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.