94 Norway and the Norwegians 



thirteenth century ^ — or rather ever since it was redis- 

 covered by modern scholarship, it has been looked upon 

 as the standard authority for the mythology of the north. 

 People have re-read tlie old poems by the light of this 

 commentary, and found in them much more than they 

 really contained. Nay, many people have gone much 

 further than that, and in the light of the organised 

 system which was furnished them by Snorri Sturluson 

 (for he is the author of the Younger Edda) they have 

 proceeded to reconstruct the ancient beliefs of the 

 Teutonic Nations — of the Germans of Germany and of 

 our own ancestors— on the analogy of the system of Snorri. 



It is very difficult for us now-a-days to think away 

 all this; to take up the Edda poems, and read them 

 with a fresh eye, so as to see the impression they directly 

 produce. In the following short sketch of northern 

 mythology I will endeavour to do this ; will try to give 

 an unbiased picture founded solely upon the ancient 

 and authentic fragments of poetry which have come 

 down to us. 



But with these ancient fragments, which are really 

 northern, I think we may group that Anglo-Saxon 

 poem, Beowulf, whereof I spoke above, or rather the 

 Scandinavian poem or poems from which it is derived. 

 The poem of Beowulf has a motive very similar to that 

 of many of the Edda poems. The most striking char- 

 acteristic of it is the picture which it draws of the giant 

 Grendel, the foe of man, who lives away from human 

 habitations, and makes war upon mankind. The con- 



1 The Younger Edda is generally reckoned to contain three works, the 

 Gijlfaginning, the Skdldskaparmdl, and the Hdttatal (a poem). Tlie tirst 

 is the authority for the Eddie mythology. 



