
The
sea-rovers all
met
their
unflinching courage,
and as the executioner asked
each one, before he struck the blow, what he thought

of death, each gave some fierce mocking answer;
but when
it came to Sigurd's turn, and he was asked what he thought of death, he answered, " I fear not
death, since I have fulfilled the greatest duty of
life,
but I must pray thee not to
let
my
hair
be touched
by a
tells
slave,
or stained with
my
blood."
as
The
as
story
silk,
us he had
long
fair
hair,
fine
flowing in ringlets
cruel
over his shoulders.

followers,
One
of the
it
king
Hakon's
being
moved,
36
seems, either with pity for Sigurd's hair or admiration

of his courage, stept forward and held the ringlets
whilst
the
executioner
struck,
upon which Sigurd
twitched his head forward so strongly that the warrior
who was holding his hair had both his hands cut off, "and this practical joke so pleased the king's son,"
continues the
tale,
" that he gave Sigurd his
life,"
"Thou
tellest
me many
wonderful things," said
Gangler; "what are the names of the Homesteads In answer, Har tells him about Odin's in heaven?"
halls,
and Thor*s, and
Baldur's,
and
Frigga's,
and
many another bounteous, wide-spreading, golden-roofed

mansion
;
amongst them of Valhalla, which Odin had
prepared especially for warriors
who
fell
in
battle
and
thenceforth to be his sons, called * " said Methinks, Einherjar, heroes, champions.
who were
Gangler,
" there must be a great crowd

at the
in Valhalla,
and often a great press

"
"
door among such a

in
number of people constantly thronging
and out"
there
Why
not ask,
says Har,
"
how many doors
are?
" Five hundred
doors
And
forty
eke
I think are in Valball.
INTRODUCTION.
"But what does Odin
asked Gangler.
nir,
37
give the warriors to eat?"
" The
flesh
of the good boar Saehrim-
and
this is
is
more than enough (though few know

its
how much
required for heroes), for in spite of

it
being eaten every day

night
;
becomes whole again every

"
truly
it is
the best of flesh."
And what
have
the heroes to drink ?" asked Gangler " for they must
require a plentiful supply;
do they drink only water ?
"
"A
silly
question that," replied
Har; "dost thou

and
jarls
imagine that Allfather
would
invite kings
and other great men and give them nothing

but water?
to drink
In that case the heroes would think

dearly to get to Valhall, enduring
they had paid

great hardships
and receiving deadly wounds; they
would
drink.
find they
had paid too great a

is
price for water
No, no, the case

is
quite
otherwise,
in
Valhall there
enough
for all the heroes

"
a famous goat that supplies " and to

spare."
mead
Mighty
things these,
said Gangler; " but
how do
the heroes
amuse
themselves
when they
are not
drinking?"
fight
till
"Every day they
ride into
the court and

is
they cut each other in pieces, this
their pastime
but
when
meal-tide approaches they return to drink
38

"Odin
it
in Valhall."
is
great
in
and mighty," answered

one of the ^sifg own
Gangler, "as
is
said
poems,
"TheashYggdrasill
Is the
first
of Trees,
Skidbladnir of ship% Odin of ^Lsir

Sleipnir of steeds,
Eiirost of bridges,
As
Bragi of Lards,
Habrok of hawks
And Garm
" But do
below
in
all
of hounds is."
the dead go to Valhalla ? "
No down
;
Niflheim there was another
home
of the
dead
which
was
ruled
over
by
the
underworld
Cold-
goddess Hela, and called after her Helheim.

ness
and
discomfort,
its
according
to
one
account,
were rather
characteristics than
actual suffering;
and as
all
the dead were said to go there

it
who
died
of sickness or old age,
was probably
at
one time
of
regarded more as a place of misfortune than
punishment
the
The
cold, hidden-away
condition of
dead, separated from the bright,
warm
life
of
the upper world, would naturally suggest their being
consigned to the keeping of some under-world d
INTRODUCTION.
unless, indeed, they could lay claim to
life
39
a second higher
by
virtue
of any great warlike deed done up

misfortune must have deepened
here.
By degrees
suffering;
into
and, as the moral sense quickened,
the idea would arise of there being a retribution for
misdeeds done on earth as well as an emptiness of

its
missed
glories.
There
is
a description given
of
some place of punishment

place
it
it is
not quite clear what
refers to
in these words,
standing
"A hall
Far from the sun

In Nastrond,
Its doors turn
northward,
fall
;
Venom
drops
its
Through
apertures
The Hall is twined With serpents' backs.

There she saw wading,
Through
sluggish streams,
Bloodthirsty
men
;
And perjurers
There Nidhog sucks
The corpse of the dead The wolf tears men Understand ye yet, or whatr
Now,
says
Har
that
was when he had
finished
40

Ragnarok,
" If thou, Gangler, hast
his description of
any more questions to ask, I know not who can

answer thee,
for
I
never heard
will
tell
of any one
who
could relate what

the world.
"
happen
in the
other ages of
"Upon
which," the story says, "Gangler

all
heard a
terrible
noise
round him
he looked
city,
everywhere, but could see neither palace, nor
nor any thing save a vast plain.

out on his return home.*
Gylfi.
He
therefore
set
And
so disappears king
But we, who are not so presumptuous as to enquire

into the future of the ages,
and are neither learned

king
Gylfi,
will
stories,
nor
over
inquisitive
like
go on
giant
listening
stories
to
the
great-grandmothers'
and god
stories
little
bit that
one remem-
bers,
and a
and
little bit
that
another remembers, and so

will try to
on
all
the time
we
make
the story
tellers clear to
one another and
to ourselves as they
go on, translating
their old fashioned
words into our
own common
so that
every day words and modes of speech,

at least
we may have
a chance of under-
standing them.
THE
JZSIR.
4!
CHAPTER L
THE
PART L
A GIANT A COW
AND A HERO,
lived a cow,
IN the beginning of ages there
whose
This
all
breath was sweet, and whose milk was bitter.
cow was
herself
called
Audhumla, and she lived

misty plain,
by
on a
to
frosty,
where there was
nothing
be
seen
but heaps of snow and ice
piled strangely over one another.
Far away to the

south
it
north
it
was
all
night,
far
away
to the
was
day; but
around where Audhumla lay a cold,

By-and-by a giant came out
grey twilight reigned.
of the dark north, and lay
down upon
the ice near

Audhumla.
said
"
You must
let
me
drink of your milk,"
the giant to the

bitter,
cow; and though her milk

it
was
he liked
well,
and
for
him
it
was
certainly
good enough.
little
After a
for
while the
cow looked
all
round her
something to eat,
salt
and she saw a very few grains

she licked the
of
sprinkled over the ice; so
salt,
and breathed with her sweet breath, and then

ice,
long golden locks rose out of the
and
the
southern day shone upon them, which
made them
look bright and
glittering.
glitter
The
giant frowned when he saw the
of the
salt
ice.
golden hair;
again,
but Audhumla licked the pure
and a head of a man rose out of the

head
The
was
more
handsome
light
than
could
out
be
of
described,
its
and a wonderful
beamed
clear blue eyes.
The
giant frowned
still
more
the
when he saw
alt
the head;
but
Audhumla
licked
a third time, and then an entire man arose

in strength
hero majestic
and marvellous
in beauty.
Now,
full in
it
happened
that
when
the giant
looked
the face of that beautiful man, he hated
him
with his
whole heart, and, what was
still
worse, he
THE MSIR.
took a terrible oath, by
all
43
the snows of Ginnun-
gagap, that he would never cease fighting until either
he or Bur, the hero, should

ground.
lie
dead
upon
the
And he
how
kept his
fallen
vow; he did not cease

beneath his cruel blows.
fighting until
Bur had
it
I cannot
tell
could be that one so wicked
should be able to conquer one so majestic and so

beautiful;
but so
it
was, and afterwards,
when
the
sons of the hero began to

his sons
grow up, the giant and
fought against them, too, and were very
near conquering them
many
times.
But there was of the sons of the heroes one of

very great strength and wisdom, called Odin, who,
after
many
combats, did at
his
last slay the great
old
giant,
and pierced
body through with
his
keen
spear, so that the blood swelled forth in a mighty

torrent,
broad and deep, and

in
it
all
the hideous giant
brood were drowned
excepting one,
who ran
away panting and afraid

After this
Odin
called round
to
him
his sons, brothers,
and
cousins,
and spoke
them thus
;
"
:
Heroes,
we have won a
or have run
great victory
us.
our enemies are dead,
away from
We
cannot stay any
44

is
longer here, where there

fight against"
nothing evil for us to
The
Odin.
heroes looked round them at the words of
North, south, east, and west there was no

fight against
one to
them anywhere, and they called

is
" It out with one voice,

follow you."
well spoken,
Odin
we
"Southward,"
northward
night.
answered
Odin,
the
"heat
east
lies,
and
sun
From
dim
the
begins his journey
westward home."
all;
"Westward home!" shouted they ward they went

Odin rode
to
in the midst of them,
and west-
and they
to
all
paid
him reverence and homage as
a king and
strong,
father.
On
his right
hand rode Thor, Odin's
warlike, eldest son.
On
his left
hand rode Baldur,
the most beautiful and exalted of his children; for

the very light of the sun itself shone forth from his
pure and noble brow.
After him
came Tyr the

1
Brave
the
Silent
Vidar ; Hodur, who, alas

the
was
born
blind;
Hermod,
Flying
Word;
Bragi,
Haenir, and many more mighty
lords
and heroes;
sat Frigga,
and then came a
shell chariot, in
which
THE &S1R.
the wife
of Odin,
with
all
her daughters, friends,
and tirewomen.
Eleven months they journeyed westward, enlivening the
way with
cheerful songs
and conversation,
their
and
tents
at
the twelfth
new moon they pitched

hills
upon a range of
which stood near the

greater part of one
borders of an inland sea.
The
night they were disturbed by mysterious whisperings,
which appeared to proceed from the
sea-coast,
and creep up the mountain side; but as Tyr, who

got up half a dozen times,
and ran
bushes,
furiously about
among
maidens
the
gorse
and
always
returned
saying that he could see

at
no one, Frigga and her

themselves
to
sleep,
length
resigned
though they certainly trembled and started a good

deal at intervals.
Odin lay awake

certain
all
night,
how-
ever;
for
he
felt
that
something
unusual
was going to happen.

case;
for
And
such proved to be the

before the tents
in
the morning,
terrific
were
struck, a most
hurricane levelled the poles,
and
from
tore
in
pieces
the
damask
coverings,
swept
over
the
water
furiously
up
hills,
the
mountain
gorges, round the base of the
and up again
46

along their steep sides right in the faces of the
all
heroes.
Thor swung himself backwards and
forwards,
and
sat
threw stones in every possible direction.
Tyr
down on
the top of a precipice, and defied the winds
to displace
to
him
his
whilst
Baldur vainly endeavoured

Frigga.
comfort
poor
mother,
But Odin
stepped forth calm and unruffled, spread his arms
towards the sky, and called out to the spirits of the " Cease, strange Vanir (for that was the name wind,
by which they were

and
tell
called), cease
your rough play,

that
us in what
1
manner we have offended you
you serve us thus.*
The winds laughed
in
a whispered chorus at the

after
words of the brave king, and,

ings,
a few low
in
titter-
sank into silence.

into a shape
:
But each sound
dying
grew
one by one the strange, loose-
limbed, uncertain
forms stepped forth from caves,
from gorges, dropped from the tree tops, or rose

out of the grass
each wind-gust a separate Van.

the
Then Niord,
rest
their leader, stood forward from
of them, and said,
"We
know,
mighty Odin
how you and your company
are truly the
^sir
that
THE &SIR.
is
to say, the lords of the whole earth
since
you
slew the huge, wicked giant
We,
too, are
air,
lords,
not of the earth, but of the sea and
and we
thought to have had glorious sport in fighting one

against another; but
let us,
if
such be not your pleasure,
instead of that, shake hands."

his long, cold
And, as he
hand, which
spoke, Niord held out
was
it
like
a windbag to the touch.

did
all
Odin grasped
heartily, as
the Êsir; for they liked the

chief,
appearance of the good-natured, gusty

they begged to
live
whom
become one of
their
company, and
henceforth with them.

this
To
his
Niord consented, whistled good-bye to
kinsfolk,
and strode
After
cheerfully
this
along amongst
his
new
friends.
they
journeyed
on
and on
steadily
westward
until
they
reached the
the
summit of a
HilL
took
lofty
mountain,
all
called
Meeting
There they
sat
round
in a circle,
and
a general survey of the surrounding neigh-
bourhood.
As
they sat talking together Baldur looked up

it
" Is suddenly, and said,

that
not strange, Father Odin,
we do not
find
any traces of that giant who
48

from
us,
fled
and who
escaped
drowning in
his
father's
blood?"
fallen
"
Perhaps he has
into
Niflheim,
and so
perished," remarked Thor.
But Niord pointed northward, where the troubled

ocean
lies
rolled,
and
said,
"Yonder, beyond
It
that sea,
is
the
snowy region of Jotunheim.

cities
there
the giant lives, and builds

brings
and
castles,
and
up
his children
a more hideous brood even
than the old one."
"How
do you know
that,
Niord?" asked Odin.
"I have seen him many times," answered Niord, "both before I came to live with you, and also
since then, at night,
sleep,
when
have not been able to

journeys to Jotunheim,
and have made
little
to pass the time away."
"This
"
is
indeed
terrible
news,"
said
Frigga;
for the giants will
come
again out of Jotunheim
and devastate the
earth."
"Not
so,"
answered
Odin,
this
"not
hill,
so,
my
dear
Frigga; for here,

for ourselves
upon
very
we
will build
city,
from which we
its
will
keep guard
over the poor earth, with
weak men and women,
THE &SIR.
and from whence we
will
49
go forth to make war
upon Jotunheim."
"That
is
remarkably well
said,
Father
Odin,"
observed Thor, laughing amidst his red beard.
Tyr shouted, and Vidar smiled, but and then

all
said nothing
the
Êsir
set
to
work
with
their
whole strength and industry

a glorious
city
to build for themselves
on the
summit of the mountain.
For days, and weeks, and months, and years they

worked, and never wearied;
so
strong a purpose
was
to
in them, so
it.
determined and powerful were they

ladies
fulfil
Even Frigga and her

fetch
did not
wheel-
disdain
to
stones
in
their
marble
barrows, or to draw water from the well in golden

buckets,
and
then, with delicate hands, to

silver plates.
mix the
mortar upon
beautiful
And
so that city rose by
degrees, stone above stone,

it
tower above
hill.
tower, height above height, until
crowned the
little
Then
all
the Êsir stood at a

it,
distance,
and
looked at
ness.
and sighed from
their
great
happi-
Towering
at a giddy height in the centre of
the city rose Odin's seat, called Air Throne, from
whence he could see over the whole
earth.
On
50
one side of Air Throne stood the Palace of Friends,

where Frigga was to
glittering
live;
on the other rose the
Gladsheim, a palace roofed entirely with

hall,
golden shields, and whose great
Valhalla,
had
a ceiling covered with spears, benches spread with

coats of mail,
gates,
and
five
hundred and
forty entrance-
through each of which eight hundred
men
might ride abreast

smithy,
situated
There was
the eastern
also
a large iron
of
the
city,
on
side
where the Êsir might forge

their
their
arms and shape

all
armour.
That
night
they
health
supped
ID
Valhalla, and drank
to the
of their strong,
Bragi, their
new home, "The

chief orator, said
City of Asgard," as
it
ought to be called
THE
PART
II.
AIR rflKONE, THE DWARFS, AND THE LIGHT ELVES.
IN
the
morning Odin mounted

over
the
Air Throne, and

whilst
looked
stood
whole
earth,
the
Êsir
all
round waiting to hear what he thought
about
it
"The
earth
is
very
beautiful,**
said
Odin, from
in
the top of
part,
his
throne,
"very
beautiful
every
;
even to the shores of the dark North Sea

alas!
but,
the
men
of the earth
I
are
puny
and
fearful.
At
this
moment
see
three-headed
giant striding out
of Jotunheim.
sea,
He
throws
shepherd-boy into the
and puts the whole of
the flock into his pocket
Now
he takes them out

their
again one by one,
and cracks
bones
as
if
52

were
hazel-nuts,
whilst,
all
they
the
time,
men
look on, and do nothing."
"Father," cried Thor in a rage,
"last night I
forged for myself a belt, a glove, and a hammer, with which three things I will go forth alone
to
Jotunheim."
Thor went, and Odin looked
again.
"The men
said Odin.
of
the
earth
are
idle
and
stupid,"
" There are dwarfs and

them,
elves,
who
live
amongst
and play
tricks
which they cannot

to
understand, and do not know how

this
prevent
At
of
moment
in
see
a husbandman sowing grains

whilst
wheat
the
furrows,
dwarf runs
after
him, and changes them
into stones.
Again, I see
holding under
two
hideous
little
beings,
who
are
water the head of one, the wisest of men, until he

dies; they mix his
blood with honey; they have

stone
jars,
put
it
into
three
and
hidden
it
away."
Then Odin was very angry

he saw
called
that to
with the dwarfs,
for
they were bent on mischief;
so he
him
Hermod,
his
Flying
Word,
and
and
despatched him with a message
to the dwarfs
THE MSIR.
light elves, to say that
53
Odin sent
his compliments,
and would be glad
to speak with them, in his palace
of Gladsheim, upon a matter of some importance.
When
they
received
Hermod's
summons
the
dwarfs and light elves were very
much
surprised,
not quite knowing whether

afraid.
to
feel
the. r
;
honoured
pertest
or
However, they put on
mana
ners,
and went
clustering
after
Hermod
like
swarm of
ladybirds.
When
they were arrived in the great city they

sitting
found Odin descended from his throne, and

with the rest of the Êsir in the
Judgment Hall
of Gladsheim.
Hermod
flew
in,
saluted his master,
and pointed
to the
dwarfs and elves hanging like

fulfilled
a cloud in the doorway to show that he had

his mission.
Then Odin beckoned
the
little
people
to
come
forward.
Cowering and whispering they
peeped over one another's shoulders; now running
on a
little
way
into the hall,

;
now back
until
again, half
curious, half afraid
and
it
was not
Odin had
beckoned three times that they

footstool.
finally
reached his
in calm, low,
their
Then Odin spoke
to
them
serious
tones about the wickedness of
mis-
54

Some, the
very
worst
of
;
chievous propensities.
them, only laughed in a forward, hardened manner

but a great
many looked up surprised and a

;
little
pleased at the novelty of serious words

light
little
whilst the
elves
things.
all
wept,
for
they were tender-hearted

to
At length Odin spoke
the
two
the
dwarfs by
wise man.
name whom he had seen drowning
"Whose blood was
it,"
he
asked,
?"
air,
" that you mixed with honey and put into jars
"Oh,"
said the dwarfs,
jumping up into the
and clapping their hands, " that was Kvasir's blood.

Don't you
know who Kvasir was? made between
He
sprang up
out of the peace

selves,
the Vanir and your-
and has been wandering about these seven

so wise he was that
Well, just
years or more;
men
thought
he must be a god.
lying in
now we found him

own wisdom ;
it
a meadow drowned
his
in his
so
we mixed
blood
with honey, and put
into
three great jars to keep.
Was
not that well done,
Odin?"
"Well
done!" answered
cowardly,
Odin.
1
"Well
I
I
done!
You
you
cruel,
kill
lying dwarfs
1
myself saw
w
him.
For shame
for
shame
and then
THE
Odin proceeded
to
55
pass
sentence upon them all

said,
Those who had been the most wicked, he

were to
live,
henceforth, a long
way underground,
upon
and were
to
spend
their time in throwing fuel
the great earth's central fire; whilst those
who had
the gold
only been mischievous were to work in
and diamond mines, fashioning precious stones and

metals.
They might
all
come up
the
at
night,
Odin
said;
but must vanish at

his
dawn.
Then he
round,
waved
hand, and
the
dwarfs
turned
shrilly chattering,
scampered down
over the green
the palace-steps,
to their un-
out of the
city,
fields,
known,
elves
faces,
deep-buried
earth-homes.
But
the
light
still
lingered, with upturned,
tearful,
smiling
like sunshiny
morning dew.
Odin,
looking
"And
"
all
you,"
said
them through
and through with
his serious eyes,
"and you
" Oh
"
Oh
indeed, Odin," interrupted they, speaking

;
!
together in quick, uncertain tones

are not so very wicked.
indeed,
Odin, we
We
have never
done anybody any harm."
"Have you
asked Odin.
ever
done
anybody any
good?"
56

"
Oh
no,
indeed,"
answered
at alL"
the
light
elves,
we have never done anything
"You may
amongst the
go,
then,"
said
Odin,
"to
live
flowers,
insects.
and play with the wild bees
and summer
You
you
must,
however,
find
something to do, or
like the dwarfs."
will get to
be mischievous
" If only we had any one to teach us," said the

"
light elves,
for
we
are such foolish

inquiringly
little
people."
Odin looked round
upon the Êsir;
but amongst them there was no teacher found for

the
silly
little
elves.
Then he turned
good-naturedly,
it
to
Niord,
said,
who nodded
"
his
head
and
Yes, yes, I will see about
f and
then he strode
out of the Judgment Hall, right away through the

city
gates,
and
sat
down upon
the
mountain's
edge. After
awhile
he
began to whistle
louder
in
a
in
most
strong
alarming
wild
manner,
and
louder,
gusts,
now
his
advancing,
voice a
now
retreating;
then
lower,
he
until
dropped
it
little,
lower
and
became a
music,
like
bird-like
whistle
call;
low, soft, en-
ticing
spirit's
and
far
away
THE &S1R.
from
the south the
57
little
fluttering
itself,
answer came,
nearer
sweet as
until
invitation
nearer and
into
the
two
sounds dropped
the
clear
fair
one another.
forms
Then
through
sky
two
came
floating,
wonderfully
brother and
sister
their their
beautiful
arms
twined
round
one another,
golden hair bathed in sunlight, and supported
by the wind.
"My
to
son and
daughter,"
Êsir,
said
Niord,
proudly,
Freyja,
the
surrounding
"Frey
and
Summer and
Beauty, hand in hand."
When
to
Frey and
his son
Freyja dropped upon the
hill
Niord took
fully
the foot
by the hand, led him graceof the throne, and said, "Look
what a
fair
here, dear
brother Lord,
young
little
in-
structor I
have brought for your pretty
elves."
Odin was very much pleased with the appearance of Frey; but, before constituting him king and
schoolmaster of the light elves, he desired to
know
what his accomplishments were, and what he considered himself competent to teach.
"I
am
the
genius
of
clouds
and
sunshine,"
answered Frey; and as he spoke, the essences of
58
THE HEROES OF ASCARD.
a hundred perfumes were exhaled from his breath.
"I
am
the genius of clouds and sunshine, and
if
the light elves will have
me
for their king
can
teach them
how
to
burst
the folded buds,
to set
the blossoms, to
fruit,
pour sweetness into the swelling
to lead
the bees through the honey-passages

to
of the flowers, wheat,

to
make
the single
ear a stalk
of
hatch birds' eggs,

all this,
and
teach the
little
ones to sing
and much more,"

them."
is
said Frey,
"I know, and
will teach
Then answered Odin, "It
well;" and
Frey
took his scholars away with him to Alfheim, which

is
in every beautiful place under the sua.
THE &SIR.
59
PART IH
NIFLHEIM.
Now,
In the city of
Asgard dwelt one called Loki,
who, though amongst the Êsir, was not of the Êsir,

but utterly unlike to them; for to do the wrong, and
leave the right undone, was, night
and day,
this
wicked
Loki's one unwearied aim.

the Êsir
How
he came amongst
no one knew, nor even whence he came.

the subject,
Once, when Odin questioned him on
Loki stoutly declared that there had been a time
when he was innocent and noble-purpose^

JEsir themselves; but
that,
it
like the
after
many wanderings
his misfortune,
up and down the

Loki
said,
earth,
had been
to
discover
the
half-burnt
heart of a
" since when," continued he, "I became woman;
60
THE HEROES OF ASGAKD.

As
this
what you now see me, Odin."

fearful
was too
a story for any one to wish to hear twice
over Odin never questioned him again.

"Whilst the JEsir
were building their
city,
Loki,
run-
instead of helping them,
had been continually
ning over to Jotunheim to

the giants
make
friends
place.
amongst
and wicked witches of the
Now,
to
amongst the witches there was one so
fearful
behold in her sin and her cruelty, that one would
have thought
it
impossible
even for such an one

in her
as Loki to find
nevertheless,
any pleasure
it
companionship:
her,
so
was that he married
and
each
they
lived
together
long
time,
making
other worse and worse out of

their
the abundance of
own wicked
hearts,
and
bringing
up
their
three children to be the plague, dread,
and misery
just
of mankind.
These three children were
what
their
they might have been expected to be from
parentage and education.

gand,
The
eldest
was JormunFcnrir.
a monstrous
serpent;
the
third
second
most ferocious of wolves; the

corpse,
was Hela, half

his
half
queen.
When
fearful
Loki and
witch-
wife
looked at their
progeny they thought
THE
within
themselves,
"What would
"But
they
the Êsir say

see,"
if
they
could
see?"
lest
cannot
said
Loki; "and,
will
they should suspect Witch-wife, I

for
go back to Asgard
little
while,
and
salute
old Father
here."
ing,
Odin
bravely,
as
if
had no
secret
So
saying, Loki wished
his wife
good-mornin-doors,
bade her hide the children securely

set forth
all
and
on the road
to
Asgard
But
the time he was travelling Loki's children
went on growing, and long before he had reached

the lofty city
that
his
Jormungand had become so
large,
mother was obliged to open the door to
let his
tail
out
At
first it
hung only a
little
way
across
the road;
but he
grew,
it
Oh, how
fearfully
Jormungand grew!
exposure to the
air,
Whether
I
was from sudden

but, in a single
do not know;
day he grew from one end of Jotunheim

other,
to
the
and
early next
morning began
to shoot out
in the direction of Asgard. at that
Luckily, however, just

sight
moment Odin caught
of him, when,
this vigilant
from the top of Air Throne, the eyes of

ruler
were
taking
their
morning
clear,
walk.
that
'"Now,*
I must
said Odin,
"it is quite
Frigga,
6a
remain in idleness no longer at Asgard, for monsters

are bred
up
in
Jotunheim, and the earth has need

saying,
of me."
So
descending
forth of
instantly
from
Air Throne,
gates
to
Odin went
the earth
Asgard's golden
fightits
tread
pierce
sins.
of
common men,
and
ing
to
through
Jotunheim,
slay
monstrous In
his
journeyings Odin mixed freely with the
people of the countries through which he passed;

shared with them
toil
and
pleasure,
war and
grief;
in-
taught them out of

spired
his
own
large
experience,
them with
his
noble thoughts, and exalted
them by
teach
his example.
in
Even
to the oldest he could
much; and
the evening,
when
the labours
of the day were ended, and the sun cast slanting

rays
see
upon
the
the
village
green,
it
was
pleasant to
sturdy village
youths grouped round that
noble
as
chief,
hanging open mouthed upon his words,
he
told
them
ago,
of his
great
fight
with
the
giant
of
long
and
then
pointing
that
towards
fight
Jotunheim,
explained to
for
ihem how
giants
was
not yet over,
that
and
monsters grew
too,
round
them on every
side,
and
they,
might
THE
do
the
battle
earth.
JESIR.
bravely,
and
be
heroes
and JEsir
of
One
evening, after thus drinking in his burning

all
words they
smithy,
trooped
together
for
to
all
the
village
and Odin forged

instructing
them
night arms
and armour,
in their use.
them, at the same time,

said,
In the morning he
"Farewell,
children; I
have further to go than you can come;
but do not forget

to fight as I
me when
am
gone,
nor
how
have taught you.
Never cease to be
and brave; never turn your arms against one another; and never turn them away from the giant
true
and the oppressor."
Then
their
the villagers returned to their
homes and
on, through
field-labour,
and
Odin
pressed
trackless
uninhabited woods, up silent mountains,
over the lonely ocean, until he reached that strange,

mysterious meeting-place of sea and sky.
There,
fog,
brooding over the waters like
a grey sea
sat
Mimer, guardian of the well where wit and wisdom

lie
hidden.
"Mimer," said Odin, going up

"let
to
him
boldly,
me
drink of the waters of wisdom."
64

"Truly,
Odin," answered Mimer,
"it
is
a great
treasure
that
you
seek,
and one which many have
sought before, but who,

of it, turned back."
when they knew

"I
the price
Then
hand
for
replied
Odin,
would
give
my
right
wisdom
willingly."
"it
is
"Nay," rejoined the remorseless Mimer,
not your right hand, but your right eye you must
give."
Odin was very
sorry
when he heard
the words
of Mimer, and yet he did not

great; for
it
deem
the price too
plucking out his right eye,

in
and casting
a draught of
the horn
from him, he received
return
the fathomless deep.
As Odin gave back

felt
into Mimer's hand he
as
if
there
were
a
an
fountain
of
wisdom springing up within

which you
his
him
inward
light; for
may be
sure he never
eye.
grudged having given

also,
perishable
for
Now,
to
he knew what
it
was necessary
him
do
in
order to become a really noble Asa,* and that
was to push on to the extreme edge of the earth

itself,
and peep over
into
Niflhcim.
/ICsir.
Odin knew
Attr-thc singular of
THE
it
was
precisely
that
he must do; and precisely

over
that he did.
Onward and northward he went

through
twilight,
fog,
ice-bound
right
seas,
and
snow,
like
onward
in
the face of winds
that
were
swords until he came into the unknown land, where

sobs,
and
sighs,
and
sad,
unfinished shapes were
drifting
fully,
up and down.
"Then," said Odin, thoughtall
"I
have come to the end of

further
creation,
and a
little
on Niflheim must
pushed on
lie."
Accordingly he
until
further
and
further
he reached the
earth's extremest edge, where,

its last
lying
down and
leaning over from

It
cold peak,
he looked into the gulf below.

first
was Niflheim.
At
Odin imagined
but,
his
after
that
it
was only empty darkthree nights

Yggdrasil's
earth-tree,
ness;
days,
hanging
there
and
eye
fell
on
was
one
of
mighty
stems.
Yggdrasil
the old
whose
roots
sprang far and wide, from

this,
Jotunheim, from
the
three,
its
above, and
Niflheim.
the oldest of
out of
Odin looked long upon

fibres,
time-worn,
knotted
and watched how
they were for ever

serpent,
gnawed by Nidhogg the envious

brood of
poisonous diseases.
and
his
Then he wondered
66

and one by one spectres
Shore of Corpses
nameless,
arose
what he should see next

arose from
Nastrond, the
pale,
and wandered
a home.
naked,
and without
into the
Then Odin looked down deeper

and saw
far
all
its
abyss of abysses,
less
ills;
shapeless,
name-
whilst
below
him,
deeper than Nas-
trond, Yggdrasil,
and Nidhogg, roared Hvergelmir,

Nine nights and days
the boiling cauldron of evil.

this
brave wise Asa hung over Niflheim pondering.

wise he turned away from
It is
More brave and more

it
than when he came.
true that
he sighed
is
it
often
on
his road
thence to Jotunheim; but

that
not always
to us
thus
wisdom and strength coioe
weeping
THE
PART
IV.
THE CHILDREN OF LOKL
WHEN,
giants
at length,
frost
Odin found himself

mountain
giants,
in the land of
giants,
three-headed
and wolf-headed
of
giants, monsters and iron witches
every
kind
he
walked
straight
on,
without
until
stopping to fight with any one of them,
he
came
he
to the middle of Jormungand's body.
Then
as
seized
all
the
monster,
growing
threw
fearfully
he
into
was
the
the
time,
and
him headlong
still
deep
ocean.
There
the
Jormungand
earth,
his
grew,
that
until,
encircling
whole
he
found
after
his
tail
was growing down

quite
still,
throat,
which
he
lay
binding
himself
together;
and
neither
Odin
nor
any
one
else
has
been
68

move him
of
thence.
able to
When Odin had

henceforth
called
thus
the
of
disposed
Jormungand,
he
Midgard
Serpent,
went
on
to
the
house
Loki's wife.
The door was thrown
open, and the
wicked Witch-mother
sat in the entrance, whilst
on
one side crouched Fenrir, her
ferocious
wolf-son,
and on the
other
stood
Hela,
most
terrible
of
monsters and women.

after
crowd of giants strode

of
Loki's
Odin, curious to obtain a glance

children
strange
before they should

the
be sent away.
At Fenrir and
great
eyes,
Witch-mother they stared with
joyfully
at
and
savagely
glittering;
but
as
when he looked
pale as
Hela each
giant
became
new snow, and
cold with terror as a mountain
of
ice,
Pale, cold, frozen, they never
moved
again
but a rugged chain of rocks stood behind Odin, and
he looked on
fearless
and
unchilled.
"Strange daughter of Loki," he said, speaking to " Hela, you have the head of a queen, proud forehead, and large, imperial eyes;
pulseless,
but your heart

kill
is
and
your
cruel
arms
what
they
embrace.
Without doubt you have somewhere

not
kingdom;
where
the
sun
shines,
and
men
THE
breathe the free
69
air,
but
down below
in
infinite
depths, where bodiless
spirits
wander, and the
cast-off
corpses are cold."
Then Odin pointed downwards towards

and Hela sank
downward, to
Niflheim,
right through the earth, downward,
that
abyss
of abysses, where
for herself
she
ruled over spectres, and

called
made
a home
Helheim, nine lengthy kingdoms wide
and
deep. After
this,
Odin desired
if
Fenrir to follow
him,
promising that
he became tractable and obedient,

ferocity for
and exchanged
his
courage, he should
sister
not be banished as his brother and
had been.
of
So Fenrir
followed,
and Odin led the way out
Jotunheim, across the ocean, over the earth, until
he came to the heavenly

southern
hills,
which held up the

glittering
sky
tenderly
in
their
arms.
air,
There, half on the mountain-top and half in

sat
Heimdall,
guardian
of the
tremulous
bridge
Bifrost, that arches from earth to heaven.
Heimdall was a
tall,
white Van, with golden teeth,
and a wonderful horn, called the Giallar Horn, which

he generally kept hidden under the
tree Yggdrasil
;

but when he blew
worlds.
it
the sound went out into
all
dall
Now, Odin had never been introduced to Heimhad never even seen him before; but he
not
pass
did
him
by without speaking on
being altogether could
not
First,
that
account
struck
On
by
his
the contrary,
much
refrain
appearance, he
from asking him

quested
to
a few questions.
he
re-
know whom he had

secondly,
the pleasure
of
addressing;
who
his
parents were, and

thirdly,
what
his
education
had
been; and
how
occu-
he explained his present circumstances

pation.
and
a of
My name
Bifrost,
is
Heimdall," answered the guardian

the son
"and
of
nine sisters
the
am
I.
Born
in the beginning of
time, at
boundaries
of the ear Ji, I was fed on the strength of the earth
and the cold

perfect,
bird.
I
sea.
I
My
training,
moreover, was so
sleep
that
now need no more
than
can sec for a hundred miles around
me
as well
by night as by day;
can hear the gnu>s

I
growing and the wool on the backs of sheep.
can blow mightily
my
horn
Giallar,
and
I for
ever
THE
guard the tremulous bridge-head against monsters,
giants, iron witches,
and dwarfs."
gravely,
Then asked Odin,
" Is
it
also forbidden to
the -<Esir to pass this way, Heimdall?
Must you
guard
Bifrost, also, against
them ?"
HeimdalL
tread
its
"Assuredly
Êsir
not,"
answered
free
"All
and heroes are
to
trembling,
many-coloured pavement, and they

tread
it,
will
do well
to
for
above the
arch's
summit
rises,
know
falls,
that
in
the
Urda
fountain springs;
glitter,
and
perpetual
and
those
by
its
sacred
waters
the
Nornir
dwell
three
mysterious,
mighty
maidens, through whose cold fingers ran the golden

threads of Time."
"Enough, morrow we
Heimdall,"
answered
Odin.
"To-
will
come.*
73
PART
BIFROST, URDA,
V.
AND THE NORN3.

