A few legends of the pagan time are preserved for us in Christian books.

_Beowulf_ is rich in allusions to these ancient superstitions.

If we may build upon the slender materials which alone are available, it would seem that the dead chieftains were buried in barrows, and ghost-worship was practised at their tombs.

The temples were mere stockades of wood, with rude blocks or monoliths to represent deities and altars.

Probably their few rites consisted merely of human or other sacrifices to the gods or the ghosts of departed chiefs.