It should not be hard for the general reader to understand that the influence which is the theme of this
dissertation is real and explicable. If he will but call the roll of his favorite heroes, he will find Sigurd there. In
his gallery of wondrous women, he certainly cherishes Brynhild. These poetic creations belong to the
English−speaking race, because they belong to the world. And if one will but recall the close kinship of the
Icelandic and the Anglo−Saxon languages, he will not find it strange that the spirit of the old Norse sagas
lives again in our English song and story.
