Hela was thrust down to Niffl-heim, where she received the sovereignty over nine worlds, and ruled over all who died by any other than a violent death. Hence her title of queen of the dead. Her palace was called from her Hel-heim, and was very spacious, but cold and gloomy, and filled with shivering, shadowy spectres. It was surrounded by a lofty fence, with huge grated gates. "Hela's hall," says the Prose Edda, "is affliction; her table, famine; her knife, hunger; her valet, delay; her handmaid, slowness; her threshold, a drawbridge, her bed, lingering sickness; her tent, cursing."4 Her attendants, the evil Nornies, used to appear to dying persons, by night, to call them away, and she herself was supposed at times to make herself visible to those 4 Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram, Perque domos Ditis vacuas, et inania regna; Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus Orci about to die. She was hideous to look upon, one half of her body being blue, the other of the natural colour. It is not said who was her husband, but her sons are mentioned as the followers of Loke at Ragnarokur. Her palace is thus described by Oehlenschläger: Close crowded, side by side, Between two rocks enclosed, A naked bone she held 'Fore which the pale ghosts quail'd; On the lone ocean strand, In the moon's magic light, Long, bleaching, it had lain; G Save hollow, deep-drawn sighs Its fleshless form uprear'd. Oehlenschläger. Hela had a cock of a dusky red colour, and a spectre horse, which is called by the peasants Hel's horse, to this day. With Fenris the wolf,5 the Aser had somewhat 5 The superstition respecting men-wolves which prevailed so widely during the middle ages was probably derived from Fenris. Boissardius, in his posthumous work on magic, declares that two shepherds in the archbishopric in which he was born were publicly burned, having confessed that by means of an ointment given to them by the devil, they were frequently in the habit of changing themselves into wolves, and of committing in this shape great ravages amongst the neighbouring flocks. He adds that these transformations had become very common in his time, especially in Prussia, Livonia and Lithuania, and adduces testimonies to this effect from various writers, and amongst others from Herodotus. The father of history, however, only states that it had been assertedthat certain men amongst the Scythians once in the year became wolves, and after some days resumed their proper form, but at the same time intimates his disbelief of the fact. One story is gravely told on the authority of Garzonus— more trouble than with the other two. When they had got him into their power, they sought to secure him with bonds, but none could be found sufficiently strong for the purpose. They constructed, therefore, a massive chain, and begged Fenris to try his strength upon it, which he consented to do, and broke it with the greatest ease. They exerted "That a man-wolf who had caused much destruction amongst the flocks in Russia, having been at length captured by the peasants, was taken before the prince of the country, and being closely questioned, acknowledged that he did frequently assume the form of a wolf. The prince offered him pardon on condition of his doing so before those who were assembled. He consented, and having withdrawn to a little distance and performed the magic ceremonies taught him by the devil, on a sudden he stood before them a gaunt wolf, with bent neck, bristles erect, and glaring eyes, but bound in chains as before. The prince caused two fierce Molossian dogs which he had provided to be let loose upon the wolf, who tore him to pieces before he could resume his natural shape." Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, in his work de Gentibus Septentrionalibus, writes, “De animalibus sylvestribus luporum genus ex hominibus conversum, quod Plinius lib. viii. c. 22. fabulosum et falsum confidenter existimandum esse affirmat, tales in terris ad Septentrionem maximè vergentibus etiamnum magnâ in copiâ reperiri adjicerem, 1. xxviii. c. 15. So in Ovid's Metamorphoses, lib. i. speaking of Lycaon. Fit lupus, et veteris servat vestigia formæ ; their utmost art to make a second of double the strength of the former, but by a slight effort he brake this also. They now sent Skirnir to the black elves, or dwarfs, to procure a chain capable of resisting any force that could be exerted against it, and he brought back one, called Gleipnir, which to all appearance was no stronger than a silken thread, but which, notwithstanding, was so skilfully composed, that no force was sufficient to break it. Thus provided, the Aser repaired with Fenris to a solitary island, and there proposed to him to allow himself to be bound with Gleipnir. The wolf replied that it would reflect but little honour on his strength to break a small silken cord, but that, on the other hand, slight as it appeared, art and magic might have given it extraordinary powers, and he therefore refused to suffer himself to be bound. On this the Aser began to taunt him, and observed that if he had not strength to break such a cord they would themselves set him at liberty, as too weak to be an object of terror to any. The wolf, who was not so easily to be deceived, replied, I know well that if I cannot help myself, I have but little favour to expect from you; but, lest any one should reproach me with cowardice, I am willing to suffer myself to be bound, on condition, as a pledge that you mean honestly, that one of your |