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The Junior Classics, Volume 2: Folk Tales and Myths
[Illustration:
_Junior
Classics_
THE·YOUNG·FOLKS’
SHELF·OF·BOOKS
_P·F·Collier·&·Son Corporation_
_New York_]
[Illustration: AH, NAUGHTY PANDORA!—page 351
_From the painting by Maxfield Parrish_]
THE
JUNIOR CLASSICS
SELECTED AND ARRANGED BY
WILLIAM PATTEN
MANAGING EDITOR OF THE HARVARD CLASSICS
INTRODUCTION BY
CHARLES W. ELIOT, LL.D.
PRESIDENT EMERITUS OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
WITH A READING GUIDE BY
WILLIAM ALLAN NEILSON, Ph.D.
PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
PRESIDENT SMITH COLLEGE, NORTHAMPTON, MASS., SINCE 1917
VOLUME TWO
_Folk Tales and Myths_
[Illustration]
P. F. COLLIER & SON CORPORATION
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1912
By P. F. COLLIER & SON
Copyright, 1918
By P. F. COLLIER & SON
Acknowledgments of permission given by authors and
publishers for the use of copyright material
appear in Volume 10
MANUFACTURED IN U. S. A.
TC
CONTENTS
PAGE
NOTE 8
STORIES FROM NORTHERN SAGAS
The Northmen’s Story of How All Things
Began _E. M. Wilmot-Buxton_ 9
How the Queen of the Sky Gave Gifts to Men _E. M. Wilmot-Buxton_ 17
The Dwarfs and the Fairies _A. and E. Keary_ 21
How Thor Went to Jötunheim _A. and E. Keary_ 26
How Thor’s Hammer Was Lost and Found _E. M. Wilmot-Buxton_ 40
Iduna’s Apples of Youth _A. and E. Keary_ 51
How the Fenris Wolf Was Chained _E. M. Wilmot-Buxton_ 72
The Story of Balder the Beautiful _E. M. Wilmot-Buxton_ 80
The Wonderful Quern Stones _Julia Goddard_ 91
THE STORY OF BRUNHILDA AND SIEGFRIED
Brunhilda and the Magic Sword _Constance Maud_ 99
Brunhilda’s Sleep Guarded by Loki’s Fiery
Arm _Constance Maud_ 107
How Siegfried Killed the Dragon _Constance Maud_ 115
How Siegfried Finds Brunhilda _Constance Maud_ 133
THE STORY OF LOHENGRIN
The Plot Against the Beautiful Elsa of
Brabant _Constance Maud_ 141
The Knights of the Holy Grail _Constance Maud_ 148
Lohengrin the Champion of Elsa of Brabant _Constance Maud_ 150
Ortruda Plots for Revenge _Constance Maud_ 158
The Departure of Lohengrin _Constance Maud_ 162
The Wooing of the Daughter of the King of
Ireland _From the Gudrun Lay_ 171
THREE TALES OF THE RHINE
The Lady of Kynast _Xavier B. Saintine_ 180
The Guardian Angel _Xavier B. Saintine_ 183
The Giant Who Laughed at a Dwarf _Xavier B. Saintine_ 185
The Legend of Saint Christopher _Lillian M. Gask_ 187
Prince Ivan and the Gray Wolf _Lillian M. Gask_ 195
King Robert of Sicily _Henry W. Longfellow_ 213
MYTHS OF GREECE AND ROME
The Riddle of the Sphinx _Elsie F. Buckley_ 222
The Gift of Athene _Sir George W. Cox_ 250
Daphne, Child of the Morning _Sir George W. Cox_ 253
The Vengeance of Apollo _Sir George W. Cox_ 255
The Story of Arion _Sir George W. Cox_ 261
The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice _Sir George W. Cox_ 267
Orpheus the Sweet Singer _Sir George W. Cox_ 273
Niobe, a Victim of Latona’s Jealousy _Thomas Bulfinch_ 278
The Sad Story of Pyramus and Thisbe _Thomas Bulfinch_ 282
The Twelve Labors of Hercules _Thomas Bulfinch_ 286
Hercules’s Search for the Apples of
Hesperides _Nathaniel Hawthorne_ 292
The Story of Cupid and Psyche _Thomas Bulfinch_ 318
How Phaëton Drove the Sun _Thomas Bulfinch_ 330
Baucis and Philemon Changed into Two Trees _Thomas Bulfinch_ 339
The Paradise of Children _Nathaniel Hawthorne_ 342
TWO TALES OF THE HUDSON
Rip Van Winkle _Washington Irving_ 364
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow _Washington Irving_ 386
SOME ANIMAL MYTHS OF VARIOUS LANDS
The Hare Who Thought the World Had Come
to an End _H. N. Francis_ 430
A Hindoo Tale translated from the
Jataka
The Watering of the Saplings _Rev. W. H. D. Rouse_ 433
A Hindoo Tale translated from the
Jataka
The Old Hare and the Elephants _Sir Edwin Arnold_ 434
A Hindoo Tale translated from the
Hitopadeca
The Elephant Has a Bet With the Tiger _Walter Skeat_ 436
A Tale from the Malay Peninsula
How the Tortoise Out-Ran the Deer _C. F. Hartt_ 441
A Tale from the Amazon River
Which was the Stronger, the Tortoise, the
Tapir, or the Whale? _C. F. Hartt_ 444
A Tale from the Amazon River
How the Turtle Got His Shell _Annie Ker_ 446
A Tale from New Guinea
The Legend of Rata _Sir George Grey_ 450
A Maori Myth
Why the Hippopotamus Lives in the Water _Elphinstone Dayrell_ 455
A West African Myth
Why the Elephant Has Small Eyes _Elphinstone Dayrell_ 457
A West African Myth
The Boy Who Set a Snare for the Sun _H. R. Schoolcraft_ 460
An American Indian Myth
The Bird Lover _Cornelius Mathews_ 465
Wunzh, the Father of Indian Corn _Cornelius Mathews_ 479
When Brer Wolf Have His Corn Shucking _Anonymous_ 487
A Tale told by the Georgia Negroes
Brer Rabbit’s Cool Air Swing _Anonymous_ 490
A Tale told by the Georgia Negroes
THREE STORIES OF THE SEASONS
The Four Seasons _Lillian M. Gask_ 493
The Three Lemons _Lillian M. Gask_ 500
The Winter-Spirit and His Visitor _Cornelius Mathews_ 512
ILLUSTRATIONS
AH, NAUGHTY PANDORA!
