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 simplicity, 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 mythology 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 folklore of his race.”

While many works have been consulted in the preparation of this volume, the authors are especially indebted to the following: Thorpe’s translation of Sæmund’s “Edda”; “The Younger Edda,” in translations; Anderson’s “Norse Mythology”; Guerber’s “Myths of Northern Lands”; William and Mary Howitt’s “Literature and Romance of Northern Europe”; and Mallet’s “Northern Antiquities.”

Brookline, Mass.,
September, 1901.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
The Story of the Beginning[1]
Odin’s Reward[9]
Tyr and the Wolf[15]
Freyja’s Necklace[25]
The Hammer of Thor[33]
Thor’s Wonderful Journey[38]
How Thor lost his Hammer[50]
A Gift from Frigga[58]
The Stealing of Iduna[62]
Skadi[76]
Baldur[82]
Ægir’s Feast[89]
The Punishment of Loki[97]
The Twilight of the Gods[103]