A Manual of Scandinavian Mythology: Containing a Popular Account of the Two Eddas and of the Religion of Odin

Front Cover
W. Pickering, 1839 - Eddas - 370 pages
A study of history and religion through Norse mythology.

From inside the book

Contents

I
xxiii
II
3
III
49
IV
78
V
96
VI
114
VII
172
VIII
193
IX
218
X
239

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 270 - The seasons alter : hoary-headed frosts Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose : And on old Hyems' chin and icy crown, An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds Is, as in mockery, set.
Page 82 - Vestibulum ante ipsum primisque in faucibus Orci Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae, Pallentesque habitant Morbi, tristisque Senectus...
Page 234 - Here an ichthyosaurus stood out from the wall, There monsters ne'er told of in story, Whilst hard by the Nix in the waterfall Sang wildly the days of their glory. Here bones of the mammoth and mastodon, And serpents with wings and with claws; The elephant's tusks from the burning zone Are small to the teeth in their jaws.
Page 237 - Now a small elf came running with gold on hie head, Which he gave a dwarf-woman to spin, Who the metal like flax on her spinning-wheel laid, Nor tarried her task to begin. So she span and span, and the gold thread ran Into hair, though Loke thought it a pity ; She span, and sang to the sledge-hammer's clang This strange, wild spinning-wheel ditty : " Henceforward her hair shall the tall Sif wear, Hanging loose down her white neck behind; By no envious braid shall it captive be made, But in native...
Page 218 - The principal and most sacred tree of the gods is the Ash-tree Yggdrasill, which is the best and greatest of all trees. Its branches extend over the whole universe, reaching beyond the heavens ; its stem bears up the earth ; its three roots stretch themselves wide around ; one is amongst the gods, another with the Frost-Giants...
Page 236 - T was solid and heavy, and wrought with care, Thrice it passed through the white flames' glow; A ring to produce, fit for Odin to wear, No labor they spared, I trow. They worked it and turned it with wondrous skill, Till they gave it the virtue rare, That each thrice third night from its rim there...
Page 8 - Sanhita, we have a description of the creation of all things out of the severed limbs of a magnified non-natural man, Purusha. This conception is of course that which occurs in the Norse myths of the rent body of Ymir. Borr's sons took the body of the Giant Ymir and of his flesh formed the earth, of his blood seas and waters, of his bones mountains, of his teeth rocks and stones, of his hair all manner of plants, of his skull the firmament, of his brains the clouds, and so forth.
Page 29 - They believe that, at the first, the globe was one vast and entire ocean, inhabited by no living creature, except a mighty bird, whose eyes were fire, whose glances were lightning, and the clapping of whose wings were thunder. On his descent to the ocean, and touching it, the earth instantly arose, and remained on the surface of the waters.
Page 235 - Then they took them the skin of a large wildboar, The largest that they could find, And the bellows they blew till the furnace 'gan roar, And the fire flamed on high for the wind. And they struck with their sledge-hammers stroke on stroke, That the sparks from the skin flew on high ; But never a word good or bad spake Loke, Though foul malice lurked in his eye.
Page 82 - Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram perque domos Ditis vacuas et inania regna...

Bibliographic information