Chapter IX.

The Teutonic and Scandinavian Religion.

§ 1. The Land and the Race.

§ 2. Idea of the Scandinavian Religion.

§ 3. The Eddas and their Contents.

§ 4. The Gods of Scandinavia.

§ 5. Resemblance of the Scandinavian Mythology to that of Zoroaster.

§ 6. Scandinavian Worship.

§ 7. Social Character, Maritime Discoveries, and Political Institutions

of the Scandinavians.

§ 8. Relation of this System to Christianity.

§ 1. The Land and the Race.

The great Teutonic or German division of the Indo-European family entered

Europe subsequently to the Keltic tribes, and before the Slavic

immigration. This people overspread and occupied a large part of Northern

Central Europe, from which the attempts of the Romans to dispossess them

proved futile. Of their early history we know very little. Bishop Percy

contrasts their love of making records, as shown by the Runic

inscriptions, with the Keltic law of secrecy. The Druids forbade any

communication of their mysteries by writing; but the German Scalds put all

their belief into popular songs, and reverenced literature as a gift of

the gods. Yet we have received very little information concerning these

tribes before the days of Cæsar and Tacitus. Cæsar describes them as

warlike, huge in stature; having reverence for women, who were their

augurs and diviners; worshipping the Sun, the Moon, and Fire; having no

regular priests, and paying little regard to sacrifices. He says that they

occupied their lives in hunting and war, devoting themselves from

childhood to severe labors. They reverenced chastity, and considered it as

conducive to health and strength. They were rather a pastoral than

agricultural people; no one owning land, but each having it assigned to

him temporarily. The object of this provision was said to be to prevent

accumulation of wealth and the loss of warlike habits. They fought with

cavalry supported by infantry. In the time of Augustus all attempts at

conquering Germany were relinquished, and war was maintained only in the

hope of revenging the destruction of Varus and his three legions by the

famous German chief Arminius, or Herrman[320].

Tacitus freely admits that the Germans were as warlike as the Romans, and

were only inferior in weapons and discipline. He pays a generous tribute

to Arminius, whom he declares to have been "beyond all question the

liberator of Germany," dying at thirty-seven, unconquered in war.[321]

Tacitus quotes from some ancient German ballads or hymns ("the only

historic monuments," says he, "that they possess") the names of Tuisto, a

god born from the earth, and Mannus, his son. Tacitus was much struck with

the physical characteristics of the race, as being so uniform. There was a

family likeness, he says, among them all,--stern blue eyes, yellow hair,

large bodies. Their wealth was in their flocks and herds. "Gold and silver

are kept from them by the anger, or perhaps by the favor, of Heaven."

Their rulers were elective, and their power was limited. Their judges were

the priests. They saw something divine in woman, and her judgments were

accepted as oracles. Such women as Veleda and Aurinia were reverenced as

prophets; "but not adored or made into goddesses," says Tacitus, with a

side-glance at some events at home. Their gods, Tacitus chooses to call

Mercury, Hercules, and Mars; but he distinctly says that the Germans had

neither idols nor temples, but worshipped in sacred groves[322]. He also

says that the Germans divined future events by pieces of sticks, by the

duel, and by the movements of sacred horses. Their leaders might decide

the less important matters, but the principal questions were settled at

public meetings. These assemblies were held at regular intervals, were

opened by the priest, were presided over by the chief, and decided all

public affairs. Tacitus remarks that the spirit of liberty goes to such

an extreme among the Germans as to destroy regularity and order. They will

not be punctual at their meetings, lest it should seem as if they attended

because commanded to come.[323] Marriage was sacred, and, unlike other

heathen nations, they were contented with one wife. They were affectionate

and constant to the marriage vow, which meant to the pure German woman one

husband, one life, one body, and one soul. The ancient Germans, like their

modern descendants, drank beer and Rhenish wine, and were divided into

numerous tribes, who afterward reappeared for the destruction of the Roman

Empire, as the Goths, Vandals, Lombards, and Franks.

The Scandinavians were a branch of the great German family. Their

language, the old Norse, was distinguished from the Alemannic, or High

German tongue, and from the Saxonic, or Low German tongue. From the Norse

have been derived the languages of Iceland, of the Ferroe Isles, of

Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. From the Germanic branch have come German,

Dutch, Anglo-Saxon, Mæso-Gothic, and English. It was in Scandinavia that

the Teutonic race developed its special civilization and religion. Cut off

from the rest of the world by stormy seas, the people could there unfold

their ideas, and become themselves. It is therefore to Scandinavia that we

must go to study the German religion, and to find the influence exercised

on modern civilization and the present character of Europe. This influence

has been freely acknowledged by great historians.

Montesquieu says:[324]--

"The great prerogative of Scandinavia is, that it afforded the great

resource to the liberty of Europe, that is, to almost all of liberty

there is among men. The Goth Jornandes calls the North of Europe the

forge of mankind. I would rather call it the forge of those instruments

which broke the fetters manufactured in the South."

Geijer, in his Swedish History, tells us:--

"The recollections which Scandinavia has to add to those of the

Germanic race are yet the most antique in character and comparatively

the most original. They offer the completest remaining example of a

social state existing previously to the reception of influences from

Rome, and in duration stretching onward so as to come within the sphere

of historical light."

We do not know how much of those old Northern ideas may be still mingled

with our ways of thought. The names of their gods we retain in those of

our weekdays,--Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Their popular

assemblies, or Things, were the origin of our Parliament, our Congress,

and our general assemblies. If from the South came the romantic admiration

of woman, from the North came a better respect for her rights and the

sense of her equality. Our trial by jury was immediately derived from

Scandinavia; and, according to Montesquieu, as we have seen, we owe to the

North, as the greatest inheritance of all, that desire for freedom which

is so chief an element in Christian civilization.

Scandinavia proper consists of those regions now occupied by the kingdoms

of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The geographical peculiarity of this

country is its proximity everywhere to the sea, and the great extent of

its coast line. The great peninsula of Sweden and Norway, with the

Northern Ocean on its west, the Baltic and Gulf of Bothnia on its east,

penetrated everywhere by creeks, friths, and arms of the sea, surrounded

with innumerable islands, studded with lakes, and cleft with rivers, is

also unrivalled, except by Switzerland, in the sublime and picturesque

beauty of its mountains. The other peninsula, that of Denmark, surrounded

and penetrated also everywhere by the sea, differs in being almost level;

rising nowhere, at its highest point, more than a thousand feet above the

ocean. Containing an area of only twenty-two thousand square miles, it is

so penetrated with bays and creeks as to have four thousand miles of

coast. Like the northern peninsula, it is also surrounded with a multitude

of islands, which are so crowded together, especially on its eastern

coast, as to make an archipelago. It is impossible to look at the map of

Europe, and not be struck with the resemblance in these particulars

between its northern and southern geography. The Baltic Sea is the

Mediterranean of Northern Europe. The peninsula of Denmark, with its

multitudinous bays and islands, corresponds to Greece, the Morea, and its

archipelago. We have shown in our chapter on Greece that modern geography

teaches that the extent of coast line, when compared with the superficial

area of a country, is one of the essential conditions of civilization. Who

can fail to see the hand of Providence in the adaptation of races to the

countries they are to inhabit? The great tide of human life, flowing

westward from Central Asia, was divided into currents by the Caspian and

Black Seas, and by the lofty range of mountains which, under the name of

the Caucasus, Carpathian Mountains, and Alps, extends almost in an

unbroken line from the western coast of the Caspian to the northern limits

of Germany. The Teutonic races, Germans, Saxons, Franks, and Northmen,

were thus determined to the north, and spread themselves along the coast

and peninsulas of the Northern Mediterranean. The other branch of the

great Indo-European variety was distributed through Syria, Asia Minor,

Greece, Southern France, Italy, and Spain. Each of these vast European

families, stimulated to mental and moral activity by its proximity to

water, developed its own peculiar forms of national character, which were

afterwards united in modern European society. The North developed

individual freedom, the South social organization. The North gave force,

the South culture. From Southern Europe came literature, philosophy, laws,

arts; from the North, that respect for individual rights, that sense of

personal dignity, that energy of the single soul, which is the essential

equipoise of a high social culture. These two elements, of freedom and

civilization, always antagonist, have been in most ages hostile. The

individual freedom of the North has been equivalent to barbarism, and from

time to time has rolled down a destroying deluge over the South, almost

sweeping away its civilization, and overwhelming in a common ruin arts,

literature, and laws. On the other hand, civilization at the South has

passed into luxury, has produced effeminacy, till individual freedom has

been lost under grinding despotism. But in modern civilization a third

element has been added, which has brought these two powers of Northern

freedom and Southern culture into equipoise and harmony. This new element

is Christianity, which develops, at the same time, the sense of personal

responsibility, by teaching the individual destiny and worth of every

soul, and also the mutual dependence and interlacing brotherhood of all

human society. This Christian element in modern civilization saves it from

the double danger of a relapse into barbarism on the one hand, and a too

refined luxury on the other. The nations of Europe, to-day, which are the

most advanced in civilization, literature, and art, are also the most

deeply pervaded with the love of freedom; and the most civilized nations

on the globe, instead of being the most effeminate, are also the most

powerful.

