tar."

Saemund's Edda (Thorpe's tr.).

Thus prepared, Ottar presented himself before the Thing on the
appointed day, and glibly reciting his pedigree, he named so many
more ancestors than Angantyr could recollect, that he was easily
awarded possession of the property he coveted.

"A duty 'tis to act
So that the young prince
His paternal heritage may have
After his kindred."

Saemund's Edda (Thorpe's tr.).

The Husbands of Freya

Freya was so beautiful that all the gods, giants, and dwarfs longed for
her love and in turn tried to secure her as wife. But Freya scorned
the ugly giants and refused even Thrym, when urged to accept him
by Loki and Thor. She was not so obdurate where the gods themselves
were concerned, if the various mythologists are to be believed, for
as the personification of the earth she is said to have wedded Odin
(the sky), Frey (the fruitful rain), Odur (the sunshine), &c., until
it seems as if she deserved the accusation hurled against her by the
arch-fiend Loki, of having loved and wedded all the gods in turn.

Worship of Freya

It was customary on solemn occasions to drink Freya's health with
that of the other gods, and when Christianity was introduced in the
North this toast was transferred to the Virgin or to St. Gertrude;
Freya herself, like all the heathen divinities, was declared a demon
or witch, and banished to the mountain peaks of Norway, Sweden,
or Germany, where the Brocken is pointed out as her special abode,
and the general trysting-place of her demon train on Valpurgisnacht.

Chorus of Witches.

"On to the Brocken the witches are flocking--
Merry meet--merry part--how they gallop and drive,
Yellow stubble and stalk are rocking,
And young green corn is merry alive,
With the shapes and shadows swimming by.
To the highest heights they fly,
Where Sir Urian sits on high--
Throughout and about,
With clamour and shout,
Drives the maddening rout,
Over stock, over stone;
Shriek, laughter, and moan,
Before them are blown."

Goethe's Faust (Anster's tr.).

As the swallow, cuckoo, and cat were held sacred to Freya in heathen
times, these creatures were supposed to have demoniacal attributes,
and to this day witches are always depicted with coal-black cats
beside them.

CHAPTER XI: ULLER

The God of Winter

Uller, the winter-god, was the