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Sca^ 31 l»-"> 



HARVARD COLLEGE 
LIBRARY 




BOUGHT WITH 

MONEY RECEIVED FROM 

LIBRARY FINES 



4.^"- 




ODIN. THE ALLFATHEE. 



ASGARD STORIES 



TALES FEOM NOKSE MYTHOLOGY 



MARY H. FOSTER 



MABEL H. CHMMINGS, A.B. 



ILLU8TBATED 




SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY 
NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO 






Soo^-^^i \0-. \0 




GOPTBI«BT, IMl, 

Bt silteb, bubdett and OOMPANT. 



To all our Children 

who have loved the hearing of thes* 

Asgard Stories 



PREFACE. 

This little volume is the outcome of several years' 
experience in telling to classes of children the classic 
myths, both southern and northern. The insight and 
interest displayed by the children encourage the 
authors to hope that other teachers and pupils may 
enjoy the myths here reproduced. 

The interest shown at present in the teaching of 
myths to children seems to call for some such simple 
volume, giving the Norse myths in suitable form for 
use with pupils as well as for the children's home read- 
ing. There are various collections of the Greek tales, 
but the books dealing with the Norse myths seem to 
be more or less cumbered with detail, and, therefore, 
not adapted to very young readers. 

The experience of the authors satisfies them that 
the teaching of myths should begin with those of the 
North, and that the Greek tales should be given later, 
with comparisons and references to the Norse myths. 
The stories which were dear to our own northern fore- 
fathers stir our children more deeply and are more 
congenial to them than those which come down to us 
from the Greeks. This is perfectly reasonable. The 
graphic descriptions in the Norse tales of the hard 

struggle with rugged nature and the severe climate 

vU 



yiii PBBFACB. 

of the North naturally come home more closely to us 
than the less rigorous and sturdy conditions of the 
southern nations. Then, too, the moral tone of the 
Norse myths is higher, purer, and more steadfast than 
that of the Greek tales, and is more congenial to our 
Teutonic point of view. 

Much depends, of course, upon the teacher's careful 
study of the myths and insight into their significance. 
They should be presented in such manner as to awaken 
the interest of the children and lead them to make use 
of their own imagination. 

The value of the Norse myths has been urged by 
Carlyle, Dasent, Anderson, and others. " To me there 
is in the Norse system something very genuine, very 
great, and manlike," wrote Carlyle. "A broad sim- 
plicity, so very different from the light gracefulness 
of the old Greek paganism, distinguishes this Norse 
system. It is thought, the genuine thought of deep, 
rude, earnest minds, fairly opened to the things about 
them, — a face-to-face and heart-to-heart inspection of 
things, — the first characteristic of all good thought in 
all times." 

Anderson, the author of " Norse Mythology," wrote : 
"In the Norse mythology the centralizing idea is its 
peculiar feature ; in it lies its strength and beauty. 
The one myth and the one divinity is inextricably in 
communion with the other ; and thus also the idea of 
unity, centralization, is a prominent feature and one 
of the chief characteristics of the Teutonic nations. 

"While the Greek mythology foreshadowed the petty 
states of Greece and southern Europe, the Norse myth- 



PREFACE. V$ 

ology foreshadowed the political and social destinies 
of United Scandinavia, United Great Britain, and the 
United States of North America. . . . 

" The poetic period of the child's own race should be 
melted and moulded into poetry, touched by a spark 
of Christian refinement and love, and then poured, so 
to speak, into his soul. The child's mind should feed 
upon the mythological stories and the primitive folk- 
lore of his race." 

While many works have been consulted in the prep- 
aration of this volume, the authors are especially 
indebted to the following: Thorpe's translation of 
Ssemund's "Edda"; "The Younger Edda," in trans- 
lations; Anderson's "Norse Mythology"; Guerber's 
" Myths of Northern Lands "; William and Mary How- 
itt's "Literature and Romance of Northern Europe"; 
and Mallet's "Northern Antiquities.' 

Bbookline, Mass., 
September, 1901. 



» 



CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

The Story of the Beginning .•••••! 

Odin's Reward ••••••••• 9 

Tyr and the Wolf • • 15 

Freyja's Necklace •••••••• 25 

The Hammer of Thor ••••••• 33 

Thor*8 Wonderful Journey •••••• 38 

How Thor lost his Hammer ••••.• 50 

A Gift from Frigga 58 

The Stealing of Iduna •••••• .62 

Skadi • • • . • • 76 

Baldur 82 

^GiR*fl Feast ••••••••• 89 

The Punishment of Loki ••••••• 97 

The Twilight of the Gods •••••• 103 



V 



FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Odin, the Allfather Frontispiece 

The Norns 5 

Thor chaining Fenrir 19 

Freyja in the Cave of the Dwarfs . • • . 27 

Thor and Loki in the Chariot • • • • • 41 

Thor*8 Battle with the Frost Giants • • • • 53 

Id UNA giving Loki the Apple •••••• 69 

Skadi hunting in the Mountains • • • • • 79 

The Punishment of Loki ••••••• 00 

Thor fighting the Serpent 106 




|THEU<INNIN<. 



The people who lived 
long ago, in the far-off 
lands of the north, 
watched the wonderful 
^ things that happened out 

of doors every day, just as we do; but they did not 
know about the one loving God, who is the Father 
of all, who made thetn^nd the world, and rules it by 
Uia wise laws ; so £hey thought there must be a great 
many unseen powers, living in the clouds, in the wind, 
in the storms, and the sunshine, and doing all those 
wonders that no man could do. 

And so those northern people, who were our own 
forefathers, came to believe in many gods — one for 
the sun, another for the thunder, another for the 
Rowers, and so on. 

In the long, dark winters, when the bright eun had 
gone away from them, these northmen had time to 
think many thoughts about the powers of frost, and 
wind, and storms, which they called giants, and they 



2 ASGARD STORIES. 

used to tell stories and sing songs about the short, 
bright summer, the thawing out of the streams and 
lakes, the coming of the birds and flowers. 

With great joy the people saw the bright sun-god, 
Baldur, come back to them in the spring, after the 
long darkness, and knew that they owed their lives to 
his friendly warmth and light. 

As we read the stories, or myths, told by those 
people long ago, we can see that they were meant to 
tell about the world around us. At first the stories 
were told and sung from father to son — that is, from 
one generation to another ; but later, when people 
learned how to write, these myths were written down, 
and kept with great love and care. 

This is the story they told of the Beginning. At 
first, before living creatures were in the world, it was 
all rough and without order. Far to the north it was 
very cold, for ice and snow were everywhere. Toward 
the south there was fire, and from the meeting of the 
fire and the cold a thick vapor was formed, from which 
sprang a huge giant. On looking about for some food, 
he saw a cow, who was also searching for something to 
eat. The ice tasted salt, and when the cow began to 
lick it, a head appeared, and at last the whole figure 
of a god stood before her. 

From these two, the giant and the god, came the 
two great races of giants and gods, who were always 



THE STORY OF THE BEGINNING. 8 

enemies to each other. The giants were constantly 
trying to break into Asgard, the home of the gods, in 
the sky ; the gods, on the other hand, watched and 
planned to keep out the giants, and to drive them 
back to their own stronghold, Utgard. Our world, 
where men and women lived, was between Utgard 
and Asgard ; it was called Midgard, and around this 
Midgard world, under the ocean, was coiled a mon- 
strous serpent, who grew so long that his tail grew 
down his throat. He was called the Midgard ser- 
pent. 

A wonderful tree, named " Yggdrasil," connected all 
the worlds. This great ash tree had its roots in 
Utgard, and the tops of its branches reached up so 
high as to overshadow Asgard. Its three main roots 
were watered by three fountains, and near one of them 
sat the wise giant Mimir, of whom we shall hear later. 
The Norns, three sisters, also lived at the roots of 
Yggdrasil, and were careful to see that it was watered 
every day. 

A little gray squirrel was always running up and 
down the tree, jerking his tail and hurrying to tell 
the news to every one along the way. He was so 
anxious to be the first one to carry the news, that 
many times he brought trouble to himself and to 
others, because he was not always careful to tell a 
story just as he had heard it, and often every one 



4 ASGARD STORIES. 

would have been happier if the squirrel had kept the 
story quite to himself. 

The gods and goddesses, all together, were called 
the iEsir, and the chief and father of them all was 
Odin. His lofty throne rose high in the midst of 
Asgard, the sacred city, which the gods had built for 
their beautiful home. 

From Asgard, arching over and down to the lower 
world, was a rainbow bridge, called Bifrost — " the 
trembling bridge " ; upon this the dwellers in Asgard 
could travel every day, all except the mighty Thor. 
His thunder chariot was too heavy for " the trembling 
bridge," so he had to go around a longer way. 

After the gods had made men and women, and had 
taught them to dwell on the earth, in the world of 
Midgard, Odin looked forth one' morning from his 
heavenly seat, to see what further work was waiting 
for his helping hand. 

He noticed, far away below him, a race of small 
beings, some of them busy, doing mischievous deeds, 
while othera sat idle, doing nothing. Odin sent for 
all these little people to come to him, and when they 
had reached Asgard, and were admitted to his palace 
of Gladsheim, they entered the great judgment hall, 
where they found all the iEsir sitting, with Father 
Odin at their head. 

The little people waited in a crowd near the door> 



V -, 



:'TK 




THE STORY OF THE BEGINNING. 7 

« 

wondering what was going to happen to them, while 
Hermod, the messenger of the gods, ran to his master 
to say that they had come. 

Then the AUfather spoke to the little dwarfs about 
their evil deeds among men, and he told the naughtiest 
ones that they must go and live down underground, 
and look after the great furnace fire in the middle of 
the earth, to keep it always burning. Some must get 
coal to feed the fire, and others still were to have charge 
of the gold, and silver, and precious stones, under the 
rocks. Not one of these busy dwarfs must ever appear 
during the day ; only by night might they venture to 
leave their tasks. 

"And now," said Odin, turning to the idle ones, 
"what have you been doing?" 

" We were doing nothing at all, so we could not 
have harmed any one, and we pray you to spare us I " 
cried they. 

"Do you not know that those who sit idle when 
they should be doing good deserve punishment, too ? " 
said Odin. "I shall put you in charge of all the trees 
and flowers, and shall send one of the ^sir to teach 
you, so that you may be doing some good in the world." 

Then the little elves went to work among the 
flowers, and Frey, the bright god of summer and sun- 
shine, was a kind master to them. He taught them 
how to open the folded buds in the sunshiny, to fill 



8 ASGARD STORIES. 

the honey cups, and lead the bees along the flower 
passages to find their food, to hatch the birds' eggs, 
and teach the little ones their songs, and then each 
night to fetch the water for dewdrops, to be hung on 
every leaf and blade of grass. 

When their work was finished, and the moon had 
risen, these busy elves and fairies enjoyed many a 
happy evening, dancing and frisking on the green by 
moonlight. And so our world of Midgard was filled 
with busy work and play. 

Even now, in our time, the people in the lands of 
the north, and in Germany, have many old sayings 
and stories that have come down to them from the 
days long ago. There is a beautiful white flower in the 
north, which is called Baldur's Brow, because it is so 
pure and bright, like the face of the dear sun-god, 
Baldur; and in some places, when the farmers gather 
in their harvest of grain, they leave a little bunch of it 
standing in the field, for Father Odin's horse. 

We have some English names to remind us of 
(hose old tales of our forefathers, for we have Tues- 
day named for Tyr, or Tin, the brave god who gave 
his right hand to save his friends ; Wednesday, or 
Wodensday, named for Odin ; Thursday, for Thor, 
the thunder-god ; and Friday, for either the goddess 
Frigga, or Freyja, or for Frey, the god of summer, 
who ruled the fairies. 




OvE n ght when 
waa qu et 1 1 A&ga d 
a d the 1 i 1 a 1 g e to r 

x\e Allfitl e sat itake on 
h c! t! o t 1 le I tl m y 
tlioughts. At his feet crouched his two faithful wolves, 
and upon hia sliouldera perched the two ravens of 
thought and memory, who flew far abroad every day, 
through the nine worlds, as Odin's messengers. 

The AUfather had need of great wisdom in ruling 
the worlds ; after thinking a long time on the mat- 
ters which needed his care, he suddenly started up, 
and went forth with long strides from his palace of 
Gladsheim into the night. He soon returned, lead- 
ing his beautiful, eight-footed steed, Sleipnir, and it 
was plain that Odin was going on a journey. He 
quickly mounted Sleipnir, and rode swiftly away 
toward Bifrost, the rainbow bridge, which reached from 



10 ASGARD STORIES. 

Asgard, the city of the gods, down through the air 
to the lower worlds. 

When Sleipnir stepped upon the bridge it trembled, 
and seemed hardly strong enough to bear the horse 
and his rider; but they had no fear of its giving 
way, and Sleipnir galloped swiftly onward. 

Soon Odin saw Heimdall, the watchman of the 
bridge, riding toward him on a fine horse, with a 
golden mane that reflected light upon the noble face 
of his rider. 

