th America. Traces of them have been found on the Gulf
of St. Lawrence, and some claim that they founded settlements farther
south. They figure largely in the early history of England and
Scotland, and even carried their piratical arms into Russia, Flanders,
France, Italy, and other territories.

"A son of Harold, who had been educated in England, brought
Christianity into Norway; but, it was three centuries before the new
faith had established itself. Like the Hindoos, Greeks, and Romans,
the ancient Scandinavians had a mythology, upon which their religion
was based. They believed that in the beginning all was chaos, in which
was a fountain that sent forth twelve rivers. These streams flowed so
far from their source that the waters froze, and the ice, defying the
modern law of nature, sank till the fathomless deep was filled up. Far
south of the world of mist, in which this miracle was wrought, was a
world of fire and light, whence proceeded a hot wind that melted the
ice, from the drops of which came the ice-giant, whose name was Ymir,
and from whom proceeded a race of ice-giants. From the wedding of the
ice and heat of the two extremes of the world came a cow, from which
ran four streams of milk, the food of the ice-giants. While this
wonderful beast was licking the salt stones in the ice, which formed
her diet, a quantity of human hair grew out of them, and the next day
a human head was developed, and then appeared a whole man. Boer, the
son of this man, married a daughter of one of the ice-giants, and they
had three children, the oldest of whom was Odin, who became the rulers
of heaven and earth, because they were all good, while the children of
Ymir, the ice-giant, were evil. Then, as now, the Good and the Evil
were at war. Finally the ice-giant was slain, and being thrown into
space, the world was created from his body; his blood forming the sea
and the rivers; his flesh the earth; his hair the grass; his bones the
rocks; his teeth and broken jaws the stones; and of his head the
heavens, at the four ends of which were placed four dwarfs, called
North, South, East, and West. Of this giant's brains, thrown into the
air, they formed the clouds, while of the sparks from the land of fire
were made the stars.

"As the sons of Boer, who, you must remember, were the gods of heaven
and earth, were walking on the shore of the sea, they discovered two
blocks, whereof they created a man and a woman. Odin gave them life
and