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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Teutonic Mythology,  Vol. 1 of 3, by
+Viktor Rydberg, Ph.D.
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Teutonic Mythology,  Vol. 1 of 3
+       Gods and Goddesses of the Northland
+
+Author: Viktor Rydberg, Ph.D.
+
+Translator: Rasmus B. Anderson, LL.D.
+
+Release Date: October 29, 2011 [EBook #37876]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY,  VOL. 1 OF 3 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlene Taylor, Katie Hernandez and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      Teutonic Mythology
+                      Gods and Goddesses
+                       of the Northland
+
+                             IN
+
+                        THREE VOLUMES
+                   By VIKTOR RYDBERG, Ph.D.,
+ MEMBER OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY; AUTHOR OF THE "THE LAST ATHENIAN"
+                      AND OTHER WORKS.
+
+          _AUTHORISED TRANSLATION FROM THE SWEDISH_
+
+                             BY
+
+                 RASMUS B. ANDERSON, LL.D.,
+   EX-UNITED STATES MINISTER TO DENMARK; AUTHOR OF "NORSE
+             MYTHOLOGY," "VIKING TALES," ETC.
+
+          HON. RASMUS B. ANDERSON, LL.D., Ph.D.,
+                     EDITOR IN CHIEF.
+                    J. W. BUEL, Ph.D.,
+                     MANAGING EDITOR.
+
+                          VOL. I.
+
+                     PUBLISHED BY THE
+                     NORROENA SOCIETY,
+       LONDON COPENHAGEN STOCKHOLM BERLIN NEW YORK
+                           1906
+
+                      [Illustration]
+
+
+                        _OF THE_
+                    Viking Edition
+
+_There are but six hundred and fifty sets made for the world,
+                   of which this is_
+
+                       _No._ 99
+
+               [Illustration: NORROENA]
+
+                      COPYRIGHT,
+                     T. H. SMART,
+                        1905.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: IDUN, HEIMDAL, LOKE, AND BRAGE.
+(_From an etching by Lorenz Froelich._)]
+
+Idun was the beautiful goddess who in Asgard was keeper of the apples
+which the gods ate to preserve eternal youth. She is most generally
+regarded as the wife of Brage.
+
+Heimdal, the son of nine mothers, was guardian against the giants of the
+bridge of the gods, Bifroest. With a trumpet he summoned all the gods
+together at Ragnarok when he and Loke slew each other. He was the god of
+light.
+
+Loke though beautiful in form was like Lucifer in character and was
+hence called the god of destruction. By the giantess Angerboda he had
+three offspring, viz: the Midgard serpent, the Fenris-wolf, and Hela,
+the latter becoming goddess of Hel.
+
+Brage was the son of Odin and being represented as the chief skald in
+Valhalla he is called the god of poetry.
+
+
+
+
+              TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+             TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+                VOLUME ONE.
+
+
+
+                 PART I.
+                                                             Page
+  Introduction--The Ancient Aryans                              1
+  (a) The Aryan Family of Languages                             3
+      Hypothesis of Asiatic Origin of the Aryans                5
+      Hypothesis of European Origin of the Aryans              15
+      The Aryan Land of Europe                                 20
+  (b) Ancient Teutondom                                        26
+
+                 PART II.
+
+  (a) Mediaeval Migration Sagas                                 32
+      The Troy Saga and Prose Edda                             44
+      Saxo's Relation to the Story of Troy                     47
+      Older Periods of the Troy Saga                           50
+      Story of the Origin of Trojan Descent of the Franks      60
+      Odin as Leader of the Trojan Emigration                  67
+      Materials of the Icelandic Troy Saga                     83
+      Result of Foregoing Investigations                       96
+  (b) Popular Traditions of the Middle Ages                    99
+      Saxon and Swabian Migration Saga                        107
+      The Frankish Migration Saga                             111
+      Migration Saga of the Burgundians                       113
+      Teutonic Emigration Saga                                119
+
+                 PART III.
+
+  Myths Concerning the Creation of Man                        126
+  Scef, the Original Patriarch                                135
+  Borgar-Skjold, the Second Patriarch                         143
+  Halfdan, the Third Patriarch                                147
+  Halfdan's Enmity with Orvandel and Svipdag                  151
+  Halfdan's Identity with Mannus                              153
+  Sacred Runes Learned from Heimdal                           159
+  Sorcery, the Reverse of Sacred Runes                        165
+  Heimdal and the Sun Goddess                                 167
+  Loke Causes Enmity Between Gods and Creators                171
+  Halfdan Identical with Helge                                180
+  The End of the Age of Peace                                 185
+  War with the Heroes from Svarin's Mound                     194
+  Review of the Svipdag Myth                                  200
+  The World-War and its Causes                                204
+  Myth Concerning the Sword Guardian                          213
+  Breach Between Asas Vans. Siege of Asgard                   235
+  Significance of the World-War                               252
+  The War in Midgard. Hadding's Adventures                    255
+  Position of the Divine Clans to the Warriors                262
+  Hadding's Defeat                                            268
+  Loke's Punishment                                           273
+  Original Model of the Bravalla Battle                       281
+  The Dieterich Saga                                          285
+
+                   PART IV.
+
+  Myth in Regard to the Lower World                           306
+  Gudmund, King of the Glittering Plains                      309
+  Ruler of the Lower World                                    312
+  Fjallerus and Hadingus in the Low World                     317
+  A Frisian Saga, Adam of Bremen                              319
+  Odainsaker and the Glittering Plains                        321
+  Identification of Odainsaker                                336
+  Gudmund's Identity with Mimer                               339
+  Mimer's Grove                                               341
+
+
+
+
+                LIST OF PHOTOGRAVURES.
+                      VOL. I.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Frontispiece--Idun, Heimdal, Loke, and Brage.
+                                                             Page
+  Thor the Thunder God                                        120
+  Giant Thjasse in the Guise of an Eagle Carries off Loke     174
+  Odin Punishes the Monstrous Progeny of Loke                 300
+
+
+STOCKHOLM, NOVEMBER 20, 1887.
+
+HON. RASMUS B. ANDERSON,
+  United States Minister,
+    Copenhagen, Denmark.
+
+DEAR SIR,
+
+It gives me pleasure to authorise you to translate into English my work
+entitled "Researches in Teutonic Mythology," being convinced that no one
+could be found better qualified for this task than yourself. Certainly
+no one has taken a deeper interest than you in spreading among our
+Anglo-Saxon kinsmen, not only a knowledge of our common antiquity, but
+also of what modern Scandinavia is contributing to the advancement of
+culture--a work in which England and the United States of America are
+taking so large a share.
+
+    Yours faithfully,
+
+        VIKTOR RYDBERG.
+
+
+
+
+                              I.
+
+                         INTRODUCTION.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                    A. THE ANCIENT ARYANS.
+
+
+                              1.
+
+                THE WORDS GERMAN AND GERMANIC.
+
+Already at the beginning of the Christian era the name Germans was
+applied by the Romans and Gauls to the many clans of people whose main
+habitation was the extensive territory east of the Rhine, and north of
+the forest-clad Hercynian Mountains. That these clans constituted one
+race was evident to the Romans, for they all had a striking similarity
+in type of body; moreover, a closer acquaintance revealed that their
+numerous dialects were all variations of the same parent language, and
+finally, they resembled each other in customs, traditions, and religion.
+The characteristic features of the physical type of the Germans were
+light hair, blue eyes, light complexion, and tallness of stature as
+compared with the Romans.
+
+Even the saga-men, from whom the Roman historian Tacitus gathered the
+facts for his _Germania_--an invaluable work for the history of
+civilisation--knew that in the so-called Svevian Sea, north of the
+German continent, lay another important part of Germany, inhabited by
+Sviones, a people divided into several clans. Their kinsmen on the
+continent described them as rich in weapons and fleets, and in warriors
+on land and sea (Tac., _Germ._, 44). This northern sea-girt portion of
+Germany is called Scandinavia--Scandeia by other writers of the Roman
+Empire; and there can be no doubt that this name referred to the
+peninsula which, as far back as historical monuments can be found, has
+been inhabited by the ancestors of the Swedes and the Norwegians. I
+therefore include in the term Germans the ancestors of both the
+Scandinavian and Gothic and German (_tyske_) peoples. Science needs a
+sharply-defined collective noun for all these kindred branches sprung
+from one and the same root, and the name by which they make their first
+appearance in history would doubtless long since have been selected for
+this purpose had not some of the German writers applied the terms
+_German_ and _Deutsch_ as synonymous. This is doubtless the reason why
+Danish authors have adopted the word "Goths" to describe the Germanic
+nation. But there is an important objection to this in the fact that the
+name _Goths_ historically is claimed by a particular branch of the
+family--that branch, namely, to which the East and West Goths belonged,
+and in order to avoid ambiguity, the term should be applied solely to
+them. It is therefore necessary to re-adopt the old collective name,
+even though it is not of Germanic origin, the more so as there is a
+prospect that a more correct use of the words German and Germanic is
+about to prevail in Germany itself, for the German scholars also feel
+the weight of the demand which science makes on a precise and rational
+terminology.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Viktor Rydberg styles his work _Researches in Germanic
+Mythology_, but after consultation with the Publishers, the Translator
+decided to use the word _Teutonic_ instead of _Germanic_ both in the
+title and in the body of the work. In English, the words German,
+Germany, and Germanic are ambiguous. The Scandinavians and Germans have
+the words _Tyskland_, _tysk_, _Deutschland_, _deutsch_, when they wish
+to refer to the present Germany, and thus it is easy for them to adopt
+the words _German_ and _Germanisk_ to describe the Germanic or Teutonic
+peoples collectively. The English language applies the above word
+_Dutch_ not to Germany, but to Holland, and it is necessary to use the
+words _German_ and _Germany_ in translating _deutsch_, _Deutschland_,
+_tysk_, and _Tyskland_. Teutonic has already been adopted by Max Mueller
+and other scholars in England and America as a designation of all the
+kindred branches sprung from one and the same root, and speaking
+dialects of the same original tongue. The words Teuton, Teutonic, and
+Teutondom also have the advantage over German and Germanic that they are
+of native growth and not borrowed from a foreign language. In the
+following pages, therefore, the word Teutonic will be used to describe
+Scandinavians, Germans, Anglo-Saxons, &c., collectively, while German
+will be used exclusively in regard to Germany proper.--TRANSLATOR.]
+
+
+                             2.
+
+                THE ARYAN FAMILY OF LANGUAGES.
+
+It is universally known that the Teutonic dialects are related to the
+Latin, the Greek, the Slavic, and Celtic languages, and that the kinship
+extends even beyond Europe to the tongues of Armenia, Irania, and India.
