YOUNG FOLKS' LIBRARY OF
CHOICE LITERATURE.
LEGENDS
OF
NORSELAND
EDITED BY
MARA L. PRATT,
Author of "American History Stories," etc.
Illustrated by A. CHASE
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY.
BOSTON.
NEW YORK. CHICAGO.
Copyrighted
By EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY,
1894.
CONTENTS.
Page
Valkyrie (Frontispiece) 6
The Beginning 7
Ygdrasil 12
Odin at the Well of Wisdom 17
Odin and the All-wise Giant 22
The Stolen Wine. Part I. 28
The Stolen Wine. Part II. 36
Loke's Theft 46
Thor's Hammer 53
The Theft of the Hammer 68
The Finding of the Hammer 76
The Apples of Life. Part I. 84
The Apples of Life. Part II. 97
Loke's Wolf 105
The Fenris-wolf 114
Defeat of Hrungner 121
Thor and Skrymer 132
Thor and the Utgard-King 143
Thor and the Midgard Serpent 155
Valkyries' Song 165
The Dying Baldur 167
The Punishment of Loke 178
The Darkness that fell on Asgard 185
LEGENDS OF NORSELAND.
I.
THE BEGINNING.
In the beginning, when the beautiful and sunny world was first made,
there stood, in the very midst of all its beauty, Mt. Ida--a mountain
so high, so far away up among the snowy clouds, that its summit was
lost in the shining light of the rays of the sun.
At its base, stretching away to the north, the south, the east, and
the west, as far as even the eyes of the gods could reach, lay the
soft, green valleys and the great, broad plain beyond. Encircling the
whole great plain, and curling lovingly around in all the little bends
and bays of the distant shore, lay the deep blue waters; and beyond
the waters, hidden in the distant mists, rose the great mountains in
which the frost giants dwelt.
On the top of Mt. Ida, the gods had built their shining city, Asgard;
and from its golden gateway to the valley below was stretched the
richly-colored, rainbow bridge, with its wonderful bars of red and
yellow and blue, orange and green, indigo and purple.
And in this shining city, where the gods dwelt, there was no sorrow,
no grief, no pain of any kind. Never was the sun's light shut off by
heavy clouds; never did the cruel lightnings flash, nor came their
blights upon the harvest fields; never did the heavy rains fall,
nor did the cold winds sweep down upon this shining city.
But alas, there came a time when a shadow fell upon this city that
shone so like a golden cloud resting upon the mountain peak. For the
Fates, the three cruel sisters, came and took up their abode at the
foot of the wonderful tree of Life, whose roots were in the earth,
and whose branches, reaching high above the shining city, protected
it from the sun's fierce heat and strong white light. And from that
time even the gods themselves were no longer free from care and sorrow.
Envy sprang up among the children of the great god, Odin; sickness,
and even death, fell upon them; and the frost giants waged war with
them,--a war that would never cease in all the ages that were to come,
until that day when the sun's light went out forever, and the dark
reign of Ragnarok fell upon the earth.
It was a beautiful earth that lay stretched out at the foot of
Mt. Ida. The fields were rich with grain; the trees were loaded with
fruits; the sun shone warm and bright; but there were no harvesters, no
gatherers of the fruit, no children to run and frolic in the sunshine.
"The fair earth is desolate," said Odin to himself, as he looked down
from his golden temple. "There should be people there, not gods and
goddesses like us here upon Mt. Ida, but beings less powerful than
we, beings who can love and enjoy, and whose children shall fill the
earth with their happy voices. And the care of all these beings shall
be mine."
As he spoke, he, the All Father, passed down the rainbow bridge,
out into the rich, green valley below.
As he passed on beneath the trees, he saw standing together, their
branches bending towards each other, a straight, strong Ash and a
gentle, graceful Elm.
"From these trees," said Odin to himself, "will I create the Earth
people. The man I will name Ask, and the woman, Embla. It is a
beautiful, sunny world: they should be very happy in it. How their
children shall delight in the broad fields and the sunny slopes! And
no harm shall come to them; for I, the All Father, will watch over
them in all the age's to come."
II.
YGDRASIL.
At the base of Mt. Ida stood Ygdrasil, the wonderful tree of
Life. Never before nor since was there another such a tree. It had
never had a beginning; it had never been young.
