LITERATURE 



337 



by Hela. It consists of nine worlds, to which are con- for he himself lives on wine alone. On hia shoulders 

 signed those who die of disease or old age. This region , he carries two ravens, Hugin (mind) and Munin (mem- 

 existed "from the beginning" in the North, and in the | ory), whom he dispatches every day to bring him newa 

 middle thereof was the well Hvergelmeer, from which i of all that is doing throughout the world. He has 

 flowed twelve riven. three great treasures: namely, Sleipnir, an eight-footed 



Ni'nus. The son of Belus. the husband of Semiramis. ; horse of marvelous swiftness; Gungnir, a spear, which 

 and the reputed builder of Nineveh and founder of the never fails to strike what it is aimed at; and Draupnir. 

 Assyrian monarchy. magic ring, which every ninth night drops eight other 



-be. The daughter of Tantalus, and the wife of ! ".ngs of equal value. The German tribes worshiped 

 Amphion, King of Thebes. Niobe slighted the divinity dm underthe name of Woden." The fourth day of 

 of I^atona. and the latter engaged both her children. the . week . Wednesday (i. e., Woden a day), was sacred 

 Apollo and Diana, to avenge her; they, by their arrows, 

 slew the seven sons and seven daughters of Niobe, who 

 by grief was changed into stone. She was transported 

 in a whirlwind to the top of Mount Sipylus, where she 

 has ever since remained, her tears flowing unceasingly. 



\iord. The Scandinavian sea-god. He was not one 

 . ^. : _ *r:_ . Frey ( tne fairy of the 



of the .Esir. Niord's son 



A Greek form of the name Ulysses. 

 He was the son of Laius. King of Thebes, 

 rcasta. Laius. having been warned by 



His home was 



clouds), and his daughter was Freyj 

 sea-god. 

 The Scandinavian Neptune 



ras rrey. 

 Noatun. Niord was not a sea-god, like Neptune, but 



the spirit of water and air. 

 was A-lgir, whose wife was Skadi. 



His temples were near 



to him 



O'dur. In Scandinavian mythology, husband of 

 Freyja. whom he deserted. He abandoned his wife on 

 her loss of youth and beauty, and was punished. 



Odys'seus. 



CEd'l-pus. 



and his wife Jocasta. a^o>u, am K LTC^U W<M><OU uy 

 an oracle that his throne and life were in danger from 

 this son, gave him to a herdsman to be killed. But his 

 life was saved, and he was reared by a peasant. After- 

 wards he ransomed Thebes from the Sphinx by answer- 

 ing her riddle, unwittingly killed his own father, married 

 Jocasta, and became King of Thebes. Subsequently 

 discovering his parentage, he destroyed his eyesight, 

 and wandered away from Thebes, attended by his 

 daughter, Antigone, who remained with him till his 

 death. 



O'gres of nursery mythology are giants of very 

 malignant dispositions, who live on human flesh. 



Olym'pus. A range of mountains in Thessaly. the 

 abode of the gods. A gate of clouds, kept by the god- 

 desses named the Seasons, unfolded to permit the pas- 

 sage of the Celestials to earth, or to receive them on 

 their return. 



Ophl'on. (1) One of the Titans. (2) One of the 

 companions of Cadmus. (3) Father of the Centaur 

 Amycus, who is hence called "Ophionides." 



Ops. A goddess of plenty, fertility, and power, the 

 wife of Saturn, and the patroness of husbandry; iden- 

 tical with Cybele, or Khea. 



Ores'tes. The son of Agamemnon and Clytem- 

 nestra. On the murder of his father by uEgisthus and 

 Clytemnestra, Orestes was saved from the same fate 

 by his sister Electra, who caused him to be secretly 

 carried to Strophius. King in Phocis, who was married 

 to Anaxibia, the sister of Agamemnon. There he formed 

 of Diana, at Ephesus, was a famous statue of her. She . a close and intimate friendship with the king's son. 



the sea shore and all aquatic plants belonged to him. 



\i'-us. A Trojan youth who accompanied ^Eneas 

 to Italy, after the fall of Troy, and who is celebrated for 

 his devoted attachment to Euryalus. 



Nix. Little creatures not unlike the Scotch brownie 

 and German kobold. They wear a red cap. and are ever 

 ready to lend a helping hand to the industrious and 

 thrifty. 



Noko'mis. Daughter of the moon, American Indian 



myths. Sporting one day with her maidens on a swing 



made of vine canes, a rival cut the swing, and Nokomis 



fell to earth, where she gave birth to a daughter named 



iah. 



N'ornlr or Norns. The three fates of Scandinavian 

 mythology, past, present, and future. They spin the 

 events of human lite, sitting under the ash-tree Yggdrasil 

 (Igg'^dra-sil'). which they carefully tend. Their names 

 areUrda (the past), Verdandi (the present), and Skulda 

 (the future). Besides these three Norns, every human 

 creature has a personal Norn or fate. The home of the 

 Norns is called in Scandinavian mythology " Doomstead." 



