Northern mythology

NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY. 203
earthly desires. "WTiat wonder then, if he imagined all
around him to be animated by divine beings, which he
represented with all the sagacity he possessed ? But this
conception of physical images was not without application
to his intellectual and moral nature.
This connection was
so close, that it is inseparable even in language, and everywhere
we meet with proofs that Antiquity also raised itself
to this higher conception. Odin is not only lord over
the whole physical world, but is king also of the intellectual.
Heimdall is not only the rainbow, but is, at the
same time, the benignant announcer of the divine care.
Thor is not only the thunder, but also courage and strength.
Vidar is not only lord of the boundless forests, but is nicorruptibility
itself. Baldur is not alone the god of summer,
but is also all goodness and piety. Ty is not only
war, but is also honour and glory. Frey and Freyia are
not alone givers of fruitfulness, but, at the same time, the
germinating, blooming and beatifying, the boundless love
in the breast of man. Nor is Loki the god of fire alone,
but is also the origin of all evil and the father of lies.
Hence proceeds the multitude of names and epithets
(always significant, though we may not always be able to
explain them) that are applied to the gods ; they express
their natures from different points of view, and describe
theii' characters. Loki, for instance, is active, shrewd of
speech, cunning, inventive, sagacious, false, ivicked ; Baldur
is white [bright), good; Heimdall holy, white; Thor is
large, strong,
not remarkahly clever, but good-natured with
all his strength, etc. etc. In describing Odin, the old, venerable,
long-bearded, one-eyed being, in all
his might, wdsdom,
goodness, austerity and ferocity ; in all his manifestations
in heaven and on earth, the Old Norse language
employed all its riches, a far greater store than can now be
furnished from the combined stores of its descendants.
The Destruction and Renew^al of the World.—