his
ODIN departed from Heimdall, and went on

way,
Fenrir obediently following,
though not now

over the
"
Bifrost,
much
noticed by his captor,
who pondered
heard.
new wonders of which he had

Urda, and the Norns
what can they mean ?"
Thus
pondering
and
wondering
he
went,
as-
cended Asgard's
Hill,
walked
through the golden
gates of the City into the palace of Gladsheim, and

into the hall
Valhalla, where, just
then,
the
yEsir
and Asyniur
were assembled at
their
evening meal
Odin
still
sat
down
to the table without speaking, and,
absent and meditative, proceeded to carve the

Aiyniur
Goddcs*d.
THE &SIR.
great
boar, Saehrimnir, which
every evening
eaten, of
was every morning whole

disturbing
again.
No
one thought
for
him by asking any

his
questions,
they
saw that something was on

were well-bred.
supper
It is
mind, and the JEsir
probable, therefore, that the
would
have
been
concluded
his
in
perfect
silence if Fenrir
had not poked
nose in at the
the lovely
doorway, just
Freyja.
opposite to the seat of
She,
genius of
in
beauty
as
life
she was,
and
who had never

shadow of a
her whole
seen even the
wolf, covered her face with her hands,

little,
and screamed a
to start
which caused
all
the Êsir
and turn round,
in order to see
what was
the matter.
at
But Odin directed a reproving glance

Fenrir,
the ill-mannered
the wolf should
he,
and then gave orders
that
be fed; "after which," conrelate
cluded
"I
will
my
adventures to the
assembled Êsir."
"That
is
all
very
let
well,
Asa Odin," answered

is
Frey; "but who,

office
me
ask,
to undertake
the
of
feeding
yon
hideous
and
unmannerly
animal ?"
"That
will
I,
joyfully,"
cried
Tyr,
who
liked
74
nothing better than an adventure; and then, seizing
a plate of meat from the table, he ran out of the

hall,
followed by Fenrir,
at
who howled, and

in
sniffed,
and jumped up
Êsir-like
him
a most impatient, un-
manner.
After the wolf was gone Freyja looked
up
again,
and when Tyr was seated once more, Odin began.
He
told
them of everything
suffered; and,
that he
had
seen,
and
done, and
strange
hills,
at last,
sat
of Heimdall, that
the
white Van,
who
upon
and
heavenly
the
and
spoke of
Êsir
Bifrost,
Urda, and
whilst
Norns.
The
were
very
silent
Odin
spoke to
them,
and
were
deeply
and
strangcl)
moved by this conclusion to his discourse. "The Norns," repeated Frigga, "the Fountain
of Urd, the golden
threads of time!
Let us go,
my
children," she said,
rising from the table, "let
us go and look at these things."
But Odin advised that they

the
should
to
wait
Bifrost
until
next
day,
as
the
easily
journey
and
in
back
single
again
could
be
accomplished
morning.
all
Accordingly, the next day the ^sir and Asyniur
THE &SIR.
rose with the sun, and prepared to set forth.
75
Niord
came from Noatun, the mild
sea-coast,
which he had
puffings
their
made
his
home, and with continual gentle

wide,
out of his
breezy
mouth,
he
made
journey to Bifrost so easy and pleasant, that they

all
felt
little
sorry
when they caught
the
first
glitter
of HeimdalPs golden teeth.

to
But Heimdall
least,
was glad
sakes.
to
see
them;
it
glad,
at
for for
their
He
thought
would be so good
them
go and see the Norns.

felt
As
far
as
he himself
was concerned he never

of those bright
hills
dull alone.
On
the top
!
how many
meditations he had
Looking
far
and wide over the earth how much he

!
saw and heard
"Come
stretching
already!" said
Heimdall
white
to
the
Êsir,
out
his
long,
hands to welcome
is
them; "come already!
Ah!
this
Niord's doing.
for
How
do you
do,
cousin," said he;
Niord and
Heimdall were
related.
it is
"How
be
sweet and fresh
up here!" remarked
it
Frigga, looking all round,
and
feeling that
would
polite to say something.
"You
are very happy,
Sir,"
continued
she, "in
having always such fine
76

guardian of
scenery about you, and in being the
such a bridge."
And
in
truth
Frigga
might
it
well
say "such a
bridge;" for the like of
was never seen on the

it
ground.
the sky,
Trembling and
glittering
swung across
mountain to
up
from the
top of
the
the clouds, and

"Bifrost!
ingly;
down
again into the distant sea.

the
ALsir,
Bifrost!" exclaimed
wonder-
and Heimdall was pleased

arch's highest
at their surprise.
"At the
upward,
point," said
he, pointing
I
"rises
that
it
fountain of
which
spoke.
Do
you wish to see
to-day?"
cried
all
"That do we, indeed,"

breath.
the JEsir in
"Quick, Heimdall, and unlock the
bridge's
golden gate."
Then Heimdall took
all
his
till
keys out, and
fitted
them into the diamond lock

one, and the gate flew open
he found the
right
with a sound at the

like
same
time sad
and
cheerful,
the
dripping
of leaves after a thunder-shower.
The
JEsiT pressed in; but, as they passed

laid
him,
Heimdall
aid
his
hand upon
Trier's shoulder,
and
"I
am
very sorry,
Thor;
but
it
cannot be
THE
helped.
JESIR.
77
You must go
for
to
the fountain alone by
another way;
that
it
you are so strong *and
heavy,
if
you were to put your foot on

in
Bifrost, either
would tremble
fire
pieces
beneath
your weight,
or take
from the
friction
of your iron heels.
Yonder, however, are two river-clouds, called Kormt
and
Ermt, through
which
you can
wade
to
it
the
in
Sacred
time,
Urd, and
you
will
assuredly reach
though the waters of the clouds are strong
and deep."
At the words of Heimdall Thor
the bridge's
to
fell
back from
head, vexed and sorrowful.
"Am
so
be sent away, then, and have to do disagreeable

said
he,
things,"
"just
because I
the
am
strong?
After
all,
what are Urda and

I will
Norns to me,
and Kormt and Ermt?

again."
go back to Asgard
"Nay, Thor," said Odin, "I pray you, do not

anything so foolish.
Think
are
again,
beseech you,
see
what
it
is
that
we
lie
going
to
and
hear.
Kormt and Ermt

us.
before you, as Bifrost before

go.
It is yonder,
it
above both, that we

Thor,
Neither
can
much
matter,
whether
we
reach
78
TfJE
HEROES OF ASGARD.
Urd
over Bifrost or through the
the Fountain
of
cloud."
Then
Thor blushed
with
shame
at
his
own
weakness, which had made him regret

and,
his strength;
without
any
more
into
grumbling
the dreadful
or
hanging
back,
he
plunged
river-clouds,
whose dark vapours closed around

vered
him.
him
and
co-
He
was
their
hidden
from
sight,
and
the ALsir
bridge.
went on
way over the
glittering
Daintily and airily they trod over
it;
they swung
its
themselves up the swinging arch; they reached
summit on a
already
pale, bright cloud.

for
Thor was
there
waiting
them,
drenched
all
and weary,
they
it
but cheerful and bold
Then,
together,
knocked
at the
door of the
pale,
in.
bright cloud;
blew open, and they passed

did
Oh! then what

an
infinite
they see!
the
Looking up
air,
to
height
through
purple
they saw towering

branches,
leafy
far
above
them
Yggdrasil's
fairest
and
of
a tender green, which also stretched
and wide;
dis-
but, though they looked long, the A&IT could
tinguish
no topmost bough, and
it
almost seemed
THE M&IR.
to
them
that,
from somewhere up above,

root,
this
mighty
earth-tree
must draw another

grew.
so
firmly
and
of
so
the
tall
it
On
one side stood the Palace

bright
that
it
Noras, which
was so
it,
almost
blinded them to look at
and on the other the

rising,
fall-
Urda
fountain plashed
its
cool waters
ing, glittering,
as nothing ever glitters
on
this
side
the clouds.
fount,
Two
ancient swans
it
swam under
Ah! how
the
and around
sat Three.
shall I
describe
them
they
Urd, Verdandi, Skuld.
They were
was
veiled.
mighty,
Sitting
were
the
wilful,
and one
they
upon
it
Doomstead,
fell,
watched
the
water as
rose
to
and
and passed golden threads

Verdandi
Skuld's
from one
with
another.
plucked
reluctant
them
hand,
care-
busy
fingers
from
and wove them

lessly;
in
and out
tore
quickly, almost
for
some
cruelly-
she
and
blemished,
and
the
some
she
spoiled.
Then Urd took

its
woof away from
her,
smoothed
rough
places,
and covered up some of the

but she hid away
torn,
gaping holes;
too,
many
it
of the bright parts,
and
then
rolled
all
round
her
great
roller,
Oblivion, which
grew
thicker
and
heavier
every

moment
ing
And
Skuld
so
they went on,
Verdandi drawVerdandi;
bright
from
Skuld,
and
Urd
her
from
but
whence
drew
see.
separate
threads
to
no one could
the end
She never seemed
reach
ever
of them,
and neither of the
sisters
stopped or grew weary of her work.
The
great
Êsir stood
apart watching,
and
face
it
was a
Urd,
sight
They
and
looked
in
the
of
and fed on wisdom; they studied the countenance

of
Verdandi,
drank
veil
full
bitter
strength;
they
tasted
glanced
hope.
silently,
through
the
of
Skuld,
and
At
length,
with
hearts, they stole
away
one by
the
one, out by the pale, open door,

bridge,
re-crossed
and
stood
once
more
by
then
they
the side of Heimdall on
the heavenly hills;
they went
home
again.
Nobody spoke
it
as
went; but
ever afterwards
was an understood
thing that the JEsir should fare to the

of the Nornir once in every day.
Doomstead
THE &SIR.
PART VL
ODMBCfc
Now
by
upon a day
it
happened
that
Odin
sat silent
the Well of Urd,
and
in the evening
he mounted
Air Throne with a troubled mind.

see into
Allfather could
Dwarf
Home
;
from his high place, as well
as over man's world
his
keen eye pierced,
also, the
mountains and darkness of Jotunheim.
On
tear
this evening,
tear, the fate-sisters' gift,
swam
across his vision,
and
behold,
is
that an answering
large,
which he sees down there in Dwarf Home,

"
luminous, golden,
in the dark heart of the earth?

?
" Can dwarfs weep
exclaimed Allfather, surprised
as he looked a second and a third time, and went on

looking.
Fialar
and Galar, the cunning dwarfs who

had
" Is
killed
it
Kvasir, were
"
theirs ?
kneeling beside the tear. " and do said Allfather again, they
it
repent?"
it
No;
was not a
precious
tear;
it
Odin knew
was Kvasir's
at
last
More
still,
blood
golden mead now, because
of the honey-
drops from Earth's thousand bees and flowers which

these
thoughtless
mischief-schemers,
into it
!
but
wonder
said
workers, had poured
"
It
is
three,"
is its
Odin,
"
three precious draughts

will
Odhaerir
it,
name
and
spilt,
and now the dwarfs

the light,
drink
and the
will
life
and the sweetness of the world

will die
be
and the heart of the world

did not drink
it;
"
!
But the dwarfs

it
they could only sip
little,
just
a drop or two at a time.
The Father
of Hosts
watched how they were amusing themselves.

Fialar
and Galar, and a whole army of the
little
blackfaced, crooked-limbed creatures, were tilting the
big jars over to one side, whilst

another,
ness,
first
one, and then

sweet-
sucked
the
skim
of their golden
it,
smacking
their lips after
grinning horribly,
strange
leaping
falling
up
into
the
air
with
shut
at
gestures;
backwards
as
if
with
eyes
the
some
earth
of
asleep;
tearing
and
THE
the
stones
;
of
their
cavern
homes
others,
like
wild beasts
rolling forth beautiful, senseless, terrible
words.
It
was Fialar and Galar who did

little
that
and behold,
in
while,
one
after another, the dwarfs gathered
round them as they spoke, and

with
until
listened,
open-mouthed,
clenched
at
last
fists,
stamping, and roaring applause

seized
earth
they
their
the
caps,
weapons
each
that
alit
lay
near,
cocked
with
a coloured
led
star,
and marched and Galar,

ways,
to
in
warlike
fashion,
on by
Fialar
straight
up through
and
across
their
it
cavernous
Manheim,
into the
Frozen Land.
Giant Vafthrudnir, that " Ancient Talker," he who

sits
ever in his Hall weaving
new and
intricate ques-
tions for the gods,
saw them ; and looking up towards

exchanged glances with
the brooding heavens, he the Father of Hosts.
But the dwarfs did not come

;
near Vafthriidnir's Halls
they never looked aside at
him, nor up to the Air Throne of the Asa; only
rushed heedlessly on
Gilling,
till
they stumbled over the Giant
who was
bank taking a nap upon the green

looks
of
Ifing-
Ifing
lazy
stream;
one can
84

first
hardly see at
flows,
sight that
quietly,
it
flows at
all
but
is
it
and
flows
unceasingly,
and
so
deep
that neither
god nor giant has ever yet been

It
is,
able to fathom it
in fact, that stream
which
it
divides for ever the Jotuns from the Gods,
and of
Odin himself once

"
Open
said
shall
it
run
Throughout
all time,
On
that stream
no
ice shall be."
So the dwarfs found
Gilling asleep;
they
knew
how deep
once
roll
Ifing was, they
knew
that
if
they could
the giant Gilling in there he would never
get out again,
and then they should have done
something worth speaking about
"I have
and,
feel
killed
a giant," each dwarf might

the
JEsii might
say,
who knows, even

a
little
begin
to
afraid of them.
"
It all
comes from drinking KvasiVs blood," they

their
said,
and then with and

sticks
thousand
stones,
little
swords and
spears,
until
and
they worked away

into the
all,
they had plunged the sleeping giant

Allfather's
silly
stream.
piercing
eye saw
it
and
how
the
dwarfs
jumped and danced about
THE
afterwards,
jESlR.
and praised themselves, and defied the
whole world, gods, giants and men.
"It
is
not for us," they said, "any more to run

shining horse that draws
away
day
before Skinfaxi the
over
humankind,
whose
dance
mane sheds
before
light
instead
of dew;
we
will
him and
crown ourselves with gold, as the gods and as men
do every morning.
But,
in
the midst of
all
their gleeful
folly,
the
ground
them,
they
stood
upon began
to
shake under
and an enormous darkness

sky.
grew
between
them and the

rejoicing as
their
if
Then
had
the dwarfs stopped their
spell
fallen
upon them, dropping
weapons, huddling close to one another, cowerGiant Suttung, son of that Gilling
ing, whispering.
whom
were
they had just slain, was coming upon them
in great fury to
avenge his
frightened;
to
father's death.
They
asleep
dreadfully
Giant
Gilling
had been easy

giant
manage, but a giant awake, a
angry
that they were not the same dwarfs
they had
seemed half an
hour
easily
ago
let
and
so
it
happened that they quite
Suttung carry
them
all
off to a low rock in the sea which was
86
dry just then, but would be washed over by the " There you are," said Suttung as he morning tide. " the threw them all down and
upon
rock,
there
you
shall stay until the
hungry grey wave comes."

all
" But
then
once,
we
shall
be drowned," they
screeched at
their
and the
seamews
started
from
lonely
nests
ashore and swooped round the
rock,
to
and
the
the
screeched as well.
shore
Suttung
the
strode
back
and
sat
on
high
rocks
over
seamews'
nests,
and poked
his fingers into the nests

birds,
and played with the grey-winged

his feet in the breakers,
and paddled
and laughed and echoed
the dwarfs and the seamews.

yes, then you
will
"Drowned, drowned,
be drowned."
Then
the dwarfs
all
whispered together and consulted, they

at
talked
once, and every one of them said a
different
still
thing, for they
were
in fact
little
intoxicated
by the
sips
they had taken of Odhairir.

said
At
last
Fialar and Galar
the
same same thing over

to
listen
so often that the others began
to
them.
the
"The
stars
sky
are
is
getting quite grey," they said,
"and
going out,
and Skinfaxi
is
coming, and
;
the waves are gathering and gathering and gathering
GIANT SUTTUNG AND THE DWARFS.

Page
86.
THE &SIR.
hoarse are the voices of the Seaking's daughters;
but
why do we
away
as
all
sit
chattering
easily
here instead of
if
getting
we might
do
we
did but
yes,
bribe the giant Suttung with a gift"

yes," shouted the silly
little
"Yes,
people, "shall
we
give
him our cap
jewels, or our swords, or our pick-axes,
or our lanterns, or shall
we promise
him a
to
make him
a necklace out of the

of the earth, or shall
fire
of the sun and the flowers

ship of ships ?"
we
build
"Nonsense," said Fialar and Galar;

a giant care
for such things as these?
"How
should
Our swords
could not help him;
he does not want pick-axes
nor lanterns who nor ships

laces
lives
amongst the mountain snows,

the sea, nor neck-
who can
!
stride across
life,
Bah
giant loves
he drinks blood,
he
is
greedy besides and longs to taste the gold

of the gods."
all
mead
Then
give
the
dwarfs shouted together,
"Let us
drink,
jars."
him
our
gold
mead,
our
wondrous
Odhserir, our Kvasir's blood in the three stone
Odin heard from Air Throne's blue deep.

brooded over the scene.
life,
He
"The
sweetness, and. the
and the
light of the world, then,"
he
said,
" are to
gg

a giant's greediness of food and blood"
satiate
and
it
was
for
mankind
that he
became Terror
in the trem-
bling
Height
:
Allfather feared nothing for the gods at
that time
could he not pierce into Jotunheim, and
Svartheim, and
Manheim
alike ?
Suttung heard also
from the Rock.

that
"And what may this Odhserir be worth

and
and
love," said
you boast of so much?" he shouted to the dwarfs.

fire,
life,
"
Wisdom, and labour, and

dwarfs.
it
the
Tut,
tut,
tut I"
answered
Suttung.
like the
"Does
taste
well?"
"Honey and wine;
blood of a
God and
the milk of the Earth."

it
Then
down
and
the
Suttung got up slowly from the rock, pressing

with his hands into two
little
dells as
he
rose,
all
strode to the island, from which he took up
dwarfs at a grasp
like needles to
they clinging to his fists

;
and
wrists
a magnet
and, with one swoop, threw
them ashore
just as the
hungry waves began to lap and
wash about the dwarfs-peril.
So the dwarfs jumped,
and leaped, and laughed, and sang, and chattered M-^riin, and ran on before Suttung, to fetch him the
golden mead, Odhaerir.
Three big stone

Peace-offer,
jars, all full
The
Spirit-mover,
lifted
the
the
Peace-kiss.
jars.
Suttung
the
lids,
and looked into the
" It
THE MSIR.
doesn't look much," he said
89
"and, after
it ;
all, I
don't
know
jars
that I shall care to taste

to
but
I'll
take the
will
home
my
daughter Gunnlod, and they
make a
pretty treasure for her to keep."

scene.
It
Odin brooded over the

ter's
was a grey win-
morning
in
Jotunheim
ice over all the rivers,
snow upon the mountains, rime-writing across the

woods, weird hoar
branches of the
letters
straggling over the bare
trees, writing
such as giants and gods
can read, but

cold.
men
see
it
only as pearl-drops of the

it
Suttung could read
well
enough as he
better than
trudged along to his Mountain
Home
he had ever read
it
before; for was he not bearing

life-givis
upon
his
shoulders the wondrous Kvasir's
ing blood, Odhaerir.

ous,
Odin read
it,
"This
omin-
Odin;
this is dark.
Shall the gold
mead be
behold,
made
the
captive
in
frozen
halls?"
in
For
life-tear
becomes dark
the
let
dark land, as
Suttung's
huge
door opened to
him
in,
him
and
his treasure,
and then closed upon them both,
Suttung gave the

keep, to guard
trembled,
it
mead
well,
to his daughter
Gunnlod
to
it
and
the heart of
cold.
Manheim
was empty and
Then Odin looked
9o
north and south and east and west, over the whole
world.
"Come
to me,"
he
said,
It
and two swift-winged

if
ravens flew towards him.

out of nothing
;
seemed as
they came
for in
moment
they were not there
and they were
there.
Their names were Hugin and

earth,
Munin, and they came from the ends of the

where Odin sent them every morning.
ing he was wont to say of them,
Every even-
MI
fear
me
for
Hugin,
Lest he
come not back, 1* But much more for Munin.
Yet they never

the
failed to
come
back, both of them, at
dim hour
in
which they recounted to the Father
of Hosts the history of the day that was past, and the
hope of the day
that
was to come.
terrible that
On
this evening,
Munin's song was so
only the strength

its
of a god could possibly have endured to
end.
Hugin struck another
note, profounder
after
and sweet
Then
filled
said Odin,
his
ears,
when cadence
cadence had
from Air
let
and he had
is
descended
Throne, "Night
the time for
new counsels;
each one reflect until the morrow

advice helpful to the
.-Esir."
who
is
able to give
THE &SIR.
But when the jewelled horse ran up along the sky,
from whence his mane shed
world,
light
over the whole
when
giants
and
giantesses,
and ghosts and
dwarfs crouched beneath Yggdrasil's outer Root,
when
Heimdall ran up Bifrost and blew mightily
his
horn in
counsel to Odin, and that was Odin himself.

haerir,"
Heaven's height, there was only one found who gave " Od-
he
said,
" which
is
god-gift,
forth,
must come up
Hugin, go
to
men's earthly dwellings.
Go
forth,
Munin," said the Asa,
and he
also
went
forth alone,
none knowing where he went, nor how. So Odin journeyed

for
a long, long while towards
Suttung's Hall, across the windy, wintry ways of Jotun-
heim, seeing well before him the yellow

went,
mead
as
he
through rocks, and woods, and

itself,
rivers,
and
that
through night
until at last
it
happened
Odin came
in Giant
into a
meadow upon a summer morning

Nine
slaves were
Land.
mowing
in the
meadow, whetting some old
rusty scythes which they
had, working heavily, for they were senseless fellows,
and the summer day grew
faster
upon them than
their
labour grew to completion.

hearted," said
"You seem
heavyto
Odin
to the thralls;
and they began

explain to
him how
rusty
and old
their scythes were,
and that they had no whetstone
to sharpen
them
with.
Upon
this
Odin
offered to
:
whet
their scythes for
them
with his whetstone

the scythes
and no sooner had he done so than

that they could
became so sharp
have cut
stones as easily as grass.

ever, the thralls
Instead of mowing, how-
began to clamour round Odin, beseech"
ing him
me
Give it to to give his whetstone to them. " cried one and give it to me give it to me 1
:
another
and
all
the time
Odin stood
quietly
in
amongst
air,
them,
throwing his
it
whetstone up
the
and
they
catching
as
it,
it
fell
Then
the thralls tried
if
Could catch
with
leaning stupidly across one another,

in
their scythes
their hands.
Was
Allfather
surprised
at
what
happened
that;
next?
He
could
hardly have been
but
he was sorry when,

fell,
looking
down
as the
whetstone
he saw
all
the
thralls lying
dead
at his feet,
killed
is
by each
other's
sharpened weapons.
Odin, as he looked
I
"This
an Evil Land," said

"
down on
the dead thralls,
and
am
a bringer of evil into it"

till
So he journeyed on
he came to the house of
Suttung's brother, Itaugi
Odin asked Baugi to give
THE &S1R.
him a
and Baugi, who knew no more
night's lodging,
than the thralls had done

consented, and began
who
this
traveller was,
to talk to
Odin of the trouble

said,
he was
in.
" This
is
hay harvest," he
" as
you
;
must have seen, walking here through the meadows
and
I have
it
a mighty
field to
gather
in,
but
how
to
I
do
puzzles me, because
my
nine slaves
whom
sent out sound
and well
this
morning,
all fell
dead
about the middle of the day.

it,
How
me
they managed
I can't imagine,
and
it
puts
out sadly, for
summer
"
days
don't
Well," said Odin,

I don't
last long in Jotunheim." " I'm not a bad hand at mowing,
and
mind undertaking
to
do the work of nine
thralls for you, Baugi, for
a certain reward you

is
may
give me,
if
you will"
"What
that?" inquired
Baugi, eagerly.
"A
draught of that golden mead,
Odhaerir, which Suttung obtained from the dwarfs,
and
which
his daughter
Gunnlod keeps
isn't
for him."
"
Oh
that," said Baugi,
"
so
good as
my homebrewed
it.
for
thirsty
mower
but you shall have
It is
bargain between us."
So Odin worked
for
Baugi the
whole summer through with the labour of nine instead

of with the labour of one ; and
when
the last field wai
94

and wintry mists were gathering,
the
reaped,
god and
the giant began to talk
over their bargain again.
"We
will
come
together to Suttung's house," said
" and Baugi,
my
brother shall give you the draught
which you desire so much."
But when the two came
to Suttung's house, and asked him for the mead,
Suttung was exceedingly angry, and would not hear a " You don't word about it from either of them.
drink
"
it
yourself, brother,"
pleaded Baugi,
if
although
you might do so every day
you liked, without askit,
ing anybody's leave, or doing one stroke of work for

whilst this
months
is
has toiled night and day for nine " Odhaerir it only once." " and for us giants, nevertheless," answered Suttung,
that he might taste
man
well does
my
daughter Gunnlod guard
it
from dwarfs
and from men, from

Êsir.
spectres, from Asyniur, and from

it
Have
not sworn that so
shall
be guarded
by
all
the snows of Jotunheim,
and by the stormy
waves, and by the yawning chasm of the abyss."
Then Baugi knew

and drink
that nothing
more was
to
be
said,
and he advised Odin

beer.
to
go back with him
at once,
But Odin was not to be turned

easily.
from hit purpose so
"You
promised
me
THE
JSSIR.
95
" and I
;
draught of the gold mead, Baugi," he
said,
can see
sit
it
through the rock in
its
three treasure jars
down by me and look through

it
the rock
sat
till
you can see

together,
that
too."
So Odin and Baugi
down
and pierced the rock with

until they
their glances all

in
it;
day
had made a small hole

asleep,
and
at
night,
when Suttung was
and when Gunnlod

steadily
was
asleep,
and whilst the gold mead shone
in the heart
of the cave, Odin looked up towards
Asgard, and said,
"
Little get I here
by
silence:
will
Of a well-assumed form I
For few things
fail
make good
use
the wise."
And
then
this strong wise

little,
Asa picked up from the
ground the
mean, wriggling form of a worm

noiselessly into
and put
it
on and crept
the
hole
which he and Baugi had made,

" The
The
said
giant's
ways are under me, ways are over me,"
giant's
Odin
as
he wriggled through the stone, but

quite through to the inner side,
when he had got

to Gunnlod's room,
Odin took
his proper
form again.
96

"I
see her
upon her golden
seat,"
he said as he
lay,
looked upon the sleeping Gunnlod where she
and Odin was

beautiful.
surprised
to
see
a giant-maid
so
Surprised
and
sorry.
"For
I
shall
must
she
Evil
leave
her weeping," he mused.
"How
not weep,
defrauded of her treasure in
an
Land."
And Odin
so
to
loved and pitied the beautiful

that
maiden
turned
much,
Asgard
he
the
would
have
re-
without
for
mead had
it
that
less
been
possible.
Alas
Gunnlod,
Allfather
was
possible
than ever
since
in
had seen
her.
For Gunnlod awoke
the light of Odin's glance
and trembled, she did not know why, she did not
know
at
first
that
he was an Asa, but, when he

it
asked her for her treasure she could not keep
from him, she could not have kept anything from

him.
She rose from her golden couch, her blue
yes melted into the tenderness of a

die
summer
sky,
undid
the
bars
and bolts
and
coverings of
faithfully
till
Odhaerir,
then,
which she had guarded so

knelt
and
before
Odin
said,
and
stretched
for I
her
think
hands towards him and

you arc a god."
"Drink,
THE
draught, a draught, a long, deep draught, and
the spirit of the
and through
its
Asa was shaken through its height depth, and again a draught of
love flowing forth to the outermost, to the abysses,
and one draught again
peace
so,
in rushing,
still.
Why
treasure,
are
you weeping
Gunnlod ?
Oh
Why
do you weep? "your
Did you not give him your whole

fervent love, your whole soul;" you
is
kept nothing back, and Odhaerir

inheritance of the gods.
lives, the giantess
for
ever
it
the
The
dwarfs sold
for their
it
lost it
of her love, gods win
for the world.
"It
"It
is
is
for the Êsir,
it
is
for
men," said Odin.
Odin's booty,
it is
Odin's gift;" and immeit,
diately, in haste
to share
far up,
the
Asa spread
eagle's
wings, and flew
away from the barren rock,

of Suttung,
!
and the black, cold

heavenly home.
treasure
halls
towards his
Alas for Gunnlod

too.
!
she has lost her

is is
and her Asa

sits
How
cold the cavern

is
now
left
in
which she
her light
gone out
she
alone; she
is left
weeping upon her golden throne.

flew
But Odin soared upwards
on toward Asgard,
the city's jewelled
and the
Êsir
came crowding upon
98

his approach.
walls to watch
And
soon they percity,
ceived that two eagles were flying towards the

the second pursuing the
first.
The pursuing
his
eagle
was Suttung, who, as soon as he found that
mead
his
was gone, and that Odin eagle-wise had escaped
vengeance, spread also his eagle's wings, very strong
and very
swift, in
pursuit
Suttung appeared to gain
upon Odin.
Frigga feared for her beloved
The
Frost
Asyniur and the JEsiT watched breathlessly.

giants
and Storm giants came crowding up from the

to see.
deeps
"Does Odin
will
return
amongst the gods?"

"
It
" or they asked,
Suttung destroy him ?
was
not possible, however, that the struggle should end in
any way but one.

height
The Divine
Hall
the
bird dropped from the
upon
his
High One's Hall
and
then there burst from
him such a
flood of song that
the widest limits of JEsir
Land were overflowed
some sounds even

earth.
spilt
themselves upon the

it
common
it
" It
gift.
is
Poetry
is
herself,
is
it
Odin's booty,
is
is
Odin's
It
for the jfcsir,
for the Êsir,"
said a thousand and a thousand songs.
"And
for
men,** answered Allfather, with

*'
his
million ringing,
changing voices;
it
for
men."
" Such as have
THE
sufficient wit to
JZSIR.
gg
make a
first
right use of
it,"
said Loki.
And
this
was the
discordant note that troubled
Asgard
after Odin's return.
In
this tale, or rather in this
arrangement of
tales,
most of the chief gods are named, and one or two

of the myths concerning them are hinted
at.
The
and
sweet mixture
given
as to
made
out of
Kvasir's
to
It
blood,
the giant
Suttung
keep, was
called,
we have
seen, Odhserir.
was kept
it
in three
jars,
and though the name of

the
portion
in
as
a whole was
jar
jar
Odhserir,
the second
in the third
was also
called
"Sohn," and that

is
"Bohn."
Odhserir
mentioned
in
in
two of the Elder Edda
Songs,
and
the
Younger
it
Edda an account
to Asgard.
is
given of Odin bringing

of the Eddas,
it
up
Neither
must be remarked, mentions the

in
banishment of the dwarfs and elves

with Kvasir's death.
is
connection
supposed
to
The golden mead, Odhserir, The first syllable signify poetry.

feeling.
of the
spirit
name means mind and

mover.
Odhaerir,
"Sohn"
means
reconciliation,
or
;oo

"Bohn" means
two
latter
the offer of peace.
the acceptance
referring
of peace,
these
names
to
the origin of Kvasir,
who was
created out of the
peace made between the Êsir and the Vanir.
Simrock
thinks
that
"Kvasir," meaning fermen-
tation, implies
the excitement necessary to poetry;
that Odin,
labouring for a draught of the precious
mead, suggests that poetry can only be possessed

through
labour,
and
that
his
receiving
it
it
from
the beautiful Gunnlod, expresses
as the gift
and
crown of love*
Odin drinking
it
three times signifies

it is
the intensity through which poetry lives,

cation.
intoxi-
Odin appears
;
to
have
is
I
felt
very wise after
his three draughts

'
for
he
made
to say
Potent songs
learned,
And
a draught obtained
Of the precious mead, Then I began to bear fruit And to know many things.
Word by word
I sought out words, Fact by fact
I sought out facts,
Runes
Very
graved,
large characters,
Very potent characters,*
THE &SIR.
One
of
the
I0 i
Edda songs
is
called
it
the
"High
One's Lay."
So we may conclude
was inspired
strophes
by Suttung's mead.
are
is
One
just
or two of the
to
worth
quoting,
show what
from
the
lay
like.
The
following are selected
different
places
and have no connection with one

*'
another.
At eve the day

Ice after
it
is
to
be praised,
;
A sword after it is proved

Beer
after
it is
has passed away,
drunk,"
"Cattle
die,
die,
Kindred
We ourselves also die }

But
I
know one
dies
thing
That never
Judgment on each one dead."

44
was once young, was journeying alone,

lost
I
And
Rich
my way
thought myself
When I met another. Man is the joy of man."

