lovers met
within the sacred circle of stones dedicated to Scandinavian deities,
to plight their love. Through a hole in one of the pillars the hands
of contracting parties were joined, and the vow made was called the
promise of Odin. To violate this vow, rendered the false one infamous
in all time coming.

In the body of the giant Ymir several maggots had been generated,
which, by order of the gods, partook of both human shape and reason.
These little beings, to which reference is also made in pages 88 and
90, possessed the most delicate figures, and always dwelt in
subterranean caverns or clefts in the rocks. They were remarkable for
their riches, activity, and malevolence, and were probably the modern
fairies of the north and west, who are usually described as beings of
small stature, and gaily dressed. These creatures, the offspring of
worms, possessed the power of making themselves visible and invisible.
They multiplied their species, and lived in a style of grandeur that
could not be surpassed by the greatest monarch on earth. They were
good friends to certain members of the human family, but bitter
enemies to others of Adam's posterity. With their elf arrows they
could kill or wound man and beast. They carried off children and
domestic animals, generally leaving vile creatures resembling the
children or animals carried away, so as to prevent the felony being
discovered.

Opinions originally entertained in this country relative to the dwarfs
have undergone considerable modifications, from the same attributes
being assigned to them as to the Persian peris. Fairies were supposed
to have brought many blessings to England, sending people pleasant
dreams, giving money to them in a mysterious manner, and causing the
nation to prosper. In remote times a brownie was attached to the home
of every considerable family in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland.
Like men, some brownies were tall, and some of small stature. They
were industrious and faithful, if well treated in the way the Samogitae
did the Putseet. When a brownie once united himself to a family, he
seldom deserted it, but continued to serve generation after
generation. Burton speaks of nine classes of evil spirits:--First, the
false gods of the Gentiles, adored as idols, who gave oracles at
Delphos and elsewhere, whose prince was Beelzebub; second, the liars
and equivocators, as Apollo, Pythias, and the like; third, the
inventors of mischief, as Theutus, in