+The holy books ascribed to Zoroaster, which to the priests of Cyrus and
+Darius were what the Bible is to us; Rigveda's hymns, which to the
+people dwelling on the banks of the Ganges are God's revealed word, are
+written in a language which points to a common origin with our own.
+However unlike all these kindred tongues may have grown with the lapse
+of thousands of years, still they remain as a sharply-defined group of
+older and younger sisters as compared with all other language groups of
+the world. Even the Semitic languages are separated therefrom by a chasm
+so broad and deep that it is hardly possible to bridge it.
+
+This language-group of ours has been named in various ways. It has been
+called the Indo-Germanic, the Indo-European, and the Aryan family of
+tongues. I have adopted the last designation. The Armenians, Iranians,
+and Hindoos I call the Asiatic Aryans; all the rest I call the European
+Aryans.
+
+Certain it is that these sister-languages have had a common mother, the
+ancient Aryan speech, and that this has had a geographical centre from
+which it has radiated. (By such an ancient Aryan language cannot, of
+course, be meant a tongue stereotyped in all its inflections, like the
+literary languages of later times, but simply the unity of those
+dialects which were spoken by the clans dwelling around this centre of
+radiation.) By comparing the grammatical structure of all the daughters
+of this ancient mother, and by the aid of the laws hitherto discovered
+in regard to the transition of sounds from one language to another,
+attempts have been made to restore this original tongue which many
+thousand years ago ceased to vibrate. These attempts cannot, of course,
+in any sense claim to reproduce an image corresponding to the lost
+original as regards syntax and inflections. Such a task would be as
+impossible as to reconstruct, on the basis of all the now spoken
+languages derived from the Latin, the dialect used in Latium. The
+purpose is simply to present as faithful an idea of the ancient tongue
+as the existing means permit.
+
+In the most ancient historical times Aryan-speaking people were found
+only in Asia and Europe. In seeking for the centre and the earliest
+conquests of the ancient Aryan language, the scholar may therefore keep
+within the limits of these two continents, and in Asia he may leave all
+the eastern and the most of the southern portion out of consideration,
+since these extensive regions have from prehistoric times been inhabited
+by Mongolian and allied tribes, and may for the present be regarded as
+the cradle of these races. It may not be necessary to remind the reader
+that the question of the original home of the ancient Aryan tongue is
+not the same as the question in regard to the cradle of the Caucasian
+race. The white race may have existed, and may have been spread over a
+considerable portion of the old world, before a language possessing the
+peculiarities belonging to the Aryan had appeared; and it is a known
+fact that southern portions of Europe, such as the Greek and Italian
+peninsulas, were inhabited by white people before they were conquered by
+Aryans.
+
+
+                                3.
+
+   THE HYPOTHESIS CONCERNING THE ASIATIC ORIGIN OF THE ARYANS.
+
+When the question of the original home of the Aryan language and race
+was first presented, there were no conflicting opinions on the main
+subject.[2] All who took any interest in the problem referred to Asia as
+the cradle of the Aryans. Asia had always been regarded as the cradle of
+the human race. In primeval time, the yellow Mongolian, the black
+African, the American redskin, and the fair European had there tented
+side by side. From some common centre in Asia they had spread over the
+whole surface of the inhabited earth. Traditions found in the
+literatures of various European peoples in regard to an immigration from
+the East supported this view. The progenitors of the Romans were said to
+have come from Troy. The fathers of the Teutons were reported to have
+immigrated from Asia, led by Odin. There was also the original home of
+the domestic animals and of the cultivated plants. And when the
+startling discovery was made that the sacred books of the Iranians and
+Hindoos were written in languages related to the culture languages of
+Europe, when these linguistic monuments betrayed a wealth of inflections
+in comparison with which those of the classical languages turned pale,
+and when they seemed to have the stamp of an antiquity by the side of
+which the European dialects seemed like children, then what could be
+more natural than the following conclusion: The original form has been
+preserved in the original home; the farther the streams of emigration
+got away from this home, the more they lost on the way of their language
+and of their inherited view of the world; that is, of their mythology,
+which among the Hindoos seemed so original and simple as if it had been
+watered by the dews of life's dawn.
+
+[Footnote 2: Compare O. Schrader, _Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte_
+(1883).]
+
+To begin with, there was no doubt that the original tongue itself, the
+mother of all the other Aryan languages, had already been found when
+Zend or Sanscrit was discovered. Fr. v. Schlegel, in his work published
+in 1808, on the _Language and Wisdom of the Hindoos_, regarded Sanscrit
+as the mother of the Aryan family of languages, and India as the
+original home of the Aryan family of peoples. Thence, it was claimed,
+colonies were sent out in prehistoric ages to other parts of Asia and to
+Europe; nay, even missionaries went forth to spread the language and
+religion of the mother-country among other peoples. Schlegel's
+compatriot Link looked upon Zend as the oldest language and mother of
+Sanscrit, and the latter he regarded as the mother of the rest; and as
+the Zend, in his opinion, was spoken in Media and surrounding countries,
+it followed that the highlands of Media, Armenia, and Georgia were the
+original home of the Aryans, a view which prevailed among the leading
+scholars of the age, such as Anquetil-Duperron, Herder, and Heeren, and
+found a place in the historical text-books used in the schools from 1820
+to 1840.
+
+Since Bopp published his epoch-making Comparative Grammar the illusion
+that the Aryan mother-tongue had been discovered had, of course,
+gradually to give place to the conviction that all the Aryan languages,
+Zend and Sanscrit included, were relations of equal birth. This also
+affected the theory that the Persians or Hindoos were the original
+people, and that the cradle of our race was to be sought in their homes.
+
+On the other hand, the Hindooic writings were found to contain evidence
+that, during the centuries in which the most of the Rigveda songs were
+produced, the Hindooic Aryans were possessors only of Kabulistan and
+Pendschab, whence, either expelling or subjugating an older black
+population, they had advanced toward the Ganges. Their social condition
+was still semi-nomadic, at least in the sense that their chief property
+consisted in herds, and the feuds between the clans had for their object
+the plundering of such possessions from each other. Both these facts
+indicated that these Aryans were immigrants to the Indian peninsula, but
+not the aborigines, wherefore their original home must be sought
+elsewhere. The strong resemblance found between Zend and Sanscrit, and
+which makes these dialects a separate subdivision in the Aryan family of
+languages, must now, since we have learned to regard them as
+sister-tongues, be interpreted as a proof that the Zend people or
+Iranians and the Sanscrit people or Hindoos were in ancient times one
+people with a common country, and that this union must have continued to
+exist long after the European Aryans were parted from them and had
+migrated westwards. When, then, the question was asked where this
+Indo-Iranian cradle was situated, the answer was thought to be found in
+a chapter of Avesta, to which the German scholar Rhode had called
+attention already in 1820. To him it seemed to refer to a migration from
+a more northerly and colder country. The passage speaks of sixteen
+countries created by the fountain of light and goodness, Ormuzd (Ahura
+Mazda), and of sixteen plagues produced by the fountain of evil, Ahriman
+(Angra Mainyu), to destroy the work of Ormuzd. The first country was a
+paradise, but Ahriman ruined it with cold and frost, so that it had ten
+months of winter and only two of summer. The second country, in the name
+of which Sughda Sogdiana was recognised, was rendered uninhabitable by
+Ahriman by a pest which destroyed the domestic animals. Ahriman made the
+third (which by the way, was recognised as Merv) impossible as a
+dwelling on account of never-ceasing wars and plunderings. In this
+manner thirteen other countries with partly recognisable names are
+enumerated as created by Ormuzd, and thirteen other plagues produced by
+Ahriman. Rhode's view, that these sixteen regions were stations in the
+migration of the Indo-Iranian people from their original country became
+universally adopted, and it was thought that the track of the migration
+could now be followed back through Persia, Baktria and Sogdiana, up to
+the first region created by Ormuzd, which, accordingly, must have been
+situated in the interior highlands of Asia, around the sources of the
+Jaxartes and Oxus. The reason for the emigration hence was found in the
+statement that, although Ormuzd had made this country an agreeable
+abode, Ahriman had destroyed it with frost and snow. In other words,
+this part of Asia was supposed to have had originally a warmer
+temperature, which suddenly or gradually became lower, wherefore the
+inhabitants found it necessary to seek new homes in the West and South.
+
+The view that the sources of Oxus and Jaxartes are the original home of
+the Aryans is even now the prevailing one, or at least the one most
+widely accepted, and since the day of Rhode it has been supported and
+developed by several distinguished scholars. Then Julius v. Klaproth
+pointed out, already in 1830, that, among the many names of various
+kinds of trees found in India, there is a single one which they have in
+common with other Aryan peoples, and this is the name of the birch.
+India has many kinds of trees that do not grow in Central Asia, but the
+birch is found both at the sources of the Oxus and Jaxartes, and on the
+southern spurs of the Himalaya mountains. If the Aryan Hindoos
+immigrated from the highlands of Central Asia to the regions through
+which the Indus and Ganges seek their way to the sea, then it is
+natural, that when they found on their way new unknown kinds of trees,
+then they gave to these new names, but when they discovered a tree with
+which they had long been acquainted, then they would apply the old
+familiar name to it. Mr. Lassen, the great scholar of Hindooic
+antiquities, gave new reasons for the theory that the Aryan Hindoos were
+immigrants, who through the western pass of Hindukush and through
+Kabulistan came to Pendschab, and thence slowly occupied the Indian
+peninsula. That their original home, as well as that of their Iranian
+kinsmen, was that part of the highlands of Central Asia pointed out by
+Rhode, he found corroborated by the circumstance, that there are to be
+found there, even at the present time, remnants of a people, the
+so-called Tadchiks, who speak Iranian dialects. According to Lassen,
+these were to be regarded as direct descendants of the original Aryan
+people, who remained in the original home, while other parts of the same
+people migrated to Baktria or Persia and became Iranians, or migrated
+down to Pendschab and became Hindoos, or migrated to Europe and became
+Celts, Greco-Italians, Teutons, and Slavs. Jacob Grimm, whose name will
+always be mentioned with honour as the great pathfinder in the field of
+Teutonic antiquities, was of the same opinion; and that whole school of
+scientists who were influenced by romanticism and by the philosophy of
+Schelling made haste to add to the real support sought for the theory in
+ethnological and philological facts, a support from the laws of natural
+analogy and from poetry. A mountain range, so it was said, is the
+natural divider of waters. From its fountains the streams flow in
+different directions and irrigate the plains. In the same manner the
+highlands of Central Asia were the divider of Aryan folk-streams, which
+through Baktria sought their way to the plains of Persia, through the
+mountain passes of Hindukush to India, through the lands north of the
+Caspian Sea to the extensive plains of modern Russia, and so on to the
+more inviting regions of Western Europe. The sun rises in the east, _ex
+oriente lux_; the highly-gifted race, which was to found the European
+nations, has, under the guidance of Providence, like the sun, wended its
+way from east to west. In taking a grand view of the subject, a mystic
+harmony was found to exist between the apparent course of the sun and
+the real migrations of people. The minds of the people dwelling in
+Central and Eastern Asia seemed to be imbued with a strange instinctive
+yearning. The Aryan folk-streams, which in prehistoric times deluged
+Europe, were in this respect the forerunners of the hordes of Huns which
+poured in from Asia, and which in the fourth century gave the impetus to
+the Teutonic migrations, and of the Mongolian hordes which in the
+thirteenth century invaded our continent. The Europeans themselves are
+led by this same instinct to follow the course of the sun: they flow in
+great numbers to America, and these folk-billows break against each
+other on the coasts of the Pacific Ocean. "At the breast of our Asiatic
+mother," thus exclaimed, in harmony with the romantic school, a scholar
+with no mean linguistic attainments--"at the breast of our Asiatic
+mother, the Aryan people of Europe have rested; around her as their
+mother they have played as children. There or nowhere is the playground;
+there or nowhere is the gymnasium of the first physical and intellectual
+efforts on the part of the Aryan race."