Here
is
a contrast
"Two
are adversaries;
is
The tongue
the bane of the head
102

Under every cloak
I expect a hand."
MA
firmer friend
No man
Than
ever gets
great sagacity."
" Givers and

Are
requiters
longest friends.*
*A
No man
Than
Beer
worse provision can carry

too
much
is not,
beer-bibbing
as
it is
So, good
said.
for the sons of
My
garments
in
field
I gave
away To two wooden men
Heroes they seemed to bt
When
Much
I
they got cloaks."
too early
to
came
many
places
But too
late to others |
The beer was drunk, Or not ready The disliked seldom hits
the
moment"
We
often read of
Odin
disguising himself, some-
times in animal,
more
frequently in
human
form.
He
THE &SIR.
wanders about the world, and very curious
are told about his adventures.
his wife's leave before setting
off,
stories
Sometimes he asks
" Counsel thou me now, Frigg | As I long to go
An
all- wise
giant to visit,"
And
Frigg answers,
" In
safety
mayest thou go,

;
In safety return
In safety on thy journeyings be
May thy wit avail thee When thou, father of men

Hold
shalt
converse with the giant."
But Odin was not obliged to take long journeys

hinuelf
in
when he wanted
world,
to
the
he
had,
know what was going on as we have seen, two

daily,
messengers
whom
he sent out
the
Ravens
Hugin and Munin, thought and memory,

" Hugin and Munin
Each dawn take
Earth
I fear
fields
their flight
j
over
me
for
Hugin
104

Lest he
come not back,

for
But much more
Munin.
"
Perhaps because of Munin being memory he was

expected to
fail first
Odin looking over

in
into Niflheim,
is
is
thus alluded to
an old song.
'
The god
I
made
to say,
know
that I
hung
On
a wind-rocked tree
nights.
Nine whole
Downward
I peered,
To runes applied myself Wailing learnt them,

Then
fell
down
thence."
The
next strophe
tells
how he
myth,
got the draught of

it
the precious mead.
In
this
seems as
if
Odin
hung upon Yggdrassil.

little
Simrock mentions a singular
German
"
tale
it,
which may possibly have some
connection with
origin.
and has evidently an Eastern

says,
A man/'
on
he
it
" in danger of falling into a
brook, held fast with one hand to a shrub whilst his

feet
rested
a small piece
of grass.
In
this
predicament,
saw
two mice
(day
and
night)
gnawing
at
the root of the shrub, and the grass
THE &SIR.
undermined by four worm heads.
,05
Then a dragon
appeared and opened his mouth to swallow him up,

whilst
an elephant reached
his trunk towards him.
At the same time he seized with eager mouth some

honey which dropt from the
that the eating of the tree."
is
Simrock says
people being
goes
to
honey
like
occupied with
on, but
frivolity whilst the world-battle

little
may
not the story possibly have a
do
with Odin and Yggdrassil and Odhserir.
We
Air.
heard before that Odin was connected with
We
all
see
him here on
his
High Throne looking
over
worlds, wandering over the earth, piercing
even
to
the deep,
giving his
eye to
Mimer
for
wisdom
in
consequently having only one
eye,
one Sun
eye
Heaven
some suppose
setting of the
that
the
pledged
means the
Sun
nightly.
Mimer, who
origin
guards the well,
means the remembrance of the
of things which was water
the strange waves that
flowed into Ginnungagap.
An odd
story
is
told of
Mimer, who was originally a giant though received
by the
JEsir, viz., that
he was sent as a hostage

it
to
the Vanir,
who
cut off his head and sent
back to
Odin.
The head remained
so wise that the father of
106

it
the gods used to consult as the lay says
on
all
important occasions;
"Odin
speaks
With Mim's head."
Heimdall, guardian of the Bridge (whose exact
name was "trembling
rest")
was perhaps the most

is
important of the Vanir.
He
represented in one
old lay as travelling about the world by himself,
which
great
is
a sure sign that he was originally a very
god indeed.
Upon
this
journey he became the
father of
the three races of men, the Thralls, the

Jarls.
Karls and the

races are
The way
in
which these three

is
compared with one another
very curious.
The
Thralls are described with "shrivelled skin,
knotty knuckles, thick fingers, hideous faces, curved
backs and protruding heels, they are made to erect

fences,
turf."
manure
fields,
tend swine, keep goats and dig
The
Karls' children are said to be clothed in

eyes,
linen, to
be ruddy headed and have twinkling
and they grow up to "tame oxen, make ploughs,

build houses,
useless
Jarls,
make
carts
and farm ;" but the favoured,

hair,
"Light of
bright
cheeks,
eyes
THE
piercing as a serpent's,"
to brandish spears,
jESIR.
grow up
to "shake the shield,
Horses to
ridefc
Dogs to slip,
Swords
to draw,
to practise.*
Swimming
Heimdall keeps the bridge alike from thunder god
and
frost
giants, but at
lives
it
Ragnarok, the swarthy god
Surtur,
who
over
on the borders of Muspellheim,

shatter
this
it
will ride
and
to pieces.
Heimdall's
to
horn
is
mentioned,
is
supposed
mean
horn
the
also
crescent
moon, and
Mimer's
drinking
means the moon.
Later,
when
the stories of the
gods had dwindled down
into weird, unholy legends,
and Odin had sunk

crescent
into the wild

his
Huntsman, the
of Heimdall's
moon was
horn.
this
One
names was Irmin, and

milky way
is
means " Shining."

strasse
The
called Irmin
or Irmin's way,
and the wild hunt was supposed to go over the milky

way,
which
is
also
called
is
Waldemar's
Denmark, and Waldemar

hunters.
a common
way name
in
of
Loki and
his children in these
myths are evidently
108
the destructive principle, either physically, or morally,
or both.
Jormungand and Fenrir

universal
are
much
alike.
Jormungand means "the

Fenrir
it
Wolf," and of
revengeful,
is
said
"he goes about

all
with
open jaws devouring
things."
Hela had
originally
another side to her character, but here as Loki's
daughter she has only the nature of his other children.
of a
The myth about Loki finding the half-burnt heart woman is said to be a very young one ; and so
it is
perhaps
not worth considering the meaning

to Odin,
of.
The god about whom, next

are told,
is
most
stories
Thor.
In some parts of the north he was
a more prominent object of worship even than Odin,
Norway and Iceland being

service.
especially devoted to his
Let us now hear how Thor went to Jotunheim.
HOW THOR WENT
TO JOTUNHEIM.
Io <,
CHAPTER
IL
HOW THOR WENT TO

PART L
JOTUNHEIM.
FROM ASGARD TO UTGARD.
ONCE on a
time,
Asa Thor and Loki
set
out
on a journey from Asgard to Jotunheim.

travelled
They
milkiron
in
Thor's chariot, drawn

It
by two
white goats.
chariot,
it
was a somewhat cumbrous
and the wheels made a rumbling noise as

startled
moved, which sometimes
the
ladies
of
Asgard, and
it,
made them tremble; but Thor
liked
thought the noise sweeter than any music, and

in
was never so happy as when he was journeying

it
from one place to another.
HO

the evening they
It
They travelled all day, and in came to a countryman's house.

lonely place; but
was a poor,
his chariot,
Thor descended from

to
and
determined
pass
the
night
there.
The
countryman, however, had no food in his house to

give these travellers;
and Thor, who liked to

feast
feast
himself and
obliged to
make
his
every one
with him, was
kill
own two
invited
goats and serve
them
up
for
supper.
He
the countryman and
his wife
and children to sup with him; but before
they began to eat he
made one
request of them.
said,
"Do
not,
on any account," he
"break or
throw away any of the bones of the goats you are

going to eat for supper."
" I wonder why," said the peasant's son,

to his
sister
Thialfi,
Roska.
Roska could not think of
and by-an4-bye Thialfi happened to have a very nice little bone given him with some
any
reason,
marrow
in
in it
"Certainly there can be no harm
my
r.s
breaking just this one," he said to himself;

pity to lose the
"it
would be such a
marrow;
1*
and
he
Asa Thor's head was turned another way,

broke the bone in two, sucked the marrow,
slyly
HOW THOR WENT TO JOTUNHE1M.

and then threw the pieces into the
where Thor had desired that
all
XI1
goats'
skins,
the bones might

Thialfi
be placed.
do not know whether
was
uneasy during the night about what he had done;

but in the morning he found out the reason of Asa and received a lesson on " wonderThor's
command,
ing why," which he never forgot
all his life after.
As soon
as
Asa Thor
rose in
the morning he
it
took his hammer, Miolnir, in his hand, and held

over the goat-skins as they lay on the
ing runes the while.
floor,
whisper-
They were dead skins with
dry bones on them
he said
the
last
when he began to speak ; but as word, Thialfi, who was looking

live goats spring
curiously on,
saw two
up and walk
towards the chariot, as fresh and well as when they
brought the chariot up to the door Thialfi hoped.
But no; one of the goats limped a

hind
leg,
little
with his
and Asa Thor saw
it.
His brow grew
dark as he looked, and for a minute Thialfi thought
he would run
far,
far
into
the forest,
and never
come back again ; but one look more at face, angry as it was, made him change
Asa Thor's
his
mind
He
do than running thought of a better thing to
1 12
away.
Asa's
He came
feet,
forward,
threw
himself
at
the
and, confessing what he had done, begged

his
pardon
for
disobedience.
Thor
listened,
and
the displeased look passed
away from
his face.
"You have done

him up
;
wrong, Thialfi," he said, raising " but as you have confessed your fault so
I
will
bravely, instead of punishing you,
take you
with
me on my
journey, and teach you myself the

to the JEsir
lesson
of obedience
which
is,
see,
wanted."
Roska chose
that
to
go with her brother, and from

faithful
day Thor had two
servants,
who
fol-
lowed him wherever he went.
The
with
chariot
and goats were now
left
behind
but,
Loki and his two new followers, Thor joursea,
neyed on to the end of Manheim, over the
and
then on, on, on in the strange, barren, misty land of
Jotunheim,
tains
;
Sometimes they crossed
great
moun-
sometimes they had to make their way among

rocks,
torn
mist,
and rugged
which
often,
through the
appeared to them to wear the forms of men,

for a
and once
whole day they traversed a thick and In the evening of that day, being
tangled forest
HOW THOR WENT TO JOTUN1IEIM.

very
JI3
much
tired,
they saw with pleasure that they

hall,
had come upon a spacious

broad as the house
"
itself,
of which the door, as
stood wide open.
Here we may very comfortably lodge for the night," said Thor; and they went in and looked
about them.
The house appeared

was a wide
it.
to
be
perfectly
empty ; there
hall,
and
five smaller
rooms opening into

it
They
were, however, too tired to examine
care-
fully,
and as no inhabitants made
their appearance,
they ate their supper in the hall,

sleep.
and
lay
down
to
But they had not rested long before they
were disturbed by strange noises, groanings, mutterings,
and
snortings, louder than
any animal that

By-
they had ever seen in their lives could make.
and-bye the house began
to shake from side to side,
and
it
seemed
as
if
the very earth trembled.

;
Thor
but,
sprang up in haste, and ran to the open door
though he looked
there
earnestly into
the
starlit
forest,
was no enemy to be seen anywhere.

Thialfi, after
Loki
and
a
groping about for a time, found

to
sheltered
chamber
the
right,
where
they
;
rest in safety thought they could finish their night's
114

Thor, with Miolnir in his hand, watched at
all
but
the door of the house
night
the
As soon
forest,
as the day
dawned he went out

stretched
into
and
there,
on the ground close by the house, he saw
a strange, uncouth, gigantic shape of a man, out of
whose
nostrils
came a breath which swayed

There was no need
the trees
to their very tops.
to
wonder
any
longer what the disturbing noises had been.

fearlessly
Thor
walked up to
this
strange
at the
monster
to have a better look at
him ; but
sound of
his footsteps the giant-shape rose slowly, stood up
an immense
height,
and looked down upon Thor with
two great misty
eyes, like blue mountain-lakes.
"Who
and
are
you?"
said Thor, standing
on
tiptoe,
stretching his
neck to look up ;
" and
why do
you make such a noise as to prevent your neighbours

from sleeping?"
"My
name
is
Skrymir,"
said the
giant sternly;
little
"I need not ask yours.
You
are the
Asa
Thor of Asgard
done with
but pray, now, what have you

"
my
glove ?
As he spoke he stooped down, and picked up the hall where Thor and his companions had
GIANT SKRYMIR AND THOR.

Page
ii?.
HOW THOR WENT
TO JOTUNHEIM.
nS
passed the night, and which, in truth, was nothing
more
Thialfi
than
his
glove, the
room
where Loki and
had
slept being the thumb.

his
Thor rubbed
be dreaming.
eyes,
and
felt
as
if
he must
Rousing himself, however, he raised
Miolnir in his hand, and, trying to keep his eyes

fixed
on
the
giant's
face, said,
which
"It
is
seemed
to
be
always
changing,
he
time that you

to
should know,
Skrymir, that I
am come
such
evil
Jotunas
heim
you
"
to
are,
fight
and conquer
little
giants
and,
as
you
think me, I
am
ready
to try
my
strength against yours."

then," said the giant
Try
it,
And
Thor, without another word, threw Miolnir
at his head.
"Ah Ah
!
1" said the giant;
" did a leaf touch me?"
to
Again Thor seized Miolnir, which always returned his hand, however far he cast it from him, and
it
threw
with
all his force.
The
giant put
up
his
hand
to his forehead.
"I
think," he said,
" that an acorn must have fallen on
my
head."
third
time Thor struck a blow,
the heaviest
Il6

fell
that ever
from the hand of an Asa;
but
this
time the giant laughed out loud.
"There
"
is
surely
a bird on that
fall
tree,"
he
said,
who
has
let
a feather
on
my
face."
Then, without taking any further notice of Thor,
he swung an immense wallet over his shoulder, and,

turning his back
upon him, struck
into
a path that
little
led from the forest.
When
his
he had gone a
way he looked round,

less like
immense
face appearing
a human countenance than some strange,

stone
toppling
uncouthly-shaped
precipice.
on
mountain
"
Ving-Thor,"
* he " said,
before I
let
of good advice
go.
me give you When you
a piece
get
to
Utgard don't
make much
of yourself.
taller still
You
to see
think
;
me
tall
man, but you have

little
and
you yourself are a very
mannikin.
Turn back
to have
to
home whence you came, and be

learned something of yourself
satisfied
by your journey
Jotunheim." " Mannikin or not, that
will I
never do," shouted

will
Asa Thor
after the
*
giant
"We
meet
again,
Ving-Thor
Winged-Thor.
HOW THOR WENT TO JOTUNHEIM.

and something more
other."
will
II?
we
learn, or teach each
The
giant, however, did not turn
baek to answer,
looking
for
and Thor and
his
companions,
after
some time
after him,
resumed
their journey.
Before
the sun was quite high in the heavens
they
came
out of the forest, and at noon they found themselves
on a vast barren
plain,
where stood a great
city,
whose walls of dark, rough stone were so high,

that
Thor had
to
bend
his
head quite
far
back to
see the top of them.
When
they approached the
entrance of this city they found that the gates were

closed and barred; but the space between the bars
was so large that Thor passed through

his
city
easily,
and
companions followed him.

were gloomy and
still.
The
streets
of the
for
They walked on
some time without meeting any one; but
at length
of which the they came to a very high building,

gates stood open.
"Let us go in and see what said Thor ; and they went
is
going on here,"
After crossing the threshold they found themselves

in
an immense banqueting
hall.
table stretched
1 1

it
from one end to the othe r of
stone thrones stood

sat
round the
table,
and on every throne
giant,
each one, as Thor glanced round, appearing more

grim,
and
cold,
sat
and
stony
than
seat,
the
rest.
One
to
among them
on a raised
and appeared
be the chief; so to him Thor approached and paid

his greetings.
The
rising,
is,
giant chief just glanced at him, and, without

said,
in
a somewhat careless
manner,
"It
think, a foolish custom to tease tired travellers
with questions about their journey.
know
with-
out
asking
that
you,
little
fellow,
are
Asa Thor.
Perhaps, however, you may be
in reality taller than
you appear; and as

shall
sit
it
is
a rule here that no one

till
down
to
table
he
has
performed
some wonderful
followers are
to
feat, let
for,
us hear what you and your
famed
and
in
what way you choose
prove yourselves worthy to
sit
down
in the
com-
pany of giants."
At
hall
this
speech,
Loki,
who
had
pushed
entered
the
cautiously
behind Thor,
himself for-
ward.
a The
feat for
which
am most
famed," he said
HOW THOR WENT

"is
eating,
TO JOTUNHEIM.
I
19
and
it
is
one which
am
will.
just
now
inclined to perform with right
good
Put food
before me,
and
it
let
me
see
if
any of your followers
can despatch
as quickly as I can."
is
"The
to
feat
you speak of
one by no means
is
be despised," said the King, "and there
one
here
who would be
glad to try his powers against
yours.
Let Logi," he said to one of his followers,

to the hall."
thin, yellow-faced
" be
summoned
this,
At
tall,
man
approached,
placed
at
and a
in
large
trough of meat
hall,
having been
sat
the
middle of the
Loki
to
work
one end, and Logi at the other, and they began to

eat
ate;
I
hope
shall
never see any one eat as they

all
but
the
giants
turned their slow-moving

in
eyes
to watch
in
them, and
a few minutes
It
they
met
first,
the middle of the trough.

if
seemed, at
as
they had both
eaten exactly the same
quantity; but,
into,
it
when
the thing
came
to
be examined
eaten
was found that Loki
had,
indeed,
up
all
the meat, but that Logi had
also eaten the
bones and the trough.

their
Then
the giants nodded

that
huge heads, and determined
Loki wai
120

The King now
turned to Thialfi, and
conquered.
asked what he could do.
"I was thought swift of foot among the youth of my own country," answered Thialfi ; " and I will,
if
you
please, try to run a race with
any one here."
"You
the
have chosen a noble

;
King
sport, indeed," said " but you must be a good runner if you
could beat him with
whom
I shall
match you."
Then he
the whole
called a slender lad,

left
Hugi by name, and
company
the hall, and, going out by
an opposite gate to that by which Thor had entered,

they
came out
to
an open space, which made a
noble race-ground.
Thialfi
There the goal was
fixed,
and
and Hugi
started off together.

fast as the reindeer
Thialfi ran fast
which hears
the wolves howling behind; but

faster that, passing the goal,
Hugi ran so
much
he turned round, and
met
Thialfi half-way in the course.
"Try
alfi,
again, Thialfi," cried

his
the
King; and Thiflew
once more taking

with
feet
place,
along
the
course
scarcely
touching
the
ground
swiftly as an eagle when,
from his mountain-crag,

but with
all
he swoops on
his prey in the valley;

his
121
running he was
still
a good bow-shot from the

it.
goal
when Hugi reached

are
certainly
if
still
"You
good runner,"
to
said
the
King; "but
little
you mean
than this;
win you must do a
better
but perhaps you wish
to surprise us all the
more
this third time."
The
third time, however, Thialfi
was wearied, and
though he did his best, Hugi, having reached the

goal, turned
and met him not
far
from the
starting-
point
The
giants
again
looked
at
each
other,
and
for
declared that there was no need of further

that Thialfi
It
trial,
was conquered.
turn,
was now Asa Thor*s
and
all
the
company
looked eagerly at him, while the
Utgard King asked

to
distinguish
by what
himsel
wonderful
feat
he
chose
"I
Thor
will said,
try
a drinking-match with any of you,"

tell
shortly; for, to
the truth, he cared
not to perform anything very worthy in the com-
pany
in
which he found
himself.
King Utgard appeared pleased with this choice, and when the giants had resumed their seats in
22

he ordered one of
his
the hall,
in his
servants to bring
drinking-cup, called
it
the
which
at
was
his
if
custom to
they
"cup of penance," make his guests drain

broken
draught,
had
any
of
the
ancient rules of the society.
"There!" he
call it well
said,
if
handing
it
to Thor,
it
"we
single
drunk
a person empties
at
draught
Some, indeed, take two to

it
it;
but the
very puniest can manage
in three."
it
Thor looked
long,
thirsty
into
the cup;
appeared to him
all,
but not so very large after
and being
he put
it
to his lips,
and thought to make

it
short
work of
it,
and empty
at
one good, hearty
pull
but,
full
He
that
it
drank,
and put the cup down again;

it
instead of being empty,
was now
just
so
could
be moved without
danger
of
spilling.
" Ha
for
in.
ha
You
are keeping
I
see,"
all
your strength
looking
the second pull
said
Utgard,
Without answering, Thor

drank
with
all
lifted
the cup again,

his
and
his
might
till
breath
failed; but,
when he put down

little
the cup, the liquor
had only sunk down a
from the brim.
HOW THOK WENT TO JOTUNHE2M.

"If you mean
Utgard,
to take three draughts to are really leaving
last
it,"
23
said
"you
yourself a very
unfair share for the
time.
Look
to yourself,
Ving-Thor;
for, if
you do not acquit yourself better

shall not think so
in other feats,
we
much
of you
here as they say the Êsir do in Asgard."
At
this
speech Thor
felt
angry, and, seizing the
cup again, he drank a third time, deeper and longer

than he had yet done;
but,
when he looked
into
its
the cup, he saw that a very small part only of
contents
had
disappeared.
Wearied
and
disap-
pointed he put the cup down, and said he would

try
no more
is
to
empty
it
"It
pretty
plain,*'
said
the
King,
is
looking
round on the company, "that Asa Thor
by no
means the kind of man we always supposed him

to be."
"
feat,
"I Nay," said Thor,
am
willing to try another
and you yourselves
shall
choose what
it
shall
be."
"Well,"
said
the
King,
"there
play.
is
a game
at
which our children are used to

ago I dare not have named
it
short time
to
Asa Thor; but now
124

curious
It is
I
in
am
it.
to
see
how he
lift
will
acquit himself
merely to
my
cat from the
ground
a childish amusement
truly."
As he spoke a
hall,
large,
grey cat sprang into the

forward,
and
it
Thor,
to
lift
stooping
it
put
his
hand
first;
under
but
up.
He
tried gently at
by degrees he put forth all his strength, tugging and straining as he had never done before ;
but the utmost he could do was to raise one of
the cat's paws a
little
way from
the ground.
"It
is
just
as
thought," said
King Utgard,
all
looking round with a smile;
"but we
are will-
ing to allow that the cat is large,

little
and Thor but a
fellow."
"Little as
is
you
will
think
me," cried
Thor,
"who
in
there
*
who
dare to wrestle with
me
my
anger ?
"In
there
is
truth,"
said
the
King,
"I
don't
think
any one here who would choose to wrestle

but,
if
with you;
in
wrestle
Elli.
you She
must,
has,
in
will
call
that
old
crone
her
time,
laid
low many a better
man
than Asa Thor has
shown himself to be.*
HOW THOR WENT

The
crone came.
TO JOTUNHEIM.
I25
She was
old,
withered,
and
toothless,
and Thor shrank from the thought of

but he had no choice.
wrestling with her;
She
threw her arms round him, and drew him towards

the ground, and the harder he tried to free himself,
the tighter grew her grasp.
They
struggled long.
feeling of weak-
Thor
strove bravely, but
a strange
ness and weariness
came over him, and
at length
before' her.
he tottered and
fell
down on one knee

laughed
the
At
this
sight
all
the giants
up,
aloud,
and
to
Utgard
coming
desired
old
woman
leave the hall,

over.
and proclaimed
his followers
that the trials were
No
one of
would now contend
with Asa Thor, he said, and night was approaching.
He
as
then invited Thor and his companions to

at the table,
guests.
sit
down
his
and spend the night with him Thor, though feeling somewhat
accepted
his
invitation
perplexed
and
mortified,
behaviour courteously, and showed, by his agreeable

during the evening, that
he
knew how
to
bear
being conquered with a good grace.
In the morning, when Thor and

were leaving the
city,
his
companions
the
King himself accompanied
126
them without the gates; and Thor, looking

at
steadily
him when he turned

the
first
to bid
him
farewell, perceived,
for
time,
that
he
was
the
very
in
same
the
Giant
forest
Skrymir
with
whom he had met

said
"Come, now, Asa Thor,"

before
the
giant
with
truly,
a strange sort of smile on his face, "tell
me
you
out,
go,
how you
whether
think your or not I
journey has
turned
saying
and
you
was
right
in
that
would
meet
with
better
men
than yourself in J6tunheim. n
"I
confess freely,"
answered Asa Thor, looking

"that
I
up without any false shame on his face,

have acquitted myself but humbly, and
it
grieves
it
me
will
for
know
I
that in
Jotunheim henceforward
of
little
be said that
am
!
man
worth."
By my troth no," cried the giant, heartily. "Never should you have come into my city if
I
"
had known what

are;
will,
mighty
that
man
of valour you
safely
really
it,
and
for
now
you are
truth
out
of
once,
I
tell
the
to
yon, Thor.
All
this
time
have been deceiving you by
my
enchantments.
When you met me
in
the
forest,
HOW THOR WENT

and hurled
been
Miolnir
at
TO JOTUNHE1M.
head,
I
137
my
should
have
blows
crushed
I
by
the
weight
of
your
had
not
skilfully
placed
a mountain
the
between
your
myself and you,
on
which
strokes of
cleft
hammer
ravines,
valleys.
fell,
and
where
you
three
deep
which
In
shall
henceforth
become
I
verdant
the
same
manner
deceived
last
you
about the contests in which you engaged
night
When
Loki,
is
fire,
Loki and Logi

indeed,
eat
sat
down
before the trough,

itself;
like
hunger
but
Logi
who, with eager, consuming tongue, licked

Thialfi is the swiftest
up both bones and trough.

of mortal
runners;
but
the
slender
lad,
Hugi,
was
his?
my
thought; and what speed can ever equal

it
So
was in your own
trials.
When you
little
took such deep draughts from the horn, you
knew what a wonderful
feat
you were performing.

ocean,
see
The
other end of that horn reached the
and when
you
come
to the shore
fallen
you
will
how
much
far
its
waters
have
away,
and
how
the deep sea itself has been diminished by

Hereafter,
will
call
your draught
men
it
watching the going
out of the tide
the ebb, or draught
128
THE HEROES OF ASGARD

Scarcely less wonderful was the prowess
in the
cat,
of Thor.
you displayed
to
second
trial.
What appeared
the
you to be a
was, in reality,
Midgard
saw
very
serpent, which encircles the world.
When we
lest the
you succeed
in
moving
it
we trembled
foundations of earth and sea should be shaken by
your strength.
Nor need you be ashamed
of having
for
been overthrown by the old woman

is
Elli,
she
will
old age; and there never has,
and never
be, one
whom
or
I
she has not the power to lay low.

part,
We
here
ray
must now
again,
city;
for
and you had better not come

anything
further
it
attempt
shall
against
always defend
by
fresh
enchantments, and you will never be able to do

anything against me.
"
At
these words
Thor
raised
Miolnir,
and was
trial
about to challenge the giant to

strength;
but,
fresh
of
before
he
could
and,
speak,
Utgarda
vanished from his

look for the
appeared, and
city,
sight;
turning
it,
round
to
dis-
he found that
too,
had
that
he was standing
alone
on
smooth, green, empty plain.
" What a
fool I
have been," said Asa Thor,
alou'i.
HOW THOR WENT TO JOTVNHEIM.
t2 g
"to allow myself to be deceived by a mountain

w
giant
"Ah," answered a voice from above, "I
told
you, you would learn to know yourself better by
your journey to Jotunheim.

of travelling."
It is
the great use
Thor turned
see
quickly round
again,
after
thinking
to
Skrymir behind
him;
but,
looking
on
that
every side,
he
could
perceive
nothing,
but
a high, cloud-capped mountain, which he had noticed
on the horizon, appeared to have advanced to the

edge of the
plain.
THE HEROES OF ASGAKD.
PART
IL
THE SERPENT AND THE KETTLE,
THOR
turned
away from Giant-land, and
on the
road homeward he passed through the Sea-King's

dominions.
There
he found
all
that
Êgir the
Old
wide
still
was giving a banquet to

coral-caves.
the -Êsir in his
At a
little
distance
It
Thor stood
fair
to
listen
and to
look.
was a
sight:
cave
within cave stretched
out before him decked with
choicest shells, whilst far inward lay the banqueting-hall,
lighted with shining gold;
white and red
the brightcoral-pillars stood at uneven distances;
browed Êsir reclined

couches;
JEgir's
at the
board on
the
soft
water
daughters
as
fair-haired
waves
their
murmured sweet music
they waited
on
HOW THOR WENT

guests;
TO JOTUNHE1M.
131
and
little
baby-ripples ran about laughing
Thor walked through the caves and entered the hall As he did so Odin looked
in all the corners.
up from
his place at Êgir's right hand,
and
said,
"Good
evening, son Thor;
how
has
it
fared
with you in Jotunheim?"
Thor's face grew a
little
cloudy at
this question,
and he only answered,
"Not
as
it
ought to have done, father."
Then
he placed himself amongst Êgir's guests.
"In my dominions,"
all
said
King
-5gir,
looking
round,
" an
extraordinary thing has happened."
"And
what may that be, brother?" asked Niord.

the
"From
Êgir,
shores
of
Jotunheim,"
answered
mile,
"the sea has run back a quarter of a

itself
drawing
it
away
as
if
a giant were drinking
in."
"Is that
a
tall
all
you have got to
say, father?
"said
Wave, as she swept her
hair over the Sea-
King's shoulder, and peeped up from behind him; "is that all you know of the wonders which are
going on in your deep
home ?
Listen."
Then
JEgii bent forward on his seat; the
132

ceased speaking, and drew in their breath; the
raised
their
all
waves
arched
great
necks,
off
and were
still,
listening.
From a
way
came the sound
of a sullen swell.
"Who
" That
is
is
that speaking?" asked Odin,
Jormungand speaking," said Thor.

say,
"And
" He
what does he
Thor?"
says that I could not conquer him."
"Pass round
the
foaming mead," cried
-Êgir,
who saw
that
it
was time to turn the conversation.
But alas!
before
it
Êgir's mead-kettle
was so
small, that
it
had gone half down the
table
stood
empty before Tyr.
"There
Tyr,
is
giant
called
Hymir,"
remarked
"who
at the
lives far
over the stormy waves to east-
ward
end of heaven."
all
The
JEsir
looked up.
"He
is
has a kettle," Tyr went on to say, "which
a mile deep, and

for all this
which would
certainly
hold
mead enough
company."
it
"If Hymir would lend
to us," said -Êgir,
"we
could finish our supper; but
who would go
n
to the
end of heaven to borrow a
kettle ?
HOW THOR WENT

Then Thor
TO JOTUNHEIM.
and began
he put on
I33
rose from the table,

his belt of
to
his
tighten round him
power ;
iron gloves,
and took Miolnir

off
in his hand.
"What!
cried Êgir.
again
to Giant-land,
Ving-Thor?"
"Didn't you " I am Thor.

Will you
say you
wanted Mile-deep?* said

it
going to borrow
of
Hymir
for you.
come with me, Tyr?"

joyfully,
Tyr sprang up
started
at
and
the two
brothers
arrived
on
their
journey.
When
was
a
they
Hymir's
dwelling,
which
roughly-hewn
sea,
cavern
on the shore of a frozen
the
first
person they met was a wonderful
giantess
with
nine hundred heads, in which glittered fiery eyes,
and which grew out from

that
it
all
parts of her body, so

tell
was
impossible to
whether she
was
walking upon her head or her heels.
As Thor and
this,
Tyr were looking at a woman came out of the

lovely
as
her trying to discover

giant's
home
quite as
the giantess was hideous.

the threshold.
She greeted
hair
fell
them on
Her golden
thick
upon her shoulders; her mild eyes shone upon them; and with words of welcome she held out

her hands and led them into the cavern.
There
she offered them meat and drink, and bade them

rest until
her husband, Hymir, should

on, however,
come home.
As the darkness came
and the time of
his expected return drew near, she became silent and " I am anxious ; and at last she said, very much afraid
that
my
husband
will
be angry
if
he sees strangers
advice, now,
here
when he comes
in.
Take my
Asa
Thor and Asa Tyr, and hide behind one of these pillars
in the rock.
My
not
lord, I assure you, is surly

I
some-
times,
and not nearly so hospitable as

are
could wish."
ourselves,"
"We
accustomed
to
hide
remarked Thor.
"But you
shall
come
forth
when
call
you,"
answered the woman.
So
the
Êsir
did as
she
desired.
By-and-bye
they heard
sea,
heavy footsteps
far off,
over the frozen
coming nearer and nearer every moment.

icebergs
The
Hymir
distant
resounded,
his
and
at
last
burst
angrily
in
open the door of

in.
cavern,
and
stalked
He
his
had
been unsuccessful
that
day
the chase,
hands were
frost-bitten,
and a
"hard-frozen
wood
stood upon his cheek."
HOW
As soon
THOR WENT TO JOTUNHEIM.
I35
as the fair-browed
woman saw what mood
he was in she went gently towards him, placed her
hand
in
his,
and
told
him of the
arrival
of the
guests;
entreated
entertain
then,
with a sweet smile and voice,

to receive
she
him
them
the strangers
kindly,
and
hospitably.
but, at
Hymir made no answer;

his
one glance of
JEsir were
eye towards the
place where
asunder,
fell
the
hidden,
the pillar burst

it
and
the
cross-
beam which
ground.
ing
supported
with a crash to the
Eight ponderous kettles had been hangall
on the beam, and
but one were shivered
to atoms.
of the
Thor and Tyr then stepped forth into the middle hall, and Hymir received them civilly, after
which he turned his attention to supper; and, having
cooked three whole oxen, he invited the ALsir to

eat with him.
Thor
fell
to
work with great
relish,
and when he had eaten the whole of one

to cut a slice out of another.
ox, prepared
"You
eat
great
deal,"
said
Hymir,
sulkily,
but Thor was

his
still
very hungry, and went on with
supper
until
he had eaten
two
entire
oxen.
36
Tim HEROES OF ASGARD.

said
Then
Hymir,
"Another
night,
Ving-Thor,
for
you must provide your own supper;

undertake to keep so expensive a guest."
Accordingly,
early
can't
the
next
morning,
offered
Hymir
Thor a
prepared to go out
place
in
fishing,
and
his
boat
On
their
way
to
the
shore
they passed a herd of oxen feeding.
" Have
you provided a
bait for
me ? "
said
Thor
to the giant
"You
Hymir,
must
get
one
for
yourself,"
answered
surlily.
So Thor was obliged to cut

of the oxen for a bait.
off the
head of one
"You'll never be able to carry that head," said
Hymir;
for,
in
truth,
the
ox
to
which
it
had
" belonged was an enormous animal, called

Breaking."
Heaven
But Thor made nothing of the head, slung it over his shoulder, and carried it down to the boat
As they
got under weigh,
Thor and Hymir each

fast,
took an oar ; but Thor pulled so
and with such
mighty strokes, that the giant was obliged to stop

for breath,
and beg
that they might
go no
further.
HOW THOR WENT

"We
"But
Thor.
TO JOTUNHEIM.
I37
have already reached the spot," he

finest whales."
said,
" where I always catch the

I
want to go further
out
to
sea,"
said
"That
will
be
"
dangerous,
Ving-Thor,
said
Hymir ;
" for
if
we row any
further
we
shall
come
to the waters
under which Jormungand

on.
lies."
Thor laughed, and rowed

baited his
At
last
he stopped,
hook with the
ox's head,
and
cast the line
out into the sea, whilst

side of the boat,
Hymir
leant over the other
and caught two whales.

great
his
Now, when the

bait
Jormungand smelt Thor's

monstrous jaws, and eagerly
line;
he opened wide
snicked in both head,
and hook, and
but no
so
sooner did he
fiercely,
feel
the pain than he

wildly,
struggled
and plunged so
that
Thor's hands
were in an instant dashed against the sides of the

boat.
Still
Thor did not

with
lose
his
hold, but went

force
on
feet
pulling
such
wondrous
that
his
burst
through
the boat, and rested on the
slippery
rocks
beneath.
At
head
last
the
venomous
above
monster's
the waves,
mountain-high
was hauled
it
and
then,
indeed,
was a dreadful

sight to see Thor, in all the
strength,
power of
his god-like
casting
his
fiery
looks
on
him,
the
serpent,
spitting
and the
forth
serpent
glaring
upon
and
poisoned
venom.
Even Hymir's sun-burnt

he beheld
beneath
his
cheek changed colour as
feet the sinking boat, and at his side the deadliest
monster of the deep.

his fear,
At
last,
in the wildness of
his
line
he rushed before Thor, and cut
in sunder.
Immediately the serpent's head began
to sink
after
it
but Thor hurled Miolnir with fearful force
into the waters.
Then
did the rocks burst;
it
thrndered through
shrank; even the
but
the
the caverns; old mother earth

fishes
all
sought the bottom of the ocean;
serpent sank back, with a long, dull sound, beneath
the waves, a deep
wound
in his head,
and smothered
vengeance in his
Ill
heart.
silent,
at ease
and
Hymir then turned

on
to go
home, and Thor followed him, carrying boat and

oars,
and everything
fresh
sight
else,
his
shoulders.
Now,
giant's
every
of Thor
increased
the
envy and rage;

that
for
he could not
so
little
bear to think
before
his
he had shown
courage
I3g
brave guest, and, besides, losing his boat and getting

so
desperately wet
sea,
in
his
feet
by wading home
improve
therefore,
through the
his
did not by any means

they
got
temper.
When
home,
and were supping

taunting Thor.
together,
he began jeering and
"No
yourself
doubt, Asa Thor,
"
he
a
said,
"you
fisher,
think
a good rower and

not
catch
fine
though
you
did
anything
to-day;
you,
but
can
you
break that drinking-cup before
do you
think?"
Thor
seized the cup,

But,
lo
1
and dashed
the
it
against an
upright stone.
in
pieces,
stone was
shatterd
and
the
cup
unbroken.
the cup
Again,
against
with
the
greater
strength,
he
:
hurled
pillars in the
rock
it
was
still
without a crack.
beautiful
just
Now,
sitting
it
happened that the

at
woman was
where
spinning
her
wheel
behind
Thor was
standing.
From
time to time she chanted

;
snatches of old runes and sagas in soft tones
and
now, when Thor stood astonished that the cup was

not
broken,
the woman's
voice
fell
on
his
car,
singing
low the following words:
4o

Hard
the pillar, hard the stone,
giant's bone.
pillars fall
;
Harder yet the
Stones shall break and
Hymir's forehead breaks them
all."
Then Thor once more took

it
the cup,
and hurled
this
against the giant's forehead.
The cup was
time shivered to pieces;

unhurt,
but Hymir himself was

at last, Vingkettle
and cried
but
out,
"Well done
that
Thor;
out of
can
you carry
mile-deep
my
hall, think you ?"

lift
it,
Tyr
handle.
tried to
and could not even
raise the
Then Thor grasped

so, his feet
it
by the
rim, and, as
floor.
he did
pressed through the
With a mighty
his head, while
effort
he
lifted it;
he placed
it
on
the rings
rang at his feet;

kettle,
and so
in
triumph he
bore off the
and
set out again for Êgir's Hall.
After journeying a
little
way he chanced
to look
round, and then he saw

giants, with
that a host of
many-headed
Hymir for their leader, were thronging From every cavern, and iceberg, and after him. jagged peak some hideous monster grinned and
leered as a great wild beast waiting for his prey.
HOW
THOR WENT TO JOTUNHEIM.
i 4I
"Treachery!" cried Thor, as he raised Miolnir

above his head, and hurled
the giants.
it
three times
among
and
In an
instant
they stood
stiff,
and
;
cold,
dead, in rugged groups along the shore

his
one with
arm
raised;
another with
his
head stretched
in the
still
out;
some
he
upright,
some crouching; each

assumed.
position
had
last
And
there
;
they stand, petrified by

still
ages into giant rocks
and,
pointing their stony fingers at each other, they
tell
the mighty tale of
Thor's achievements, and
the wondrous story of their fate.
"Pass round
Êgir, as
the
foaming
mead,"
cried
King
;
Thor placed " Mile-deep " on

time
it
the table
and
this
happened
that there
was enough
for every one.
Thor, as his
his
name
implies,
was the thunder god ;

is
realm was called Thrudvang, which
said to
mean
the "Region of Fortitude." Of his hall, Bilskirnir " Five hundred floors, and (storm-serene), Odin says,
its windings. forty eke, has Bilskirnir with
Of all
the
142

know
is
roofed houses that I
my
son's the greatest"
His
hammer,
"
signify
Miolnir,
"To
pound,
or
grind,"
Megingjardir, his belt of prowess
names
To
crack, grind, gnash
his goats, " "
whose
race at
falling
and
intervals"
his
attendant Thialfi,
all
the
swift
thunder
shower,
help
to
picture
him
in
this
character; but he ought to be understood,

larger sense of
also, in the
a god of cultivation and the order

opposition
to
of nature, in
the
the
whole
tribe
of
fog-
Hrimthursar, frost-giants,
the
like
mountain-giants,
sterile
enchantments, and
portions
and
retarding forces of the physical world.
The
principle
of
combat
in
the
physical world,
Thor appears
his victories
also as the chief hero-god
and warrior ;
his life
are moral as well as physical

warfare.
was unceasing
In the
the
Edda account
of Thor going to Utgard,
giant-king
whom
and
it
he finds
is
there
is
called
Utgard-Z0&'/
Loki, who,
to
be
observed
root in
fire,
fire,
that
is
we
saw, had his

to Logi
own
is
in
Utgard opposed
this
who
also
so that in
myth Loki stands
in
opposition to two beings
nearly akin to himself.
This
may be
explained as
HOWTHOR WENT
follows.
TO JOTUNHEIM.
I43
Utgard, outer-world, or under-world, means
outside of both the
human and godly

chaotic,
regions,
and
reminds
us
of
the
elementary
powers.
Utgard-Loki, or out-worldly-Loki, represents outside

of
human world
in
its
evil aspect
the destructive
apart from the formative principle.
Connected with
him appears
elementary
latter
fire
(Logi),
and Loki
this
is
opposed to the
because at the time
myth
world
out
was conceived he had come to mean
evil in the
rather than that elementary double-natured
fire
of which the idea of his evil
had
originally
crept.
This view of Utgard,
viz.,
its
connection with the
chaotic powers, explains the apparent defeats of
Thor
during
his
visit
there,
for
Thor
is
a deity of the
his will, not
it
formed universe, he can subdue that to

the
first
double-natured elements out of which
was
built up.
How
naturally
would the dark frozen land and
misty mountain shapes of the north, suggest to the

ancient song singers these
ideas
concerning
out-
worldly and in worldly giants and wild unfathomable
powers and enchanted combatants.

