Stream through the Heavens
Is but my red beard
Blown by the night wind.
Mine eyes are the lightning
The wheels of my chariot
Roll in the thunder;
The blows of my hammer
Ring in the earthquake.”
Odin and Thor were the two chief gods, but beside them there were many others of whom we cannot now speak. How strong a hold this religion had over our Saxon ancestors can be seen from our names for the days of the week. Wednesday is but a corruption of the old Odin’s day, Thursday is Thor’s day, while Friday is so called from Freya the goddess of love.
Christianity was first preached in Iceland about the year 981. The earliest missionaries of the cross did not go forth filled with the spirit of meekness that their Master taught, but with sword in hand. Thorwald and Thangbrand were the two first apostles to Iceland. Of the latter an old chronicler says, he “was a passionate, ungovernable person, and a great manslayer, but a good scholar, and clever. He was two years in Iceland, and was the death of three men before he left it.” These fiery christians were followed by others who resorted to more gentle means, and as a result large numbers were converted to christianity. So strong had the new religion become that the followers of the old gods were alarmed, and it was feared that civil war would follow. The better sense of the nation, however, prevailed, and it was decided to summon an assembly of the entire people to decide what the national religion should be. In the midst of the meeting, when the debate was at its height, a loud rumble of earthquake beneath their feet shook the ground. “Listen,” said a follower of Odin, “and beware of the anger of our gods; they will consume us with their fires, if we venture to question their authority.” The crowd were moved and all seemed lost to the christian party, when one of their chiefs demanded, pointing to the desolation about him, “With whom were the gods angry, when these hills were melted,” a piece of common sense that carried the day, for the assembly declared christianity the religion of the country. Since that day it has never changed.