"You must be bound on some important errand. 
Father Odin, to be riding forth from Asgard so late 
at night," said Heimdall. 

"It is indeed a most important errand, and I must 
hasten on," replied Odin. " It is well for us that we 
have such a faithful guardian of the 'trembling bridge * ; 
if it were not for you, Heimdall, our enemies might 
long ago have taken Asgard by storm. You are so 
watchful, you can hear the grass grow in the fields, 
and the wool gather on the backs of the sheep, and 
you need less sleep than a bird. I myself stand in 
great need of wisdom, in order to take care of such 
faithful servants, and to drive back such wicked 
enemies ! " 

They hurried over the bridge until they came to 
Heimdall's far-shining castle, at the farther end of it. 
This was a lofty tower which was placed so as to 



ODIN'S REWARD. 11 

guard the bridge, and it sent forth into the land of 
the giant enemies such a wonderful, clear light, that 
Heimdall could see, even in the darkest night, any one 
who came toward the bridge. Here Odin stopped a 
few moments to drink the mead which the good 
Heimdall offered him. 

Then said Odin, " As I am journeying into the land 
of our enemies, I shall leave my good horse with you ; 
there are not many with whom I would trust him, 
but I know that you, my faithful Heimdall, will take 
good care of him. I can best hide myself from the 
giants by going on as a wanderer." 

With these words the Allfather quitted Heimdall's 
castle, and started off toward the north, through the 
land of the fierce giants. 

During all the first day there was nothing to be 
seen but ice and snow; several times Odin was nearly 
crushed as the frost giants hurled huge blocks of ice 
after him. 

The second day he came to mountains and broad 
rivers. Often when he had just crossed over a 
stream, the mountain giants would come after him 
to the other bank, and when they found that Odin 
had escaped them, they would send forth such 
a fierce yell, that the echoes sounded from hill to hill. 

At the end of the third day, Odin came to a 
land where trees were green and flowers blooming. 



12 ASGARD STORIES. 

Here was one of the three fountains which wa^ 
tered the world tree, Yggdrasil, and near by sat the 
wise giant, Mimir, guarding the waters of this won- 
derful fountain, for whoever drank of it would have 
the gift of great wisdom. 

Mimir was a giant in size, but he was not one of 
the fierce giant enemies of the gods, for he was kind, 
and wiser than the wisest. 

Mimir's well of wisdom was in the midst of a won- 
derful valley, filled with rare plants and bright flow- 
ers, and among the groves of beautiful trees were 
strange creatures, sleeping dragons, harmless serpents, 
and lizards, while birds with gay plumage flew and 
sang among the branches. Over all this quiet valley 
shone a lovely soft light, different from sunlight, and 
in the center grew one of the roots of the great world 
tree. Here the wise giant Mimir sat gazing down 
into his well. 

Odin greeted the kind old giant, and said, "Oh, 
Mimir, I have come from far-away Asgard to ask a 
great boon!" 

" Gladly will I help you if it is in my power," 
said Mimir. 

"You know," replied Odin, "that as father of gods 
and men I need great wisdom, and I have come to 
beg for one drink of your precious water of knowl- 
edge. Trouble threatens us, even from one of the 



0DIN»S REWARD. 18 

iEsir, for Loki, the fire-god, has lately been visiting 
the giants, and I fear he has been learning evil ways 
from them. The frost giants and the storm giants are 
always at work, trying to overthrow both gods and 
men; great is my need of wisdom, and even though 
no one ever before has dared ask so great a gift, I 
hope that since you know how deep is my trouble, 
you will grant ray request." 

Mimir sat silently, thinking for several moments, 
and then said, "You ask a great thing, indeed. 
Father Odin; are you ready to pay the price which 
I must demand?" 

*'Yes," said Odin, cheerfully, "I will give you all 
the gold and silver of Asgard, and all the jeweled 
shields and swords of the ^sir. More than all, I 
will give up my eight-footed horse Sleipnir, if that 
is needed to win the reward." 

"And do you suppose that these things will buy 
wisdom ? " said Mimir. " That can be gained only by 
bearing bravely, and giving up to others. Are you 
willing to give me a part of yourself? Will you 
give up one of your own eyes?" 

At this Odin looked very sad; but after a few 
moments of deep thought, he looked up with a bright 
smile, and answered, " Yes, I will even give you one 
of my eyes, and I will suffer whatever else is asked, 
in order to gain the wisdom that I need I" 



14 ASGARD STORIES. 

We cannot know all that Odin bravely suffered in 
that strange, bright valley, before he was rewarded 
with a drink from that wonderful fountain; but we 
may be quite sure that never once was the good 
Allfather sorry for anything he had given up, or 
any suffering he had borne, for the sake of others. 




YUANKHEW^LF. 



I. 

Odin, the AUfather, sat one 
day on his high air-throne, 
and looking around him, far 
and wide, saw three fierce mon- 
sters. They were the children 
of the mischievous fire-god Loki, and Odin began to 
feel anxious, for they had grown so fast and were 
getting so strong that he feared they might do harm 
to the sacred city of Asgard. The wise father knew 
Loki had given strength to these dreadful creatures, 
and he saw that all this danger had come upon the 
J^sir from Loki's wickedness. 

One of these monsters was a huge serpent, that 
Odin sent down into the ocean, where he grew so 
fast that his body was coiled around the whole world, 
and his tail grew into his own mouth. He was called 
the Midgard serpent. 

The second monster was sent to Niflheim, the home 
of darkness, and shut up there. 



16 ASGARD STORIES. 

The third, a fierce wolf, named Fenrir, was brought 
to Asgard, where Odin hoped he might be tamed by 
living among the ^Esir, and seeing their good deeds, 
and hearing their kind words; but he grew more and 
more fierce, until only one of all the gods dared to 
feed him. This was the brave god, Tyr. He was 
a war-god, like Thor, and is sometimes called the 
Sword-god. Tyr was loved by all because he was so 
true and faithful. 

Each day the dreadful wolf grew larger and 
stronger, till all at once, before the -^sir thought 
about it, he had become a very dangerous beast. 

Father Odin always looked troubled when he saw 
Fenrir, the wolf, come to get his evening meal of meat 
from Tyr's hand, and at last one night, after the wolf 
had gone growling away to his lair, Odin called a 
meeting of the iEsir. He told them of his fears, 
saying they must find some plan for guarding them- 
selves and their home against this monster. They 
could not slay him, for no one must ever be killed, 
and no blood must be shed, within the walls of the 
sacred city. 

Thor was the first to speak : " Do not fear. Father 
Odin, for by to-morrow night we shall have Fenrir so 
safely bound that he cannot do us any harm. I will 
make a mighty chain, with the help of my hammer, 
Miolnir, and with it we will bind him fast!" 



TYR AND THE WOLF. 17 

When the -^sir heard these words of Thor, they 
were glad, and all went home rejoicing — all save the 
AUfather, who was still troubled, for he well knew 
the danger, and feared that even the mighty Thor 
would find this task too much for him. But Thor 
seized his hammer, and strode off to his forge. There 
he worked the whole night long, and all through As- 
gard were heard the blows of Miolnir and the roar- 
ing of the bellows. 

The next night, when the iEsir were gathered to- 
gether, Thor brought forth his new-made chain, to 
test it. In came Fenrir, the wolf, and every one was 
surprised to see how willingly he let himself be 
bound with' the chain. When Thor had riveted the 
last links together, the gods smiled, and began to 
praise him for his wonderful work; but all at once 
the wolf gave one bound forward, broke the great 
chain, and walked off to his lair as if nothing had 
happened. 

Thor was much disappointed, still he did not lose 
courage. He said to the ^Esir that he would make 
another chain, yet stronger. Again he set to work, 
and for three nights and three days the great Thor 
worked at his forge without resting. 

While he worked his friends did not forget him. 
They came and looked on while he was busy, and, 
as they watched the mighty hammer falling with quick 



18 ASGARD STORIES. 

blows upon the metal, they talked to Thor or sang 
noble songs to cheer him; sometimes they brought 
him food and drink. One visitor, who was no friend, 
fierce Fenrir, the wolf, sometimes put his nose in at 
the door for a moment, and watched Thor at work; 
then, as he went away, Thor heard a strange sound 
like a wicked laugh. 

At last the chain was finished, and Thor dragged 
it to the place of meeting. It was so heavy that 
even the mighty Thor could hardly lift it, or drag it 
as far as Odin's palace of Gladsheim. This time 
Fenrir was not so willing to be bound ; but the gods 
coaxed him, and talked of his great strength, and 
told him they were sure he would easily break this 
chain also. After a while he agreed to let them put 
it around, his neck. 

This time Thor was sure the chain would hold 
firm, for never before had such a strong one been 
made. But soon, with a great shake and a fierce 
bound, the wolf broke away, and went off to his lair, 
snarling and showing his wicked teeth, while the 
broken chain lay on the ground. 

Sadly the ^sir came together that night in Odin's 
palace, and this time Thor was not the first to speak ; 
he sat apart and was silent. 

First spoke Frey, the god of summer and king of 
the fairies. "Hearken to me, O lords of Asgard!" 




THOR CHAINING FENRIB. 



TYR AND THE WOLF. 21 

he said. "I have not won a brave name in battle, 
like the noble Tyr, neither have I done such mighty 
deeds as the great Thor and others of our heroes. 
Inst<ead of fighting giants and monsters, I have spent 
most of my life in the woods, among the flowers, 
listening for hours to the birds. Many things have 
I watched, some perhaps that my brothers thought 
too small to be worthy of notice. I have learned 
many lessons, and the greatest of them all is to know 
how much power there is in little things, and to see 
how often the work, done quietly, and hidden from 
the eyes of men, is the finest and the most wonderful. 
Since we cannot make a chain strong enough to bind 
Feniir, let us go to the little dwarfs, who work in 
silence and in darkness, and ask them to make us a 
chain I " 

The AUfather's troubled face grew brighter as he 
heard Frey speak, and he bade him send a messenger 
quickly to the dwarfs, to order a chain made as soon 
as possible. 

II. 

So Frey went out, leaving the -^sir in their trouble, 
and came to- his own lovely home, Alfheim. There 
everything was bright and peaceful, and the little 
elves were busy and happy. Frey found a trusty 
messenger, and sent him with all speed to the dwarfs 



22 AS6ARD STORIES. 

underground, to order the new chain, and to return 
as soon as he could bring it. The faithful servant 
found the funny little dwarf workmen all busy in their 
dark rock chambers, far down inside the earth, while 
at one side, in a lighter place, sat their king. The 
messenger bowed before him, and told him his errand. 

The dwarfs were a wicked race, but they were 
afraid of Odin, for they had not forgotten the talk 
he once had with them, when he sent them down to 
work in darkness underground, and since that time 
they never had dared disobey him. The dwarf king 
said it would take two days and two nights to make 
the chain, but it would be so strong that no one 
could break it. 

While the busy dwarfs were at work, the messenger 
looked about at the many wonderful things : the great 
central fire which burns always in the middle of the 
earth, watched and fed with coal by the dwarfs ; above 
this, the beds of coal, and bright precious diamonds, 
which the dwarfs took from the ashes of the fire. In 
another place he watched them putting gold and sil- 
ver, tin and copper, into the cracks in the rocks, and 
he drank of the pure, underground water, which gives 
the Midgard people fresh springs. 

After two days this messenger returned to the dwarf 
king. The king, holding out in his hand a fine, small 
chain, said to the messenger : ^^ This may seem to 



TYR AND THE WOLF. 28 

you to be small and weak ; but it is a most wonderful 
piece of work, for we have used in it all the strongest 
stuff we could find. It is made of six kinds of things: 
the noise made by the footfall of cats, the roots of 
stones, the beards of women, the voice of fishes, the 
spittle of birds, the sinews of bears. This chain can 
never be broken ; and if you can once put it on Fenrir, 
ho will never be able to throw it off." 

Odin's messenger was glad to hear this, so he 
thanked the dwarf king, and promising him a large 
reward, he went on his way back to Asgard, where 
the jEsir were longing for his return, and were all 
rejoiced to see him with the magic chain. 

Now Father Odin feared that Fenrir would not let 
them bind him a third time, ^ so he proposed they 
should all take a holiday, and go out to a beautiful 
lake to the north of Asgard, where they would have 
games and trials of strength. The other gods were 
pleased with this plan, and all set out in Frey's won- 
derful ship, which was large enough to hold all the 
^sir with their horses, and yet could be folded up 
small enough to go in one's pocket. 

They landed on a lovely island in the lake, and after 
the races and games were over, Frey brought out the 
little chain, and asked them all to try to break it. 
Thor and Tyr tried in vain ; then Thor said, " I do 
not believe any one but Fenrir can break it." 



24 ASGARD STORIES. 

Now the wolf did not want to be bound again ; but 
he was very proud of his strength, and, for fear of 
being called a coward, said at last he would let them 
do it, if he might hold the right hand of one of the 
iEsir in his mouth while they bound him, as a sign 
that the gods did not mean to play any tricks. 

