SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY, &c. 



drawn by goats. Baldur, the son of Odin and 

 Frigga, the most beautiful and best beloved of 

 .all the ALsir, is the subject of one of the finest 

 myths of northern mythology. 



Baldur having dreamed ominous dreams, the 

 ;gods are filled with alarm lest any evil should 

 befall him who was the delight of all eyes. Frigga 

 took an oath of fire and water, of all metals, stones, 

 plants, and animals, of poisons, and all diseases, 

 that they would not hurt Baldur. The gods then 

 began in sport to make trial of Baldur's invulner- 

 . ability. They cut at him with their swords, and 

 hurled darts, sticks, and stones at him without 

 effect. All this was gall to the envious and mali- 

 cious Loki. Learning that in administering the 

 oath, one thing had been overlooked, namely, the 

 shrub mistletoe, he brought a branch of it, put it 

 in the hand of the blind god Hodur, Baldur's own 

 brother, and advised him to join the sport, and 

 have a stroke at Baldur. The stroke was fatal, 

 ^ind Baldur fell dead to the earth. The sorrow of 

 the gods was unutterable. The heart of Nanna, 

 Baldur's loving wife, broke, and she was laid on 

 the same funeral pile with her husband. Her- 

 modhr rode to the kingdom of Hel to procure the 

 deliverance of Baldur ; and Hel consented to 

 give him up on condition that all creatures would 

 weep for him. All men, all living beings, all 

 things wept, except a witch or giantess, Thock, or 

 Thaukt, who was Loki in disguise. She refused, 

 and so Baldur must remain in the kingdom of 

 Hel till the end of the world. 



Njord, the ruler of the sea, of the rivers, of the 

 winds, and also the bestower of riches, was espe- 

 cially worshipped by fishermem and sailors, and 

 had many temples. Freyr, son of Njord, the god 

 of sunshine, summer, and fertility, was invoked 

 for good crops and for peace ; his abode was 

 Alfheim, where he reigned over the Light Elves. 

 Tyr (in old German, Ziu ; in Anglo-Saxon, Tiv), 

 a son of Odin, was the god of war and of fame, 

 and was no less wise than brave. At the binding 

 of the wolf Fenrir, when the wolf, before sub- 

 mitting, required some assurance that no harm 

 was meant, Tyr put his right hand in the mon- 

 ster's jaws as a pledge that the binding was only 

 in sport ; and when the gods refused, of course, 

 to let their deadly enemy loose again, Tyr lost 

 liis hand. Loki, though not of the race of the 

 ALsir, could claim some sort of blood-relationship 

 with Odin, and was reckoned one of the gods of 

 Asgard. He was the principle of evil, was con- 

 stantly plotting mischief against the other gods, 

 and at last brought about their final destruction 

 .and his own. 



Goddesses do not hold the same conspicuous 

 place in northern mythology as in classical. The 

 chief are : Frigga, the wife of Odin, who presided 

 over marriage ; Freyja, the goddess of joy and of 

 love, who received in her palace of Folkvang the 

 souls of departed wives ; and Idun, the guardian 

 of the precious apples, the eating of which pre- 

 served the gods in perpetual youth. 



Though not ranking among the regular deities, 

 there were various supernatural beings that played 

 a conspicuous part. Among these were the Val- 

 kyrior, war-nymphs, who guided heroes in the 

 right, chose those who were to have the honour of 

 dying in battle, and conducted their souls to the 

 palace of Gladsheim, or Elysium, in Asgard, 

 where, in the great feasting-room of Valhalla, they 



ministered to them the cup of mead or beer. But 

 most important of all these preternatural beings 

 were the progeny of Loki. By a giantess, Angur- 

 bodi (harbinger of anguish), he had three monster 

 children Hel (Death), the wolf Fenrir (destruc- 

 tion), and the serpent Jormungandr. Foreseeing 

 the evil that these would bring, Odin cast Hel 

 down to Niflheim, and gave her the dominion 

 over the world of shades, where those came who 

 were so unfortunate as not to die in battle, or did 

 not kill themselves. She is half black, half flesh- 

 colour ; her hall is Ice-cold ; hunger is her dish ; 

 want, her knife ; and weariness, her bed. Jor- 

 mungandr was cast into the sea, where it grew 

 round the whole earth until it held its tail in its 

 mouth. Fenrir was with difficulty chained. 



The danger that lies in these monsters is thus 

 only checked and staved off, and continues to 

 stand threatening in the background. Nor are 

 there wanting other sources of impending ruin. 

 The reason why the sun and moon continue to 

 run up and down the sky, is that they are each 

 hunted by a hungry wolf, and, according to a 

 prophecy, will one day be overtaken and devoured. 

 Since the death of Baldur, nothing has gone well 

 with the ALsir, and it is clear that the destruction 

 of the world can no longer be warded off. Then 

 comes Ragnarok (the twilight, or eclipse of the 

 gods), ushered in by numerous signs, moral and 

 physical. The ties of kindred are broken, and the 

 world is filled with wrong ; the wolves that hunt 

 the sun and moon now gain on and swallow them ; 

 winter follows winter, with no summer between ; 

 all is storm, and snow and darkness. The heaven 

 is besprinkled with blood, the earth quakes, and 

 the mountains fall with a crash. For the wolf 

 Fenrir has broken loose, and the great serpent 

 rises from the ocean, and Loki comes on at the 

 head of his bands. To meet the powers of de- 

 struction, march forth the ALsir, summoned 

 by Heimdall's horn, and with them come the 

 heroes of Valhalla. The two hosts meet on the 

 plain of Wigrid, and the result is mutual destruc- 

 tion. Thor kills the serpent, whose poisonous 

 gore in turn stifles Thor. Heimdall and Loki 

 kill each other. The wolf Fenrir swallows Odin 

 himself, but is despatched by the avenger Widar. 

 At last Surtur (black smoke) hurls fire from Mus- 

 pelheim over the earth ; smoke and flame envelop 

 Yggdrasil, and blaze to heaven, and the burned 

 world sinks in the sea. 



But out of the chaos rises a new earth, whose 

 fields, green and fair, yield their fruit without 

 sowing. The gods awake to new life, and a 

 new human race springs up. The giants and 

 monsters are for ever extirpated, but the gods 

 return all except Odin and Thor. Odin's hall 

 will be occupied by Baldur and Hodur ; Thor 

 will be represented by his sons Modi and Magni 

 (courage and strength), who will wield Miollnir 

 as their father did. Instead of Valhalla, there 

 will be new abodes for the blessed, and the 

 fate of departed souls will no longer depend 

 solely on the manner of their death. When 

 Odin's dominion closes, says the Saga, comes 

 another, a mightier, though ' him I may not 

 name.' The title of All-father is his, and he 

 shall live through all ages, and rule over all. 

 He it is who formed heaven and earth, and all 

 that is therein ; but what is greatest of all, he 

 formed man, and gave him a spirit that shall 



