Norse Mythology

^^^m,'^^^' Section .tP 231922 NORSE OB, THE RELIGION OF OUR FOREFATHERS, CONTAINING ALL THE MYTHS OF THE EDDAS, SYSTEMATIZED AND INTEEPEETED. AN INTRODUCTION, VOCABULARY AND INDEX. By E. B. ANDERSON, A.M., PROFESSOR OF THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES IN THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN, AUTHOR OP "AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS," "den NORSKE MAALSAG," ETC. CHICAGO: S. C. GKIGGS AND COMPANY. LONDON. TRUBNER & CO. 1875. COPTKIGHT 1875. By 8. C, GRIGGS AND COMPANY. I KMIGHT St LEONARD I ELECTROTYPED BY A. ZEESE <tl CO. TO HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, THE AMERICAN POET, WHO HAS NOT ONLY REFRESHED HIMSELF AT THE CASTALIAN FOUNTAIN, BUT ALSO COMMUNED WITH BRAGE, AND TAKEN DEEP DRAUGHTS FROM THE WELLS OF URD AND MIMER, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED, WITH THE GRATEFUl. REVERENCE OF THE AUTHOR. I think Scandinavian Paganism, to us here, is more interesting than any other. It is, for one thing, the latest ; it continued in these regions of Europe till the eleventh century : eight hundred years ago the Norwegians were still worshipers of Odin. It is interesting also as the creed of our fathers ; the men whose blood still runs in our veins, whom doubtless we still resemble in so many ways. Strange : they did believe that, while we believe so differently. Let us look a little at this poor Norse creed, for many reasons. We have tolerable means to do it ; for there is another point of interest in these Scandinavian mythologies : that they have been preserved so well. Neither is there no use in knowing something about this old Paganism of our fathers. Unconsciously, and combined with higher things, it is in us yet, that old faith withal. To know it consciously brings us into closer and clearer relations with the past,— with our own possessions in the past. For the whole past, as I keep repeating, is the possession of the present. The past had always something true, and is a precious possession. In a different time, in a different place, it is always some other side of our common human nature that has been developing itself. — Thomas Carlyle. PREFACE. AMERICA Not Discovered by Columbus having -^-^ been so favorably received by the press gener- ally, as well as by many distinguished scholars, who have expressed themselves in very flattering terms of our recent debut in English, we venture to appear again; and, although the subject is somewhat different, it still (as did the first) has its fountain head in the literature of the North. We come, this time, encouraged by all your kind words, with higher aspirations, and perhaps, too, with less timidity and modesty. We come to ask your opinion of Norse mythology. We come to ask whether Norse mythology is not equally as worthy of your attention as the Greek. Nay, we come to ask whether you will not give the Norse the preference. We pro- pose to call your attention earnestly, in this volume, to the merits of our common Gothic or Teutonic inheritance, and to chat a few hours with you about the imaginative, poetic and prophetic period of our Gothic history. We are well aware that we are here giving you a book full of imperfections so far as style, origi- nality, arrangement and external adornment of the (7) 8 PREFACE. subject is concerned, and we shall not take it much to heart, even if we are severely criticised in these respects; we shall rather take it as an earnest admo- nition to study and improve in language and com- position for the future. But, if the spirit of the book, that is, the cause which we have undertaken to plead therein,— if that be frowned down, or rejected, or laughed at, we shall be the recipient of a most bitter disappointment, and yet we shall not wholly despair. The time must come, when our common Gothic inheritance will be loved and respected. There will come men — ay, there are already men in our midst who will advo- cate and defend its rights on American soil with sharper steel than ours. And, though we may find but few roses and many thorns on our pathway, we shall not suffer our ardor in our chosen field of labor to be diminished. We are determined not to be discouraged. What we claim for this work is, that it is the first complete and systematic presentation of the Norse mythology in the English language; and this we think is a sufficient reason for our asking a humble place upon your book-shelves. And, while we make this claim, we fully appreciate the value of the many excellent treatises and translations that have appeared on this subject in England. We do not undervalue the labors of Dasent, Thorpe, Pigott, Car- lyle, etc., but none of these give a comprehensive PKEFACE. 