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The Junior Classics, Volume 2: Folk Tales and Myths

THE JUNIOR CLASSICS

SELECTED AND ARRANGED BY WILLIAM PATTEN MANAGING EDITOR OF THE HARVARD CLASSICS

INTRODUCTION BY CHARLES W. ELIOT, LL.D. PRESIDENT EMERITUS OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY

WITH A READING GUIDE BY WILLIAM ALLAN NEILSON, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT SMITH COLLEGE, NORTHAMPTON, MASS., SINCE 1917

VOLUME TWO

_Folk Tales and Myths_

P. F. COLLIER & SON CORPORATION NEW YORK

Copyright, 1912 By P. F. COLLIER & SON

Copyright, 1918 By P. F. COLLIER & SON

Acknowledgments of permission given by authors and publishers for the use of copyright material appear in Volume 10

MANUFACTURED IN U. S. A.

TC

CONTENTS

PAGE

NOTE 8

STORIES FROM NORTHERN SAGAS

The Northmen’s Story of How All Things Began _E. M. Wilmot-Buxton_ 9 How the Queen of the Sky Gave Gifts to Men _E. M. Wilmot-Buxton_ 17 The Dwarfs and the Fairies _A. and E. Keary_ 21 How Thor Went to Jötunheim _A. and E. Keary_ 26 How Thor’s Hammer Was Lost and Found _E. M. Wilmot-Buxton_ 40 Iduna’s Apples of Youth _A. and E. Keary_ 51 How the Fenris Wolf Was Chained _E. M. Wilmot-Buxton_ 72 The Story of Balder the Beautiful _E. M. Wilmot-Buxton_ 80 The Wonderful Quern Stones _Julia Goddard_ 91

THE STORY OF BRUNHILDA AND SIEGFRIED

Brunhilda and the Magic Sword _Constance Maud_ 99 Brunhilda’s Sleep Guarded by Loki’s Fiery Arm _Constance Maud_ 107 How Siegfried Killed the Dragon _Constance Maud_ 115 How Siegfried Finds Brunhilda _Constance Maud_ 133

THE STORY OF LOHENGRIN

The Plot Against the Beautiful Elsa of Brabant _Constance Maud_ 141 The Knights of the Holy Grail _Constance Maud_ 148 Lohengrin the Champion of Elsa of Brabant _Constance Maud_ 150 Ortruda Plots for Revenge _Constance Maud_ 158 The Departure of Lohengrin _Constance Maud_ 162 The Wooing of the Daughter of the King of Ireland _From the Gudrun Lay_ 171

THREE TALES OF THE RHINE

The Lady of Kynast _Xavier B. Saintine_ 180 The Guardian Angel _Xavier B. Saintine_ 183 The Giant Who Laughed at a Dwarf _Xavier B. Saintine_ 185 The Legend of Saint Christopher _Lillian M. Gask_ 187 Prince Ivan and the Gray Wolf _Lillian M. Gask_ 195 King Robert of Sicily _Henry W. Longfellow_ 213

MYTHS OF GREECE AND ROME

The Riddle of the Sphinx _Elsie F. Buckley_ 222 The Gift of Athene _Sir George W. Cox_ 250 Daphne, Child of the Morning _Sir George W. Cox_ 253 The Vengeance of Apollo _Sir George W. Cox_ 255 The Story of Arion _Sir George W. Cox_ 261 The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice _Sir George W. Cox_ 267 Orpheus the Sweet Singer _Sir George W. Cox_ 273 Niobe, a Victim of Latona’s Jealousy _Thomas Bulfinch_ 278 The Sad Story of Pyramus and Thisbe _Thomas Bulfinch_ 282 The Twelve Labors of Hercules _Thomas Bulfinch_ 286 Hercules’s Search for the Apples of Hesperides _Nathaniel Hawthorne_ 292 The Story of Cupid and Psyche _Thomas Bulfinch_ 318 How Phaëton Drove the Sun _Thomas Bulfinch_ 330 Baucis and Philemon Changed into Two Trees _Thomas Bulfinch_ 339 The Paradise of Children _Nathaniel Hawthorne_ 342

