souls, while his brothers endowed them with other human faculties
and powers. Odin was the Jupiter, the chief, of the northern gods. He
is the god of song and of war, and was the inventor of the Runic
characters, or alphabet. He was the ruler of Valhalla, the home of
heroes slain in battle. There is much more that is curious and
interesting in the mythology of the Scandinavians, which I must ask
you to read for yourselves.

"Olaf II. propagated Christianity with fire and sword. He demolished
the temples of paganism, and founded Trondhjem, or Drontheim, as it is
called on our maps. His successor, St. Olaf, followed his example,
till his cruelty excited a rebellion, and Canute the Great, of
Denmark, landing in Norway, was elected king. Olaf fled into Sweden,
where he organized an army, and attempted to recover his throne; but
he was defeated and slain in a battle near Trondhjem. His body was
found, a few years later, in a perfect state of preservation, which
was regarded as a miracle, and Olaf was canonized as a saint. His
remains are said to have wrought many miracles, and up to the time of
the Reformation, thousands of pilgrims annually visited his shrine at
Trondhjem. Even in London churches were dedicated to this saint.

"Canute gave Norway to his son Sweyn, who, upon the death of his
father, was dispossessed of the throne by Magnus I., the son of St.
Olaf. He was succeeded by Harold III., a great warrior, who founded
Osloe, now Christiania. After Olaf III. and Magnus III. came Sigurd,
who, in 1107, made a pilgrimage of four years to Jerusalem, with a
fleet of sixty vessels, and distinguished himself in the holy wars.
His death was followed by civil dissensions, until Hako IV. obtained
the throne. He lost his life in an attempt to retain the Hebrides
Islands, claimed by Scotland. Then war with Denmark, the monopoly of
trade by the Hanse towns, and a fearful plague, which depopulated
whole sections, produced a decline in the national prosperity of
Norway. Hako VI., who died in 1380, had married the daughter of the
King of Denmark, and the crown of Norway descended to his son, Olaf
III., of Denmark, in whom the sovereignties of Norway and Denmark were
united. Olaf was succeeded by his mother Margaret, celebrated in
history as 'the Semiramis of the North.' She conquered Sweden, and
annexed it to her own dominions. By the 'Union of Calmar,' signed by
the principal nobles and prelates of the three Scandinavian kingdoms,