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All earnest men have seen into it; may
still see into it.
And now, connected with this, let us glance at the _last_ mythus of the
appearance of Thor; and end there. I fancy it to be the latest in date of
all these fables; a sorrowing protest against the advance of
Christianity,--set forth reproachfully by some Conservative Pagan. King
Olaf has been harshly blamed for his over-zeal in introducing Christianity;
surely I should have blamed him far more for an under-zeal in that! He
paid dear enough for it; he died by the revolt of his Pagan people, in
battle, in the year 1033, at Stickelstad, near that Drontheim, where the
chief Cathedral of the North has now stood for many centuries, dedicated
gratefully to his memory as _Saint_ Olaf. The mythus about Thor is to this
effect. King Olaf, the Christian Reform King, is sailing with fit escort
along the shore of Norway, from haven to haven; dispensing justice, or
doing other royal work: on leaving a certain haven, it is found that a
stranger, of grave eyes and aspect, red beard, of stately robust figure,
has stept in.


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