Ni>\. Goddess of night was considered among the 

 ancients as one of their oldest divinities, and was wor- 

 shiped by them with great solemnity. In the temple 



became the mother of ^Ether (air), and Dies (day). ' 

 She is likewise, according to some, the mother of the 

 inexorable Pares? ; of the avenging Nemesis, who pun- 

 ishes hidden crime; of the Furies, who torment the 

 wicked; of Charon, the ferry-man of hell; and of the 

 twin brothers. Sleep and Death. 



N \ in ph-. The nymphs of ancient fiction were viewed 



a* holding a sort of intermediate place between men and I where he was acquitted by the court of the Areopagus, 

 gods, as to the duration of life; not being absolutely | which_ the goddess had appointed to decide his fate. 



Pylades; and when he had grown up. he repaired secretly 

 to Argos with his friend, and avenged his father's 

 death by slaying Clytemnestra and yfcgisthua. After 

 the murder of his mother he was seised with madness, 

 and fled from land to land, pursued by the Erinyes or 

 Furies. At length, on the advice of Apollo, he took 

 refuge in the temple of Athena (\finerva), at Athens. 



immortal, yt living a vast length of time. ceanus was 

 OOsiaeraa :w their common father, although the descent 

 Of different nymphs is given differently. Their usual 

 residence was in grottoes or water-caves. Their particu- 

 lar offices were different, and they were distinguished 



(See Pylades.) 



O-rl'on. A mighty giant and hunter, famous for his 

 beauty. Having come to Chios, he fell in love with 

 Merope, the daughter of Oenopion; his treatment of 

 the maiden so exasperated her father, that, with the 

 assistance of Dionysus (Bacchus), he deprived the giant 



by various names according to the several objects of assistance of Dionysus (Bacchus), he deprived the giant 

 their patronage, or the regions in which they chiefly of his sight. Being informed by an oracle that he should 

 resided. Thus there were the "Oreades," or nymphs ! recover liis sight if he exposed his eyeballs to the rays 



mountains; "Naiades," "Nereides," a 



tamides." nymphs of the fountains, seas, and 

 j'Dryades" and II 



Po- 



Hamadryades," nymphs of the woods; 

 ' Napme." nymphs of the vales. 



o. < .mid-. Nymphs of the ocean, said to be three 

 thousand in number; daughters of Oceanus. 



n,-. ir<>d of the water which was believed 



to surround the whole earth, is called the son of Heaven 

 and Earth, the husband of Tethys, and the father 

 of all the river-grxls and water-nymplm. The early 

 Greeks regarded the earth as a flat circle, which \v.-i- 

 encompassed by a tu.-illy flowing round it. 



and this river was Oceanus. Out of and into tin- 

 river the sun and the stars were supported to rise 

 and set: and on its banks were the abodes of the dead 

 me. Oceanus. son of the heaven* and tin 

 earth, and husband of Thetis, 



tin- -<-:i. 



Odtuerir. In Scandinavian mvt 

 nectar made of Kvaoir'n b|.>od. 

 Meood .,f thes |an h i ified Bob*.' 1 sad Ibi r.<.im. 

 Probably the nectar is the "spirit of r*M 



n.lin. 'I he king of gods and men. and the reputed 

 T f the Scandinavian kings. He corresponds 

 both t.. th.- Jupiter and the Mar* of cla*- 



irt in Valhalla, i 

 e fallen in battle, and 

 ) wolves, to whom he gives his share 



of the rising sun, by following the sound of a Cyclops* 

 hammer, he reached Lemnos, where he found Vulcan, 

 who gave him Cedalion as a guide to the abode of the 

 sun. After the recovery of his sight he lived an a hunter 

 with Artemis (Diana). Orion was slain by Diana, 

 or. as some say. by Jupiter, and placed among the stars, 

 where he forms the most .splendid of nil the ronntclla- 

 tionn. appearing as a giant wearing a lion's skin and a 

 girdle, ami wielding a club. 



onthy'la. A daughter of Krrchtheiw. beloved by 

 Boreas, who carried her off an she was wandering near 

 the River Ilissus. (See Boreas.) 



Or'toff. A god of Norse fable personifying the eternal 

 law of the universe, from whose decree there was no 



Orrnusd. The name of the supreme deity 



I'cmiatiN. and of their descendants, the Parsees 

 and Quebers. He is an mbodiment of ti 



f the heaven* and th. 

 van honored as god of 



mythology, the mead or good, and was created by the will of the great eternal 

 n three jar* ervmn-Akharana, simultaneous! 



i_u_ __.i .1. ,| )r principle ,,f ,.M|. Wl th whom he is in perpet 



th. t ormud is the creator of the earth. *un 

 and Ntarn. to en. n he originally 



proper place, and whose various moveme 



t 1 1,1 , fen r >'" il-i ' > 



Or'nheus. The son of Oeagrus and Callio, 

 4n Thrsce at the prnol of the Anmnnut*. whom hn 

 accompanied , their expedition. Presented with the 