It
must be confessed
that
Asa Thor does not
144

-
always appear in the favourable light in which the

tales
given here represent him.

stories
There are one or

about him, bringing
two very uncomfortable

out those dark
as
traits
of craft and cruelty which,
we saw
before, so often stained the bright shields of
northern warriors.
In particular, there
is
a story
of his losing his

recover
it,
hammer and going

Freyja.
to Jotunheim to
disguised as
When
his
craft
had succeeded, and he

again,
felt
the
hammer
in his grasp
"Loud laughed,"
says the lay, "the fierce hearted
one's soul in his breast"
After which he slew,
first
the giant
race.
who had robbed
him, then all the giant's
Perhaps, even so far as that

the giant,
sister,"
it
we could have
for-
given him, but

sister,
is said,
had " a luckless
an aged
and the hero-god must need

stroke,"
slay her too.
"Blows she got, a hammer's
and
"so," ends the lay, "did Odin's son get his
hammer
back," apparently well satisfied with the whole performance.
But are the Warrior-god's descendants so

the giant's
sister,
if
very different from himself

luckless sister,
the aged,
who does not seem

is
as
she could
do anybody much harm,

fall
she not apt even
now
to
beneath the
vengeful
hammers of our modern
HOWTHOR WENT
Thors,
TO JOTUNHEIM.
down
after
145
remorselessly stricken
the real
battle has
been fought and won?
From
the fierce thunder deity
we
turn to Njord's
bright children,
Frey and Freyja, "Beauteous and
mighty."
FRRY.
CHAPTER HL
FREY.
PART L
ON TIPTOE
IN AIR THRONE.
I TOLD you, some time ago,
how Van Frey went

light
elves,
away into Alfheim with the
of
whom
Odin made him king and schoolmaster.
You have heard what Frey was
like,
and the
kind of lessons he promised to teach his pupils,

so you can imagine what pleasant times they had
of
it
hi Alfheim.
Wherever' Frey
sunshine.
steps,
came
there
was
summer and
his
foot-
Flowers
sprang
up
under
and bright-winged
insects, like flying flowers,
148

His warm breath ripened
hovered round his head.

the fruit
on the
the
trees,
and gave a bright yellow and

purple
colour
to
corn,
bloom
to
the
grapes, as he passed through fields
and vineyards.
drawn by the
When
he rode along
in
his car,
stately boar,
Golden
Bristles, soft
winds blew before
him,
filling
the air with
fragrance,
is
and spreading
"
!
abroad the news,

half-closed
forest,
" Van
burst
Frey
coming
perfect
and every
flower
field,
into
hill,
beauty,
their
and
and
and
flushed
richest
colours to greet his presence.
Under
little light
Frey's
care
and
instruction
the
pretty
elves forgot their idle
ways, and learned
all
the pleasant tasks he had

It
promised to teach
see
them.
was the
prettiest
possible sight to
them
in the evening filling their tiny buckets,
and
to
running about
among
the
woods and meadows

on the slender
tips
hang the dew-drops

the
grass-blades,
deftly
of
or to drop
them
into
the
this
halflast
closed cups of the sleepy flowers.
When
bees
of their day's tasks was over they used to
cluster
round
their
summer-king,
like
about
the
queen, while he told them stories about the wars
between the JEsir and the

time
in
giants,
or of the old
when he
lived
alone with his father Niord,
Noatun, and listened to the waves singing songs
of far distant lands.

their time in Alfheim,
So pleasantly did they spend
But
in
the
midst of
in his
all
this
work and play
Frey had a wish

not
help often
mind, of which he could

to
his
talking
clear-minded
mes-
senger and
things,"
friend
Skirnir.
"I have seen many
he
used
to
say,
"and
travelled
through
many lands; but to see all the world at once, as Asa Odin does from Air Throne, thai must be a
splendid sight"
"Only Father Odin may

Skirnir
this
sit
on Air Throne,"
to
would
say; and
it
seemed
Frey that
answer was not so much to the purpose as
his friend's sayings generally were.
At
length,
one very
clear
summer
evening,
when
Odin was
feasting with the other Êsir in Valhalla,
Frey could restrain his curiosity no longer.

left
He
fast
Alfheim,
and,
where
all
the
little
elves
were
asleep,
without
asking
any
one's
advice,
tiptoe in
climbed into
Air Throne, and stood on

Odin's very seat
It
was a
clear evening,
tell
and
had, perhaps, better not even try to
you what
Frey saw.
He
looked
first
all
round
him over Manheim,

still
where the rosy
light of the set sun
lingered,
and where men, and

ing themselves
birds,
and flowers were gatherhe
up
for their night's repose; then

hills
glanced
rested,
towards the heavenly
where
Bitrost
and then towards the shadowy land which
deepened down into Niflheim.

his eyes
At length he turned
northward to the misty land of Jotunheim.

fallen
;
There the shades of evening had already

from his high
place Frey could
still
but
see distinct
shapes moving about through the gloom.
Strange
and monstrous shapes they were, and Frey stood a

little
higher,
on
In
tiptoe,
that he might look further
after
tall
them.
this position
hill
he could
just descry a
house standing on a
in the very middle of

at
it
Jotunheim.
While he looked
a maiden came
latch of the
;
and
door.
this
lifted
up her arms
was
to
in
undo the
Jotunheim
white
It
dusk
but
when
a
maiden
lifted
up
her
arms,
that
such
dazzling
reflection
came
from
them,
Jotun-
PREY*
heim, and the sky, and
with clear light
151
all
the sea were flooded
For a moment everything could

but
be
the
distinctly
seen;
Frey
saw
nothing
but
face
of
the maiden with the
uplifted
arms;
shut
and when she

the
had
her,
entered the house and
door
after
and
sea,
darkness
darkness
fell
again
too,
on
earth,
and
sky,
and
fell,
upon
Fre/s heart
152
PART
THE
IL
GIFT.
THE
up
next
with
morning, when
the
little
elves
awoke
the
to
dawn,
receive
and
his
came thronging round

commands,
they were
since
their
king
surprised to
last
see that he
had changed
they
saw him.
" He has grown up in the night," they whispered
one to another sorrowfully.
And
in truth
he was no longer so
merry
little
fit
a teacher
and playfellow
for the
people as he had
been a few hours before.

It
was
to
no purpose
that the sweet winds blew,
and the flowers

from
his
opened, when
Frey
white
came
light
forth
still
chamber.
bright
FREY.
danced before him, and nothing now seemed
worth looking
set,
at.
I53
to
him
That evening when the sun had

over,
and work was
there were
no
stories for
the light elves.
"Be
still,"
Frey
said,
still
'If you
will
be
when they pressed round. and listen, there are stories
enough
I
to
be heard better than mine."

elves
that
do not know whether the

to
heard
flowers,
any-
thing; but
birds,
Frey
it
seemed
and
and winds, and the whispering

day
in
rivers, united
that
singing
one
song, which
he never
wearied of hearing.
"We
in the
are fair," they said;

fair
"but there
is
nothing
whole world so
as Gerda, the giant-maiden
whom
elves
you saw
has
to
last night in
Jotunheim."
his
"Frey
said
dew-drops
in
eyes," the
little
each other in whispers as they sat

felt
round looking up at him, and they

surprised;
for
very
much
is
it
only
to
men and
the Êsir
permitted to be sorrowful and weep.
Soon, however, wiser people noticed the change

that
had
come over
the
summer king,
sent
Skirnir
and
one
his
good-natured father,
Niord,
day
154

into
into Alfheim to inquire
the
cause of
Prey's
sorrow.
He
found him walking alone in a shady place,

tell
and Frey was glad enough to

his wise friend.
his
trouble to
When
he had related the whole
story,
is
he
said,
"And now
asking
you
will see that

I
there
no use
;
in
me
to
be merry as
used to be
for
how
can I ever be happy in Alfheim, and enjoy the
summer and
I love,
is
sunshine, while
living
my
dear Gerd,
cold
land,
whom
among
in
dark,
cruel giants?"
"If she be
you
say,"
really
as beautiful
and beloved as
answered
Skirnir,
" she must be sadly out
of place in Jotunheim.
to be your
wife,
Why
do not you ask her
and
I
live
with you in Alfheim?"

gladly do,"
"That would
Frey;
only too
answered
for
"but
if
were to leave Alfheim only
a few hours, the cruel giant, Ryme,* would rush

in
to
take
my
are
*
place;
in
all
the labours of the year

toiling
would be undone
men,
a night, and the poor,

for
who
watching
the
harvest,
would
Ryme
the Frost Giant
PREY.
wake some morning to
, 55
find
their
corn-fields
and
orchards buried in snow."
"Well," said
Skirnir, thoughtfully,
"I am
Frey;
neither
but,
if
so strong nor so beautiful as you,
you
side,
will give
me
the
sword that hangs
by your
will
undertake the journey to Jotunheim;
and
I will
speak in such a way of you, and of

the lovely Gerd,
that
Alfheim, to
she will gladly

giant-father
leave her land

to
and the house of her
come
Now,
to you." Frey's
sword
was
gift,
and he knew
part with
it,
well
enough
it
that
he
ought not
his
to
or trust
in
any hands but

he
expect
own;
to
less
and yet
all
how
could
Skirnii
for
risk
the
dangers
of Jotunheim
any
recompense
than an enchanted sword?
and what other hope

Gerda again?
to think of
had he of ever seeing
his dear
He
from
did not allow himself a
moment
the choice he was making.

his
He
it
unbuckled his sword

Skirnir's
side
and put
into
hands;
and then he turned rather
pettishly away,
and threw
tree.
himself down on a mossy bank under a
"You
will
be many days
in travelling to Jotun-
156
THE HEROES OF ABOARD.

he
said,
heim,"
"and
all
that
time I shall
be
miserable."
Skimir was too sensible
to
think
this
speech
of
;
worth
Frey,
answering.
He
to
took a
set
hill,
hasty
farewell
and prepared
left
off
on
his
journey
to
but, before he
the
he
in
spite
chanced
a
little
see
the reflection
of
Frey's face
near.
pool
of
water
ful
that
lay
it
In
of
as
its
sorrow-
expression,
was as
beautiful
the
woods
are
into
in
full
summer, and a clever thought came

mind.
Skirnir's
He
stooped
down, without
stole
Frey's seeing him, and, with cunning touch,
the
it
picture
out of the water;

in
then
he
fastened
up
carefully
it
his
silver
drinking-horn,
and,
hiding
in
his
mantle, he
mounted
his
horse
and rode towards Jotunheim, secure of succeeding

in his mission, since
he carried a matchless sword
to
conquer the
giant,
and a matchless
picture
to
win the maiden*
FREY.
PART
IIL
FAIREST GERD.
I TOLD
father,
you
that
the
house
of
Gymir, Gerda's
it
stood in the middle of Jotunheim, so

difficult for
will
not be
you to imagine what a toilsome

Skirnir
and wondrous journey

brave
hero,
had.
He
was
and
he rode a brave
to
horse;
but^
when they came

that
the
barrier
of murky flame
surrounds
Jotunheim, a shudder
came over
both.
"Dark
it
is
without," said Skirnir to his horse,

I
"and you and
must leap through
flame,
and
go over hoar mountains among Giant Folk.

giants
will
The
return
take
us
both,
or
we
shall
victorious
together."
'58

patted
his
Then he
him with
cleared
horse's
neck, and touched
his
armed
barrier,
heel,
and with one bound he

his
the
and
hoofs rang
on the
frozen land.
Their
first
day's
journey was through the land

kills,
of the Frost Giants, whose prickly touch
and
whose breath
is
sharper than swords.
Then they
passed through
the dwellings of the horse-headed

giants,
and
see.
vulture-headed
Skirnir
Monsters
terrible
to
flew
hid
his
face,
and the horse
along swifter than the wind.
On
the evening of the third day they reached

Skirnir rode
Gymir's house.
round
it
nine times;
but though there were twenty doors, he could find
no entrance;
for fierce
three-headed dogs guarded
every door-way.
At length he saw a herdsman pass

he rode up and asked him how
stranger
to
it
near,
and
for
was possible
enter Gymir's house, or get a sight of
his fair daughter Gerd.
"Are
already " that
you
a
doomed
man,"
of
to
death,
or
the
fair
are
you
dead
talk
answered
Gymir's
herdsman,
daughter,
you
seeing
FREY.
I59
or
entering
a house
from
which
no one ever
returns ?"
"
in
My
death
is
fixed for
his
one day," said

the
Skirnir,
answer, and
voice,
voice of an
the
ears
Asa,
air
sounded
of
fair
loud
and
It
clear
through
the
misty
Jotunheim.
reached
in
of
the
Gerd as she
sat
her
chamber with
her
maidens.
"What
hear?
halls
is
that noise of noises," she said, "that I
The
earth shakes with
it,
and
all
GynuYs
tremble." the maidens got up,
Then one of
and peeped
out of the window.
"I see a man," she

from his horse, and he
before the door."
said;
is
"he has dismounted

it
fearlessly letting
graze
"Go
said
out
and
bring
him
again
in
stealthily,
then,"
Gerda; "I
is
must
hear
him speak;
for his voice
sweeter than the ringing of bells."

rose,
So the maiden
softly,
lest the
grim
the
and opened the house-door who was drinkgiant, Gymir,

with seven
other
ing
mead
in
banquet-hall
giants,
should hear and come
forth.
160

and understanding
Skirnir heard the door open,
the maiden's sign, he
entered with stealthy steps,
and followed her

he entered
to Gerda's chamber.
light
As soon
as
the doorway the
from
her face
shone upon him, and he no longer wondered that
Frey had given up his sword.
of a
"Are you the son of an Asa, or an Alf, or wise Van?" asked Gerda; "and why have
flame
you come through

halls ?"
and
snow
to
visit
our
Then
feet,
Skirnir
came forward and knelt

his message,
at Gerda's
and gave
and spoke
as he
had
promised
to speak of
Van Frey and

it
of Alfheim.
Gerda listened; and

talk to her,
was pleasant enough to
looking into her bright face; but she
did not seem to understand
much
of what he said.
He
promised to give her eleven golden apples

if
from Iduna's grove
she would go with him, and
that she should have the magic ring Draupnir from
which every day a

found
things
still
fairer
jewel
talking
all
fell.
But he
beautiful
life
there was
to
no
use
in
of
her
one who had never in
anything beautiful.
FREY.
I6l
Gerda smiled
tale.
at
him as a
child smiles at a fairy
At length he grew
childish,
angry.
"If you are so
maiden," he
said,
"that you can believe
only what you have seen, and have no thought of

Êsirland or
the
fall
Êsir,
then
sorrow
and
utter
darkness shall
upon you; you
shall live alone
on the Eagle Mount turned towards Hel.

shall beset
Terrors
you; weeping
shall
be your lot
shall
Men
in
and Êsir
to
live
will hate you,
and you
be doomed
for
ever with the Frost

will wither
Giant,
Ryme,
a
whose cold arms you
away
like
thistle
on a house-top."
"Gently," said
head, and
sighing.
Gerd,
turning
I
"How am
it,
away her bright to blame? you
make such a
talk
of your JEsir and your Êsir;
but how can I know about

I have lived with giants?"
when
all
my
if
life
long
At
these
words,
Skirnir
rose as
he would
have departed, but Gerda called him back.
"You must
"in
return for
drink
a cup
of
mead," she
said,
your sweet-sounding words."

this
Skirnir
heard
gladly,
for
now he
knew
l6a
THE HEROES OF ASGARD. He

took the cup from her
and,
to
what he would do.

hand,
drank
it,
off
the
mead,
before
he
in
re-
turned
he contrived
his
cleverly
pour
the
water
from
drinking-horn,
;
on
which
Frey's
image was painted
then he put the cup into Gerda's
hand, and bade her look.
She smiled as she looked
and the longer she
looked, the sweeter grew her smile; for she looked

for
the
first
time
things
on
face
that
to
loved
her
her,
and
she
many
had
became
understood
like
clear
that
never
before.
Skirnir's
words were no longer
fairy tales.
She could
beautiful
now
believe
in
Êsirland,
and
in
all
things.
" Go
back
tell
to
your master," she

that
in
said,
at
last,
"and
him
him
nine
Barri."
days
will
meet
in the
warm wood
these
leave,
After hearing haste

to
joyful
for
words,
Skimir made
that
take
in
every
moment
he
lingered
the giant's house
he was in danger.
One
door,
of
Gerda's maidens
his
conducted
him
to
the
and he mounted
horse again, and rode
from Jotunheim with a glad heart
FREY.
PART
IV.
THE WOOD BARRL
WHEN
find
Skirnir
got
to
back
Frey,
to
Alfheim,
and
told
to
Gerd's answer
that
he was
disappointed
his master
did not immediately look as
bright
and happy as he expected.

said;
is
"Nine days!" he
nine
are
"but how can

long,
wait
days?
very
One day
but
and
three
days
well
long,
'nine
days'
might
as
be a whole year."
I
tells
have heard children say such things when one
them
to wait for a
new
toy.
Skirnir and old Niord only laughed
at
it;
but
a
Freyja
and
all
the
ladies
of
Asgard
heard
made
the
journey to Alfheim,
when they
story,
164
THE HEROES OF ASGARD,

comfort
Frey,
to
and hear
all
the
news about
the wedding.
"Dear
lie
still
Frey," they said,

here,
"it will
never do to
sighing
under
tree.
You
long;
it
are
is
quite mistaken about the time
being
hardly long enough to

sents,
prepare the marriage pre-
and
talk
over the wedding.

are
You have no
be;
everything
idea
in
how busy we
will
going
to
Alfheim
have to be altered a
Frey
really
little."
lift
At
these
words
did
up
his
head, and
in
truth,
all
wake up from
a
little
his musings.
at
He
looked,
but,
frightened
ladies
the thought;
when
for
the Asgard
were
ready to
work
his
wedding,
how
could
he
jection?
He
the
was not allowed to

himself;
days,
make any obhave much share

little
in the business
but he had
to
time,
during
nine
indulge
in
private
thought, for never before was there such
a com-
motion
things
light
in Alfheim. that
The
ladies
found so many
wanted
were
overlooking,
and
the
little
elves
not
forgot
of
all
the
their
slightest
use
to
any one.
They
usual tasks,
and
went
running
about
through
groves
and
fields,
FJREY.
165
and by the
earth-holes,
sedgy banks of
rivers,
peering into
flower-cups
and
creeping
down
into
and empty
a
gift
snail-shells,
every one
hoping to find
for
Gerda.
the
into
light
Some
stole
it
from
glow-worms'
others
tails,
and wove
a necklace, and
leaves,
pulled
the ruby spots

jewels the
from cowslip
that
to
set with
acorn cups
the
Gerda was to
runners
drink
from;
while
swiftest
chased
their
the
butterflies,
and
fans
pulled
feathers
from
wings
to
make
All
and bonnet-plumes.
scarcely finished
the
work was
when
the
ninth day came, and
Frey
set
out from Alfheim
with
all
his elves, to the

-dSsir
warm wood Bam.
The
made,
cession.
joined him on the way, and they
together,
First
something
like
a wedding
chariot,
pro-
by
the
Golden
came Frey and Bristles,

which
in
his
drawn
carrying
in
his
hand
than
wedding-ring,
was
of
none
which
other
Draupnir,
the
magic
ring
so
many
stories are told.
Odin and
gift,
Frigga
followed
with their wedding

in
the
Ship
Skidbladnir,
which
all
the
66

could
sit
iT
and
sail,
though
small,
it
could
after-
wards
carry
be folded
it
up
so
that
you
might
in
your hand.
Iduna, with eleven
fair
Then came
in
golden
apples
a basket on her
all
head, and then two and
two
the heroes
and
ladies with their gifts.

elves, It
All round the

little
them flocked the

of
their
offerings.
gift,
toiling
under
twenty
weight
took
people to carry one

large
and yet there was

Laughing,
not one so
as
baby's finger.
and
singing,
and
every
dancing, they entered the
warm
sweet
smiled
wood,
breath
and
after
summer
flower
sent
them.
Everything
on
earth
on
the
it
wedding-day of
Frey and Gerda, only

every one
cold
into
when
was
all
over,
and
had
the
to
gone
home, and
it
the
as
moon shone
if
wood
one
seemed
the
Vanir
spoke
another.
"Odin,"
"
for
said
one
voice,
"gave
it
his
eye
for
wisdom, and we have seen
that
was well done,"

given his sword
to
Frey," answered the other,
" has
happiness.
It
may be well
and
bright
be unarmed
but
while
the sun shines
days last;
FREY.
when Ragnarok has come, and the sons of Muspell ride down to the last fight, will not Frey regret
his
sword?"
Frey appears as the summer god, and the Boar
was sacred to him because, from

earth with
its
its
tearing
up the
tusks,
it
typified agriculture
and return
to
of the seed-sowing time.

represent the frozen
earth,
Gerda
is
supposed
which Summer seeing

to his embrace.
from
far off loves
and woos
The
lighting of the sky by the uplifted giant maiden's
arms
is
explained
to
mean
the
Northern Lights
to
glancing from one end of heaven
the
other.
Frey parts with his sword in order to win Gerda

this is
alluded to in both Eddas as
if it
were wrong
the sons
or at any rate highly imprudent
"When
it
of
Muspell
shall
come
at
Ragnarok,"
is
said,
and
Frey
will
have to meet
Surtur in battle,
"then
thou, unhappy,
not have wherewith to fight"
The
have been ship Skidbladnir was said to

in the beginning of time;
before.
it
made
by four dwarfs
to in
is
alluded
a poem quoted
Draupnir
is
not men-
168

Edda
in connection with
tioned in the
Fiey and
Gerda.
The Northmen had

in
their year:
three grand religious festivals
they
all
took
place
in the
winter
half of the year,

time.
between
the
in
harvest
and
seed
One was
turn
celebrated
midwinter
so
about
the
of
the day, and
from
its
very nearly
coinciding with
our Christmas,
to
name,
"Yule,"
festival.
it
came
Yule
said
to
is
be applied
the
Christian
derived from a
this
name
of Odin, but
is
by Laing that
winter feast was held in
honour of Thor.
is
In Fouque^s writings a custom

the Scandinavians had of making
named which
vows to
another
accomplish
some
great
enterprise
boar's
before
at
new
year, over a golden
head
this winter feast; the
mention of the golden boar

festival
seems to connect the

probably
it
with the god Frey,
was a general propitiation of the summer
deities for the
coming year; the second

;
festival
was
in
honour of the goddesses
the third, about spring,

this
in honour of Odin, because at
season warlike
expeditions began
to
be undertaken.
THE WANDERINGS OF FREYJA.
CHAPTER
IV.
THE WANDERINGS OF
FREYJA.
PART L
THE NECKLACE BRISINGAMBN. Now, though Frey was made king and
master of
part
sister
school-
the
his
light
elves,
and
spent the greater

in
of
time
with
them
Alfheim,
his
Freyja remained in the city of Asgard, and

built
had a palace
this
for
her
named Folkvang.
very
beautiful
In
hall,
palace
there
was
one
Sessrymnir
the
"Roomy
every
Seated "where
Freyja
entertained her guests,
and she had always plenty

one
liked
to
of them;
beautiful
for
face,
look
at
her
and
listen
to her enchanting music
7o

anybody
else's.
which was quite superior to
She
had, moreover, a wonderful husband named Odur,
who was one

had
1 of the sons of the immortals, anr
come from a long way

her.
off
on
purpose
of
tc
marry
Freyja
often
to
was
speak
little
proud
to
this,
and used
the
of
it
Frigga
and
said
other ladies of Asgard.
Some
of
them
she was a very fortunate person; but some were a

little
jealous
of her,
whilst
Frigga always gravely
warned
her
not to
lest
be vain
should
on
account of her
her
un-
happiness,
awares.
sorrow
overtake
Everything
for
went
on
quite
smoothly,
however,
long time, Freyja

life
leading a very gay and
beautiful
in
the
sunshine of
her happiness,
and
her.
fair
herself a very radiant joy to every one around
But one day, one unlucky day, Freyja,
this
and
sunshiny
to
young
a
Vana, went
out
alone
from Asgard
take
walk
in
Alfheim.
She
hoped
to
meet somewhere
thereabouts
her dear
brother Frey,
time,
and
of
whom she had not whom she wanted

The
seen for a long

to
it
ask
a very
this;
particular favour.
occasion for
was
THE WANDERINGS OF FRE YJA.

Heimdall
x7 x
and
^gir
were
expected
to
dine
at
Valhalla the next day, and Freyja and her husband
were invited to meet

ladies
them.
All
the
lords
and
too,
of Asgard were to be there.
Niord,
was coming, with his new

of a giant
wife, Skadi, the daughter
"Every
Freyja,
one
will
be
beautifully
dressed," said
"and
/
are
have
not
single
ornament to
wear."
"But you
Freyja,"
said
more
beautiful
than
any
one,
her husband; "for you were
born
in the spacious
Wind-Home."
so
;
"All are
not
answered his wife
high-minded as you, Odur," " and if I go to Valhalla with-
out an ornament of
any
.
kind
shall
certainly
be looked down upon."
So
saying,
Freyja
set
off,
as
told
you,
to
Alfheim, determined
brother
to ask
of
her good-natured
at
least.
garland
of
flowers
But
somehow
where.
or other she could
not find
in
Frey anyshe
She
tried
to
keep
all
Alfheim
thought she was there; but

thinking of her dress
the time she was
and her ornaments, planning
173
what she should wear, and her steps went downward, downward, away from Alfheim to the cavern
of four dwarfs.
"Where am I?"
said
Freyja to herself,
as
she
at last lost the light of day,
and went down, wanbetween the

rock.
it
dering
walls,
on deeper and
deeper
high
and under the firm roof of
"Why,
is
surely this
must be Svartheim; and yet

quite
not
unpleasant, nor
is
dark
here, though
the
sun
not shining."
And
her,
in truth
in
it
was not dark ;
for, far
on before
inner-
winding
and out through the cavern's

were groups of
little
most
recesses,
men, who had

his
each a lantern in his cap and a pickaxe in
hand; and
they were working
hard,
digging
for
diamonds, which they piled up the

across the roof in white
walls,
and hung
coronets,
and rose-coloured
marvellously glittering.
Four clever
little
dwarf-chiefs were there directing
the labours of the rest; but, as soon as they caught

sight
of
Freyja,
they sat
to
down
work
in
the
centre
of
the cavern,
and began
diligently at
some-
thing which they held between them, bending over
FREYJA IN THE DWARFS* CAVE.

Page
172.

it
i;3
with strange
chattering
and
it
grimaces.
Freyja
felt
very curious to see what
was ; but her eyes
were so dazzled with the blaze of diamonds and

lanterns,
that
she was obliged

it
to
go nearer
in
order
to
distinguish
clearly.
Accordingly, she
sitting,
walked on to where the four dwarfs were
and
peeped
over their shoulders.

bewildering!
Ohl
brilliant!
exquisitely worked!
Freyja drew
back
again
with
almost
blinded
eyes; for she had looked upon the necklace Bri-
singamen, and at the same
moment a
passionate
it it
wish burst forth in her heart to have
for
her
own, to wear
it
in
fair
Valhalla,
to wear
always
round
Freyja,
her
own
neck.
"Life to
me," said
"is no
longer worth
having without Briit
singamen."
Then
the dwarfs held
out to her,
but also looked

did so, and
cunningly at
into a
one another as they

it
burst
laugh so loud that

caverns,
side,
rang
through
the
vaulted
echoed
and
echoed back again from side to

to dwarf, from depth to depth.
from dwarf
Freyja,
however,
only turned
her head a
little
on one
side,
stretched out her hand, grasped the

necklace with her small fingers, and then ran out
of
the cavern
as
quickly as ever she could,
again to the green hill-side.

fitted
There she
sat
up down and
after
the
brilliant
ornament about her neck,

little
which she looked a

of herself in a
still
shyly at the reflection
pool that
was near, and turned She

felt
homewards with an
tain
exulting heart.
cerall
that
all
was well with her; nevertheless,
was not
well, but very miserable indeed.
When
Freyja was
palace of
apartments,
come back
to
Asgard again, and to her
Folkvang, she sought her

that
own
private
she
might see
Odur
alone,
and
make him admire her necklace Brisingamen. But was not there. Odur She searched in every
room, hither and thither ;
to
but alas
he was not
in
all
be found
in
any room or any
hall
the
palace of Folkvang.
every place;
out,
Freyja searched for him in

restlessly
she walked
the
places of
about,
in
and
among
the
"Roomy
in
Seated." the
face
She peered
wistfully,
with
sad eyes,
of every guest ; but the only face she cared to see,
she never saw.
Odur was gone, gone back
for ever to the
home

of the Immortals.
175
Brisingamen and
Odur could
But
not live together in the palace of Folkvang.
Freyja did not know this; she did not know why Odur was gone, nor where he was gone; she only
saw he was not

sadly,
tears.
there,
and she wrung her hands

jewels
and
watered
her
with
salt,
warm
As she
of her
sat
thus and
all
mourned
ladies
in
the entrance
palace,
their
the
of
Asgard passed
at
her.
by on
way
to Valhalla,
and looked
Some
said
said
one
thing,
all
some another; but no one

encouraging, or
anything at
Frigga
much
all,
to
the
purpose.
raised
passed
by
little
last
of
and she
saying
her head with a

beauty,
severe shake,
pride,
something about
ment, which sank
the
and
and punish-
down
so deeply into the heart of

that she
sorrow-stricken
young Vana
and,
got up
with a desperate resolution,

before the throne of
presenting herself
to
Asa Odin, spoke

to
him thus
"Father of
not
turn
Êsir,
listen
my
weeping,
cruel
and do
I
away from me with a
frown.
have searched through

ail
my
palace of Folkvang, and

is
through the city of Asgard, but nowhere
Odir
176

Let
the Immortal to be found.

I
me
far
go, Father Odin,
beseech you, and seek him

air,
and
near, across
the earth, through the
over the sea, even to the
borders of Jotunheim."
And Odin
Then
chariot,
answered,
"Go,
Freyja,
and
good
fortune go with you."
Freyja sprang into her
swift,
softly-rolling
which was drawn by two

city,
cats,
waved her
hand as she rose over the
and was gone.
PART IL
LOKI
THE IRON WOOD

champed
A BOUNDLESS WASTE.
and skimmed
clinging steps,
rolled
THE
alike
cats
their bright bits,

air
over earth and

noiseless.
with
swift,
eager and
The
chariot
on,
and
every
Freyja was carried away up and

part of the world,
down
into
weeping golden
tears
wherever
cheeks,
she went; they
fell
down from
behind
beauty
to
her pale
in
little
and rippled
rivers,
away
carried
her
sunshiny
to
in
that
and weeping
greatest
city
every
the
land.
She
came
the
its
world, and drove
down
wide
streets.
"But none of
for
the houses here are
good enough
" I
will
Odur,"
for
said
at
Freyja
to
herself;
not
ask
him
such
doors
as
these."
17 8

on
to
So she went
king.
straight
the palace of the
"Is Odur
keeper.
in this palace?" she asked of the gate-
"Is
Odur,
the
Immortal,
living
with
the king?"
But the gate-keeper shook

that his master
his head,
and assured her
had never even heard of such a person.

turned
doors,
"Then
many
no one
Freyja
away,
and
for
knocked
at
other
in
stately
all
asking
city
Odur; but
as
that great
so
much
knew
her husband's name.
Then Freyja went

and shabby
but
only,
streets,
into
the
long,
narrow lanes
lived,
where the poor people

all
there
it
was
the
same;
every one
said
"No
not here," and stared at her.
In the night-time Freyja went quite away from

the
off
city,
and
the
lanes,
and the
cottages,
far
to
the
side of a lake,
where she
lay
down
and looked over

By-and-bye the
too,
into the water.
moon came and

and high;
face,
looked
there
in
and the Queen of Night saw a calm face

water,
the
serene
but the
Queen of
Beauty saw a troubled
frail
and
fair.

