PART I.
Olave the Second—one of the early kings of Denmark, of the race of Dan. These princes believed themselves descended from Odin. Olave was a worthless, profligate prince, who left two sons, who succeeded him; the elder, Frotho the Fifth, murdered his brother Harold, and afterwards the assassin who, by his own order, had stabbed him. He endeavoured to secure the persons of the princes his nephews; but a nobleman, friend to their father, conveyed them out of his reach, and concealed them in a cave till they were of an age to revenge these injuries.
Asgard—the country of the gods; the Olympus of the north.
Valasciolf—its chief city, in which the principal divinities and more illustrious dead resided in magnificent palaces.
Valhalla—the chief palace of Valasciolf, the regal residence of Odin.
Niftheim—Hell. A territory of devouring flames, typifying eternal remorse; the abode of the evil principle and his attendant spirits.
Feggo—the brother of Harwendil, king of Jutland, and uncle to Hamlet. The latter prince feigned madness after the murder of his father, but killed Feggo at a festival. He succeeded to the crown, which he wore with honour, till killed in battle by Viglet, king of Denmark.
Lok—the evil principle. He gave birth to Midgard (sin), the snake whose folds encircle the earth—Hela (death)—and the wolf Fenris, the guardian of the gate of hell; these were the evil progeny of Lok, begotten for the destruction of the human race.
Surter—the evil divinity of fire—the next in rank to Lok. The Scythians represented him as a beautiful youth; the Saxons as an old man, to whose honour they dedicated the seventh day of the week.
Balder—son of Odin, god of eloquence and poetry, and ruler of the sun—the Scandinavian Apollo. He was represented as a youth with a burning wheel upon his breast; his face resembled the sun.
Nastronde—According to the Scandinavian mythology, at the end of the world, during a night which was to last a year, a tremendous battle was to be fought between the good and evil spirits, in which the former were to conquer and reign in Gimle, a more glorious heaven than Asgard; while the wicked were to be banished to Nastronde, a new hell, made purposely for them.
PART II.
Maelstrom, Malestrom, or Moskoestrom—a tremendous whirlpool on the Norwegian coast, very dangerous, and often fatal to navigators venturing too near it. Moskoe is an island situated in the gulf: there are also several others.
Sleipner—the warrior horse of Odin. He had four black legs and four white ones: he generally travelled through the air.
Rinda—daughter of Balder, and mother of Vile, by Odin. The favourite goddess of the Scandinavian women.
Hydrasil—the tree of heaven, standing in the garden of Odin. It was the abode of the disposer of man’s destiny.