The Paradise of Children
_Frontispiece illustration in color from the painting by
Maxfield Parrish_
THEY WOULD SWOOP DOWN AND BEAR HIS LIFELESS BODY TO VALHALLA
Brunhilda and the Magic Sword
_From the painting by K. Dielitz_
TENDERLY HE LOOKED AT HER, AND SLOWLY KISSED HER ON BOTH EYES
Brunhilda’s Sleep Guarded by Loki’s Fiery Arm
_From the painting by K. Dielitz_
SIEGFRIED SLAYS THE DRAGON
How Siegfried Killed the Dragon
_From the painting by K. Dielitz_
“THROUGH HEAVEN’S VICTORY, THY LIFE IS MINE!”
Lohengrin the Champion of Elsa of Brabant
_From the painting by Ferdinand Leeke_
AS HE ENTERED THE VILLAGE, HE MET A NUMBER OF PEOPLE NONE OF WHOM
HE KNEW
Rip Van Winkle
_From the painting by Arthur Rackham_
A TROOP OF STRANGE CHILDREN RAN AT HIS HEELS
Rip Van Winkle
_From the painting by Arthur Rackham_
A PROVOKINGLY SHORT PETTICOAT TO DISPLAY THE PRETTIEST FOOT IN
THE COUNTRY ROAD
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
_From the painting by Arthur Rackham_
NOTE
_The character of the contents of volumes 1, 2 and 3 is so closely
related that they may be said to constitute three volumes under one
general title. There are myths of Greece and Rome in this volume as well
as in volume 3, and there are more animal myths in volume 1, particularly
of the Hindoos and of the North American Indians._
_What gives the volume a special character is the large group of stories
from the Sagas or Epic Songs of the Northmen, including the story of
Brunhilda and Siegfried, and a particularly attractive version of
Lohengrin, condensed, but not rewritten, from the story by Miss Maud._
_These stories belong to us, in a very particular sense, since the blood
that flows in the veins of English and American boys is largely the blood
of the fair-faced, fair-haired Northmen (or Scandinavians, or Danes,
or whatever we call them) who invaded England in the ninth and tenth
centuries. Their strong bodies and strong wills have worked wonders in
the world and have made the world a pleasanter place to live in. It was
the Northman blood that sent Robinson Crusoe a-wandering, and helped
Christian defeat the Giant in Doubting Castle._
—_W.P._
THE NORTHMEN’S STORY OF HOW ALL THINGS BEGAN
By E. M. Wilmot-Buxton
Once upon a time, before ever this world was made, there was neither
earth nor sea, nor air, nor light, but only a great yawning gulf, full of
twilight.
To the north of this gulf lay the Home of Mist, a dark and dreary land,
out of which flowed a river of water from a spring that never ran dry.
As the water in its onward course met the bitter blasts of wind from the
yawning gulf, it hardened into great blocks of ice, which rolled far down
into the abyss with a thunderous roar and piled themselves one on another
until they formed mountains of glistening ice.
South of this gulf lay the Home of Fire, a land of burning heat, guarded
by a giant with a flaming sword, which, as he flashed it to and fro
before the entrance, sent forth showers of sparks. And these sparks fell
upon the ice-blocks and partly melted them, so that they sent up clouds
of steam; and these again were frozen into hoar-frost, which filled all
the space that was left in the midst of the mountains of ice.
Then one day, when the gulf was full to the very top, this great mass of
frosty rime, warmed by the flames from the Home of Fire, and frozen by
the cold airs from the Home of Mist, came to life and became the Giant
Ymir, with a living, moving body and cruel heart of ice.
Now there was as yet no tree, nor grass, nor anything that would serve
for food, in this gloomy abyss. But when the Giant Ymir began to grope
around for something to satisfy his hunger, he heard a sound as of some
animal chewing the cud; and there among the ice-hills he saw a gigantic
cow, from whose udder flowed four great streams of milk, and with this
his craving was easily stilled.
But the cow was hungry also, and began to lick the salt off the blocks of
ice by which she was surrounded. And presently, as she went on licking
with her strong, rough tongue, a head of hair pushed itself through the
melting ice. Still the cow went on licking, until she had at last melted
all the icy covering and there stood fully revealed the frame of a mighty
man.
Ymir looked with eyes of hatred at this being, born of snow and ice, for
somehow he knew that his heart was warm and kind, and that he and his
sons would always be the enemies of the evil race of the Frost Giants.
So, indeed, it came to pass. For from the sons of Ymir came a race of
giants whose pleasure was to work evil on the earth; and from the Sons of
the Iceman sprang the race of the gods, chief of whom was Odin, Father
of All Things that ever were made; and Odin and his brothers began at
once to war against the wicked Frost Giants, and most of all against the
cold-hearted Ymir.
