"Well," said Flora, "that is not a real sword, with a handle and an edge."
"The Bible says it has two edges."
"Nonsense! you know what I mean."
"I know. Certainly, Flora, the weapons of that battle may not be weapons of flesh and blood, or for flesh and blood; but the battle is real, don't you see? and the awful overthrow and destruction, and what I am wondering about is, how those old Saxons knew there would be such a battle at the end? and how they knew that the mischief would in some sense come from the devil."
"Did they know it?"
"The wolf Fenris was one of the devil's children, as they made it out. And another was the serpent which Odin cast into the sea, where it grew and grew till it had wound up the whole earth in its folds. That is very curious!"
"What, Ditto?"
"How did they know that?"
"Know what?"
"Why, don't you see? The serpent is one of the Bible words for the devil; here, it is a child of the devil who, coming to the earth, has enveloped the whole world in his toils. The Bible says, I know, somewhere, that those who are not saved by Christ are 'in the Wicked one.' How did they know so much, and so little, those old people?"