CHAPTER 4. THE ORIGIN OF THE SCANDINAVIAN WERE-WOLF
Advantage of the Study of Norse Literature--Bear and Wolf-skin Dresses--The
Berserkir--Their Rage--The Story of Thorir--Passages from the Aigla--The Evening Wolf--Skallagrim and his Son--Derivation of the Words Hamr and Vargr--Laws affecting Outlaws--"To become a Boar"--Recapitulation
ONE Of the great advantages of the study of old Norse or Icelandic literature is the insight given by it into the origin of world-wide superstitions. Norse tradition is transparent as glacier ice, and its origin is as unmistakable.
Mediæval mythology, rich and gorgeous, is a compound like Corinthian brass, into which many pure ores have been fused, or it is a full turbid river drawn from numerous feeders, which had their sources in remote climes. It is a