TWO TALES OF THE HUDSON

Rip Van Winkle _Washington Irving_ 364 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow _Washington Irving_ 386

SOME ANIMAL MYTHS OF VARIOUS LANDS

The Hare Who Thought the World Had Come to an End _H. N. Francis_ 430 A Hindoo Tale translated from the Jataka The Watering of the Saplings _Rev. W. H. D. Rouse_ 433 A Hindoo Tale translated from the Jataka The Old Hare and the Elephants _Sir Edwin Arnold_ 434 A Hindoo Tale translated from the Hitopadeca The Elephant Has a Bet With the Tiger _Walter Skeat_ 436 A Tale from the Malay Peninsula How the Tortoise Out-Ran the Deer _C. F. Hartt_ 441 A Tale from the Amazon River Which was the Stronger, the Tortoise, the Tapir, or the Whale? _C. F. Hartt_ 444 A Tale from the Amazon River How the Turtle Got His Shell _Annie Ker_ 446 A Tale from New Guinea The Legend of Rata _Sir George Grey_ 450 A Maori Myth Why the Hippopotamus Lives in the Water _Elphinstone Dayrell_ 455 A West African Myth Why the Elephant Has Small Eyes _Elphinstone Dayrell_ 457 A West African Myth The Boy Who Set a Snare for the Sun _H. R. Schoolcraft_ 460 An American Indian Myth The Bird Lover _Cornelius Mathews_ 465 Wunzh, the Father of Indian Corn _Cornelius Mathews_ 479 When Brer Wolf Have His Corn Shucking _Anonymous_ 487 A Tale told by the Georgia Negroes Brer Rabbit’s Cool Air Swing _Anonymous_ 490 A Tale told by the Georgia Negroes

THREE STORIES OF THE SEASONS

The Four Seasons _Lillian M. Gask_ 493 The Three Lemons _Lillian M. Gask_ 500 The Winter-Spirit and His Visitor _Cornelius Mathews_ 512

ILLUSTRATIONS

AH, NAUGHTY PANDORA!

The Paradise of Children

_Frontispiece illustration in color from the painting by Maxfield Parrish_

THEY WOULD SWOOP DOWN AND BEAR HIS LIFELESS BODY TO VALHALLA

Brunhilda and the Magic Sword

_From the painting by K. Dielitz_

TENDERLY HE LOOKED AT HER, AND SLOWLY KISSED HER ON BOTH EYES

Brunhilda’s Sleep Guarded by Loki’s Fiery Arm

_From the painting by K. Dielitz_

SIEGFRIED SLAYS THE DRAGON

How Siegfried Killed the Dragon

_From the painting by K. Dielitz_

“THROUGH HEAVEN’S VICTORY, THY LIFE IS MINE!”

Lohengrin the Champion of Elsa of Brabant

_From the painting by Ferdinand Leeke_

AS HE ENTERED THE VILLAGE, HE MET A NUMBER OF PEOPLE NONE OF WHOM HE KNEW

Rip Van Winkle

_From the painting by Arthur Rackham_

A TROOP OF STRANGE CHILDREN RAN AT HIS HEELS

Rip Van Winkle

_From the painting by Arthur Rackham_

A PROVOKINGLY SHORT PETTICOAT TO DISPLAY THE PRETTIEST FOOT IN THE COUNTRY ROAD

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

_From the painting by Arthur Rackham_

NOTE

_The character of the contents of volumes 1, 2 and 3 is so closely related that they may be said to constitute three volumes under one general title. There are myths of Greece and Rome in this volume as well as in volume 3, and there are more animal myths in volume 1, particularly of the Hindoos and of the North American Indians._

_What gives the volume a special character is the large group of stories from the Sagas or Epic Songs of the Northmen, including the story of Brunhilda and Siegfried, and a particularly attractive version of Lohengrin, condensed, but not rewritten, from the story by Miss Maud._

_These stories belong to us, in a very particular sense, since the blood that flows in the veins of English and American boys is largely the blood of the fair-faced, fair-haired Northmen (or Scandinavians, or Danes, or whatever we call them) who invaded England in the ninth and tenth centuries. Their strong bodies and strong wills have worked wonders in the world and have made the world a pleasanter place to live in. It was the Northman blood that sent Robinson Crusoe a-wandering, and helped Christian defeat the Giant in Doubting Castle._

—_W.P._

THE NORTHMEN’S STORY OF HOW ALL THINGS BEGAN

By E. M. Wilmot-Buxton

Once upon a time, before ever this world was made, there was neither earth nor sea, nor air, nor light, but only a great yawning gulf, full of twilight.

