MYTHOLOGY 



4043 



MYTHOLOGY 



and made himself supreme head of the universe, 

 allotting to his brother Neptune the sea and 

 to his brother Pluto the underworld, or Hades. 

 Norse. In the beginning, declare the Norse 

 myths, there was 

 no world, but just 

 a great formless 

 abyss. To the 

 north were mist 

 and darkness; to 

 the south fire and 

 liirht ; and out of 

 the mist world 

 there flowed 

 twelve rivers 

 which emptied 

 into the abyss and 

 were frozen there, 

 blasts from 

 the fire world 

 melted this ice, jupiTBR 



6 He, whose all-conscious eyes 

 which condensed, the world behold, 



, The eternal Thunderer sat, 

 came to life, and enthroned in gold. 



h<wmp thp innnt H| K heaven the footstool of 



his feet he makes. 

 Vmir father of all And wide beneath him all 



Olympus shakes, 

 the giants. From HOMER (Pope's transla- 



the same source 



was formed the huge cow, Adhumbla, whose 

 milk fed the giant, while she nourished herself 

 by licking the salt from the ice. As she licked she 

 uncovered first the head, then the whole form 

 of Bori, the first of the gods, from whom all the 

 other gods were descended. Bori's grandsons, 

 Odin, Vili and Ve, fought and slew the wicked 

 Vmir, and from his body they formed the world. 



His flesh became the dry land, his blood the 

 seas, his skull the overarching heavens, his 

 bones the rocks, his hair the forests, and his 



ODIN 



scattered brains the clouds. Then light was 

 needed, and the three gods placed in the heav- 

 ens as sun, moon and stars, sparks from the 

 southern fin- world. For a time they were 

 much pleased with their work. 



Myths Explaining the Making of Man 



Greek and Roman. For a time the gods had 

 i rth to themselves, but it was a lonesome 

 place. Then one day the Titan Prometheus, 

 work i UK with tin day of which he was so fond, 

 molded a figure in the image of the gods, and 

 breathed into it life. Very proud of this crea- 

 of his skill, Prometheus wanted to bestow 

 upon him sonic helpful gift, but his brother 

 Epimetheus had used up all the good qualities 

 the animal?. To the tortoise had been given 

 hard shell, to the hare swiftness, to the fox 



and cleverness oar strcnr 



tig* -*; and what remained for 



man? Prometheus knew of something more 

 valuable than any of these, and visit mp the 

 abode of the gods he ! uk with him in 



tube that wori'i-Mil thing, fire. The gods 



were very angry, and punished Prometheus and 

 the race of men severely. See PROMI.T. 

 :md the STORY OF PANDORA, below 



Norse. One day Odin, with two other gods, 

 was walking near the seashore. They \\< re talk- 

 ing as they walked of the beautiful world they 

 had made, and lamenting that there was no one 

 to enjoy it, for their own home was above tin- 

 earth. All at once Odin espied two shapely 

 trees, an ash (Ask) and an elm (Embla). "From 

 these," he declared. I shall make creatures th.it 

 shall live in this world we have fashioned 

 bask in its warmth, drink of ita waters, force its 

 soil to bear; and they shall give us homage 

 wlurh will be sweet to us." Then of the ash 

 he made a man, of the elm a woman; and from 

 these two sprang all the race of men. 