When the gods heard this, they looked at each other, 
and all but one of them drew back. Only the brave, 
good Tyr stepping forward, quietly put his hand into 
Fenrir's mouth. The other gods then put the chain 
around the beast, and fastened it to a great rock. 
The fierce creature gave a leap to free himself, but 
the more he struggled the tighter grew the chain. 
The Jisir gathered about him in joy to see this, but 
their hearts were filled with sorrow when they saw 
that their noble Tyr had lost his right hand; the 
dreadful wolf had shut his teeth together in his rage, 
when he found he could not get free. 

Thus the brave Tyr dared to risk danger for the 
sake of saving othera, and gave up even his right 
hand to gain peace and happiness for Asgard. 



mfiS NE<KLA<E. 



- -Yes, I really 
must have some 
flowers to wear 
Lo the feiist to- 
night," saifi Fj'eyja 
to her husband, Odur. 
Freyja was the goddess of love and beauty ; she was 
the most beautiful of all tbe j3i^bir, and every one loved 
to look at her charming face, and to hear her sweet 



*' I think you look quite beautiful enough as you are, 
without flowers," Odur replied, but Freyja was not 
satisfied ; she thought she would go and find her 
brother Frey, the god of summer, for he would give 
her a garland of flowers. So she wandered forth from 
Asgard on her way to Frey's bright home in Alfheim, 
where he lived among his happy, busy little elves. 
As Freyja walked along she was thinking of the feast 



26 ASGARD STORIES. 

to be given that night in Asgard, and knowing that 
all the gods and goddesses would be there, she wished 
to look her very best. 

On and on she wandered, not thinking how far she 
was getting away from home. Finally the light began 
to grow fainter and fainter, and Freyja found henself 
in a strange place. The sunlight had faded away, but 
there was still a little light that came from lanterns 
carried by funny little dwarfs, who were busily work- 
ing. Some were digging gold and gems, othens were 
cleaning off the dirt from the precious stones, and 
polishing them to make them bright, while four little 
fellows were seated in one corner, putting the sparkling 
stones together into a wonderful necklace. 

"What can that beautiful thing be?" thought 
Freyja. "If only I had that, it would surely make 
me look more beautiful than any one else at the 
feast to-night ! " And the more she thought about 
it, the more she longed to get it. "Oh, I really 
must have it!" she said to herself, and with these 
words she stepped nearer to the four little men. 
"For what price will you sell me your necklace?" 
she asked. 

The dwarfs looked up from their work, and when 
they saw Freyja's lovely face and heard her sweet 
voice, said, "Oh, if you will only look kindly upon 
us, and be our friend, you may have the necklace ! " 




FBBYJA IM THE CAVE OF THE DWABF8. 



FREYJA'S NECKLACE. 29 

Then a mocking laugh echoed again and again 
through the dark cavern, seeming to say, "How 
foolish you are to wish for these bright diamonds; 
they will not make you happy ! " But Freyja snatched 
the necklace and ran out of the cavern. It did not 
please her to hear the teasing laugh of the dwarfs, and 
she wanted to get away from them as soon as possible. 

At last she was once more out in the open air; 
she tried to be free and happy again, but a strange 
feeling of dread came over her, as if something were 
going to happen. Soon she came to a still pool of 
water, and, putting on the necklace, she bent over 
to look at her picture in the clear water. How 
beautiful the diamonds were ! and how they sparkled 
in the sunshine ! She must hasten home to show 
them to Odur. 

The fair goddess soon reached Asgard, and hur- 
ried to the ^palace to find her husband. But Odur 
was not there. Over and over again she searched 
through all the rooms in vain ; he had gone, and 
although Freyja had her beautiful necklace, she cared 
little for it without her dear husband. 

Soon it was time to go to the feast, but Freyja 
would not go without Odur. She sat down and wept 
bitter tears ; she felt no joy now for having the neck- 
lace, and no sorrow because she could not feast with 
the uSsir 



80 ASGARD STORIES. 

If only Odur would come back, all would be well 
again. " I will go to the end of the world to find 
him ! " said Freyja, and she began to make ready for 
her journey. Her chariot, drawn by two cats, was 
soon ready; but before she could start, she must 
first ask Father Odin to allow her to go. 

"Allfather, I beg you give me leave to go to look 
for my Odur in every corner of the world!" 

The wise father replied, "Go, fair Freyja, and may 
you find whom you seek." 

Then she started forth. First to the Midgard 
world the goddess of beauty went, but no one in all 
the world had seen or heard of Odur. Down uiider 
the earth, to Niflheim, and even to Utgard, the land 
of giants, she wandered, but still no one had seen 
or even heard of her husband. Poor Freyja wept 
many tears, and wherever the teardrops fell, and 
sank into the ground, they turned into glistening 
gold. 

At last the sad goddess returned to her own palace 
alone. She still wore the wonderful necklace, which 
was called Brisingamen. 

One night, when the hour was late, all the jEsit 
were asleep, except-^ the ever watchful Heimdall, who 
heard soft footsteps, like those of a cat, near Freyja's 
palace. He listened, and thought, "That is surely 
some one bent on mischief; I must follow him." 



FREYJA'S NECKLACE. 81 

When Heimdall reached the palace, he found it 
was Loki, changed into another form, creeping softly 
about. Heimdall quietly watched him, and saw him 
glide in to Freyja's bedside, where the fair goddess 
lay asleep, wearing her beautiful necklace. Loki had 
come to steal the necklace, but when he saw that 
she was lying on the clasp of the chain, so that he 
could not undo it without waking her, he changed 
himself into a gnat, and, crawling along on the pil- 
low, stung her just enough to make her turn over, 
but not enough to wake her. Then he unclasped 
the chain and ran off with it as fast as he could. 

But Heimdall was not going to let the thief ^ .get 
away. As soon as Loki found that he was followed, 
he took his other form, a little flame of fire; 
Heimdall then took his other shape, and became 
a shower of rain, to put out the fire; but Loki, 
quick and watchful, changed himself into a bear, 
to catch the rain. Then Heimdall too became a bear, 
and a fierce fight began. At last the rain-god con- 
quered, and forced wicked Loki to give back the 
necklace to Freyja. 

The whole land seemed to feel sorry for poor, 
lonely Freyja; the leaves fell from the trees, the 
bright flowers faded, and the singing birds flew away. 

Once more the fair goddess went forth from Asgard 
to seek Odur. Away, away to the far-off sunny 



82 ASGARD STORIES. 

ft 

south she wandered, and there, where the myrtle tre^s 
and the oranges grow, at last she found her long-lost 
husband. 

Then hand in hand the two turned northward again, 
to their home, and so happy were they together, that 
they spread joy and happiness around them as they 
passed along. Everywhere the ice and snow thawed 
before them, green grass and sweet flowers sprang up 
behind their footsteps, the birds sang their sweetest 
songs, the warm summer came back to the north 
lands, and every one was glad and joyful, for lovely, 
smiling Freyja was at home again. 

" White were the moorlands 
And frozen, before her; 
Green were the moorlands 
And blooming, behind her. 
Out of her gold locks 

Shaking the spring flowers, 
Out of her garments 
Shaking the south wind, 
Around in the birches 
Awaking the throstles, 
Beautiful Freyja came.** 

— KiNOSLET. 




MMEk ♦F THOIt. 



SiF was the wife of 
— mighty Thor, the thun- 
der-god, and she was 
very proud of her heaii- 
tiful golden hair, which alie 
combed and braided with 
great care. One morning 
when she awoke she was filled with grief and dismay 
to find that her lovely hair had been cut off in the 
night, while she slept. Her husband happened to be 
away that day, but when he came home late at night, 
Sif was careful to keep out of his sight, she felt so 
ashamed of her shorn head. 

Thor, however, soon called for Sif, and when he saw 
what had been done to her, he was very angry. Now 
Thor had a quick temper; every one feared his fierce 
anger. "Who could have done this wicked deed?" 
thought he. "There is only one among all tlie ^sir 
who would think of doing such a thing!" 

Thor lost no time in finding Loki, and that mischief- 
god had to admit that he was the guilty one, but he 



34 ASGARD STORIES. 

begged Thor to give him just a few days, and he 
promised to get something for Sif that would make her 
look more beautiful than ever. So Thor decided to 
give him a chance to try, and commanded him to 
give back to Sif her golden hair. 

Now Loki knew a place where some wonderful 
workmen lived, so he went off, as fast as he could 
go, to Niflheim, the home of the dwarfs, under the 
earth, and asked one of them to make quickly some 
golden hair for Sif. Besides this, he asked for two 
gifts to carry to the gods Odin and Frey, so that they 
might be on his side if Thor should bring his complaint 
before the ^sir. 

Loki did not have to wait long before the dwarf 
brought him a quantity of beautiful hair, spun from 
the finest golden thread. It had the wonderful power 
of growing just like real hair, as soon as it touched 
any one's head. Besides this, there was a spear for 
Odin, which never missed its aim, no matter how far 
it was thrown, and for Frey, a ship that could sail 
through the air as well as the sea. Although it was 
large enough to hold all the gods and their horses, 
yet it could be folded so that it was small enough to 
put in one's pocket. 

Loki was greatly pleased with these wonderful pres- 
ents, and declared that this dwarf must be the most 
skillful workman of them all. Now it happened that 



THE HAMMER OF THOR. 36 

another dwarf, named Brock, heard him say this, and 
he told Loki that he was sure he and his brother could 
make more wonderful things than these. 

Loki did not believe that could be done, but he 
told Brock to try his skill; the JEsit should judge 
between them and the one who should fail in the 
trial must lose his head. 

Then Brock called his brother, Sindri, and they 
set to work at once. They first built a great fire, 
and Sindri threw into it a lump of gold; then he 
told Brock to blow the bellows while he went out, 
and be sure not to stop blowing until he should 
come back. 

Brock thought this an easy task, but his brother 
had not long been gone when a huge fly came in and 
buzzed about his face, and bothered him so that he 
could hardly keep on blowing; still he was able to 
finish his work, so that when Sindri came back, they 
took out of the fire an enormous wild boar, which gave 
out light, and could travel through the air with won- 
derful speed. 

On the second day Sindri threw another lump of 
gold into the fire, and left his brother to blow the 
bellows. Again the buzzing, stinging fly came, and 
was even more troublesome than before ; but Brock 
tried very hard to be patient, and was able to bear 
it without stopping his work until Sindri retumedi 



86 ASGARD STORIES. 

Then they took ifrom the fire a magic ring of gold, 
from which eight new rings fell off every week. 

The third day a lump of iron was put into the fire, 
and Brock was^gain left alone. In came the cruel 
fly, — have you guessed that it was really thaV mis- 
chief-maker Loki? He bit the poor little dwarf so 
hard on the forehead that the blood ran down into 
his eyes, and blinded him so that he could no longer 
see to do his work. 

Poor Brock had to stop just before Sindri came 
home, but not before the hammer which they were 
making in the fire was nearly finished, only the 
handle came out rather too short. This magic ham- 
mer was named Miolnir. It had the power of never 
missing its mark, and would always return to the 
hand which threw it. 

When Loki appeared at last before the -^sir, with 
the two dwarf brothers and their gifts, it was 
declared that they had made the finest things, for 
the hammer, which was given to Thor, would surely 
be most useful in keeping the giants out of Asgard. 

When Loki found that the judgment was against 
him, he started to run away; but Thor soon made 
him turn back by threatening to throw his hammer 
after him. 

Then Loki had to collect his wits, and think of 
some way to escape losing his head, instead of making 



THE HAMMER OF THOR. 87 

the dwarfs pay the forfeit, as he had expected. At 
last he told Brock and Sindri that they could have 
his head, according to the agreement, but as nothing 
had been said about his neck, they could not, of 
course, touch that. 

Thus the wily Loki, by his wit, saved his life. 




N>EI^FUL 
URNEY. 



I. 

One morning Thor 
asked Loki, the fire- 
^i)d, if he would like 
ti) go forth with him 
to Utgard, the strong- 
hold of the giants, where he was going to try, with 
Ilia mighty hammer, to conquer those fierce enemies 
of Asgard. Loki was glftd to go with him, and the 
two gods started forth in Thor's chariot, drawn by 
two goats. 

Thor often went on a journey, so the dwellers in 
Asgard did not wonder to see him getting ready for 
a long drive. As Thor and Loki drove along, the 
heavy chariot rattled, and made the thunder echo 
among the hills. People in our world, down below 
iu Midgard, heard the rumbling, and said: "What 
a heavy thunderstorm I How the thunder crashes 
and rumbles ! " 



THORNS WONDERFUL JOURNEY. 3d 

Toward evening the travelers stopped at a peasant's 
hut, and Thor, alighting from his chariot, went to 
the door of the house, to ask shelter for the night. 

" I will gladly give you a room, but I have no food 
in the house," said the man who opened the door. 

