YOUNG FOLKS' LIBRARY OF CHOICE LITERATURE. LEGENDS OF NORSELAND EDITED BY MARA L. PRATT, Author of "American History Stories," etc. Illustrated by A. CHASE EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY. BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO. Copyrighted By EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1894. CONTENTS. Page Valkyrie (Frontispiece) 6 The Beginning 7 Ygdrasil 12 Odin at the Well of Wisdom 17 Odin and the All-wise Giant 22 The Stolen Wine. Part I. 28 The Stolen Wine. Part II. 36 Loke's Theft 46 Thor's Hammer 53 The Theft of the Hammer 68 The Finding of the Hammer 76 The Apples of Life. Part I. 84 The Apples of Life. Part II. 97 Loke's Wolf 105 The Fenris-wolf 114 Defeat of Hrungner 121 Thor and Skrymer 132 Thor and the Utgard-King 143 Thor and the Midgard Serpent 155 Valkyries' Song 165 The Dying Baldur 167 The Punishment of Loke 178 The Darkness that fell on Asgard 185 LEGENDS OF NORSELAND. I. THE BEGINNING. In the beginning, when the beautiful and sunny world was first made, there stood, in the very midst of all its beauty, Mt. Ida--a mountain so high, so far away up among the snowy clouds, that its summit was lost in the shining light of the rays of the sun. At its base, stretching away to the north, the south, the east, and the west, as far as even the eyes of the gods could reach, lay the soft, green valleys and the great, broad plain beyond. Encircling the whole great plain, and curling lovingly around in all the little bends and bays of the distant shore, lay the deep blue waters; and beyond the waters, hidden in the distant mists, rose the great mountains in which the frost giants dwelt. On the top of Mt. Ida, the gods had built their shining city, Asgard; and from its golden gateway to the valley below was stretched the richly-colored, rainbow bridge, with its wonderful bars of red and yellow and blue, orange and green, indigo and purple.