+
+The theory that the cradle of the Aryan race stood in Central Asia near
+the sources of the Indus and Jaxartes had hardly been contradicted in
+1850, and seemed to be secured for the future by the great number of
+distinguished and brilliant names which had given their adhesion to it.
+The need was now felt of clearing up the order and details of these
+emigrations. All the light to be thrown on this subject had to come from
+philology and from the geography of plants and animals. The first author
+who, in this manner and with the means indicated, attempted to furnish
+proofs in detail that the ancient Aryan land was situated around the
+Oxus river was Adolphe Pictet. There, he claimed, the Aryan language had
+been formed out of older non-Aryan dialects. There the Aryan race, on
+account of its spreading over Baktria and neighbouring regions, had
+divided itself into branches of various dialects, which there, in a
+limited territory, held the same geographical relations to each other
+as they hold to each other at the present time in another and immensely
+larger territory. In the East lived the nomadic branch which later
+settled in India; in the East, too, but farther north, that branch
+herded their flocks, which afterwards became the Iranian and took
+possession of Persia. West of the ancestors of the Aryan Hindoos dwelt
+the branch which later appears as the Greco-Italians and north of the
+latter the common progenitors of Teutons and Slavs had their home. In
+the extreme West dwelt the Celts, and they were also the earliest
+emigrants to the West. Behind them marched the ancestors of the Teutons
+and Slavs by a more northern route to Europe. The last in this
+procession to Europe were the ancestors of the Greco-Italians, and for
+this reason their languages have preserved more resemblance to those of
+the Indo-Iranians who migrated into Southern Asia than those of the
+other European Aryans. For this view Pictet gives a number of reasons.
+According to him, the vocabulary common to more or less of the Aryan
+branches preserves names of minerals, plants, and animals which are
+found in those latitudes, and in those parts of Asia which he calls the
+original Aryan country.
+
+The German linguist Schleicher has to some extent discussed the same
+problem as Pictet in a series of works published in the fifties and
+sixties. The same has been done by the famous German-English scientist
+Max Mueller. Schleicher's theory, briefly stated, is the following: The
+Aryan race originated in Central Asia. There, in the most ancient Aryan
+country, the original Aryan tongue was spoken for many generations. The
+people multiplied and enlarged their territory, and in various parts of
+the country they occupied, the language assumed various forms, so that
+there were developed at least two different languages before the great
+migrations began. As the chief cause of the emigrations, Schleicher
+regards the fact that the primitive agriculture practised by the Aryans,
+including the burning of the forests, impoverished the soil and had a
+bad effect on the climate. The principles he laid down and tried to
+vindicate were: (1) The farther East an Aryan people dwells, the more it
+has preserved of the peculiarities of the original Aryan tongue. (2) The
+farther West an Aryan-derived tongue and daughter people are found, the
+earlier this language was separated from the mother-tongue, and the
+earlier this people became separated from the original stock. Max Mueller
+holds the common view in regard to the Asiatic origin of the Aryans. The
+main difference between him and Schleicher is that Mueller assumes that
+the Aryan tongue originally divided itself into an Asiatic and an
+European branch. He accordingly believes that all the Aryan-European
+tongues and all the Aryan-European peoples have developed from the same
+European branch, while Schleicher assumes that in the beginning the
+division produced a Teutonic and Letto-Slavic branch on the one hand,
+and an Indo-Iranian, Greco-Italic, and Celtic on the other.
+
+This view of the origin of the Aryans had scarcely met with any
+opposition when we entered the second half of our century. We might add
+that it had almost ceased to be questioned. The theory that the Aryans
+were cradled in Asia seemed to be established as an historical fact,
+supported by a mass of ethnographical, linguistic, and historical
+arguments, and vindicated by a host of brilliant scientific names.
+
+
+                             4.
+
+     THE HYPOTHESIS CONCERNING THE EUROPEAN ORIGIN OF
+                        THE ARYANS.
+
+
+In the year 1854 was heard for the first time a voice of doubt. The
+sceptic was an English ethnologist, by name Latham, who had spent many
+years in Russia studying the natives of that country. Latham was
+unwilling to admit that a single one of the many reasons given for the
+Asiatic origin of our family of languages was conclusive, or that the
+accumulative weight of all the reasons given amounted to real evidence.
+He urged that they who at the outset had treated this question had lost
+sight of the rules of logic, and that in explaining a fact it is a
+mistake to assume too many premises. The great fact which presents
+itself and which is to be explained is this: There are Aryans in Europe
+and there are Aryans in Asia. The major part of Aryans are in Europe,
+and here the original language has split itself into the greatest number
+of idioms. From the main Aryan trunk in Europe only two branches extend
+into Asia. The northern branch is a new creation, consisting of Russian
+colonisation from Europe; the southern branch, that is, the
+Iranian-Hindooic, is, on the other hand, prehistoric, but was still
+growing in the dawn of history, and the branch was then growing from
+West to East, from Indus toward Ganges. When historical facts to the
+contrary are wanting, then the root of a great family of languages
+should naturally be looked for in the ground which supports the trunk
+and is shaded by the crown, and not underneath the ends of the
+farthest-reaching branches. The mass of Mongolians dwell in Eastern
+Asia, and for this very reason Asia is accepted as the original home of
+the Mongolian race. The great mass of Aryans live in Europe, and have
+lived there as far back as history sheds a ray of light. Why, then, not
+apply to the Aryans and to Europe the same conclusions as hold good in
+the case of the Mongolians and Asia? And why not apply to ethnology the
+same principles as are admitted unchallenged in regard to the geography
+of plants and animals? Do we not in botany and zoology seek the original
+home and centre of a species where it shows the greatest vitality, the
+greatest power of multiplying and producing varieties? These questions,
+asked by Latham, remained for some time unanswered, but finally they led
+to a more careful examination of the soundness of the reasons given for
+the Asiatic hypothesis.
+
+The gist of Latham's protest is, that the question was decided in favour
+of Asia without an examination of the other possibility, and that in
+such an examination, if it were undertaken, it would appear at the very
+outset that the other possibility, that is, the European origin of the
+Aryans--is more plausible, at least from the standpoint of methodology.
+
+This objection on the part of an English scholar did not even produce an
+echo for many years, and it seemed to be looked upon simply as a
+manifestation of that fondness for eccentricity which we are wont to
+ascribe to his nationality. He repeated his protest in 1862, but it
+still took five years before it appeared to have made any impression. In
+1867, the celebrated linguist Whitney came out, not to defend Latham's
+theory that Europe is the cradle of the Aryan race, but simply to clear
+away the widely spread error that the science of languages had
+demonstrated the Asiatic origin of the Aryans. As already indicated, it
+was especially Adolphe Pictet who had given the first impetus to this
+illusion in his great work _Origines indo-europeennes_. Already, before
+Whitney, the Germans Weber and Kuhn had, without attacking the Asiatic
+hypothesis, shown that the most of Pictet's arguments failed to prove
+that for which they were intended. Whitney now came and refuted them all
+without exception, and at the same time he attacked the assumption made
+by Rhode, and until that time universally accepted, that a record of an
+Aryan emigration from the highlands of Central Asia was to be found in
+that chapter of Avesta which speaks of the sixteen lands created by
+Ormuzd for the good of man, but which Ahriman destroyed by sixteen
+different plagues. Avesta does not with a single word indicate that the
+first of these lands which Ahriman destroyed with snow and frost is to
+be regarded as the original home of the Iranians, or that they ever in
+the past emigrated from any of them. The assumption that a migration
+record of historical value conceals itself within this geographical
+mythological sketch is a mere conjecture, and yet it was made the very
+basis of the hypothesis so confidently built upon for years about
+Central Asia as the starting-point of the Aryans.
+
+The following year, 1868, a prominent German linguist--Mr. Benfey--came
+forward and definitely took Latham's side. He remarked at the outset
+that hitherto geological investigations had found the oldest traces of
+human existence in the soil of Europe, and that, so long as this is the
+case, there is no scientific fact which can admit the assumption that
+the present European stock has immigrated from Asia after the quaternary
+period. The mother-tongues of many of the dialects which from time
+immemorial have been spoken in Europe may just as well have originated
+on this continent as the mother-tongues of the Mongolian dialects now
+spoken in Eastern Asia have originated where the descendants now dwell.
+That the Aryan mother-tongue originated in Europe, not in Asia, Benfey
+found probably on the following grounds: In Asia, lions are found even
+at the present time as far to the north as ancient Assyria, and the
+tigers make depredations over the highlands of Western Iran, even to the
+coasts of the Caspian Sea. These great beasts of prey are known and
+named even among Asiatic people who dwell north of their habitats. If,
+therefore, the ancient Aryans had lived in a country visited by these
+animals, or if they had been their neighbours, they certainly would have
+had names for them; but we find that the Aryan Hindoos call the lion by
+a word not formed from an Aryan root, and that the Aryan Greeks borrowed
+the word lion (_lis_, _leon_) from a Semitic language. (There is,
+however, division of opinion on this point.) Moreover, the Aryan
+languages have borrowed the word camel, by which the chief beast of
+burden in Asia is called. The home of this animal is Baktria, or
+precisely that part of Central Asia in the vicinity of which an effort
+has been made to locate the cradle of the Aryan tongue. Benfey thinks
+the ancient Aryan country has been situated in Europe, north of the
+Black Sea, between the mouth of the Danube and the Caspian Sea.