Now when, after a hard fight, the Giant Ymir was slain, such a river
of blood flowed forth from his wounds that it drowned all the rest of
the Frost Giants save one, who escaped in a boat, with only his wife on
board, and sailed away to the edge of the world. And from him sprang all
the new race of Frost Giants, who at every opportunity issued from their
land of twilight and desolation to harm the gods in their abode of bliss.
When the giants had been thus driven out, All-Father Odin set to work
with his brothers to make the earth, the sea, and the sky; and these they
fashioned out of the great body of the Giant Ymir.
Out of his flesh they formed Midgard, the earth, which lay in the center
of the gulf; and all round it they planted his eyebrows to make a high
fence which should defend it from the race of giants.
With his bones they made the lofty hills, with his teeth the cliffs, and
his thick curly hair took root and became trees, bushes, and the green
grass.
With his blood they made the ocean, and his great skull, poised aloft,
became the arching sky. Just below this they scattered his brains, and
made of them the heavy gray clouds that lie between earth and heaven.
The sky itself was held in place by four strong dwarfs, who support it on
their broad shoulders as they stand east and west and south and north.
The next thing was to give light to the new-made world. So the gods
caught sparks from the Home of Fire and set them in the sky for stars;
and they took the living flame and made of it the sun and moon, which
they placed in chariots of gold, and harnessed to them beautiful horses,
with flowing manes of gold and silver. Before the horses of the sun they
placed a mighty shield to protect them from its hot rays; but the swift
moon steeds needed no such protection from its gentle heat.
And now all was ready save that there was no one to drive the horses of
the sun and moon. This task was given to Mani and Sol, the beautiful son
and daughter of a giant; and these fair charioteers drive their fleet
steeds along the paths marked out by the gods, and not only give light to
the earth but mark out months and days for the sons of men.
Then All-Father Odin called forth Night, the gloomy daughter of the
cold-hearted giant folk, and set her to drive the dark chariot drawn by
the black horse, Frosty-Mane, from whose long wavy hair the drops of dew
and hoar-frost fall upon the earth below. After her drove her radiant
son, Day, with his white steed Shining-Mane, from whom the bright beams
of daylight shine forth to gladden the hearts of men.
But the wicked giants were very angry when they saw all these good
things; and they set in the sky two hungry wolves, that the fierce, gray
creatures might forever pursue the sun and moon, and devour them, and so
bring all things to an end. Sometimes, indeed, or so say the men of the
North, the gray wolves almost succeed in swallowing sun or moon; and then
the earth children make such an uproar that the fierce beasts drop their
prey in fear. And the sun and moon flee more rapidly than before, still
pursued by the hungry monsters.
One day, so runs the tale, as Mani, the Man in the Moon, was hastening
on his course, he gazed upon the earth and saw two beautiful little
children, a boy and a girl, carrying between them a pail of water.
They looked very tired and sleepy, and indeed they were, for a cruel
giant made them fetch and carry water all night long, when they should
have been in bed. So Mani put out a long, long arm and snatched up the
children and set them in the moon, pail and all; and there you can see
them on any moonlight night for yourself.
But that happened a long time after the beginning of things; for as yet
there was no man or woman or child upon the earth.
And now that this pleasant Midgard was made, the gods determined
to satisfy their desire for a home where they might rest and enjoy
themselves in their hours of ease.
They chose a suitable place far above the earth, on the other side of the
great river which flowed from the Home of Mist where the giants dwelt,
and here they made for their abode Asgard, wherein they dwelt in peace
and happiness, and from whence they could look down upon the sons of men.
From Asgard to Midgard they built a beautiful bridge of many colors, to
which men gave the name of Rainbow Bridge, and up and down which the gods
could pass on their journeys to and from the earth.
Here in Asgard stood the mighty forge where the gods fashioned their
weapons wherewith they fought the giants, and the tools wherewith they
built their palaces of gold and silver.
Meantime, no human creature lived upon the earth, and the giants dared
not cross its borders for fear of the gods. But one of them, clad in
eagle’s plumes, always sat at the north side of Midgard, and, whenever he
raised his arms and let them fall again, an icy blast rushed forth from
the Mist Home and nipped all the pleasant things of earth with its cruel
breath. In due time the earth brought forth thousands of tiny creatures,
which crawled about and showed signs of great intelligence. And when the
gods examined these little people closely, they found that they were of
two kinds.
Some were ugly, misshapen, and cunning-faced, with great heads, small
bodies, long arms and feet. These they called Trolls or Dwarfs or Gnomes,
and sent them to live underground, threatening to turn them into stone
should they appear in the daytime. And this is why the trolls spend all
their time in the hidden parts of the earth, digging for gold and silver
and precious stones, and hiding their spoil away in secret holes and
corners. Sometimes they blow their tiny fires and set to work to make all
kinds of wonderful things from this buried treasure; and that is what
they are doing when, if one listens very hard on the mountains and hills
of the Northland, a sound of tap-tap-tapping is heard far underneath the
ground.
The other small earth creatures were very fair and light and slender,
kindly of heart and full of good will. These the gods called Fairies
or Elves, and gave to them a charming place called Elfland in which to
dwell. Elfland lies between Asgard and Midgard, and since all fairies
have wings they can easily flit down to the earth to play with the
butterflies, teach the young birds to sing, water the flowers, or dance
in the moonlight round a fairy ring.
Last of all, the gods made a man and woman to dwell in fair Midgard; and
this is the manner of their creation.
All-Father Odin was walking with his brothers in Midgard where, by the
seashore, they found growing two trees, an ash and an elm. Odin took
these trees and breathed on them, whereupon a wonderful transformation
took place. Where the trees had stood, there were a living man and woman,
but they were stupid, pale, and speechless, until Hœnir, the god of
Light, touched their foreheads and gave them sense and wisdom; and Loki,
the Fire-god, smoothed their faces, giving them bright color and warm
blood, and the power to speak and see and hear.