"Oh, never mind that," said Thor; "I will pro- 
vide the food." So Thor and Loki stopped for the 
night at the peasant's hut. They found the family 
within, the man, his wife, and two children, a boy 
and a girl. All looked on in great surprise to see 
Thor kill his two goats and cook them for the even- 
ing meal. " Eat all you wish of the meat," said 
Thor, " but be careful not to break any of the bones ; 
throw them all into the two skins which I have 
spread upon the floor." 

Now the boy, whose name was Thialfe, wondered 
why Thor should say this, and as he happened to have 
a piece of the leg-bone, he thought there could be no 
harm in breaking it open, to get out the soft marrow 
to eat. Thor was just then talking to Loki, and did 
not notice what had been done ; but next morning the 
boy learned a lesson that he never forgot. 

When Thor was ready to start off again, next day, 
he held his magic hammer over the skins in which lay 
the bones. All at once the goats became whole again, 
and stood there just the same as before, except that 
one of them limped with his hind leg. 



40 ASGAUD SlXDRIfiS. 

Then the young Thialfe knew why Thor had told 
them not to break the bones. At first, when he saw 
Thor's angry face, and how he grasped his hammer, 
the boy was frightened, and wanted to run away ; but 
soon he remembered it would be cowardly to do that, 
so he went to Thor, and asked his forgiveness. Now 
the mighty thunder-god, though often angry, was 
always just and kind. After scolding the boy as he 
deserved, he freely forgave him, and said that he and 
his sister might go along with Loki and himself on 
their journey. 

II. 

The four started off, after saying good-by to the 
peasant and his wife, leaving in their charge the 
chariot and goats, for it seemed best to finish the jour- 
ney on foot. 

At nightfall they entered a thick forest, through 
which they wandered on for miles, when all at once 
they came upon a house, and a strange-looking house 
it was. The wide front door opened into a big room ; 
at the left was a small room, and just opposite the 
front door were four long, narrow rooms. 

The travelers wondered to find a house in the 
depths of a forest, but they were glad to have shelter 
for the night, and all lay down for a good rest. 
Soon after midnight they were awakened by groans 




THOB AND LOKI IN THE CHABIOT. 



THOR'S WONDERFUL JOURNEY. 43 

and strange sounds, and the earth began to tremble. 
Tbor sent his companions into the farthest room, 
grasped his hammer, and stood on guard by the door. 
At daybreak he started forth to find out what had 
caused the noise. He had not gone far when he came 
upon a huge giant, lying on the ground asleep, and 
Thor found that he was making the earth tremble with 
his snoring, which must have been the sound they had 
heard in the night. 

While Thor was looking at the giant, he awoke, and 
spoke to the god. " Ho, ho ! I think you little fellow 
must be Thor, of whom I have often heard, but really, 
I did not think you were quite so small ! Now the sun 
is up, and I must be off ; but where is my other glove ? 
Oh, here it is, on the ground ! " And the giant 
stooped and picked up his glove, which was the very 
house in which our four travelers had spent the night, 
with the big front door where the hand went in, the 
thumb for the one side-room, and the four narrow 
finger-rooms opposite the door. 

"If you are going my way, you may come along 
with me," said the giant. So they journeyed together 
for one day, but even mighty Thor could hardly keep 
up with the giant's long strides. 

When night came, the giant stopped under a large 
oak tree, and said, " I am going to sleep ; you may 
eat your supper, if you wish ; here is a bag full of 



44 ASGARD STORIES. 

things." Saying this, he fell asleep, and was soon 
snoring. But when Thor tried to open the bag of 
food, he could not untie the cord. This made him 
angry, for the giant had tied up their food with his 
own. He looked at the huge figure lying before him 
asleep, and when he thought what a mean trick the 
giant had played upon them, Thor seized the magic 
hammer, and threw it at him. 

"Did a leaf fall on me?" said the giant, sleepily. 
" Haven't you eaten your supper yet ? Well, I am 
going to sleep again." And soon he was snoring 
louder than before. Thor grasped his hammer tighter 
than ever, and threw it with such strength that it 
seemed as though it must surely have killed the giant ; 
but again he rubbed his eyes, and said, "I thought 
an acorn fell on my head ! " He had hardly spoken 
when he was asleep again. 

Then a third time Thor hurled his hammer with all 
his strength, and it seemed to hit his enemy in the fore- 
head, and was buried out of sight, but the giant only 
said: "I think there must be birds overhead in this 
tree ; I thought a feather dropped down on me. Are 
you awake, Thor? I think we'd better be going on 
with our journey, and if you are bound to go to 
Utgard, I will show you the way, but I advise you to 
go home instead; you will find bigger fellows than I 
in Utgard!" 



THOR'S WONDERFUL JOURNEY. 45 

But Tbor bad made up his mind to go on, and 
nothing could make him change. At noontime the 
four friends left their giant guide, whose path led 
another way. They had not traveled far when Thor 
spied a large city looming up before them, and soon 
they came to Utgard, the home of the fierce giants. 

Although it was surrounded by high walls, Thor and 
his friends were able to creep through the bars of the 
great gate. When they came to the palace and found 
its door open, they went in, and there sat all the giants 
with their king, Utgard -Loki, at their head. A quite 
different Loki was this giant king from the mischievous 
fire-god, the Loki from Asgard, who now stood before 
him. 

IIL 

Upon seeing the four strangers, the king of the 
giants said: "Why, this must be the god Thor. I 
really did not suppose that you were such a little fel- 
low, Thor ! but probably you are stronger than you 
look. Now, before you sit down at our table, you must 
each show some proof of your strength I " 

Then Loki, who was very hungry, said he was sure 
he could eat more than any one else; so the king 
called one of the giants to come forth, saying to Loki, 
" If you can indeed eat more than one of my men, you 
will perform a great feat." 



46 ASGARD STORIES. 

A huge trough, full of meat, was brought in, and 
Loki began eating at one end, while the giant began 
at the other. They reached the center together ; but 
Loki had eaten only the meat, while the giant had 
devoured meat, bones, trough, and all. 

Thialfe, the peasant boy, took his turn next, and 
boasted that he was the fastest runner of them all. 
" Oh," said the king, " it will be a most wonderful feat 
if you can win a race against one of my men ! " The 
first time Thialfe ran the course he kept ahead until 
near the end, and was beaten by only a few yards. The 
second time he came off worse, and the third time he 
was only halfway around when the giant had reached 
the goal. 

Thor, however, was not at all cast down by the 
failure of the others, and he proposed to try a drink- 
ing match. So the king brought forth a long drinking 
horn, saying, " My men usually empty this in one 
draught, if they are very thirsty, though sometimes 
they have to take it in two swallows, or even three." 

Then Thor put his lips to the drinking horn, and 
took one long, deep pull, thinking he had surely 
emptied it, but to his surprise, the water had lowered 
only a few inches. Again he lifted the horn, feeling 
sure he should empty it this time, yet he did no better 
than before. The king said, " You have left a great 
deal for your last drink 1 " 



ii 
n 



THOR'S WONDERFUL JOURNEY. 47 

This made Thor try his very best ; but it was of no 
ase, he could not empty the horn. 

'' So you are not as strong as you seemed, after all ! 
Do you care to try anything else ? " said the king of 
tiie giants, in a mocking tone. 

Oh, certainly, anything you like ! " replied Thor. 
Well," said the king, " I will give you something 
easy this time, since I see you are not as strong as 
I expected. You may try to lift this cat from the 
floor; it would be mere child's play for one of my 
men." 

Thor put out his hand to lift the cat, but he could 
raise only one paw, though he used all his strength. 

"Well, it is no more than I expected!" said the 
king; "you boast of your strength, but you do not 
show it to us." 

« 

By this time Thor was getting very angry, and 
he spoke fiercely, " I will challenge any one of you 
to fight with me ! " 

The king looked about the hall to find some 
one small enough to wrestle with Thor. Then he 
said, "All my men are too large, I shall have to 
send for one of the women ! " Soon a bent old 
woman came hobbling in, and Thor thought it'woyld 
be nothing to overcome her; but the longer they 
wrestled, the stronger the old woman became, and 
at last, -when it was plain that she was going to win, 



48 ASGARD STORIES. 

and Thor had been thrown down upon the floor, the 
king called to them to stop. 

Thor and his friends were then invited to sit down 
at the feast, and the next morning, after a good break- 
fast, they started on their journey homeward. Utgard- 
Loki, the giant king, went with them to the city gate, 
and when he was about to leave them, said, "Do 
you find it as easy as you expected to overthrow the 
giants ? " 

"No," said Thor, who was too honest to hide his 
shame, "I am vexed that I have done so little, and 
I know that after this failure, you will all laugh at 
my weakness." 

" No, indeed," replied the king ; " since you are now 
well outside our stronghold I will tell you the truth 
about what you saw there, and I will take good care 
not to let you get in again. You have greatly sur- 
prised us all, for we did not dream that you were so 
strong, and I have had to use magic to hold out 
against you. 

"When you met the first giant in the forest you 
would have killed him with your hammer, if he 
had not put a mountain between himself and you. 
Loki was a wonderful eater, but we matched him 
against fire, and who can devour more than fire? 
The boy was a swift runner, and I had to make 
him race against thought, in order to beat him ; what 



THOR'S WONDERFUL JOURNEY. 49 

can be swifter than thought? The horn, from which 
you drank, was the ocean, and you took such a mighty 
draught, that the people in Midgard saw the tide ebb. 
It was really not a cat you tried to lift, but the Mid- 
gard Serpent, and you pulled him so far tliat we 
feared he would let go his hold. Then you wrestled 
with Old Age, and who is there that can overcome 
Old Age ? " 

With these words the giant king vanished, and 
Thor, upon looking around, saw the city of Utgard 
was also gone. 

Then silently, but with many thoughts of these 
strange things, Thor and Loki, with the boy and 
the girl, made their way back to Asgard. 




■•■ Comb, Loki, 
lie you ready? My 
goats are eager to 
be off ! " cried Thor, 
)e sprang into his 
chariot, and away they 
"'^^ \vei]fc, thundering over the 
hills. All day long they journeyed, 
and at night they lay down to rest 
by the side of a brook. 

When Baldur, the bright sun-god, awoke them in 
the morning, the first thing Thor did was to reach 
out for Miiilnir, his magic hammer, which he had 
carefully laid by his side the night before. 

" Why, Loki I " cried he- " Alas, my hammer is 
gone ! Those evil frost giants must have stolen it 
from me while I slept. How shall we hold Asgard 
against tbem without my hammer? They will surely 
take our stronghold ! " 

" We must go quickly and find it ! " replied Loki. 
" Let us ask Freyja to lend ua her falcon garment." 

60 



HOW THOR LOST HIS HAMMER. 51 

Now the goddess, Freyja, had a wonderful garment 
made of falcon feathers, and whoever wore it looked 
just like a bird. As you* may suppose, this was 
sometimes a very useful thing. So Thor and Loki 
went quickly back to Asgard, and drove with all 
speed to Freyja's palace, where they found her sitting 
among her. maidens. "Asgard is in great danger!" 
said Thor, "and we have come to you, fair goddess, 
to ask if you will lend us your falcon garment, for 
my hammer has been carried off, and we must go in 
search of it." 

"Surely," answered Freyja, "I would lend you my 
falcon cloak, even if it were made of gold and 
silver 1 " 

Then Loki quickly dressed himself in Freyja's gar- 
ment and flew away to the land of the frost giants, 
where he found their king making collars of gold 
for his dogs, and combing his horses. As Loki came 
near, he looked up and said, "Ah, Loki, how fare 
the mighty gods in Asgard?" 

"The jEsir are in great trouble," replied Loki, 
"and I am sent to fetch the hammer of Thor." 

" And do you think I am going to be foolish enough 
to give it back to you, after I have had all the 
trouble of getting it into my power?" said the 
king. "I have buried it deep, deep, down in the earth, 
and there is only one way by which you can get it 



62 ASGARD STORIES. 

again. You must bring me the goddess Freyja to be 
my wife 1 " 

Loki did not know what to say to this, for he 
felt sure that Freyja would never be willing to go 
away from Asgard to live among the fierce giants; 
but as he saw no chance of getting the hammer, he 
flew back to Asgard, to see what could pe done. 

Thor was anxiously looking out for him. "What 
news do you bring, Loki?" cried he* "Have you 
brought me my hammer again?" 

"Alas, nol" said Loki. "I bring only a message 
from the giant king. He will not give up your ham- 
mer until you persuade Freyja to marry him!" 

Then Thor and Loki went together to Freyja's 
palace, and the fair goddess greeted them kindly, 
but when she heard their errand, and found they 
wished her to marry the cruel giant, she was very 
angry, and said to Thor, "You should not have 
been so careless as to lose your hammer; it is all 
your own fault that it is gone, and I will never marry 
the giant to help you get it again." 

Thor then went to tell Father Odin, who called a 
meeting of all the -^sir, for it was a very serious 
matter they were to consider. If the king of the 
giants only knew the power of the mighty hammer, 
he might storm Asgard, and carry oflE the fair Freyja 
to be his bride. 