+
+Since the presentation of this argument, several defenders of the
+European hypothesis have come forward, among them Geiger, Cuno, Friedr.
+Mueller, Spiegel, Poesche, and more recently Schrader and Penka.
+Schrader's work, _Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte_, contains an
+excellent general review of the history of the question, original
+contributions to its solution, and a critical but cautious opinion in
+regard to its present position. In France, too, the European hypothesis
+has found many adherents. Geiger found, indeed, that the cradle of the
+Aryan race was to be looked for much farther to the west than Benfey and
+others had supposed. His hypothesis, based on the evidence furnished by
+the geography of plants, places the ancient Aryan land in Germany. The
+cautious Schrader, who dislikes to deal with conjectures, regards the
+question as undecided, but he weighs the arguments presented by the
+various sides, and reaches the conclusion that those in favour of the
+European origin of the Aryans are the stronger, but that they are not
+conclusive. Schrader himself, through his linguistic and historical
+investigations, has been led to believe that the Aryans, while they
+still were one people, belonged to the stone age, and had not yet become
+acquainted with the use of metals.
+
+
+                              5.
+
+                 THE ARYAN LAND OF EUROPE.
+
+
+On _one_ point--and that is for our purpose the most important one--the
+advocates of both hypotheses have approached each other. The leaders of
+the defenders of the Asiatic hypothesis have ceased to regard Asia as
+the cradle of all the dialects into which the ancient Aryan tongue has
+been divided. While they cling to the theory that the Aryan inhabitants
+of Europe have immigrated from Asia, they have well-nigh entirely ceased
+to claim that these peoples, already before their departure from their
+Eastern home, were so distinctly divided linguistically that it was
+necessary to imagine certain branches of the race speaking Celtic,
+others Teutonic, others, again, Greco-Italian, even before they came to
+Europe. The prevailing opinion among the advocates of the Asiatic
+hypothesis now doubtless is, that the Aryans who immigrated to Europe
+formed one homogeneous mass, which gradually on our continent divided
+itself definitely into Celts, Teutons, Slavs, and Greco-Italians. The
+adherents of both hypotheses have thus been able to agree that there has
+been _a European-Aryan country_. And the question as to where it was
+located is of the most vital importance, as it is closely connected with
+the question of the _original home of the Teutons_, since the ancestors
+of the Teutons must have inhabited this ancient European-Aryan country.
+
+Philology has attempted to answer the former question by comparing all
+the words of all the Aryan-European languages. The attempt has many
+obstacles to overcome; for, as Schrader has remarked, the ancient words
+which to-day are common to all or several of these languages are
+presumably a mere remnant of the ancient European-Aryan vocabulary.
+Nevertheless, it is possible to arrive at important results in this
+manner, if we draw conclusions from the words that remain, but take care
+not to draw conclusions from what is wanting.
+
+The view gained in this manner is, briefly stated, as follows:
+
+The Aryan country of Europe has been situated in latitudes where snow
+and ice are common phenomena. The people who have emigrated thence to
+more southern climes have not forgotten either the one or the other name
+of those phenomena. To a comparatively northern latitude points also the
+circumstance that the ancient European Aryans recognised only three
+seasons--winter, spring, and summer. This division of the year continued
+among the Teutons even in the days of Tacitus. For autumn they had no
+name.
+
+Many words for mountains, valley, streams, and brooks common to all the
+languages show that the European-Aryan land was not wanting in
+elevations, rocks, and flowing waters. Nor has it been a treeless plain.
+This is proven by many names of trees. The trees are fir, birch, willow,
+elm, elder, hazel, and a beech called _bhaga_, which means a tree with
+eatable fruit. From this word _bhaga_ is derived the Greek _phegos_, the
+Latin _fagus_, the German _Buche_, and the Swedish _bok_. But it is a
+remarkable fact that the Greeks did not call the beech but the oak
+_phegos_, while the Romans called the beech _fagus_. From this we
+conclude that the European Aryans applied the word _bhaga_ both to the
+beech and the oak, since both bear similar fruit; but in some parts of
+the country the name was particularly applied to the beech, in others to
+the oak. The beech is a species of tree which gradually approaches the
+north. On the European continent it is not found east of a line drawn
+from Koenigsberg across Poland and Podolia to Crimea. This leads to the
+conclusion that the Aryan country of Europe must to a great extent have
+been situated west of this line, and that the regions inhabited by the
+ancestors of the Romans, and north of them by the progenitors of the
+Teutons, must be looked for west of this botanical line, and between the
+Alps and the North Sea.
+
+Linguistic comparisons also show that the Aryan territory of Europe was
+situated near an ocean or large body of water. Scandinavians, Germans,
+Celts, and Romans have preserved a common name for the ocean--the Old
+Norse _mar_, the Old High German _mari_, the Latin _mare_. The names of
+certain sea-animals are also common to various Aryan languages. The
+Swedish _hummer_ (lobster) corresponds to the Greek _kamaros_, and the
+Swedish _sael_ (seal) to the Greek _selachos_.
+
+In the Aryan country of Europe there were domestic animals--cows, sheep,
+and goats. The horse was also known, but it is uncertain whether it was
+used for riding or driving, or simply valued on account of its flesh
+and milk. On the other hand, the ass was not known, its domain being
+particularly the plains of Central Asia.
+
+The bear, wolf, otter, and beaver certainly belonged to the fauna of
+Aryan Europe.
+
+The European Aryans must have cultivated at least one, perhaps two kinds
+of grain; also flax, the name of which is preserved in the Greek _linon_
+(linen), the Latin _linum_, and in other languages.
+
+The Aryans knew the art of brewing mead from honey. That they also
+understood the art of drinking it even to excess may be taken for
+granted. This drink was dear to the hearts of the ancient Aryans, and
+its name has been faithfully preserved both by the tribes that settled
+near the Ganges, and by those who emigrated to Great Britain. The
+Brahmin by the Ganges still knows this beverage as _madhu_, the Welchman
+has known it as _medu_, the Lithuanian as _medus_; and when the Greek
+Aryans came to Southern Europe and became acquainted with wine, they
+gave it the name of mead (_methu_).
+
+It is not probable that the European Aryans knew bronze or iron, or, if
+they did know any of the metals, had any large quantity or made any
+daily use of them, so long as they linguistically formed one homogeneous
+body, and lived in that part of Europe which we here call the Aryan
+domain. The only common name for metal is that which we find in the
+Latin _aes_ (copper), in the Gothic _aiz_, and in the Hindooic _ayas_.
+As is known, the Latin _aes_, like the Gothic _aiz_, means both copper
+and bronze. That the word originally meant copper, and afterwards came
+to signify bronze, which is an alloy of copper and tin, seems to be a
+matter of course, and that it was applied only to copper and not to
+bronze among the ancient Aryans seems clear not only because a common
+name for tin is wanting, but also for the far better and remarkable
+reason particularly pointed out by Schrader, that all the Aryan European
+languages, even those which are nearest akin to each other and are each
+other's neighbours, lack a common word for the tools of a smith and the
+inventory of a forge, and also for the various kinds of weapons of
+defence and attack. Most of all does it astonish us, that in respect to
+weapons the dissimilarity of names is so complete in the Greek and Roman
+tongues. Despite this fact, the ancient Aryans have certainly used
+various kinds of weapons--the club, the hammer, the axe, the knife, the
+spear, and the crossbow. All these weapons are of such a character that
+they could be made of stone, wood, and horn. Things more easily change
+names when the older materials of which they were made give place to new
+hitherto unknown materials. It is, therefore, probable that the European
+Aryans were in the stone age, and at best were acquainted with copper
+before and during the period when their language was divided into
+several dialects.
+
+Where, then, on our continent was the home of this Aryan European people
+in the stone age? Southern Europe, with its peninsulas extending into
+the Mediterranean, must doubtless have been outside of the boundaries of
+the Aryan land of Europe. The Greek Aryans have immigrated to Hellas,
+and the Italian Aryans are immigrants to the Italian peninsula. Spain
+has even within historical times been inhabited by Iberians and
+Basques, and Basques dwell there at present: If, as the linguistic
+monuments seem to prove, the European Aryans lived near an ocean, this
+cannot have been the Mediterranean Sea. There remain the Black and
+Caspian Sea on the one hand, the Baltic and the North Sea on the other.
+But if, as the linguistic monuments likewise seem to prove, the European
+Aryans for a great part, at least, lived west of a botanical line
+indicated by the beech in a country producing fir, oak, elm, and elder,
+then they could not have been limited to the treeless plains which
+extend along the Black Sea from the mouth of the Danube, through
+Dobrudscha, Bessarabia, and Cherson, past the Crimea. Students of early
+Greek history do not any longer assume that the Hellenic immigrants
+found their way through these countries to Greece, but that they came
+from the north-west and followed the Adriatic down to Epirus; in other
+words, they came the same way as the Visigoths under Alarik, and the
+Eastgoths under Theodoric in later times. Even the Latin tribes came
+from the north. The migrations of the Celts, so far as history sheds any
+light on the subject, were from the north and west toward the south and
+east. The movements of the Teutonic races were from north to south, and
+they migrated both eastward and westward. Both prehistoric and historic
+facts thus tend to establish the theory that the Aryan domain of Europe,
+within undefinable limits, comprised the central and north part of
+Europe; and as one or more seas were known to these Aryans, we cannot
+exclude from the limits of this knowledge the ocean penetrating the
+north of Europe from the west.
+
+On account of their undeveloped agriculture, which compelled them to
+depend chiefly on cattle for their support, the European Aryans must
+have occupied an extensive territory. Of the mutual position and of the
+movements of the various tribes within this territory nothing can be
+stated, except that sooner or later, but already away back in
+prehistoric times, they must have occupied precisely the position in
+which we find them at the dawn of history and which they now hold. The
+Aryan tribes which first entered Gaul must have lived west of those
+tribes which became the progenitors of the Teutons, and the latter must
+have lived west of those who spread an Aryan language over Russia. South
+of this line, but still in Central Europe, there must have dwelt another
+body of Aryans, the ancestors of the Greeks and Romans, the latter west
+of the former. Farthest to the north of all these tribes must have dwelt
+those people who afterwards produced the Teutonic tongue.
+
+
+
+
+               B. ANCIENT TEUTONDOM (GERMANIEN).
+
+
+                             6.
