ike Atalanta;
she is hard to woo and hard to win, like the fleet-footed maiden,
but, like her, she yields at last and becomes a happy wife. The golden
apples with which Skirnir tries to bribe her remind us of the golden
fruit which Hippomenes cast in Atalanta's way, and which made her
lose the race.

Freya, the goddess of youth, love, and beauty, like Venus, sprang from
the sea, for she is a daughter of the sea-god Nioerd. Venus bestowed
her best affections upon the god of war and upon the martial Anchises,
while Freya often assumes the garb of a Valkyr, and rides rapidly
to earth to take part in mortal strife and bear away the heroic
slain to feast in her halls. Like Venus, she delights in offerings
of fruits and flowers, and lends a gracious ear to the petitions
of lovers. Freya also resembles Minerva, for, like her, she wears
a helmet and breastplate, and, like her, also, she is noted for her
beautiful blue eyes.

Odur and Adonis

Odur, Freya's husband, is like Adonis, and when he leaves her,
she, too, sheds countless tears, which, in her case, are turned
to gold, while Venus's tears are changed into anemones, and those
of the Heliades, mourning for Phaeton, harden to amber, which
resembles gold in colour and in consistency. Just as Venus rejoices
at Adonis's return, and all Nature blooms in sympathy with her joy,
so Freya becomes lighthearted once more when she has found her husband
beneath the flowering myrtles of the South. Venus's car is drawn by
fluttering doves, and Freya's is swiftly carried along by cats, which
are emblems of sensual love, as the doves were considered types of
tenderest love. Freya is appreciative of beauty and angrily refuses
to marry Thrym, while Venus scorns and finally deserts Vulcan, whom
she has been forced to marry against her will.

The Greeks represented Justice as a goddess blindfolded, with scales
in one hand and a sword in the other, to indicate the impartiality and
the fixity of her decrees. The corresponding deity of the North was
Forseti, who patiently listened to both sides of a question ere he,
too, promulgated his impartial and irrevocable sentence.

Uller, the winter-god, resembles Apollo and Orion only in his love for
the chase, which he pursues with ardour under all circumstances. He
is the Northern bowman, and his skill is quite as unerring as theirs.

Heimdall, like Argus, was gifted with marvellous keenness of sight,
which enabled him to see a hundred miles