THOR'S BATTLE WITH THE FROST GIANTS. 



HOW THOR LOST HIS HAMMER. 65 

So the ^sir met together in their great judgment 
hall, in the palace of Gladsheim; long and anxiously 
they talked over their peril, trying to find some plan 
for saving Asgard from these enemies. At last Heim- 
dall, the faithful watchman of the rainbow bridge, 
proposed a plan. 

"Let us dress Thor," said he, "in Freyja's robes, 
braid his hair, and let him wear Freyja's wonderful 
necklace, and a bridal veil ! " 

"No, indeed!" cried Thor, angrily, "you would 
all laugh at me in a womun's dress; I will do no 
such thing I We must find some other way." But 
when no other way couM be found, at last Thor was 
persuaded to try Heimdall's plan, and the -^sir went 
to work to dress the mighty thunder-god like a bride. 
He was the tallest of them all, and, of course, he 
looked very queer to them in his woman's clothes, 
but he would be small enough beside a giant. Then 
they dressed Loki to look like the bride's waiting- 
maid, and the two set off for Utgard, the stronghold 
of the giants. 

When the giant king saw them coming he bade 
his servants make ready the wedding feast, and 
invited all his giant subjects to come and celebrate 
his marriage with the lovely goddess Freyja. 

So the wedding party sat down to the feast, and 
Thor, who was always a good eater, ate one ox and 



66 ASGARD STORIES. 

eight salmon, and drank three casks of mead. The 

king watched him, greatly surprised to see a woman 

eat so much, and said : — 

" Where hast thou seen 
Such a hungry bride ! " 

But the watchful Loki, who stood near by, as the 
bride's waiting-maid, whispered in the king's ear, 
"Eight nights has Freyja fasted and would take no 
food, so anxious was she to be your bride ! " 

This pleased the giant, and he went toward Thor, 
saying he must kiss his fair bride. But when he 
lifted the bridal veil, such a gleam of liglft shot 
from Thor's eyes * that the king started back, and 
asked why Freyja's eyes were so sharp. 

Again Loki replied, "For eight nights the fair 
Freyja has not slept, so greatly did she long to reach 
here!" This again pleased the king, and he said, 
"Now let the hammer be brought and given to the 
bride, for the hour has come for our marriage ! " 

All this time Thor was so eager to get his treasure 
back that he could hardly keep still, and if it had not 
been for what the wily Loki said, he might have 
been found out too soon. But at last the precious 
hammer was brought and handed to the bride, as 
was always the custom at weddings; as soon as Thor 
grasped it in his hand, he threw off his woman's 
robes and stood out before the astonished giants. 



HOW THOR LOST HIS HAMMER. 57 

Then did the mighty Thunderer sweep down his 
foes, and many of the cruel frost giants were slain. 
Once more the sacred city of Asgard was saved from 
danger, for Thor was its defender, and he was care- 
ful never again to let his magic hammer be taken 
from him. 

Besides the hammer, Thor had two other precious 
things, his belt of strength, which doubled his 
power when he tightened it, and his iron glove, 
which he put on when he was going to throw the 

hammer. 

« I am the God Thor, 
I am the War God, 
I am the Thunderer ! 
Here in my Northland, 
My fastness and fortress. 
Reign I forever ! 

•* Here amid icebergs 
Rule I the nations; 
This is my hammer, 
Miolnir the mighty ; 
Giants and sorcerers 
Cannot withstand it ! 

**^ These are the gauntlets 
Wherewith I wield it, 
And hurl it afar off ; 
This is my girdle. 
Whenever I brace it 
Strength is redoubled t " 

— Longfellow 




■m FM^A. 



Long years ago 
there livud a peasant and 
his wife, who led a quiet, 
busy life on their little 
farm at the foot of a mountain. 
While the wife was busy indoors with her house- 
work, her husband watched his flocks in the fields, 
or sometimes wandered up the mountain-side to hunt 
for game, which he would carry home for dinner- 
One day he had strayed farther than usual, and 
found himself on the top of the mountain, where 
the ground was covered with See and snow. All at 
once he came upon a high arched doorway opening 
into a great glacier, and he passed through to see 
whither it might lead. 

The passageway widened out into a wonderful cav- 
ern, like a broad hall, sparkling with precious stones, 
and long, shining stalactites, that looked like icicles 
of marble. In the midst stood a beautiful goddess, 
surrounded by fair maidens, all dressed in silver^' 
robes, and crowned with flowers. 



A GIFT FROM FRIG6A. 59 

The shepherd was so overcome by the wonder of 
this sight that he sank upon his knees. Then the 
goddess stretched forth her hands and g^ve him her 
blessing, telling him to choose whatever he wished, 
to carry home from the cavern. The man was no 
longer afraid when he heard her kind voice speaking 
to him, so he looked about, and at last humbly asked 
to have the pretty blue flowers which the fair one 
held in her hand. 

The lovely goddess Frigg^, or Holda, as the Ger- 
man people called her, smiled kindly, and told the 
poor shepherd he had made a wise choice. She 
gave him her bunch of blue flowers, with a measure 
of seed, saying to him, "You will live and be pros- 
perous so long as the flowers do not fade." 

The peasant bowed thankfully before the goddess, 
and when he rose she had vanished, and he was alone 
on the mountain-side, just as usual, with no cavern, 
no sparkling stones, and no fair maidens to be seen. 
If it bad not been for the pretty blue flowers and the 
measure of seed in his hand, he would have thought 
it all a dream. 

He hurried homeward to tell his wife, who was 
angry when she heard the story, for she thought he 
had made such a foolish choice. " How much better 
it would have been," said she, "if you had brought 
home some of those precious stones you tell about, 



60 ASGARD STORIES. 

which are worth money, instead of these good-for- 
nothing flowers 1" 

The poor man bore her angry words quietly, and 
made the best of what he had. He went to work at 
once to sow his seeds, which he found, to his sur- 
prise, were enough to plant sevei*al fields. 

Every morning before he led his flock to pasture, 
and on his way home at night, he watched the little 
green shoots growing in his fields. Even his wife 
was pleased when she saw the lovely blue blossoms 
of the flax opening ; then, after they had withered and 
fallen, the seeds formed. Sometimes it seemed to the 
good man, as he stood in the twilight looking over 
his field, that he saw a misty form, like the beautiful 
goddess, stretching out her hands over the field of 
flax, to give it her blessing. 

When at length the seeds had ripened, Frigga 
came again to show the peasant how to gather his 
harvest of flax, and to teach his wife to spin and 
weave it into fine linen, which she bleached in the 
sun. The people came from far and near to buy tlie 
linen, and the peasant and his wife found themselves 
busy and happy, with money enough and to spare. 

When they had lived many years, and were grow- 
ing old among their children and grandchildren, the 
peasant noticed one day that the bunch of blue flow- 
ers, given to him so many years before, and which 



A Gim J^ROM ^RlGOA. 61 

had always kept bright, were beginning to fade; 
then he knew he had not much longer to stay. 

He climbed slowly up the mountain-side, and found 
the door of the cavern open. A second time he 
went in, and the kind goddess Frigga took the 
peasant by the hand, and led him away to stay 
with her, where she always took care of him. 

Frigga was the queen of the gods, and she helped 
her husband, Odin, govern the world. It was her 
part to look after the children, and help the mothers 
take care of their families. 




THt;TEALIN< 
^F IHINA 



OniN, the wise father 
of tlie gods, started off 
one day on a journey through 
Midgard, the world of men, to see bow his people 
were getting on, and to give them help. He took 
with him his brother Honir, the light-giver, and Loki, 
the tire-god. Loki, you know," was always ready to 
go wherever he could have any fun or do any mischief. 

All the morning they went about among the homes 
of Midgard, and whenever Odin found busy, faithfnl 
workers, he was sure to leave behind some little thing 
which would hardly be noticed, a straw in the form- 
er's barn, or a kernel of grain in the furrow by the 
plow, or a bit of iron at the blacksmith's forge ; but 
always happiness and plenty followed bis little gift. 

At noontime Loki was so hungry that he begged 
Odin to stop for dinner; so when they came to ft 



THE STEALING OF IDUNA. 68 

shady spot by the bank of a river, the three gods 
chose it for their resting-place. 

Odin threw himself down under a tree and began 
to read his little book of runes, or wise sayings, but 
Loki began to make a fire and get ready for the feast. 
Then he started off to a farmhouse near by, leaving 
Hoiiir to cook the meat which they had brought. 

As Loki came near the farmhouse, he thought to 
himself, ^^I will change myself into a cat, and then 
I can have a better chance to spy about." So he 
changed himself into a black cat, and jumping upon 
the kitchen window-sill, he saw the farmer's wife tak- 
ing some cakes out of the oven. They smelled so 
good and looked so tempting that Loki said to him- 
self, ^^ What a prize those cakes would be for our 
dinner ! " 

Just then the woman turned back to the oven to 
get more cakes, and Loki snatched those which she 
had laid on the table. The good housewife soon 
missed her cakes; she looked all about, and could 
not think what had become of them, but just as 
she was taking the last lot from the oven, she 
turned quickly around, and saw the tail of a cat 
whisking out of the window. 

'^ There I" cried she, **that wicked black cat has 
stolen my nice cakes. I will go after him with my 
broom I " But by the time she reached the door all 



64 ASGARD STORIES. 

she could see was a cow walking in her garden, and 
when she came there to drive her away, nothing was 
to be seen except a big raven and six little ones flying 
overhead. 

Then the mischievous Loki went back to the river 
bank, where he had left his two friends, and showed 
them the six cakes, boasting of the good joke he 
had played upon the poor woman. But Odin did not 
think it was a joke. He scolded Loki for stealing, 
and said, " It is a shame for one of the ^sir to be a 
thief! Go back to the farmhouse, and put these 
three black stones on the kitchen table." 

Loki knew that the stones meant something good 
for the poor woman, and he did not wish to go back 
to the house ; but he had to do as the Allfather told 
him. As he went along he heard his friends the foxes, 
who put their heads out of their holes and laughed 
at his tricks, for the foxes thought Loki was the 
biggest thief of them all. 

Changing himself into an owl, Loki flew in at the 
kitchen window, and dropped from his beak the three 
stones, which, when they fell upon the white table, 
seemed to be three black stains. 

The next time the good woman came into her 
kitchen, she was surprised to find that the dinner was 
all cooked. And so the wonderful stones that Odin had 
sent brought good luck; the housewife always found 



THE STEALING OF IDUNA. 65 

her food ready cooked, and all her jars and boxes filled 
with good things to eat, and never again was in need. 

The other women all said she was the best house- 
keeper in the village, but one thing always troubled 
her, and that was the table with the three black stains. 
She scrubbed, and scrubbed, but could never make it 
white again. 

A.nd now we must go back to Loki. He was very 
hungry by this time, and hoped that Honir would 
have the meat nicely cooked when he came back to 
the river bank, but when they took it out of the 
kettle, they found it was not cooked at all. So Odin 
went on reading his book of runes, not thinking about 
food, while Honir and Loki watched the fire, and at 
the end of an hour they looked again at the meat. 

" Now, it will surely be done this time I " said Loki, 
but again they were disappointed, for the meat in 
the kettle was still raw. Then they began to look 
about to see what magic might be at work, and at last 
spied a big eagle sitting on a tree near the fire. 
All at once the bird spoke, and said, "If you will 
promise to give me all the meat I can eat, it shall be 
cooked in a few minutes." 

The three friends agreed to this, and in a short time, 
as the bird had promised, the meat was well done. 
Loki was so hungry he could hardly wait to get it 
'^ut of the kettle, but suddenly the eagle pounced 



66 ASGARD STORIES. 

down upon it, and seized more than half, which made 
Loki so angry that he took up a stick to beat the bird, 
and what do you think happened? Why, the stick, 
as soon as it touched the bird's back, stuck fast there, 
and Loki found he could not let go his end of it. 
Then away flew the eagle, carrying Loki with liim, 
over the fields and over the tree-tops, until it seemed 
as though his arms would be torn from his body. He 
begged for mercy, but the bird flew on and on. At 
last Loki said, " I will give you anything you ask, if 
you will only let me go ! " 

Now the eagle was really the cruel storm giant 
Thiassi, and he said, "I will never let you go until 
you promise to get for me, from Asgard, the lovely 
goddess Iduna, and her precious apples ! " 

When Odin and Honir saw Loki whisked oflf through 
the air, they knew that the eagle must be one of their 
giant enemies, so they hurried home to Asgard to 
defend their sacred city. Just as they came to Bii'rost, 
the rainbow bridge, Loki joined them ; but he took 
care not to tell them how the eagle came to let 
him go. 

Odin felt sure that Loki had been doing something 
wrong, but knowing very well that Loki would not 
tell him the truth, he made up his mind not to ask 
any questions. 



THE STEALING OF IDUNA. 67 

11. 

