Northern mythology

286 EPITOME OF GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
drawn in silence on certain holyday niglits, as St. John's
or Christmas^ from certain springs that were formerlysacred
to some divinity. To wash in such water imparts
health and beauty for the whole year ^
On Death_, and the condition of souls after death, a
few words are necessary. Even in Christian ideas of
hell, the remains of pagan belief are here and there discernible.
Among these may be reckoned that the devil
has his habitation in the north -, as in the Scandinavian
behef the nether world lies in the north. According to
some traditions, the entrance to hell leads, through long,
subterranean passages, to a gate ; in the innermost space
lies the devil fast bound, as Utgarthilocus is chained in
the lower world ^. According to another tradition, the
emperor Charles, when conducted to hell by an angel,
passed through deep dells full of fiery springs, as, according
to the Scandinavian belief, the way to HeFs abode led
through deep valleys, in the midst of which is the spring
Hvergelmir ^. The popular tales also relate how a water
must be passed before arriving at Hell ^.
According to all appearance, the idea was very general
in the popular belief of Scandinavia, that the souls of the
departed dwelt in the interior of mountains. This idea
at least very frequently presents itself in the Icelandic
Sagas, and must have been wide-spread, as it is retained
even in Germany to the present day. Of some German
mountains it is believed that they are the abodes of the
damned. One of these is the Horselberg near Eisenach,
which is the habitation of Erau Holle ; another is the
fabulous Venusberg, in which the Tanhauser sojourns,
and before which the trusty Eckhart sits as a warning
1 Miiller, p. 143. "
Caedmon, p. 3. 1. 8.
3 Saxo, p. 431, edit. Miiller.
•»
See pp. 12, 13.
» Grimm, K. and H. M. No. 29. Miiller, p. 389.