The Scandinavian people, destined to play so important a part in the

history of the world, were, as we have said, a branch of the great

Indo-European variety. We have seen that modern ethnology teaches that all

the races which inhabit Europe, with some trifling exceptions, belong to

one family, which originated in Central Asia. This has appeared and is

proved by means of glossology, or the science of language. The closest

resemblance exists between the seven linguistic families of Hindostan,

Persia, Greece, Rome, Germany, the Kelts, and the Slavi; and it is a most

striking fact of human history, that from the earliest period of recorded

time down to the present day a powerful people, speaking a language

belonging to one or other of these races, should have in a great measure

swayed the destinies of the world.

Before the birth of Christ the peninsula of Denmark was called by the

Romans the Cimbric Chersonesus, or Cimbric peninsula. This name came from

the Cimbri, a people who, one hundred and eleven years before Christ,

almost overthrew the Roman Republic, exciting more terror than any event

since the days of Hannibal. More than three hundred thousand men, issuing

from the peninsula of Denmark and the adjacent regions, poured like a

torrent over Gaul and Southern Germany. They met and overthrew in

succession four Roman armies; until, finally, they were conquered by the

military skill and genius of Marius. After this eruption was checked, the

great northern volcano slumbered for centuries. Other tribes from

Asia--Goths, Vandals, Huns--combined in the overthrow of the Roman Empire.

At last the inhabitants of Scandinavia appear again under the name of

Northmen, invading and conquering England in the fifth century as Saxons,

in the ninth century as Danes, and in the eleventh as Normans again

overrunning England and France. But the peculiarity of the Scandinavian

invasions was their maritime character. Daring and skilful navigators,

they encountered the tempests of the Northern Ocean and the heavy roll of

the Atlantic in vessels so small and slight that they floated like

eggshells on the surface of the waves, and ran up the rivers of France and

England, hundreds of miles, without check from shallows or rocks. In these

fragile barks they made also the most extraordinary maritime discoveries.

The sea-kings of Norway discovered Iceland, and settled it A.D. 860 and

A.D. 874. They discovered and settled Greenland A.D. 982 and A.D. 986. On

the western coast of Greenland they planted colonies, where churches were

built, and diocesan bishoprics established, which lasted between four and

five hundred years. Finally, in A.D. 1000, they discovered, by sailing

from Greenland, the coast of Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Massachusetts Bay;

and, five hundred years before the discovery of Columbus, gathered grapes

and built houses on the southern side of Cape Cod. These facts, long

considered mythical, have been established, to the satisfaction of

European scholars, by the publication of Icelandic contemporaneous annals.

This remarkable people have furnished nearly the whole population of

England by means of the successive conquests of Saxon, Danes, and Normans,

driving the Keltic races into the mountainous regions of Wales and North

Scotland, where their descendants still remain. Colonizing themselves also

everywhere in Northern Europe, and even in Italy and Greece, they have

left the familiar stamp of their ideas and habits in all our modern

civilization[325].

§ 2. Idea of the Scandinavian Religion.

The central idea of the Scandinavian belief was the free struggle of soul

against material obstacles, the freedom of the Divine will in its conflict

with the opposing forces of nature. The gods of the Scandinavians were

always at war. It was a system of dualism, in which sunshine, summer, and

growth were waging perpetual battle with storm, snow, winter, ocean, and

terrestrial fire. As the gods, so the people. War was their business,

courage their duty, fortitude their virtue. The conflict of life with

death, of freedom with fate, of choice with necessity, of good with evil,

made up their history and destiny.

This conflict in the natural world was especially apparent in the

struggle, annually renewed, between summer and winter. Therefore the light

and heat gods were their friends, those of darkness and cold their

enemies. For the same reason that the burning heat of summer, Typhon, was

the Satan of Egypt; so in the North the Jotuns, ice-giants, were the

Scandinavian devils.

There are some virtues which are naturally associated together, such as

the love of truth, the sense of justice, courage, and personal

independence. There is an opposite class of virtues in like manner

naturally grouped together,--sympathy, mutual helpfulness, and a tendency

to social organization. The serious antagonism in the moral world is that

of truth and love. Most cases of conscience which present a real

difficulty resolve themselves into a conflict of truth and love. It is

hard to be true without hurting the feelings of others; it is hard to

sympathize with others and not yield a little of our inward truth. The

same antagonism is found in the religions of the world. The religions in

which truth, justice, freedom, are developed tend to isolation, coldness,

and hardness. On the other hand, the religions of brotherhood and human

sympathy tend to weakness, luxury, and slavery.

The religion of the German races, which was the natural growth of their

organization and moral character, belonged to the first class. It was a

religion in which truth, justice, self-respect, courage, freedom, were the

essential elements. The gods were human, as in the Hellenic system, with

moral attributes. They were finite beings and limited in their powers.

They carried on a warfare with hostile and destructive agents, in which at

last they were to be vanquished and destroyed, though a restoration of the

world and the gods would follow that destruction.

Such was the idea in all the faith of the Teutonic race. The chief virtue

of man was courage, his unpardonable sin was cowardice. "To fight a good

fight," this was the way to Valhalla. Odin sent his Choosers to every

battlefield to select the brave dead to become his companions in the joys

of heaven.

§ 3. The Eddas and their Contents.

We have observed that Iceland was settled from Norway in the ninth

century. A remarkable social life grew up there, which preserved the

ideas, manners, and religion of the Teutonic people in their purity for

many hundred years, and whose Eddas and Sagas are the chief source of our

knowledge of the race. In this ultimate and barren region of the earth,

where seas of ice make thousands of square miles desolate and

impenetrable, where icy masses, elsewhere glaciers, are here mountains,

where volcanoes with terrible eruptions destroy whole regions of inhabited

country in a few days with lava, volcanic sand, and boiling water, was

developed to its highest degree the purest form of Scandinavian life.

The religion of the Scandinavians is contained in the Eddas, which are

two,--the poetic, or elder Edda, consisting of thirty-seven poems, first

collected and published at the end of the eleventh century; and the

younger, or prose Edda, ascribed to the celebrated Snorro Sturleson, born

of a distinguished Icelandic family in the twelfth century, who, after

leading a turbulent and ambitious life, and being twice chosen supreme

magistrate, was killed A.D. 1241. The principal part of the prose Edda is

a complete synopsis of Scandinavian mythology.

The elder Edda, which is the fountain of the mythology, consists of old

songs and ballads, which had come down from an immemorial past in the

mouths of the people, but were first collected and committed to writing by

Sæmund, a Christian priest of Iceland in the eleventh century. He was a

Bard, or Scald, as well as a priest, and one of his own poems, "The

Sun-Song," is in his Edda. This word "Edda" means "great-grandmother," the

ancient mother of Scandinavian knowledge. Or perhaps this name was given

to the legends, repeated by grandmothers to their grandchildren by the

vast firesides of the old farm-houses in Iceland.

This rhythmical Edda consists of thirty-seven poems[326]. It is in two

parts,--the first containing mythical poems concerning the gods and the

creation; the second, the legends of the heroes of Scandinavian history.

This latter portion of the Edda has the original and ancient fragments

from which the German Nibelungen-lied was afterward derived. These songs

are to the German poem what the ante-Homeric ballad literature of Greece

about Troy and Ulysses was to the Iliad and Odyssey as reduced to unity by

Homer.

The first poem in the first part of the poetic Edda is the Voluspa, or

Wisdom of Vala. The Vala was a prophetess, possessing vast supernatural

knowledge. Some antiquarians consider the Vala to be the same as the

Nornor, or Fates. They were dark beings, whose wisdom was fearful even to

the gods, resembling in this the Greek Prometheus. The Voluspa describes

the universe before the creation, in the morning of time, before the great

Ymir lived, when there was neither sea nor shore nor heaven. It begins

thus, Vala speaking:--

"I command the devout attention of all noble souls,

Of all the high and the low of the race of Heimdall;

I tell the doings of the All-Father,

In the most ancient Sagas which come to my mind.

"There was an age in which Ymir lived,

When was no sea, nor shore, nor salt waves;

No earth below, nor heaven above,

No yawning abyss and no grassy land.

"Till the sons of Bors lifted the dome of heaven,

And created the vast Midgard (earth) below;

Then the sun of the south rose above the mountains,

And green grasses made the ground verdant.

"The sun of the south, companion of the moon,

Held the horses of heaven with his right hand;

The sun knew not what its course should be,

The moon knew not what her power should be,

The stars knew not where their places were.

"Then the counsellors went into the hall of judgment,

And the all-holy gods held a council.

They gave names to the night and new moon;

They called to the morning and to midday,

To the afternoon and evening, arranging the times."

