opinion that the holy island, thus described, was Zealand, in Denmark, and that the grove sacred to her was that which still bears the name of Hertha-dal (Hertha's dale), not far distant from the site of the ancient capital of Denmark, Leira, or Lethra. Nor is this improbable, for the fertility and extent of Zealand render it likely that the principal fane of the goddess should have been placed here, and the localities of the spot, which retains her name, the secret lake, and the surrounding wood agree well enough with the description of Tacitus.

Others again with good grounds have placed Hertha's sanctuary in the island of Rügen, others in Heligoland, and some in a small island near Wolgast. The celebrated Northern Antiquarian, Suhm, argues with ingenuity against all these, and assigns this honour to the island of Femern.

If, however, the worship of Hertha was general in the north, it is not probable that she should have been restricted to one fane. A great many villages in the country of Angeln, near Sleswic, still bear her name.

CHAPTER III.

ASA-LOKE HIS OFFSPRING, HELA, THE QUEEN OF DEATH, THE GREAT SERPENT, JORMUNGANDUR, THE WOLF FENRIS-HIS ADVENTURE WITH TYR-BRAGI AND IDUNA-IDUNA'S RAPE AND RECOVERY-THE GIANT THIASSE.

ALTHOUGH Loke, in power and dignity had no pretension to rank next to Odin, nor, in fact, had any place amongst the Aser, except by sufferance, still he plays so prominent a part in all their adventures, and he and his offspring are so continually alluded to, that for the clear understanding of what is to follow, it is essential to make the reader at once well acquainted with them. Some account of Loke has already been given in the first chapter, as well as of his kinsman and namesake, the demonking of the Giants. These two important personages were, probably, originally one and the same, but in the Eddas very different parts have been assigned to them. They were distinguished by the titles of Utgard's Loke and Asa-Loke, and it is of the latter that the present chapter treats.

Asa-Loke is a creation which has no parallel in

any other Mythology. We learn from the Edda that he was the son of Farbaute, a giant, by the witch Laufeya. Although sprung from a race the mortal enemies of the Aser, he was, in some manner not explained, mysteriously associated with Odin in the infancy of creation. At that time they swore brotherhood together, and Loke was in consequence admitted to Valhalla, where a seat was allotted to him on the same bench with Thor. He had many good natural gifts, was tall, slight, well formed, of good address, and eloquent; but, on the other hand, he was fickle, sarcastic, malicious, cruel, a lover of evil, and exceeded every one in cunning. He was, moreover, a coward, and the first inventor of deceit and dishonour, vain, much given to boasting and always desirous of being seen in the society of the principal Aser, especially of Thor. His natural perversity and hatred of the Aser led him, notwithstanding, on many occasions to conspire with the Giants against them, and it will be seen that on more than one occasion they were brought into extreme difficulties in consequence. Still his subtlety usually enabled him to evade the punishment which his crimes so richly merited. Besides his name of Loke, he was sometimes called Loptur and Lopta.

Amongst bright Asgard's lords

Is one, As-Loptur hight :

Like honey are his words,
His heart is foul with spite,
His form is passing fair,
And winning is his mien,
But, still, his guileful leer
Shews all is false within.

Though, oft, his traitorous wiles
The Asers' ire provoke,

His smooth tongue, still, beguiles,
And stops th' impending stroke:
Oft, cited to appear,

He cowers the Ash before,'

At Odin's table near

His place to Asa-Thor.

Oehlenschläger.

Loke had a wife whose name was Signi, and who, notwithstanding all his defects, shewed her devotion to him in a remarkable manner. By her he had two sons, Nari and Vali, whose terrible fate will appear in the sequel. His more celebrated offspring, however, sprang from an amour with a giant woman, whose name was Augerbode, or the messenger of evil. These were Fenris, the wolf; Jormungandur, the great serpent; and Hela, the queen of death. The Edda accounts for the production of these horrible monsters by telling

1 The great Ash, Ygg-drasill, under which Odin and the twelve Aser used to administer justice.

us that they were begotten after Loke's nature had become depraved, in consequence of his eating the half-roasted heart of a witch which he had found.

The gods having been forewarned that this progeny of Loke would one day cause much evil to Asgard, sent to the land of Giants to secure them. Odin cast Jormungandur, or, as it was also called, the great Midgard's serpent or worm,2 into the ocean where it grew to such a prodigious size, that it girt round the whole world. There it was to lie with its tail in its jowl, in sullen expectation of revenge at Ragnarokur.

Midgard's giant snake,
Which in the ocean hurled,
His tale in jowl doth take,

And girdeth round the world.

Oehlenschläger.

Jormungandur was the chief object of fear and hatred to gods and men.3

2 The bold promontory which terminates the neck of land, at the mouth of the river Conway, in Denbighshire, is still called the great Orm's, or Worm's head. Orm being the Danish for worm. So also the remarkable point at the western extremity of the district of Gower, in Glamorganshire, at the entrance of the Bristol channel, is called "the Worm's head."

3

Magnussen considers the great serpent to be a symbol of the raging sea.