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6 The gods themselves dwelt in Asgard. Some of them were of the mighty Asa-race: Valfather Odin, and Frigg his Queen; Thor, the master of Mjolner; Balder, the good; the one-handed Tyr; Brage, the song-smith. Idun having the youth-giving apples, and Heimdal, the watcher of Asgard. Others were mild and gentle vans: Njord, Frey, and Freyja, the goddess of love; but in the midst of Asgard in daily intercourse with the gods, the serpent Loke, the friend of the giants, winded his slimy coils.

To these gods our Teutonic ancestors offered sacrifices, to them prayers ascended, and from them came such blessings as each god found it proper to bestow. Most of all were these gods worshiped on the battle-field, for there was the home of the Teuton. There he lived and there he hoped some day to die; for if the norns, the weavers of fate, permitted him to fall sword in hand, then would he not descend to the shades of Hel, but be carried in valkyrian arms up to Valhal, where a new life would be granted unto him, or better, where he would continue his earthly life in intercourse with the gods.

Happy gatherings at the banquet, where the flowing mead-horn was passed freely round, and where words of wisdom and wit abounded, or martial games with sharp swords and spears, were the delight of the asas. Under the ash Ygdrasil they met in council, and if they ever appeared outside of the walls of Asgard, it was to go on errands of love, or to make war on the giants, their enemies from the beginning. Especially did Thor seldom sit still when he heard rumors of giants; with