The Voluspa goes on to describe how the gods assembled on the field of

Ida, and proceeded to create metals and vegetables; after that the race of

dwarfs, who preside over the powers of nature and the mineral world. Then

Vala narrates how the three gods, Odin, Honir, and Lodur, "the mighty and

mild Aser," found Ask and Embla, the Adam and Eve of the Northern legends,

lying without soul, sense, motion, or color. Odin gave them their souls,

Honir their intellects, Lodur their blood and colored flesh. Then comes

the description of the ash-tree Yggdrasil, of the three Norns, or sisters

of destiny, who tell the Aser their doom, and the end and renewal of the

world; and how, at last, one being mightier than all shall arrive:--

"Then comes the mighty one to the council of the gods,

He with strength from on high who guides all things,

He decides the strife, he puts an end to struggle,

He ordains eternal laws."

In the same way, in the Song of Hyndla, another of the poems of this Edda,

is a prediction of one who shall come, mightier than all the gods, and put

an end to the strife between Aser and the giants. The song begins:--

"Wake, maid of maidens! Awake, my friend!

Hyndla, sister, dwelling in the glens!

It is night, it is cloudy; let us ride together

To the sacred place, to Valhalla."

Hyndla sings, after describing the heroes and princes born of the gods:--

"One shall be born higher than all,

Who grows strong with the strength of the earth;

He is famed as the greatest of rulers,

United with all nations as brethren.

"But one day there shall come another mightier than he;

But I dare not name his name.

Few are able to see beyond

The great battle of Odin and the Wolf."

Among the poems of the elder Edda is a Book of Proverbs, like those of

Solomon in their sagacious observations on human life and manners. It is

called the Havamal. At first we should hardly expect to find these maxims

of worldly wisdom among a people whose chief business was war. But war

develops cunning as well as courage, and battles are won by craft no less

than by daring. Consequently, among a warlike people, sagacity is

naturally cultivated.

The Havamal contains (in its proverbial section) one hundred and ten

stanzas, mostly quatrains. The following are specimens:--

1. "Carefully consider the end

Before you go to do anything,

For all is uncertain, when the enemy

Lies in wait in the house.

4. "The guest who enters

Needs water, a towel, and hospitality.

A kind reception secures a return

In word and in deed.

7. "The wise man, on coming in,

Is silent and observes,

Hears with his ears, looks with his eyes,

And carefully reflects on every event.

11. "No worse a companion can a man take on his journey

Than drunkenness.

Not as good as many believe

Is beer to the sons of men.

The more one drinks, the less he knows,

And less power has he over himself.

26. "A foolish man, in company, had better be silent.

Until he speaks no one observes his folly.

But he who knows little does not know this,

When he had better be silent.

29. "Do not mock at the stranger

Who comes trusting in your kindness;

For when he has warmed himself at your fire,

He may easily prove a wise man.

34. "It is better to depart betimes,

And not to go too often to the same house.

Love tires and turns to sadness

When one sits too often at another man's table.

35. "One's own house, though small, is better,

For there thou art the master.

It makes a man's heart bleed to ask

For a midday meal at the house of another.

36. "One's own house, though small, is better;

At home thou art the master.

Two goats and a thatched roof

Are better than begging.

38. "It is hard to find a man so rich

As to refuse a gift.

It is hard to find a man so generous

As to be always glad to lend.

42. "Is there a man whom you distrust,

And who yet can help you?

Be smooth in words and false in thought,

And pay back his deceit with cunning.

48. "I hung my garments on two scarecrows,

And, when dressed, they seemed

Ready for the battle.

Unclothed they were jeered at by all.

52. "Small as a grain of sand

Is the small sense of a fool;

Very unequal is human wisdom.

The world is made of two unequal halves.

53. "It is well to be wise; it is not well

To be too wise.

He has the happiest life

Who knows well what he knows.

54. "It is well to be wise; not well

To be too wise.

The wise man's heart is not glad

When he knows too much.

55. "Two burning sticks placed together

Will burn entirely away.

Man grows bright by the side of man;

Alone, he remains stupid."

Such are the proverbs of the Havamal. This sort of proverbial wisdom may

have come down from the days when the ancestors of the Scandinavians left

Central Asia. It is like the fables and maxims of the Hitopadesá.[327]

Another of these poems is called Odin's Song of Runes. Runes were the

Scandinavian alphabet, used for lapidary inscriptions, a thousand of which

have been discovered in Sweden, and three or four hundred in Denmark and

Norway, mostly on tombstones. This alphabet consists of sixteen letters,

with the powers of F, U, TH, O, R, K, H, N, I, A, S, T, B, L, M, Y. The

letters R, I, T, and B very nearly resemble the Roman letters of the same

values. A magical power was ascribed to these Runes, and they were carved

on sticks and then scraped off, and used as charms. These rune-charms were

of different kinds, eighteen different sorts are mentioned in this song.

A song of Brynhilda speaks of different runes which she will teach Sigurd.

"_Runes of victory_ must those know, to conquer thine enemies. They must

be carved on the blade of thy sword. _Drink-Runes_ must thou know to make

maidens love thee. Thou must carve them on thy drinking horn. _Runes of

freedom_ must thou know to deliver the captives. _Storm-Runes_ must thou

know, to make thy vessel go safely over the waves. Carve them on the mast

and the rudder. _Herb-Runes_ thou must know to cure disease. Carve them on

the bark of the tree. _Speech-Runes_ must thou know to defeat thine enemy

in council of words, in the Thing. _Mind-Runes_ must thou know to have

good and wise thoughts. These are the Book-Runes, and Help-Runes, and

Drink-Runes, and Power-Runes, precious for whoever can use them."

The second part of the poetic Edda contains the stories of the old heroes,

especially of Sigurd, the Achilles of Northern romance. There is also the

Song of Volund, the Northern Smith, the German Vulcan, able to make swords

of powerful temper. These songs and ballads are all serious and grave, and

sometimes tender, having in them something of the solemn tone of the old

Greek tragedy.

The prose Edda, as we have said, was the work of Snorro Sturleson, born in

Iceland in 1178[328]. He probably transcribed most of it from the

manuscripts in his hands, or which were accessible to him, and from the

oral traditions which had been preserved in the memory of the Skalds. His

other chief work was the Heimskringla, or collection of Saga concerning

the history of the Scandinavians. In his preface to this last book he says

he "wrote it down from old stories told by intelligent people"; or from

"ancient family registers containing the pedigrees of kings," or from "old

songs and ballads which our fathers had for their amusement"

The prose Edda begins with "The deluding of Gylfi," an ancient king of

Sweden. He was renowned for his wisdom and love of knowledge, and

determined to visit Asgard, the home of the Æsir, to learn something of

the wisdom of the gods. They, however, foreseeing his coming, prepared

various illusions to deceive him. Among other things, he saw three

thrones raised one above another.

"He afterwards beheld three thrones raised one above another, with a

man sitting on each of them. Upon his asking what the names of these

lords might be, his guide answered: 'He who sits on the lowest throne

is a king; his name is Har (the High or Lofty One); the second is

Jafnhar (i.e. equal to the High); but he who sitteth on the highest

throne is called Thridi (the Third).' Har, perceiving the stranger,

asked him what his errand was, adding that he should be welcome to eat

and drink without cost, as were all those who remained in Háva Hall.

Gangler said he desired first to ascertain whether there was any person

present renowned for his wisdom.

"'If thou art not the most knowing,' replied Har, 'I fear thou wilt

hardly return safe. But go, stand there below, and propose thy

questions; here sits one who will be able to answer them.'

"Gangler thus began his discourse: 'Who is the first, or eldest of the

gods?'

"'In our language,' replied Har, 'he is called Alfadir (All-Father, or

the Father of All); but in the old Asgard he had twelve names.'

"'Where is this God?' said Gangler; 'what is his power? and what hath

he done to display his glory?'

"'He liveth,' replied Har, 'from all ages, he governeth all realms, and

swayeth all things great and small.'

"'He hath formed,' added Jafnhar, 'heaven and earth, and the air, and

all things thereunto belonging.'

"'And what is more,' continued Thridi, 'he hath made man, and given him

a soul which shall live and never perish, though the body shall have

mouldered away, or have been burnt to ashes. And all that are righteous

shall dwell with him in the place called Gimli, or Vingólf; but the

wicked shall go to Hel, and thence to Niflhel, which is below, in the

ninth world.'"

Of the creation of the world the Eddas thus speak: In the day-spring of

the ages there was neither seas nor shore nor refreshing breeze; there was

neither earth below nor heaven above. The whole was only one vast abyss,

without herb and without seas. The sun had no palace, the stars no place,

the moon no power. After this there was a bright shining world of flame to

the South, and another, a cloudy and dark one, toward the North. Torrents

of venom flowed from the last into the abyss, and froze, and filled it

full of ice. But the air oozed up through it in icy vapors, which were

melted into living drops by a warm breath from the South; and from these

came the giant Ymir. From him came a race of wicked giants. Afterward,

from these same drops of fluid seeds, children of heat and cold, came the

mundane cow, whose milk fed the giants. Then arose also, in a mysterious

manner, Bor, the father of three sons, Odin, Vili, and Ve, who, after

several adventures,--having killed the giant Ymir, and made out of his

body Heaven and Earth,--proceeded to form a man and woman named Ask and

Embla. Chaos having thus disappeared, Odin became the All-Father, creator

of gods and men, with Earth for his wife, and the powerful Thor for his

oldest son. So much for the cosmogony of the Edda.