To the north of this gulf lay the Home of Mist, a dark and dreary land, out of which flowed a river of water from a spring that never ran dry. As the water in its onward course met the bitter blasts of wind from the yawning gulf, it hardened into great blocks of ice, which rolled far down into the abyss with a thunderous roar and piled themselves one on another until they formed mountains of glistening ice.

South of this gulf lay the Home of Fire, a land of burning heat, guarded by a giant with a flaming sword, which, as he flashed it to and fro before the entrance, sent forth showers of sparks. And these sparks fell upon the ice-blocks and partly melted them, so that they sent up clouds of steam; and these again were frozen into hoar-frost, which filled all the space that was left in the midst of the mountains of ice.

Then one day, when the gulf was full to the very top, this great mass of frosty rime, warmed by the flames from the Home of Fire, and frozen by the cold airs from the Home of Mist, came to life and became the Giant Ymir, with a living, moving body and cruel heart of ice.

Now there was as yet no tree, nor grass, nor anything that would serve for food, in this gloomy abyss. But when the Giant Ymir began to grope around for something to satisfy his hunger, he heard a sound as of some animal chewing the cud; and there among the ice-hills he saw a gigantic cow, from whose udder flowed four great streams of milk, and with this his craving was easily stilled.

But the cow was hungry also, and began to lick the salt off the blocks of ice by which she was surrounded. And presently, as she went on licking with her strong, rough tongue, a head of hair pushed itself through the melting ice. Still the cow went on licking, until she had at last melted all the icy covering and there stood fully revealed the frame of a mighty man.

Ymir looked with eyes of hatred at this being, born of snow and ice, for somehow he knew that his heart was warm and kind, and that he and his sons would always be the enemies of the evil race of the Frost Giants.

So, indeed, it came to pass. For from the sons of Ymir came a race of giants whose pleasure was to work evil on the earth; and from the Sons of the Iceman sprang the race of the gods, chief of whom was Odin, Father of All Things that ever were made; and Odin and his brothers began at once to war against the wicked Frost Giants, and most of all against the cold-hearted Ymir.

Now when, after a hard fight, the Giant Ymir was slain, such a river of blood flowed forth from his wounds that it drowned all the rest of the Frost Giants save one, who escaped in a boat, with only his wife on board, and sailed away to the edge of the world. And from him sprang all the new race of Frost Giants, who at every opportunity issued from their land of twilight and desolation to harm the gods in their abode of bliss.

When the giants had been thus driven out, All-Father Odin set to work with his brothers to make the earth, the sea, and the sky; and these they fashioned out of the great body of the Giant Ymir.

Out of his flesh they formed Midgard, the earth, which lay in the center of the gulf; and all round it they planted his eyebrows to make a high fence which should defend it from the race of giants.

With his bones they made the lofty hills, with his teeth the cliffs, and his thick curly hair took root and became trees, bushes, and the green grass.

With his blood they made the ocean, and his great skull, poised aloft, became the arching sky. Just below this they scattered his brains, and made of them the heavy gray clouds that lie between earth and heaven.

The sky itself was held in place by four strong dwarfs, who support it on their broad shoulders as they stand east and west and south and north.

The next thing was to give light to the new-made world. So the gods caught sparks from the Home of Fire and set them in the sky for stars; and they took the living flame and made of it the sun and moon, which they placed in chariots of gold, and harnessed to them beautiful horses, with flowing manes of gold and silver. Before the horses of the sun they placed a mighty shield to protect them from its hot rays; but the swift moon steeds needed no such protection from its gentle heat.

And now all was ready save that there was no one to drive the horses of the sun and moon. This task was given to Mani and Sol, the beautiful son and daughter of a giant; and these fair charioteers drive their fleet steeds along the paths marked out by the gods, and not only give light to the earth but mark out months and days for the sons of men.

