the Edda itself that as this work fully proves, there is hardly a song
in the Norse collection which does not contain an incident found in the
Indian poem-legends, while in several there are many such coincidences.
Thus, in the Edda we are told that the first birth on earth was that of
a giant girl and boy, begotten by the feet of a giant and born from his
armpit. In the Wabanaki legends, the first birth was of Glooskap, the
Good principle, and Malsum the Wolf, or Evil principle. The Wolf was
born from his mother's armpit. He is sometimes male and sometimes
female. His feet are male and female, and converse. We pass on only
twelve lines in the Edda (Vafthrudnismal, 36) to be told that the wind
is caused by a giant in eagle's plumage, who sits on a rock far in the
north "at the end of heaven." This is simply and literally the
_Wochowsen_ or Windblower of the Wabanaki word for word,--not the
"Thunder-Bird" of the Western Indians. The second birth on earth,
according to the Edda, was that of man. Odin found Ash and Elm "nearly
powerless," and gave them sense. This was the first man and woman.
According to the Indians of Maine, Glooskap made the first men from the
_ash_-tree. They lived or were in it, "devoid of sense" till he
gave it to them. It is to be observed that primevally among the Norse
the _ash_ alone stood for man. So it goes on through the whole
Edda, of which all the main incidents are to be found among the sagas
of the Wabanaki. The most striking of these are the coincidences
between _Lox_ (lynx, wolf, wolverine, badger, or raccoon, and
sometimes man) and Loki. It is very remarkable indeed that the only two
religions in the world which possess a devil in whom _mischief_
predominates should also give to each the same adventures, if both did
not come from the same source. In the Hymiskvida of the Edda, two
giants go to fish for whales, and then have a contest which is actually
one of heat against cold. This is so like a Micmac legend in every
detail that about twenty lines are word for word the same in the Norse