It only remained that they should be named, and they were called Ask and
Embla, the names of the trees from which they had been formed. From these
two people sprang all the race of men which lives upon this earth.
And now All-Father Odin completed his work by planting the Tree of Life.
This immense tree had its roots in Asgard and Midgard and the Mist Land;
and it grew to such a marvellous height that the highest bough, the Bough
of Peace, hung over the Hall of Odin on the heights of Asgard; and the
other branches overshadowed both Midgard and the Mist Land. On the top
of the Peace Bough was perched a mighty eagle, and ever a falcon sat
between his eyes, and kept watch on all that happened in the world below,
that he might tell to Odin what he saw.
Heidrun, the goat of Odin, who supplied the heavenly mead, browsed on the
leaves of this wonderful tree, and from them fed also the four mighty
stags from whose horns honey-dew dropped on to the earth beneath and
supplied water for all the rivers of Midgard.
The leaves of the Tree of Life were ever green and fair, despite the
dragon which, aided by countless serpents, gnawed perpetually at its
roots, in order that they might kill the Tree of Life and thus bring
about the destruction of the gods.
Up and down the branches of the tree scampered the squirrel, Ratatosk, a
malicious little creature, whose one amusement it was to make mischief by
repeating to the eagle the rude remarks of the dragon, and to the dragon
those of the eagle, in the hope that one day he might see them in actual
conflict.
Near the roots of the Tree of Life is a sacred well of sweet water from
which the three Weird Sisters, who know all that shall come to pass,
sprinkle the tree and keep it fresh and green. And the water, as it
trickles down from the leaves, falls as drops of honey on the earth, and
the bees take it for their food.
Close to this sacred well is the Council Hall of the gods, to which every
morning they rode, over the Rainbow Bridge, to hold converse together.
And this is the end of the tale of How All Things began.
HOW THE QUEEN OF THE SKY GAVE GIFTS TO MEN
By E. M. Wilmot-Buxton
By the side of All-Father Odin, upon his high seat in Asgard, sat Frigga,
his wife, the Queen of the Asas. Sometimes she would be dressed in
snow-white garments, bound at the waist by a golden girdle, from which
hung a great bunch of golden keys. And the earth-dwellers, gazing into
the sky, would admire the great white clouds as they floated across the
blue, not perceiving that these clouds were really the folds of Frigga’s
flowing white robe, as it waved in the wind.
At other times she would wear dark gray or purple garments; and then the
earth-dwellers made haste into their houses, for they said, “the sky is
lowering to-day, and a storm is nigh at hand.”
Frigga had a palace of her own called Fensalir, or the Hall of Mists,
where she spent much of her time at her wheel, spinning golden thread, or
weaving web after web of many-colored clouds. All night long she sat at
this golden wheel, and if you look at the sky on a starry night you may
chance to see it set up where the men of the South show a constellation
called the Girdle of Orion.
Husbands and wives who had dwelt lovingly together upon earth were
invited by Frigga to her hall when they died, so they might be forever
united within its hospitable walls.
Frigga was especially interested in all good housewives, and she herself
set them an excellent example in Fensalir. When the snowflakes fell, the
earth-dwellers knew it was Frigga shaking her great feather bed, and when
it rained they said it was her washing day. It was she who first gave to
them the gift of flax that the women upon earth might spin, and weave,
and bleach their linen as white as the clouds of her own white robe.
And this is how it came about.
There once was a shepherd who lived among the mountains with his wife and
children; and so very poor was he that he often found it hard to give his
family enough to satisfy their hunger. But he did not grumble; he only
worked the harder; and his wife, though she had scarcely any furniture,
and never a chance of a new dress, kept the house so clean, and the old
clothes so well mended, that, all unknown to herself, she rose high in
the favor of the all-seeing Frigga.
Now one day, when the shepherd had driven his few poor sheep up the
mountain to pasture, a fine reindeer sprang from the rocks above him and
began to leap upward along the steep slope. The shepherd snatched up his
crossbow and pursued the animal, thinking to himself: “Now we shall have
a better meal than we have had for many a long day.”
Up and up leaped the reindeer, always just out of reach, and at length
disappeared behind a great boulder just as the shepherd, breathless and
weary, reached the spot. No sign of the reindeer was to be seen, but, on
looking round, the shepherd saw that he was among the snowy heights of
the mountains, and almost at the top of a great glacier.
Presently, as he pursued his vain search for the animal, he saw to his
amazement an open door, leading apparently into the heart of the glacier.
He was a fearless man, and so, without hesitation, he passed boldly
through the doorway and found himself standing in a marvellous cavern,
lit up by blazing torches which gleamed upon rich jewels hanging from the
roof and walls. And in the midst stood a woman, most fair to behold, clad
in snow-white robes and surrounded by a group of lovely maidens.
The shepherd’s boldness gave way at this awesome sight, and he sank to
his knees before the Asa, Frigga, for she it was. But Frigga bade him be
of good cheer, and said: “Choose now whatsoever you will to carry away
with you as a remembrance of this place.”
The shepherd’s eyes wandered over the glittering jewels on the walls and
roof, but they came back to a little bunch of blue flowers which Frigga
held in her hand. They alone looked homelike to him; the rest were hard
and cold; so he asked timidly that he might be given the little nosegay.
Then Frigga smiled kindly upon him.
“Most wise has been your choice,” said she. “Take with the flowers this
measure of seed and sow it in your field, and you shall grow flowers of
your own. They shall bring prosperity to you and yours.”
