I04 No7-ivay and the Norivegians 



passages and expressions in the Edda poems which 

 must have been uttered amid surroundings of this 

 kind. Then, again, the northmen had mingled with 

 the Celts and had imbibed much of their spirit, nay, 

 had inherited much of their blood. For it is remark- 

 able, as Vigfusson has pointed out, how many of the 

 celebrated northern bards are spoken of as dark men 

 (having black hair and eyes), which aigues an ad- 

 mixture of Celtic blood in their veins. Amid all these 

 influences grew up what we may call the new mytho- 

 logy of the Norsemen. 



All the interest of this mythology centres round the 

 figure of Odin, who is surrounded by a sort of college of 

 priestesses. Once these inspired women had been real 

 priestesses of the great god, and had gained from him 

 the power of divination. We see mention of such wise 

 women among the German races, wherever they come 

 before us in history. But in the new Edda mythology 

 these priestesses have been transformed into a race of 

 Amazons, who ride to battle with the god of the storm 

 of battle; they, like a sort of houris, choose their 

 favourites among mortal warriors, whose arms they 

 bless, and whom, when they die, they are allowed to 

 take with them to heaven. Valkyriur (sing. Valkyria) 

 is the name of these maidens of Odin ; ^ and some of the 

 most exquisite passages of northern poetry are those 

 which refer to them and to their relations with men. 

 There is a fortified city where the gods dwell. Its 

 name is Asgaard, the home of the M&w (gods). (Such is 

 the picture which later Eddie mythology draws for us.) 



1 'Choosers of the slain;' the Walkurien of Wagner's B.ing des 

 Nibehingen. 



