Northern mythology

NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY. 135
the myth of Forniot^s three sons^ Hler (sea),
Logi (fire),
Kari (wind) ^
; also that of Thor, as the god of thunder,
and a comparison with the behef still prevalent among the
Lapps will tend to confirm this opinion. This, however,
constitutes a very inconsiderable part of the iEsir-mythology,
and cannot have contributed much to its development.
On the other hand, everything shows that it had
its original home in the South and the East ; thither point
tradition, resemblance to the mythology of the Germanic
and even more southern nations, and language. An inquiry
into this opinion of its origin, which traces it to the
banks of the Ganges, may be instituted in two ways
either by tracing a similitude between its several myths
and those of other nations, or by considering as a whole
the spirit of the one mythology compared with that of the
other. A comparison of the several myths, which has with
great learning been made by Finn Magnusen, leads to the
result, that between the Northern on the one side, and the
Indian, Persian and other kindred mythologies on the other,
are found many striking resemblances, particularly with
reference to the creation of the world, the transmigration
of souls, regeneration, etc. ; while, on the contrary, they
rather diverge from each other, on a comparison together
of their respective spirits. The Oriental is contemplative,
the Northern is one of pure action; according to the
first, the gods are to be reconciled by works of atonement,
according to the second, by battle. The one was
a natural consequence of the warmth of the East, the
other of the Northern cold. It seems, therefore, probable,
that the earliest elements of the Northern mythology were
brought from Asia through divers other nations to the
North, w^here they became developed and formed after a
peculiar fashion. The rugged, wild, grand nature of the
country supplied those great and lofty images, di"awn from
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