So the shepherd took the flowers and the seed, and scarcely had he done
so when a mighty peal of thunder, followed by the shock of an earthquake,
rent the cavern, and when he had collected his senses he found himself
once more upon the mountain side.
When he reached home and had told his tale, his wife scolded him roundly
for not bringing home a jewel which would have made them rich forever.
But when she would have thrown the flowers away he prevented her. Next
day he sowed the seed in his field, and was surprised to find how far it
went.
Very soon after this the field was thick with tiny green shoots; and
though his wife reproached him for wasting good ground upon useless
flowers, he watched and waited in hope until the field was blue with the
starry flax blooms.
Then one night, when the flowers had withered and the seed was ripe,
Frigga, in the disguise of an old woman, visited the lowly hut and showed
the shepherd and his astonished wife how to use the flax stalks; how to
spin them into thread, and how to weave the thread into linen.
It was not long before all the dwellers in that part of the earth had
heard of the wonderful material, and were hurrying to the shepherd’s hut
to buy bleached linen or the seed from which it was obtained. And so the
shepherd and his family were soon among the richest people in the land;
and the promise of Frigga was amply fulfilled.
THE DWARFS AND THE FAIRIES
By A. and E. Keary
“The earth is very beautiful,” said Odin, from the top of his throne,
“very beautiful in every part, even to the shores of the dark North
Sea; but, alas! the men of the earth are puny and fearful. At this
moment I see a three-headed giant striding out of Jötunheim. He throws
a shepherd-boy into the sea, and puts the whole of the flock into his
pocket. Now he takes them out again one by one, and cracks their bones
as if they were hazel-nuts, whilst, all the time, men look on, and do
nothing.”
“Father,” cried Thor in a rage, “last night I forged for myself a belt,
a glove, and a hammer, with which three things I will go forth alone to
Jötunheim.”
Thor went, and Odin looked again.
“The men of the earth are idle and stupid,” said Odin. “There are dwarfs
and elves, who live amongst them, and play tricks which they cannot
understand, and do not know how to prevent. At this moment I see a
husbandman sowing grains of wheat in the furrows, while a dwarf runs
after him, and changes them into stones. Again, I see two hideous little
beings, who are holding under water the head of one, the wisest of men,
until he dies; they mix his blood with honey; they have put it into three
stone jars, and hidden it away.”
Then Odin was very angry with the dwarfs, for he saw that they were bent
on mischief; so he called to him Hermod, his Flying Word, and despatched
him with a message to the dwarfs and light elves, to say that Odin sent
his compliments, and would be glad to speak with them, in his palace of
Gladsheim, upon a matter of some importance.
When they received Hermod’s summons the dwarfs and light elves were very
much surprised, not quite knowing whether to feel honored or afraid.
However, they put on their pertest manners, and went clustering after
Hermod like a swarm of ladybirds.
When they were arrived in the great city they found Odin descended
from his throne, and sitting with the rest of the Æsir in the Judgment
Hall of Gladsheim. Hermod flew in, saluted his master, and pointed to
the dwarfs and elves hanging like a cloud in the doorway to show that
he had fulfilled his mission. Then Odin beckoned the little people to
come forward. Cowering and whispering they peeped over one another’s
shoulders; now running on a little way into the hall, now back again,
half curious, half afraid; and it was not until Odin had beckoned three
times that they finally reached his footstool.
Then Odin spoke to them in calm, low, serious tones about the wickedness
of their mischievous propensities. Some, the very worst of them, only
laughed in a forward, hardened manner; but a great many looked up
surprised and a little pleased at the novelty of serious words; while
the light elves all wept, for they were tender-hearted little things. At
length Odin spoke to the two dwarfs by name whom he had seen drowning
the wise man. “Whose blood was it,” he asked, “that you mixed with honey
and put into jars?”
“Oh,” said the dwarfs, jumping up into the air, and clapping their hands,
“that was Kvasir’s blood. Don’t you know who Kvasir was? He sprang up
out of the peace made between the Vanir and yourselves, and has been
wandering about these seven years or more; so wise he was that men
thought he must be a god. Well, just now we found him lying in a meadow
drowned in his own wisdom; so we mixed his blood with honey, and put it
into three great jars to keep. Was not that well done, Odin?”
“Well done!” answered Odin. “Well done! You cruel, cowardly, lying
dwarfs! I myself saw you kill him. For shame! for shame!” and then Odin
proceeded to pass sentence upon them all. Those who had been the most
wicked, he said, were to live, henceforth, a long way underground, and
were to spend their time in throwing fuel upon the great earth’s central
fire; while those who had only been mischievous were to work in the gold
and diamond mines, fashioning precious stones and metals. They might all
come up at night, Odin said; but must vanish at the dawn. Then he waved
his hand, and the dwarfs turned round, shrilly chattering, scampered
down the palace-steps, out of the city, over the green fields, to their
unknown, deep-buried earth-homes. But the light elves still lingered,
with upturned, tearful, smiling faces, like sunshiny morning dew.
“And you,” said Odin, looking them through and through with his serious
eyes, “and you——”
“Oh! indeed, Odin,” interrupted they, speaking all together in quick,
uncertain tones; “Oh! indeed, Odin, we are not so very wicked. We have
never done anybody any harm.”
“Have you ever done anybody any good?” asked Odin.
“Oh! no, indeed,” answered the light elves, “we have never done anything
at all.”
“You may go, then,” said Odin, “to live among the flowers, and play with
the wild bees and summer insects. You must, however, find something to
do, or you will get to be mischievous like the dwarfs.”
“If only we had any one to teach us,” said the light elves, “for we are
such foolish little people.”