+
+        THE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF ANCIENT TEUTONDOM.
+
+          THE STONE AGE OF PREHISTORIC TEUTONDOM.
+
+
+The northern position of the ancient Teutons necessarily had the effect
+that they, better than all other Aryan people, preserved their original
+race-type, as they were less exposed to mixing with non-Aryan elements.
+In the south, west, and east, they had kinsmen, separating them from
+non-Aryan races. To the north, on the other hand, lay a territory which,
+by its very nature, could be but sparsely populated, if it was inhabited
+at all, before it was occupied by the fathers of the Teutons. The
+Teutonic type, which doubtless also was the Aryan in general before much
+spreading and consequent mixing with other races had taken place, has,
+as already indicated, been described in the following manner: Tall,
+white skin, blue eyes, fair hair. Anthropological science has given them
+one more mark--they are dolicocephalous, that is, having skulls whose
+anterior-posterior diameter, or that from the frontal to the occipital
+bone, exceeds the transverse diameter. This type appears most pure in
+the modern Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, and to some extent the Dutch, in
+the inhabitants of those parts of Great Britain that are most densely
+settled by Saxon and Scandinavian emigrants; and in the people of
+certain parts of North Germany. Welcker's craniological measurements
+give the following figures for the breadth and length of Teutonic
+skulls:
+
+Swedes and Hollanders,                                        75--71
+Icelanders and Danes,                                         76--71
+Englishmen,                                                   76--73
+Holsteinians,                                                 77--71
+Hanoverians, The vicinity of Jena, Bonn, and Cologne,         77--72
+Hessians,                                                     79--72
+Swabians,                                                     79--73
+Bavarians,                                                    80--74
+
+Thus the dolicocephalous form passes in Middle and Southern Germany into
+the brachycephalous. The investigations made at the suggestion of
+Virchow in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria, in regard to
+blonde and brunette types, are of great interest. An examination of more
+than nine million individuals showed the following result:
+
+Germany,       31.80% blonde, 14.05% brunette, 54.15% mixed.
+Austria,       19.79% blonde, 23.17% brunette, 57.04% mixed.
+Switzerland,   11.10% blonde, 25.70% brunette, 61.40% mixed.
+
+Thus the blonde type has by far a greater number of representatives in
+Germany than in the southern part of Central Europe, though the latter
+has German-speaking inhabitants. In Germany itself the blonde type
+decreases and the brunette increases from north to south, while at the
+same time the dolicocephalous gives place to the brachycephalous.
+Southern Germany has 25% of brunettes, North Germany only 7%.
+
+If we now, following the strict rules of methodology which Latham
+insists on, bear in mind that the cradle of a race- or language-type
+should, if there are no definite historical facts to the contrary,
+especially be looked for where this type is most abundant and least
+changed, then there is no doubt that the part of Aryan Europe which the
+ancestors of the Teutons inhabited when they developed the Aryan tongue
+into the Teutonic must have included the coast of the Baltic and the
+North Sea. This theory is certainly not contradicted, but, on the other
+hand, supported by the facts so far as we have any knowledge of them.
+Roman history supplies evidence that the same parts of Europe in which
+the Teutonic type predominates at the present time were Teutonic already
+at the beginning of our era, and that then already the Scandinavian
+peninsula was inhabited by a North Teutonic people, which, among their
+kinsmen on the Continent, were celebrated for their wealth in ships and
+warriors. Centuries must have passed ere the Teutonic colonisation of
+the peninsula could have developed into so much strength--centuries
+during which, judging from all indications, the transition from the
+bronze to the iron age in Scandinavia must have taken place. The
+painstaking investigations of Montelius, conducted on the principle of
+methodology, have led him to the conclusion that Scandinavia and North
+Germany formed during the bronze age one common domain of culture in
+regard to weapons and implements. The manner in which the other domains
+of culture group themselves in Europe leaves no other place for the
+Teutonic race than Scandinavia and North Germany, and possibly
+Austria-Hungary, which the Teutonic domain resembles most. Back of the
+bronze age lies the stone age. The examinations, by v. Dueben, Gustaf
+Retzius, and Virchow, of skeletons found in northern graves from the
+stone age prove the existence at that time of a race in the North which,
+so far as the characteristics of the skulls are concerned, cannot be
+distinguished from the race now dwelling there. Here it is necessary to
+take into consideration the results of probability reached by
+comparative philology, showing that the European Aryans were still in
+the stone age when they divided themselves into Celts, Teutons, etc.,
+and occupied separate territories, and the fact that the Teutons, so far
+back as conclusions may be drawn from historical knowledge have
+occupied a more northern domain than their kinsmen. Thus all tends to
+show that when the Scandinavian peninsula was first settled by
+Aryans--doubtless coming from the South by way of Denmark--these Aryans
+belonged to the same race, which, later in history, appear with a
+Teutonic physiognomy and with Teutonic speech, and that their
+immigration to and occupation of the southern parts of the peninsula
+took place in the time of the Aryan stone age.
+
+For the history of civilisation, and particularly for mythology, these
+results are important. It is a problem to be solved by comparative
+mythology what elements in the various groups of Aryan myths may be the
+original common property of the race while the race was yet undivided.
+The conclusions reached gain in trustworthiness the further the Aryan
+tribes, whose myths are compared, are separated from each other
+geographically. If, for instance, the Teutonic mythology on the one hand
+and the Asiatic Aryan (Avesta and Rigveda) on the other are made the
+subject of comparative study, and if groups of myths are found which are
+identical not only in their general character and in many details, but
+also in the grouping of the details and the epic connection of the
+myths, then the probability that they belong to an age when the
+ancestors of the Teutons and those of the Asiatic Aryans dwelt together
+is greater, in the same proportion as the probability of an intimate and
+detailed exchange of ideas after the separation grows less between these
+tribes on account of the geographical distance. With all the certainty
+which it is possible for research to arrive at in this field, we may
+assume that these common groups of myths--at least the centres around
+which they revolve--originated at a time when the Aryans still formed,
+so to speak, a geographical and linguistic unity--in all probability at
+a time which lies far back in a common Aryan stone age. The discovery of
+groups of myths of this sort thus sheds light on beliefs and ideas that
+existed in the minds of our ancestors in an age of which we have no
+information save that which we get from the study of the finds. The
+latter, when investigated by painstaking and penetrating archaeological
+scholars, certainly give us highly instructive information in other
+directions. In this manner it becomes possible to distinguish between
+older and younger elements of Teutonic mythology, and to secure a basis
+for studying its development through centuries which have left us no
+literary monuments.
+
+
+
+
+                             II.
+
+               A. MEDIAEVAL MIGRATION SAGAS.
+
+    THE LEARNED SAGA IN REGARD TO THE EMIGRATION FROM
+                        TROY-ASGARD.
+
+
+                             7.
+
+       THE SAGA IN HEIMSKRINGLA AND THE PROSE EDDA.
+
+
+In the preceding pages we have given the reasons which make it appear
+proper to assume that ancient Teutondom, within certain indefinable
+limits, included the coasts of the Baltic and the North Sea, that the
+Scandinavian countries constituted a part of this ancient Teutondom, and
+that they have been peopled by Teutons since the days of the stone age.
+
+The subject which I am now about to discuss requires an investigation in
+reference to what the Teutons themselves believed, in regard to this
+question, in the earliest times of which we have knowledge. Did they
+look upon themselves as aborigines or as immigrants in Teutondom? For
+the mythology, the answer to this question is of great weight. For
+pragmatic history, on the other hand, the answer is of little
+importance, for whatever they believed gives no reliable basis for
+conclusions in regard to historical facts. If they regarded themselves
+as aborigines, this does not hinder their having immigrated in
+prehistoric times, though their traditions have ceased to speak of it.
+If they regarded themselves as immigrants, then it does not follow that
+the traditions, in regard to the immigration, contain any historical
+kernel. Of the former we have an example in the case of the Brahmins and
+the higher castes in India: their orthodoxy requires them to regard
+themselves as aborigines of the country in which they live, although
+there is evidence that they are immigrants. Of the latter the Swedes are
+an example: the people here have been taught to believe that a greater
+or less portion of the inhabitants of Sweden are descended from
+immigrants who, led by Odin, are supposed to have come here about one
+hundred years before the birth of Christ, and that this immigration,
+whether it brought many or few people, was of the most decisive
+influence on the culture of the country, so that Swedish history might
+properly begin with the moment when Odin planted his feet on Swedish
+soil.
+
+The more accessible sources of the traditions in regard to Odin's
+immigration to Scandinavia are found in the Icelandic works,
+Heimskringla and the Prose Edda. Both sources are from the same time,
+that is, the thirteenth century, and are separated by more than two
+hundred years from the heathen age in Iceland.
+
+We will first consider Heimskringla's story. A river, by name Tanakvisl,
+or Vanakvisl, empties into the Black Sea. This river separates Asia from
+Europe. East of Tanakvisl, that is to say, then in Asia, is a country
+formerly called Asaland or Asaheim, and the chief citadel or town in
+that country was called Asgard. It was a great city of sacrifices, and
+there dwelt a chief who was known by the name Odin. Under him ruled
+twelve men who were high-priests and judges. Odin was a great chieftain
+and conqueror, and so victorious was he, that his men believed that
+victory was wholly inseparable from him. If he laid his blessing hand on
+anybody's head, success was sure to attend him. Even if he was absent,
+if called upon in distress or danger, his very name seemed to give
+comfort. He frequently went far away, and often remained absent
+half-a-year at a time. His kingdom was then ruled by his brothers Vile
+and Ve. Once he was absent so long that the Asas believed that he would
+never return. Then his brothers married his wife Frigg. Finally he
+returned, however, and took Frigg back again.
+
+The Asas had a people as their neighbours called the Vans. Odin made war
+on the Vans, but they defended themselves bravely. When both parties had
+been victorious and suffered defeat, they grew weary of warring, made
+peace, and exchanged hostages. The Vans sent their son Njord and his son
+Frey, and also Kvaser, as hostages to the Asas; and the latter gave in
+exchange Honer and Mimer. Odin gave Njord and Frey the dignity of
+priests. Frey's sister, too, Freyja, was made a priestess. The Vans
+treated the hostages they had received with similar consideration, and
+created Honer a chief and judge. But they soon seemed to discover that
+Honer was a stupid fellow. They considered themselves cheated in the
+exchange, and, being angry on this account, they cut off the head, not
+of Honer, but of his wise brother Mimer, and sent it to Odin. He
+embalmed the head, sang magic songs over it, so that it could talk to
+him and tell him many strange things.