On this cosmogony, we may remark that it belongs to the class of

development, or evolution, but combined with a creation. The Hindoo,

Gnostic, and Platonic theories suppose the visible world to have emanated

from God, by a succession of fallings, from the most abstract spirit to

the most concrete matter. The Greeks and Romans, on the contrary, suppose

all things to have come by a process of evolution, or development from an

original formless and chaotic matter. The resemblance between the Greek

account of the origin of gods and men and that of the Scandinavians is

striking. Both systems begin in materialism, and are radically opposed to

the spiritualism of the other theory; and in its account of the origin of

all things from nebulous vapors and heat the Edda reminds us of the modern

scientific theories on the same subject.

After giving this account of the formation of the world, of the gods, and

the first pair of mortals, the Edda next speaks of night and day, of the

sun and moon, of the rainbow bridge from earth to heaven, and of the great

Ash-tree where the gods sit in council. Night was the daughter of a

giant, and, like all her race, of a dark complexion. She married one of

the Æsir, or children of Odin, and their son was Day, a child light and

beautiful, like its father. The Sun and Moon were two children, the Moon

being the boy, and the Sun the girl; which peculiarity of gender still

holds in the German language. The Edda gives them chariot and horses with

which to drive daily round the heavens, and supposes their speed to be

occasioned by their fear of two gigantic wolves, from Jotunheim, or the

world of darkness, which pursue them. The rainbow is named Bifrost, woven

of three hues, and by this, as a bridge, the gods ride up every day to

heaven from the holy fountain below the earth. Near this fountain dwell

three maidens, below the great Ash-tree, who decide every man's fate.

These Fates, or Norns, are named Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld,--three words

meaning "past," "present," and "future." From Urd comes our word "weird,"

and the weird sisters of Shakespeare. The red in the rainbow is burning

fire, which prevents the frost-giants of Jotunheim from going up to

heaven, which they otherwise might do. This region of the gods is called

Asgard, and contains Valhalla, where they feast every day, with all heroes

who have died in battle; drinking mead, but not out of their enemies'

skulls, as has been so often said. This mistake modern scholars have

attributed to a mistranslation of a word in the original, which means

"curved horns," the passage being, "Soon shall we drink ale out of the

curved branches of the skull," that is, of an animal. Their food is the

flesh of a boar, which is renewed every day.

It is not to be supposed that Odin and the other gods lived quietly on

their Olympus without adventures. Many entertaining ones are narrated in

the Edda, had we room to tell them. One of these describes the death of

Baldur the Good, whom all beings loved. Having been tormented with bad

dreams, indicating that his life was in danger, he told them to the

assembled gods, who made all creatures and things, living or dead, take an

oath to do him no harm. This oath was taken by fire and water, iron and

all other metals, stones, earths, diseases, poisons, beasts, birds, and

creeping things. After this, they amused themselves at their meeting in

setting Baldur up as a mark; some hurling darts or shooting arrows at him,

and some cutting at him with swords and axes; and as nothing hurt him, it

was accounted a great honor done to Baldur. But wicked Loki, or Loke, was

envious at this; and, assuming the form of a woman, he inquired of the

goddess who had administered the oath, whether all things had taken it.

She said everything except one little shrub called mistletoe, which she

thought too young and feeble to do any harm. Therefore Loki got the

mistletoe, and, bringing it to one of the gods, persuaded him to throw it

at Baldur, who, pierced to the heart, fell dead. The grief was immense. An

especial messenger was despatched to Queen Hela, in Hell, to inquire if,

on any terms, Baldur might be ransomed. For nine days and nights he rode

through dark chasms till he crossed the river of Death, and entering the

kingdom of Hela, made known his request. Hela replied that it should now

be discovered whether Baldur was so universally loved as was represented;

for that she would permit him to return to Asgard if all creatures and all

things, without exception, would weep for him. The gods then despatched

messengers through the world to beg all things to weep for Baldur, which

they immediately did. Then you might have seen, not only crocodiles but

the most ferocious beasts dissolved in tears. Fishes wept in the water,

and birds in the air. Stones and trees were covered with pellucid

dew-drops, and, for all we know, this general grief may have been the

occasion of some of the deluges reported by geology. The messengers

returned, thinking the work done, when they found an old hag sitting in a

cavern, and begged her to weep Baldur out of Hell. But she declared that

she could gain nothing by so doing, and that Baldur might stay where he

was, like other people as good as he; planting herself apparently on the

great but somewhat selfish principle of non-intervention. So Baldur

remains in the halls of Hela. But this old woman did not go unpunished.

She was shrewdly suspected to be Loki himself in disguise, and on inquiry

so it turned out. Whereupon a hot pursuit of Loki took place, who, after

changing himself into many forms, was caught, and chained under

sharp-pointed rocks below the earth.

The adventures of Thor are very numerous. The pleasantest, perhaps, is the

account of his journey to Jotunheim, to visit his enemies, the giants of

Cold and Darkness. On his way, being obliged to pass the night in the

forest, he came to a spacious hall, with an open door, reaching from one

side to the other. In this he went to sleep, but being aroused by an awful

earthquake, Thor and his companions crept into a chamber which opened out

of the hall. When day came they found, sleeping near them, an enormous

giant, so large, that, as it appeared, they had passed the night in the

thumb of his glove. They travelled with him all day; and the next night

Thor considered himself justified in killing this giant, who was one of

their enemies. Three times he launched his mallet with fearful force at

the giant's head, and three times the giant awoke to inquire whether it

was a leaf or an acorn which had fallen on his face. After taking leave of

their enormous and invulnerable companion, they arrived at the abodes of

Jotunheim, and the city of Utgard, and entered the city of the king,

Utgard Loki. This king inquired what great feat Thor and his companions

could do. One professed to be a great eater; on which the king of giants

called one of his servants named Logi, and placed between them a trough

filled with meat. Thor's companion ate his share, but Logi ate meat and

bone too, and the trough into the bargain, and was considered to have

conquered. Thor's other companion was a great runner, and was set to run

with a young man named Hugi, who so outstripped him that he reached the

goal before the other had gone half-way. Then Thor was asked what he could

do himself. He said he would engage in a drinking-match, and was presented

with a large horn, and was requested to empty it at a single draught,

which he expected easily to do, but on looking in the liquor seemed

scarcely diminished. The second time he tried, and lowered it slightly. A

third, and it was still only sunk half an inch. Whereupon he was laughed

at, and called for some new feat. "We have a trifling game here,"

answered the king, "in which we exercise none but children. It is merely

to lift my cat from the ground." Thor put forth his whole might, but could

only lift up one foot, and was laughed at again. Angry at this, he called

for some one to wrestle with him. "My men," said King Utgard, "would think

it beneath them to wrestle with thee, but let some one call my old nurse

Eld, and let Thor wrestle with her." A toothless old woman entered the

hall, and after a violent struggle Thor began to lose his footing, and

went home excessively mortified. But it turned out afterward that all this

was illusion. The three blows of the mallet, instead of striking the

giant's head, had fallen on a mountain, which he had dexterously put

between, and made three deep ravines in it, which remain to this day. The

triumphant eater was Fire itself, disguised as a man. The successful

runner was Thought. The horn out of which Thor tried to drink was

connected with the ocean, which was lowered a few inches by his tremendous

draughts. The cat was the great Midgard Serpent, which goes round the

world, and Thor had actually pulled the earth a little way out of its

place; and the old woman was Old Age itself[329].

According to this mythology, there is coming a time in which the world

will be destroyed by fire and afterward renewed. This will be, preceded by

awful disasters; dreadful winters; wars, and desolations on earth; cruelty

and deceit; the sun and moon will be devoured, the stars hurled from the

sky, and the earth violently shaken. The Wolf (Fenrir), the awful Midgard

Serpent, Loki, and Hela come to battle with the gods. The great Ash-tree

will shake with fear. The Wolf (Fenrir) breaks loose, and opens his

enormous mouth. The lower jaw reaches to the earth, and the upper to

heaven. The Midgard Serpent, by the side of the Wolf, vomits forth floods

of poison. Heaven is rent in twain, and Surtur and the sons of Muspell

ride through the breach. These are the children of Light and Fire, who

dwell in the South, and who seem to belong neither to the race of gods nor

to that of giants, but to a third party, who only interfere at the close

of the conflict. While the battle goes on between the gods and the giants

they keep their effulgent bands apart on the field of battle. Meantime

Heimdall--doorkeeper of the gods--sounds his mighty trumpet, which is

heard through the whole universe, to summon the gods to conflict. The

gods, or Æsir, and all the heroes of Valhalla, arm themselves and go to

the field. Odin fights with the Wolf; Thor with the Midgard Serpent, whom

he kills, but being suffocated with the floods of venom dies himself. The

Wolf swallows Odin, but at that instant Vidar sets his foot on its lower

jaw, and laying hold of the upper jaw tears it apart. He accomplishes this

because he has on the famous shoe, the materials of which have been

collecting for ages, it being made of the shreds of shoe-leather which are

cut off in making shoes, and which, on this account, the religious

Scandinavians were careful to throw away. Loki and Heimdall fight and kill

each other. After this Surtur darts fire over the whole earth, and the

whole universe is consumed. But then comes the restitution of all things.