9 account of all the deities and the myths in full. There is, indeed, no work outside of Scandinavia that covers the whole ground. So far as America is concerned, the only work on Norse mythology that has hitherto been published in this country is Bar- clay Pen"xock's translation of the Norse Professor Kudolph Keyser's Religion of the Northmen. This is indeed an excellent and scholarly work, and a valuable contribution to knowledge ; but, instead of pre- senting the mythology of the Norsemen, it interprets it; and Professor Keyser is yet one of the most eminent authorities in the exposition of the Asa doc- trine. Pennock's translation of Keyser is a book of three hundred and forty-six pages, and of these only sixteen are devoted to a synopsis of the mythology; and it is, as the reader may judge, nothing but a very brief synopsis. The remaining three hundred and thirty pages contain a history of Old Norse literature, an interpretation of the Odinic religion, and an exhibition of the manner of worship among the heathen Norsemen. In a word, Pennock's book pre- supposes a knowledge of the subject; and for one who has this, we would recommend PennocTc's Key- ser as the best work extant in English. We are indebted to it for many valuable paragraphs in this volume. • This subject has, then, been investigated by many able writers; and, in preparing this volume, we have borrowed from their works all t*he light they could 10 PKEFACE. slied upon our pathway. The authors we have chiefly- consulted are named in the accompanying list While we have used their very phrase whenever it was con- venient, we have not followed them in a slavish manner. We have made such changes as in our judgment seemed necessary to give our work harmony and symmetry throughout. We at first felt disposed to give the reader a mere translation either of N. M. Petersen, or of Grundtvig, or of P. A. Munch; but upon further reflection we came to the conclu- sion that we could treat the subject more satisfac- torily to ourselves, and fully as acceptably to our readers, by sketching out a plan of our own, and making free use of all the best writers upon this subject. And as we now review our pages, we find that N. M. Petersen has served us the most. Much of his work has been appropriated in an almost unchanged form. Although many of the ideas set forth in this work may seem new to American readers, yet they are by no means wholly original. Many of them have for many years been successfully advocated in Scandinavian countries, and to some extent, also, in Germany and England. Our aim has not at present been so much to make original investigations, as — that which is far more needed and to the purpose — to give the fruits of the labors performed in the North, and call the attention of the American pub- lic earnestly to the wealth stored up in the Eddas and Sas^as of Iceland. No one can doubt the cor- PREFACE. 11 rectuess of our position in this matter, when he reflects that we are now drawing near the close of the nineteenth century, and have not yet had a complete Norse mythology in the English language, while the number of Greek and Eoman mythologies is legion. Bayard Taylor said to us, recently, that the Scandinavian languages, in view of their rich literature, in view of the light which this literature throws upon early English history, and in view of the im- portance of Icelandic in a successful study of English and Anglo-Saxon, ought to be taught in every col- lege in Viuland; and that is the very pith of what we have to say in this preface. We have had excellent aid from Dr. S. H. Car- penter, who combines broad general culture with a thorough knowledge of Old English and Anglo-Saxon. He has read every page of this work, and we hereby thank him for the generous sympathy and advice which he has invariably given us. To President John Bascora we are under obligations for kind words and valuable suggestions. We hereby extend heartfelt thanks to Professor Willard Fiske, of Cornell Uni- versity, for aid and encouragement; to Mrs. Ole Bull, for free use of her excellent library; and to the poet, H. W. Longfellow, for permitting us to make extracts from his works, and to inscribe this volume to him as the Nestor among American writers on Scandinavian themes. May the persons here named find that this our work, in spite of its faults, ad- 12 PREFACE. vances, somewhat, the interest in the studies of North- ern literature in this country.

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