cious goddess,
then a divine being, encompassing the earth. She might be seen in
morning hours by her favourite haunts of lake and spring, a beautiful
white woman, who bathed and vanished. When snow fell, she was making
her bed, and the feathers flew. Agriculture and domestic order were
under her care.

Ostara was goddess of bright dawn, of rising light, and awakening
spring, as Hel of subterranean night, the darkness of the underworld.
Frigg, wife of the highest god, knew the story of existence, and
protected marriage. She was the Northern Juno or Hera.

Ravines and hollows in the mountains were the dwelling-places of the
dwarfs (Erdmaennlein), sometimes friendly, sometimes unfriendly to
man; now peaceful and helpful, now impish spirits of mischief in
cloud caps and grey coats, thievish and jolly.

They were visible by moonlight, dancing in the fields; and when their
track was found in the dew,[3] a good harvest was expected. Popular
belief took the floating autumn cobwebs for the work of elves and
fairies. The spirits of mountain and wood were related to the
water-spirits, nixies who sat combing their long hair in the sun, or
stretched up lovely arms out of the water. The elves belonged to the
more spiritual side of Nature, the giants to the grosser. Rocks and
stones were the weapons of the giants; they removed mountains and
hills, and boulders were pebbles shaken out of their shoes.

Among animals the horse was sacred to many deities, and gods and
goddesses readily transformed themselves into birds. Two ravens,
Hugin and Munin, whose names signify thought and memory, were Odin's
constant companions. The gift of prophecy was ascribed to the cuckoo,
as its monotonous voice heralded the spring:

Kukuk vam haven, wo lange sail ik leven?

There were many legends of men and snakes who exchanged shapes, and
whom it was unlucky to kill.[4]

The sun and moon, too, were familiar figures in legends.

Their movement across the sky was a flight from two pursuing wolves,
of which one, the Fenris wolf, was fated one day to catch and devour
the moon. The German, like the Greek, dreaded nothing more than the
eclipse of sun or moon, and connected it with the destruction of all
things and the end of the world. In the moon spots he saw a human
form carrying a hare or a stick or an axe on his shoulder.

The Solstices impressed him most of all, with their almost constant
day in summer, almost constant night in winter. Sun, mo