Then All-Father Odin called forth Night, the gloomy daughter of the cold-hearted giant folk, and set her to drive the dark chariot drawn by the black horse, Frosty-Mane, from whose long wavy hair the drops of dew and hoar-frost fall upon the earth below. After her drove her radiant son, Day, with his white steed Shining-Mane, from whom the bright beams of daylight shine forth to gladden the hearts of men.

But the wicked giants were very angry when they saw all these good things; and they set in the sky two hungry wolves, that the fierce, gray creatures might forever pursue the sun and moon, and devour them, and so bring all things to an end. Sometimes, indeed, or so say the men of the North, the gray wolves almost succeed in swallowing sun or moon; and then the earth children make such an uproar that the fierce beasts drop their prey in fear. And the sun and moon flee more rapidly than before, still pursued by the hungry monsters.

One day, so runs the tale, as Mani, the Man in the Moon, was hastening on his course, he gazed upon the earth and saw two beautiful little children, a boy and a girl, carrying between them a pail of water. They looked very tired and sleepy, and indeed they were, for a cruel giant made them fetch and carry water all night long, when they should have been in bed. So Mani put out a long, long arm and snatched up the children and set them in the moon, pail and all; and there you can see them on any moonlight night for yourself.

But that happened a long time after the beginning of things; for as yet there was no man or woman or child upon the earth.

And now that this pleasant Midgard was made, the gods determined to satisfy their desire for a home where they might rest and enjoy themselves in their hours of ease.

They chose a suitable place far above the earth, on the other side of the great river which flowed from the Home of Mist where the giants dwelt, and here they made for their abode Asgard, wherein they dwelt in peace and happiness, and from whence they could look down upon the sons of men.

From Asgard to Midgard they built a beautiful bridge of many colors, to which men gave the name of Rainbow Bridge, and up and down which the gods could pass on their journeys to and from the earth.

Here in Asgard stood the mighty forge where the gods fashioned their weapons wherewith they fought the giants, and the tools wherewith they built their palaces of gold and silver.

Meantime, no human creature lived upon the earth, and the giants dared not cross its borders for fear of the gods. But one of them, clad in eagle’s plumes, always sat at the north side of Midgard, and, whenever he raised his arms and let them fall again, an icy blast rushed forth from the Mist Home and nipped all the pleasant things of earth with its cruel breath. In due time the earth brought forth thousands of tiny creatures, which crawled about and showed signs of great intelligence. And when the gods examined these little people closely, they found that they were of two kinds.

Some were ugly, misshapen, and cunning-faced, with great heads, small bodies, long arms and feet. These they called Trolls or Dwarfs or Gnomes, and sent them to live underground, threatening to turn them into stone should they appear in the daytime. And this is why the trolls spend all their time in the hidden parts of the earth, digging for gold and silver and precious stones, and hiding their spoil away in secret holes and corners. Sometimes they blow their tiny fires and set to work to make all kinds of wonderful things from this buried treasure; and that is what they are doing when, if one listens very hard on the mountains and hills of the Northland, a sound of tap-tap-tapping is heard far underneath the ground.

The other small earth creatures were very fair and light and slender, kindly of heart and full of good will. These the gods called Fairies or Elves, and gave to them a charming place called Elfland in which to dwell. Elfland lies between Asgard and Midgard, and since all fairies have wings they can easily flit down to the earth to play with the butterflies, teach the young birds to sing, water the flowers, or dance in the moonlight round a fairy ring.

Last of all, the gods made a man and woman to dwell in fair Midgard; and this is the manner of their creation.

All-Father Odin was walking with his brothers in Midgard where, by the seashore, they found growing two trees, an ash and an elm. Odin took these trees and breathed on them, whereupon a wonderful transformation took place. Where the trees had stood, there were a living man and woman, but they were stupid, pale, and speechless, until Hœnir, the god of Light, touched their foreheads and gave them sense and wisdom; and Loki, the Fire-god, smoothed their faces, giving them bright color and warm blood, and the power to speak and see and hear.

