he aurora borealis, said that
the Valkyrs, or battle maidens, galloped across the sky, while the
Greeks saw in the same natural phenomena the white flocks of Apollo
guarded by Phaetusa and Lampetia.

As the dew fell from the clouds, the Northern poets declared that
it dropped from the manes of the Valkyrs' steeds, while the Greeks,
who observed that it generally sparkled longest in the thickets,
identified it with Daphne and Procris, whose names are derived from
the Sanskrit word which means "to sprinkle," and who are slain by
their lovers, Apollo and Cephalus, personifications of the sun.

The earth was considered in the North as well as in the South as
a female divinity, the fostering mother of all things; and it was
owing to climatic difference only that the mythology of the North,
where people were daily obliged to conquer the right to live by a
hand-to-hand struggle with Nature, should represent her as hard and
frozen like Rinda, while the Greeks embodied her in the genial goddess
Ceres. The Greeks believed that the cold winter winds swept down from
the North, and the Northern races, in addition, added that they were
produced by the winnowing of the wings of the great eagle Hrae-svelgr.

The dwarfs, or dark elves, bred in Ymir's flesh, were like Pluto's
servants in that they never left their underground realm, where they,
too, sought the precious metals, which they moulded into delicate
ornaments such as Vulcan bestowed upon the gods, and into weapons
which no one could either dint or mar. As for the light elves, who
lived above ground and cared for plants, trees, and streams, they were
evidently the Northern equivalents to the nymphs, dryads, oreades,
and hamadryads, which peopled the woods, valleys, and fountains of
ancient Greece.

Jupiter and Odin

Jupiter, like Odin, was the father of the gods, the god of victory,
and a personification of the universe. Hlidskialf, Allfather's lofty
throne, was no less exalted than Olympus or Ida, whence the Thunderer
could observe all that was taking place; and Odin's invincible spear
Gungnir was as terror-inspiring as the thunderbolts brandished by his
Greek prototype. The Northern deities feasted continually upon mead
and boar's flesh, the drink and meat most suitable to the inhabitants
of a Northern climate, while the gods of Olympus preferred the nectar
and ambrosia which formed their only sustenance.

Twelve AEsir sat in Odin's council hall to deliberate over t