XII. _Three hundred._ I have used round figures here as elsewhere. Strictly the Norse 100 is 120. THE TH¡TTR OF S÷RLI I. _Vanakvisl._ The opening sentence may be compared with _Ynglingasaga_, ch. 1, in the _Heimskringla_. From this it appears that VanakvÌsl is the River Don, though strictly _kv[vi]sl_ means the fork (delta) of a river. _∆sir and Vanir_, two sets of Scandinavian deities; but the references to the River Don and Asia are due to the learned speculations of later times, suggested partly by the resemblance of _Asia_ and _∆sir_. According to _Ynglingasaga_, chs. 1-4, there was war between the ∆sir and the Vanir, which was concluded by an exchange of hostages. The Vanir gave to the ∆sir three of their leading people--Njˆrth and his children Frey and Freyja. Othin made Njˆrth and Frey temple-priests, and Freyja a temple-priestess. What is said about Freyja here is not mentioned in _Ynglingasaga_; but from the poems of the _Edda_ it is clear that she was the Aphrodite of northern mythology. _Asgarth._ For a description of Asgarth, the home of the ∆sir, see _Gylfaginning_, chs. 2, 9, 14, etc. _Men in Asia called Alfregg_, etc. For Dvalin, cf. the _Saga of Hervˆr and Heithrek_, ch. 2 and note. _Lived in a rock_; cf. _Vˆlusp·_, str. 48. _Necklace._ For the _BrÌsingamen_, Freyja's treasure, see _Thrymskvia_, str. 12, etc. Cf. also _Beowulf_, l. 1199. II. _Nal_, i.e. 'Needle.' _Loki._ See _Gylfaginning_, ch. 33; and the _Edda Poems_, passim. _So much favoured by the great good fortune of his lord._ Cf. _LaxdÊla Saga_, ch. 40 'Mun konungr [i.e. Olaf Tryggvason] vera giftudrj˙gr ok hamingju-mikill.' III. _Frithfrothi_, the mythical peace-king of the Danes. See _Sk·ldskaparm·l_, ch. 43. He is often split up into two different characters, as by Saxo Grammaticus. (See especially _Dan. Hist._, Book v, which gives an account of the great Frothi.) _Erling and Sˆrli._ Their story is told in the _Saga of Sˆrli the Strong_ (_Fornaldar Sˆgur_, III.). _Skerries of the Elf._ Rocky islands near the mouth of the Gˆta Elv not far from Gˆteborg. IV. _Halfdan_, surnamed BrˆnufÛstri. See the _Saga of Sˆrli the Strong_, ch. 11, where he is represented as King of Sweden. _Roeskilde_, the old capital of SjÊlland, now the ecclesiastical capital of Denmark. _Ellithi._ See the _Saga of Thorstein Vikingson_ (passim), and the _Saga of FrijÛf the Bold_ (passim). _Gnoth._ The ship Gnoth belonged to ¡smund, who was called after it 'Gnoar-¡smund.' Cf. the _Saga of Egil and Asmund_, ch. 17; and the _Saga of GrÌm Loinkinni_, ch. 3. See also the _Saga of Hromund Greipsson_, ch. 1. _Long Serpent_, i.e. the warship of Olaf Tryggvason. _As is told in the poem_, etc. The poem is now lost. _The poem of which he is the subject._ The Saga here quotes a difficult and obscure stanza which I have omitted.