off as plainly by night as
by day. His Giallar-horn, which could be heard throughout all the
world, proclaiming the gods' passage to and fro over the quivering
bridge Bifroest, was like the trumpet of the goddess Renown. As he
was related to the water deities on his mother's side, he could,
like Proteus, assume any form at will, and he made good use of this
power on the occasion when he frustrated Loki's attempt to steal the
necklace Brisinga-men.

Hermod, the quick or nimble, resembles Mercury not only in his
marvellous celerity of motion. He, too, was the messenger of the gods,
and, like the Greek divinity, flashed hither and thither, aided not by
winged cap and sandals, but by Odin's steed Sleipnir, whom he alone
was allowed to bestride. Instead of the Caduceus, he bore the wand
Gambantein. He questioned the Norns and the magician Rossthiof, through
whom he learned that Vali would come to avenge his brother Balder and
to supplant his father Odin. Instances of similar consultations are
found in Greek mythology, where Jupiter would fain have married Thetis,
yet desisted when the Fates foretold that if he did so she would be
the mother of a son who would surpass his father in glory and renown.

The Northern god of silence, Vidar, has some resemblance to Hercules,
for while the latter has nothing but a club with which to defend
himself against the Nemean lion, whom he tears asunder, the former
is enabled to rend the Fenris wolf at Ragnarok by the possession of
one large shoe.

Rinda and Danae

Odin's courtship of Rinda reminds us of Jupiter's wooing of Danae,
who is also a symbol of the earth; and while the shower of gold in
the Greek tale is intended to represent the fertilising sunbeams, the
footbath in the Northern story typifies the spring thaw which sets in
when the sun has overcome the resistance of the frozen earth. Perseus,
the child of this union, has many points of resemblance with Vali,
for he, too, is an avenger, and slays his mother's enemies just as
surely as Vali destroys Hodur, the murderer of Balder.

The Fates were supposed to preside over birth in Greece, and to
foretell a child's future, as did the Norns; and the story of Meleager
has its unmistakable parallel in that of Nornagesta. Althaea preserves
the half-consumed brand in a chest, Nornagesta conceals the candle-end
in his harp; and while the Greek mother brings about her son's death
by casting the brand into the fire, Nornagesta, compe