, in the south, when reference was made to the coming of winter and
to the dreariness and discomforts of that season of the year, men did
not know nor care to explain it all, as our teachers now do at school;
but they sometimes told how Hades had stolen Persephone (the summer)
from her mother Demetre (the earth), and had carried her, in a chariot
drawn by four coal black steeds, to the gloomy land of shadows; and how,
in sorrow for her absence, the Earth clothed herself in mourning, and
no leaves grew upon the trees, nor flowers in the gardens, and the very
birds ceased singing, because Persephone was no more. But they added,
that in a few months the fair maiden would return for a time to her
sorrowing mother, and that then the flowers would bloom, and the trees
would bear fruit, and the harvest-fields would again be full of golden
grain.

In the north a different story was told, but the meaning was the same.
Sometimes men told how Odin (the All-Father) had become angry with
Brunhild (the maid of spring), and had wounded her with the thorn
of sleep, and how all the castle in which she slept was wrapped in
deathlike slumber until Sigurd or Siegfried (the sunbeam) rode through
flaming fire, and awakened her with a kiss. Sometimes men told how Loki
(heat) had betrayed Balder (the sunlight), and had induced blind old
Hoder (the winter months) to slay him, and how all things, living and
inanimate, joined in weeping for the bright god, until Hela (death)
should permit him to revisit the earth for a time.

So, too, when the sun arose, and drove away the darkness and the hidden
terrors of the night, our ancestors thought of the story of a noble
young hero slaying a hideous dragon, or taking possession of the golden
treasures of Mist Land. And when the springtime came, and the earth
renewed its youth, and the fields and woods were decked in beauty, and
there was music everywhere, they loved to tell of Idun (the spring)
and her youth-giving apples, and of her wise husband Bragi (Nature's
musician). When storm-clouds loomed up from the horizon and darkened the
sky, and thunder rolled overhead, and lightning flashed on every
hand, they talked about the mighty Thor riding over the clouds in his
goat-drawn chariot, and battling with the giants of the air. When the
mountain-meadows were green with long grass, and the corn was yellow for
the sickles of the reapers, they spoke of Sif, the golden-haired wife
of Thor, the queen of the pa