+
+Asaland, where Odin ruled is separated by a great mountain range from
+Tyrkland, by which Heimskringla means Asia Minor, of which the
+celebrated Troy was supposed to have been the capital. In Tyrkland, Odin
+also had great possessions. But at that time the Romans invaded and
+subjugated all lands, and many rulers fled on that account from their
+kingdoms. And Odin, being wise and versed in the magic art, and knowing,
+therefore, that his descendants were to people the northern part of the
+world, he left his kingdom to his brothers Vile and Ve, and migrated
+with many followers to Gardarike, Russia. Njord, Frey, and Freyja, and
+the other priests who had ruled under him in Asgard, accompanied him,
+and sons of his were also with him. From Gardarike he proceeded to
+Saxland, conquered vast countries, and made his sons rulers over them.
+From Saxland he went to Funen, and settled there. Seeland did not then
+exist. Odin sent the maid Gefion north across the water to investigate
+what country was situated there. At that time ruled in Svithiod a chief
+by name Gylfe. He gave Gefion a ploughland,[3] and, by the help of four
+giants changed into oxen, Gefion cut out with the plough, and dragged
+into the sea near Funen that island which is now called Seeland. Where
+the land was ploughed away there is now a lake called Logrin. Skjold,
+Odin's son, got this land, and married Gefion. And when Gefion informed
+Odin that Gylfe possessed a good land, Odin went thither, and Gylfe,
+being unable to make resistance, though he too was a wise man skilled in
+witchcraft and sorcery, a peaceful compact was made, according to which
+Odin acquired a vast territory around Logrin; and in Sigtuna he
+established a great temple, where sacrifices henceforth were offered
+according to the custom of the Asas. To his priests he gave
+dwellings--Noatun to Njord, Upsala to Frey, Himminbjorg to Heimdal,
+Thrudvang to Thor, Breidablik to Balder, &c. Many new sports came to the
+North with Odin, and he and the Asas taught them to the people. Among
+other things, he taught them poetry and runes. Odin himself always
+talked in measured rhymes. Besides, he was a most excellent sorcerer. He
+could change shape, make his foes in a conflict blind and deaf; he was a
+wizard, and could wake the dead. He owned the ship Skidbladner, which
+could be folded as a napkin. He had two ravens, which he had taught to
+speak, and they brought him tidings from all lands. He knew where all
+treasures were hid in the earth, and could call them forth with the aid
+of magic songs. Among the customs he introduced in the North were
+cremation of the dead, the raising of mounds in memory of great men, the
+erection of bauta-stones in commemoration of others; and he introduced
+the three great sacrificial feasts--for a good year, for good crops, and
+for victory. Odin died in Svithiod. When he perceived the approach of
+death, he suffered himself to be marked with the point of a spear, and
+declared that he was going to Gudheim to visit his friends and receive
+all fallen in battle. This the Swedes believed. They have since
+worshipped him in the belief that he had an eternal life in the ancient
+Asgard, and they thought he revealed himself to them before great
+battles took place. On Svea's throne he was followed by Njord, the
+progenitor of the race of Ynglings. Thus Heimskringla.
+
+We now pass to the Younger Edda,[4] which in its Foreword gives us in
+the style of that time a general survey of history and religion.
+
+First, it gives from the Bible the story of creation and the deluge.
+Then a long story is told of the building of the tower of Babel. The
+descendants of Noah's son, Ham, warred against and conquered the sons of
+Sem, and tried in their arrogance to build a tower which should aspire
+to heaven itself. The chief manager in this enterprise was Zoroaster,
+and seventy-two master-masons and joiners served under him. But God
+confounded the tongues of these arrogant people so that each one of the
+seventy-two masters with those under him got their own language, which
+the others could not understand, and then each went his own way, and in
+this manner arose the seventy-two different languages in the world.
+Before that time only one language was spoken, and that was Hebrew.
+Where they tried to build the tower a city was founded and called
+Babylon. There Zoroaster became a king and ruled over many Assyrian
+nations, among which he introduced idolatry, and which worshiped him as
+Baal. The tribes that departed with his master-workmen also fell into
+idolatry, excepting the one tribe which kept the Hebrew language. It
+preserved also the original and pure faith. Thus, while Babylon became
+one of the chief altars of heathen worship, the island Crete became
+another. There was born a man, by name Saturnus, who became for the
+Cretans and Macedonians what Zoroaster was for the Assyrians. Saturnus'
+knowledge and skill in magic, and his art of producing gold from red-hot
+iron, secured him the power of a prince on Crete; and as he, moreover,
+had control over all invisible forces, the Cretans and Macedonians
+believed that he was a god, and he encouraged them in this faith. He had
+three sons--Jupiter, Neptunus, and Plutus. Of these, Jupiter resembled
+his father in skill and magic, and he was a great warrior who conquered
+many peoples. When Saturnus divided his kingdom among his sons, a feud
+arose. Plutus got as his share hell, and as this was the least desirable
+part he also received the dog named Cerberus. Jupiter, who received
+heaven, was not satisfied with this, but wanted the earth too. He made
+war against his father, who had to seek refuge in Italy, where he, out
+of fear of Jupiter, changed his name and called himself Njord, and where
+he became a useful king, teaching the inhabitants, who lived on nuts and
+roots, to plough and plant vineyards.
+
+Jupiter had many sons. From one of them, Dardanus, descended in the
+fifth generation Priamus of Troy. Priamus' son was Hektor, who in
+stature and strength was the foremost man in the world. From the Trojans
+the Romans are descended; and when Rome had grown to be a great power it
+adopted many laws and customs which had prevailed among the Trojans
+before them. Troy was situated in Tyrkland, near the centre of the
+earth. Under Priamus, the chief ruler, there were twelve tributary
+kings, and they spoke twelve languages. These twelve tributary kings
+were exceedingly wise men; they received the honour of gods, and from
+them all European chiefs are descended. One of these twelve was called
+Munon or Mennon. He was married to a daughter of Priamus, and had with
+her the son Tror, "whom we call Thor." He was a very handsome man, his
+hair shone fairer than gold, and at the age of twelve he was full-grown,
+and so strong that he could lift twelve bear-skins at the same time. He
+slew his foster-father and foster-mother, took possession of his
+foster-father's kingdom Thracia, "which we call Thrudheim," and
+thenceforward he roamed about the world, conquering berserks, giants,
+the greatest dragon, and other prodigies. In the North he met a
+prophetess by name Sibil (Sibylla), "whom we call Sif," and her he
+married. In the twentieth generation from this Thor, Vodin descended,
+"whom we call Odin," a very wise and well-informed man, who married
+Frigida, "whom we call Frigg."
+
+At that time the Roman general Pompey was making wars in the East, and
+also threatened the empire of Odin. Meanwhile Odin and his wife had
+learned through prophetic inspiration that a glorious future awaited
+them in the northern part of the world. He therefore emigrated from
+Tyrkland, and took with him many people, old and young, men and women,
+and costly treasures. Wherever they came they appeared to the
+inhabitants more like gods than men. And they did not stop before they
+came as far north as Saxland. There Odin remained a long time. One of
+his sons, Veggdegg, he appointed king of Saxland. Another son, Beldegg,
+"whom we call Balder," he made king in Westphalia. A third son, Sigge,
+became king in Frankland. Then Odin proceeded farther to the north and
+came to Reidgothaland, which is now called Jutland, and there took
+possession of as much as he wanted. There he appointed his son Skjold as
+king; then he came to Svithiod.
+
+Here ruled king Gylfe. When he heard of the expedition of Odin and his
+Asiatics he went to meet them, and offered Odin as much land and as much
+power in his kingdom as he might desire. One reason why people
+everywhere gave Odin so hearty a welcome and offered him land and power
+was that wherever Odin and his men tarried on their journey the people
+got good harvests and abundant crops, and therefore they believed that
+Odin and his men controlled the weather and the growing grain. Odin went
+with Gylfe up to the lake "Logrin" and saw that the land was good; and
+there he chose as his citadel the place which is called Sigtuna,
+founding there the same institutions as had existed in Troy, and to
+which the Turks were accustomed. Then he organised a council of twelve
+men, who were to make laws and settle disputes. From Svithiod Odin went
+to Norway, and there made his son Saeming king. But the ruling of
+Svithiod he had left to his son Yngve, from whom the race of Ynglings
+are descended. The Asas and their sons married the women of the land of
+which they had taken possession, and their descendants, who preserved
+the language spoken in Troy, multiplied so fast that the Trojan language
+displaced the old tongue and became the speech of Svithiod, Norway,
+Denmark, and Saxland, and thereafter also of England.
+
+The Prose Edda's first part, Gylfaginning, consists of a collection of
+mythological tales told to the reader in the form of a conversation
+between the above-named king of Sweden, Gylfe, and the Asas. Before the
+Asas had started on their journey to the North, it is here said Gylfe
+had learned that they were a wise and knowing people who had success in
+all their undertakings. And believing that this was a result either of
+the nature of these people, or of their peculiar kind of worship, he
+resolved to investigate the matter secretly, and therefore betook
+himself in the guise of an old man to Asgard. But the foreknowing Asas
+knew in advance that he was coming, and resolved to receive him with all
+sorts of sorcery, which might give him a high opinion of them. He
+finally came to a citadel, the roof of which was thatched with golden
+shields, and the hall of which was so large that he scarcely could see
+the whole of it. At the entrance stood a man playing with sharp tools,
+which he threw up in the air and caught again with his hands, and seven
+axes were in the air at the same time. This man asked the traveller his
+name. The latter answered that he was named Ganglere, that he had made a
+long journey over rough roads, and asked for lodgings for the night. He
+also asked whose the citadel was. The juggler answered that it belonged
+to their king, and conducted Gylfe into the hall, where many people
+were assembled. Some sat drinking, others amused themselves at games,
+and still others were practising with weapons. There were three
+high-seats in the hall, one above the other, and in each high-seat sat a
+man. In the lowest sat the king; and the juggler informed Gylfe that the
+king's name was Har; that the one who sat next above him was named
+Jafnhar; and that the one who sat on the highest throne was named Thride
+(_thridi_). Har asked the stranger what his errand was, and invited him
+to eat and drink. Gylfe answered that he first wished to know whether
+there was any wise man in the hall. Har replied that the stranger should
+not leave the hall whole unless he was victorious in a contest in
+wisdom. Gylfe now begins his questions, which all concern the worship of
+the Asas, and the three men in the high-seats give him answers. Already
+in the first answer it appears that the Asgard to which Gylfe thinks he
+has come is, in the opinion of the author, a younger Asgard, and
+presumably the same as the author of Heimskringla places beyond the
+river Tanakvisl, but there had existed an older Asgard identical with
+Troy in Tyrkland, where, according to Heimskringla, Odin had extensive
+possessions at the time when the Romans began their invasions in the
+East. When Gylfe with his questions had learned the most important facts
+in regard to the religion of Asgard, and had at length been instructed
+concerning the destruction and regeneration of the world, he perceived a
+mighty rumbling and quaking, and when he looked about him the citadel
+and hall had disappeared, and he stood beneath the open sky. He returned
+to Svithiod and related all that he had seen and heard among the Asas;
+but when he had gone they counselled together, and they agreed to call
+themselves by those names which they used in relating their stories to
+Gylfe. These sagas, remarks Gylfaginning, were in reality none but
+historical events transformed into traditions about divinities. They
+described events which had occurred in the older Asgard--that is to say,
+Troy. The basis of the stories told to Gylfe about Thor were the
+achievements of Hektor in Troy, and the Loke of whom Gylfe had heard
+was, in fact, none other than Ulixes (Ulysses), who was the foe of the
+Trojans, and consequently was represented as the foe of the gods.
