rts amongst the heathen hordes of Northern Europe. "Do you renounce
the devils, and all their words and works; Thonar, Wodin, and Saxenote?"
was part of the form of recantation administered to the Scandinavian
converts;[1] and at the present day "Odin take you" is the Norse
equivalent of "the devil take you." On the other hand, an attempt was
made to identify Balda "the beautiful" with Christ--a confusion of
character that may go far towards accounting for a custom joyously
observed by our forefathers at Christmastide but which the false
modesty of modern society has nearly succeeded in banishing from amongst
us, for Balda was slain by Loke with a branch of mistletoe, and Christ
was betrayed by Judas with a kiss.

[Footnote 1: Milman, History of Latin Christianity, iii. 267; ix. 65.]

27. Upon the conversion of the inhabitants of Great Britain to
Christianity, the native deities underwent the same inevitable fate, and
sank into the rank of evil spirits. Perhaps the juster opinion is that
they became the progenitors of our fairy mythology rather than the
subsequent devil-lore, although the similarity between these two classes
of spirits is sufficient to warrant us in classing them as species of
the same genus; their characters and functions being perfectly
interchangeable, and even at times merging and becoming
indistinguishable. A certain lurking affection in the new converts for
the religion they had deserted, perhaps under compulsion, may have led
them to look upon their ancient objects of veneration as less detestable
in nature, and dangerous in act, than the devils imported as an integral
portion of their adopted faith; and so originated this class of spirits
less evil than the other. Sir Walter Scott may be correct in his
assertion that many of these fairy-myths owe their origin to the
existence of a diminutive autochthonic race that was conquered by the
invading Celts, and the remnants of which lurked about the mountains and
forests, and excited in their victors a superstitious reverence on
account of their great skill in metallurgy; but this will not explain
the retention of many of the old god-names; as that of the Dusii, the
Celtic nocturnal spirits, in our word "deuce," and that of the Nikr or
water-spirits in "nixie" and old "Nick."[1] These words undoubtedly
indicate the accomplishment of the "facilis descensus Averno" by the
native deities. Elves, brownies, gnomes, and trolds were all at one time
Scotch or