The goddess Iduna, whom Loki was to tempt away 
out of Asgard, was the dearest of them all. She was 
the fair goddess of spring and of youth, and all the 
iEsir loved her. Her garden was the loveliest spot, 
with all sorts of bright, sweet flowers, birds singing 
by day and night, little chattering brooks under the 
great trees, and everything happy and fresh. The 
gods loved to go and sit with Iduna, and rest in her 
beautiful garden, within the walls of Asgard. 

There was another delightful thing in the garden, 
and that was Iduna's casket. This was a magic box 
filled with big, golden-red apples, which she always 
gave her friends to taste. These wonderful apples 
were not only delicious to eat, but whoever tasted 
them, no matter how tired or feeble he might be, 
would feel 3'oung and strong again. So the dwellers in 
Asgard ate often of this wonderful fruit, which kept 
them fresh and young, fit to help the people in the 
world of Midgard. The casket in which Iduna kept 
her apples was always filled, for whenever she took out 
one, another came in its place ; but no one knew where 
it came from, and only the goddess of youth, lierself, 
could take the apples from the box, for if any one else 
tried, the fruit grew smaller and smaller, as the hand 
came nearer, until at last it vanished away. 



68 ASGARD STORIES. 

A few days after Loki's bargain with the giant Tht» 
assi, Iduna was in her bright garden one morning, 
watering the flowers, when her husband, Bragi, came 
to say good-by to her, because he must go on a 
journey. 

Loki watched him start off, and thought, "Now, 
here is my chance to tempt Iduna away from Asgard." 
After a while he went to the garden, and found the 
lovely goddess sitting among her flowei-s and birds. 
She looked up at Loki with such a sweet smile, as he 
came near, that he felt almost ashamed of his cruel 
plan ; but he sat down on a grassy bank, and asked 
Iduna for one of her magic apples. 

After tasting it, he smacked his lips, saying, "Do 
you know, fair Iduna, as I was coming home toward 
Asgard one day, I saw a tree full of apples which 
were really larger and more beautiful than youi's; 
I do wish you would go with mo and see them." 

"Why, how can that be?" said Iduna, "for Father 
Odin has often told me that my apples were the largest 
and finest he ever saw. I should so like to see those 
others, and I think I will go with you now, to com- 
pare them with mine." 

"Come on, then!" said Loki; "and you'd better 
take along your own apples, so that we can try them 
with the others." 

Now Bragi had often told Iduna that she must 




IDUNA GIVING LOKI THE APPLE. 



THE STEALING OF IDUNA. 71 

never wander away from home, but, thinking it would 
do no harm to go such a little way, just this once, 
she took the casket of apples in her hand and went 
with Loki. They had hardly passed through the 
garden gate, when she began to wish herself back 
again, but Loki, taking her by the hand, hurried 
along to the rainbow bridge. 

They had no sooner crossed over Bifrost than 
Iduna saw a big eagle flying toward them. Nearer 
and nearer he came, until at last he swooped down 
atld seized poor Iduna with his sharp talons, and 
flew away with her to his cold, barren home. There 
she stayed shut up for many long dreary months, 
always longing to get back to Asgard, to see Bragi 
and her lovely garden. 

The giant Thiassi had long been planning that if 
he could only once get the fair goddess of youth in 
his power, he would eat her magic apples, and so 
get strength enough to conquer the ^sir; but now, 
after all, she would not give him even one of them, 
and when he put his hand into the casket, the apples 
grew smaller and smaller, until at last they vanished, 
so that he could not get even a taste. 

This cruel storm giant kept poor Iduna closely shut 
up in a little rock chamber, hoping that some day he 
could force her to give him what he wanted. All 
day long she heard the sea beating on the rocka 



TS ASGARb STOttlfiS. 

below her gloomy cell, but she could not look out, for 
the only window was a narrow opening in the rock, 
high up above her head. She saw no one but the 
giant, and his serving- women, who waited upon her. 

When these women first came to her, Iduna was 
surprised to see that they were not ugly or stern- 
looking, and, when she looked at their fair, smiling 
faces, she hoped they would be friendly and pitiful 
to her in her trouble. She begged them to help her, 
and, with many tears, told them her sad story; but 
still they kept on smiling, and when they turned 
their backs, Iduna saw that they were hollow. These 
were the Ellewomeri, who had no hearts, and so could 
never be sorry for any one. When one is in trouble, 
it is very hard to be with EUe women. 

Every day the giant came to ask Iduna, in his 
terrible voice, if she had made up her mind to give 
him the apples. Iduna was frightened, but she 
always had courage enough to say "No," for she 
knew it would be false and cowardly to give to a 
wicked giant these precious gifts which were meant 
for the high gods. Although it was hard to be 
a prisoner, and \o see no one but the cold, fair EUe- 
women who kept on smiling at her teara, she knew 
it was far better to belong to the bright -3Ssir, even 
in prison, than to be a giant, or an EUewoman, no 
matter how free or smiling they might be. 



THE STEALING OF IDUNA. 73 

III. 

All this while the dwellers in Asgard were sad and 
lonely without their dear Iduna. At first they went to 
her garden, as before, but they missed the bright god- 
dess, and soon the garden itself grew dreary. The 
fresh green leaves turned brown and fell, the flowers 
faded, no new buds opened. No bird-songs were 
heard, and the saddest thing of all was that now the 
gods had no more of the wonderful apples to keep them 
fresh and strong, while two strangers, named Age and 
Pain, walked about the city of Asgard, and the .32sir 
felt themselves growing tired and feeble. 

Every day they watched for Iduna's return; at 
last, when day atter day had passed, and still she did 
not come, a meeting of all the gods and goddesses was 
called to talk over what they should do, and where they 
should search for their lost sister. 

Loki, you may be sure, took care not to show 
himself at the meeting; but when it was found 
out that Iduna had last been seen walking with him, 
Bragi went after him, and brought him in before all 
the ^sir. 

Then Father Odin, who sat on his high throne, look- 
ing veiy tired and sad, said : " Oh, Loki, what is this 
that you have done ? You have broken your promise 
of brotherhood, and brought sorrow upon Asgard I Fail 



T4 ASGARD STORIES. 

not to bring home again our sister, or else come not 
yourself within our gates ! " 

Loki knew well that this command must be obeyed, 
and besides, even he was beginning to wish for Iduna 
again ; so, borrowing the cloak of falcon feathers which 
belonged to the goddess Freyja, he put it on and set 
out for Utgard and the castle of the giant Thiassi, 
which was a gloomy cave in a high rock by the sea, 
and there he found poor Iduna shut up in prison. 

By good luck, the giant was away fishing when Loki 
arrived, so he was able to fly in, without being seen, 
through the narrow opening in Iduna's rock cell. You 
would have taken him to be just a falcon bird, but 
Iduna knew it was really Loki, and was filled with joy 
to see him. Without stopping to talk, Loki quickly 
changed her into a nut, which he held fast in his falcon 
claws, and flew swiftly northward, over the sea, toward 
Asgard. He had not gone far when he heard a rushing 
noise behind them, and he knew it must be the eagle. 
Faster and faster flew the falcon with his precious nut ; 
but the fierce eagle flew still faster after them. 

Meanwhile, for five days, the dwellei's in Asgard 
gathered together on the city walls, gazing southward, 
to watch for the coming of the birds, while Loki and 
Iduna, chased by Thiassi, the eagle, flew over the wide 
sea separating Utgard, the land of the giants, from As- 
gard. Each night the eagle was nearer his prey, and 



THE STEALING OF IDUNA. 75 

the watchers in the city were filled with fear lest he 
should overtake their friends. 

At last they thought of a plan to help Iduna: .gather- 
ing a great' pile of wood by the city walls, they set fire 
to it. When Loki reached the place he flew safely 
through the thick smoke and flame, for you know he was 
the god of fire, and dropped down into the city with 
his little nut held fast in his falcon claws. But when 
the heavy eagle came rushing on after them, he could 
not rise above the heat of the fire, and, smothered by 
the smoke, fell down and was burned to death. 

There was great joy in Asgard at having the dear 
Iduna back again; her friends gathered around her, 
and she invited them all into her garden, where the 
withered trees and flowers began to sprout and blos- 
som ; the gay birds came back, singing and building 
their nests, and the happy little brooks went dancing 
under the trees. 

Iduna sat with Bragi among her friends, and they 
all feasted upon her golden apples ; she was so thank- 
ful to be free, and at home in her garden again. 
Once more the iKsir became young and strong, and 
the tAVO dark strangers went away, for happiness and 
peace had come back to Asgard. 




While Iduna's 
friends were still 
ci'owding about Ijer, all 
joyful and glad at get- 
ting her home again, 
they spied some one afar off, 
coming toward Aagard. 
As the figure drew nearer, they saw it was Skadi, 
the tall daughter of the frost giant Thiassi, who had 
chased Iduna; she was dressed all in white fur, and 
carried a shining hunting-spear and arrows. Slung 
over her shoulder were snowshoea and skates, for 
Skadi had come from her mountain liome in the icy 
north. Very angry about the loss of her father, she 
had come to ask the -^sir why they had been so cruel 
to him. 

P'ather Odin spoke kindly to her, saying, "We 
will do honor to your &ther by putting his eyes in 
the sky, where they will always shine as two bright 
stars, and the people in Midgard will remember Thiassi 



SKABL 77 

whenever they look up at night and see the two 
twinkling lights. Besides this, we will also give you 
gold and silver." But Skadi, thinking money could 
never repay her for the loss of her father, was still 
angry. 

Loki looked at her stem face, and he said to him- 
self, "If we can only make Skadi laugh, she will 
be more ready to agree to the plan," and he began 
to think of some way to amuse her. Taking a long 
cord he tied it to a goat; it was an invisible cord, 
which no one could see, and Loki himself held the 
other end of it. Then he began to dance and caper 
about, and the goat had to do just what Loki did. 
It really was such a funny sight, that all the gods 
shouted with laughter, and even poor, sorrowful Skadi 
had to smile. 

When the jEsir saw this, they proposed another 
plan: Skadi might choose one of the gods for her 
husband, but she must choose, from seeing only his 
bare feet. The giantess looked at them all, as they 
stood before her, and when she saw the bright face 
of Baldur, more beautiful than all the rest, she agreed 
to their plan, saying to herself, "It might be that 
I should choose him, and then I should surely be 
happy." 

The gods then stood in a row behind a curtain, 
so that Skadi could see nothing but their bare feet. 



78 ASGARD STORIES. 

She looked carefully at them all, and at last chose the 
pair of feet which seemed to her the whitest, and of 
the finest shape, thinking those must be Baldur's; 
but when the curtain was taken away, she was sur- 
prised and sorry to find she had chosen Niord, the 
god of the seashore. 

The wedding took place at Asgard, and when the 
feasting was over, Skadi and Niord went to dwell 
in his home by the sea. At first they were very 
happy, for Niord was kind to his giant bride ; but 
how could you expect one of the jEsir to live happily 
very long with a frost giantess for his wife? 

Skadi did not like the roar of the waves, and hated 
the cries of the sea-gulls and the murmur of gentle 
summer winds. She longed for her frozen home, far 
avyay in the north, amid ice and snow. 

And so they finally agreed that, for nine months of 
the year, Niord should live with Skadi among her 
snowy mountains, where she found happiness in hunt- 
ing over the white hills and valleys on her snowshoes, 
with her hunting dogs at her side, or skating on the 
ice-bound rivei^ and lakes. Then for the three short 
months of summer Skadi must live with Niord in his 
palace by the sea, while he calmed the stormy ocean 
waves, and helped the busy fishermen to have good 
sailing for their boats. 

Niord loved to wander along the shore, his jacket 




8KADI HUNTING IN THE MOUNTAINS. 



SKADI. 81 

trimmed with a fringe of lovely seaweeds and his 
belt made of the prettiest shells on the beach, with 
the friendly little sandpipers running before him, and 
beautiful gulls and other sea birds sailing in the air 
above his head. Sometimes he loved to sit on the 
rocks by the shore, watching the seals play in the 
sunshine, or feeding the beautiful swans, his favorite 
birds. 

There is a kind of sponge, which the people in the 
north still call Niord's glove, in memory of this old 
Norse god. 



'"^ $-AL>UK. 




I. 

B VLDUR was the best be- 
loved of all tlie gods. Odin 
was theii' father and king ; 
to him they turned for help and wise advice, but it 
was to Buldur they went for loving words and bright 
smiles. The sight of his kind face was a joy to the 
jEsiv, and to all the people of Midgard. They some- 
times called him the god of light, a good name for 
him, because he truly gave to the world light and 
strength. 

Baldur was the son of 0<iin and Fiigga; he was the 
most gentle and lovely of all the gods. His beautiful 
palace in Asgavd was bright and spotless; no evil crea- 
ture could enter there; no one who had wrong thoughts 
could stay in that palace of love and truth. 

At last, after the blight summer was over, for many 
days Baldur had looked sad and troubled. Some of the 
^sir saw it, hut most of all, his loving, watchful 
mother, Frigga. Baldur could not bear to worry his 



BALDUR. 83 

mother, so he kept his sorrow to himself, saying noth- 
ing about it ; but at last Frigga drew his secret from 
him, and then his friends knew that Baldur had had 
dreams which told of coming trouble, dreams of his 
leaving all his friends and going away from Asgard, 
to dwell in another land. 

