SCANDINAVIA. 20 



/ 



The liigh antiquity of the iron-worker''s art is made 

 apparent in the Voluspa, a poem containing the oldest 

 traditions of the Northmen yet discovered, and which is 

 an outline of the earliest Northern mythology. We are 

 told how — 



The Asae met on the fields of Ida, 

 And fi-amed their images and temples. 

 They placed their furnaces. They created money. 

 They made tongs and iron tools. 



At a later period, to be a proficient in metallurgical 

 operations was the ambition of princes. Harold, for 

 example, in the poem entitled his 'Complaint,' when 

 describing his address as a warrior, relates : ' I am master 

 of nine accomplishments. I play at chess ; I know how 

 to engrave Runic letters ; I am apt at my book, and I 

 know to handle the tools of a smith ; I traverse the snow 

 on skates of wood ; I excel in shooting with the bow, and 

 in managing the oar ; I sing to the harp, and compose 

 verses.'' 



From the Sagas and the history of this region, it is 

 evident that in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark horses 

 were shod at an early period. At first only the rich and 

 noble, perhaps, resorted to the use of shoes for their steeds, 

 and some of these only for display, others when they had 

 to travel on hard roads or during frosty weather. When 

 used for agriculture, the horses may have been deprived 

 of these defences. 



Col. Smith states that horse-shoes were in use in 

 Sweden before the Norman conquest of England, since 

 the figure of one is struck on a Swedish coin without 



' Mallet. Introduction a I'Histoire de Danemarc. London, 177°- 



