We retain in the days of the week the remembrance of this religion, which was brought to England more than fourteen hundred years ago by the Goths, who came to give that country a new name and a new fate in the world. The Goths taught the people of Britain to divide tho week into their _Sun_-day, _Moon_-day, _Tys_-day, _Odin’s_-day, _Thor’s_-day, and _Frey’s_ or _Freyja’s_-day. The name of Saturday the English owe to the Roman god Saturnus; but the last day of the week was known among the early Norsemen, and is still known among them, as _Laugar_-dag, _Lör_-dag, that is _Washing_-day. It is possible, as E. C. Otté quaintly remarks, that our Anglo-Saxon forefathers may have wished to change this name when, in later times, they had ceased to have only _one_ washing-day out of the seven, like their northers ancestors. We are now prepared to present the Norse mythology, and we shall divide it into three divisions: THE CREATION AND PRESERVATION, THE LIFE AND EXPLOITS OF THE GODS, and RAGNAROK AND REGENERATION. These three divisions we dedicate respectively to URD, VERDANDE, and SKULD, the three norns, WAS, IS, and SHALL BE, which uphold the world’s structure and preside over the destinies of gods and men. Footnote 8: Beowulf, 1839. Footnote 9: The tailor makes the man. Footnote 10: The public assembly. Footnote 11: That is, _dead_ on the funeral pile. Footnote 12: Odin. Footnote 13: Dead. Footnote 14: Such lines as this show the _Norse_ origin of the Edda. Footnote 15: For the story of Suttung and Gunlad, see second part, pp. 246-253. Footnote 16: In the North a holy oath was taken on a ring kept in the temple for that purpose. Footnote 17: Carving: runes are risted = runes are carved. Footnote 18: In a battle we must not look up, but forward. Footnote 19: To become panic-stricken, which the Norsemen called to become swine. Footnote 20: The meaning is, it is difficult to show hospitality to everybody. A door would have to be strong to stand so much opening and shutting. Footnote 21: The parenthesis refers to Fafner’s death. Footnote 22: The name of a rune; our _N_. Footnote 23: Odin. Footnote 24: Mimer. Footnote 25: The horses of the sun. Footnote 26: Odin. Footnote 27: Which thou mightest get by marriage. Footnote 28: _Religion of the Northmen_, chap. xvii. NORSE MYTHOLOGY. Urðar orði kveðr engi maðr. Vafin er Verðandi reyk. Lítið sjáum aptr, en ekki fram; skyggir Skuld fyrir sjón. MATTHIAS JOCHUMSON. PART I. THE CREATION AND PRESERVATION OF THE WORLD. URD. Urðar orði kveðr engi maðr.