[23]. In this he certainly excels the lawyers and judges of the present day.
[24]. There is no account of any of the Scandinavian deities using the razor; not even the weakest and simplest of them; that folly being specially reserved for men. Bragi in preserving the manly appendage, the beard, showed himself in this, as in other things, one of the foremost of his race, and a fit associate for superior intelligences.
[25]. A character much like Ceres.
[26]. In this myth we see a quiet satire on those, who to gratify some darling passion or desire, sacrifice their most valuable possessions.
[27]. A sort of female Æsculapius.
[28]. Their names are Geirölul, Göll, Herfjötur, Hlökk, Hrist, Mist, Radgrid, Randgrid, Reginlief, Skeggold, Skögul, and Þrudur.
CHAPTER XXIV
SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY CONCLUDED.—ADVENTURES OF THOR, AND THE DEATH OF BALDUR.
NEARLY all the deities have been noticed. The origin of night and day, and the sun and moon are thus given. The giant Njörvi, who dwelt in Jötunheim, had a daughter called Night,[[29]] who, like all of her race, was of a dark and swarthy complexion. Night married a man named Annar, and had a daughter called Earth.[[30]] She next espoused Delling, one of the Æsir; and their son was Day,[[31]] a child light and beauteous like its father. Odin then gave to Night and her son Day two horses and two cars, and set them up in the heavens, to drive successively one after the other round the world in twelve hours’ time. Night goes first, driving the horse Hrimfaxi; and he, every morn, as he ends his course, bedews the earth with foam that falls from his bit. Day follows with his horse Skinfaxi; and from his mane light is shed over the earth and the heavens. The man Mundilfari had two children so lovely and graceful that he called the boy Máni (moon), and the girl Sol (sun). The gods, being angry at the man’s presumption, placed his children in the heavens. The bright and illuminated car of the sun, which the gods made out of the sparks that fell from Muspelheim, to give light to the world, was drawn by the horses Arvak and Alsvid, and driven by Sól. Máni was set to direct the moon in his course, and guide his increasing and waning aspect. Two wolves, Sköll and Hati, are constantly in pursuit of the sun and moon; and it is on this account that they fly so swiftly through the heavens. One day these wolves will overtake and devour them.
One of the gods is named LOKI; and to him is ascribed nearly all the evil that is suffered in the world. He was the calumniator of the Æsir, the contriver of frauds and mischief, and the disgrace of both gods and men. He had a terrible offspring by Angurbodi, a giantess of Jötunheim. These were, the wolf Fenrir, the Midgard serpent, and Hela, or Death. The wolf Fenrir could only be fed by TYR, the god of Bravery, who, as will be seen, was called the one-handed. Tyr is the most daring and intrepid of the gods. He dispenses valor in battle, and his aid is invoked by warriors. The gods were warned by the oracles, that the power of the wolf was becoming dangerous; and Tyr attempted to make a fetter to bind him. The first trial failed, the wolf snapping the cords asunder as if they had been threads. Tyr next made the fetter called Gleipnir, fashioning it out of six things; namely, the noise made out of the foot-fall of a cat, the beards of women, the roots of stones, the sinews of bears, the breath of fish, and the spittle of birds. Though this cord was as fine and soft as silk, the wolf would not consent to be bound with it, unless Tyr would let him take one of his hands in his mouth. To this he consented; and the gods then bound the wolf; and, finding he could not free himself by breaking the fetter, he revenged himself by biting off the right hand of Tyr. When the offspring of Loki were born, Odin sent for them; and after having the wolf put in fetters, threw the Midgard serpent into the ocean that surrounded the earth. Here the monster grew to such size that he encircled the whole earth, with his tail in his mouth. HELA (Death) was cast by Odin into Niflheim; and her abode is known as Helheim, or Hel. Her habitation is surrounded by exceedingly high walls, and strongly-barred gates. Her hall is called Elvidmir; Hunger is her table; Starvation, her knife; Delay, her man; Slowness, her maid; Precipice, her threshold; Care, her bed; and Burning Anguish forms the hanging of her apartments.