CHAPTER VI. 



ODIN OF THE NORTH. 



The Odin of the North The forefathers of the English Their migration 

 from the shores of the Black sea The geographical knowledge of the 

 Norsemen Tyrkland the home of Odin Sigrlami, one of the sons of 

 Odin Odin establishes his family in the North Death of Odin in the 

 North Attributes of Odin Poetical names of Odin Sleipnir, the horse 

 of Odin Odin as a one-eyed man. 



IN the Norse literature we find Odin referred to not only as 

 a god, but as a hero and leader of men. It is not necessary to 

 believe that any real person of the name of Odin ever existed, 

 but from the frequency with which a migration northwards is 

 mentioned, and from the details with which it is described, it 

 is legitimate to infer that the predecessor of the Norsemen 

 came from the south or south-east of Europe probably, to 

 judge from literature and archaeology combined, from the 

 shores of the Black Sea. 



At the time of Odin's arrival in the North we find not only 



it 



a country called Gardariki, which is often mentioned in the 

 Sagas, and seems to have adjoined the south-eastern shores of 

 the Baltic, but also the large Scandinavian peninsula and that 

 of Jutland, and the islands and shores of the Baltic, populated 

 by a seafaring people whose tribes had constant intercourse 

 with each other, and, to judge by the finds, seem to have had 

 an identical religion. These people intermarried with the Asar 

 who came north with Odin, and hence arose tribes called half- 

 Eisar and half-Troll. 



" It is written in old books that Alfheimar l were north in 

 Gandvik and Ymisland, between it and Halogaland. And 

 before the Tyrkjar and Asiamen came to the Northern lands, 

 Risar and half-Risar lived there ; then the nations (peoples) 



1 Alfheimar. In one text, Jb'tunheimar. 

 In later times Risar, Troll, and Dvergar 



became synonymous with giants, dwarfs, 



and wizards. 



E 2 