+
+Gylfaginning is followed by another part of the Prose Edda called
+_Bragaroedur_ (Brage's Talk), which is presented in a similar form. On
+Lessoe, so it is said, dwelt formerly a man by name _AEgir_. He, like
+Gylfe, had heard reports concerning the wisdom of the Asas, and resolved
+to visit them. He, like Gylfe, comes to a place where the Asas receive
+him with all sorts of magic arts, and conduct him into a hall which is
+lighted up in the evening with shining swords. There he is invited to
+take his seat by the side of Brage, and there were twelve high-seats in
+which sat men who were called Thor, Njord, Frey, &c., and women who were
+called Frigg, Freyja, Nanna, &c. The hall was splendidly decorated with
+shields. The mead passed round was exquisite, and the talkative Brage
+instructed the guest in the traditions concerning the Asas' art of
+poetry. A postscript to the treatise warns young skalds not to place
+confidence in the stories told to Gylfe and _AEgir_. The author of the
+postscript says they have value only as a key to the many metaphors
+which occur in the poems of the great skalds, but upon the whole they
+are deceptions invented by the Asas or Asiamen to make people believe
+that they were gods. Still, the author thinks these falsifications have
+an historical kernel. They are, he thinks, based on what happened in the
+ancient Asgard, that is, Troy. Thus, for instance, Ragnarok is
+originally nothing else than the siege of Troy; Thor is, as stated,
+Hektor; the Midgard-serpent is one of the heroes slain by Hektor; the
+Fenris-wolf is Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, who slew Priam (Odin); and
+Vidar, who survives Ragnarok, is AEneas.
+
+[Footnote 3: As much land as can be ploughed in a day.]
+
+[Footnote 4: A translation of the Younger or Prose Edda was edited by R.
+B. Anderson and published by S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago, in 1881.]
+
+
+                            8.
+
+    THE TROY SAGA IN HEIMSKRINGLA AND THE PROSE EDDA
+                     (_continued_).
+
+
+The sources of the traditions concerning the Asiatic immigration to the
+North belong to the Icelandic literature, and to it alone. Saxo's
+_Historia Danica_, the first books of which were written toward the
+close of the twelfth century, presents on this topic its own peculiar
+view, which will be discussed later. The Icelandic accounts disagree
+only in unimportant details; the fundamental view is the same, and they
+have flown from the same fountain vein. Their contents may be summed up
+thus:
+
+Among the tribes who after the Babylonian confusion of tongues emigrated
+to various countries, there was a body of people who settled and
+introduced their language in Asia Minor, which in the sagas is called
+Tyrkland; in Greece, which in the sagas is called Macedonia; and in
+Crete. In Tyrkland they founded the great city which was called Troy.
+This city was attacked by the Greeks during the reign of the Trojan king
+Priam. Priam descended from Jupiter and the latter's father Saturnus,
+and accordingly belonged to a race which the idolaters looked upon as
+divine. Troy was a very large city; twelve languages were spoken there,
+and Priam had twelve tributary kings under him. But however powerful the
+Trojans were, and however bravely they defended themselves under the
+leadership of the son of Priam's daughter, that valiant hero Thor, still
+they were defeated. Troy was captured and burned by the Greeks, and
+Priam himself was slain. Of the surviving Trojans two parties emigrated
+in different directions. They seem in advance to have been well informed
+in regard to the quality of foreign lands; for Thor, the son of Priam's
+daughter, had made extensive expeditions in which he had fought giants
+and monsters. On his journeys he had even visited the North, and there
+he had met Sibil, the celebrated prophetess, and married her. One of the
+parties of Trojan emigrants embarked under the leadership of AEneas for
+Italy, and founded Rome. The other party, accompanied by Thor's son,
+Loride, went to Asialand, which is separated from Tyrkland by a mountain
+ridge, and from Europe by the river Tanais or Tanakvisl. There they
+founded a new city called Asgard, and there preserved the old customs
+and usages brought from Troy. Accordingly, there was organised in
+Asgard, as in Troy, a council of twelve men, who were high priests and
+judges. Many centuries passed without any political contact between the
+new Trojan settlements in Rome and Asgard, though both well remembered
+their Trojan origin, and the Romans formed many of their institutions
+after the model of the old fatherland. Meanwhile, Rome had grown to be
+one of the mightiest empires in the world, and began at length to send
+armies into Tyrkland. At that time there ruled in Asgard an exceedingly
+wise, prophetic king, Odin, who was skilled in the magic arts, and who
+was descended in the twentieth generation from the above-mentioned Thor.
+Odin had waged many successful wars. The severest of these wars was the
+one with a neighbouring people, the Vans; but this had been ended with
+compromise and peace. In Tyrkland, the old mother country, Odin had
+great possessions, which fell into the hands of the Romans. This
+circumstance strengthened him in his resolution to emigrate to the north
+of Europe. The prophetic vision with which he was endowed had told him
+that his descendants would long flourish there. So he set out with his
+many sons, and was accompanied by the twelve priests and by many people,
+but not by all the inhabitants of the Asia country and of Asgard. A part
+of the people remained at home; and among them Odin's brothers Vile and
+Ve. The expedition proceeded through Gardarike to Saxland; then across
+the Danish islands to Svithiod and Norway. Everywhere this great
+multitude of migrators was well received by the inhabitants. Odin's
+superior wisdom and his marvellous skill in sorcery, together with the
+fact that his progress was everywhere attended by abundant harvests,
+caused the peoples to look upon him as a god, and to place their thrones
+at his disposal. He accordingly appointed his sons as kings in Saxland,
+Denmark, Svithiod, and Norway. Gylfe, the king of Svithiod, submitted to
+his superiority and gave him a splendid country around Lake Maelar to
+rule over. There Odin built Sigtuna, the institutions of which were an
+imitation of those in Asgard and Troy. Poetry and many other arts came
+with Odin to the Teutonic lands, and so, too, the Trojan tongue. Like
+his ancestors, Saturnus and Jupiter, he was able to secure divine
+worship, which was extended even to his twelve priests. The religious
+traditions which he scattered among the people, and which were believed
+until the introduction of Christianity, were misrepresentations spun
+around the memories of Troy's historical fate and its destruction, and
+around the events of Asgard.
+
+
+                             9.
+
+           SAXO'S RELATION OF THE STORY OF TROY.
+
+
+Such is, in the main, the story which was current in Iceland in the
+thirteenth century, and which found its way to Scandinavia through the
+Prose Edda and Heimskringla, concerning the immigration of Odin and the
+Asas. Somewhat older than these works is _Historia Danica_, by the
+Danish chronicler Saxo. Sturlason, the author of Heimskringla, was a lad
+of eight years when Saxo began to write his history, and he (Sturlason)
+had certainly not begun to write history when Saxo had completed the
+first nine books of his work, which are based on the still-existing
+songs and traditions found in Denmark, and of heathen origin. Saxo
+writes as if he were unacquainted with Icelandic theories concerning an
+Asiatic immigration to the North, and he has not a word to say about
+Odin's reigning as king or chief anywhere in Scandinavia. This is the
+more remarkable, since he holds the same view as the Icelanders and the
+chroniclers of the Middle Ages in general in regard to the belief that
+the heathen myths were records of historical events, and that the
+heathen gods were historical persons, men changed into divinities; and
+our astonishment increases when we consider that he, in the heathen
+songs and traditions on which he based the first part of his work,
+frequently finds Odin's name, and consequently could not avoid
+presenting him in Danish history as an important character. In Saxo, as
+in the Icelandic works, Odin is a human being, and at the same time a
+sorcerer of the greatest power. Saxo and the Icelanders also agree that
+Odin came from the East. The only difference is that while the Icelandic
+hypothesis makes him rule in Asgard, Saxo locates his residence in
+Byzantium, on the Bosphorus; but this is not far from the ancient Troy,
+where the Prose Edda locates his ancestors. From Byzantium, according to
+Saxo, the fame of his magic arts and of the miracles he performed
+reached even to the north of Europe. On account of these miracles he was
+worshipped as a god by the peoples, and to pay him honour the kings of
+the North once sent to Byzantium a golden image, to which Odin by magic
+arts imparted the power of speech. It is the myth about Mimer's head
+which Saxo here relates. But the kings of the North knew him not only by
+report; they were also personally acquainted with him. He visited
+Upsala, a place which "pleased him much." Saxo, like the Heimskringla,
+relates that Odin was absent from his capital for a long time; and when
+we examine his statements on this point, we find that Saxo is here
+telling in his way the myth concerning the war which the Vans carried on
+successfully against the Asas, and concerning Odin's expulsion from the
+mythic Asgard, situated in heaven (_Hist. Dan._, pp. 42-44; _vid._ No.
+36). Saxo also tells that Odin's son, Balder, was chosen king by the
+Danes "on account of his personal merits and his respect-commanding
+qualities." But Odin himself has never, according to Saxo, had land or
+authority in the North, though he was there worshipped as a god, and, as
+already stated, Saxo is entirely silent in regard to any immigration of
+an Asiatic people to Scandinavia under the leadership of Odin.
+
+A comparison between him and the Icelanders will show at once that,
+although both parties are Euhemerists, and make Odin a man changed into
+a god, Saxo confines himself more faithfully to the popular myths, and
+seeks as far as possible to turn them into history; while the
+Icelanders, on the other hand, begin with the learned theory in regard
+to the original kinship of the northern races with the Trojans and
+Romans, and around this theory as a nucleus they weave about the same
+myths told as history as Saxo tells.
+
+
+                              10.
+
+              THE OLDER PERIODS OF THE TROY SAGA.
