Sun and Moon 267
The Way that Leads to Heaven 268
The Golden Age 269
Origin of the Dwarfs, and Norns of Destiny 270
The Ash Yggdrasill and Mimer's Well 271
The Norns that Tend Yggdrasill 273
The Wind and the Seasons 275
Thor and His Hammer 277
Balder and Njord 278
Njord and His Wife Skadi 279
The God Frey and Goddess Freyja 280
Tyr and Other Gods 281
Hodur the Blind, Assassin of Baldur 283
Loki and His Progeny 284
Binding the Wolf Fenrir 285
The Goddesses and their Attributes 289
Frey, and Gerda the Beautiful 291
The Joys of Valhalla 293
The Wonderful Horse Sleipnir 297
The Ship Adapted to Sail on Sea or Land 299
Thor's Adventures in the Land of Giants 300
The Death of Baldur 315
Baldur in the Abode of the Dead 319
Loki's Capture and Punishment 321
Destruction of the Universe 323
Restoration of the Universe 327
How Loki Carried Away Iduna 329
The Origin of Poetry 331
Odin Beguiles the Daughter of Baugi 333

Glossary 335

PREFACE.

Saemund, son of Sigfus, the reputed collector of the poems bearing his
name, which is sometimes also called the Elder, and the Poetic, Edda,
was of a highly distinguished family, being descended in a direct line
from King Harald Hildetonn. He was born at Oddi, his paternal dwelling
in the south of Iceland, between the years 1054 and 1057, or about 50
years after the establishment by law of the Christian religion in that
island; hence it is easy to imagine that many heathens, or baptized
favourers of the old mythic songs of heathenism, may have lived in his
days and imparted to him the lays of the times of old, which his
unfettered mind induced him to hand down to posterity.

The youth of Saemund was passed in travel and study, in Germany and
France, and, according to some accounts, in Italy. His cousin John
Ogmundson, who later