Page:Primevalantiquit00wors.djvu/44

4 has frequently, we may in fact say in almost every instance, become altered beyond the power of recognition. Even at the present day we have frequent instances of the same events being described in a very different manner, even in print; how much more easily then could such be the case, in times when intercourse between distant countries was far less frequent, and when it must naturally have been extremely difficult to ascertain the truth or falsehood of any statement. It is besides more than probable that many traditions referring to pagan times, which were not recorded till more than a hundred years after the introduction of Christianity, are mingled more or less with Christian additions.

For the same reason it must also be confessed that we know but little that is certain, as to the earliest condition of the present inhabitants of Denmark, or of our predecessors in this country, although there is no want of narratives on the subject. With the diffusion of Christianity, or about the period of Gorm the Old, who lived in the first half of the tenth century, our history begins to be somewhat more trustworthy, although it is still dark and incomplete. Almost every thing previous to that date (the year 900) is merely preserved in traditions and statements, in which it is extremely difficult to distinguish the false from the true. Even the state of civilization attained by our forefathers is a point upon which we are by no means fully informed. Endeavours have meantime been made to remedy this imperfect state of things, and recourse has been had to the records of Sweden and Norway, and from these documents conclusions have been drawn as to what took place in Denmark. It will, however, readily be perceived that such attempts must be attended with very