There will rise out of the sea a new heaven and a new earth. Two gods,

Vidar and Vali, and two human beings, a man and woman, survive the

conflagration, and with their descendants occupy the heavens and earth.

The suns of Thor come with their father's hammer and put an end to war.

Baldur, and Hodur, the blind god, come up from Hell, and the daughter of

the Sun, more beautiful than its mother, occupies its place in the skies.

§ 4. The Gods of Scandinavia.

We can give no better account of the Norse pantheon than by extracting the

passages from the prose Edda, which describe the gods. We take the

translation in Mallet's Northern Antiquities:--

"OF ODIN.

"'I must now ask thee,' said Gangler, 'who are the gods that men are

bound to believe in?'

"'There are twelve gods,' replied Har, 'to whom divine honors ought to

be rendered.'

"'Nor are the goddesses,' added Jafhhar, 'less divine and mighty.'

"'The first and eldest of the Æsir,' continued Thridi, 'is Odin. He

governs all things, and although the other deities are powerful, they

all serve and obey him as children do their father. Frigga is his wife.

She foresees the destinies of men, but never reveals what is to come.

For thus it is said that Odin himself told Loki, "Senseless Loki, why

wilt thou pry into futurity? Frigga alone knoweth the destinies of all,

though she telleth them never."'

"'Odin is named Alfadir (All-father), because he is the father of all

the gods, and also Valfadir (Choosing Father), because he chooses for

his sons all those who fall in combat. For their abode he has prepared

Valhalla and Vingólf, where they are called Einherjar (Heroes or

Champions). Odin is also called Hangagud, Haptagud, and Farmagud, and,

besides these, was named in many ways when he went to King

Geirraudr.'....

"OF THOR.

"'I now ask thee,' said Gangler, 'what are the names of the other gods?

What are their functions, and what have they brought to pass?'

"'The mightiest of them,' replied Har, 'is Thor. He is called Asa-Thor

and Auku-Thor, and is the strongest of gods and men. His realm is named

Thrúdváng, and his mansion Bilskirnir, in which are five hundred and

forty halls. It is the largest house ever built. Thus it is called in

the Grímnismál:--

"Fire hundred halls

And forty more,

Methinketh, hath

Bowed Bilskirnir.

Of houses roofed

There's none I know

My son's surpassing."

"'Thor has a car drawn by two goats called Tanngnióst and Tanngrisnir.

From his driving about in this car he is called Auku-Thor

(Charioteer-Thor). He likewise possesses three very precious things.

The first is a mallet called Mjölnir, which both the Frost and Mountain

Giants know to their cost when they see it hurled against them in the

air; and no wonder, for it has split many a skull of their fathers and

kindred. The second rare thing he possesses is called the belt of

strength or prowess (Megingjardir). When he girds it about him his

divine might is doubly augmented; the third, also very precious, being

his iron gauntlets, which he is obliged to put on whenever he would lay

hold of the handle of his mallet. There is no one so wise as to be able

to relate all Thor's marvellous exploits, yet I could tell thee so many

myself that hours would be whiled away ere all that I know had been

recounted.'

"OF BALDUR.

"'I would rather,' said Gangler, 'hear something about the other Æsir.'

"'The second son of Odin,' replied Har, 'is Baldur, and it may be truly

said of him that he is the best, and that all mankind are loud in his

praise. So fair and dazzling is he in form and features, that rays of

light seem to issue from him; and thou mayst have some idea of the

beauty of his hair when I tell thee that the whitest of all plants is

called Baldur's brow. Baldur is the mildest, the wisest, and the most

eloquent of all the Æsir, yet such is his nature that the judgment he

has pronounced can never be altered. He dwells in the heavenly mansion

called Breidablik, in which nothing unclean can enter. As it is said,--

"'T is Breidablik called,

"Where Baldur the Fair

Hath built him a bower,

In that land where I know

The least loathliness lieth."'

"OF NJÖRD.

"'The third god,' continued Har, 'is Njörd, who dwells in the heavenly

region called Noátún. He rules over the winds, and checks the fury of

the sea and of fire, and is therefore invoked by seafarers and

fishermen. He is so wealthy that he can give possessions and treasures

to those who call on him for them. Yet Njörd is not of the lineage of

the Æsir, for he was born and bred in Vanaheim. But the Vanir gave him

as hostage to the Æsir, receiving from them in his stead Hoenir. By

this means was peace re-established between the Æsir and Vanir. Njörd

took to wife Skadi, the daughter of the giant Thjassi. She preferred

dwelling in the abode formerly belonging to her father, which is

situated among rocky mountains, in the region called Thrymheim, but

Njörd loved to reside near the sea. They at last agreed that they

should pass together nine nights in Thrymheim, and then three in

Noátún. One day, when Njörd came back from the mountains to Noatun, he

thus sang:--

"Of mountains I'm weary,

Not long was I there,

Not more than nine nights;

But the howl of the wolf

Methought sounded ill

To the song of the swan-bird."

'"To which Skadi sang in reply:--

"Ne'er can I sleep

In my couch on the strand,

For the screams of the sea-fowl.

The mew as he comes

Every morn from the main

Is sure to awake me."

"'Skadi then returned to the rocky mountains, and abode in Thrymheim.

There, fastening on her snow-skates and taking her bow, she passes her

time in the chase of savage beasts, and is called the Ondur goddess, or

Ondurdís.....'

"OF THE GOD FREY, AND THE GODDESS FREYJA.

"'Njörd had afterwards, at his residence at Nóatún, two children, a son

named Frey, and a daughter called Freyja, both of them beauteous and

mighty. Frey is one of the most celebrated of the gods. He presides

over rain and sunshine, and all the fruits of the earth, and should be

invoked in order to obtain good harvests, and also for peace. He,

moreover, dispenses wealth among men. Freyja is the most propitious of

the goddesses; her abode in heaven is called Fólkváng. To whatever

field of battle she rides, she asserts her right to one half of the

slain, the other half belonging to Odin.....'

"OF TYR.

"'There is Tyr, who is the most daring and intrepid of all the gods. 'T

is he who dispenses valor in war, hence warriors do well to invoke him.

It has become proverbial to say of a man who surpasses all others in

valor that he is _Tyr-strong_, or valiant as Tyr. A man noted for his

wisdom is also said to be "wise as Tyr." Let me give thee a proof of

his intrepidity. When the Æsir were trying to persuade the wolf,

Fenrir, to let himself be bound up with the chain, Gleipnir, he,

fearing that they would never afterwards unloose him, only consented on

the condition that while they were chaining him he should keep Tyr's

right hand between his jaws. Tyr did not hesitate to put his hand in

the monster's mouth, but when Fenrir perceived that the Æsir had no

intention to unchain him, he bit the hand off at that point, which has

ever since been called the wolf's joint (úlflidr). From that time Tyr

has had but one hand. He is not regarded as a peacemaker among men.'

"OF THE OTHER GODS.

"'There is another god,' continued Har, 'named Bragi, who is celebrated

for his wisdom, and more especially for his eloquence and correct forms

of speech. He is not only eminently skilled in poetry, but the art

itself is called from his name _Bragr_, which epithet is also applied

to denote a distinguished poet or poetess. His wife is named Iduna. She

keeps in a box the apples which the gods, when they feel old age

approaching, have only to taste of to become young again. It is in this

manner that they will be kept in renovated youth until Ragnarök.....

"'One of the gods is Heimdall, called also the White God. He is the son

of nine virgins, who were sisters, and is a very sacred and powerful

deity. He also bears the appellation of the Gold-toothed, on account of

his teeth being of pure gold, and also that of Hallinskithi. His horse

is called Gulltopp, and he dwells in Himinbjörg at the end of Bifröst.

He is the warder of the gods, and is therefore placed on the borders of

heaven, to prevent the giants from forcing their way over the bridge.

He requires less sleep than a bird, and sees by night, as well as by

day, a hundred miles around him. So acute is his ear that no sound

escapes him, for he can even hear the grass growing on the earth, and

the wool on a sheep's back. He has a horn called the Gjallar-horn,

which is heard throughout the universe.....

"'Among the Æsir,' continued Har,'we also reckon Hödur, who is blind,

but extremely strong. Both gods and men would be very glad if they

never had occasion to pronounce his name, for they will long have cause

to remember the deed perpetrated by his hand.

"'Another god is Vidar, surnamed the Silent, who wears very thick

shoes. He is almost as strong as Thor himself, and the gods place great

reliance on him in all critical conjunctures.

