Fierce on his enemies fell Indra’s weapon: with his sharp horn he rent their towns in pieces.
He with his thunderbolt dealt blows on Vritra, and conquered, executing all his purpose.
THE FOUR APES
(From the “Book of the Dead”)
“Hail, ye four apes, who sit in the bows of the boat of Rā, who convey right and truth to Neb-er-tchu, who sit in judgment on my misery and on my strength, who make the gods to rest contented by means of the flame of your mouths, who offer holy offerings to the gods and sepulchral meals to the Khus who live upon right and truth, and who feed upon right and truth of heart, who are without deceit and fraud and to whom wickedness is an abomination, do ye away with my evil deeds, and put ye away my sin which deserved stripes upon earth, and destroy ye any evil whatsoever that belongeth unto me, and let there be no obstacle whatsoever on my part toward you. O, grant ye I may make my way through the underworld. O, grant that there may be given to me cakes and ale and sweetmeats, even as they are given to the living Khus.”
The four apes make answer, saying, “Come then, for we have done away with thy wickedness, and we have put away thy sin, along with the sin deserving of stripes which thou didst commit upon earth, and we have destroyed all the evil which belonged to thee upon earth. There shall be given unto thee cakes and ale and sweetmeats, and thou shalt come forth and thou shalt enter in at thy desire, even as do those Khus who are favored of the god, and thou shalt be proclaimed each day in the horizon.”
STORY OF THE MIDGARD SERPENT AND FENRIS THE WOLF
(From the Norse Eddas)
This huge beast was one of the children of Loke, a troublesome, mischievous giant, who forced himself upon the society of the gods. His delight was to get them into all sorts of difficulties, and then by his cunning, wit and skill to extricate them. The gods knew that as the Midgard serpent grew larger he would bring untold troubles upon gods and men. So Odin thought the best way to dispose of him would be to throw him into the deep ocean which surrounds the earth. He did so, but the serpent has grown to such an enormous size, that holding his tail in his mouth, he encircles the whole earth. One time the god Thor went with his servant Loke to the land of the giants. After some adventures they came to a city, standing in the middle of a plain. It was so lofty that they were obliged to bend their necks quite back on their shoulders in order to see the top of it. On arriving, they entered the city, and seeing a large palace before them with the door wide open, they went in and found a number of men of prodigious stature sitting on benches in the hall. Going further they came before the king, Utgard-Loke, whom they saluted with great respect. The king, regarding them with a scornful smile, said, “If I do not mistake me, that stripling yonder must be the god Thor.” Utgard-Loke then asked Thor and his companions in what feats they excelled, for he said, “No one is permitted to remain here who does not, in some feat or other, excel all other men.” Various feats of strength were tried, then Utgard-Loke said, “We have a very trifling game here. It consists merely in lifting my cat from the ground; nor should I have dared to mention such a feat to the great Thor if I had not already observed that thou art by no means what we took thee for.”
As he finished a large gray cat sprang on the hall floor. Thor put his hand under the cat, and did his utmost to raise him from the floor, but the cat, bending his back, had, notwithstanding all Thor’s efforts, only one of his feet lifted up, seeing which Thor made no further attempt.