Not even the oldest man, not even the gods themselves could say, "I
remember when this great tree was a tender sapling, I remember when it
sent forth its first tiny leaves, and how it rocked, and swayed, and
shivered, and bent its timid head as the cold ice king swept over it."
For there had never been a time since the beginning of the world
when Ygdrasil had not stood there, tall and strong, one great root
reaching down, down through the earth to the home of the dead, another
stretching away, no one could tell how far, till it reached the home
of the terrible giants, so fierce and cruel, so strong, and withal
so wise, that even the gods themselves dreaded them and stood ever
in terror of their approach.
And its branches? So broad, so far reaching, so numerous were these,
that they spread themselves protectingly over the whole earth, their
top-most leaves rustling and whispering together above the golden
palace of the gods, far up on the summit of the cloud-hidden Ida.
Nor was this all. Hidden among the dense leaves lived a great white
eagle. No one knew whence he came; no one had ever looked upon him;
but there he sat, ages upon ages, singing forever the story of the
creator of the earth and the wonderful deeds of the gods who dwell in
the shining city of Asgard. The leaves of the tree sang sunset songs,
and whispered to each other secrets, sometimes sad, sometimes gay,
which even the gods, with all their wisdom, could not understand.
At the foot of the tree, away down at the end even of the deepest,
farthest root, lay the Well of Wisdom. Its waters were black. Sometimes
they were very bitter, and few there were who had the courage and
the perseverance to search out the hiding-place of this wonderful
spring. Then, too, it was guarded by a grim old giant, Memory, who
so loved this well, and so dreaded the approach of man or god to its
waters, that he would not allow them even to touch their lips to it,
until they had sworn to surrender to him whatever thing was dearest
in life to them.
This was a heavy price to pay for wisdom, and few there were who
cared to pay it. "Will you give me your children?" "Will you give
me your freedom?" "Will you give me your health?" "Will you give me
your tongue, your ears, your eyes?" the old giant would ask of the
mortals who came to drink of the waters of the Well of Wisdom.
And always, when the mortals heard these questions, they grew pale
and trembled with fear. "Go back to your homes," the old giant would
thunder, "you desire wisdom it is true; but you are not willing to pay
the price for it." Then the mortals would hurry away, their hearts
beating with fear, their ears ringing with the thunderous tones of
the terrible giant, who, since the earth was made, had sat at the
foot of Ygdrasil guarding the secrets from all the world.
III.
ODIN AT THE WELL OF WISDOM.
As Odin looked down from his home in Asgard and saw the people he had
made from the ash and the elm trees, he sighed to himself and said,
"These are my children. It is I who created them. They are innocent
and pure and sweet."
"But, alas, how little they know of life. By and by there will come
to them danger and sorrow. The Ice King, the cruel tyrant, will
breathe upon them, and the harvests will shrivel before their eyes;
the rivers will be frozen, the trees will be bare, and there will be
no food for them. As the years roll on, little children will come;
these children will grow into manhood and womanhood, and other little
children will follow. They are but mortals. Sickness and death will
be their share; for I could not make them like the gods."
And as Odin thought of all these things his heart grew sad. Almost
he wished he had not made these helpless beings from the ash and the
elm. He looked down into the sunny valley, where as yet no sorrow
nor suffering had come. "Poor children!" he sighed. "What a world
of wisdom Odin must possess to protect and guide and teach these
earth-people that he has made."
Just then Ask and Embla paused and looked up towards the shining
city; for the sigh from Odin's heart had been so deep and long that
the leaves of Ygdrasil had rustled, and a faint echo of it had swept
even across the valley below.
"What is it that sweeps sometimes across the valley, and moves the
trees and the leaves, and so gently fans our cheeks?" asked Embla.
"I often wonder," answered Ask. "It is very pleasant. Perhaps it is
a message from the good Odin who made us and who gave us this sunny
valley to play in."
Then on they ran, hand in hand, happy children as they were, and in
a moment had forgotten all about it.
But Odin had not forgotten. "Frigg," said he to his goddess wife,
"it is granted to us as gods to possess great wisdom. Still there
remain many things we do not know. Below in the valley there have
sprung into being a man and a woman. They are like us, Frigg, but
they are not very wise. They need our care, even as our own dear
Baldur needed our care when he was a very little child. I shall go
to the Giant Memory, who guards the Well of Wisdom, and he shall give
me a draught from the wonderful water. Then shall I be the all-wise,
all-loving All-Father these children of the valley need."