"'Vali, another god, is the son of Odin and Rinda; he is bold in war,

and an excellent archer.

"'Another is called Ullur, who is the son of Sif, and stepson of Thor.

He is so well skilled in the use of the bow, and can go so fast on his

snow-skates, that in these arts no one can contend with him. He is also

very handsome in his person, and possesses every quality of a warrior,

wherefore it is befitting to invoke him in single combats.

"'The name of another god is Forseti, who is the son of Baldur and

Nanna, the daughter of Nef. He possesses the heavenly mansion called

Glitnir, and all disputants at law who bring their cases before him go

away perfectly reconciled.....'

"OF LOKI AND HIS PROGENY.

"'There is another deity,' continued Har, 'reckoned in the number of

the Æsir, whom some call the calumniator of the gods, the contriver of

all fraud and mischief, and the disgrace of gods and men. His name is

Loki or Loptur. He is the son of the giant Farbauti.....Loki is

handsome and well made, but of a very fickle mood, and most evil

disposition. He surpasses all beings in those arts called Cunning and

Perfidy. Many a time has he exposed the gods to very great perils, and

often extricated them again by his artifices.....

"'Loki,' continued Har, 'has likewise had three children by Angurbodi,

a giantess of Jötunheim. The first is the wolf Fenrir; the second

Jormungand, the Midgard serpent; the third Hela (Death). The gods were

not long ignorant that these monsters continued to be bred up in

Jötunheim, and, having had recourse to divination, became aware of all

the evils they would have to suffer from them; their being sprung from

such a mother was a bad presage, and from such a sire, one still worse.

All-father therefore deemed it advisable to send one of the gods to

bring them to him. When they came he threw the serpent into that deep

ocean by which the earth is engirdled. But the monster has grown to

such an enormous size that, holding his tail in his mouth, he encircles

the whole earth. Hela he cast into Niflheim, and gave her power over

nine worlds (regions), into which she distributes those who are sent to

her, that is to say, all who die through sickness or old age. Here she

possesses a habitation protected by exceedingly high walls and strongly

barred gates. Her hall is called Elvidnir; Hunger is her table;

Starvation, her knife; Delay, her man; Slowness, her maid; Precipice,

her threshold; Care, her bed; and Burning Anguish forms the hangings of

her apartments. The one half of her body is livid, the other half the

color of human flesh. She may therefore easily be recognized; the more

so, as she has a dreadfully stern and grim countenance.

"'The wolf Fenrir was bred up among the gods; but Tyr alone had the

daring to go and feed him. Nevertheless, when the gods perceived that

he every day increased prodigiously in size, and that the oracles

warned them that he would one day become fatal to them, they determined

to make a very strong iron fetter for him, which they called Læding.

Taking this fetter to the wolf, they bade him try his strength on it.

Fenrir, perceiving that the enterprise would not be very difficult for

him, let them do what they pleased, and then, by great muscular

exertion, burst the chain, and set himself at liberty. The gods, having

seen this, made another fetter, half as strong again as the former,

which they called Drómi, and prevailed on the wolf to put it on,

assuring him that, by breaking this, he would give an undeniable proof

of his vigor.

"'The wolf saw well enough that it would not be so easy to break this

fetter, but finding at the same time that his strength had increased

since he broke Læding, and thinking that he could never become famous

without running some risk, voluntarily submitted to be chained. When

the gods told him that they had finished their task, Fenrir shook

himself violently, stretched his limbs, rolled on the ground, and at

last burst his chains, which flew in pieces all around him. He thus

freed himself from Drómi, which gave rise to the proverb "_at leysa or

læðingi eða at drepa or dróma_" (to get loose out of Læding, or to dash

out of Drómi), when anything is to be accomplished by strong efforts.'

"'After this, the gods despaired of ever being able to bind the wolf;

wherefore All-father sent Skirnir, the messenger of Frey, into the

country of the Dark Elves (Svartálfaheim) to engage certain dwarfs to

make the fetter called Gleipnir. It was fashioned out of six things; to

wit, the noise made by the footfall of a cat; the beards of women; the

roots of stones; the sinews of bears; the breath of fish; and the

spittle of birds. Though thou mayest not have heard of these things

before, thou mayest easily convince thyself that we have not been

telling thee lies. Thou must have seen that women have no beards, that

cats make no noise when they run, and that there are no roots under

stones. Now I know what has been told thee to be equally true, although

there may be some things thou art not able to furnish a proof of.'

"'I believe what thou hast told me to be true,' replied Gangler, 'for

what thou hast adduced in corroboratiou of thy statement is

conceivable. But how was the fetter smithied?'

"'This I can tell thee,' replied Har, 'that the fetter was as smooth

and soft as a silken string, and yet, as thou wilt presently hear, of

very great strength. When it was brought to the gods they were profuse

in their thanks to the messenger for the trouble he had given himself;

and taking the wolf with them to the island called Lyngvi, in the Lake

Amsvartnir, they showed him the cord, and expressed their wish that he

would try to break it, assuring him at the same time that it was

somewhat stronger than its thinness would warrant a person in supposing

it to be. They took it themselves, one after another, in their hands,

and after attempting in vain to break it, said, "Thou alone, Fenrir,

art able to accomplish such a feat."

"'"Methinks," replied the wolf, "that I shall acquire no fame in

breaking such a slender cord; but if any artifice has been employed in

making it, slender though it seems, it shall never come on my feet."

"'The gods assured him that he would easily break a limber silken cord,

since he had already burst asunder iron fetters of the most solid

construction. "But if thou shouldst not succeed in breaking it," they

added, "thou wilt show that thou art too weak to cause the gods any

fear, and we will not hesitate to set thee at liberty without delay."

"'"I fear me much," replied the wolf, "that if ye once bind me so fast

that I shall be unable to free myself by my own efforts, ye will be in

no haste to unloose me. Loath am I, therefore, to have this cord wound

round me; but in order that ye may not doubt my courage, I will

consent, provided one of you put his hand into my mouth as a pledge

that ye intend me no deceit."

"'The gods wistfully looked at each other, and found that they had only

the choice of two evils, until Tyr stepped forward and intrepidly put

his right hand between the monster's jaws. Hereupon the gods, having

tied up the wolf, he forcibly stretched himself, as he had formerly

done, and used all his might to disengage himself, but the more efforts

he made, the tighter became the cord, until all the gods, except Tyr,

who lost his hand, burst into laughter at the sight.

"'When the gods saw that the wolf was effectually bound, they took the

chain called Gelgja, which was fixed to the fetter, and drew it through

the middle of a large rock named Gjöll, which they sank very deep into

the earth; afterwards, to make it still more secure, they fastened the

end of the cord to a massive stone called Thviti, which they sank still

deeper. The wolf made in vain the most violent efforts to break loose,

and, opening his tremendous jaws, endeavored to bite them. The gods,

seeing this, thrust a sword into his mouth, which pierced his under jaw

up to the hilt, so that the point touched the palate. He then began to

howl horribly, and since that time the foam flows continually from his

mouth in such abundance that it forms the river called Von. There will

he remain until Ragnarök.'"

There are also goddesses in the Valhalla, of whom the Edda mentions

Frigga, Saga, and many others.

§ 5. Resemblance of the Scandinavian Mythology to that of Zoroaster.

These are the main points of the Scandinavian mythology, the resemblance

of which to that of Zoroaster has been often remarked. Each is a dualism,

having its good and evil gods, its worlds of light and darkness, in

opposition to each other. Each has behind this dualism a dim presence, a

vague monotheism, a supreme God, infinite and eternal. In each the evil

powers are for the present conquered and bound in some subterranean

prisons, but are hereafter to break out, to battle with the gods and

overcome them, but to be destroyed themselves at the same time. Each

system speaks of a great conflagration, in which all things will be

destroyed; to be followed by the creation of a new earth, more beautiful

than the other, to be the abode of peace and joy. The duty of man in each

system is war, though this war in the Avesta is viewed rather as moral

conflict, while in the Edda it is taken more grossly for physical

struggle. The tone of the theology of Zoroaster is throughout higher and

more moral than that of the Scandinavians. Its doctrine of creation is not

a mere development by a dark, unintelligent process, nor, on the other

hand, is it a Hindoo or Gnostic system of emanation. It is neither pure

materialism on the one hand nor pantheism on the other; but a true

doctrine of creation, for an intelligent and moral purpose, by the

conscious and free act of the Creator. But in many of the details, again,

we find a singular correspondence between these two systems. Odin

corresponds to Ormazd, Loki to Ahriman, the Æsir to the Amschaspands, the

giants of Jótunheim to the Daêvas. So too the ox (Adudab) is the

equivalent of the giant Ymir, and the creation of the man and woman,

Meshia and Meshiane, is correlated to Ask and Embla. Baldur resembles the

Redeemer Sosiosh. The bridge, Bifrost, which goes up to heaven, is the

bridge Chinevat, which goes from the top of Albordj to heaven. The dog

Sirius (Sura), the watchman who keeps guard over the abyss, seems also to

correspond to Surtur, the watchman of the luminous world at the South. The

earth, in the Avesta, is called Hethra, and by the ancient Germans and

Scandinavians, Hertha,--the name given by Tacitus to this goddess,

signifying the earth, in all the Teutonic languages. In like manner, the

German name for heaven, Himmel, is derived from the Sanskrit word

"Himmala," the name of the Himmalah Mountains in Central Asia, believed by

the ancient inhabitants of Asia to be the residence of their gods[330].

