Page:The Prose Edda, Brodeur (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1916).djvu/23

Rh splendid tales of the fathers," Snorri, by implication, says to the youthful bard; "but remember always that these old legends are to be used to point a moral or adorn a tale, and not to be believed, or to be altered without authority of ancient skalds who knew them. Belief is sin; tampering with tradition is a crime against scholarship."

The second and third sections, Skáldskaparmál and Háttatal offer the rules of composition, and drive them home by means of models drawn, in the one case, from acknowledged masters of the craft, in the other, by the example of a complete skaldic trilogy, the work of a man who was accepted by his own time as a worthy successor of Bragi, Kormákr, and Einarr. A needed transition from the literary to the technical portion of the book is supplied by Bragarædur, which narrates, in the same spirit as Gylfaginning further useful tales, and concludes with a mythological account of the skaldic art.

Even the Prologue, which many scholars consider spurious, is an integral part of the work—a fact established by Snorri's single address, in the character of the author, to beginners. In this apostrophe he refers to the Prologue: "Remember, these tales are to be used only as Chief Skalds have used them, and must be revered as ancient tradition, but are neither to be believed nor to be tampered with. Regard them as I have indicated at the beginning of this book." The beginning of the book is a summary of the Biblical story of the Creation and Deluge, followed by a rationalized account of the rise of the ancient pagan faith, according to which the old gods appear, not as deities, but as men.

The word "Edda," as applied to the whole work, has long furnished scholars with material for disputation. The