"O, but the price this cruel Giant will ask of you!" sobbed Frigg.
"I would give my life for them," answered Odin tenderly. Then he turned
from her, passed down the rainbow bridge to the valley, entered the
great black, gaping cave and groped his way along the cold, dark
passages that led to the Well of Wisdom.
Three times the sun rose, three times the sun set. Then, just as
the earth and the shining Asgard lay bathed in the rich, golden
sunset light, Odin came forth again, passed up the rainbow bridge,
and entered the great hall of the gods. "It is Odin," cried Frigg.
Yes, it is Odin, the same Odin. But with a face so joyous, so radiant,
so happy! For Odin had drank from the Well of Wisdom. The way had
been dark; the struggle with the great Giant had been hard. But Odin
had conquered; and now the joy that belongs always to the wise was
his forevermore.
IV.
ODIN AND THE ALL-WISE GIANT.
Away across the great sea of blue waters that curled about the shores
of Midgard, the dwelling place of Odin's earth-children, were the
dark, frowning, rock-bound mountains, the castles of the terrible
giants whom even the gods feared.
One of these giants, Vafthrudner, was known among them as the All-wise.
"He is our chief. He is wiser even than the gods of Asgard," the
giants sometimes would thunder across the wide blue sea. And indeed
it was true; for none among the gods had yet been able to answer his
questions; nor could they; neither could they ask of him one that he
could not answer.
"We will bear the insolence of this giant no longer," said Odin to
Frigg. "I will go to him, and the race of giants shall know that at
last Wisdom dwells not in Jotunheim but in the golden city of the
gods,--the glorious, shining city of Asgard."
"Who comes?" thundered Vafthrudner as Odin approached his mountain
peak.
"It is I--a mere traveller. But as I chanced to be journeying through
your country, I heard of your wonderful wisdom. In my own country,
far away to the west, I too am accounted somewhat wise. Let us test
each other and learn which of us is wiser."
"Test each other! Learn which is wiser!" bellowed the great giant,
his voice echoing and re-echoing across the sea, until the very walls
of the golden hall upon Mt. Ida trembled and the earth-children in
the valley below clung to each other in fear.
"Whichever one fails forfeits his life. You know that, I trust,"
added Vafthrudner with a sneer.
"I know," answered Odin quietly. "But let us begin. Night will come
upon us, and I must reach my home while the Sun-god is still above us."
"You will never see your home again; so it matters little whether
we begin early or late. However, tell me, foolish, vain earth-child
that you are, what river is it that flows between this home of the
All-powerful giants and the home of the gods?"
"The name of that river is Ifing," answered Odin. "And I can tell you
more than that. Because it touches upon the shores of the city of the
gods, the Ice King, Njord, has no power over it. His breath cannot
freeze it. Year after year, Njord tries to imprison its sparkling
waters that you giants may cross upon its crust and attack the shining
city. But it will never freeze. You will never cross it. Asgard is
forever safe."
The giant dropped his mighty jaw. His eyes stared like great suns of
fire. His terrible frame trembled. Down came his club upon the floor
of his great castle.
Again Ask and Embla paled with fear as the valley shook beneath
their feet.
"Who are you?" roared the All-wise giant. "Who are you that you know
that river's name? Who are you that you dare tell me I shall never
cross to its farther shore?"
"It matters little who I am," answered Odin, his eyes flashing, his
beautiful figure growing taller and taller. "But listen now while
I whisper into your ear my question." And with a mighty stride Odin
crossed to Vafthrudner's throne, leaned forward, seized him by the
shoulder, and hissed three words into the gigantic, cave-like ear.
What those words were, no man ever knew. Forever they shall remain
a secret between Vafthrudner and the All-Father Odin.
The giant paled, staggered to his feet, groaned and fell. The walls of
the great hall swayed to and fro. The lightning flashed, the thunder
pealed from peak to peak. Odin had conquered. The All-Father was
now the All-loving and the All-wise too. And as such, was ever after
acknowledged by all living creatures,--gods and men, dwarfs and giants.
V.
THE STOLEN WINE.
Part I.
There had lain for ages upon ages, hidden away in the great rocky
cellar of one of the giant's castles, a cask of wine, which had been
stolen from the gods.
Never before had the gods been able to learn what had become of it;
what giant had stolen it, nor in what castle it was hidden.
