Saxo Euhemerized

7. i. At that time there was a man called Odin who was believed
throughout Europe, though falsely, to be a god; he had the habit of
staying more frequently than anywhere at Uppsala, particularly liking
to live there either because of the inhabitants’ torpor or the beauty of
the countryside. The kings of the North, eager to honour his divinity
with more enthusiastic worship, executed a representation of him in
gold, the arms thickly encircled with heavy bracelets, and as an
expression of their devotion sent it with the utmost show of piety to
Byzantium. Delighting in his high celebrity, Odin avidly greeted the
donors’ affection. His wife, Frigg, desiring to walk abroad more
bedizened, brought in smiths to strip the statue of its gold. Odin had
them hanged and then, setting the image on a plinth, by a marvellous
feat of workmanship even made it respond with a voice to human
touch. Nevertheless, subordinating her husband’s divine honours to
the splendour of her own apparel, Frigg submitted herself to the lust
of one of her servants; by his cunning she had the effigy demolished
and the gold which had been devoted to public idolatry she switched
to her personal extravagance. This woman, unworthy of a deified
consort, felt no scruples about pursuing unchastity, provided she
could more speedily enjoy what she coveted! Need I add anything but
to say that such a god deserved such a wife? Men’s intelligence was
once made ridiculous by extreme gullibility of this kind. Consequently
Odin, wounded by both his wife’s offences, grieved as heavily
over the damage to his likeness as the trespass on his bed. Stung by
this double embarrassment, he took to exile replete with an honest
shame, thinking he would thereby obliterate the stain of his disgrace.


- Gesta Danorum, Book I