Voltaire

said: “ Nothing happens without a cause... an effect without a cause is a sentence without meaning... my will is but a consequence of my judgment, and the one nece arily follows the other as cause and effect.” The will is as natural to the creature as scent and color are to the flower; and these we know depend on its heredity, yet can be influenced by soil and cultivation. Knowing these exactly, we can predict the result; but in the more complicated question of human motive we must be content with an Agnostik attitude, though a ured that the law of nece ity still holds good. Frey. Freyr. Fraig. Fro. The Skandinavian god of reproduction. The name comes from the Aryan root Bhri or Bhar “to produce” or “ bear” (see Bar), found in the Latin Frua “ fruit.” His female forms are Freya and Frigg. He is represented as the brother of Freya. At Upsala he was represented by a menhir or phallus (see Norweg. Antiq., i, p. 25). He was drawn through heaven by the golden boar (see Boar). He is the “ Lord of Increase” presiding over rain and sunshine, harvests, wealth, and peace—the sun god (Indra), who is the cause of all fertility. Gerda, the earth gode , is said to have resisted him though bribed by apples and rings, till Skirner, his attendant, threatened her with eternal sterility. Freyr ploughed Gerda at the season when Teutons used to carry their ploughs, in boats or arks, over their fields in spring. Frey and Freya were children of “ Niord the rich,” whom the Vanir gave to the Aisar or Aisir (the gods) as hostages at the end of a great war. Niord (or Njord) was born in Vana-heim (‘water home”) being the third As (or “spirit”), ruler of the winds and quencher of the evil fire of Loki. Fro, among Teutons, was a beneficent form of Frey, merciful and long-suffering—a god who gives strength and sweetne to life. Freya. The Skandinavian Venus, sister of Frey, is distinguished from Frigg the Skandinavian Juno, but they are only various aspects of one gode of reproduction—the earth mother and virgin earth. Freya also is called Se rymner “ the large wombed” (see Earth), and was a “gode of the Vanir delighting in love, song and dance.” She listens to the vows of lovers, and produces general fertility. Loki (“fire”) opened her door, loosed her girdle, and crept into her bed as a flea, by order of Odin (Woden “ the blue one”) or heaven. By Odin she had a child called Hnos, “the treasure” or “ delight.” Her car was drawn by cats, and she (like Loki) was clothed in feathers. She was consecrated by receiving in her lap the hammer of Thor, which Thrym, the winter giant, stole. 145