s nigh;--

While his cow'd enemy
He thus accosts, with pleasant dignity.--
'Most noble in this strife will he be found
Who first his right hand good
Offers in pledge of peaceful brotherhood!'--
Then Halfdan, deeply blushing, doffs with haste
His iron-gauntlet and,--with hearty grasp embrac'd,--
Each long, long, sever'd hand
Its friend-foe hails, steadfast as mountain-bases stand!

"And as th' last deep accents
Of reconcilement and of blessing sounded;
Lo! Ing'borg sudden enters, rich adorn'd
With bridal ornaments, and all enrob'd
In gorgeous ermine, and by bright-ey'd maidens
Slow-follow'd, as on heav'n's broad canopy,
Attending star-trains guard the regent-moon!--
But the young bride's fair eyes,
Those two blue skies,
Fill quick with tears,
And to her brother's heart she trembling sinketh;--
He, with his sister's fears
Deep-mov'd, her hand all tenderly in Frithiof's linketh,
His burden soft transferring to that hero's breast,
Its long-tried faith fit place for Ing'borg's rest."

Tegner, Frithiof Saga (G. Stephens's tr.).

CHAPTER XXVIII: THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

The Decline of the Gods

One of the distinctive features of Northern mythology is that the
people always believed that their gods belonged to a finite race. The
AEsir had had a beginning; therefore, it was reasoned, they must have
an end; and as they were born from a mixture of the divine and giant
elements, being thus imperfect, they bore within them the germ of
death, and were, like men, doomed to suffer physical death in order
to attain spiritual immortality.

The whole scheme of Northern mythology was therefore a drama, every
step leading gradually to the climax or tragic end, when, with true
poetic justice, punishment and reward were impartially meted out. In
the foregoing chapters, the gradual rise and decline of the gods have
been carefully traced. We have recounted how the AEsir tolerated the
presence of evil, personated by Loki, in their midst; how they weakly
followed his advice, allowed him to involve them in all manner of
difficulties from which they could be extricated only at the price
of part of their virtue or peace, and finally permitted him to gain
such ascenden