Brisingamen
179
was
reflected
in
the water the

little
too,
and
its
rare colours
flashed from
waves.
Freyja was pleased at
the
sight
of her
favourite
ornament,
tears;
and
as
smiled even in the

for
midst of her
of
Bri-
but
the
moon,
instead
singamen,
the
deep
sky
and
the
stars
were
around
her.
At
last
Freyja slept
by the
crept
side of
the lake,
and then a dark

which
took
Loki,
shape
up
the
bank
her,
It
on and
was
she was
lying,
sat
down
its
beside
her
fair
head
between
to
hands.
and he began
whisper into Freyja's ear
as she slept
"You
out
were quite
try
right,
Freyja,
"he
for
said,
"to go
in
and
to
get
something
staying at
yourself
Svartheim, instead of
home
to
with
care
your
husband.
for
It
was very wise of you
more
your dress and your beauty than for Odur.
You
went down into Svartheim, and found Brisingamen.
Then
the
Immortal went away; but

better
is
not
Bricry,
singamen
Freyja?
Freyja
then
he?
Why
and
do
you
Why
do you
start so ?"
turned,
moaning,
tried
to
lift
her
i8o
TH& HEROES OF ASGARD.

his
head from between
hands; but she could not,

if
and
it
seemed
in her
dream as
terrible night-
mare brooded over

"Erisingamen
in
is
her.
dragging
her
me
little
down,"
she cried
her sleep, and laid
hand
upon
the
clasp without
knowing what she was doing.

laugh burst
forth
Then a
and
great
in
Svartheim,
the
came
shuddering
it
up
through
vaulted
caverns until
lay.
shook the ground upon which she

up,
Loki
started
and
was
gone
before
Freyja had time to open her eyes.

It
was morning, and the young Vana prepared

on her journey.
is
to set out
"Brisingamen
farewell to her
is
fair,"
she
said,
as
she
bade
image
it
in
the lake.
"Brisingamen
fair;
but I find
this,
heavy sometimes."
After
Freyja
went
asking
to
many
the
cities,
and
towns, and villages,
everywhere for
all
Odur;
but there
could
tell
was
not
one
in
world
who
last
her where he was gone,
and
at
her chariot rolled eastward and northward to the

very borders of Jotunheim.
for before
There Freyja stopped
her lay Jarnvid, the Iron
Wood, which

was one road from earth to the abode of the
X 8i
giants,
and whose
to
tall
trees,
black and hard, were trying
pull
down
the
sat
sky with their iron claws.
In
the
to
entrance
the
forest
an
Iron Witch,
with
her
the
back
and
her
face
towards
Vana
Jarnvid was
Iron
foxes,
full
of the sons and daughters of this
Witch;
they
were
wolves,
and
birds.
bears,
and
and many-headed ravenous

a raven
"Eastward," croaked
near
Eastward
as
Freyja
drew
in the
Iron
Wood
The
old one sitteth ;*
and there she did

to
sit,
talking in quarrelsome tones
her wolf-sons and
vulture-daughters,
who
an-
swered from the wood behind her, howling, screeching,
and screaming
din,
all
at the
same
time.
There
was a horrible
and Freyja began

never
to fear that
her low voice would
be heard.
She was
obliged to get out of her chariot, and walk close
up
to
the old
witch,
so that she
might whisper
in her ear.
"Can you tell me, old mother," she said, "where " Odur is ? Have you seen him pass this way ?
182

don't understand one
"I
word of what you are

;
saying," answered the iron

I
woman
in
" and
if I
did,
have
no time
to
waste
answering
foolish
questions."
Now, the
witch's
words struck
like daggers into
Freyja's heart,
pull
and she was not strong enough
to
them out again; so she stood there a long

knowing what she should do.
better go," said the crone to her at
time, not
"You had
last;
"there's
this
no use
the
in
standing
there crying."
For
was
grandmother of strong-minded
tears.
women, and she hated
Then
Freyja
got
into
her chariot
again,
and
went westward a long way to the wide, boundless

land where impenetrable forests were growing, and
undying nature reigned in
silence.
She knew that

for,
the silent Vidar was living there;
not finding
any pleasure in the gay society of Asgard, he had

obtained
permission
from
is
Father
Odin
Êsir,
to
retire
to this place.
"He
one of the
and
per-
haps he
will
be able to help me," said the sad-
hearted young Vana, as her chariot rolled on through
empty moor-lands and
forests,
always in
twilight

Her
shape
ear heard
;
^3
no sound, her eye saw no living but still she went on with a trembling
she came to the spot
hope
till
"
Begrown with branches
And high
grass,
Which was
Vidar's dwelling."
Vidar was
silent
sitting
there firm as an oak,
and as
as
night
Long
grass
grew
up through
trees
his
long hau:,
and the branches of

his
crossed
each other over his eyes;

with
beard.
ears
were covered
moss,
and
dewdrops
glistened
upon
his
"It
Freyja,
afraid
is
almost impossible to get to him," sighed

all
"through
his
these
wet leaves, and I

1
am
But
moss-covered ears are very
deaf.'
she threw herself
and
thick
said,
down on the ground before him, " Tell me, Vidar, does Odur hide among
or
is
trees?
he wandering over the
broad
west lands?"
Vidar did not answer her

over his face, as
if
only a pale gleam shot
reflected
from that of Freyja,
like sunshine breaking
through a
wood
herself;
"He
does not hear me," said Freyja to

and
she
crushed
nearer
tell
to
him
through
the
branches.
"Only
me,
Vidar," she said,

for
"is
Odur here?"
no
voice.
But Vidar said nothing,
he had
Then Freyja
bitterly
last,
hid her face in her lap, and wept
for
a long time.
up,
"An
better
really
Asa," she said, at

to
in
looking
"is
no
is
one than
an
Iron Witch
when one
trouble;" and
then she gathered her disordered dress about her,
threw back
into her
her
long
bright hair,
and,
springing
chariot,
once again went wearily on her
wmy.
,85
PART
IIL
HIS DAUGHTERS.
THE KING OP THE SEA AND
AT
last
she
came
to
the
wide
sea-coast,
It
and
was
there everything
was gloriously
beautiful.
evening, and the western sky looked
like
a broad
but
crimson flower.
the
No
wind
stirred
the ocean,
small waves rippled in rose-coloured froth on
the shore, like the smiles of a giant at play.

Êgir,
the
old
sea-king,
supported
himself
on
his for
the sand, whilst

breast,
the
cool waters
were laving
and
his ears
drank
their sweet
murmur;
nine waves were his beautiful daughters, and they
and
their
father
were
talking
together.
old,
Now,
he was
though
Êgir
looked so stormy and

as a child,
really as gentle
and no mischief would
186

in
his
ever have happened
kingdom
if
he
had
wife,
been
called
left
to
himself.
But he had a cruel

the
Ran, who
so
eagerly
was
fond
daughter
of a
giant,
and
of fishing
that,
call
whenever
any of the rough

husband, she used
winds came to
to
steal
upon her
out of the deep seafor miles

her,
caves where she lived,
and follow ships

her
net
after
under
that
the
water,
dragging
catch
so
she
might
any
one
who
fell
over-
board.
Freyja wandered along

place where the Sea
the
shore
lying,
towards
the
King was
and as she
went she heard him speaking to
his daughters.
"What
is
the history of Freyja?" he asked.
And
the
first
is
wave answered,
fair
"Freyja
young Vana,
who once was
happy
in Asgard.
"
Then
the second wave said,

left
"But she
her
fair
palace there, and Odur,
her Immortal Love."
Third wave, " She went down to the cavern of dwarfs."

Fourth wave,

"She found Brisingamen
away with her."
Fifth wave,
there,
and
carried
it
" But when she got back to Folkvang she found that Odur was gone."
Sixth wave,
"Because
the
Vana
had
loved
herself
more
than Immortal Love."
Seventh wave,
"Freyja
will
will
never
be
happy
again,
for
Odur
never come back."
Eighth wave,
"Odur
will
never
come back
as
long
as the
world shall last"
Ninth wave,
"Odur
to weep."
will
never
return,
nor
Freyja
forget
Freyja
stood
still,
spell-bound,
listening,
and
when she heard

never
cried,
the last words, that
Odur would
hands,
come
back,
she
wrung
her
and
"
O, Father Êgir
sea,
trouble comes,
comes surging
into
up from a wide
wave over wave,
my
souL H
!88

in truth
it
And
to
seemed as
if
her words had power
change the
whole surface of the ocean

higher
wave
over
wave
seen
rose
and
spoke
louder
distance
Ran
old sea
was
dragging
her net in the
^gir
shouted,
and
in
dashed
into
the
deep
fell
and sky mixed

the
storm.
confusion,
and night
upon
Then
Freyja
sank
down exhausted
kind daughter,
on the sand, where she lay

the sleepy
little
until her
Siofna,
came and
carried her
home
Vana
again in her arms.
After this the beautiful
lived in her palace of Folkvang,

sisters,
with friends and

return,
Êsir
and Asyniur, but Odur did not
nor Freyja forget to weep.
Freyja,
as
she
appears
in
the
Edda,
all
was the
sorts
goddess of the beautiful year and of

love.
of
is
The
story
;
of her
it
marriage
with
Odur
extremely obscure
is
is
even thought that Odur
only a form of Odin, and, in like manner, that
Freyja and Frigga are very intimately connected.

Frigâ was the patroness of married love, of the
happiness and duties of the
home
(originally,
she

and Freyja and
all
189
the great goddesses were probably

;
personifications of the earth)
but Freyja, as goddess
of love,
is
less
developed
in idea than Frigga, she
has more of the nature goddess, less of the

in her.
woman
Odin
She was said to divide the
spoil with
in battle, taking half the slain for herself
and leaving
her having
him the other

been
at
half,
which
points
to
one time
his wife
and sharing
all
with him.
Supposing her to have been the beautiful year, or

rather
the
earth
during the beautiful part of
the
year, Odur leaving her would imply the beginning
of the shortening of the days at midsummer.

source of
The
summer
flies,
Summer
seeks
him weeping
golden
leaves
gifts
tears.
Do
these
mean Autumn's golden
and
falling fruits? or that the Sun's beautiful
must ever follow him.
This myth of Summer's source, the Sun, declining
from the year has,
it
is
supposed, been given to

to belong
Odur because
it
was not important enough

it
to the greatest of the gods, although
was really
wrapped up
in his nature,
in
tells
and the names Odur and

Simrock
death
says,
Odin
are
identical
German.
us
"Every mythology
of
the
of the
190

like the flight
beautiful part of the year
of a god,
beloved."
see
who
is
mourned by
at
his
wife
or
his
Looked
from
this
point of view,
we
the
summerly
earth vaunting
and decking
herself with
her richest jewels in the deepest pride of her delight

at the very
is
moment when
the spirit of her existence
stealing away from
her.
The summer - decked

life,
earth,
without the sun of her

mortal.
is
soulless,
has
become
But
it
must be confessed that the
Edda
is
very obscure about Brisingamen, and does
not mention the necklace in connection with Odur*s

departure.
The
Iron Witch was the mother of two

the sun and the
the
wolves
who devoured
is
moon
at
Ragnarok, she
not mentioned in
lay.
myth of
Freyja, but in another

that
It
has been suggested

the
Freyja's
tears
may be
dew, and she in
character of Aurora
for
when she sheds them, weeping
some
star
god of the night
We
shall
now
hear the story of Iduna
a dwarfs
daughter, the wife of Bragi and goddess of Spring,
the renewing of
life.
IDUNA S APPLES.
191
CHAPTER
V.
IDUNA'S APPLES.
PART L
REFLECTIONS IN THE WATER
OF
was
the
all
the groves and gardens round the city of
Asgard
and they were many and

beautiful
beautiful
there
none so
as
the one
It
where Iduna,
wife of Bragi,
hill,
lived.
stood on the south

it
side of the
not far from Gladsheim, and
was
called
"Always Young," because nothing

ever decay,
it
that grew
least
there could
or
become the
bit
older than
it
was on the day when Iduna entered
The
trees
wore
always a tender, light green
colour, as
the hedges
do
in
spring.
The
flowers
ig 2
were mostly half-opened, and every blade of grass

bore
always a trembling, glittering drop

Brisk
little
of early
dew.
winds wandered about the grove,

till
making
the leaves dance from morning
night
and swaying backwards and forwards the heads of

the flowers.
" " " Blow away 1 said the leaves to the wind, for
we
shall
never be tired."
"And
in answer.
you
will
never be old,
said
the
winds
And
then the birds took up the chorus
and
sang,
tired
"Never
and never old."

fit
Iduna, the mistress of the grove, was
to live
among young
flowers.
birds,
and tender
fair
leaves,
and spring
She was so
that
when she bent over come

to her, even
afraid
to
the river to entice her swans to
the stupid fish
stood
still
in
the
water,
destroy so beautiful an image by

it;
swimming
over
and when she

swans to
held
eat,
it
out her
hand with bread
for the
it
you would not have known

was so wonderfully white.
visit
from a water-lily
Iduna never
to her
left
her grove even to pay a
nearest
neighbour,
and
yet
she did
not
WUNA'S APPLES.
lead by any
the
means a
dull life; for,
besides having
company of her husband,
Bragi,
who must have

with; for
been an entertaining person to

is
live
he
said to
have known a story which never came
to
an end, and yet which never grew wearisome.

Asgard made a point of coming
It
All the heroes of

to call
upon her every day.

visit
was natural enough
that they should like to
so beautiful a grove
to confess the truth,
and so
it
fair
a lady; and
yet,
was not quite to see
either the grove or
Iduna
that they came.
Iduna
herself
visitors
was
well
aware
of
this,
and
when her
her,
had chatted a short time with

failed
she
never
recess
to
to
bring
out
from
the
innermost
casket,
of her
request,
bower a certain
as
golden
her
they
her-
and
favour,
that
till
guests
would not
think
of
going away
she
had tasted her apples,

self,
which,
flattered
had a
better flavour
than any other
fruit
in
the world.
It
would
have
been
quite
unlike
hero
and,
of
Asgard to
sides,
have refused
such
as
far
courtesy;
beher
Iduna
was
not
wrong
about
194

as
hostesses generally
are,
apples
when
they
boast of the good things on their tables.
There
is
no
if
doubt her
apples had a peculiar
flavour; and
to
any one of the heroes

tired,
happened
of
the
spirits,
be
a
little
little
or
little
out
into
or a
it
cross,
when he came
that,
bower,
always
followed
as
soon
as
he
fresh,
had
eaten
one apple, he found himself as
and
in
vigorous,
his
life.
and
happy as he had
ever
been
So fond were the heroes of these

so
necessary did they think
that
apples,
their
and
daily
them
to
comfort,
they never went on a journey with-
out
requesting
Iduna to give
them
one or two,
to fortify
them
against the fatigues of the way.

difficulty
Iduna had no
request; she had
for
in
complying with
this
no
fear of her store ever failing.
as
surely
as
fell
she
in;
took
an
apple
it
from
her
casket another
but where
came
from
it
Iduna
till
could
never
discover.
She
never
saw
it
was close to the bottom of the casket; but

heard
it
she
always
the
sweet
the
tinkling
rim.
sound
It
it
made when
touched
golden
was
IDUNA GIVING THE MAGIC APPLES.

Page
195.
IDUNA'S APPLES.
as
195
good as play
the
to
Iduna to stand by her

out,
casket,
fresh
taking
rosy
apples
and watching
in,
the
ones
come
tumbling
without
knowing
who threw them.
One
spring morning Iduna was very busy taking

;
apples out of her casket
for several of the heroes
were taking advantage of the fine weather to journey

out into the world.
for
Bragi was going from
home
his
a time;
perhaps he was tired of
telling
story only to Iduna,

to
and perhaps she was beginning
know
it
by heart; and Odin, Loki, and Hoenir

little
had agreed to take a
tour in the direction
of Jotunheim, just to see

venture would
befall
if
any entertaining ad-
them.
When
and
they had
all
received their apples,
and taken a tender

green
fair
farewell
it
of
Iduna,
the
grove
as
was
looked, perhaps, a
little solitary.
Iduna stood by her fountain, watching the bright

water as
it
danced up into the
air
and quivered,
and
little
turned,
flashing
tired,
and
fell
back,
making a hundred and then she
circles
in
the river;
grew
for
once,
of the li^ht and the noise,

to
and
wandered
down
still
place,
where the
196

was shaded by low bushes on each
side,
river
and
reflected clearly the blue sky overhead.
Iduna
sat
down and looked
into the
deep water.
wander-
Besides her
ing,
own
fair
face there were
little,
white clouds to be seen reflected there.

past.
She
counted them as they sailed

strange
At length a
her
form
large,
was
dark,
reflected
up
to
from the
water
lowering wings,
pointed claws,
a head with
fierce eyes
looking at her.
It
Iduna started and raised her head.

as well as below; the
was above
same wings
the
same eyes
the
the
sky,
same head
looking
down from
water.
blue
sight
as well as
up from the
Such a
before;
its
had never
while
been seen near Asgard

looked,
th
till it
and,
wings,
Iduna
thing waved
and went up, up, up,
lessened to a dark spot
in the clouds and on the river.

It
was no longer
its
terrible to
look at; but, as

little
it
shook
fell
wings a number of
black feathers
from them, and flew down towards the grove.

the
trees,
As they neared
like feathers
they no longer looked
each had two independent wings and
a head of
its
own; they were,
in fact, a
swarm
of
IDUNA S APPLES.
Nervous Apprehensions;
troublesome
little
197
insects
enough, and well-known elsewhere, but which now,

for the first time,
found
their
way
into the grove.
Iduna ran
off;
away from
them;
she shook
them
but
she fought quite
bravely
against
to
them;
they are
by no means easy
last,
get rid of;

folds
and
when, at
dress,
one crept within the

itself
of her
and twisted
feeling
to
down
there
to her heart, a new,
strange
thrilled
feeling
never yet
known
any dweller in Asgard.

it
Iduna did not
know what to make of
198
PARTH.
THE WINGED-GIANT.
IN
the
meantime Odin, Loki, and
Hcenir
pro-
ceeded on their journey.
They were not bound They

strayed
hither
on any
particular quest
and
thither that
Odin might see that things were going

the world, and his subjects comporting
in
on well
in
themselves
becoming
halted
manner.
Every now
inspected
the
and
then
they
while
Odin
thatching of a barn, or stood at the smithy to see
how
to
the smith wielded his hammer, or in a furrow

if
observe
the
ploughman guided
soil.
his
plough-
share
said
evenly through the

if
"Well done," he
all
the
workman was working with

he
turned
hit
might;
and
away,
leaving
something
IDUNA 'S APPLES.

behind him, a straw in the barn, a piece of old
iron at the forge-door, a grain in the furrow
to look at
;
nothing
full,
but ever after the barn was always
the
forge-fire
never
went
out,
the
field
yielded
bountifully.
Towards noon the JEsir reached a shady

and, feeling
sit
valley,
tired
and hungry, Odin proposed to

tree,
down under a
and while he rested and
studied a
book of runes which he had with him,

Hoenir
to
he requested Loki and

dinner.
prepare
some
"I
will
undertake the meat and the
fire,"
said
Hoenir;
"you, Loki, will like nothing better than
foraging about for what good things you can pick up."
"That
Loki.
is
precisely
is
what I mean
to
do,"
said
"There
I
farm-house near here, from

It will
which
can perceive a savoury smell.

with
be
to
strange,
my
cunning,
all
if I
do not contrive
this
have the best of

before your
fire is
the
dishes under
tree
burnt up."
stone in his hand,
large
As Loki spoke he turned a

black cat
and immediately he assumed the shape of a

In
this
form he
stole in at the kitchen-
too
window of a farm-house, where a busy housewife

was intent on taking pies and cakes from a deep
oven, and ranging them on a dresser
under
the
window.
Loki watched
his opportunity,
and when-
ever the mistress's back was turned he whisked a
cake or a pie out of the window.
"One,
two, three.
Why,
there
are
fewer every
cried
time I bring a fresh one from the oven !"

the
bewildered
I see the
housewife.
tail
"It's
that
thieving
cat
end of her
on the
window-sill."
to
Out of the window

a stone a
thin
at the cat,
leant the housewife
throw
but she could see nothing but
cow
trespassing in her garden;
and when
she ran out with a stick to drive away the cow,

it,
too,
had vanished, and an old
raven, with
six
young ones, was
flying over the garden-hedge.
The
pies
;
raven was
Loki, the
little
ones were the
and when he reached the
valley,
and changed
himself and them into their proper shapes, he had
a hearty laugh
at
>us
own
cleverness,
and
at
the
old woman's dismay. " Well done, Loki, king of thieves," said a chorus
of foxes,
who peeped
out of their holes to see the
IDUNAS APPLES.
only one of the Êsir whose conduct they could
appreciate;
but Odin, when he heard of

thinking
it
it,
was was
very
far
from
well
done.
He
extremely displeased with Loki for having disgraced

himself by such
mean
he
tricks.
"It
well
it
is
true/'
said,
"that
with
my
all
subjects
may
be glad to
furnish
me
I require, but
should be done knowingly.
Return to the farm-
house, and place these three black stones on the

table from
whence you
stole the provisions."
Loki
unwilling as
he was to do anything
he
believed likely to bring good to others

to
was obliged
obey.
He made
himself into the shape of a
white owl, flew once more
through
the window,
and dropped the stones out of his beak; they sank deep into the table, and looked like three
black stains on the white deal-board.
From
there
that
time the housewife led an easy
life;
was
no
need
for
her
to
grind
corn,
or
mix dough, or prepare meat

kitchen
at
Let her enter hei
what
time
of
day she would, stores
of provisions stood smoking hot on the table.
She
kept her
own counsel about o
it,
and enjoyed the
102

of being
the whole
the
reputation
most
economical housebut one thing
keeper in
country-side;
disturbed her mind, and prevented her thoroughly
enjoying the envy and wonder of the neighbouring

wives.
All the rubbing, and brushing, and cleanthe

stains
ing
in
world
would
not
remove
the
as
three
black
from her
kitchen table,
and
she
had no cooking to do, she spent the greater part

of her time in looking at them.
"If they were but gone," she

times every day,
is
said,
a hundred but
"I
own
should be content;
life
how
one to enjoy one's
when one cannot rub

"
the stains off one's
table ?
Perhaps Loki foresaw how the good wife would

use her gift;
for
he came
spirits.
back from
the
farm-
house in the best

Father
Odin's
;
"We
sit
will
now,
to
with
permission,
down
dinner,"
he said
" for surely, brother Hcenir, while I have

so
been
making
many
journeys to and
with
that
fro,
you
have been doing

I
something
fire
which
see
blazing so fiercely, and with
that
old iron
pot smoking over it"
"The
meat
will
be by
this
time
ready,
no
IDUNA'S APPLES.
"
203
doubt," said
Hcenir.
killed
it
wild
ox while
you were away, and part of
has been
now
for
some time stewing
in
the pot."
The
-#Lsir
now
lifted
seated
themselves near the

lid
fire,
and Hcenir
up
the
it;
of the pot.
A
took
as
thick
steam rose up from

the
but
when
he
out
meat
first
it
was as red and uncooked

it
when
he
"
put
into the pot.

said
Patience,"
Hcenir ;
and Odin again took
out his book of Runes.
Another hour passed, and

lid,
Hcenir again took off the

but
it
and looked
at the meat;
was
in
precisely the
same
state
as
before.
This happened several times,

ning Loki was puzzled;
noise was heard
and even
the
cun-
when, suddenly, a strange

tree near, and, look-
coming from a
ing up, they saw an enormous human-headed eagle
seated on one of the branches, and looking at them
with two fierce eyes.
While they looked

it
it
spoke.
"Give me
my
share of the feast,"
said,
"and
the meat shall presently be done." " Come down and take it it lies before you,"
said
Loki,
;
while
Odin looked on with thoughtful

plainly that
it
eyes
for
he saw
was
no mortal
204

who had
the boldness to claim a share
in
bird
the Êsir's food.
Undaunted by Odin's majestic
looks, the
eagle
flew down, and, seizing a large piece of meat,
was
going to
fly
away with
it,
when Loki,
his power,
thinking
he had now got the bird in

stick that lay near,
took up a
and struck a hard blow on the

stick
eagle's back.
it
The
made a
tried to
ringing sound as
fell; but,
when Loki
it
draw
it
back, he
found that
eagle's
stuck with extraordinary force to the
back; neither could he withdraw his own
hands from the other end.

Something
half -human,
like
a laugh came from the creature's

-
half - bird
like
mouth;
and then
into
it
spread
its
dark wings and rose

after.
up
the
air,
dragging Loki
"It
eagle's
is
as I thought," said Odin, as
he saw the
against
enormous
is
bulk
brought
strongest
to
out
the
sky;
heim,
"it
Thiassi, the
giant in Jotunin
who has presumed

and
show himself
our
presence.
Loki has only received the reward of

it
his treachery,
fere
would ill-become us to
but,
inter-
in
his
behalf;
as
the monster
is
near,
IDUNAS APPLES.
it
205
will
be well
for us to return to Asgard, lest
any
misfortune should befall the city in our absence."
While
risen
Odin
spoke,
the
winged
creature
had
the
to
but,
up so high as to be invisible even to

of the
Êsir;
eyes
and,
during
their
return
Asgard, he did not again appear before

as they
them
approached the gates of the
city,
they were
surprised to see Loki
coming to meet them.
He
had a
crest-fallen
and bewildered look; and when
they questioned him as to what had happened to
him since they parted

declared himself
further
in
such a strange way, he

to
to
be quite unable
adventures
give
that
any
account
of his
than
air
he
had
giant,
been carried rapidly through the

and,
at
last,
by the
a
great
thrown
down
from
height near the place where the Êsir met him.
Odin
looked
steadfastly
at
him as he
further:
spoke,
for
but he forbore
to
question him
he
knew
truth
well that there
was no hope of hearing the

he
felt
from
Loki,
and
kept
that
within
his
own
mind the conviction he

result
some
disastrous
must follow a
meeting
between
two
such
evil-doers as Loki
and the
giant Thiassi
206

all
That evening, when the Êsir were
feasting
and
telling stories
to each other in the great hall

stole
of Valhalla,
Loki
out from Gladsheim, and

in
went alone to
a
still,
visit
Iduna
her grove.
leaves
It
was
trees
bright
softly
evening.
The
of
the
moved
to
up and down, whispering sweet words

the
to
flowers, their
each
other;
sleepily
with
half-shut
eyes,
nodded
water,
own
reflections
in
the
and Iduna
resting in
sat
by the
hand,
fountain,
with
her
head
flings.
one
thinking
of pleasant
"It
is
afl
very
well,"
thought Loki;
"but
am
not the happier because people can here

lives.
live
such pleasant
It
does not do
me
any good,
or cure the pain I have had so long in

Loki's
fell
my
heart"
long shadow
for
the
sun was setting
on the
start
water
as
he
approached,
sight
and made
that
Iduna
She remembered the
had
disturbed her so
much
in the
morning; but when
she saw
only
Loki, she
looked
up
and
smiled
kindly; for
he had often accompanied the other
JEsir in their visits to her grove.
"I am wearied with a long journey,"
said Loki
IDUNAS APPLES.
abruptly,
to refresh
207
"and
would eat one of your apples
me
after side,
my
fatigue."
The
casket stood
in
by Iduna's
and she immediately put

apple.
her
hand and gave Loki an

instead
eat
it,
To
her surprise,
to
of thanking her
warmly, or beginning
he turned
it
round and round in his hand

air.
with a contemptuous
"It
tently
is
true then,"
he
said,
after
looking
in-
at
the
apple for some time,
"your apples
I I
are but small
and
withered in comparison.
it
was
can
unwilling
to
believe
at
first,
but
now
doubt no longer."
"Small
hastily.
and
withered I*
said
Iduna,
rising
tra-
Nay,
Asa
Odin
himself,
who
has
versed
the whole world,
assures
me
that he has
never seen any to be compared to them."
"That
Loki; "for
a
tree, in
will this
never
be
said I
again,"
returned
very afternoon
far
have discovered
a grove not
from Asgard, on which

that
grow
apples so
beautiful
no
one who
n
has
seen them will ever care again for yours.
"I do not wish

Iduna,
trying
to
see or hear of them," said
to
turn
away
with
an
indifferent
208

but
air;
Loki
followed
her,
and
continued
to
speak more and more strongly

this
of the
beauty of
new
fruit,
hinting that
Iduna would be sorry

listen
that
all
she had
refused to
deserting
when she found

the
her
guests
her
for
new
grove,
and when even

her and of her
Bragi
gifts.
began
to
think
lightly of
At
this
Iduna sighed, and
Loki came up close to her, and whispered in her

ear,
" It
is
but a short way
from Asgard,
and the
sun has not yet set
Come
out with me, and, be-
fore any one else has seen the apples, you shall
gather them,
and
put them in your

ever
casket,
and
no woman
shall
have
it
in
her
power to
boast that she can feast the Êsir more sumptuously n than Iduna.
Now
Iduna
had often been cautioned by her

let
husband never to
the grove,
here,
anything tempt her to leave
and
she
she
had
always
there
been
so
happy
use
in
that
thought
was
no
his telling her the
same thing so often over; but

so
full
now her mind was

tiful
of the wonderfully beau-
fruit,
and
she
felt
such a burning
wish
to
ID UNA S APPLES.
1
get
it
for herself,
that
she quite forgot
her
hus-
band's commands.
"It
is
only a
little
way," she said to

in
herself;
this
"there can be
no harm
Loki
going
out just
her,
once;"
and,
as
went
on
urging
she
took up her casket from the ground
hastily,
this
and
other
begged him
grove.
to
show her the way
to
Loki walked very quickly, and Idun had
not time to collect her thoughts before she found

herself at
the
entrance of Always
Young. At the
gate she would gladly have
stopped a minute to
take breath; but Loki took hold of her hand, and

forced her
to
pass
through,
though, at
;
the very
it
moment
to
of passing, she half drew back

if
for
seemed
her as
all
the
trees
in
the
grove suddenly
called
out in alarm, "

back, Iduna
"
!
Come
back,
come back, Oh,
come
but
She half drew back her hand,

behind her, and
it
was too
late; the gate fell
she and Loki stood together without the grove.
The
trees rose
up between them and the
setting
sun, and
cast
a deep shadow on the place where a

cold,
they stood;
night
shiver.
air
blew
on
Iduna's
cheek, and
made her
210

on,"
"Let us hasten
she
said
to
Loki;
"let
us hasten on, and soon
come back
again."
But Loki was not looking on,

up.
he was looking
Iduna
raised her eyes in the direction of his,

for
and her heart died within her;

over her head, just as
she
there, high
it
up
the
had
seen
in
morning, hung the lowering, dark wings

talons
the sharp
the fierce
it
head, looking
still
at her.
For one
moment
lower,
stood
above her head, and then
lower,
lower,
the huge
shadow
fell;
and,
before Idun found breath to speak, the dark wings
were
folded
the
round
her,
and she was borne high

towards the
grey mist
till
up
in
air,
northwards,
that hangs over Jotunheim.
Loki watched
returned
to
she
was out of
sight,
and
then
giant
truth,
Asgard.
to
The presence
him;
release
for
of the had,
in
was
no
wonder
his
he
purchased
own
by promising
his
to
deliver
but,
up Iduna and her

alone
casket into
power;
as he returned
through the grove, a foreboding fear pressed on his
mind.
"If
it
should be true," he thought, "thatlduna's

the
apples have
wonderful power Odin
attributes
WUNA'S APPLES.
to
them!
if I
among
the rest
should
suffer
from
the loss!"
Occupied with these thoughts, he passed quickly
among
around
fancied
the trees, keeping his
eyes resolutely fixed
on the ground.
;
He
dare not trust himself to look

raised his head, he
for once,
that,
when he had
through
gliding
the
brushwood,
face
he
his
had seen the

daughter Hela.
dark robes
and pale
of
312
PART
IH.
HELA.
WHEN
it
was known
that
Iduna had disappeared
from her grove, there were

in Asgard,
for her.
many
sorrowful
faces
and anxious voices were heard inquiring

face,
Loki walked about with as grave a

questions, as
and asked as many

but
any
one
else;
he
had a
secret fear
at
that
became
stronger
every
day,
that now,
last,
the consequence of
out.
his evil
ways would find him
Days passed on, and the looks of

of wearing
-dSsir.
care,
instead
away,
deepened on the faces
of the
They met, and looked

all
at each other,
and
turned away sighing;
each saw that some strange

the others,
change was creeping over
and none
WUNA 'S APPLES.

liked
to be the
first
to speak of it
It
came on
day,
very
gradually
little
change
every
and
no
day
ever
passing
trees in
first
without
the change.
The
leaves of the
colour.
Iduna's grove deepened in

green, then
They
red,
became a sombre
at last,
glowing
and,
a pale brown;
and
when the
they
brisk winds
came and blew them

languidly.
about,
moved
every day more
"Let us
tired, tired,
alone," they said at length.

tired."
"We
are
The
winds, surprised, carried the

it
new sound
to
Gladsheim, and whispered

hall
all
round the banquetthen they rushed
where
the Êsir
sat,
and
back again, and blew
all
through the grove.
"We
tired,
are are
tired,"
said the leaves again;
"we
are
we
old;
we
are going to die;" and at the trees
the word they broke from
one by one,
anywhere;
do,
and
fluttered to the ground, glad to rest
and
the winds,
having
nothing
else
to
went
back to Gladsheim with the
last strange
word they
had learned.
The
there
Êsir were all
assembled in Valhalla; but

told,
were
no
stories
and
no songs sung.
2T4

one spoke much but Loki, and he was
in
No
day
to
that
a talking humour.
whispering
He moved
unwelcome
from one
another,
ear.
an
word
in
every
"Have you
said to Baldur.
is
noticed
your mother
Frigga?"
he
hair
"Do
you see how white her
growing, and what a number of deep
lines are
printed
on her face?"
to Frey.
Then he turned
"Look
at your sister
said,
Freyja and your friend Baldur," he

sit
"as they
over
opposite to us.
lately
!
What a change has come

would think
that that pale
them
and
Who
man
that
faded
woman were
fair?
Baldur the beautiful
and Freyja the
"You
to
die,"
are tired
you
are old
you are
all
going
moaned
halls,
the winds, wandering
round
the great
and
coming
all
in
and out of the

looked
for
hundred doorways, and

at
the Êsir
saw,
up
first
the
sad
that
sound.
Then they
guest
the
time,
new
had
seated
herself
that
day
at the table of the Êsir.
There could be no
the score of royalty,
question
for
of
her
fitness
on
a crown rested on her brow, and in her hand
IDVNA'S APPLES.
she held a sceptre;
the
215
but the fingers that grasped
sceptre were white
and
fleshless,
and under
Hela,
the crown
looked
the threatening
face of
half corpse, half queen.
A
and
great fear
fell
on
all
the Êsir as they looked,

voice
to
only Odin found
speak
to
her.
"Dreadful
daughter
of
Loki!"
he
said,
"by
what warrant do you dare to leave the kingdom

where I permit you to
your
for
reign,
Êsir,
and come
to
take
place
among
the
who
are
no mates
such as you?"
raised her
Then Hela
one
bony
finger,
and pointed,
sat
faces,
by
one,
hair,"
to
the
said,
guests
that
round.
"White
limbs,
she
"wrinkled
are
weary
dull
eyes
these
the
warrants
which
have summoned
to
sit
me
from
I
the
land
of shadows
among
the Êsir.
signs,
have come to claim

future
guests,
you,
tell
by these
you that
kingdom."
I
as
my
and
to
am
preparing a place for you in
my
At every word she spoke a gust of icy wind came from her mouth and froze the blood in the
listeners'
veins.
If
she
had stayed
moment
216

but
longer they would have stiffened into stone
when she had spoken thus, she rose and left the hall, and the sighing winds went out with her.
Then,
spoke.
is
after
a long silence, Bragi stood up and
"-dEsir,"
he
said,
"We
are to blame.
carried
It
now many months since Idun was from us; we have mourned for her,
not
yet avenged
away
but
we have
left
her
loss.
Since she
us a
us,
strange weariness and despair have
come over
if
and we
sit
looking on each other as
we had
ceased to be warriors and Êsir.

unless
It is plain that,
Idun
returns,
we
are lost
Let
two of us
journey to the
neglected
to
Urda
fount,
which we have so long

from the
visit,
and
enquire of her
all
Norns
for
they
know
things
is,
and then, when

will
we have
liberty,
if
learnt
where she
till
we
die;
fight for her
need be,
fitting
we
for
that will
sit
be
an end more
wither
for us
than to
here and
away under the breath of Hela."

these words of Bragi the Êsir
felt
At
a revival
of their old strength and courage.
Odin approved
that
of
Bragi's
proposal,
and
decreed
he
and
Baldur should undertake the journey to the dwell-
'S
APPLES.
ing-place of the
set forth;
for
Norns.
visit
That very evening they
Hela's
lose.
showed them
that
they
had no time to
It
was a weary time to the dwellers

absent
in
Asgard
while they were
Two new
city,
citizens
had
taken up their abode in the
Age and Pain.
They walked the streets hand-in-hand, and there was no use in shutting the doors against them \ for
however closely the entrance was barred, the dwellen
in the houses felt
them as they passed.
2i8
PART
IV.
FIRE.
THROUGH FLOOD AND
AT
length,
Baldur
and
Bragi
returned
in
with
the
answer of the Norns, couched
mystic
words,
which Odin alone could understand.