It only remained that they should be named, and they were called Ask and Embla, the names of the trees from which they had been formed. From these two people sprang all the race of men which lives upon this earth.

And now All-Father Odin completed his work by planting the Tree of Life.

This immense tree had its roots in Asgard and Midgard and the Mist Land; and it grew to such a marvellous height that the highest bough, the Bough of Peace, hung over the Hall of Odin on the heights of Asgard; and the other branches overshadowed both Midgard and the Mist Land. On the top of the Peace Bough was perched a mighty eagle, and ever a falcon sat between his eyes, and kept watch on all that happened in the world below, that he might tell to Odin what he saw.

Heidrun, the goat of Odin, who supplied the heavenly mead, browsed on the leaves of this wonderful tree, and from them fed also the four mighty stags from whose horns honey-dew dropped on to the earth beneath and supplied water for all the rivers of Midgard.

The leaves of the Tree of Life were ever green and fair, despite the dragon which, aided by countless serpents, gnawed perpetually at its roots, in order that they might kill the Tree of Life and thus bring about the destruction of the gods.

Up and down the branches of the tree scampered the squirrel, Ratatosk, a malicious little creature, whose one amusement it was to make mischief by repeating to the eagle the rude remarks of the dragon, and to the dragon those of the eagle, in the hope that one day he might see them in actual conflict.

Near the roots of the Tree of Life is a sacred well of sweet water from which the three Weird Sisters, who know all that shall come to pass, sprinkle the tree and keep it fresh and green. And the water, as it trickles down from the leaves, falls as drops of honey on the earth, and the bees take it for their food.

Close to this sacred well is the Council Hall of the gods, to which every morning they rode, over the Rainbow Bridge, to hold converse together.

And this is the end of the tale of How All Things began.

HOW THE QUEEN OF THE SKY GAVE GIFTS TO MEN

By E. M. Wilmot-Buxton

By the side of All-Father Odin, upon his high seat in Asgard, sat Frigga, his wife, the Queen of the Asas. Sometimes she would be dressed in snow-white garments, bound at the waist by a golden girdle, from which hung a great bunch of golden keys. And the earth-dwellers, gazing into the sky, would admire the great white clouds as they floated across the blue, not perceiving that these clouds were really the folds of Frigga’s flowing white robe, as it waved in the wind.

At other times she would wear dark gray or purple garments; and then the earth-dwellers made haste into their houses, for they said, “the sky is lowering to-day, and a storm is nigh at hand.”

Frigga had a palace of her own called Fensalir, or the Hall of Mists, where she spent much of her time at her wheel, spinning golden thread, or weaving web after web of many-colored clouds. All night long she sat at this golden wheel, and if you look at the sky on a starry night you may chance to see it set up where the men of the South show a constellation called the Girdle of Orion.

Husbands and wives who had dwelt lovingly together upon earth were invited by Frigga to her hall when they died, so they might be forever united within its hospitable walls.

Frigga was especially interested in all good housewives, and she herself set them an excellent example in Fensalir. When the snowflakes fell, the earth-dwellers knew it was Frigga shaking her great feather bed, and when it rained they said it was her washing day. It was she who first gave to them the gift of flax that the women upon earth might spin, and weave, and bleach their linen as white as the clouds of her own white robe.

And this is how it came about.

There once was a shepherd who lived among the mountains with his wife and children; and so very poor was he that he often found it hard to give his family enough to satisfy their hunger. But he did not grumble; he only worked the harder; and his wife, though she had scarcely any furniture, and never a chance of a new dress, kept the house so clean, and the old clothes so well mended, that, all unknown to herself, she rose high in the favor of the all-seeing Frigga.

Now one day, when the shepherd had driven his few poor sheep up the mountain to pasture, a fine reindeer sprang from the rocks above him and began to leap upward along the steep slope. The shepherd snatched up his crossbow and pursued the animal, thinking to himself: “Now we shall have a better meal than we have had for many a long day.”

Up and up leaped the reindeer, always just out of reach, and at length disappeared behind a great boulder just as the shepherd, breathless and weary, reached the spot. No sign of the reindeer was to be seen, but, on looking round, the shepherd saw that he was among the snowy heights of the mountains, and almost at the top of a great glacier.