318 
Wise/ 9 who was born at Oddi in the south of Iceland about A.D. 
1055, and died in 1133. Bishop Sveinsson entitled his tran- 
script of the codex, Edda Saemundi Multiscii, and the original 
is now in the royal library at Copenhagen. The compilation 
of the Younger Edda is ascribed to Snorri, son of Sturla, who 
died in the year 1241, and it is called Edda Snorra Sturlusoncir. 
The Norsemen began to colonize Iceland about A.D. 860, and 
Christianity became the religion of the country in the year 
1000. “ The men to whom the collection of the ancient Pagan 
poetry of Iceland is commonly ascribed were men of Christian 
learning. It is owing to their labours that we know anything 
of the ancient religion .... of the Norsemen. The religious 
system of Iceland is the same, at least in its general outline, 
as that believed in by all the members of the Teutonic family, 
and may truly be called one of the various dialects of the 
primitive religious and mythological language of the Aryan 
race/”* 
The collection of songs which compose the Elder Edda may 
be divided into the lays (1) of the gods, and (2) of the heroes. 
Amongst the former the most remarkable is the Voluspa , i.e., 
“The Vala'sf Prophecy,” which treats of the creation, the 
birth of giants, gods, and men, the contest which at the end 
of the present state of things shall occur between the powers 
of good and evil, and the destruction and renewal of the world. 
Baldur’s Dreams , The Eigh One’s Bay,% and Odhinn’s Rune- 
song, are the titles of some of the other songs of the gods. 
The Younger Edda, which is in prose, consists of three 
parts : (1) The Vision of Gylfi, an ancient king of Sweden who 
was desirous of knowing particulars concerning the gods, and 
of the destiny of the world ; (2) The Sayings of Bragi, the god 
of eloquence ; and (3) the Shalda, a history of the origin and 
character of the poetic art. In the Vision of Gylfi is given an 
account of the creation of the world, of the various principal 
divinities, powers of evil, and monsters ; of the great contest 
to take place at the end of the present age, and of the new 
heaven and earth. Thus in the Eddaic compilations, them- 
selves formed within a comparatively short period after the 
* Prof. Max Muller, Chips, ii. 
f “The most remarkable class of seid-women [Seid was a species of 
divination, possibly connected with boiling] were the so-called Valas or 
Yolvas. We find them present at the birth of children, where they seem to 
represent the Horns” (Thorpe, Northern Mythology, i. 214), the Teutonic 
Parcse. Vala may mean “ one possessed of hidden knowledge ” (cf. Sk. root 
val, “ to cover ”). Mr. Stallybrass well compares “ the Slavic volkhv, 
magus,” with volva (Grimm’s Teutonic Mythology, i. 97. Eng. Trans.). 
1 The Hamaval or High Song of Odhinn, 
