o dwelt in a
dreadful tempestuous place, at the end of the earth, and came abroad to
do awful things among men. The giant Frost drove home his horses at
night,--the hail-clouds that sped through the air; and there sat the
giant on the frost winds, combing the manes of his horses as they went.
Fire was a cunning demon that stole in where it was not wanted: and when
once in, it devoured all that it chose, till it rose into the sky at
last in smoke.--Then there was the giant Aegir, who brought in squalls
from the sea, and made whirlpools in the fiords."

"Why, that is like Nipen."

"Very like Nipen;--perhaps the same. Then there was the good god Balder
(the white god), who made everything bright and beautiful, and ripened
the fruits of the earth. This god Balder was the sun. Then there were
the three magical women, the Fates, who made men's lives happy or
miserable. Did you ever hear how these giants and Fates were worshipped
before Jehovah and Christ were known in this land?"

"I have heard Ulla sing many old songs about these and more; and how
Thor and two companions as mighty as himself were travelling, and
entered a curious house for the night; and wandered about in the great
house, being frightened at a strange loud noise outside: and how they
found in the morning that this house was the mitten of a giant,
infinitely greater than themselves; and that what they had taken for a
separate chamber in the great house was the thumb of his mitten; and
that the strange noise was the snoring of this giant Skrymir, who was
asleep close by, after having pulled off his mittens."

"That is one of the many tales belonging to the old religion of this
country. And how did this old religion arise?--Why, the people saw
grand spectacles every day, and heard wonders whichever way they turned;
and they supposed that the whole universe was alive. The sun as it
travelled they thought was alive, and kind and good to men. The tempest
they thought was alive, and angry with men. The fire and frost they
thought were alive, pleased to make sport with men."

"As people who ought to know better," observed M. Kollsen, "now think
the wind is alive, and call it Nipen, or the mist of the lake and river,
which they call the sprite Uldra."

"It is true," said the bishop, "that we now have better knowledge, and
see that the earth, and all that is in it, is made and moved by One Good
Spirit, who, instead of sporting with men, or being angry