Loki's treacherous conduct to the ^sir,
that
It revealed
and declared
Loki,
Idun could only be brought back by
who must go
in search of her, clothed in Freyja's
garments of falcon feathers.
Loki was very unwilling to venture on such a

search
if
;
but Thor threatened him with instant death

failed
he refused to obey Odin's commands, or
to bring
back Idflna;
to
and, for his
own
safety
he
was obliged
wings
to
allow Freyja to fasten the falcon

shoulders,
his
and to
set
off
towards
1DUNAS APPLES.
Thiassi's castle in Jotunheim,
3x9
where he well knew
that
It
Iduna was imprisoned.
was called a castle; but
it
was, in reality, a
hollow in a dark rock; the sea broke against two

sides
of it;
and,
above, the sea-birds clamoured
day and night
There the giant had taken Iduna on the night
on which she had
left
her grove; and, fearing
lest
Odin should spy her from Air Throne, he had shut

her up in a
gloomy chamber, and
strictly
forbidden
her ever to
come out
fresh
safer
air
It
was hard
to
be shut
up
from
the
it
and
sunshine;
and
she
yet,
perhaps,
was
for
Idun
than
if
had
been allowed to wander about Jotunheim, and see

the
monstrous
sights
that
would
have met her
there.
She saw
servants,
nothing
but
Thiassi
himself and his
whom
he had commanded to attend upon

being
curious to
see a stranger
her;
and
they,
from a distant land, came in and out many times

every day.
They were
and,
at
first,
it
fair,
Iduna saw
fair
and
smiling;
relieved
her to see such pleasant
220

round her, when she had expected something
faces
horrible.
"Pity me!" she used
to
say
to
them; "pity
me
have been torn away from
my home and
but their
my
husband, and I see no hope of ever getting
back."
And
she looked earnestly at them
pleasant faces never changed, and there was always
however
bitterly
Idun
might
be
weeping
the
same smile on
then* lips.
At
length
Iduna,
looking
more
their
narrowly
at
them, saw,
when they turned
backs to her,
truth,
that they were hollow
behind; they were, in

hearts,
Ellewomen, who have no

pity any one,
and can never
After Iduna saw this she
looked
no
more
at
their smiling faces, but turned
away her head and

sad
to
live
wept
silently.
It
is is
very
among
Ellewomen when one

Every day
Iduna's door.
yet,"
in trouble.
the
giant
came and thundered
at
"
to
Have you made up your mind

say,
he
used
"to give
happen
w
me
to
the apples?
Something
take
dreadful
will
you
if
you
much
longer to think of it
Iduna trembled
1DUNAS APPLES.
very
a2 l
much
every day, but she
still
she had
strength
to say,
"No; "for
that
knew
that the most dreadful
thing would be for her to give to a wicked giant

the
gifts
had been entrusted
to her for the
use of the Êsur.

the apples
his
The
if
giant
would
have
taken
by
force
he could;
but,
whenever
he put
from
hand
his
into the casket, the fruit slipped

fingers,
itself
beneath
shrivelled
into
the size
of a pea, and hid
in crevices of the casket
where his great fingers could not come

Iduna's
little
its
only when
it
white
hand
and
touched
this
it,
swelled
again
to
own
size,
she would never
do while the giant was with
her.
So the days
of grief
passed on, and Iduna would have died
among
for
the smiling Ellewomen
if
it
had not been

wild
smile,
like
the moaning sound of the sea and the
cry of the birds; "for, however others " these pity me, she used to say, and
may
it
was
music to
her.
One morning when she knew that the giant had gone out, and when the Ellewomen had left
her alone, she stood for a long time at her window
by the
sea,
watching
the
mermaids
floating
up
222

waves, and looking at heaven
and down on the

with
their
sad
blue eyes.
She
knew
no
that
souls,
they
were
mourning
because
they had
and
it
she thought within herself that even in prison
was better
to
belong to the
Msu
than to be a
free
mermaid or an Ellewoman, were they ever so

or happy.
While she was

she heard her
still
occupied with these thoughts

spoken, and a bird with large
its
name
wings flew in at the window, and, smoothing

feathers,
stood upright before her.
It
was Loki
in Freyja's
garment of feathers, and he
made
her
set
understand in a
her
told
free,
moment
that
he had come to
to lose. in
and that there was no time

conceal
He
her
her,
her to
her
casket carefully
bosom, and then he said a few words over
and she found herself changed into a sparrow, with

the
casket
fastened
among
his
the
feathers
of
her
breast.
Then Loki spread

flew
wings
once
more, and
out of the window, and Iduna followed him.

sea-wind blew cold and rough, and her
fluttered
little
The
wings
with
fear;
but
she
struck
them
IDVNA'S APPLES.
and
bravely out into
the
air
flew
like
an arrow
over the water.
" This
the
way
lies
"
Asgard,
strength.
cried
Loki,
and
not
word gave her

far
But they had
gone
when a sound was heard above

call
the sea,
and the wind, and the

assi
of the sea-birds.
Thiflying
had put on
them.
flew
his eagle plumage,

five
and was
after
For
days and
five
nights
the
three
over the water that divides Jotunheim
from Asgard, and, at the end of every day, they
were
closer
together,
for
the
giant
was
gaining
on the other two.

All
the five days the dwellers in Asgard stood

city watching.
on the walls of the
On
the sixth
evening they saw a falcon and a sparrow, closely
pursued by an eagle, flying towards Asgard.
"There
been
will
not be time," said Bragi,

the
who had
they flew.
get
calculating
speed
at
which
"The
eagle
will
reach
them
before they can
into the city."
But Odin desired a

walls;
fire
to be lighted
upon the
strength
and
to
Thor and Tyr,

them,
tore
with
the
what
trees
remained
up
from
the
S24

and made a rampart of
fire
groves and gardens,

all
round the
city.
The
light of the
fire
showed
for
Iduna her husband and her friends waiting

her.
She made one

in
last
effort,
and,
rising
high
up
the air above the flames and smoke, she
passed the walls, and dropped

foot of Odin's throne.
but, wearied with his
down
safely at the
The
long
giant tried to follow;

flight,
he was unable
high
as
in
to
raise
air.
his
enormous
flames
bulk
sufficiently
the
The
scorched
fell
his
wings
he
flew through them,
and he
among
the flaming
piles of wood, and was burnt to death.
How
they
spring,
Idun feasted the Êsir on her apples, how

again,
grew young and beautiful
and how
and green
leaves,
and music came back to
the grove, I must leave you to imagine, for I have
made my
story long
enough already; and
if I
say
any more you will fancy that it is Bragi who has come among you, and that he has entered on his
endless story.
IdQna
has
a connection
with the
underworld,
IDUNA'S APPLES.
away by a
regions,
carried
giant
and kept captive

meanwhile
all
in his
frozen
the
earth
becoming
winterly, old; death
threatening
things.
Her
story
is
curiously hinted at in the Elder Edda, where
Iduna
is
represented as falling
down from
Yggdrasil's
Ash
into the nether world.
Odin sends Heimdall

again,
and Bragi
from her
to bring her
if
up
and to
ascertain
she has been able to discover anything

duration of the
about the destruction and
world
and heaven.
tears
this
Instead of answering she bursts into

of Spring
or
the bright, tearful return
may
the
mean
the impossibility of wringing from Nature

fill
answers to the questions and longings that

heart, even
the
tender year with

is
its
messages of
hope and
full
hints of immortality
unable to give the
assurance for which

is
we
yearn.
Iduna
supposed
to typify
the Spring, and her
falling into captivity for
a time to the giant Thiassi
corresponds
to
the falling of the leaf in Autumn.
The
union
of
Poetry
with
Spring
forget
seems
to
very
appropriate,
that
Bragi's
and
we
must not
to
mention
story of
name
At
calls
mind
the
old
it
the BragarfulL
feasts, in
old times,
was the
226

One
to
custom to drink from cups of mead.

for victory,
Odin
for a
one to Frey and one to Niord

the
fourth
to
good year and peace, and

It
Bragi.
was called the "

it
Cup
of Vows," and the drinker
vowed over
to perform
some
great deed worthy
of the song of a skald.
In connection
with
the story of Iduna

it
being,
indeed, almost a sequel to

Skadi, which
is
we
find the
myth
of
as follows
The
Skadi
giant Thiassi
had a very
tall
daughter, called
father
When
she found
that
her
never
returned from his pursuit of Idun, she put on her
armour and
set off to
Asgard to revenge
his
death.
The
heroes,
however, were not inclined to allow
her the honour of a

her that, perhaps,
well,
if,
combat
They suggested
she
to
it
would answer her purpose as

fighting
instead
of
them,
were
to
content herself with marrying one of their number,
and
be
not
it
appeared to Skadi that

enough.
their
this
might possibly
however, could
revenge
The
minds
at
Êsir,
make up
It
who
last,
should
that they
be
the
victim.
all
was agreed,
in
should
stand
some place of concealment where
SKADI CHOOSING HER HUSBAND.

Page
227.
IDUNAS APPLES.
only
their
feet
227
could
be
seen,
and
that
Skadi
should
feet,
walk before them, and, by looking at the
choose her husband.

to
Now, Skadi had

marry Baldur;
feet,
privately
so,
made up her mind

looking carefully at
all
after
the
she stopped before

shape,
pair,
which,
from
their
beautiful
she
thought could only belong to the handsome Sungod.

feet
When, however, the

emerged
from
the
figure belonging to the

it
hiding-place,
was
dis-
covered that she had chosen the
bluff,
gusty old
Niord instead of the beautiful young Baldur; and

she
was
not
particularly
well
pleased
with
her
choice, though she
was obliged to abide by it and Niord were married they found, When Skadi
as persons
do
find
feet,
who marry each
other
for
the
shape of their
that
it
and other such wise

an easy thing to
reasons,
was not at
all
live happily
together.
They could not even

they should
live.
agree about the
place
where
Skadi was never
happy out of Thrymheim
the
home
of noise
in
misty Jotunheim, and Niord could not forget pleasant
Noatim, and
the clear,
sunny seas where he had

last
dwelt in his youth.
At
they agreed that they
228
fHE HEROES OF ASGARD.
would spend three days in Noatun, and nine days in Thrymheim but one day,when Niord was returning
;
to
Noatun, he could not help breaking out into the

:
following song
" Of mountains I am weary, Nine nights long and dreary, All up the misty hill, The wolf's long howl I heard. Methought it sounded strangely Methought it sounded ill To the song of the swan bird. 1*
And
Skadi immediately answered

Never can
In
I
sleep
my
couch by the strand,

wild, restless
For the
waves
Rolling over the sand,
For the scream of the seagulls, For the mew as he cries, These sounds chase for ever Sweet sleep from mine eyes."
Then, putting on a pair of snow-skates, she set off more swiftly than the wind, and Niord never saw more of
her.
Ever afterwards, with her bow

time in chasing wild
is
in her hand, she spent her
animals over the snow, and she

patroness of
all skaters.
the queen and
IDUNA'S APPLES.
229
The next
story
is
is
about Baldur, of
whom Hai
So
says "that he
lair
the best of the sons of Odin.

that
and dazzling
rays of light seem to issue
from him, and thou mayest form some idea of the

beauty of his hair when I
of
all
tell
thee that the whitest
plants
still
is
called
Baldur's
brow
'
"
(a plant in
Sweden
called
Baldur's eyebrow).
Baldur
is
the mildest, the wisest,

all
and the most eloquent
of
the Êsir.
"Broad glance 'tis called Where Baldur the Fair Hath built him a bower
In that land where I know The least loathliness lietk"
BALDUR.
33,
CHAPTER VL
BALDUR,
PART
I,
THE DREAM.
UPON a
summer's
afternoon
it
happened
that
Baldur the Bright and Bold, beloved of

Êsir,
men and
found himself alone in his palace of Broad-
blink.
valleys,
his
Thor was walking low down among the brow heavy with summer heat; Frey
still
and Gerda sported on

leaf
waters in their cloud-
ship
Odin, for once, slept on the top of Air

stillness
Throne; a noon-day
earth; and Baldur in
pervaded the whole
Broadblink, the wide-glancing
most
sunlit of palaces,
dreamed a dream.
231

the
Now
dream
ot
Baldur was
troubled.
He
knew not whence nor why; but when he awoke he found that a most new and weighty care was
within him.
scarcely
to
fall
It
it,
was so heavy that Baldur could
carry
heart,
and
said,
yet he
pressed
there,
it
closely
his
and
"Lie
and do not
he
rose
up,
on
any one
but me."
Then
and walked out from the expanded

his
hall,
splendour of
that
he
might
seek
his
own mother,
calm and
Frigga,
and
tell
her what had happened to him.

in
He
kind,
found
her
to
her crystal
saloon,
waiting
listen,
and ready
to sympathise;
so he walked up to her, his hands pressed closely
on
his heart,
is
and
the
lay
down
at her feet sighing.
"What
"I
do
matter,
dear
Baldur?"
asked
Frigga, gently.
not
know, mother,"
answered
is; but I
he.
"I
do not know what the matter

shadow
in
have a
my
it
heart"
then,
"Take
out,
my
son,
and
let
me
look
at it," replied Frigg.
"But
fear,
mother, that
if
do
it
will covef
the whole earth."
3ALDUR.
Then
Frigga laid
233
her hand
feel
upon the heart

the
of
her son that she might
shadow's shape.
it ;
Her brow became clouded

lips
as she felt
out,
is
her parted
!
grew
pale,
and she
!
cried
"
Oh
Baldur,
my
beloved son
the shadow
the
shadow of
death 1"
Then
mother."
said
Baldur,
"I
will
die
bravely,
my
at
But
all;
Frigga
I
will
answered,
"You
shall
not
die
for
not sleep to-night until everything
on
kill
earth
has
sworn
to
me
that
it
will
neither
nor harm you."

to her everything
First
So Frigga stood up, and called
on earth
she called
that
all
had power
to
hurt or slay.
metals to her;
hill
and heavy
iron-ore
came lumbering up the brass and gold, copper,

stood before the Queen,
high
will
into
the crystal hall,
silver,
lead,
lifted
and
steel,
and
who
her right-hand
in
the
air,
saying,
"Swear
to
me
that
you
not injure Baldur ;"
and they
to
all
swore,
and
and
went.
Then she
called
her
all
stones;
huge granite came with crumbling sand-stone, and

white lime, and the round, smooth stones of the
234

and
Frigga
will
sea-shore,
raised
her
arm,
saying,
''Swear that
they
swore,
you
not
injure
Baldurj"
called
and
to
and went.
;
Then
Frigga
her the trees

tall
and wide -spreading oak-trees, with

firs
ash and sombre
came rushing up the
hill,
with long branches,

flags
from which green leaves

Frigga
will
like
were waving, and

said,
raised
her
hand,
and
"Swear
said,
that
you
not hurt Baldur;"

After this
and they
"We
swear,"
and went.
Frigga called to her the diseases,

thitherward
who came blown

of pain,
by poisonous winds on wings
and to the sound of moaning.

* Swear:" and they sighed,
Frigga said to them,
"We
swear," then flew
away.
Then Frigga
called to her all beasts, birds,

to her
and venomous snakes, who came and disappeared.
and swore,
After this she stretched out her

whilst
hand
to
Baldur,
smile
spread
over her
face, saying,
"
And
now,
my
son, you cannot die."

in,
But
just then Odin came
and when he had

he looked even
heard from Frigga the whole
story,
more mournful than
she
had done; neither did
the cloud pass from his face
when he was
told of
the oaths that had been taken.
BALDUR.
"
*35
Why do
you
still
look so grave,
my
lord ?" dedie."
manded
But
Frigg, at last
"Baldur cannot now

gravely,
Odin asked very
"Is the shadow

is
it
still
gone out of our son's heart, or

"
It
there?"
cannot be there," said Frigg, turning away
her head resolutely, and folding her hands before

her.
But Odin looked

was.
at
Baldur,
and
saw
how
it
The hands
pressed to the heavy heart, the
beautiful
arose,
brow grown dim.

Sleipnir,
Then immediately he
eight -footed
steed,
saddled
his
mounted him, and,
know
alive,
" I turning to Frigga, said, of a dead Vala, * Frigg, who, when she was
could
lies
tell
what was going

east
to
happen; her
grave
on the
side
her,
of Helheim,
and
am
going there to
awake
and ask whether any
terrible grief is really
coming upon us."

bridle in
his
So and
saying
Odin shook the
hand,
the
Eight-footed,
with a bound, leapt forth,
rushed like
Asgard,
whirlwind
then
down
into
the
mountain
of
and
dashed
a narrow
defile
between rocks.
* Vala
a prophetess.
236

went
Sleipnir
on
through
the
defile
a
the
in
long
earth
way,
until
he came to a place where

mouth.
opened
her
There
Odin
rode
and
down a
to
broad, steep, slanting road which led
him
the cavern Gnipa,
and the mouth of the cavern
Gnipa yawned upon Niflheim.

to
just
Then thought Odin

already done."
to
himself,
"
My
pit,
journey
is
But
the
as
Sleipnir
was about
Garm,
the the
leap
through
jaws of the
voracious
dog
who
and
was
tried
chained
to
to
rock,
sprang
forward,
fasten
himself
off,
upon Odin.
still
Three times
fierce
Odin shook him

ever,
leapt,
and
the
Garm, as
as
went on
with
fight
at
At
the the
last
Sleipnir
and Odin
thrust just
rider
same moment;
entrance,
then horse
turned
and
cleared
the
and
eastward
toward
dead
Vala's
grave,
dripping blood along the road as they went; while

the
beaten
Garm
stood
baying
in
the
cavern's
mouth.
When Odin came

horse,
to
the grave he got
off his
and stood with
his face northwards looking
through barred enclosures into the city of Helheim

itself.
The
servants of
Hela were very busy there
BALDUR.
some new guest
*37
making preparations
for
hanging
gilded couches with curtains of anguish and splendid
misery upon the walls.

within him and he began
in
Then
Odin's
heart
died
to repeat mournful runes
a low tone to himself.
The dead Vala turned

the
bolt
heavily in her grave at

sat
sound of his voice, and, as he went on,

upright
"What man
is
this,"
she
asked,
"who
dares disturb
for
my
the
sleep?"
first
Then Odin,
time in his
life,
said
what was not true;

fell
the
shadow of Baldur dead
upon
his lips,
and he made answer, " My name
is
Vegtam, the son of Valtam."
"And
Vala.
what do you want from
me?"
asked the
"I want
Hela
is
to
know," replied
ready
that
Odin,
gilded
"for
whom
in
making
couch
Helheim?"
"That
is
for
Baldur
the
Beloved,"
let
answered
the dead Vala.

again, for
"Now
"
go away, and
me
sleep
my
eyes are heavy."
But Odin
said,
Only one word more.
Is Baldur
going to Helheim ?
"
238

is,"
"Yes, I've told you that he

Vala.
answered the
"Will he never come back to Asgard again
"If everything on earth should weep

answered she, "he
remain in Helheim."
will
for
him,"
will
go back;
if not,
he
Then Odin covered

looked into darkness.
his face with his hands,
and
"Do
1*
go away,
keep
said the Vala,
"I'm
so sleepy;
I cannot
my
eyes open any longer."

his head,
But Odin raised

tell
and said
"
again,
Only
me
this
it
one
thing.
Just now, as I looked into
darkness,
seemed
to
me
as
if
saw one on earth
who would not weep for Baldur. Who was it ? " At this the Vala grew very angry and
said,
"How
light
couldst
thou
see
in
darkness?
know
of only one who, by giving away his eye, gained
No Vegtam
art
thou,
but
Odin, chief of
men."
At her angry words Odin

and
Vala
called
art
became angry
too,
out as loudly as ever he could,
"No
the
thou,
nor
wise woman,
but
rather
mother of three
giants,"
BALDUR.
"
w
!
239
Go, go
answered the Vala,

shall
falling
back in
her grave;
"no man
burst
his
Loki
have
waken me again until chains and Ragnarok be
come."
After this
Odin mounted the Eight-footed
once more, and rode thoughtfully towards home.
PART
IL
THE PEACESTEAB.
WHEN
Odin came back to Asgard, Hermod took

from
his
father's
the bridle
hand, and
told
him
that the rest of the ./Esir were
gone to the Peace-
stead
a broad, green plain which lay just outside
the city.
Now
this was, in fact, the
playground of
of
skill
the Êsir, where they practised
trials
one
with another, and held tournaments and
sham
fights.
These
last
were always conducted in the gentlest

;
and most honourable manner
for the strongest
law
of the Peacestead was, that no angry blow should be

struck, or spiteful
word spoken, upon the sacred
field
and
for this reason
some have thought

had a Peacestead
it
might be
well if children also
to play in.
BALDUR.
Odin was too much
Helheim
so
to go to
241
tired
by
his journey
from
the Peacestead
that afternoon;
in
his
he
turned of
away, and shut himself up
palace
Gladsheim.
But
when he was gone,
Loki came into the

ing
city by another way, and hear-
from
Hermod where
he got
the Êsir were,
set off
to join them.
When
that
to
the
Peacestead,
Loki
in
found
circle
the
Êsir were
at
standing
round
shooting
the
it
something,
of two
and he
of
peeped
to
find
between
out what
shoulders
them
he
was.
To
midst,
his surprise
saw Baldur standing

whilst
his
in
the
erect
and calm,
aiming
their
friends
at
and brothers were
weapons
swords
arrows
him.
others
Some hewed
threw
with
at
at
at
him
him
with
their
stones
steel,
some
shot
pointed
Miolnir
"if
of
and
Thor
continually
swung
to
his
is
head.
"Well," said Loki
himself,
this
the sport of Asgard,

I
what
must
that
Jotunheim be?
wonder what Father Odin and

if
Mother Frigg would say

as Loki
prised,
still
they were here
"
Bat
sur-
looked,
the
sport
he became
even
more
for
went
on,
and Baldur was
242

Arrow* aimed
at his very heart glanced
not hurt
back again untinged with blood.
The
stones
left
fell
down from
bruises
there.
his
broad
bright
brow, and
no
Swords
clave, but did not
wound
him; Miolnir struck him, and he was not crushed.
At
this
Loki
grew
perfectly
is
furious
with
to
envy
and hatred.
honoured," said
shall
"And why
he,
Baldur
steel
be
so
"that even
and stone
himself
stick
not hurt him?"
Then Loki changed
into
little,
dark, bent, old
woman, with a
in his hand,
to Frigga's cool saloon.
and hobbled away from the Peacestead At the door he knocked
with his
stick.
"Come
Loki
lifted
in!" said the kind voice of Frigg, and

the latch.
Now when
the hall, a
Frigga saw, from the other end of

bent, crippled, old
floor,
little,
woman, come
got
hobbling
true
up
her crystal
she
up
with
queenliness,
and met her half way, holding
out her hand, and saying in the kindest manner, " Pray sit down, my poor old friend ; for it seems
to
me
that
you have
come from a
great
way
oft"
BALDUR.
"That
243
have,
indeed,"
answered
Loki
in
tremulous, squeaking voice.
"And
Êsir,"
did you happen to see anything of the " as asked came ? "
Frigg,
I
you
"Just now
passed
by the
Peacestead,
and
saw them
at play."
"What were
"Shooting
they doing ?*
at Baldur."
Then Frigg bent over her work

smile
with a pleased
hurt
on her
face.
"And
Loki,
nothing
him?"
she said.
"Nothing,"
her."
answered
looking
keenly
at
"No,
nothing,"
murmured
Frigg,
still
looking
down and speaking

all
half musingly to herself; "for
things have sworn to
me
that they will not."
"Sworn!" exclaimed Loki, eagerly;

that
"what
?
is
you say ?
Has
everything sworn then
"
"Everything," answered she, "excepting, indeed,

the
little
shrub mistletoe, which grows, you know,
on the west side of Valhal, and to which I said

nothing,
because I thought
it
was too
young to
244

1"
u Excellent
up.
thought
Loki;
and then
he got
"You're not going

stretching
yet,
are
you?"
said
Frigg,
at
last
out
her hand
and looking up
into the eyes of the old
woman.
you,**
"I'm
Loki in
quite
his
rested
now, thank
answered
squeaky voice, and then he hobbled out
at the door, which clapped after him,
and sent a
cold gust into the room.
Frigga shuddered, and
thought that a serpent was gliding
down
the back
of her neck.
When
changed
Loki had
left
the presence
to
his
of Frigg, he
shape,
himself back
to
proper
and
went
straight
the west
side
of Valhal,
his
where
knife,
the mistletoe grew.
Then he opened
branch,
and cut
" Too
off
a large
saying these words,
young
for Frigga's oaths, but
not too weak for
Loki's work."
After which he set off for the Peace-
stead once more, the mistletoe in his hand.
When
still
he
at
got there he
their
found that the

round,
Êsir
were
aim,
tired.
sport,
standing
taking
and
talking eagerly,
and Baldur did not seem
But there was one who stood alone, leaning against
BALDUR.
a
245
tree,
and who took no part in what was going
on.
This was Hodur, Baldur's blind twin-brother;

stood with his head bent downwards,
silent,
he
whilst
the others were speaking, doing nothing
when
that
they
there
as
were
most
eager;
and Loki
thought
was a discontented expression on his

if
face, just
he were saying to himself,

of me."
"Nobody
takes any
notice
So
Loki went up to
him, and
put his
"
hand upon
his shoulder.
And why
are you
standing here
all
alone,
my
brave
friend?" said
at Baldur.
he.
Why
at
don't
you throw
something
or
Hew
him with a sword,
show him some attention of that sort"
"I
haven't got a sword," answered Hodur, with

;
an impatient gesture
I
" and
you know as well as
do,
Loki,
that
Father Odin does not approve
of
my
wearing warlike weapons, or joining in
sham
fights,
because I
is
am
blind."
"Oh!
know I
that it?"
said
Loki.
left
"Well, I only
out of everything.
shouldn't like to be
I've
However,
I'll
got a
if
twig of mistletoe here which

like;
lend you
you
shall
a harmless
little
twig
enough,
but
be
happy
to
guide
your
246

if
arm
you would
take
it
like
to
throw
it,
and Baldur
his
might
as
compliment
from
twin-
brother."
"Let me
feel
it,"
said
Hodur, stretching out
his uncertain hands.
"This way,
giving
this
him the
twig.
way, my dear friend," said Loki, " as hard as ever
Now,
you
can, to
do him honour; throw 1"

Baldur
fell,
Hodur threw
and
the
shadow of
death covered the whole earth,
ALDUR.
PART
IIL
BALDUR DEAD.
ONE
after
after
another they turned and
left
the Peaceslain.
stead, those friends
and brothers of the
One
another they turned and went towards the city ;
crushed hearts, heavy footsteps, no word amongst
them, a shadow upon
all
The shadow was

Frigga's hall,
in
Asgard
seated
too,
itself
had walked through
and
upon
the
threshold
to look at
of
it,
Gladsheim.
Odin had
just
come out
and Frigg
stood by in mute despair as the JEsir came up.
"Loki did
it!
Loki did it!" they said at
last
in confused, hoarse whispers,
and they looked from

Frigg,
one to another, upon Odin, upon
upon the
shadow which they saw before them, and which
248

felt
they
within.
"Loki did
it
it!
Loki,
Loki!"
they went on saying; but

the
was no use repeating
name
of Loki over and over again
when
there
was another name they were too sad

yet
it
to utter
which
said
filled
all
their
hearts
all
Baldur.
Frigga
first,
and then they
went to
look at
him
lying
down
so peacefully on the grass

"
!
dead, dead.
said Odin, at
"
Carry him to the funeral pyre
length; and four of the ^sir stooped down, and

lifted their
dead brother.
With scarcely any sound they carried the body

tenderly to the
sea-shore,
and
laid
it
upon the
deck of that majestic ship called Ringhorn, which
had been
see
his.
Then
they stood round waiting to
who would come
to the funeral.
Odin came, and
on
his shoulders sat his
two ravens, whose croaking

face, for
drew clouds down over the Asa's
Thought
Frigga
and Memory sang one sad song

came,
Idun.
that day.
Frey, Gerda, Freyja, Thor, Hcenir, Bragi, and
Heimdall came sweeping over the tops of the

his swift, bright steed.
mountains on Golden Mane,

Êgir the
sent
Old groaned from under the deep, and

up
to
his daughters
mourn around
the dead.
BALDUJK.
349
Frost-giants
and
mountain-giants
came crowding
round the rimy shores of Jotunheim to look across

the sea
Baldur's
upon the
fair
funeral of
an Asa.
Nanna came,
young wife;
but when she saw the
dead body of her husband her own heart broke

with
grief,
and the Êsir

After
laid
her beside him on
the stately ship.
this
Odin stepped forward,

his son, whisper-
and placed a ring on the breast of

ing something at the
same time
in
his
ear;
but
when he and
Ringhorn
into
the rest of the Êsir tried to push

the
sea
before
setting
fire
to
it,
they found that their hearts were so
heavy they
to
could
giantess
lift
nothing.
So
they
beckoned
from
the
Hyrrokin to come over
Jotunheim
and help them.

ship
floating,
She, with a single push, set the
and
then,
in
whilst
Thor stood up
Odin lighted
holding
Miolnir
high
the
air,
the funeral pile of Baldur and of Nanna.
So Ringhorn went out
floating towards the deep,

Its
and
the
funeral
fire
burnt on.
broad
red
the
flame burst forth
towards heaven; but when

too,
smoke would have gone upward
the winda
came sobbing and
carried
it
away.
&
250
THE HEROES Of ASGARD.
PART
IV.
HELHEIM.
WHEN
so
at last the
ship
it
Ringhorn had floated out

like
far to
sea that
horizon,
looked
dull,
red lamp
on
the
Frigga
of you,
turned
round
and
said,
"Does any one

"I
do," cried
my
children, wish to per-
form a noble action, and win
my
love for ever?"

else
Hermod, before any one

lips.
had
time to open his
"Go,
then,
Hermod," answered
and
the
ride
Frigg,
to
"saddle
Sleipnir with all speed,
down
Helheim
of
there
seek
out
Hela,
stern
mistress
the
dead, and
to us
entreat
her to send our beloved back
once more."
in
Hermod was gone
the twinkling of an
eye,
BALDUR.
251
not in at the mouth of the earth and through the

steep
cavern
;
down which Odin went
to
the dead
Vala's grave
he chose another way, though not

for,
a better one;
the best
is
go to Helheim how you
will,
but a downward road, and so
Hermod
and
found
it
downward,
slanting,
slippery,
dark
very cold.
At
last
he came
to the Giallar Bru
that sounding river which flows between the living
and the dead, and the bridge over which

with stones of glittering gold.
prised to
see
is
paved
sur-
Hermod was
but
as
gold in such a place;

bridge,
he
rode over the

at
and looked down
carefully
the stones,
he saw that they were
only tears
which had been shed round the beds of the dying

only
tears,
and yet they made

But
the
way seem
the other
brighter.
when
Hermod reached
end of the
bridge, he found the courageous
woman
there
who, for ages

to watch the
saying,
and
ages,
had been
sitting
dead go by, and
she stopped him
"What a
Yesterday
Giallar
noise
you
make.
Who
men went
it
are
you?
five troops
of dead
over the
Bridge,
and did not shake
so
much
as

you have done.
closely at
all.
Besides," she added, looking

are not a
more
at
Hermod, "you
lips are
dead man
Your
neither cold
to
nor blue.
Why,
then,
do you
ride
on the way
Helheim?"
"Tell me,
"I
seek Baldur," answered Hermod.
have you seen him pass?" " has ridden over the " bridge Baldur," she said,
but there below, towards the north,
to the
lies
the
way
Abodes of Death."
until
itself.
So Hermod went on the way

the
he came to
barred
gates
of
Helheim
There
he
alighted,
tightened
his
saddle-girths,
remounted,
clapped both spurs to his horse, and cleared the

gate
by
one
tremendous
leap.
Then
Hermod
found himself in a place where no living

ever been before
the City -of the Dead.
is
man had
Perhaps
you think there

are
his
a great silence there, but you

thought he had never in
;
mistaken.
life
Hermod
much
heard so
noise
for the echoes of all
words were speaking together

uttered
words,
some newly
and some ages old; but the dead men did
not hear
who
flitted
up and down the dark
streets,
for their ears
had been stunned and become cold
BALDUR.
2 53
long since.
Hermod
rode on through the city until
he came to the palace of Hela, which stood in the

midst.
hall,
Precipice was
its
threshold,
the
entrance-
Wide Storm, and
yet
Hermod was
rooms
not too
;
much
afraid to seek the innermost
so he
sat
went on to the
at
banqueting-hall,
where
Hela
the head of her table,

Baldur,
left
and served her newest

at
guests.
alas!
sat
her right-hand,
and
on her
his pale
young
the
wife.
When Hela saw

smiled
grimly,
Hermod coming up
and
her.
sit
hall
she
but beckoned to him at the same time to

told
It
sit
down,
him
that
he might sup that night with

for
was a strange supper

to.
a living
man
to
down
Hunger was
;
the
table;
Starvation,
Hela's
knife
Delay
her
man ;
Slowness,
her
maid
and Burning
led the
Thirst,
to
her wine.
After sup-
per Hela
way
the sleeping apartments.
"You
see,"
she said, turning to Hermod,
"I am
Here
very anxious about the comfort of

are beds
my
guests.
of
unrest provided
for
all,
hung with
the walls
curtains of weariness,
and look how
all
are furnished with despair."
So saying she strode away, leaving Hermod and
254

The whole
night
Baldur together.
they sat
on
those unquiet couches and talked.
Hermod
as he
could
speak of nothing but the past,

anxiously round the
and
eyes
to
looked
room
his
became
see
dim
light
with tears.
far off,
But Baldur
seemed
and he spoke of what was to come.

to
The next morning Hermod went

even offered
to
Hela, and
entreated her to let Baldur return to Asgard.
He
she
said,
take his place in Helheim

this,
if
pleased; but Hela only laughed at
and
"You
talk
a great deal about Baldur, and boast

every one loves him; I will prove
how much
if
now
what you have told

earth,
me
be
true.
Let everything
Baldur and he
on
living or dead,
weep
if
for
shall
go home again; but
one thing only refuse

its
to weep, then let
Helheim hold
own; he
shall
not go."
"
as
Every- one will weep willingly," said
Hermod,
the
he
mounted
the
Sleipnir,
city.
and rode
towards
entrance of
far
Baldur
went with him as
as the gate,
and began
to send messages to all
his friends in
Asgard, but
Hermod would
not
listen
to
many
of them.
BALDUR.
255
"You
"there
is
will so
soon come back to us," he

in sending messages."
said,
no use
So
Hermod
darted
homewards,
and
Baldur
watched him through the bars of Helheim's gate-
way
as he flew along.
"Not
still
soon, not soon," said the

light far off,
dead Asa; but
he saw the
and thought of what
was to come.
156
PART
V.
WEEPING*
"WELL, Hermod, what did she say?" asked

Êsir from the top of the
hill,
the
as
they saw him
coming; "make haste and
tell
us what she said."
And Hermod came

" Oh
!
up.
"
is
that
all ?
they cried, as soon as he
had
delivered
his
message.
then
they
"Nothing can
all
be
to
in
in
more
tell
easy;" and
Frigga.
hurried
already,
tearless
off
She
there
was
weeping
not
and
eye
five
minutes
was
Asgard.
"But
this
is
not
enough,"
said
grief
Odin;
that
it
"the
whole earth must know of our
may
weep with us."
BALDUR.
Then
*57
the father of the Êsir called to him his
messenger
sent them
maidens
out
their
the
all
beautiful
Valkyrior
these
and
three
into
lips,
worlds with
is
words on
"Baldur
dead!"
But the
messenger
tones
words were so dreadful that
at first the
maidens
as
could
they
went
only whisper them in low " Baldur is dead n along,

!
The
like
dull,
sad
sounds flowed
back on Asgard
a
if
new
river of grief,
and
the
it
seemed
time
to the JEsir as
is
they now wept for "What is that

the
first
" Baldur
dead
"
!
the Valkyrior are saying?" asked

in
all
men and women

down
the
country round,
left then*
and when they heard

and
lay
to
rightly,
men
labour
weep
women dropped
them with
the buckets
they were carrying to the well, and, leaning their

faces
over
them,
filled
tears.
The
down
their
children crowded
at
upon the
the
doorsteps, or sat
the
corners of
streets,
crying as
if
own mothers were

The
they
the
dead.
Valkyrior passed on.

to
" Baldur
is
dead!"
said
the
empty
wild
fields;
and
straightway
grass
and the
is
field-flowers
shed
tears.
"Baldur
dead!" said
the
messenger
maidens
358

and the stones; and the very stones
" Baldur
is
to the rocks
began to weep.
dead " the Valkyrior

I
cried; and even the old mammoth's bones, which
had
lain
for
centuries
under the
hills,
burst into
tears, so
that small rivers gushed
forth
"
!
from every
mountain's side.
" Baldur
is
dead
said the mes-
senger maidens as
and
all
the shells wept pearls.

to
they swept over silent sands; " Baldur is dead "

!
they cried
the sea,
and
to
Jotunheim
it,
across
the sea; and
when
the giants understood
even
they wept, whilst the sea
rained spray to heaven.
After this the Valkyrior stepped from one stone to
another until they reached a rock that stood alone

in the
middle of the sea; then,
all
together, they
bent forward over the edge of
it,
stooped down
the monsters
and peeped
of the deep.
the
over, that they
might
tell
"Baldur
is
dead!" they said; and,

fish
sea monsters
and the
looked
is
wept
one
Then
the
messenger "
said,
maidens
at
another,
and
Surely our work
done."
So they twined
their
arms round one another's

to
waists,
and
set forth
on the downward road
Helheim, there to claim
Baldur from among the dead.
BALDUR.
259
Now
maidens,
after
he
had
sent
forth
his
messenger
of
Odin had seated himself on the top
Air Throne that he might see

ceived
his
how
he
the earth re-
message.
At
first
watched
the
Valkyrior as they stepped forth north and south,
and
east
and
tears
west;
rose
but
soon the whole

like
earth's
steaming
up
great cloud,
and
hid everything from him.
Then he looked down

"Are you
all
through the cloud, and

ing
as
?
said,
weep-
"
The
Valkyrior heard the sound of his voice

all
they went
together
down
the slippery road,
and they turned round,
stretching
out their arms

falling
towards Air Throne, their long hair

whilst,
back,
eyes,
with
choked
voices
and
streaming
they answered,
"The
world weeps, Father Odin;
the world and we."

