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characters so wonderful, that the man immediately descends and converses with me.”
By the operation of these Characters,
and at other times by Verses, Odin had
frequently raised the dead. There is a very
ancient Ode preserved to us by Bartholin[1],
wherein this Deity causes a Prophetess,
whom he wanted to consult, to rise from
her tomb. The beginning of this Ode may
serve to give us an idea what kind of Magic
Poetry it was, which ‘the northern[2]’
nations were heretofore possessed of.
“ODIN, the sovereign of men arises:
he saddles his horse Sleipner; he mounts,
and is conveyed to the subterraneous abode of
Hela (i. e. Death.)
“The Dog who guards the gates of Death
meets him. His breast and his jaws are
stained with blood; he opens his voracious
mouth to bite, and barks a long time at the
father of Magic.
