98 Norway and the Norwegians 



place, Thor is spoken of as seated in the middle, and 

 on either side of him Odin and Frey. And the same 

 writer says that Thor rules the air, and governeth the 

 thunder and lightning, and that Odin is the god of war, 

 ' and his name signifieth madness. The third is Frey, 

 who gives us peace and enjoyment, and is the god of 

 generation.' 



This description shows that a change had taken 

 place in the characters of the Norse gods since the 

 earliest days. For originally Odin was certainly the 

 god of the air ; and it is certain that originally it was 

 Odin wlio was the chiel: god, the All-Father, the 

 Fiinbul-tyr, or chief god, of all the Scandinavian people ; 

 as indeed he was once of all the people of Teutonic 

 race, of English and Germans (of our ancestors, and 

 the ancestors of the Germans) as well as of the ancient 

 Scandinavians. Of Odin we will speak more fully 

 presently. 



We saw in the above description mention made of a 

 third god Frey or Fricco. Frey is rather specially a 

 god of the Swedes. Then there is a fourth god, Tyr, who 

 figures in the Edda poems, but not very conspicuously. 



We may, perhaps, classify the three gods as above 

 mentioned who stand next to Odin as follows : — 



Thor is by far the most conspicuous and original a 

 figure. He embodies the characteristics of the Norse 

 people as they were — nay, as they are — to be studied in 

 their native land. His adventures express the terror with 

 which the Norsemen were inspired by the unknown forces 

 of nature by which they were surrounded, by the cold 

 and darkness, and by the great tracts of mountain and 

 of heath, of barren unexplored territory. And at the 



