Famous Men of the Middle Ages | Page 6

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 hedgehogs
and squirrels, crept into holes and refused to eat for weeks and weeks.
The pleasure of all living things in Baldur's presence means the

happiness that the sunlight brings. The sorrow of all living things at his
death means the gloom of northern countries when winter comes.
The Valkyries were beautiful female warriors. They had some of
Woden's own strength and were armed with helmet and shield and
spear. Like Woden, they rode unseen through the air and their horses
were almost as swift as Sleipnir himself. They swiftly carried Woden's
favorite warriors to Valhalla, the hall of the slain. The walls of Valhalla
were hung with shields; its ceiling glittered with polished spearheads.
From its five hundred and forty gates, each wide enough for eight
hundred men abreast to march through, the warriors rushed every
morning to fight a battle that lasted till nightfall and began again at the
break of each day. When the heroes returned to Valhalla the Valkyries
served them with goblets of mead such as Woden drank himself.
The Teutons believed that before there were any gods or any world
there was a great empty space where the world now is. It was called by
the curious name Ginnungagap, which means a yawning abyss.
To the north of Ginnungagap it was bitterly cold. Nothing was there but
fields of snow and mountains of ice. To the south of Ginnungagap was
a region where frost and snow were never seen. It was always bright,
and was the home of light and heat. The sunshine from the South
melted the ice mountains of the North so that they toppled over and fell
into Ginnungagap. There they were changed into a frost giant whose
name was Ymir (e'mir). He had three sons. They and their father were
so strong that the gods were afraid of them.
So Woden and his brothers killed Ymir. They broke his body in pieces
and made the world of them. His bones and teeth became mountains
and rocks; his hair became leaves for trees and plants; out of his skull
was made the sky.
But Ymir was colder than ice, and the earth that was made of his body
was so cold that nothing could live or grow upon it. So the gods took
sparks from the home of light and set them in the sky. Two big ones
were the sun and moon and the little ones were the stars. Then the earth
became warm. Trees grew and flowers bloomed, so that the world was

a beautiful home for men.
Of all the trees the most wonderful was a great ash tree, sometimes
called the "world tree." Its branches covered the earth and reached
beyond the sky till they almost touched the stars. Its roots ran in three
directions, to heaven, to the frost giants' home and to the under-world,
beneath the earth.
Near the roots in the dark under-world sat the Norns, or fates. Each
held a bowl with which she dipped water out of a sacred spring and
poured it upon the roots of the ash tree. This was the reason why this
wonderful tree was always growing, and why it grew as high as the sky.
When Woden killed Ymir he tried to kill all Ymir's children too; but
one escaped, and ever after he and his family, the frost giants, tried to
do mischief, and fought against gods and men.
According to the belief of the Teutons these wicked giants will some
day destroy the beautiful world. Even the gods themselves will be
killed in a dreadful battle with them. First of all will come three terrible
winters without any spring or summer. The sun and moon will cease to
shine and the bright stars will fall from the sky. The earth will be
shaken as when there is a great earthquake; the waves of the sea will
roar and the highest mountains will totter and fall. The trees will be
torn up by the roots, and even the "world tree" will