After
this
they went
on
their
way
until
they
came
was
to the
end of the cave Gnipa, where Garm
chained,
and
which
yawned
over
Niflheim.
"The
world weeps,"
they said one to another

here the road
by
way of encouragement, for

dreadful;
was so
to
but just
as
they were
about
pass
a
through the
mouth of Gnipa they came upon
260

witch
haggard
named Thaukt,
who
sat
in
the
to!"
wards the abyss.

said the
entrance with her back to them, and her face " Baldur is dead
!
Weep, weep
messenger maidens, as they
tried to pass
her ; but Thaukt
made answer
she doth hold,
;
" What
Let Hela keep
For naught care I, Though the world weep,

O'er Baldur's bale,
Live he or die
With
tearless eye^
Old Thaukt
shall wafl."
And
a
with these
words leaped into Niflhcim with

"
yell of triumph.
"Surely that
cry was
;
the cry
of
Loki,
said
one of the maidens
but another pointed towards
the city of Helheim,

face of
and there they saw the

wall.
stern
Hela looking over the

has
"One
not
wept,"
its
said
the
grim
Queen,
she
"and Helheim
holds
own."
So saying
her
motioned the maidens away with

hand.
long, cold
Then
the
Valkyrior
turned
and
fled
up
the
BALDUR.
to
2 6j
steep
way
the foot
flies
of
Odin's throne,
like
pale snow-drift that

After this
in
before the storm.
a strong child, called Vali, was born

of Asgard.
the
city
He
is
was the youngest
of
Odin's sons
blast
year.
;
strong and cold as

also, as
it
the icy January
but
full,
of the hope of the slew the
new
blind
rest
When
in
only a day old he

blow,
to
Hodur by a
of
his
life
single
and then spent the

lift
trying
the
shadow of death
from the face of the weeping earth.
The death of Baldur was probably

sun.
at
in
the
first
place an expression of the decline of the Summer
At midsummer
Freyja's
husband forsook
her,
midsummer
also the bright
god begins
to
turn
his face Helheim-wards. in the
North of
Midsummer day is observed Europe under the name of Beltan,

upon the
origin in
hills,
and
fires
are lighted
a custom which
evidently
had
its
a commemoration of
Baldur*s death.
Some
think that Baldur and
Hodur
of
typify the two halves of the year.
At the turn
the day in
Summer Hod
kills
Baldur, at the turn of
262

day
of
in
the
Winter Vali
kills
Hodur.
giantess,
Vali was the
son
Odin and Rind, a
whose
name
means the winterly earth, so that clearly Vali comes

at midwinter.
kill
Why
the mistletoe should be used to

to say.
Baldur
it is difficult
Might
its
being so
weak and small imply the very small beginning of

the day's decline.
But Baldur, from the description given of him

in
the
Edda, must surely be a personification of
goodness morally, as well as the sun of the outward

year,
and
his
not returning from

the
Helheim, being
retained there through
machinations of Loki,
seems to be a
first
sort of connecting link
between the
evil
sorrow of the gods, the beginning of
and
their final defeat
by the evil powers at
Ragnarok
the giants have already one foot
upon
the gods.
The hero of
the
first
the next story
is
Tyr, mentioned in
chapter as the only one of the Êsir wtf
could feed the monster Fenrir.
263
CHAPTER
VII.
THE BINDING OF
FENRIR.
PART L
THE MIGHT OF ASGARD.
HOPE you have not
Fenrir,
forgotten
what
told you
of
Loki's
fierce
wolf-son,
whom
he was,
Odin
brought
home
with him to Asgard, and of whose

wolfish
as
All-
reformation, uncouth and
Father
entertained
some hope, thinking

air
that
the
wholesome, bright
of Gladsheim, the sight of
the fair faces of the Asyniur
and the hearing of the

fell
brave words which day by day

of heroes,
from the
lips
would, perhaps,
have power to change

his father,
the cruel nature
he had inherited from
264

his
and make him worthy of

in the City of Lords.
place as
a dweller
To
Tyr, the
brave
and
strong-handed,
Odin
assigned the
task of feeding Fenrir,

his
and watching
him,
lest,
in
cruel
strength,
he should injure
any who were unable

truly
it
to defend themselves.
sight,
And
was a grand
to
and one
together,
that
Asa Odin
in
loved,
see
the
the
two
feast
when,
in
the
evening
Fenrir
after
was
over
Valhalla,
came prowling food from the one hand
to Tyr's
feet to receive his
strong enough to quell him.

tall,
Tyr stood up in his calm strength like a

sheltering
rock
in
which the timid sea-birds find
a home; and Fenrir roared and howled round him

like
the bitter, destroying

its
wave
that slowly under-
mines
base.
on.
Time passed
his
strength;
but
Tyr had reached the prime of Fenrir went on growing, not

fear,
so rapidly as to
awaken
as his brother
surely,
Jormuna
gand had done, but

little
slowly,
continually
stronger and a
Êsir
little fiercer
every day.
The
and the Asyniur had become accustom-
ed to his presence ; the gentlest lady in Asgard no
TYR FEEDING FENRIR.

Page
265.

longer turned away from
the
sight
265
of his
fierce
mouth and
about
fiery
eye
they talked to
each other
daily
the smallest things,
and every
event
was commented on and wondered about; but no

one said anything of Fenrir, or noticed how gradually
he grew, or how the glad
air
and the strong
food, which gave valour and strength to an Asa,
could
only develope
cruelty in
with
wolf.
greater
rapidity fierce-
ness and
And
they would have
gone on
living securely together while the

if it
monster
grew and grew,
had not been that Asa Odin's

it
one eye, enlightened as

well of
was by the upspringing

clearly
wisdom
within,
saw more
children.
in
than the
eyes of his brothers
and
One
halla
evening,
as
he stood
the court of Val-
watching Tyr as he gave Fenrir his evening

a sudden cloud of care
of
All-Father,
fell
meal,
face
on the placid
wolf,
and
when
the
to
having
lair,
satisfied his
hunger, crouched back
his
he
called together a council of the heads of the -Êsir
Thor, Tyr, Bragi, Hcenir, Frey, and Niord

(
and,
after pointing out to
them the
8
evil
which they had

unnoticed,
allowed
to
grow up among
them
he
266

their
it
asked
counsel as to the best

before
it
coming
stand.
way of became too strong to

was
said,
over-
with-
Thor,
always
ready,
the
first
to
answer.
"One would
way
in
think," he
"to hear the grave
which you speak, Father Odin, that there

thing
as a smithy near Asgard,
to
was no such
that
I,
or
Asa Thor, had no power

had
as
forge mighty
weapons, and
in
never
the
made my name known

and
binder
Before
of
to-
Jotunheim
Set
conqueror
monsters.
your
at
mind
time
at
I
rest
will
morrow evening
this
have forged
Fenrir;
and,
a chain with which you
shall
bind
once bound in a chain of

will
my
workmanship, there
from him."
speech;
Odin's
be nothing further to
fear
The assembled
but
the
Êsir applauded Thor's
cloud
did
not
pass
away from
brow.
"You have done many mighty

he sa>d; "but,
Fenrir
will
if
deeds,
this
Son Thor,"
binding of
mistake not,
task
prove a
too
difficult
even
for
fhor made no answer;
but he seized
Miolnir,
THE BINDING OF FENRIR,

and,
All
267
with
sounding
steps,
strode
to
the smithy.
night long the mighty blows of Miolnir rang

anvil,
on the
and the roaring bellows breathed a

all
hot blast over

-Êsir
the
hill
of Asgard.
None
of the then
at
his
slept
that
night;
but every
now and
one or other of them came to cheer Thor

work.
into
Sometimes
the
Frey
brought
his
bright
face
dusky smithy;
to
strike
sometimes Tyr entreated

stout
permission
Bragi
blow
the
sometimes
and,
seated
himself
fixed
among
which
workers,
iron,
with his
forth
eyes
on the glowing
to
poured
blows
a hero
song,
the
ringing
kept time.
There was also another guest, who,
at intervals,
made
fire
his
presence known.
evil
By
the light of
the
the
in
form
of
Fenrir
was seen
prowling
round
a
the darkness,
and every now and then

filled
fiendish,
mocking laugh
the pauses of the
song,
All
and the wind, and the ringing hammer.

that night
and the next day Thor laboured

and,
at
and
Fenrir
watched,
the
time
of
the
into
evening
meal,
Thor
strode
triumphantly
Father Odin's presence, and laid before him Lae-
2 68

the strongest chain that
earth.
ding,
had ever yet been

it
forged on
another,
The
Êsir passed
at its
from one to
length,
and wondered
immense
its
and
at the ponderous
moulding of
for
twisted links.
"It
this,"
is
impossible
said;
Fenrir to break through
they
and
they
were
loud
in
their
thanks to Thor and praises of his prowess; only
Father Odin kept a grave, sad silence.
When
his
Fenrir
came
it
into
the court
to
receive
food from Tyr,

to seize
in
was agreed that Thor and
Tyr were
weapons
struggle;
and bind him.

for
They held
a
Fenrir
thenfierce
readiness,
they expected
surprise,
but,
to
their
quietly
allowed the chain to

lay
be wound round
him,
and
down
at his ease, while Thor, with
two strokes
of Miolnir, rivetted the last link into one of the

strongest stones
on which the court

about
to
rested.
Then,
each
pon-
when
the Êsir were
congratulate
his
other on their victory,
he slowly raised
derous form, which seemed to dilate in the

with one
rising,
bound
forward
snapped
the chain like

lair,
a silken thread, and walked leisurely to his

as
if
no unusual thing had
befallen him.

The
at
269
Êsir,
with
downcast
faces,
stood looking
the
first
each
other.
Once more Thor was
to speak.
said,
"He who
of
breaks through Lseding," he

himself the
still
"only brings upon

Dromi."
again
lifted
harder
these
bondage
words, he
and,
And
having uttered
Miolnir from
to
the ground,
weary as
he was, returned
the
smithy
and resumed
his place at the anvil.
For three days and
nights
Thor worked, and,

before Father Odin,
he carried in
ing."
when he once more appeared his hand Dromi

This
half,
the "Strong Bind-
chain
exceeded
Lseding in
that
strength
by one
self
and was so heavy

under
its
Asa Thor himand yet Fenrir
staggered
weight;
showed no
fear
of allowing himself to be bound
by
it,
and
first
it
cost
him very
little
more
effort
than
on the
evening to free himself from
its fetters.
After
council
this
second
in
failure
Odin again
and
called
of Êsir
Gladsheim,
Thor stood
among
It
the others, silent and shamefaced.
was
now Frey who

he
ventured
first
to
offer
an opinion.
of the
"Thor, Tyr, and

said,
other
brave sons
their lives
JSsir,"
"have passed
a7

and monsters,
valiantly in
fighting
against
giants
and, doubtless,
much
wise lore has

I,
come
the
to
them
part,
fields,
through these adventures.
for
most
have spent
watching
my
time peacefully in woods and
how
the seasons follow each other, and
how
the
silent,
dewy
night
ever
leads
up the
brightly-smiling
day; and,
in this
watching,
many
things have
not,
been made plain to
me
which have
of
that that
perhaps,
been
thought
worthy
thing
regard
I
by
my
brother
is,
Lords.
One
have
in
learned
little
the
wondrous
that
silence
strength
lies
things,
and
the
labour
brings
carried
forth
failed
on
the
to
in
darkness
and
ever
grandest birth.
forge
but,
Thor and Miolnir have

strong
chain
enough
to
bind
Fenrir;
we cannot be helped by the mighty and renowned, let us turn to the unknown and
since
weak.
"In
live
the
caverns
and dim places of the earth
a tiny race of people,
who
are always working
with unwearied, noiseless fingers.

permission, I will send
entreat aid of
With Asa Odin's
my
messenger, Skirnir, and

shall,
them; and we
perhaps,
find

that
271
what passes
the
might
of Asgard
may be
accomplished in the secret places of Svartheim."
The
face of
Asa Odin brightened

from his
entreated
as Frey spoke,
seat,
and, rising immediately
he
broke
up
time
the
in
council,
and
to
Frey to
lose
no
returning
Alfheim
and
despatching
Skimir on his mission*
PARTH,
THE SECRET OF SVARTHEIM.
IN
all
spite
of the
fair
cloud
that
in
hung over Asgard

Alfheim.
there
was
and peaceful
Alf
Gerda,
perpetual
the
radiant
Queen,
made
face.
sunshine with her bright
The
her,
little
elves
loved her,
and
fluttered
round
keeping
up
a continual merry chatter, which sounded through

the land
like
the
sharp
ripple of
a brook over
in
stony places; and Gerda answered them
low,
sweet tones, as the answering wind sounds

the trees.
among
These must have been pleasant sounds to hear

after
the
ringing
of Miolnir and the howling
of
to
Fcnrir;
but
Frey
hardly
gave
himself
time

greet
273
Gerd
and
his
elves
before
he
summoned
Skirnir into his presence,
and acquainted him with

the
the danger that
hung over Asgard, and
im-
portant mission which the JEsir had determined to

trust
to
his
sagacity.
Skirnir
listened,
playing
with the knot of his wondrous sword, as he was
wont
to do, in order to
make known
confess
to every one
that he
possessed
it
for, to
the truth,
it
was somewhat too heavy
for
him
to wield.
"This
that
is
far different mission,"
he
to
said,
"from
fairest
it,
on which you once

but,
sent
me
woo
Gerd;
I
will
as
the welfare
of
Asgard requires
little
depart at once,
though I have
liking
for the
dark caves and cunning people."
Frey
thanked
him, and,
putting
small
key
into his hand,
which was, indeed, the key to the
gate of Svartheim, he bade

set out
him
farewell,
and Skirnir
on
his journey.
The road from Alfheim

as long as you would be apt
it
to
Svartheim
is
not
to imagine.
Indeed,
is
possible for
a careless person to wander from
one region to another without being at once aware

of
it.
Skirnir,
having the key in his hand, took
274
THE HEKOES OF ASGARD.

direct
the
way.
The
dim
entrance-gate
stands
at the
left
opening
of
mountain-cave.
;
Skirnir
his horse without,
and entered and

it
the air was heavy,
moist,
and
warm,
required
the
keenest
In-
glances of SkirmYs keen eyes to see his way.
numerable narrow, winding paths,
all
leading down-
wards, opened themselves before him.
As he
fol-
lowed the widest, a
faint
clinking
sound of hamround,
mers
met
his
little
ear,
and,
at
looking
he
saw
groups of
men
work on every
side.
Some
were wheeling small

of
shining metal
elfin
wheelbarrows
full
of lumps
rock
:
along the ledges
of the
some, with
pickaxes and spades, were digging
ore from the mountain-side; some, herded together

in
little
caves,
were busy kindling
fires,
or working
conof
with tiny
tinued
his
hammers on small
anvils.
last
As he
downward path the

away
;
remnant
daylight faded
ness, for
but he was not in total dark-
now he
head
light.
perceived that each worker carried
on
his
a lantern, in which burned a pale,

Skirnir
dancing
knew
that
each light was
a Will-o'-the-wisp, which the dwarf
who
carried
in
it
had caught and imprisoned
to
light
him
his
275
work during the day, and which he must restore

to the earth at night
For many miles Skirnir wandered on lower and

lower.
On
every side of him lay countless heaps

gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, emeralds
silently
of treasure
which the cunning workers stowed away

in
their
dark hiding-places.
of the
At length he
mountain, where
came
the
to
the very middle
rocky roof rose to an immense height, and where
he
found
himself in
brilliantly-lighted
all
palace.
in
Here, in truth, were hung

world, which,
the
lights
the
on dark, moonless
nights, are carried
out by dwarfs to deceive the eyes of men.

lights,
Corpseglowthese,
Will-o'-the-wisps,
tails,
the
in
sparks
from
wings
worms'
carefully
hall,
the
light
fire-flies'
hung up
hi
tiers
round
and
round the
light,
illuminated the palace with a cold blue

Skirnir's
and revealed to
hideous shapes
eyes
the grotesque
and
him.
they
of
the
tiny
beings
around
Hump-backed,
cunning-eyed,
open-mouthed,
stood round, laughing, and whispering, and pointing

with shrivelled fingers.
taller
than the
rest,
One among them, a who sat on a golden
little
seat
276

be a kind
thickly set with diamonds, appeared to
of chief
his
among them, and
to
him
Skirnir addressed
message.
as these
Cunning and wicked
dwarfs were, they
entertained a wholesome fear of Odin, having never

forgotten
their
one interview
with
him
in
Glad-
sheim
and, therefore,
when they heard from whom
Skirnir
came,
with
many uncouth
gesticulations
they bowed low before him, and declared themselves to willing obey All-Father's commands.
They asked
to
for
two days and two nights in which

task,
complete
their
and
during
that
time
Skirnir remained then* guest in Svartheim.
He
wandered about, and saw strange

fire,
sights.
He
feed
saw the great earth central

withered race, whose task
it
it
and the swarthy,
is
ceaselessly to
with
fuel;
he
saw
the
diamond-makers,
fire
it
who
change the ashes of the great
into brilliants;
is
and the
dwarfs,
whose business
to
fill
the
of
cracks in the mountain-sides

silver
with
pure
veins
and gold, and lead them up to places where Nearer they will one day meet the eyes of men.
the surface he visited the workers in iron and the

makers of salt-mines;
tasting mineral
377
he drank of
their
strange-
waters,
and admired the splendour

temples
of
their
silver-roofed
and dwellings
of
solid gold.
At the end of two days

audience-hall,
Skirnir re-entered
the
and then the
chief
of the
dwarfs
put into
his
hand a slender
size
it
it it
chain.
tell
You can
you
that the
his
foreit
imagine what
was when I
dwarf chief held

finger;
felt
lightly balanced on
and when
rested
on
Skirnir's
hand
to
him no heavier than a piece of
thistle-
down.
The
Svart
King laughed loud when he saw the

face.
disappointment on Skirnir's
" It seems
yet
I
to
you a
little
thing," he
said;
"and
assure
all
you that
in
making
it
we have used up
world
fit
the
materials in the whole
for
the purpose.
No
will
is
such chain can ever

the least
be made again, neither

it
atom of the substances of which

It
is
made be found more.

The
noise
fashioned out of
;
six things.
made by
the footfall of cats
the beards of
women;
the roots of
stones;
the
sinews of bears; the breath of fish; and the
spittle
278

Fear not with
will
of birds.
this to
bind Fenrir; for

till
no stronger chain
of the world."
Skirnir
ever be
made
the end
now looked
with wonder at
his
chain,
and, after having thanked the dwarfs,

to
and promised
bring them a reward from

his road
Odin, he set forth
on
home, and, by the time of the evening
meal,
reached Valhalla, and gladdened the hearts

,/Esir
of the
by the
tidings of his success*
PART
IIL
HONOUR.
FAR away
frowning
lies,
to the north of Asgard,
surrounded by
Amsvartnir,
mountains,
the
dark
lake,
its
and, above the level of

the
troubled waters,
burns Lyngvi,
like
island of sweet
broom, flaming
In
this
a jewel on the dark brow of Hela.

isle,
lonely
sail,
to which
no ship but Skidbladnir could

Fenrir in the midst, assembled
the Êsir, with
to try the strength of the dwarfs' chain.
Fenrir prowled round his old master, Tyr, with
look
of
savage
triumph
that
in
his
cruel
eyes,
now
and
licking the
hand
his
had so long fed him,

head,
now
shaking
great
and
howling
defiantly.
The
yEsir
stood at the foot of Gioll,
2 8o

and passed
Gleipnir, the chain,
it,
the sounding rock,
from one to another, talking about

listened.
while Fenrii
it
"It was much stronger than
looked,"
they said ; and Thor and Tyr vied with each other
in their efforts
his
to
break
it;
while
Bragi declared
JEsir
or
belief that
there
was no one among
giants capable of performing so great a feat,
"
unless,"
he added, " it should be you, Fenrir."

This speech roused
after
the pride of Fenrir;
and,
the
I to
looking
long at the slender chain
and
faces
of the Êsir, he answered, "Loath

this
am
be
bound by
chain;
but,
lest
you
should
doubt
my
courage, I will consent that you should
bind me, provided one of you put his hand into
my mouth
tended."
as
pledge
that
no
deceit
is
in-
There was a moment's silence among the JEsu
when they heard this, and they looked at one another. Odin looked at Thor, and Thor looked
at Bragi,
and Frey
fell
behind, and put his hand
to his side,
where the all-conquering sword, which
he alone could wield, no longer rested.
At length Tyr stepped forward
valiantly,
and
2 8l
put his strong right hand, with which he had so

often fed him, into the wolfs cruel jaws.
At
this
signal
the
other Êsir threw the chain
round the monster's neck, bound him securely with
one
rock
end,
Gioll.
and
fastened
the
other
to
the
rose,
great
When
as
he was bound Fenrir
and
in
shook
himself,
he
had done before; but
vain he raised himself up, and
bounded forward
firmly the slender
more he struggled the more chain bound him.

the
At
joy;
this
sight
the Êsir set

their
up a loud shout of
the
for they
saw
enemy conquered, and

averted.
danger that threatened
Asgard
Only Tyr
hand.
was
silent, for in
the struggle he
his
had
lost his
Then Thor
Fenrir,
thrust
sword into the mouth of

flood burst forth, roared
and a foaming dark
down
course
it
the rock and under the lake,
and began
river.
its
through
the
country a
turbid
So
will roll
on
till
Ragnarok be come.
The
out
to
sails
of Skidbladnir
now
spread themselves
in in
the wind;
ship,
and
the Êsir, seated
the the
magic
silent
floated
over the
lake
silently
moonlight;
while, from the top of
Bifrost,
28 a
over the Urda fount and the dwelling of the Norns, " " a song floated down. Who," asked one voice, of
all
the Êsir has
won
the highest
honour?" and,
singing, another voice
made
for,
answer,
all
"Tyr has won
the
highest honour;
of
the Êsir, he has
the most worthily employed his gift."
Frey gave his sword for fairest Gerd." " Odin bought for himself wisdom at the price of
his right eye."
"
"
Tyr, not for himself, but for others, has sacrificed
his strong right hand."
The wolf
to
Fenrir
the
is
annihilation;
he was destined
Ragnarok.
his
swallow
see
chief of
the
gods at
We
him here
as destruction chained until
time for mischief should

side of nature morally
in him.
come
again
the destructive
is
and physically
personified
Why
the dwarfs should be able to
make
chain strong enough to bind him, which the gods had

failed to do, is
a puzzle.
May
it
mean
that subtlety
to
relinquish.
?
can
compass ends which force has
or possibly a better thing than subtlety, gentleness

Tyr,
283
who
plays an important part in this myth,

giantess.
was the son of Odin and a
His name
means "Shining;"
chief of gods.
like
at
is
one time he was probably a war god, something
He
" he
also a sort of
Thor, a finer hero, though, by a long way.

is
Har
says of him,
the most daring and intrepid of
the gods,
hence a
man who
surpasses
all
others
in valour is
called Tyr-strong."
His having only
one hand
refers partly to his character of war god,
and means that the victory can only be awarded

one
side.
to
" Thou never couldst settle a
strife
betwixt
two," was said to his shame, and,

that of all
we may
add, to
war gods
his
for ever.
Tyr
gives
name
to
Tuesday, as
Odin
to
Wednesday, Thor
to Friday.
to Thursday,
and Freyja or Frigga

is
Some
suggest that Loki
the patron of
of
the
Saturday.
He
Loki
forms the subject
next chapter.
THE PUNISHMENT OF
LOKI.
285
CHAPTER
VIII.
THE PUNISHMENT OF
AFTER
tured
JEsir.
LOKI.
the death of Baldur,

to
Loki never again ven-
intrude himself into the presence of the

well enough that he
He knew
had now done

that, for the
what could never be forgiven him, and

future,
he must bend
all
his
cunning and vigilance
to the task of hiding himself for ever from the eyes
of those
just
whom
he had so injured, and escaping the
punishment he had brought upon himself.

is
The world
large,
and
am
very cunning, said
Loki to himself, as he turned his back upon Asgard,
and wandered out

to the
into
Manheim
there
is
no end
deep
thick woods,
;
and no measure
for the
waters
neither
is
there any possibility of counting the
286

I shall disguise myself.
various forms under which
All-Father will never be able to find
me;
have
no cause
to
fear.
But, though Loki repeated this
over and over again to himself, he
was
afraid.
He
to
wandered
far
into
the
thick
woods,
;
and
covered himself with the deep waters

the tops of misty
hills,
he climbed
and
crouched in the
dark of hollow caves; but above the wood, and
through the water, and

single
down
into the darkness,
ray of
calm,
clear
light
seemed always to
it
follow him,
and he knew
that
came from the
eye of All-Father,
Air Throne.
who was watching him from

to
Then he
disguising
tried
escape
the
judging
shapes.
eye
by
himself
under
various
Some-
times he was an eagle on a lonely mountain-crag;
sometimes he hid himself as one among a troop

of timid reindeer; of a wood-pigeon
spotted
was,
fish,
;
sometimes he lay in the nest

sometimes he swam, a brightthe sea
;
in
living
but,
wherever
he
among
creatures,
or
alone
with dead
to find
nature, everything
seemed
to
to
know him, and

to
some voice
in
which
say
him,
You
are
THE PUNISHMENT OF LOKI.

Loki,
287
and
you
there
last
have
killed
rest
Baldur.
for
Air,
earth,
or water,
was no
him anywhere.
Tired at
find,
of seeking what he could nowhere
Loki
built himself
a house by the side of a

which,
at
narrow, glittering
flashed
river
lower point,
down from a high rock
into the sea below.
He
in
it,
took care that his house should have four doors

that
he might look out on every
side,
and catch
the
first
glimpse of the JEsir when they came, as
he knew they
would
come,
to
take
him
away.
Here
Nari,
his wife, Siguna, and his two sons, Ali and
came
to live with him.

far
Siguna was a kind woman,
too
kind for Loki.
She
felt
sorry for
fear,
good and him now that
she saw he was in great

thing
and
that every living
had turned against him, and she would have

of the JEsir
little
if
hidden him from the just anger

she could
father's
;
but the two sons cared
about their
all
dread and
danger;
they
spent
their
time in quarrelling with each other ; and their loud,
angry voices, sounding above the waterfall, would

speedily have betrayed the hiding-place, even
Father's piercing eye
if All-
had not already discovered
it
83

would be
day
;
If only the children

to say anxiously every
quiet,
Siguna used
;
but Loki said nothing
he was beginning to know by experience that there
was
that
about
his
children that could never
be
kept quiet or hidden away.
At
last,
one day when
he
was
sitting
in
the
all
middle of his house looking alternately out of
the four doors, and amusing himself as well as he
could by making a fishing net, he spied in

distance the whole
the
ing
his
house.
company The sight

and
of the Êsir approachof
them
and
coming
free
all
together
beautiful,
noble,
pierced
Loki with a pang that was worse than death.

rose
He
without daring to look again, threw his net

fire
on a
that
burned on the
little
floor,
and, rushing to
the side of the
river,
he turned himself into

stillest
a salmon, swam down to the deepest,

at the bottom,
pool
and hid himself between two
stones.
The
in
Êsir entered the house,

till
and looked
all
round
vain for Loki,

for
Kvasir,
sight,
one of Odin's sons,
famous
his
keen
spied out the remains
of the fishing-net in the
fire;
then Odin
knew
it
at
once that there was a river near, and that
was

there where Loki
his sons to
289
had hidden
himself.
He
cast
ordered
it
make a
fresh net,
and to
into
the water,
and drag out whatever

It
living thing they
could find there.
was done as he
all
desired.
Thor
held one end of the net, and
the rest of the JEsir
drew
pulled
the other through

it
the water.
it
When
they
up
the
first
time, however,
was empty, and
they would have gone away disappointed, had not

Kvasir, looking earnestly at the meshes of the net,
discovered that something living had certainly touched
them.
They then added a weight

it
to
the net,
and
threw
of the
with such force that
it
reached the bottom

in the pool.
river,
and dragged up the stones
Loki now saw the danger he was in of being

caught in the net, and, as there was no other way
of escape, he rose to the surface,
river
swam down
the
as quickly as he could,
and leaped over the and leaped quickly
net into the waterfall.
He swam
as a flash of lightning, but not so quickly but that
the Êsir saw him,
knew him through

two bands.
his disguise,
and resolved that he should no longer escape them.
They divided
into
Thor waded down

Êsir stood
the river to the waterfall;
the other

in
a group
below.
Loki
swam backwards and

he thought he would
that
forwards between them.

dart out into the sea,
Now
and now
he would spring
river.
over the net back again into the
This
last
seemed the
greatest
readiest
way of
escape, and, with

it
the
speed, he attempted
for him, and, as
Thor, however,
was watching
soon as Loki leaped
out of the water, he stretched out his hand,
and
air.
caught him while he was yet turning
in
the
Loki wriggled
Thor*s
tightly
his
slippery,
slimy length
through
fingers;
but
the
Thunderer grasped
him
by
the
tail,
and, holding
him
in this
manner
in his
hand, waded to the shore.

Êsir
There Father
at
Odin and the other

first
met him ; and,
Odin's
searching look, Loki was obliged to drop his
disguise,
and, cowering
and
frightened,
to
stand
in
his
proper
shape before the assembled Lords.

for,
One by one
they turned their faces from him;
in looking at him,
they seemed to see over again
the death of Baldur the Beloved.