Odin looked round inquiringly upon the Æsir; but among them there was no
teacher found for the silly little elves. Then he turned to Niörd, who
nodded his head good-naturedly, and said, “Yes, yes, I will see about
it;” and then he strode out of the Judgment Hall, right away through the
city gates, and sat down upon the mountain’s edge.
After awhile he began to whistle in a most alarming manner, louder and
louder, in strong wild gusts, now advancing, now retreating; then he
dropped his voice a little, lower and lower, until it became a bird-like
whistle—low, soft, enticing music, like a spirit’s call; and far away
from the south a little fluttering answer came, sweet as the invitation
itself, nearer and nearer until the two sounds dropped into one another.
Then through the clear sky two forms came floating, wonderfully fair—a
brother and sister—their beautiful arms twined round one another, their
golden hair bathed in sunlight, and supported by the wind.
“My son and daughter,” said Niörd, proudly, to the surrounding Æsir,
“Frey and Freya, Summer and Beauty, hand in hand.”
When Frey and Freya dropped upon the hill Niörd took his son by the hand,
led him gracefully to the foot of the throne, and said, “Look here, dear
brother Lord, what a fair young instructor I have brought for your pretty
little elves.”
Odin was very much pleased with the appearance of Frey; but, before
constituting him king and schoolmaster of the light elves, he desired
to know what his accomplishments were, and what he considered himself
competent to teach.
“I am the genius of clouds and sunshine,” answered Frey; and as he spoke,
the essences of a hundred perfumes were exhaled from his breath. “I am
the genius of clouds and sunshine, and if the light elves will have me
for their king I can teach them how to burst the folded buds, to set the
blossoms, to pour sweetness into the swelling fruit, to lead the bees
through the honey-passages of the flowers, to make the single ear a stalk
of wheat, to hatch birds’ eggs, and teach the little ones to sing—all
this, and much more,” said Frey, “I know, and will teach them.”
Then answered Odin, “It is well;” and Frey took his scholars away with
him to Alfheim, which is in every beautiful place under the sun.
HOW THOR WENT TO JÖTUNHEIM
By A. and E. Keary
Once on a time, Asa Thor and Loki set out on a journey from Asgard to
Jötunheim. They travelled in Thor’s chariot, drawn by two milk-white
goats. It was a somewhat cumbrous iron chariot, and the wheels made
a rumbling noise as it moved, which sometimes startled the ladies of
Asgard, and made them tremble; but Thor liked it, thought the noise
sweeter than any music, and was never so happy as when he was journeying
in it from one place to another.
They travelled all day, and in the evening they came to a countryman’s
house. It was a poor, lonely place; but Thor descended from his chariot,
and determined to pass the night there. The countryman, however, had no
food in his house to give these travellers; and Thor, who liked to feast
himself and make every one feast with him, was obliged to kill his own
two goats and serve them up for supper. He invited the countryman and his
wife and children to sup with him; but before they began to eat he made
one request of them.
“Do not, on any account,” he said, “break or throw away any of the bones
of the goats you are going to eat for supper.”
“I wonder why,” said the peasant’s son, Thialfi, to his sister Roska.
Roska could not think of any reason, and by-and-bye Thialfi happened to
have a very nice little bone given him with some marrow in it. “Certainly
there can be no harm in my breaking just this one,” he said to himself;
“it would be such a pity to lose the marrow;” and as Asa Thor’s head was
turned another way, he slyly broke the bone in two, sucked the marrow,
and then threw the pieces into the goat’s skins, where Thor had desired
that all the bones might be placed. I do not know whether Thialfi was
uneasy during the night about what he had done; but in the morning he
found out the reason of Asa Thor’s command, and received a lesson on
“wondering why,” which he never forgot all his life after.
As soon as Asa Thor rose in the morning he took his hammer, Miölnir,
in his hand, and held it over the goat-skins as they lay on the floor,
whispering runes the while. They were dead skins with dry bones on them
when he began to speak; but as he said the last word, Thialfi, who was
looking curiously on, saw two live goats spring up and walk toward the
chariot, as fresh and well as when they brought the chariot up to the
door, Thialfi hoped. But no; one of the goats limped a little with his
hind leg, and Asa Thor saw it. His brow grew dark as he looked, and for a
minute Thialfi thought he would run far, far into the forest, and never
come back again; but one look more at Asa Thor’s face, angry as it was,
made him change his mind. He thought of a better thing to do than running
away. He came forward, threw himself at the Asa’s feet, and, confessing
what he had done, begged pardon for his disobedience. Thor listened, and
the displeased look passed away from his face.
“You have done wrong, Thialfi,” he said, raising him up; “but as you have
confessed your fault so bravely, instead of punishing you, I will take
you with me on my journey, and teach you myself the lesson of obedience
to the Æsir which is, I see, wanted.”
Roska chose to go with her brother, and from that day Thor had two
faithful servants, who followed him wherever he went.
The chariot and goats were now left behind; but, with Loki and his two
new followers, Thor journeyed on to the end of Manheim, over the sea,
and then on, on, on in the strange, barren, misty land of Jötunheim.
Sometimes they crossed great mountains; sometimes they had to make their
way among torn and rugged rocks, which often, through the mist, appeared
to them to wear the forms of men, and once for a whole day they traversed
a thick and tangled forest.
In the evening of that day, being very much tired, they saw with pleasure
that they had come upon a spacious hall, of which the door, as broad as
the house itself, stood wide open.
“Here we may very comfortably lodge for the night,” said Thor; and they
went in and looked about them.