§ 6. Scandinavian Worship.

The religious ceremonies of the Scandinavians were simple. Their worship,

like that of the followers of Zoroaster, was at first held in the open

air; but in later times they erected temples, some of which were quite

splendid. There were three great festivals in the year. The first was at

the winter solstice, and on the longest night of the year, which was

called the Mother Night, as that which produced the rest. This great feast

was called Yul, whence comes the English Yule, the old name for Christmas,

which festival took its place when the Scandinavians became Christians.

Their festival was in honor of the sun, and was held with sacrifices,

feasting, and great mirth. The second festival was in spring, in honor of

the earth, to supplicate fruitful crops. The third was also in the spring,

in honor of Odin. The sacrifices were of fruits, afterward animals, and

occasionally, in later times, human beings. The people believed in divine

interposition, and also in a fixed destiny, but especially in themselves,

in their own force and courage. Some of them laughed at the gods, some

challenged them to fight with them, and professed to believe in nothing

but their own might and main. One warrior calls for Odin, as a foeman

alone worthy of his steel, and it was considered lawful to fight the gods.

The quicken-tree, or mountain-ash, was believed to possess great virtues,

on account of the aid it afforded to Thor on one occasion.

Beside the priests, the Northern nations had their soothsayers. They also

believed that by the power of runes the dead could be made to speak. These

runes were called galder, and another kind of magic, mostly practised by

women, was called seid. It was thought that these wise women possessed the

power of raising and allaying storms, and of hardening the body so that

the sword could not cut it. Some charms could give preternatural strength,

others the power of crossing the sea without a ship, of creating and

destroying love, of assuming different forms, of becoming invisible, of

giving the evil eye. Garments could be charmed to protect or to destroy

the wearer. A horse's head, set on a stake, with certain imprecations,

produced fearful mischief to a foe.[331]

Very few remains of temples have been found in the North. But (as Laing

remarks in his "Sea-Kings of Norway") the most permanent remains of the

religion of Odin are found in the usages and languages of the descendants

of those who worshipped him. These descendants all retain, in the names of

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the recollections of the chief gods of

this mythology. Mara (the nightmare) still torments the sleep of the

English-speaking people; and the Evil One, Nokke (so says Laing), is the

ancestor of Old Nick.

Every ninth year solemn sacrifices were held in the great temple at Upsal

in Sweden. The king and all citizens of importance must appear in person

and bring offerings. Crowds came together on these occasions, and no one

was excluded, except for some base or cowardly action. Nine human beings

were sacrificed, usually captives or slaves, but in times of great

calamity even a king was made a victim. Earl Hakon, of Norway, offered his

son in sacrifice to obtain a victory over some pirates. The bodies were

buried in groves, which thence were regarded as very sacred. One, called

Odin's grove, near the temple of Upsal, was sacred in every twig and leaf.

§ 7. Social Character, Maritime Discoveries, and Political Institutions of

the Scandinavians.

Of the manners, customs, and habits of the Scandinavians, we cannot speak

at length. Society among them was divided into two classes,--the

landholder or bondsmen, and the thralls or slaves. The duty of the last

was to perform domestic service and till the ground, and they consisted of

prisoners taken in war and their children. The business of the landholder

or bondsman was war, and his chief virtue courage. His maxim was, to

conquer a single opponent, to attack two, not to yield to three, and only

to give way to four. To die in battle was their high ambition; then they

believed that they should pass to the halls of Odin. King Ragnar died

singing the pleasure of receiving death in battle, saying, "The hours of

my life have passed away; I shall die laughing." Saxo, describing a duel,

said that one of the champions fell, laughed, and died. Rather than die in

their bed, some, when sick, leaped from a rock into the sea. Others, when

dying, would be carried into a field of battle. Others induced their

friends to kill them. The Icelandic Sagas are filled with stories of

single combats, or _holm-gangs_. When not fighting they were fond of

feasting; and the man who could drink the most beer was counted the best.

The custom of drinking toasts came from the North. As the English give the

Queen, and we the President, as the first health on public occasions, so

they begin with a cup, first to Odin, and afterward to other deities, and

then to the memory of the dead, in what was called grave-beer. Their

institutions were patriarchal; the head of the family was the chief of the

tribe and also its priest. But all the freemen in a neighborhood met in

the Thing, where they decided disputes, laid down social regulations, and

determined on public measures. The Thing was, therefore, legislature,

court of justice, and executive council in one; and once a year, in some

central place, there was held a similar meeting to settle the affairs of

the whole country, called the Land-Thing or All-Thing. At this the king

was chosen for the whole community, who sometimes appointed subordinate

officers called Yarls, or earls, to preside over large districts. Respect

for women was a marked trait among the Scandinavians, as Tacitus has

noticed of their congeners, the Germans. They were admired for their

modesty, sense, and force of character, rather than for the fascinations

which the nations of the South prefer. When Thor described his battle with

the sorceress, the answer was, "Shame, Thor! to strike a woman!" The wife

was expected to be industrious and domestic. She carried the keys of the

house; and the Sagas frequently mention wives who divorced their husbands

for some offence, and took back their dowry. The Skalds, or Bards, had a

high place and great distinction among this people. Their songs

constituted the literature and history of the Scandinavians, and the

people listened, not as to the inspiration of an individual mind, but to

the pulsation of its own past life. Their praises were desired, their

satire feared, by the greatest heroes and kings. Their style was

figurative, sometimes bombastic, often obscure.

Of the maritime expeditions of the Northmen we have already spoken. For

many centuries they were the terror of Europe, North and South. The

sea-kings of Norway appeared before Constantinople in 866, and afterward a

body-guard of the emperors of the East was composed of these pirates, who

were called the Varangians. Even before the death of Charlemagne their

depredations brought tears to his eyes; and after his death they pillaged

and burnt the principal cities of France, and even his own palace at

Aix-la-Chapelle. They carried their arms into Spain, Italy, and Greece. In

844 a band of these sea-rovers sailed up the Guadalquiver and attacked

Seville, then in possession of the Moors, and took it, and afterward

fought a battle with the troops of Abderahman II. The followers of

Mohammed and the worshippers of Odin, the turbaned Moors and the

fair-haired Norwegians, here met, each far from his original home, each

having pursued a line of conquest, which thus came in contact at their

furthest extremes.

The Northmen in Italy sold their swords to different princes, and under

Count Rainalf built the city of Aversa in 1029[332]. In Sicily the

Northern knights defeated the Saracens, and enabled the Greek Emperor to

reconquer the island. Afterward they established themselves in Southern

Italy, and took possession of Apulia. A league formed against them by the

Greek and German Emperors and the Pope ended in the utter defeat of the

Papal and German army by three thousand Normans, and they afterward

received and held Apulia as a Papal fief. In 1060 Robert Guiscard became

Duke of Apulia and Calabria, and at last of the whole kingdom of Naples.

Sicily was conquered by his brother, Count Roger, who, with a few

Northmen, routed vast numbers of the Saracens and completed the subjection

of the island, after thirty years of war. Meantime his brother Robert

crossed the Adriatic and besieged and took Durazzo, after a fierce battle,

in which the Scandinavian soldiers of the Greek Emperor fought with the

Normans descended from the same Scandinavian ancestors.

§ 8. Relation of this System to Christianity.

The first German nation converted to Christianity was that of the Goths,

whose teacher was Ulphilas, born 318, consecrated a bishop in 348. Having

made many converts to Christianity among his people, a persecution arose

against them from the pagan Goths; and in 355, in consequence of this

persecution, he sought and obtained leave to settle his converts in Mæsia.

He preached with fervor, studied the Scripture in Greek and Latin, and

made the first translation of the Bible into any German language.

Fragments of his Gothic version are preserved at Upsal. This copy, called

the "Codex Argenteus," was captured by the Swedes at Prague during the

Thirty Years' War. This manuscript is of the sixth century, and, together

with some palimpsests, is the only source of our knowledge of this ancient

version[333].

Ulphilas was an Arian, and died confessing his faith in that form of

Unitarianism. Neander says it is to the credit of the orthodox historians

that they do not on that account abate anything of their praise of

Ulphilas for his great labors as a missionary, confessor, and doctor. His

translation was, for a long time, used all over Europe by the various

tribes of German descent.

