| PAGE | ||
| I. | How All Things Began | [1] |
| II. | Odin’s Search for Wisdom | [9] |
| III. | The Story of the Magic Mead | [18] |
| IV. | Gods and Men | [27] |
| V. | Sif’s Golden Hair and the Making of the Hammer | [40] |
| VI. | The Binding of the Fenris Wolf | [51] |
| VII. | How Thor Went Fishing | [58] |
| VIII. | The Building of the Fortress | [66] |
| IX. | How the Hammer Was Lost and Found | [73] |
| X. | Iduna’s Apples | [80] |
| XI. | How Thor’s Pride Was Brought Low. Part I | [91] |
| XII. | How Thor’s Pride Was Brought Low. Part II | [100] |
| XIII. | The Wooing of Gerd | [109] |
| XIV. | How Thor Fought the Giant Hrungner | [117] |
| XV. | The Story of Balder | [126] |
| XVI. | Andvari’s Hoard | [137] |
| XVII. | The Story of Siegmund | [149] |
| XVIII. | The Vengeance of the Volsungs | [159] |
| XIX. | The Magic Sword | [169] |
| XX. | The Slaying of Fafnir | [183] |
| XXI. | The Valkyrie | [196] |
| XXII. | Siegfried at Gunther’s Court | [204] |
| XXIII. | The Wooing of Brunhilde | [215] |
| XXIV. | How Brunhilde Came to Burgundy | [228] |
| XXV. | The Death of Siegfried | [238] |
| XXVI. | The Last of the Hoard | [251] |
| XXVII. | The Punishment of Loki | [259] |
| XXVIII. | The Twilight of the Gods | [266] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| FACING PAGE | |
| Odin disguised as a Traveller | [21] |
| Loki | [41] |
| Siegfried and the Famous Sword Balmung | [183] |
| Siegfried fighting the Dragon | [190] |
| Valkyrie bearing Hero to Valhalla | [200] |
| Wotan’s Farewell to Brunhilde | [202] |
| Siegfried’s Triumphant Entry into Burgundy with Captives and Spoils | [211] |
| Gunther and Brunhilde arrive at Burgundy and are received by Kriemhild | [232] |
| Gunther and Brunhilde | [236] |
| Siegfried and Kriemhild | [240] |
| Loki and Sigyn | [264] |
Stories from Northern Myths
How All Things Began
LONG, long ago, before the earth was made,—and there was no sea and sky or night and day,—the vast, unending Land of Mist stretched away on one side of a bottomless gulf,[1] on the other side of which lay the Land of Fire. The Land of Mist was called Niflheim, and here eternal winter reigned with fog and snow and darkness that wrapped the dreary land about like a shroud. From the heart of Niflheim there flowed a dark, tumultuous river, and as it rushed down into the chasm at its edge, the waters met the cold blasts that swept up from below, and great mountains of ice were formed on the side of the gulf over which the chill fogs gathered and the bitter winds blew.