The house appeared to be perfectly empty; there was a wide hall, and five
smaller rooms opening into it. They were, however, too tired to examine
it carefully, and as no inhabitants made their appearance, they ate their
supper in the hall, and lay down to sleep. But they had not rested long
before they were disturbed by strange noises, groanings, mutterings, and
snortings, louder than any animal that they had ever seen in their lives
could make. By-and-bye the house began to shake from side to side, and
it seemed as if the very earth trembled. Thor sprang up in haste, and
ran to the open door; but, though he looked earnestly into the starlit
forest, there was no enemy to be seen anywhere. Loki and Thialfi, after
groping about for a time, found a sheltered chamber to the right, where
they thought they could finish their night’s rest in safety; but Thor,
with Miölnir in his hand, watched at the door of the house all night. As
soon as the day dawned he went out into the forest, and there, stretched
on the ground close by the house, he saw a strange, uncouth, gigantic
shape of a man, out of whose nostrils came a breath which swayed the
trees to their very tops. There was no need to wonder any longer what the
disturbing noises had been.
Thor fearlessly walked up to this strange monster to have a better look
at him; but at the sound of his footsteps the giant-shape rose slowly,
stood up an immense height, and looked down upon Thor with two great
misty eyes, like blue mountain-lakes.
“Who are you?” said Thor, standing on tiptoe, and stretching his neck to
look up; “and why do you make such a noise as to prevent your neighbors
from sleeping?”
“My name is Skrymir,” said the giant sternly; “I need not ask yours. You
are the little Asa Thor of Asgard; but pray, now, what have you done with
my glove?”
As he spoke he stooped down, and picked up the hall where Thor and his
companions had passed the night, and which, in truth, was nothing more
than his glove, the room where Loki and Thialfi had slept being the thumb.
Thor rubbed his eyes, and felt as if he must be dreaming. Rousing
himself, however, he raised Miölnir in his hand, and, trying to keep
his eyes fixed on the giant’s face, which seemed to be always changing,
he said: “It is time that you should know, Skrymir, that I am come to
Jötunheim to fight and conquer such evil giants as you are, and, little
as you think me, I am ready to try my strength against yours.”
“Try it, then,” said the giant.
And Thor, without another word, threw Miölnir at his head.
“Ah! Ah!” said the giant; “did a leaf touch me?”
Again Thor seized Miölnir, which always returned to his hand, however far
he cast it from him, and threw it with all his force.
The giant put up his hand to his forehead. “I think,” he said, “that an
acorn must have fallen on my head.”
A third time Thor struck a blow, the heaviest that ever fell from the
hand of an Asa; but this time the giant laughed out loud.
“There is surely a bird on that tree,” he said, “who has let a feather
fall on my face.”
Then, without taking any further notice of Thor, he swung an immense
wallet over his shoulder, and, turning his back upon him, struck into a
path that led from the forest. When he had gone a little way he looked
round, his immense face appearing less like a human countenance than
some strange, uncouthly-shaped stone toppling on a mountain precipice.
“Ving-Thor,”[1] he said, “let me give you a piece of good advice before
I go. When you get to Utgard don’t make much of yourself. You think me a
tall man, but you have taller still to see; and you yourself are a very
little mannikin. Turn back home whence you came, and be satisfied to have
learned something of yourself by your journey to Jötunheim.”
“Mannikin or not, _that_ will I never do,” shouted Asa Thor after the
giant. “We will meet again, and something more will we learn, or teach
each other.”
The giant, however, did not turn back to answer, and Thor and his
companions, after looking for some time after him, resumed their journey.
Before the sun was quite high in the heavens they came out of the forest,
and at noon they found themselves on a vast barren plain, where stood
a great city, whose walls of dark, rough stone were so high, that Thor
had to bend his head quite far back to see the top of them. When they
approached the entrance of this city they found that the gates were
closed and barred; but the space between the bars was so large that Thor
passed through easily, and his companions followed him. The streets of
the city were gloomy and still. They walked on for some time without
meeting any one; but at length they came to a very high building, of
which the gates stood open.
“Let us go in and see what is going on here,” said Thor; and they went.
After crossing the threshold they found themselves in an immense
banqueting hall. A table stretched from one end to the other of it; stone
thrones stood round the table, and on every throne sat a giant, each one,
as Thor glanced round, appearing more grim, and cold, and stony than the
rest. One among them sat on a raised seat, and appeared to be the chief;
so to him Thor approached and paid his greetings.
The giant chief just glanced at him, and, without rising, said, in a
somewhat careless manner: “It is, I think, a foolish custom to tease
tired travellers with questions about their journey. I know without
asking that you, little fellow, are Asa Thor. Perhaps, however, you may
be in reality taller than you appear; and as it is a rule here that no
one shall sit down to table till he has performed some wonderful feat,
let us hear what you and your followers are famed for, and in what way
you choose to prove yourselves worthy to sit down in the company of
giants.”
At this speech, Loki, who had entered the hall cautiously behind Thor,
pushed himself forward.
“The feat for which I am most famed,” he said, “is eating, and it is one
which I am just now inclined to perform with right good will. Put food
before me, and let me see if any of your followers can dispatch it as
quickly as I can.”
“The feat you speak of is one by no means to be despised,” said the
Utgard king, “and there is one here who would be glad to try his powers
against yours. Let Logi,” he said to one of his followers, “be summoned
to the hall.”
At this, a tall, thin, yellow-faced man approached, and a large trough
of meat having been placed in the middle of the hall, Loki sat to work
at one end, and Logi at the other, and they began to eat. I hope _I_
shall never see any one eat as they ate; but the giants all turned their
slow-moving eyes to watch them, and in a few minutes they met in the
middle of the trough. It seemed, at first, as if they had both eaten
exactly the same quantity; but, when the thing came to be examined into
it was found that Loki had, indeed, eaten up all the meat, but that Logi
had also eaten the bones and the trough. Then the giants nodded their
huge heads, and determined that Loki was conquered. King Utgard now
turned to Thialfi, and asked what he could do.
