There is little wonder that, with such a rearing as the children of the Vikings received, a race of warriors grew up among whom was the unwritten law that ‘a Dane who wished to acquire the character of a brave man should always attack two enemies, stand firm and receive the attack of three, retire only one pace from four, and flee from no fewer than five.’ Social distinctions among the Danes were similar to those among the Angles. In place of the Anglian _eorl_, _ceorl_, and _theow_ were the Danish _jarl_,[16] _karl_, and _thrall_; with this difference—that the Danish _jarl_ was a military commander and not a man who could pride himself on being descended from the gods. It is from the word ‘jarl’ that our English word ‘earl’ has arisen. Footnote 16: Pronounced _yarl_ * * * * * Like their cousins the Angles, the Northmen were heathens when they invaded our shores. The Wōden, Tīw, and Frīg of the Angles were the Odin, Tȳr and Freya of the Danes. But their greatest god was Thor, the Thunderer, whose name will be recognised in the name for the fifth day of the week. [Illustration: DANISH CROSS HEAD AT NORTH FRODINGHAM. ] Like the Angles, also, the heathen Northmen eventually became Christians, and evidences of their Christianity have come down to us. In the vicarage garden at North Frodingham is a broken cross head of Danish tenth-century workmanship, and in the churchyard at Nunburnholme is preserved a broken cross shaft sculptured with figures of men, women, children, and animals. But the most interesting relic of Danish Christianity is a sun-dial now built high up in one of the interior walls of the church at Aldbrough. Round it, in Anglian letters, is the inscription:— ULF LET ARÆRAN CYRICE FOR HANUM AND GUNWARA SAULA. Put into modern English this would read:— Ulf caused to be built a church for himself and for the soul of Gunvör. [Illustration: _ALDBROUGH_ _Danish Sun-Dial Built into the Wall of Aldbrough Church._ ] Though written in Anglian letters, the names Ulf and Gunvör are both Danish names, and the word ‘Hānum’ is likewise a purely Danish word. Who this Ulf was we do not know, for the name was a common one. One jarl Ulf married the sister of King Cnut, and another was the owner of lands at Aldbrough and Brandesburton during the reign of King Edward the Confessor. IX. IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 892. A PICTURE OF LIFE IN THE EAST RIDING DRAWN FROM DETAILS IN THE OLD NORSE SAGAS. The year of Our Lord is eight hundred and ninety-two, and the scene lies a couple of miles north of the village of Hessle, on the Yorkshire bank of the Humber.