Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/204

ÆSIR. panion and liberator of Loki. Odin alone will survive, and then a new and purer world will arise in which Balder will again appear, and Loki, or evil, be no more heard of.

At first Loki, under the name of "Lodhur," or "flame," and as the foster brother of Odin, had united with the all-father in imparting blessings to the universe. Afterward he left the council of the gods and wandered into space, desolating and consuming with flame all things that came in his way. In the under-earth, where volcanic fires attest his presence, he consorted with evil giantesses and became the father of Hel, "pallid death," of Angerboda, "announcer of sorrow," the wolf Fenrir, and the Midgard serpent, who ever threatens the destruction of the world. Loki assumes any shape at will. As sensuality he courses through the veins of men, and as heat and fire pervades nature and causes destruction. After the establishment of Christianity, the attributes of Loki were transferred to Satan; but in Iceland an ignis fatuus is still known as "Loki's burning."

Njörd and his children, Frey or Fricco and Freyja, appear to have been honored in the North before the time of Odin. Njörd is said to have lived in Vanaheim, and to have ruled over the Vanir, or elves of light, long before he became one of the Æsir. He is the god of oceans and controller of winds and waves, and to him seafarers and fishermen raise altars and make prayers. Frey, his son, is the god of rain and fruitfulness, and his worship was accompanied with phallic rites. His sister Freyja, who holds a high rank among the Æsir, is the goddess of love, but her influence, unlike her brother's, is not always beneficent, and varies with the form she assumes in operating on the minds of men. Her chariot is drawn by cats, who are emblems of fondness and passion; and a hog, implying fructification or sensual enjoyment, attends upon Frey and herself. The Swedes paid especial honor to Frey, while the Norwegians worshipped Thor.

Ty (Tyr), the Mars of the Norsemen, is wise and" brave, giving victory, fomenting strife. His name lives in "our Tuesday (Ty's day), as does the name of Odin in Wednesday (Woden's day), Thor in Thursday (Thor's day), and Freyja in Friday (Freyja's day). Tyr's name signifies "honor," and his worship was widely spread in the north. Bragi was the god of elo- quence and wise sayings, the originator of the Skaldic poems; and when men drank Bragi's cup they vowed to perform some great deed worthy of a skald's song. Bragi's wife was Idun, who guarded the casket of apples that gave to those who ate them perpetual youth. She was abduct- ed by the giant Thiassi, and by Loki's craft removed to the other world. Her release in spring seems analogous to the myth of Proser- pine. Heimdal, personified by the rainbow, is the god of watchfulness, the doorkeeper of the Æsir. Vidar, the strongest of the gods except Thor, is the personification of silence and cau- tion. Vali is the brother of Balder and a great marksman. Ull decides issues in single combat; Forseti settles all quarrels; lovers find protec- tion in the goddesses Lofn and Vör, of whom the former unites the faithful and the latter punishes the faithless; Gefjon keeps a watch over maidens, and knows the decrees of fate; Hlin guards those whom Frigga, the queen and mother of heaven, desires to free from peril. The queen herself, as Odin's wife and mother of the Æsir, knows but does not reveal the destinies of men. Saga is the goddess of narration and history; her home is in Sökvabek, the abyss, an allusion to the abundant streams of narrative, from which streams Odin and Saga daily drink and pledge each other. Snotra is the goddess of sagacity and elegance, from whom men and women seek good sense and refined manners. The Norns and the Valkyrias are closely connected with the gods. The principal Norns are Urd, past time, Verdandi, present time, and Skuld, future time. They twist and spin the threads of destiny, and make known what has been decreed from the beginning of time. The Valkyries, of whom there are over a dozen, are sent by Odin to the battle-fields to choose the slain.

It remains to add that in the gods here mentioned the Northmen recognized the makers and rulers of the world that now is, from whom emanated the thought and the life that pervade and animate nature. With Odin and the Æsir, the intellectual life of the northern people began; and although they ascribed to them human forms and acts, these were seldom without something higher and nobler than pertains to mortals; and while they recognized the existence of a state of chaos and darkness before the world began, they anticipated the advent of another state, in which the gods, like men, would receive their reward at the hands of a supreme All-father. See the article on, and the separate articles on the gods, such as ; ; , etc.

ÆSOP (Gk. Αἴσωπος, Aisōpos). The name of a famous Greek writer of fables, who is said to have been born a slave in Samos late in the seventh century B.C., but to have gained his freedom by his cleverness. We may, however, well doubt whether he ever existed; we have the most varied accounts of him, many of which on their face are pure inventions; and the fables which passed under his name were certainly not written until long after the period in which he is supposed to have lived. Socrates in prison turned some of the current Æsopic fables into elegiac verse; and about 320 B.C., Demetrius of Phalerum made a prose collection of the fables known to his day. Whatever the facts as to Æsop's existence, it is certain that his soon became a generic name attached to those beast-fables which are part of the common property of the Indo-European peoples. The collection which now bears his name is for the most part prose paraphrases made by Babrius (q.v.). edited by Halm (second edition, 1860). Consult: Jacobs, Introduction to the Fables of Æsop (New York, 1896); and see.

ÆSOP (Lat. Æsopus), A great Roman tragedian, contemporary with Roseius. Cicero put himself under the direction of these two to perfect his own acting, and Æsop did many friendly services to Cicero during the latter's banishment. Æsop was noted for sinking his own personality in the character he represented. He made his last appearance in 55 B.C. at the dedication of Pompey's theatre, after which his voice failed him. He left a fortune to a worthless son — the Æsop who, according to a well-known story, dissolved in vinegar a pearl valued at $40,000, to have the satisfaction of swallowing the most expensive drink ever known.