“I was thought swift of foot among the youth of my own country,” answered
Thialfi; “and I will, if you please, try to run a race with any one here.”
“You have chosen a noble sport, indeed,” said the king; “but you must be
a good runner if you could beat him with whom I shall match you.”
Then he called a slender lad, Hugi by name, and the whole company left
the hall, and, going out by an opposite gate to that by which Thor had
entered, they came out to an open space, which made a noble race-ground.
There the goal was fixed, and Thialfi and Hugi started off together.
Thialfi ran fast—fast as the reindeer which hears the wolves howling
behind; but Hugi ran so much faster that, passing the goal, he turned
round, and met Thialfi half-way in the course.
“Try again, Thialfi,” cried the king; and Thialfi, once more taking
his place, flew along the course, with feet scarcely touching the
ground—swiftly as an eagle when, from his mountain-crag, he swoops on his
prey in the valley; but with all his running he was still a good bow-shot
from the goal when Hugi reached it.
“You are certainly a good runner,” said the king; “but if you mean to
win you must do a little better still than this; but perhaps you wish to
surprise us all the more this third time.”
The third time, however, Thialfi was wearied, and though he did his
best, Hugi, having reached the goal, turned and met him not far from the
starting-point.
The giants again looked at each other, and declared that there was no
need of further trial, for that Thialfi was conquered.
It was now Asa Thor’s turn, and all the company looked eagerly at
him, while the Utgard king asked by what wonderful feat he chose to
distinguish himself.
“I will try a drinking-match with any of you,” Thor said, shortly; for,
to tell the truth, he cared not to perform anything very worthy in the
company in which he found himself.
King Utgard appeared pleased with this choice, and when the giants had
resumed their seats in the hall, he ordered one of his servants to bring
in his drinking-cup, called the “cup of penance,” which it was his custom
to make his guests drain at a draught, if they had broken any of the
ancient rules of the society.
“There!” he said, handing it to Thor, “we call it well drunk if a person
empties it at a single draught. Some, indeed, take two to it; but the
very puniest can manage it in three.”
Thor looked into the cup; it appeared to him long, but not so very large
after all, and being thirsty he put it to his lips, and thought to make
short work of it, and empty it at one good, hearty pull. He drank, and
put the cup down again; but, instead of being empty, it was now just so
full that it could be moved without danger of spilling.
“Ha! ha! You are keeping all your strength for the second pull, I see,”
said Utgard, looking in. Without answering, Thor lifted the cup again,
and drank with all his might till his breath failed; but, when he put
down the cup, the liquor had only sunk down a little from the brim.
“If you mean to take three draughts to it,” said Utgard, “you are really
leaving yourself a very unfair share for the last time. Look to yourself,
Ving-Thor; for, if you do not acquit yourself better in other feats, we
shall not think so much of you here as they say the Æsir do in Asgard.”
At this speech Thor fell angry, and, seizing the cup again, he drank a
third time, deeper and longer than he had yet done; but, when he looked
into the cup, he saw that a very small part only of its contents had
disappeared. Wearied and disappointed he put the cup down, and said he
would try no more to empty it.
“It is pretty plain,” said the king, looking round on the company, “that
Asa Thor is by no means the kind of man we always supposed him to be.”
“Nay,” said Thor, “I am willing to try another feat, and you yourselves
shall choose what it shall be.”
“Well,” said the king, “there is a game at which our children are used to
play. A short time ago I dare not have named it to Asa Thor; but now I am
curious to see how he will acquit himself in it. It is merely to lift my
cat from the ground—a childish amusement truly.”
As he spoke a large, grey cat sprang into the hall, and Thor, stooping
forward, put his hand under it to lift it up. He tried gently at first;
but by degrees he put forth all his strength, tugging and straining as he
had never done before; but the utmost he could do was to raise one of the
cat’s paws a little way from the ground.
“It is just as I thought,” said King Utgard, looking round with a smile;
“but we all are willing to allow that the cat is large, and Thor but a
little fellow.”
“Little as you think me,” cried Thor, “who is there who will dare to
wrestle with me in my anger?”
“In truth,” said the king, “I don’t think there is any one here who would
choose to wrestle with you; but, if wrestle you must, I will call in that
old crone Elli. She has, in her time, laid low many a better man than Asa
Thor has shown himself to be.”
The crone came. She was old, withered, and toothless, and Thor shrank
from the thought of wrestling with her; but he had no choice. She threw
her arms round him, and drew him toward the ground, and the harder he
tried to free himself, the tighter grew her grasp. They struggled long.
Thor strove bravely, but a strange feeling of weakness and weariness came
over him, and at length he tottered and fell down on one knee before her.
At this sight all the giants laughed aloud, and Utgard coming up, desired
the old woman to leave the hall, and proclaimed that the trials were
over. No one of his followers would _now_ contend with Asa Thor, he said,
and night was approaching. He then invited Thor and his companions to
sit down at the table, and spend the night with him as his guests. Thor,
though feeling somewhat perplexed and mortified, accepted his invitation
courteously, and showed, by his agreeable behavior during the evening,
that he knew how to bear being conquered with a good grace.
In the morning, when Thor and his companions were leaving the city,
the king himself accompanied them without the gates; and Thor, looking
steadily at him when he turned to bid him farewell, perceived, for the
first time, that he was the very same Giant Skrymir with whom he had met
in the forest.