t god of our ancestors was Tiew. He was a son of Woden
and was the god of battle. He was armed with a sword which flashed
like lightning when he brandished it. A savage chief named Attila
routed the armies of the Romans and so terrified all the world
that he was called "The Scourge of God." His people believed that
he gained his victories because he had the sword of Tiew, which
a herdsman chanced to find where the god had allowed it to fall.
The Teutons prayed to Tiew when they went into battle.

Frija (_free' ya_) was the wife of Woden and the queen of the gods.
She ruled the bright clouds that gleam in the summer sky, and caused
them to pour their showers on meadow and forest and mountain.

Four of the days of the week are named after these gods. Tuesday
means the day of Tiew; Wednesday, the day of Woden; Thursday, the
day of Thor; and Friday, the day of Frija.

Frija's son was Bald'ur; who was the favorite of all the gods.
Only Lo'ki, the spirit of evil, hated him. Baldur's face was as
bright as sunshine. His hair gleamed like burnished gold. Wherever
he went night was turned into day.

One morning when he looked toward earth from his father Woden's
palace black clouds covered the sky, but he saw a splendid rainbow
reaching down from the clouds to the earth. Baldur walked upon
this rainbow from the home of the gods to the dwellings of men.
The rainbow was a bridge upon which the gods used to come to earth.

When Baldur stepped from the rainbow-bridge to the earth he saw
a king's daughter so beautiful that he fell in love with her.

But an earthly prince had also fallen in love with her. So he and
Baldur fought for her hand. Baldur was a god and hence was very
much stronger than the prince. But some of Baldur's magic food
was given to the prince and it made him as strong as Baldur.

Frija heard about this and feared that Baldur was doomed to be
killed. So she went to every beast on the land and every fish of
the sea and every bird of the air and to every tree of the wood
and every plant of the field and made each promise not to hurt
Baldur.

But she forgot the mistletoe. So Loki, who always tried to do mischief,
made an arrow of mistletoe, and gave it to the prince who shot and
killed Baldur with it.

Then all the gods wept, the summer breeze wailed, the leaves fell
from the sorrowing trees, the flowers faded and died from grief, and
the earth grew stiff and cold. Bruin, the bear, and his neighbors,
the he