But now that Odin had become All-wise, nothing could be concealed
from him.
"I know at last where the wine lies hidden," said Odin one day to
his son, Thor; "and I shall set forth to find it."
Thor brought down his hammer with a thud. "Let me go with you," cried
he, springing up. "And let me fell to the earth with one blow of my
magic hammer the giant who has stolen, and has kept hidden all these
ages our precious wine."
"No;" answered Odin, "this time I must go alone. The wine is guarded
day and night, and it will not be easy to bring it away, even when I
have found it. But watch for me, dear son. One day there will come,
beating its wings against the shining gates of our city, a great white
eagle. Do not harm the eagle. Open the gates to him; for that eagle
will be Odin, returning with the stolen wine to our city of Asgard."
Then Odin put aside his sparkling crown and laid down his sceptre. His
wonderful blue mantle, studded with stars and fastened always with
a pale crescent moon, he also threw aside, and stepped forth in the
garb of a common laborer. "It is in this guise that I shall win my
way to the giant's castle," said Odin; and in a second he had passed
out from the hall and was gone.
It was the giant, Suttung, that had stolen the wine, and it was in
his castle that it had lain hidden all these years.
Now, of all the strong castles of all the giants, Suttung's castle
was the strongest. The cellar was cut into the solid rock. Moreover,
three sides of the castle rose in solid walls of granite; while the
fourth, no less firm and strong, was built of massive blocks bound
with hoops and bars and bolts of strongest iron and steel.
Now, Suttung had a brother, Bauge, who was a giant farmer. He kept
nine strong slaves, half giants themselves, to do his work for him.
As Odin approached the fields of Bauge's farm, he saw the nine men
hard at work.
"Your scythes are dull," said he, as he drew near.
"Yes, but we have no whetstone to sharpen them upon," answered the
workmen, the great drops standing out upon their foreheads.
"I will sharpen them on mine," said Odin, drawing one from his pocket.
"It is a magic whetstone!" cried the men as they saw it work. "Give
it to us. We need it more than you. Give it to us. Give it to us."
"Take it, then," answered Odin, throwing it high in the air and
walking off.
"It is mine! It is mine! Let me have it! Give it to me! I will have
it! Out of the way! It shall be mine!" screamed and quarreled the
nine men as they pushed and crowded, each one determined to catch
the whetstone as it came down to earth.
At last it fell. Then a fiercer battle followed. The angry men fell
upon each other. They dragged and pulled and threw each other to the
ground. They pounded each other; they struck at each other with their
scythes. On and on they fought. Hour after hour the battle waged;
till at last the Sun-god, in sheer dismay at so unloving a sight, hid
his face behind the hills, and the nine men lay dead upon the fields.
It was an hour later when Odin reached the castle of Bauge.
"Can you give me shelter for the night?" he asked, as the giant
appeared at the door of his castle.
"Yes, I can give you shelter; but you must look elsewhere for your
breakfast. A strange thing has happened. My nine slaves, while at
work in the field, have fallen in battle upon each other, and have
killed each other. Not one of them is left alive to serve me."
"They must have been idle, quarrelsome fellows," answered Odin.
"They were, indeed," answered Bauge; "but how shall I get my work
done without them?"
"I will do the work for you," answered Odin.
"You! There is but one of you, even if you were willing to try,"
answered Bauge with but little interest.
"But I can do the work of any nine workmen that ever served you."
The giant laughed. "A remarkable workman. Pray, do you ask the wages
of nine men as well?"
"I ask no wages," answered Odin. "I only ask that, as my pay when
the work is done, you shall give me a draught of wine from the cask
hidden in your brother's cellar."
Bauge stared. "How did you know there is a cask in my brother's
cellar?" he gasped.
"It is enough that I know it," answered Odin coldly.
Bauge looked at Odin. "He is better than no man," he thought to
himself. "I may as well get what work from him I can, before he finds
that no being on earth can enter that cellar or force my brother to
give away one drop of that wine."
"Very well, you may go to work," he said aloud. "I cannot promise you
that we can make our way into my brother's cellar; but I will do what
I can to help you."
"That is all I ask," answered Odin. "Now let me sleep, for I am tired;
and if I am to do nine men's work, I must have nine men's sleep."
"And must you have nine men's food?" cried Bauge.
"I think it very likely," answered Odin with a queer smile. "Now let
me sleep."
VI.
THE STOLEN WINE.