THE HEROES OF ASGARD _TALES FROM SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY_ BY A. & E. KEARY WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HUARD New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1909 _All rights reserved_ New edition September, 1906. Reprinted July, 1909. Norwood Press: Berwick & Smith Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. PREFACE. In preparing the Second Edition of this little volume of tales from the Northern Mythology for the press, the Authors have thought it advisable to omit the conversations at the beginning and end of the chapters, which had been objected to as breaking the course of the narrative. They have carefully revised the whole, corrected many inaccuracies and added fresh information drawn from sources they had not had an opportunity of consulting when the volume first appeared. The writers to whose works the Authors have been most indebted, are Simrock, Mallet, Laing, Thorpe, Howitt and Dasent. CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTION, 9 CHAPTER I. THE ÆSIR. PART I.--A GIANT--A COW--AND A HERO, 41 II.--AIR THRONE, THE DWARFS, AND THE LIGHT ELVES, 51 III.--NIFLHEIM, 59 IV.--THE CHILDREN OF LOKI, 67 V.--BIFRÖST, URDA, AND THE NORNS, 72 VI.--ODHÆRIR, 81 CHAPTER II. HOW THOR WENT TO JÖTUNHEIM. PART I.--FROM ASGARD TO UTGARD, 109 II.--THE SERPENT AND THE KETTLE, 130 CHAPTER III. FREY. PART I.--ON TIPTOE IN AIR THRONE, 147 II.--THE GIFT, 152 III.--FAIREST GERD, 157 IV.--THE WOOD BARRI, 163 CHAPTER IV. THE WANDERINGS OF FREYJA. PART I.--THE NECKLACE BRISINGAMEN, 169 II.--LOKI--THE IRON WOOD--A BOUNDLESS WASTE, 177 III.--THE KING OF THE SEA AND HIS DAUGHTERS, 185 CHAPTER V. IDŪNA'S APPLES. PART I.--REFLECTIONS IN THE WATER, 191 II.--THE WINGED-GIANT, 198 III.--HELA, 212 IV.--THROUGH FLOOD AND FIRE, 218 CHAPTER VI. BALDUR. PART I.--THE DREAM, 231 II.--THE PEACESTEAD, 240 III.--BALDUR DEAD, 247 IV.--HELHEIM, 250 V.--WEEPING, 256 CHAPTER VII. THE BINDING OF FENRIR.