ubject to the same explanation and comparison as the
above story, is still more closely related to the tale of Orpheus and
Eurydice, for the former, like Bragi, cannot exist without the latter,
whom he follows even into the dark realm of death; without her his
songs are entirely silenced. The wolf-skin in which Idun is enveloped
is typical of the heavy snows in Northern regions, which preserve the
tender roots from the blighting influence of the extreme winter cold.

Skadi and Diana

The Van Nioerd, who is god of the sunny summer seas, has his counterpart
in Neptune and more especially in Nereus, the personification of the
calm and pleasant aspect of the mighty deep. Nioerd's wife, Skadi,
is the Northern huntress; she therefore resembles Diana. Like her,
she bears a quiver full of arrows, and a bow which she handles with
consummate skill. Her short gown permits the utmost freedom of motion,
also, and she, too, is generally accompanied by a hound.

The story of the transference of Thiassi's eyes to the firmament,
where they glow like brilliant stars, reminds us of many Greek star
myths, and especially of Argus's eyes ever on the watch, of Orion and
his jewelled girdle, and of his dog Sirius, all changed into stars
by the gods to appease angry goddesses. Loki's antics to win a smile
from the irate Skadi are considered akin to the quivering flashes of
sheet-lightning which he personified in the North, while Steropes,
the Cyclops, typified it for the Greeks.

Frey and Apollo

The Northern god of sunshine and summer showers, the genial Frey,
has many traits in common with Apollo, for, like him, he is beautiful
and young, rides the golden-bristled boar which was the Northern
conception of the sunbeams, or drives across the sky in a golden car,
which reminds us of Apollo's glittering chariot.

Frey has some of the gentle Zephyrus's characteristics besides, for
he, too, scatters flowers along his way. His horse Blodug-hofi is
not unlike Pegasus, Apollo's favourite steed, for it can pass through
fire and water with equal ease and velocity.

Fro, like Odin and Jupiter, is also identified with a human king, and
his mound lies beside Odin's near Upsala. His reign was so happy that
it was called the Golden Age, and he therefore reminds us of Saturn,
who, exiled to earth, ruled over the people of Italy, and granted
them similar prosperity.

Freya and Venus

Gerda, the beautiful maiden, is like Venus, and also l