Odin and Frigga, fearing the dreams might come 
true and they must lose their beloved son, began to 
think what they could do to prevent it. 

Then the loving mother said, " I will make all 
things in the world promise not to hurt our son." And 
so Queen Frigga sent out for everything in the whole 
world, and everything came trooping to Asgard, to her 
palace. All living creatures came from the land, from 
the water, and from the air. All plants and trees came ; 
all rocks, stones, and even the metals under the earth, 
where the busy dwarfs worked. Fire came, and water, 
as well as all poisons, and sickness. Everything prom- 
ised not to harm the good Baldur, except one little 
plant called mistletoe, which was so small that Frigga 
did not send for it, feeling sure it could not do any 
harm. 

"Now I am happy once more," said the queen, 
" for our Baldur is safe I " And she sat at peace in 
her beautiful palace, rejoicing that her dear son was 
free from all danger. 

But Odin, the wise Allfather, still felt uneasy, even 



84 ASGARD STORIES. 

after all these promises, fearing what might happen. 
So he took his eight-footed steed, Sleipnir, and rode 
forth from Asgard to the underworld to find Hela, 
the wise woman who ruled over that far-off land. She 
could tell everything that was going to happen, and 
she knew the names of all those who were coming 
to dwell with her. Odin was the only one wise 
enough to speak with Hela, for no one else knew the 
words that would call her forth from her dwelling; 
but when Odin called, she came to answer. 

"Tell me," said he, "for whom are you making 
ready this costly room?" 

"We make ready for Baldur, the god of light," 

replied Hela. 

" Who, then, will slay Baldur, and bring such dark- 
ness and sorrow to Asgard?" 

Again said the wise woman, " It is Hodur, Baldur's 
twin brother, who will slay the sun-god." And with 
these words she vanished. 

Sadly Father Odin returned to Asgard, and told 
his wife the words of Hela; but Frigga was not 
troubled in her heart, for she felt sure that nothing 
would hurt her dear son. 

II. 

One beautiful sunny day at the end of summer 
the gods had all gone out to an open field beyond 



BALDUR. 85 

Asgard to have some sports. As tliey all knew 
that nothing could hurt Baldur, they placed him at 
the end of the field for a target, and then took 
turns throwing their darts at him, just for the fun 
of seeing them fall off without hurting him. They 
thought this was showing great honor to Baldur, and 
he was pleased to join in the sport. 

Loki happened to be away when they began to play, 
and when he came was angry in his heart that noth- 
ing could hurt Baldur. 

"Why should he be so favored? I hate him!" 
said Loki to himself, and began at once to plan some 
evil. 

All this while Queen Frigga sat in her palace, 
thinking of all her dear sons, and of how much good 
they did to men. As she sat thus, thinking, and spin- 
ning with her hands, there came a knock at the door. 
The queen called, " Come in ! " and an old woman 
stood before her. 

Frigga spoke kindly to her, and soon the old woman 
said she had passed by the field where the gods were 
playing, and throwing sharp weapons at Baldur. 

"Oh, yes," said Frigga; "neither metal nor wood 
can hurt him, for all things in the world have given 
me their promise." 

" What ! " said the old woman ; " do you mean that 
all things have really vowed to spare Baldur?" 



86 ASGARD STORIES. 

"All," replied the queen, "except one little plant 
that grows on the eastern side of Asgard ; it is called 
mistletoe, and I thought it too small and soft to do 
any harm." 

Before long the old woman went away, and when 
she was quite out of sight of Frigga's palace, threw 
o£E her woman's clothes, and who do you suppose it 
was ? Why, no woman at all, but that wicked Loki, 
of course, who hurried away out of Asgard, to find 
the poor little plant that did not know about Baldur's 
danger. When he came to the place where the plant 
grew, Loki cutting oflf a branch, quickly made a sharp 
arrow, which he carried back to the playground, where 
the iEsir were still at their game, all but one, Hodur, 
the god of darkness, Baldur's blind twin brother. 

Then Loki went up to Hodur, and said to him in 
a low voice, " Why do you not join with the others 
in doing honor to Baldur?" 

"I cannot see to take aim, you know, and besides, 
I have no weapon," said Hodur. 

"Come, then, here is a fine new dart for you, and 
I will guide your hand," whispered wicked Loki ; 
then he slipped the arrow of mistletoe wood into 
Hodur's hand and aimed it himself at Baldur, who 
stood there so bright and smiling. 

Then poor blind Hodur heard a dreadful cry from 
all the gods: Baldur the Beautiful had fallen, struck 



by the arrow ; he would now be taken away from 
them, to live with Hela in the underworld. 

Every heart was filled with sorrow for this dread- 
ful loss; but no one tried to punish him who had 
done the wicked deed, for they stood upon sacred 
ground, and the field was named the Peace-stead, or 
Place of Peace, where no one might hurt another. 
Besides, the gods did not know it was the false Loki 
who hated Baldur, that had struck him down. 

When Frigga heard the sad news, she asked who 
would win her love by going to the underworld 
and begging Hela to let Baldur come back to them. 

Hermod, the swift messenger-god, ready to do his 
mother's bidding, set forth at once on the long jour- 
ney. Nine days and nights he traveled without rest- 
ing, until he came to Hela's underworld. There he 
found Baldur, who was glad to see him, and sent 
messages to his friends in Asgard. Hela said Baldur 
might return to them on one condition : that every 
living creature, and everything in the world must 
weep for him. 

So Hermod hastened back to Asgard, and when 
the iEsir heard Hela's answer, they sent out mes- 
sengei-s over the world to bid all things weep for 
lijildur, their bright sun-god. Then did the beasts, 
the birds, the fishes, the flowers and trees, even 
stones and metals weep; as indeed we can see the 



88 ASGARD STORIES. 

teardrops come to all things when they are changed 
from heat to cold. 

As the messengers were coming back to Asgard 
they met an old woman, whom they bade weep, but 
she replied, " Let Hela keep Baldur down below ; why 
should I care ? '' When the iEsir heard of this, they 
thought it must have been the same old woman who 
went before to Frigga's palace, and we know who 
that was. 

And so Baldur the beautiful, Baldur the bright, 
did not come back, and all the dwellers in Asgard 
were sad and sorrowful without him. 




:s FEA>T. 



— _ r. 

jEgib was 
ll e ruler of the 
I and his home 
deep down below 
the tossing waves, where the 
water is calm and still There was his beautiful 
palace in the wonderfil coral caves its walls all 
hung w th bright-colored seaweeds, and the floor of 
white, sparkling coral sand. Such wonderful sea- 
plants grew all about, and still more wonderful crea- 
tures, some, which you could not tell from flowers, 
waving their pretty fringes in the water ; some sit- 
ting fastened to the rocks and catching their food 
without moving, like the sponges ; others darting 
about and chasing each other. 

" Deep in the wave is a coral grove, 
Where the purple mullet and goldfish rove; 
Where the sea-flower apreada its leaves of blue. 
That never are wet with falling dew, 



90 ASGARD STORIES. 

But in bright and changeful beauty shine 

Far down in the green and glassy brine. 

The floor is of sand, like the mountain drift, 

And the pearl-shells spangle the flinty snow; 

From coral rocks the sea-plants lift 

Their boughs where the tides and billows flow. 

The water is calm and still below, 

For the winds and waves are absent there. 

And the sands are bright as the stars that glow 

In the motionless fields of upper air." PFRnvAi. 

In that ocean home lived the lovely mermaids, who 
sometimes came up above the waves to sit on the 
rocks and comb their long golden hair in the sun- 
shine. They had heads and bodies like beautiful 
maidens, with fish-tails instead of feet. 

One day the gods in Asgard gave a feast, and 
^gir was invited. He could not often leave home 
to visit Asgard, for he was always very busy with 
the ocean winds and tides and storms ; but calling 
his daughters, the waves, he bade them keep the 
ocean quiet while he was away, and look after the 
ships at sea. 

Then ^gir went over Bifrost, the rainbow bridge, 
to Asgard, where they had such a gay party and such 
feasting that he was sorry when the time came to go 
home ; but at last he said good-by to Father Odin 
and the rest of the ^Esir. He thanked them all for 
the pleasure they had given him, saying, "If only I 



-ffiGIR'S FEAST. Ul 

had a kettle that held enough mead for us all to 
drink, I would invite you to visit me." 

Thor, who was always glad to hear about eating 
and drinking, said, "I know of a kettle a mile wide 
and a mile deep ; I will fetch it for you ! " 

Then ^gir was pleased, and set a day for them all 
to come to his great feast. 

So Thor took with him his brother, the brave Tyr, 
who knew best how to find the kettle ; and together 
they started off in Thor's thunder chariot, drawn by 
goats, on their way to Utgard, the home of the 
giants. 

When they reached that land of ice and snow, they 
soon found the house of Hymir, the giant who owned 
" Mile-deep," as the big kettle was called. The gods 
were glad to find that the giant was not at home, 
and his wife, who was more gentle than most of her 
people, asked them to come in and rest, advising 
them to be ready to run when they should hear the 
giant coming, and to hide behind a row of kettles 
which hung from a beam at the back end of the 
hall. "For," said she, "my husband may be very 
angry when he finds strangers here, and often the 
glance of his eye is so fierce that it kills I " 

At first the mighty Thor and brave Tyr were 
not willing to hide like cowards ; but at last they 
agreed to the plan, upon the good wife promising to 



92 ASGARD STORIES. 

call them out as soon as she had told her hu8« 
band about them. 

It was not long before they heard the heavy steps 
of Hymir, as he came striding into his icy home ; and 
very lucky it was for Thor and Tyr that the giantess 
had told them to hide, for when the giant heard that 
two of the ^sir from Asgard were in his home, so 
fierce a flash shot from his eyes that it broke the 
beam from which the kettles hung, and they all fell 
broken on the floor except Mile-deep. 

After a while the giant grew quiet, and at last 
even began to be polite to his guests. He had been 
unlucky at his fishing that day, so he had to kill 
three of his oxen for supper. Thor being hungry, as 
usual, made Hymir quite angry by eating two whole 
oxen, so that, when they rose from the table the giant 
said, "If you keep on eating as much at every meal, 
as you have to-night, Thor, you will have to find your 
own food." 

" Very well," said Thor ; " I will go fishing with you 
in the morning I " 

II. 

Next morning Thor set forth with the giant, and 
as they walked over the fields toward the sea, Thor 
cut off the head of one of the finest oxen, for bait. Of 
course you may know that Hymir was not pleased at 



this, but Thor said he should need the very best kind 
of bait, for he was hoping to catch the Midgard ser- 
pent, that dangerous monster who lived at the bottom 
of the ocean, coiled around the world, with his tail 
in his mouth. 

When they came to the shore where the boat was 
ready, each one took an oar, and they rowed out to 
deep water. Hymir was tired first, and called to 
Thor to stop. " We are far enough out ! " he cried 
"This is my usual fishing-place, where I find the 
best whales. If we go farther the sea will be rougher, 
and we may run into the Midgard serpent." 

As this was just what Thor wanted, he 'rowed all 
the harder, and did not stop until they were far out 
on the ocean ; then he baited his hook with the ox's 
head, and threw it overboard. Soon there came a 
fierce jerk on the line ; it grew heavier and heavier, 
but Thor pulled with all his might. He tugged so 
hard that he broke through the bottom of the boat, 
and had to stand on the slippery rocks beneath. 

All this time the giant was looking on, .wondering 
what was the matter, but when he saw the horrid 
head of the Midgard serpent rising above the waves, 
he was so frightened that he cut the line ; and Thor, 
after trying so hard to rid the world of that danger- 
ous monster, saw him fall back again under the water ; 
even Miolnir, the magic hammer, which Thor hurled 



94 ASGARt) STORIfiS. 

at the creature, was too late to hit him. And so the 
two fishermen had to turn back, and wade to the 
shore, carrying the broken boat and oars with them. 

The giant was proud to think he had been too quick 
for Thor, and after they reached the house he said to 
the thunder-god, " Since you think you are so strong, 
let us see you break this goblet ; if you succeed, I 
will give you the big kettle." 

This was just what Thor wanted; so he tightened 
his belt of strength, and threw the goblet with all 
his might against the wall ; but instead of breaking 
the goblet he broke the wall. 

A second time he tried, but did no better. Then 
the giant's wife whispered to Thor, "Throw it at 
his head!" And she sang in a low voice, as she 
turned her spinning-wheel, — 

** Hard the pillar, hard the stone, 
Harder yet the giant^s bone ! 
Stones shall break and pillars fall, 
Hymir's forehead breaks them all I '* 

Yet again Thor threw the goblet, this time against 
the giant's head, and it fell, broken in pieces. 

