THE TWENTY-SIXTH FABLE. The Illufions accounted for. HOR paffed the night in that place with his companions, and was preparing to depart thence early the next morning; when the king ordered him to be fent for, and gave him a magnificent entertainment. After this he accompanied him out of the city. When they were just going to bid adieu to each other, the king afked Thor what he thought of the fuccefs of his expedition. Thor told him, he could not but own that he went away very much ashamed and disappointed. It behoves me then, fays the king, to discover now the truth to you, fince you are out of my city; which you fhall never re-enter whilst I live and reign. And I affure you, that had I known before-hand, you had been fo ftrong and mighty, I would not have fuffered you to enter now. But I enchanted you by my illufions; first of all in the foreft, where I arrived before you. VOL. II. K And And there you were not able to untie your wallet, because I had fastened it with a magic chain. You afterwards aimed three blows at me with your mace: the first ftroke, though flight, would have brought me to the ground, had I received it: but when you are gone hence, you will meet with an immenfe rock, in which are three narrow valleys of a square form, one of them in particular remarkably deep: these are the breaches made by your mace; for I at that time lay concealed behind the rock, which you did not perceive. I have used the fame illufions in the contests you have had with the people of my court. In the firft, LOKE, like Hunger itself, devoured all that was fet before him but his opponent, LOGE, was nothing elfe but a wandering Fire, which inftantly confumed not only the meat, but the bones, and very trough itself. HUGO, with whom THIALFE difputed the prize of fwiftnefs, was no other than Thought or Spirit; and it was impoffible for Thialfe to keep pace with that. When you attempted to empty the Horn, you performed, upon my word, a deed fo marvellous, that I fhould never have believed it, if I had not seen it myfelf; for one end of the Horn reached to the fea, a circumftance you did not obferve but the first time you go to the feafide, you will fee how much it is dimi nifhed. hifhed. You performed no lefs a miracle in lifting the Cat, and to tell you the truth, when we faw that one of her paws had quitted the earth, we were all extremely furprized and terrified; for what you took for a Cat, was in reality the great Serpent of Midgard, which encompaffes the earth; and he was then fcarce long enough to touch the earth with his head and tail; fo high had your hand raised him up towards heaven. As to your wrestling with an old woman, it is very aftonishing that she could only bring you down upon one of your knees; for it was DEATH you wrestled with, who firft or laft will bring every one low. But now, as we are going to part, let me tell you, that it will be equally for your advantage and mine, that you never come near me again; for fhould you do fo, I fhall again defend myself by other illufions and enchantments, fo that you will never prevail against me.-As he uttered these words, Thor in a rage laid hold of his mace, and would have lanched it at the king, but he fuddenly disappeared; and when the God would have returned to the city to destroy it, he found nothing all around him but vaft plains covered with verdure. Continuing therefore his courfe, he returned without ever ftopping, to his palace. REMARKS ON THE TWENTY-THIRD, AND FOLLOWING FABLES. to I was unwilling to fupprefs the fables we have been reading, however trifling they may appear at first fight; partly that I might give the original compleat, and partly because I thought them not altogether useless, as they would contribute ftill farther to lay open the turn of mind and genius of the ancient inhabitants of Europe. We have seen above, that THOR was regarded as a Divinity favourable mankind, being their protector against the attacks of Giants and evil Genii. It is pretty remarkable, that this fame God fhould here be liable to illufions, fnares and trials; and that it fhould be the Evil Principle, that perfecutes him. Ut-garda Loke, fignifies "the LOKE, or Demon "from without." "But may not all this fable have been invented in imitation of the labours of Hercules?" The analogy is so small in general be tween the mythology of the Greeks, and that of the northern nations, that I cannot think the imperfect refemblance which is found between thefe two ftories deferves much attention. I am of opinion that we fhall be more likely to fucceed, if we look for the origin of this fable in the religion formerly fpread throughout Perfia and the neighbouring countries; whence, as the ancient Chronicles inform us, ODIN and his companions originally came. There firft arofe the doctrine of a Good and Evil Principle, whofe conflicts we here fee defcribed after an allegorical man of the Poets, the fole depofitaries of the opinions of those times. In reality, we find in every one of those additions, fomewhat that ftrongly marks the foil from whence they fprung. Such, for example, are the contefts about eating and drinking moft; who should fcate beft on the fnow;' and the horns out of which the courtiers were obliged to drink, when they committed a fault. Thefe, and fome other ftrokes of this kind, ftrongly favour of the north. But what moft of all fhows fomewhat of mystery after the Oriental manner, is THOR'S Wrestling with Death, or Old Age; to whom he seems to pay a flight tribute, in falling down upon one of his knees, and immediately again raising up himself. In the next fable he preferves and continues, as indeed throughout all this Mythology, the character and functions which were at firft afcribed to him. He enters into conflict with the great Serpent, a monfter defcended from that Evil Principle, who is at enmity with Gods and men: but he will not be able perfectly to triumph over him, till the laft day; when recoiling back nine paces, he strikes him dead with his thunder, and destroys him for ever. There are few methods of interpretation more equivocal, more fubject to abuse, and more difcredited, than that which hath recourse to allegory. But the turn of genius which feems to have dictated all this Mythology, and the fignificant words it affects to employ, feem to prescribe this method.. to us on this occafion. Befides, we are to remember that the whole of it hath been tranfmitted to us by Poets, and that thofe Poets, in their manner, have been partly Oriental and partly Celtic. We have therefore abundant reason to be convinced, that we ought not to interpret any thing here in a fimple or literal fense. |