The first of all the gods was _Woden_ or Odin. He is the All-father, like Dyans of the early Hindus, Zeus of the Greeks and Jove of the Romans. In the Volsung Saga, Woden is revealed as follows: King Volsung had made preparation for an entertainment. Blazing fires burned along the hall, and in the middle of the hall stood a large tree, whose green and fair foliage covered the roof. It was called Woden’s tree. Now, as the guests sat around the fire in the evening, a man entered the hall whose countenance they did not know. He wore a variegated cloak, was barefooted, his breeches were of linen, and a wide-brimmed hat hung down over his face. He was very tall, looked old, and was one-eyed. He held in his hand a sword. He went to the tree, stuck his sword into it with such a powerful blow that it sunk into it even up to the hilt. No one dared greet him. It was Woden. Woden’s dwelling was called Walhal. The Edda, the poem of the gods, thus describes Walhalla: “Easily to be known is, By those who to Odin come, The mansion by its aspect. Its roof with spears is held, Its hall with shields is decked, With corselets are its benches strewed. “Five hundred doors And forty more Methinks are in Walhal, Eight hundred heroes through each door Shall issue forth! Against the wolf to combat.” The heroes are invited after death to Woden’s hall. That the brave were to be taken to Walhalla after death was one of the fundamental points, if not the very heart of the religion of the Northmen. They felt in their hearts that it was absolutely necessary to be brave. Woden would not care for them, but would despise and thrust them away from him, if they were not brave. This made the Northmen think it a shame and misery not to die in battle. Old kings, about to die, had their bodies placed in a ship; the ship was sent forth with sails set, and a slow fire burning in it, so that once out at sea it might blaze up in flame, and in such a way worthily bury the hero both in the sky and in the ocean. He lay in the prow of his ship, silent, with closed lips, defying the wild ocean. As Boyesen has sung: “In the prow with head uplifted Stood the chief like wrathful Thor; Through his locks, the snow-flakes drifted, Bleached their hue from gold to hoar, ’Mid the crash of mast and rafter Norsemen leaped through death with laughter Up through Walhal’s wide-flung door.” Thor comes next to Woden. His name means thunder. He is the spring-god, subduing the frost-giants. Longfellow has described the Norseman’s idea of Thor, thus: “I am the god Thor, I am the war-god. I am the Thunderer! here in my Northland, My fastness and fortress, reign I forever! “Here amid icebergs rule I the nations; This is my hammer, Mjolner, the mighty, Giants and sorcerers cannot withstand it!