may think that there is good reason for the silence, that, in fact, he had nothing to do with the sea. But this would not be quite right, for he is described going forth on a memorable occasion in a boat to fish, and one of the names applied to him was kióla valdi, keel-wielder or master of the ship,[1] not to mention that he was invoked in perils at sea, and that one of the colonisers of Iceland is represented consulting Thor's oracle as to the spot where he should land and settle.[2] Thor, however, was not the only Teutonic counterpart of Cronus; for, as was pointed out on another occasion, Zeus has his counterpart not only in Týr, but also probably in the Swedish Frey, or the 'Lord;' and so Frey's father would have as much right, to say the least of it, to be set over against Cronus and the Dagda as Thor. This is borne out by what Norse literature says of Niörᵭr, for that was his name. Thus Niörᵭr, who was himself one of the Wanes and not of the Anses, was the father of Frey, who is called the best among the Anses,[3] just as Cronus the Titan was the father of Zeus the god. Niörᵭr came among the Anses as the hostage of the Wanes, and in the Doom of the Age he was to return to them;[4] but the Wanes were the enemies of the Anses, and they made the first war on them when they broke into the Anses' burgh. The Doom of the Age means the final contest and overthrow of the Anses by Swart and his allies, so that indirectly the latter are identified in a manner with the Wanes, who in any case take
