File:The story of the greatest nations, from the dawn of history to the twentieth century - a comprehensive history, founded upon the leading authorities, including a complete chronology of the world, and (14775193741).jpg

Identifier: greatestnations03elli (find matches)
Title: The story of the greatest nations, from the dawn of history to the twentieth century : a comprehensive history, founded upon the leading authorities, including a complete chronology of the world, and a pronouncing vocabulary of each nation
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors: Ellis, Edward Sylvester, 1840-1916 Horne, Charles F. (Charles Francis), 1870-1942
Subjects: World history
Publisher: New York : F.R. Niglutsch
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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e tales withwhich the Greeks enveloped their gods and the sombre earnestness of theseGerman tragedies. It is southern warmth and sunshine against northern coldand night. Originally, say the legends, nothing existed but ice and mist. From thesewere born the giants and especially the enormous frost giant Ymir. The? *came the gods, who slew Ymir and formed from his body the habitable earth.His bones are the rocks, his flesh the ground, his blood the rivers. FromYmirs breast sprang the great ash tree Yggdrasil, the tree of life. It is up-held by three deep-set roots. One of these lies in the abode of the gods andbrings strength and nourishment to the tree. One rests in the home of thegiants, who possess all the ancient wisdom of the earth, and hence comes thatvague shadowy remembrance of the past, that sad foreboding of the future, whicbpervade all life. The third root reaches the old, formless land of darkness,where an adder gnaws ceaselessly at it, so that some day the tree must fall. i
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Germany—The Ancient Gods 503 This tone of despair, of final destruction to come, runs through all the story.The gods themselves are to die at last. There will come a mysterious timecalled the twilight of the gods, when all the giants, all the strange monstersof the deep, the demons of the land of darkness and of the land of fire, shallall unite in battle against the gods. On that direful day death alone shallsurvive; life and all the earth shall be destroyed in flame. The chief of the gods was named Woden or Odin. He is still honored inall Germanic languages, which preserve his name in Wednesday, Wodens day.With grim bitterness his worshippers represented him, and indeed many of theirgods, as physically incomplete. Gods though they may be, they lack somewhatof being even perfect men. Woden has but one eye, or rather the other ispartly blind. He gave its sight to the giants for one draught from the well ofuniversal wisdom. The sun and the moon are his eyes. With the good one hesearch

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