Ulphilas, therefore, led the way in that work which resulted in one of the

greatest events of modern history; namely, the conversion of the German

race to Christianity. It was by various families of this Teutonic

stem--Goths, Vandals, Saxons, Lombards, Burgundians, Franks--that the

Roman Empire was overthrown. If they had not been converted to

Christianity before and during these conquests, what would have been the

fate of European civilization? The only bond uniting the modern and

ancient world was the Christian faith, and this faith was so adapted to

the German character that it was everywhere accepted by them[334]. The

conversion of the Anglo-Saxons by Augustin (A.D. 597), of the Germans by

Boniface (A.D. 718-755), of the Saxons (A.D. 803), and the universal

downfall of German heathenism, was a condition _sine qua non_ of that

union of Latin and Greek culture with the German vitality, which was at

the root of modern European civilization. Previous to this the Visigoths

were converted, as we have seen; then the Ostrogoths; then the Vandals and

Gepidæ,--all in the fourth century. The Franks became Christians in the

fifth century, the Alemanni and Lombards in the sixth. All of these tribes

were converted by Arian missionaries, except the Franks. But the records

of these missions have perished, for the historians were Catholics, "who,"

says Milman[335], "perhaps destroyed, or disdained to preserve, the fame

of Arian conquests to a common Christianity." "It was a surprising

spectacle," says he, "to behold the Teutonic nations melting gradually

into the general mass of Christian worshippers. In every other respect

they were still distinct races. The conquering Ostrogoth or Visigoth, the

Vandal, the Burgundian, the Frank, stood apart from the subjugated Roman

population, as an armed or territorial aristocracy. They maintain, in

great part at least, their laws, their language, their habits, their

character; in religion alone they are blended into one society, constitute

one church, worship at the same altar, and render allegiance to the same

hierarchy. This is the single bond of their common humanity."

The German races also established everywhere the feudal system, that

curious institution, which has been the subject of so much discussion, and

has perplexed the readers of history by its incongruities. These

perplexities, however, may perhaps be relieved if we see that the

essential character of this institution was this, that it was an army

permanently quartered on a subject people. This definition contains the

explanation of the whole system. The Germans had overrun and conquered the

Roman Empire. They intended to possess and retain it. But being much fewer

in numbers than the conquered people, how could they do this? Suppose that

when the Confederate States had been conquered by the Union Army it had

been determined to hold them permanently as a conquered territory. It

could be done thus. First, the original inhabitants must be disarmed and

put under stringent laws, like that of the curfew, etc. Then to every

private soldier in the Union Army a farm, say of fifty acres, would be

assigned, on condition that whenever summoned by the captain of his

company he would present himself armed to do military duty. In like manner

the captain would receive, say a hundred acres, on condition of appearing

with his company when summoned by his colonel. Then the colonel would

receive five hundred acres, on condition of appearing with his regiment

when summoned by the general. The general (_dux_, duke) must appear with

his brigade when summoned by the commander-in-chief (_imperator_,

emperor), and he would hold perhaps a thousand acres on this condition.

All this land, thus held on condition of military service, would be held

in fee, and would exemplify the actual foundation of the whole feudal

system, which was simply an arrangement by which a conquering army could

hold down the conquered nation.

Of course, such a system as this was one of tyranny and cruelty, and

during several centuries it was tempered and softened only by the

mediatorial influence of the Christian Church. This was the only power

strong enough to shield the oppressed and to hold back the arm of the

tyrant. Feudalism served, no doubt, some useful purposes. It was a method

of riveting together, with iron nails, the conquerors and conquered, until

they could come into a union of a better kind.

It was about the year 1000 that the people of the North were converted to

Christianity. This process of conversion was a long time going on, and

there were several relapses into paganism; so that no precise time can be

fixed for the conversion of a single nation, much less for that of the

different branches of the Scandinavian stock separately situated in Sweden

and Denmark, Iceland and Greenland, and colonized in England and Normandy.

A mission was established in Denmark, A.D. 822, and the king was baptized;

but the overthrow of this Christian king restricted the labors of the

missionary. An attempt was made in Sweden in 829, and the missionary,

Anschar, remained there a year and a half; but the mission there

established was soon overthrown. Uniting wisdom with his ardor, Anschar

established at Hamburg schools where he educated Danish and Swedish boys

to preach Christianity in their own language to their countrymen. But the

Normans laid waste this city, and the Christian schools and churches were

destroyed. About 850 a new attempt was made in Sweden, and there the

subject was laid by the king before his council or parliament, consisting

of two assemblies, and they decided to allow Christianity to be preached

and practised, apparently on the ground that this new god, Christ, might

help them in their dangers at sea, when the other gods could not. And

thus, according to the independent character of this people, Christianity

was neither allowed to be imposed upon them by their king against their

will, nor excluded from the use of those who chose to adopt it. It took

its chance with the old systems, and many of the Danes and Normans

believed in worshipping both Odin and Christ at the same time. King Harold

in Denmark, during the last half of the tenth century, favored the spread

of Christianity, and was himself baptized with his wife and son, believing

at first that the Christian God was more powerful than the heathen gods,

but finally coming to the conclusion that these last were only evil

spirits. On the other hand, some of the Danes believed that Christ was a

god, and to be worshipped; but that he was a less powerful god than Odin

or Thor. The son of King Harold, in 990, returned to paganism and drove

out the Christian priests; but his son, Canute the Great, who began to

reign in 1014, was converted to Christianity in England, and became its

zealous friend. But these fierce warriors made rather poor Christians.

Adam of Bremen says: "They so abominate tears and lamentations, and all

other signs of penitence which we think so salubrious, that they will

neither weep for their own sins nor at the death of their best friends."

Thus, in these Northern regions, Christianity grew through one or two

centuries, not like the mustard-seed, but like the leaven, infusing itself

more and more into their national life. According to the testimony of an

eye-witness, Adam of Bremen, the Swedes were very susceptible to religious

impressions. "They receive the preachers of the truth with great

kindness," says he, "if they are modest, wise, and able; and our bishops

are even allowed to preach in their great public assemblies." In Norway,

Prince Hacon, in the middle of the tenth century, attempted to establish

Christianity, which he had learned in England. He proposed to the great

national assembly that the whole nation should renounce idolatry, worship

God and Christ, keep Sundays as festivals, and Fridays as fasts. Great

opposition was made, and there was danger of universal insurrection, so

that the king had to yield, and even himself drink a toast to Odin and eat

horse-flesh, which was a heathen practice. Subsequent kings of Norway

introduced Christianity again; but the people, though willing to be

baptized, frequently continued Pagans, and only by degrees renounced, with

their old worship, their habits of piracy. The Icelanders embraced

Christianity at their All-Thing in the year 1000, but with the condition

that they might also continue their old worship, and be permitted the

eating of horse-flesh and exposition of infants. When the All-Thing broke

up, the assembled multitudes went to the hot-baths to be baptized,

preferring for this rite hot water to cold. The Scandinavians seem at this

period to have lost their faith in their old religion, and to have been in

a transition state. One warrior says that he relies more on his own

strength and arms than upon Thor. Another says, "I would have thee know

that I believe neither in idols nor spirits, but only in my own force and

courage." A warrior told King Olaff in Norway, "I am neither Christian nor

Pagan. My companions and I have no other religion than confidence in our

own strength and good success." Evidently Christianity for a long time sat

very lightly on these nations. They were willing to be baptized and accept

some of the outward ceremonies and festivals of the Catholic Church, which

were considerately made to resemble their old ones.

Nevertheless Christianity met many of the wants of this noble race of men;

and, on the other hand, their instincts as a race were as well adapted to

promote an equal development of every side of Christian life. The Southern

races of Europe received Christianity as a religion of order; the Northern

races, as a religion of freedom. In the South of Europe the Catholic

Church, by its ingenious organization and its complex arrangements,

introduced into life discipline and culture. In the North of Europe

Protestant Christianity, by its appeals to the individual soul, awakens

conscience and stimulates to individual and national progress. The nations

of Southern Europe accepted Christianity mainly as a religion of sentiment

and feeling; the nations of Northern Europe, as a religion of truth and

principle. God adapted Christianity to the needs of these Northern races;

but he also adapted these races, with their original instincts and their

primitive religion, to the needs of Christianity. Without them, we do not

see how there could be such a thing in Europe to-day as Protestantism. It

was no accident which made the founder of the Reformation a Saxon monk,

and the cradle of the Reformation Germany. It was no accident which

brought the great Gustavus Adolphus from the northern peninsula, at the

head of his Swedish Protestants, to turn the tide of war in favor of

Protestantism and to die on the field of Lutzen, fighting for freedom of

spirit. It is no accident which makes the Scandinavian races to-day, in

Sweden and Norway, in Denmark and North Germany and Holland, in England

and the United States, almost the only Protestant nations of the world.

The old instincts still run in the blood, and cause these races to ask of

their religion, not so much the luxury of emotion or the satisfaction of

repose, in having all opinions settled for them and all actions

prescribed, as, much rather, light, freedom, and progress. To them

to-day, as to their ancestors,

"Is life a simple art

Of duties to be done,

A game where each man takes his part,

A race where all must run;

A battle whose great scheme and scope

They little care to know;

Content, as men at arms, to cope

Each with his fronting foe."