Then Tyr tried to lift the Mile-deep kettle, for 
he was in a hurry to leave this land of ice and 
snow; but he could not stir it from its place, and 
Thor had to help him, before they could get it out 
of the giant's house. 



JEQIR'S FEAST. 95 

When Hymir saw the gods, whom he hated, carry- 

« 

ing off his kettle, he called all his giant friends, and 
they started out in chase of the Aisiv; but when 
Thor heard them coming he turned and saw their 
fierce, grinning faces glaring down at him from 
every rocky peak and iceberg. 

Then the mighty Thunderer raised Miolnir, the 
hammer, above his head, and hurled it among the 
giants, who became stiff and cold, all turned into 
giant rocks, that still stand by the shore. 

III. 

Mg\T was very glad to get Mile-deep ; so he set 
to work to make the mead in it, to get ready for 
the great feast, at the time of the flax harvest, when 
all the iEsir were coming from Asgard to visit him. 

Before the day came, all light and joy had gone 
from the sacred city, because the bright Baldur had 
been slain, and the homes of the gods were dark 
and lonely without him. So they were all glad to 
visit iGgir, to find cheer for their sadness. 

There was Father Odin, with his golden helmet, 
and Queen Frigga, wearing her crown of stars, 
golden-haired Sif, Freyja, with Brisingamen, the won- 
derful necklace, and all the noble company of the 
jEsir, all except mighty Thor, who had gone far away 
to the giant-land. 



96 ASGARD STORIES. 

As they all sat in iEgir's beautiful ocean hall, 
drinking the sweet mead, and talking together, Loki 
came in and stood before them; but, finding he was 
not welcome, and no seat saved for him, he began 
saying ugly things to make them all angry, and at 
last he grew angry himself, and slew iEgir's servant 
because they praised him. The JEsir drove him out 
from the hall, but oiice more he came in, and said 
such dreadful things that at last Frigga said, "Oh, 
if my son Baldur were only here, he would silence 
thy wicked tongue ! " 

Then Loki turned to Frigga, and told her that 
he himself was the very one who had slain Baldur. 
He had no sooner spoken than a heavy peal of 
thunder shook the hall, and angry Thor strode in, 
waving his magic hammer. Seeing this, the coward 
Loki turned and fled, and Asgard was rid of him 
forever. 




ENTOFLm 



When Loki was 
' driven out by the 
mighty Thor from 
jEgir's palace-liFili 
he knew that he could 
never again be niiowed to 
come among the gods in 
Asgard. Many times had this mischievous fire-god 
brought trouble and sorrow to the ^sir, but now 
he had done the most oruel deed of all, he had slain 
Baldur the Good, and had driven all light and joy 
from Asgard. 

Far away he fled, among the mountains, hoping that 
no one would find him there ; and near a lovely moun- 
tain stream he built for himself a hut with four doors 
looking north, east, south, and west, so that if the wise 
AUfather, on his high air throne in Asgard, should 
see him, and send messengers to punish him, the 
watchful Loki could see them coming and escape by 
the opposite door. 

He spent most of the days and nights thinking how 



98 ASGARD STORIES. 

he could get away from the ^sir. " If I ran to the 
stream and turned myself into a fish," he thought, 
" I wonder if they could catch me. I could keep out 
of the way of a hook ; but then there are nets ; 
jEgir's wife has a wonderful thing like a net, for 
catching fish, and that would be far worse than a 
hook ! " 

When Loki thought of the net, he began to wonder 
how it was made, and the more he thought, the more 
he wished he could make one so as to see how a fish 
could keep from getting caught in it. He sat down 
by the fire in his little hut, took a piece of cord and 
began to make a fish-net. He had nearly finished it 
when, looking up through the open door, he saw 
three of the ^sir in the distance, coming toward his 
hut. Loki well knew that they were coming to catch 
him, and, quickly throwing his net into the fire, he 
ran to the stream, changed himself into a beautiful 
spotted salmon, and leaped into the water. 

A moment later the three gods entered the hut, and 
one of them spied the fish-net burning in the fire. 
" See ! " cried he, " Loki must have been making this 
net to catch fish ; he always was a good fisherman, 
and now this is just what we want for catching 
him!" 

So they snatched the last bit of the net from the 
fire, and by looking at it found out how to make 




THE PUNISIIMKNT OF LOKL 



THE PUNISHMENT OF LOKI. 101 

another, which they took with them to the bank of 
the stream. 

The first time the net was put into the water, Loki 
hid between two rocks, and the net was so light that 
it floated past him ; but the next time it had a heavy 
stone weight, which made it sink down, till Loki 
saw he could not get away unless he could leap over 
the net. He did this, but Thor, seeing him, waded 
out into the stream, where he threw the net again, 
BO that Loki must jump a second time, or else go 
on out into the deep sea. 

As he leaped, Thor stooped and caught him in his 
hand, but the fish was so slippery that Thor could 
hardly hold it. In the struggle the salmon's tail 
was pinched so tightly by the thunder-god's strong 
fingers that it was drawn out to a point, and the 
old stories say that is why salmon tails are so pointed 
ever since. 

Thus was Loki caught in his own trap, and 
dreadful was his punishment. The ^sir chained 
him to a high rock, and placed a great, poisonous 
serpent, hanging over the cliff above his head. 

If it had not been for Loki's good, faithful wife, 
he would have died of the poison that dropped from 
the snake's mouth. She watched by her husband, 
holding a cup above him to catch the poison. 
Only when she had to turn aside to empty the cup 



102 ASGARD STORIES. 

did the drops fall upon Loki ; then they gave him 
such terrible pain that he shook the earth with his 
struggles, and the people in Midgard fled from the 
dreadful earthquake, in Iceland the great geysers, 
springs of hot water, burst through the earth, and 
in the south-lands burning ashes and lava poured 
down the mountain-sides. 

There, chained to the cliff, the cruel, mischievous 
Loki was to lie until the Twilight of the gods, the 
dark day of Ragnarok, when all the mighty evil 
monsters and beasts would get free, and the terrible 
battle be fought between them and the gods of 
Asgard. 




um<m. 



LOKi and Ffn- 
rir, the woif, w.;ie 
safely bound, eiich 
liis separate cliff, but 
I happiness and peace 
dill not return to Aa- 
gard, for Haldur was no longer there, and light and 
joy bad gone from the home of the go<ls. The JEsir 
felt that the Twilight of the gods, which Odin knew 
was to come, must be near. 

Soon began a long cold winter ; surely it must 
be the beginning of the' Fimbulwinter, which was 
to come before the last great battle. From the 
north came eold blasts of freezing wind ; snow and 
ice covered the earth ; men could not see the face 
of the siin or the moon. Everywhere there^ was 
darkness; the people grew fierce and unhappy and 
wicked, for they seemed no longer to love each 
other. So the evil deeds of men kept on, and 
the fierce frost giants grew stronger and stronger, 
lOS 



104 ASGARD STORIES. 

They killed the trees and flowers, and bound the 
lakes and rivers with icy bands. 

Even when summer time came, the cold still held 
on, and no one could see the green grass or the 
beautiful golden sunlight. The frost giants were 
pleased to see the trouble they had brought upon 
men, and hoped they soon could destroy Asgard and 
the gods. 

Three long winters passed, with no light to warm 
and brighten the world ; . after that still three 
other dreary winters, and then the eagle who sat on 
the top of the great world tree, Yggdrasil, gave a 
loud, shrill cry; at that the earth shook, the rocks 
crumbled and fell, so that Loki and the wolf were 
freed from their chains. 

The waters of the deep ocean rose and rolled high 
over the land, and up above the waves writhing 
out of the deep, came the monster Midgard serpent 
to join in the last battle. Now the enemies of the 
gods were gathering from all sides, — the frost 
giants, the mountain giants, with Loki, Fenrir, and 
the Midgard serpent. 

Heimdall, the faithful watchman, looked from his 
watch-tower by the rainbow bridge, and when he 
saw the host of monsters appearing and raging 
toward Asgard, he blew his magic horn, Giallar, 
which was the signal of warning to the gods. 




THOR FIGHTING THE SEHPENT. 



THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. 107 

When Father Odin heard the blast of HeimdalFs 
horn, he hastened to arm himself for the battle ; 
once again it is said the AUfather sought wisdom at 
Mimir's fountain, asking to know how best to lead 
the iEsir against their enemies. But what Mimir 
said to him no one ever knew, for a second call 
sounded from the Giallar horn, and the gods, with 
Odin at their head, rode forth from Asgard to meet 
their foes. 

Thor took his place beside Odin, but they were 
soon parted in the struggle. The thunder-god 
fell upon his old enemy, the serpent, whom twice 
before he had tried to slay, and after a fierce fight, 
he at last conquered and slew the monster; but the 
poisonous breath from the serpent's mouth overcame 
the mighty Thor, and he also fell. 

Heimdall and Loki came face to face, and each 
slew the other. Thus every one of the gods battled 
each with his foe, till at last the darkness grew 
deeper, and all, both gods and giants lay dead. Then 
fire burst forth, raging from Utgard to Asgard — and 
all the worlds were destroyed in that dreadful day 
of Ragnarok. 

But this was not the end of all : after many 
months, and years, and even centuries had passed, 
a new world began to appear, with the fair oce«n]i, 
and the beautiful land, with a bright, shining sun 



108 ASGARD STORIES. 

by day, and the moon and stars by night. Then 
once more the light and heat from the sun made the 
grass and trees grow, and the flowers bloom. 

Baldur and Hodur came to this beautiful new 
world, and walked and talked together. Thor's sons 
were there, too, and with them, the hammer, Miolnir, 
no longer for use against giants, but for helping 
men build homes.- 

Two people, a man and a woman, who were kept 
safe through the raging fire, now came to dwell on 
the earth, and all their children and grandchildren 
lived at peace with each other in this beautiful new 
world. 

Baldur and Hodur talked often of the old days 
when the ^sir dwelt in Asgard, before Loki, the 
wicked one, brought darkness and trouble to them. 
With loving words they spoke of Odin and Frigga ; 
and the brave Tyr, who gave his right hand to save 
the ^sir ; of mighty Thor ; and faithful Heimdall ; 
of lovely Freyja, with her beautiful necklace ; and of 
fair Iduna's garden, where they used to sit and eat 
her magic apples. " But still," they said, " we know 
now that this new world is fairer than the old, and 
here, also, the loving Allfather watches over his 
children." 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



JEgtr (a'jir). God of the deep sea. 

iBsir (a'sir). The twelve gods of Asgard. 

Alfheim (&lf hini)- Home of the elves and of Frey, 

Asgard (as'gard). The home of the JEsir. 

Baldur (bftl'der). The sun-god. 

Bifr5Bt (be'frSst). The rainbow bridge. 

Bragi (bra'ge). The god of poetry. Husband of Iduna. 

Brisingamen (bri sing'a men). Freyja's necklace. 

Brock. One of the dwarfs. 

Fenrir. The monster wolf. 

Fimbulwinter (fim'bul). The last stormy winter. 

Prey (fri). The god of summer and of tlie elves. 

Freyja (fri'ya). The goddess of love and beauty. 

Frigga (frlg'a). The queen of the gods. Wife of Odin. 

Giallar-Horn (Gyariar). Heimdall's trumpet. 

Gladsheim (gladz'hlm). Odin's palace. 

Heimdall (him'dal). Guardian of the rainbow bridge. 

Hela (he'la). Queen of the underworld. 

Hermod (hSr'mod). The messenger-god. 

Hodur (ho'der). God of darkness. Baldur*s brother. 

H5nir (hS'nir). God of mind or thought. 

Hymir (he'mir). The frost giant who owned the great kettle 

called Mile-deep. 
Iduna (e doon'a). Goddess of spring. 
J5tunheim (yg'toon him). Home of the giants. 
Loki (Id'ke). God of fire. 
Midgard. The earth. 

Bfimir (me'mir). Guardian of the well of wisdom. 
MiOlnir (mySl'nir). Thor's magic hammer. 

109 



110 AS6ABD STORIES. 

Niflheim (nlfl'him). The underground world. 

NiOrd (nySrd). God of the seashore. 

Norns. I'he three Fates. 

Odin (d'din). The father, or chief, of the gods. 

Odur (o'dar). Freyja's husband. 

RagnarOk (rag'na riik). The Twilight of the gods. 

Sif. Wife of Thor. 

Sindri. One of the dwarfs. 

Skadi (ska'de). Thiassi's daughter. 

Sleipnir (sllp'nir). Odin's eight-footed steed. 

Thiaasi (teas^se). A frost giant. Skadi's father. 

Thor (thor or tor). God of thunder. 

Tyr (ter) or Tin (tii). God of war. 

XJtgard (dot'gard). City of the giants, in Jotunheim. 

yggdraail (ig'dr&sil). The world tree. 



KEY TO PRONUNCIATION, 

% oiin ale. f^ asin aU. 6 as in fern 

ft as in am. a as in ask. I as in ioe. 

ft Off in arm. ^ as in eve. I asiniXL 

6 as in old. t. as in urn. 

Sbasin foot. a at m use. 

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