



Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/American Libraries.)









                THE
          HEROES OF ASGARD

 _TALES FROM SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY_


 BY A. & E. KEARY

 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HUARD

 New York

 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

 LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD.

 1909

 _All rights reserved_


 New edition September, 1906. Reprinted July, 1909.

 Norwood Press:

 Berwick & Smith Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.




PREFACE.


In preparing the Second Edition of this little volume of tales from
the Northern Mythology for the press, the Authors have thought it
advisable to omit the conversations at the beginning and end of the
chapters, which had been objected to as breaking the course of the
narrative. They have carefully revised the whole, corrected many
inaccuracies and added fresh information drawn from sources they had
not had an opportunity of consulting when the volume first appeared.
The writers to whose works the Authors have been most indebted, are
Simrock, Mallet, Laing, Thorpe, Howitt and Dasent.




CONTENTS.


                                                            PAGE

 INTRODUCTION,                                                 9


 CHAPTER I. THE AESIR.

 PART I.--A GIANT--A COW--AND A HERO,                         41
     II.--AIR THRONE, THE DWARFS, AND THE LIGHT ELVES,        51
    III.--NIFLHEIM,                                           59
     IV.--THE CHILDREN OF LOKI,                               67
      V.--BIFROeST, URDA, AND THE NORNS,                       72
     VI.--ODHAERIR,                                            81


 CHAPTER II. HOW THOR WENT TO JOeTUNHEIM.

 PART I.--FROM ASGARD TO UTGARD,                             109
     II.--THE SERPENT AND THE KETTLE,                        130


 CHAPTER III. FREY.

 PART I.--ON TIPTOE IN AIR THRONE,                           147
     II.--THE GIFT,                                          152
    III.--FAIREST GERD,                                      157
     IV.--THE WOOD BARRI,                                    163


 CHAPTER IV. THE WANDERINGS OF FREYJA.

 PART I.--THE NECKLACE BRISINGAMEN,                          169
     II.--LOKI--THE IRON WOOD--A BOUNDLESS WASTE,            177
    III.--THE KING OF THE SEA AND HIS DAUGHTERS,             185


 CHAPTER V. IDUNA'S APPLES.

 PART I.--REFLECTIONS IN THE WATER,                          191
     II.--THE WINGED-GIANT,                                  198
    III.--HELA,                                              212
     IV.--THROUGH FLOOD AND FIRE,                            218


 CHAPTER VI. BALDUR.

 PART I.--THE DREAM,                                         231
     II.--THE PEACESTEAD,                                    240
    III.--BALDUR DEAD,                                       247
     IV.--HELHEIM,                                           250
      V.--WEEPING,                                           256


 CHAPTER VII. THE BINDING OF FENRIR.

 PART I.--THE MIGHT OF ASGARD,                               263
     II.--THE SECRET OF SVARTHEIM,                           272
    III.--HONOUR,                                            279


 CHAPTER VIII. THE PUNISHMENT OF LOKI,                       285


 CHAPTER IX. RAGNAROeK.

 OR, THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS,                               295


 INDEX OF NAMES, WITH MEANINGS,                              315




List of Illustrations.


                                                            PAGE

 GIANT SUTTUNG AND THE DWARFS,                                86

 GIANT SKRYMIR AND THOR,                                     115

 FREYJA IN THE DWARFS' CAVE,                                 172

 IDUNA GIVING THE MAGIC APPLES,                              195

 SKADI CHOOSING HER HUSBAND,                                 227

 TYR FEEDING FENRIR,                                         265

 THE PUNISHMENT OF LOKI,                                     292




THE HEROES OF ASGARD.




INTRODUCTION.


If we would understand the religion of the ancient Scandinavians, we
ought to study at the same time the myths of all Teutonic nations. A
drawing together of these, and a comparison of one with another, has
been most beautifully effected by Simrock, in his _Handbuch der
Deutschen Mythologie_, where he tells us that whilst the Scandinavian
records are richer and more definite, they are also younger than
those of Germany, which latter may be compared to ancient half
choked-up streams from which the fuller river