I
told
you that there were high rocks looking

far
over
the sea not
from
Loki's
rest,
house.
One
four
of these,
higher
than the
had midway

projecting stones,
to
391
and to these the Êsir resolved
bind
Loki in such a manner that he should

able
to
never again be
of
torment
the
inhabitants
Manheim
or Asgard by his evil-doings.

return
to Asgard,
;
Thor
a chain
proposed to
to bring
with which to bind the prisoner
but Odin assured
him
that
he had no need to take such a journey,

said,
"Loki," he
"has already forged
for himself
a chain stronger than any you can make.
While we
have been occupied in catching him, his two sons,

Ali
and Nan, transformed into wolves by
their evil
passions,
have fought with, and destroyed, each other.
With
their sinews
we must make a
chain to bind
their father,
It
and from that he can never escape."

said.
was done as Asa Odin
rope was
it
made of
the dead wolves' sinews, and, as soon as

it
touched Loki's body,
turned into bands of iron,

to the rock.
and bound him immoveably

in
Secured
this
manner the
his
JEsir left him.
But
punishment
did
not
end
here.
snake, whose fangs dropped venom, glided to the
top of the rock, and leaned his head over to peer

at
Ix>kL
The
eyes of the
two
met and
fixed
92

The
serpent could never
each other.
afterwards
his
;
move away
but every
fell
moment
a burning drop from
tongue
all
down on
world
Loki's shuddering face.
In
pitied
the
there
was
only
one
who
him.
His kind wife ever afterwards stood
beside him, and held a cup over his head to catch

the poison.
When
away
the
to
cup
was
it,
full,
she
was
of
obliged to turn
empty
and drops
poison
fell
again on Loki's face.

it,
He
shuddered
and shrank from
and the whole earth trembled

till
So
will
he
lie
bound
Ragnarok be come.
Loki,
origin
as
we have
seen
all
along,
to
whatever his
may have
been, had
come
mean
evil
by
the time these nyths were formed,

principle, the originator
the destructive
as, father
of
all
corruption
of devouring Hel, of Fenrir, the wolf annihilator, and of Jormungand, the universal wolf.
story in
There
feast
is
a curious
one of the Eddas about a
which the
King of the Sea gave to the gods. By the way, one " Sat the Rock-dweller, glad as a song says of Êgir,
child:"
which
is
the introduction to another feast he
THE PUNISHMENT OF
LOKI.
Page
292.

gave the gods.
latter
If he began
by being glad on
this
occasion, expecting a happy entertainment, he

for Loki,
must have had a grievous disappointment,

bent on mischief, would
Êsir.
insist
upon
feasting with the
Things rarely went
well where
Loki was,
which the gods knew and begged him not to come.
But Loki would come, and

at the table
directly
he was seated
he began his mischief-making, doing his

the gods
turns,
best
to
make
quarrel with one another,

fault
insulting
them by
reminding each of some
or misfortune least pleasant to remember.

it
Altogether
must have
been
a most uncomfortable dinner-
party.
At
last
Thor,
who had been on a
journey,
came back; and,
after
a good deal of abuse had

latter
passed between him and Loki, the

to take
appeared
enraged
alarm
and slank away from

says that
it
his
companions.
One account
was immedi-
ately after this the gods caught Loki
and bound him,
but another does not mention his capture in connection with Êgir's feast.
his
Simrock says that Loki, in
character of accuser at this banquet, represents
the guilty conscience of the gods.
From
this
he
becomes the
guilty conscience
itself,
a personification
294
THE HEROES OF ASGAP*>.

sin.
of the consciousness of
His attempts
at
con
cealment, the four doors of his house placed every
way
that he might
be
alert in descrying danger, his

(for the
making
the net
by which he was caught
JEsii were said to copy the net which they found

in Loki's house), his being
bound with
the entrails
ajl
of his
own
children
results
is,
of evil deeds
carry
itself
out this idea.
He
says Simrock, the
Bad
as well as the consciousness of it
He
is
sin chained
as
Fenrir
is
destruction
chained.
The gods
it
ar*
moral power, they are
his chains, for
is
said that
And yet, how when he shudders they tremble. real he has become in this myth, so much a person
that
we can
his
scarcely help wishing
him
to escape
by
means of
ingenious disguises,
and are
to pity
off
certainly
glad that at last

faithful
some one
is left
him
the
wife,
standing by,
who wards
from him
so
much
of his punishment
We now
said,
come
will
to
Ragnarok; and
winter."
"first," as
Har
not
"there
come a
tell
But that
is
exactly
how we
the story.
XAGNAROK.
CHAPTER IX
RAGNAROK, OR THE TWILIGHT OF
THE GODa
SINCE the day that Baldur died no one had walked
in
the
bright
halls
of
Broadblink
no one had
gates.
even stepped through the expanded

of
Instead
imdimmed
brightness,
soft,
luminous mist now
hung over the palace of the dead Asa, and the

Asyniur whispered to one another that
it
was haunted
by wild dreams.
"I have seen them/' Freyja used to say; "I have seen them float in at sunset through the
palace windows and the open doors
;
every evening I
296

trace
I
can
their
slight
forms
through
the
rosy
mist; and
know
that those
dreams are wild and

feel
strange from
the shuddering that I

if
when
look at them, or
ever they glance at me."
So the Asyniur never went into Broadblinkj and

though the JEsir did
not
think
much about
the
dreams, they never went there
either.
But one day
it
happened
that
Odin stood
in the
opening of the palace gates at sunset.
The evening
watching the
into
soft
was clear and calm, and

western
he stood
sky
until
its
crimson
faded
blue grey; then the colours of the flowers began

to
mix one with another

blossoms
stood
It
only the
tall
white and
distance
yellow
out
alone
the
became more dim.

silence
was
twilight,
and there was

night and the
over the
earth
whilst
the
evening drew near to one another.
Then a young
dream came
blink.
floating through the gates into Broadsisters
Her
were already there ; but she had
only just been born, and, as she passed Odin, she
touched him with a
light
hand, and drew him along
with her into the palace.
She led him into the
same
hall in
which Baldnr had breamed, and there
RAGNAROK.
Odin saw the night sky above him, and the broad
branches of Yggdrasil swaying in the breeze.
The
Norns stood under the great ash
the golden threads
had dropped from
their fingers
and Urd and Ver-
dandi stood one on each side of Skuld,

still
who was
stood
raised
veiled.
For
long
time
the
three
motionless, but at length
Urd and Verdandi

lifted
each a cold hand, and

Skuld's face.
veil,
the veil slowly from
Odin looked
breathlessly within the

dilated as
and the eyes of Skuld

and
larger,
he looked,
grew larger
and, at
last,
melted into one another,
expanded into boundless space.

its
In the midst of space lay the world, with

long shores,
and vast oceans,

Êsirland
it;
ice
mountains, and
with
green
plains;
all
in
the
midst,
Manoff,
heim
round
then the wide sea, and, far
the frost-bound shores of Jotunheim.

there
Sometimes
was night and sometimes day; summer and

;
winter gave place to one another
and Odin watched
the seasons as they changed, rejoiced in the sunshine,
and looked calmly over the night

at
last,
But
during
one
sunrise,
a wolf came
sun.
out of Jarnvid, and
began to
howl at the
298

to
The sun did not seem

majestically
heed him, but walked

mid-day point; then
up the sky
to her
the wolf began to run after her,
and chased her

There the
down
the sky again to the low west.
sun opened her bright eye wide, and turned round

at
bay; but the wolf came close up to

his
her,
and
opened
earth
mouth, and swallowed her up.

the
the
The
shuddered, and
waiting
for
moon moon
rose.
Another
wide jaws
wolf was
with
open, and, while yet pale and young, he, too, was
devoured.
The
earth
shuddered
again;
while
it
was
covered with
cold and darkness,
frost
and
snow came
Winter
driving from the four corners of heaven.

night,
and
winter
and
night,
there
was
now
nothing but winter.

dauntless
eagle
sat
upon the height of the

to
strike
Giantess'
Rock,
and
began
his
harp.
Then a
light
red cock crowed over the Bird
Wood.
gold-combed cock crowed over Asgard, and over

red. to
Helheim a cock of sooty

underground Garm began
From a long way

howl, and
at
last
Fenrir broke loose from his rock-prison,

forth
and ran
con-
over the whole earth.
Then
brother
RAGNAROK.
tended with brother, and war had no bounds. hard age was
that.
299
" An
axe age,
A sword age,
Shields oft
cleft in
twain
A storm age, A wolf age,

Ere the earth met
its
doom.*
Confusion
rioted
in
the
darkness.
At length
his
Heimdall
horn,
ran
up
Bifrost,
and
blew
all
Giallar
whose sound went out

the
into
worlds,
and
its
Yggdrasil,
might
ash,
was
shaken
from
root to
ride
its
summit.
After this
Odin saw himself
forth
from Asgard to consult Mimer at the

Whilst he was there Jormunin
his place,
it
Well of Wisdom.
gand turned mightily
and began to
to swell
plough the ocean, which caused

every shore,
so
that the world
its
over
was covered with

hills.
water to the base of
high
Then
the
ship Naglfar was seen coming over the sea with

its
prow from the
east,
and the giant
Hrym was
the
steersman.
All Jotunheim resounded, and
the dwarfs stood
3 oo

their
moaning before
was
cleft
stony doors.
Then heaven
light
in twain,
and a flood of
streamed
down upon
the sons of the
the dark earth.

fire,
The
sons of Muspell,
rode through the breach, and at
head
of them
rode
the
swarth
Surt,
their
leader,
before and behind
whose sword outshone the
whom fire He led sun.

in
raged,
and
his flaming
bands from heaven to earth over

tremulous
tread.
Bifrost,
and the
their
bridge
the
broke
earth
pieces
beneath
again;
the
Then
shuddered
even
to
giantesses
stumbled;
in such
and
men
trod
way
Helheim
crowds that
Garm was
sated with
their blood,
broke loose, and came up to earth to

living.
look upon the
Confusion rioted, and Odin
saw
over
himself,
at
the
head of
all
the
to
Êsir,
ride
the
tops
of the
mountains
Vigrid,
the
high, wide battle-field,
where the giants were already

Fenrir,
assembled, headed by
Garm, Jormungand,
and Loki.
sons of
fire,
Surtur was there, too,
commanding
in
the
whom
he had drawn up
several
shining bands on a distant part of the
plain.
First,
Then
the great battle began

forth
in
earnest
Odin went
against
Fenrir,
who came
on,
RAGNAROK.
his
301
opening
enormous
mouth;
the
lower
jaw
reached to the earth, the
upper one to heaven,

further
and would have reached

space to admit of it
a
little
had
there
been
for
Odin and Fenrir fought
while only, and then Fenrir swallowed
the
Êsir's
Father
but Vidar stepped forward, and, putFenrir's lower jaw,
ting his foot
on
with his hand
he seized the other, and rent the wolf in twain.

In the meantime Tyr and
until
Garm had been
fighting
they had killed each other.
Heimdall slew
Frey,
Beli's
Loki,
and
Loki
slew
Heimdall.
in battle,
radiant slayer,
met Surtur
terrible
and was
were
killed
by
ere
him.
Many
fell;
blows
Fire
exchanged
sword
out-
Frey
but
the
King's
shone the sun, and where was the sword of Frey?
Thor went
forth
against
his
Jormungand;
the
strong
Thunderer raised
arm
he feared no
evil
he
Jor-
flung Miolnir at the monster serpent's head.
mungand leaped up a great height in fell down to the earth again without
stream of
the
life
air,
;
and
but a
venom poured
Thor
fell
forth from his nostrils as
he
died.
back
nine
paces
his
from
the
tr
trength of his
own blow; he bowed
head

the earth,
and was choked
in the poisonous flood;

killed
so the monster
serpent was
by the strong
Thunderer's hand; but in death Jormungand slew

his slayer.
Then
earth
all
mankind forsook
sank
the
earth,
and the
ocean.
itself
down
slowly
into
the
Water swelled over the mountains,
rivers
gurgled
the
through thick trees, deep currents swept

valleys
down
nothing was to be seen on the earth but a
wide
flood.
The
stars fell
thither.
from the sky, and flew
about hither and

drifted
At
last,
smoky clouds
encircling
upward from
the
infinite
fire
deep,
the earth and the water;
burst forth from the
midst
roared
of them,
red
the
flames
wrapped
the
world,
through
branches
itself.
of Yggdrasil,
and
played against heaven

fire
The
flood swelled, the
raged ; there was
"
of
nothing but flood and fire. " Then," said Odin, in his dream, I see the end
things.
now
all
The end
is
like the beginning,
and
it
will
now be
for ever as if nothing

fire
had ever been."
But, as he spoke, the
ceased suddenly; the
clouds rolled away
a new and brighter sun looked

arise
wl
of heaven;
and he saw
a second time
RAGNAROK.
the earth from ocean.
It
fell
303
rose slowly as
it
had
sunk.
First, the waters

hills
back from the tops of
new
that
rose
up
fresh
and verdant;
rain-
drops like pearls dripped from the freshly budding

trees,
and
fell
into
the sea with a sweet sound;

glittering
waterfalls splashed
from the high rocks

;
eagles flew over the mountain streams

spring-like;
evil,
earth arose
unsown
fields
bore fruit; there was no
and
all
nature smiled.
forth
Forest
came
Then from Memory's a new race of men, who spread
over the whole earth, and

the dawn.
Hill
who
fed
on the dew of
city
There was also a new
on Asgard's
a city of gems; and Odin saw a

in
it,
new
hall
standing
with gold.
fairer
all,
than
the
sun,
and roofed
Above
the wide blue expanded, and
into that fair city
came Modi and Magni, Thor's

Vali and
two sons, holding Miolnir between them.

Vidar
came,
and
the
deathless
Hcenir;
Baldur
came up from the deep, leading his blind brother Hodur peacefully by the hand ; there was no longer
any
strife
between them.
Two
brothers' sons in-
habited the spacious
Wind-Home.
the ^)sir sat
Then Odin watched how
on the
304

many
things.
green plain, and talked of

is
"Garm
dead," said
Hod
to
" and so are Baldur, Loki,

Fenrir,
and Jormungand, and

joices; but did our
in slaying
and the world

rejoice
refell
dead brothers
who
them?"
did,
"They
gave
and, as he
for,
Hod,"
answered
Baldur;
"they
world
"
;
their lives willingly for the life of the

listened,
Odin
felt
that
this
was true;
when he looked upon that beautiful and happy age, it gave him no pain to think that he must die
it
before
came
that,
though for many,
it
was not
for him.
By-and-bye Hcenir came up to

with something
that he
glittering
Hod and
hand
Baldur
in
;
his
something
had found
in the grass
and as he approached
tablets,
he
said,
"Behold the golden
my
brothers,
which in the beginning of time were given to the

Êsir's Father,
and were
all
lost in the
Old World."
tablets, and,
Then they
looked eagerly at the
as they bent over them, their faces

brighter than before.
became even
"There
"not an
is
no longer any
nor an
evil thing," said

evil
Odin;
evil sight,
sound."
RAGNAROK.
But
as
he
spoke
dusky
wings
rose
out
of
Niflheim,
and
the dark-spotted
serpent,
Nidhogg,
came
on
flying from the abyss, bearing dead carcases
his wings
cold death, undying.
Then
that
the joy of
his
Odin was drowned

heart,
in the tears
brimmed
and
it
was
as
if
the
eternal
gnawer had entered into
his soul.
cried.
" Is
there,
then,
no victory over sin?" he

to
"Is there
no death
Death?" and with the cry he woke.
His dream had faded from him.
He
stood in the
palace gates alone with night, and the night was

dying.
Long
since the rosy clasp of evening
had
dropped from her; she had turned through darkness eastward, and looked earnestly towards dawn.
It
was
twilight again, for the night
and the morning

stood in the
drew near to one another.

east
A
of
star
the morning star

the
and a coming brightness
smote
voice
filled
heavens.
Out
the
light
still it
came advancing,
all
swelling,
widening,
it
until
space.
"Look
all
forth,"
its
said,
"upon
and
the groaning earth, with

cruelty,
kill
cold,
and
pain,
fight
and death.
other;
Heroes and giants
and
each
now
giants
fall,
and
heroes

triumph;
now
heroes
fall,
and
giants
is
rise;
they
can but combat, and
the earth
full
of pain.
Look
faiths
forth,
and
fear not;
but when the worn-out

like
of nations shall
totter
old
men, turn
every
eastward,
and behold the
light that lighteth
man ;
for there is nothing
dark
it
doth not lighten ;
there is
nothing
hard
it
cannot
melt;
there
is
nothing
lost it will
not save."
Of
course the
Eddas do not say anything about

in
Odin seeing Ragnarok
a dream, or about
his
having any idea of a light that was to

divested of this slender
veil,
come ;
it
but,
the
story as
here
stands
is
almost an exact likeness of the northern
given as the prophecy of a Vala or seeress, and the last line is " Now she will
myth.
In one
Edda
it
is
descend," meaning that the Vala had finished her

prophesying, and would
come down from her high

about the
seat
We
those
have now heard a
little
Êsir,
gods
in
whom
Har
like
said
we were
to
believe; and, are they
each
other or unlike?
RAGNAROK.
ire
307
unlike, but after
ask ourselves.
At
first
we say
thinking about them a

indeed.
little
while, very
much
alike
It is certain that the
Eddas speak of them

before, the
as distinct, but then, as
we saw
Eddas
religion
are not really very old
compared with the
they explain, they are almost young.
Simrock points out clearly the likenesses between

the gods
a very few of them we touch upon.
Let
us begin, by putting in a line for ourselves to look

at,
Odin, Tyr, Heimdall, Thor, Frey, and Baldur.

air,
Odin
stormy and serene, the heavens with sun,

stars
;
moon and
throne,
Odin the wanderer ; Odin on

over the whole
Air-
seeing
world;
Odin,
the
Summer, as Odur ; the patron of

of the
slain,
battles, the
chooser
the pledger of one eye, drinking from
Mimer's horn.
the
the
Tyr, the shining, the warrior god,
pledger
of one
hand.
Heimdall,
as
Irmin,
shining, a dweller
upon
heavenly mountains,
the
who
sees
and hears
far off,
who wanders over
earth,
is
blows his golden horn.
Thor, whose dwelling
the
heavens; god of the storm, of cultivation;

the
whilst
the warrior,
said
that
chooser
of the slain;
for
it
is
Odin
had
all
the
Jarls
that
308

in
battle,
fell
Thor claimed
the
the
Thralls
for
his
share.
Frey,
Summer, god
of the
fruitful
year, the pledger of his sword.
It is
supposed that
it
Frey was once the husband of Freyja, and that
was
their
separation
which founded the myth of

tears;
this
Freyja's wanderings
and
would connect
him with Odur or Odin.

pledges his
earth to
life
Baldur, Summer, or Sun god,
to the under-world.
In leaving the
weep
for
him, he recalls the desertion of Freyja
and her
tears.
Turning to the goddesses, we see
Jord or the earth spoken of as a wife of Odin;

Rind, the winterly earth
;
Freyja, so nearly joined to

;
Frigg, the summerly earth
Iduna, the spring of the
earth;
Gerda, also the winterly earth;
Hela,
the
under-world.
it
What
strikes us
through
all this is that
would be natural
for the early earth dwellers first

all
to worship
the heavens with
that they contain
and
suggest, whilst the action of heavenly influences
upon the earth would reveal her

mother,
stern,
to
them
as the great
cold,
tender,
all
fruitful,
consuming,
embosoming, reproducing
in
one.
There are
many ways
ID the
first
in
which gods and goddesses multiply.
place Gylfis will begin to ask questions
RAGNAROK.
and pry into
existence,
first
309
causes and ways and means of

easily arise
air,
whence would
a division of
fire,
nature into elementary powers,
water,
to say
nothing
of the giants
and chaotic regions which
would suggest themselves.

life
One
side or another of
in
its
must always be uppermost, and nature
differences grows into
new
personalities
from nature
myths again moral ones

variations joins
easily develope,
and new
meet the new requirements.
Again, tribe
tribe
and pantheons mingle, the chief god of

say, or the brother,
one race becoming the son,

another
tribe's chief
of
god, and so on.

receiving Thralls in battle whilst
The
fact of
Thor
Odin claimed the

at
Jarls,
looks as
first
if
Thor had
second
fallen
one
time
from
the
to a
place.
Simrock
says that
Tyr answers to Zeus, and that

;
perhaps he was the oldest of the Asgard gods
but
he says also that Odin has gathered up

all
into himself
the highest attributes of the gods.
The only
one
says
allusions that can be relied
on as genuine which the

is
Eddas contain
very
to a higher god than Odin

in
obscure strophe
the Voluspa which
speaking of Ragnarok,

**
Then comes
the Mighty One,
To
the great judgment,
The powerful from above
Who
rules over all
He shall doom pronounce And strifes allay,

Holy peace Which shall
establish
ever be."
Another
lay.
Mill
more
*
difficult to
understand in Hyndla'a
Then
Yet
shall another
come,
mightier,
Although I dare not His name declare*
Few may
see
Further forth
Than when Odin

Meets the Wolfc
Simrock, however, thinks that he sees some gleams

of a higher unseen
and
there,
and between
Hidden Power very faintly here this Being and Odin he

But
also fancies that
he can trace some connection.
he
is
very uncertain on the point
Simrock says of the goddesses in the Scandinavian

mythology that they most of them represent only
one side
of the
original
Earth Mother, dividing
RAGNAROK.
the double nature between
them
so
we
see
some
personating the
fruitful,
beneficent, life-giving renoside
vating earth, whilst

left
Hela has only the dark

is,
in her nature.
It
however, to be observed that

is
whilst half a corpse she
half a
woman.
Gerda and
also,
and Iduna are mixed

others
that
in nature, also
Rinda
says,
of Odin's
is
giantess
wives.
He
Hela
the eldest of the goddesses,
and
that the
root idea remains with her, as earth

is,
a receiver of the dead,
though she became so degraded.
Odin
gave her power over nine worlds, and here
we
see
a trace of the old idea of her being the great Earth
Mother.
"From
a goddess of the underworld to

is
a goddess of death
one
step.
goddess of the
underworld should be
life-giving as well as destroying;
but soon the heathen horror of death appears, and

the destroyer
is
looked upon as the ender only, not
the fresh begetter
she becomes a hunger that will

is
not be
Loki.
satisfied,
and hence Hela
a daughter of
Out
of
the
flood,
into
the
flood
again,
Niflheim and Muspelheim join hands in the twilight
As
in
the
first
beginning of things
we saw
the
5x3

and melted by these
of
see
this
strange waves alternately frozen

antagonistic powers,
and
out
antagonism
a form
so in Ragnarok
we
the flood
once
both
both,
more supreme, the

fighting
rival forces, cold
and
heat,
against the formed, ordered world
because both alike represent elemental forces which
must precede formation.
So, also, a second time the
world emerges out of the struggle, Simrock thinks, a
renewed world morally and physically

it
and
certainly
does seem to have
made some advance upon
the
old order of things,
it
stands forth beautiful at once.

the
But does
this
mean any more, we wonder, than
golden age come
back, with fate in the back-ground.

to
So many of the same powers seem

in
be
at
work
the
two worlds, that we can only think of a
succession of events in looking at the picture.

see again the golden tables,
as Baldur.
We
we
see
Hodur
as well
There
is
one very obscure verse which
seems to imply that the giant fate-maidens are in the
renewed world.
Sons succeed
their fathers.
Odin's
sons inherit Odin's hall; the two mentioned are Vali
and Vidar, who were both descended from

and giants always
typify the
giantesses,
baser part of nature.
RAGNAROK.
Thor's sons retain the badge of warfare.
other hand,
peacefully
it
313
On
has
the
is
said that
Hod and
the
Baldur come up
it
together
also, that
from
deep;
been
remarked,
no Vanir gods
There
(inferior to those
is
of Asgard) are mentioned.

in the
also
a strophe
Voluspa which
talks of
peace established, and
of heavenly Gimill, gold bedecked, where the right-
eous people are to dwell for evermore, and enjoy

happiness
"She a Hall sees standing than the sun With gold bedecked in Gimill.
There
shall the righteous people dwell,
brighter,
And
But
again,
for
evermore happiness enjoy."
immediately
are
following
these
hopeful
the
strains,
we
shown the dark-spotted snake
Eternal Gnawer, with a corpse
upon
his wings.
" The dark dragon
flying
from beneath, the glistening serpent,
On his wings
bears Nidhogg, flying o'er the plain a corpse."
Our
ears are puzzled
by the
strain,
and we cannot
catch the melody's last tone.
Is
it
a joy note or a
wail?
from
Gimill's
gold roofs,
from
the
shore
of corpses ?
"
Who
can search into the beginning ;
who can search
into the
end?"
INDEX OF NAMES.
INDEX OF NAMES,
WITH MEANINGS.
SELECTED FROM MALLET'S " NORTHERN ANTIQUITIES,* AMD FROM THORPE'S "NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY."
sEgir
dZsir
Alf,
The King of the Gods or Lords.
Sea.
Singular,
The name means, "to flow.* As or Asa.

Loki's children.
It signifies,
Alt or Vali
Elf Alfheim, Elfhome. The name of one of

lake.
"strong."
AmsvartnirNsnae of a
gloomy."
r
It
means,
"grief,
black,
Angurbodi-
Thc mother of Jormungand, Hela, and

"anguish boding."
Fenrir.
The name
Asgard
Asyniur
signifies,
"
Literally,
God's-ward," or "the abode of the god*,'
Goddesses.
first
Audkumla The
Baldur
cow.
Signifies,
"void, darkness.*
Bright, white, bold.
xa

BarriThe Warm Wood.
Beli
The stag killed by Frey. Bdi signifies, " to bellow." " the Tremu It means, #*/rarf -Name given to the rainbow.
lous or Aerial Bridge.
"
Bilskirnir
Name
of Thor's
mansion.
It
signifies
either
"bright space" or "storm-serene."
BSr or Bur
Bragi
The first hero. The god of eloquence. From faaga, "to shine;" or bragga, "to adorn." Bragr, which in Norse signifies
"poetry," has become in English "to brag," and a poet
"a
braggart."
From
Bragi's bumper, the Bragafull,

also,
comes
our word
"bragget," and probably,
the
verb
"to
brew ; " Norse, brugga.

Breidablik
Name
of Baldur's abode.
It
means,
"
broad-blink,
wide-glancing, expanded splendour."
**nsingamenName
"flaming."
of
Freyja's
necklace.
From
bribing
Oa*_Signifies, "swoon," or "complete repose." name of one of the four harts which ran about
branches of Yggdrasil
j
It is thf
among
the
also the
name
of a dwarf.
Draupnirk
ring
of Odin,
Baldur's pile, acquired the
which, after being placed on power of dropping every ninth

itself.
night eight rings ot equal weight with
Dromi
Name
of a chain
from which he freed

verb in Sweden,
out of Dromi,"
exertion.
" To
by which Fenrir was bound, and himself. It has since become a proget loose from Lading, and to dash
is
when anything
to
be done with great
Duneyr
Name
of one of the harts which lived in
YggdnuiL
Durathror
Light sleep.
Another of the
harts.
INDEX OF NAMES.
Durin
Dvalin
317
Name
of a dwarf.
Signifies,
"light sleep."
;
Torpor.
Name
of one of the harts
also of a dwarf.
Einherjar
Chc?n
heroes.
The name of the rivers which Elivdgar Stormy waves. flowed forth from Hvergelmir, and hardened into ice in
Ginnungagap, the abyss of abysses, situated between Niflheim
Elli
and Muspellheim. Old Age. She wrestled with Thor
in Jotunheim.
It
Elvidnir
storm."
The
entrance-hall of Hela's palace.
means,
" wide
Ermt
Name
of a river through which
Thor had
to wade.
Fenrir or Fenris Ulfr Monster wolf, oz dweller in an abyss, or howling wolf of the deep.
Fensalir
Frigga's abode.
Fensaloon, or watery deep.

Literally,
FolkvangTreyfis
habitation."
abode.
"the
folk's
field
or
Frey and
Freyja
Master
and
mistress,
from
whence the
"mild,
German word "frau."

Frigga or Frigg
The names
also signify,
joyous, fructifying, beauteous."
Free, beauteous, winsome.
Garm
way
Gerd,
to Helheim.
The dog with bloody breast and jaws who guarded the From gcrr, "voracious," a word probably
cognate with English "gorge."

Gerda> or Gerdur " *'
agriculture.
From
era t
"to do
make," as
in
ukrgerd,
Gimli
Name
of the
heavenly city which existed after

Signifies,
the
destruction
and renewal of the world.
"fire,**
or
"gem."

Ginnungagap
Literally,
The
"the gap
space between Niflheim and Muspellheim. of gaps, the abyss of abysses, the
yawning, gaping abyss."

Gjallar-bru
The sounding
river leading
from the abodes of
the living to those of the dead.
GjaUar-horn From gjalla, "to resound, to clang." with the English, "to yell."
Gj'oll
Cognate
Name
of river,
"
sonorous, fulgid,"
meaning "the horizon." It signifies, and has reference to the popular belief of
it
the sun's sound
when
;
goes
day breaks forth

Glodsheim
the skriek
down and when it rises, or when " break of of day, our day."
whence the
home," or "the English word
Odin's abode.
Literally, "glad's
" abode of gladness ;
from
"gladsome."
Gltipnir
The
It signifies,
chain made by dwarfs "the devouring."
for the binding of Fenrir.
Gnipa
Cave leading to Helheim. Golden Bristles. Name of Frey's hog. Golden Mane. The name of Heimdall's steed Gulltoppr
Gullinbursti
Hetmdall
Guardian
of the
rainbow.
His name sign
fiea
"the pole or post of the world."

incomplete,
literally,
is still
The
rainbow, whta
,
called
by the northern nations Veirstolpe
a weather-post. " Hela The Queen of the Dead. means " intense cold "
;
others,
Some "a
say that her
name
large hole or cavity."
Helheim
The home of Hela. ffifrmodThe name of Odin's messenger.

host," or
It signifies,
"
"army
of courage."
Himinbiorg
Heimdall's abode.
The name signifies, " hecvenly
mountains."
INDEX OF NAMES.
Hlidskjalf
the earth.
3 zg
The name of Odin's throne, from whence he looked over

It
means literally,
**
a trembling or wavering slope. n
Hb'dur or
Hod The
blind god.
His name means,
"war,
combat."
ffaenir
The god
of mind or perception.
He
is
sometimes
called the rapid As, or Long-foot.
Hringhorn
ship.
Literally,
"ringed horn."
The name of
"rime
Baldur's
Hrym
Hugi
or or
Ryme Name
Hugin
of a giant, from whence
frost."
Spirit, breath,
thought
The name
of one
of Odin's ravens.
Hvcrgelmir The roaring cauldron, or spring of hot water, which bubbled up out of Niflheim.
Hymir Name
Hyrrokin
of a giant.
"
Literally,
smoky
From hum, "the sea." fire." The name of a
giantes*
Jduna or Idun
Jarmrid
Guardian of the apples of immortality.
Iron Wood. Jormungand Universal serpent
Jotunheim
Giants' home.
Grimm
eat."
thinks that the old Norse

eten,
for giant, ibtun, is cognate
with the old Saxon
and may
be derived from
eta,
" to
KerlaugQK&
on
his
of the rivers through which Thor had to wade
way Kormt Another

JCvasir
to the
Doomstead.
of the rivers through
which Thor waded.

;
Name
of a
man
killed
by dwarfs
also of
one ol
Odin's sons.
Lading -Name of one of the chains used to bind Fenrir. " wide land." landvutiVidsu's abode. Literally,
320
Flame.
Logi Loki
Either flame, or derived from luka*
"to shut j" whenoa
the English "lock."
Lyngvi
The
island of sweet broom.
Magni
The
powerful.
One
of men
of Thor's sons,
ManbeitnThe abode Mani1\it moon.

Mardbll
Sea-nymph
from
whence, perhaps,
the
English
word, "doll"
Afegingjardir
Thai's girdle of might, the belt of prowess.

applied
to the
Midgard
Name
earth;
"middle-ward," or
"inclosure."
Mimer
Guardian of Wisdom's Well.
The name
signifies,
"to keep in memory," or "to be mindful." Mimer's Well was supposed to be situated at that end of the rainbow Mimer drank water from his well opposite to Himinbiorg.
out of a horn, whence the popular superstition that a cup
to be found at the end of the rainbow.
is
Miolnir
Name
"
;
of Thor's hammer.
It signifies,
"to pound
or grind
whence the English word "mill."

of the
to
Modgudur
Name
woman who
It
stood at the end of the
bridge leading
Helheim.
signifies,
"courageous,"
from whence the English word "mood." Modi The name of one of Thor's sons. It
signifies,
"courage."
Munin
fire."
Name of one of Odin's ravens.

The Muspellhome.
Muspellheim
memory. Muspell means "elemental
It signifies,
"
"
ffaglfar
Name
of nails.
Nagl means
of the ship that appears at Ragnarok, "nail."
made
INDEX OF NAMES.
Wanna
Nari
Nastrond
Baldur's wife.
One
of Loki's sons.
Literally,
The name signifies, "daring." The name signifies, "binding."
" the shore of corpses."
NidJwgg
Serpent at the root of Yggdrasil. rendered "dark gnawer."

Literally,
The name may be
Niflheim
"nebulous home."
Njord
water.
Van, the universal nourishing power in air and There is in the North an aquatic plant still called
It
"Njord's glove."
Koatun
Nornir
Odin
The name of Njord's home.

singular
means,
" the
place
of ships."
Norn
Name
given to the Fates.
Called
still
places
retain the
Several by the Saxons Wodan or Woden. name of Odin in Germany and Sweden,
Staffordshire,
as, also,
Wednesbury, in
Odur
The name
The
of Freyja's husband.
Ragnarok
twilight of the gods.
Ran
WifeofÊgir.
Her name
signifies,
"plunder, robbery.*
Ratatosk
The name
sister
of the squirrel which ran up and
down
YggdrasiL Roska The

signifies,
of Thialfi, Thor's attendant.

lively,
The name
"quick,
active;" from whence comes the
English word "rash."
S<zhrimnirNzm.z of the boar every evening eaten in Valhalla. It signifies, "seat Sessrymnir The name of Freyja's hall. " " roomy ; from whence the English word room.**
Sif
Name of Thor's wife. Siguna Name of Loki's wife.

Siofna
Skadi
The
Daughter of Freyja and goddess of sleep. Skadi signifies, "the hurtfuL" wife of Niord.
Her habitation was Thrymheim, "noise-home." SkidbladnirNzme of Frey's ship. The English word "blade,"
or "leaf," comes from Bladnir.
Skirnir
Frey's
pure, clear."
Skrymir
The name signifies, "serene, messenger. The English word "sheer" comes from it. Name of a giant. From shram, "show, brag, feint"
Skuld signifies, " what
horse.
is
SkuldQvz of the Nornir. SMpnir Name of Odin's

signifies,
to come."
Sleipnir
He
had
eight legs.
"smooth,
gliding;"
from whence
the
English
word "slippery." The sun. .Sb/ Surf or Surtur The
fire-god,
who
lived in Muspellheim.
fire."
His
name
Suttung
signifies,
"swart, browned by
A giant, whose name means,
"to drink."
Svartalfheim or Svartheim Literally, "swart or dark home." It was the region of the dwarfs, or dark elves.
Thaukt
Thialfi
Name
One
of a witch.
of Thor's attendants.
Supposed to mean, "the

It
thunder-shower."
Thiassi
Name
God
of Skadi's
father.
signifies,
"violent,
tempestuous."
Thor
of thunder.
Also called
Ving-Thor, or Winged-
Thor ; Auku, or Oku-Thor; Chariot-Thor. Thrudvang or Thrudheim Thor's abode, The name
signifies,
"the region of
together."
fortitude,"
or
"dense,
closely
packed
Thrymheim
Tyr
Noise-home.
after
The god
whom
Tuesday was named.
INDEX OF NAMES.
Urd One of the Nornir. Her name signifies, " past." Urda The name of the sacred fount, which was situated
Bifrost.
over
Utgard
The name
of the chief city of Jotunheim.
Literally,
"outer- ward."
Valhalla
Name
of a hall in Gladsheim.
It
means
literally,
"hall of the chosen."

Valkyrior
singular,
Valkyria
Odin's maidens.
The name
means
Vanir
literally,
"choosers of the slain."

of the Vanir.
Vanaheim
The home
singular masculine,
Van;
singular feminine,
Vana
signifies,
The name of the gods

"empty."
Vegtam
of the air and water.
Vanr
A wanderer.
VerdandiQnz of the Nornir. Her name signifies, "present." Vidar signifies, " a wood or forest. " Vidar The silent god. Vidblain The wide blue.
Vigrid
evil
Name
of the battle-field on which the gods and the
powers contended during Ragnarok.

of the goddesses.
Vigrid
signifies,
"battle, ride."
VingolfkbQte
of friends."
Voluspd
Means
literally,
"the
flooi
The name
of an old poem.
of the earth tree.
Yggdrasil
The name
first
Ymir The
giant.
Ymir means, " a confused
noise."
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L.
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All schools of art are represented.
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HEART OF NATURE.
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1 '
comprises "Stories of Plants and Animals, and Sky," and "Stories of Birds and Beasts,^ usually published in three volumes and known as "The Heart ol
"Stories of Earth
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interest
It
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and
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shifts from farm t(\ a sort of winter camp,; where vivid stories of the birds and beasts which cannot be seeij at home are told by the campfire, the sailor who has hunted thq
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YONGE.
lotte
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YONGE.
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UNKNOWN TO HISTORY.
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+ 589
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of Scots, told in the
1
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Mary Queen
14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED
LOAN
This book
is
DEPT.
date stamped below, or
i
due on the
last
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PrnnvH
hnnlfiiarn imhjii
HI
HfTtiflii
ill
in
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KB 19
LD
1968
HI
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Heroes of Asgard

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THE HEROES OF ASGARD

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HUARD

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

Reprinted July, 1909.

Smith Co., Norwood, Mass.. U.S.A.

of tales from the Northern Mythology for the press,

advisable to omit the

had been objected

course of the narrative.

drawn from sources they had not

had an opportunity of consulting when the volume

whose works the

Mallet, Laing, Thorpe, Howitt

THRONE, THE LIGHT ELVES,

THE CHILDREN OP LOKI, BIFROST, URDA, AND THE NORNS,

HOW THOR WENT TO

FROM ASGARD TO UTGARD, . THE SERPENT AND THE KETTLE,

ON TIPTOE DC AIR THRONE,

THE WOOD BARRI,

REFLECTIONS IN THE WATER, THE WINGED-GIANT,

THROUGH FLOOD AND

THE DREAM THE PEACESTEAD,

THE BINDING OF FENRIR.

THE MIGHT OF ASGARD, THE SECRET OF SVARTHEIM,

THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS,

INDEX OF NAMES, WITH MEANINGS,

GIANT SUTTUNG AND THE DWARFS,

GIANT SKRYMIR AND THOR,

IDUNA GIVING THE MAGIC APPLES,

227 265 292

fYR FEEDING FENRIR,

THE PUNISHMENT OF LOKI,

THE HEROES OF ASGARD.

the religion of the ancient

time the myths of

ing together of these,

and a comparison of one

Scandinavian records are richer and

THE HEROES OF ASGARD.

they varied; and as heathenism lingered longer

they alike once

we could but break up

the syllables of the far off years.

degree acquainted with the characters

and the parts played

by, the various

deities of this mythology,

connection of one with

of the Northern mythology, as

of the Heimskringla Saga, says,

without which a nation

During the five

riding over the seas,

people they overcame

language, and within the walls of monasteries.

of their own, rude

THE HEROES OP ASGARD.

Songs and sagas, mythical and heroic,

were the staple of

these appear to have been

handed down by word of

mouth from skald to skald until about the beginning

Saemund the Learned was