+
+
+How did the belief that Troy was the original home of the Teutons arise?
+Does it rest on native traditions? Has it been inspired by sagas and
+traditions current among the Teutons themselves, and containing as
+kernel "a faint reminiscence of an immigration from Asia," or is it a
+thought entirely foreign to the heathen Teutonic world, introduced in
+Christian times by Latin scholars? These questions shall now be
+considered.
+
+Already in the seventh century--that is to say, more than five hundred
+years before Heimskringla and the Prose Edda were written--a Teutonic
+people were told by a chronicler that they were of the same blood as the
+Romans, that they had like the Romans emigrated from Troy, and that they
+had the same share as the Romans in the glorious deeds of the Trojan
+heroes. This people were the Franks. Their oldest chronicler, Gregorius,
+bishop of Tours, who, about one hundred years before that time--that is
+to say, in the sixth century--wrote their history in ten books, does not
+say a word about it. He, too, desires to give an account of the original
+home of the Franks (_Hist. Franc._, ii. 9), and locates it quite a
+distance from the regions around the lower Rhine, where they first
+appear in the light of history; but still not farther away than to
+Pannonia. Of the coming of the Franks from Troy neither Gregorius knows
+anything nor the older authors, Sulpicius Alexander and others, whose
+works he studied to find information in regard to the early history of
+the Franks. But in the middle of the following century, about 650, an
+unknown author, who for reasons unknown, is called Fredegar, wrote a
+chronicle, which is in part a reproduction of Gregorius' historical
+work, but also contains various other things in regard to the early
+history of the Franks, and among these the statement that they emigrated
+from Troy. He even gives us the sources from which he got this
+information. His sources are, according to his own statement, not
+Frankish, not popular songs or traditions, but two Latin authors--the
+Church father Hieronymus and the poet Virgil. If we, then, go to these
+sources in order to compare Fredegar's statement with his authority, we
+find that Hieronymus once names the Franks in passing, but never refers
+to their origin from Troy, and that Virgil does not even mention Franks.
+Nevertheless, the reference to Virgil is the key to the riddle, as we
+shall show below. What Fredegar tells about the emigration of the Franks
+is this: A Frankish king, by the name Priam, ruled in Troy at the time
+when this city was conquered by the cunning of Ulysses. Then the Franks
+emigrated, and were afterwards ruled by a king named Friga. Under his
+reign a dispute arose between them, and they divided themselves into two
+parties, one of which settled in Macedonia, while the other, called
+after Friga's name Frigians (Phrygians), migrated through Asia and
+settled there. There they were again divided, and one part of them
+migrated under king Francio into Europe, travelled across this
+continent, and settled, with their women and children, near the Rhine,
+where they began building a city which they called Troy, and intended
+to organise in the manner of the old Troy, but the city was not
+completed. The other group chose a king by name Turchot, and were called
+after him Turks. But those who settled on the Rhine called themselves
+Franks after their king Francio, and later chose a king named Theudemer,
+who was descended from Priam, Friga, and Francio. Thus Fredegar's
+chronicle.
+
+About seventy years later another Frankish chronicle saw the light of
+day--the _Gesta regum Francorum_. In it we learn more of the emigration
+of the Franks from Troy. _Gesta regum Francorum_ (i) tells the following
+story: In Asia lies the city of the Trojans called Ilium, where king
+AEneas formerly ruled. The Trojans were a strong and brave people, who
+waged war against all their neighbours. But then the kings of the Greeks
+united and brought a large army against AEneas, king of the Trojans.
+There were great battles and much bloodshed, and the greater part of the
+Trojans fell. AEneas fled with those surviving into the city of Ilium,
+which the Greeks besieged and conquered after ten years. The Trojans who
+escaped divided themselves into two parties. The one under king AEneas
+went to Italy, where he hoped to receive auxiliary troops. Other
+distinguished Trojans became the leaders of the other party, which
+numbered 12,000 men. They embarked in ships and came to the banks of the
+river Tanais. They sailed farther and came within the borders of
+Pannonia, near the Moeotian marshes (_navigantes pervenerunt intra
+terminos Pannoniarum juxta Moeotidas paludes_), where they founded a
+city, which they called Sicambria, and here they remained many years
+and became a mighty people. Then came a time when the Roman emperor
+Valentinianus got into war with that wicked people called Alamanni (also
+Alani). He led a great army against them. The Alamanni were defeated,
+and fled to the Moeotian marshes. Then said the emperor, "If anyone
+dares to enter those marshes and drive away this wicked people, I shall
+for ten years make him free from all burdens." When the Trojans heard
+this they went, accompanied by a Roman army, into the marshes, attacked
+the Alamanni, and hewed them down with their swords. Then the Trojans
+received from the emperor Valentinianus the name _Franks_, which, the
+chronicle adds, in the Attic tongue means the _savage_ (_feri_), "for
+the Trojans had a defiant and indomitable character."
+
+For ten years afterwards the Trojans or Franks lived undisturbed by
+Roman tax-collectors; but after that the Roman emperor demanded that
+they should pay tribute. This they refused, and slew the tax-collectors
+sent to them. Then the emperor collected a large army under the command
+of Aristarcus, and strengthened it with auxiliary forces from many
+lands, and attacked the Franks, who were defeated by the superior force,
+lost their leader Priam, and had to take flight. They now proceeded
+under their leaders Markomir, Priam's son, and Sunno, son of Antenor,
+away from Sicambria through Germany to the Rhine, and located there.
+Thus this chronicle.
+
+About fifty years after its appearance--that is, in the time of
+Charlemagne, and, to be more accurate, about the year 787--the
+well-known Longobardian historian Paulus Diaconus wrote a history of the
+bishops of Metz. Among these bishops was the Frank Arnulf, from whom
+Charlemagne was descended in the fifth generation. Arnulf had two sons,
+one of whom was named Ansgisel, in a contracted form Ansgis. When Paulus
+speaks of this he remarks that it is thought that the name Ansgis comes
+from the father of AEneas, Anchises, who went from Troy to Italy; and he
+adds that according to evidence of older date the Franks were believed
+to be descendants of the Trojans. These evidences of older date we have
+considered above--Fredegar's _Chronicle_ and _Gesta regum Francorum_.
+Meanwhile this shows that the belief that the Franks were of Trojan
+descent kept spreading with the lapse of time. It hardly needs to be
+added that there is no good foundation for the derivation of Ansgisel or
+Ansgis from Anchises. Ansgisel is a genuine Teutonic name. (See No. 123
+concerning Ansgisel, the emigration chief of the Teutonic myth.)
+
+We now pass to the second half of the tenth century, and there we find
+the Saxon chronicler Widukind. When he is to tell the story of the
+origin of the Saxon people, he presents two conflicting accounts. The
+one is from a Saxon source, from old native traditions, which we shall
+discuss later; the other is from a scholastic source, and claims that
+the Saxons are of Macedonian descent. According to this latter account
+they were a remnant of the Macedonian army of Alexander the Great,
+which, as Widukind had learned, after Alexander's early death, had
+spread over the whole earth. The Macedonians were at that time regarded
+as Hellenicised Trojans. In this connection I call the reader's
+attention to Fredegar's _Chronicle_ referred to above, which tells that
+the Trojans, in the time of king Friga, disagreed among themselves, and
+that a part of them emigrated and settled in Macedonia. In this manner
+the Saxons, like the Franks, could claim a Trojan descent; and as
+England to a great extent was peopled by Saxon conquerors, the same
+honour was of course claimed by her people. In evidence of this, and to
+show that it was believed in England during the centuries immediately
+following Widukind's time, that the Saxons and Angles were of Trojan
+blood, I will simply refer here to a pseudo-Sibylline manuscript found
+in Oxford and written in very poor Latin. It was examined by the French
+scholar Alexandre (_Excursus ad Sibyllina_, p. 298), and in it Britain
+is said to be an island inhabited by the survivors of the Trojans
+(_insulam reliquiis Trojanorum inhabitatam_). In another British
+pseudo-Sibylline document it is stated that the Sibylla was a daughter
+of king Priam of Troy; and an effort has been made to add weight and
+dignity to this document by incorporating it with the works of the well
+known Church historian Beda, and thus date it at the beginning of the
+eighth century, but the manuscript itself is a compilation from the time
+of Frederick Barbarossa (_Excurs. ad Sib._, p. 289). Other
+pseudo-Sibylline documents in Latin give accounts of a Sibylla who lived
+and prophesied in Troy. I make special mention of this fact, for the
+reason that in the Foreword of the Prose Edda it is similarly stated
+that Thor, the son of Priam's daughter, was married to Sibil (Sibylla).
+
+Thus when Franks and Saxons had been made into Trojans--the former into
+full-blooded Trojans and the latter into Hellenicised Trojans--it could
+not take long before their northern kinsmen received the same descent as
+a heritage. In the very nature of things the beginning must be made by
+those Northmen who became the conquerors and settlers of Normandy in the
+midst of "Trojan" Franks. About a hundred years after their settlement
+there they produced a chronicler, Dudo, deacon of St. Quentin. I have
+already shown that the Macedonians were regarded as Hellenicised
+Trojans. Together with the Hellenicising they had obtained the name
+Danai, a term applied to all Greeks. In his Norman Chronicle, which goes
+down to the year 996, Dudo relates (_De moribus et gestis_, &c., lib.
+i.) that the Norman men regarded themselves as Danai, for Danes (the
+Scandinavians in general) and Dania was regarded as the same race name.
+Together with the Normans the Scandinavians also, from whom they were
+descended accordingly had to be made into Trojans. And thus the matter
+was understood by Dudo's readers; and when Robert Wace wrote his rhymed
+chronicle, _Roman de Rou_, about the northern conquerors of Normandy,
+and wanted to give an account of their origin, he could say, on the
+basis of a common tradition:
+
+  "When the walls of Troy in ashes were laid,
+  And the Greeks exceedingly glad were made,
+  Then fled from flames on the Trojan strand
+  The race that settled old Denmark's land;
+  And in honour of the old Trojan reigns,
+  The people called themselves the Danes."
+
+I have now traced the scholastic tradition about the descent of the
+Teutonic races from Troy all the way from the chronicle where we first
+find this tradition recorded, down to the time when Are, Iceland's first
+historian, lived, and when the Icelander, Saemund, is said to have
+studied in Paris, the same century in which Sturlason, Heimskringla's
+author, developed into manhood. Saxo rejected the theory current among
+the scholars of his time, that the northern races were Danai-Trojans. He
+knew that Dudo in St. Quentin was the authority upon which this belief
+was chiefly based, and he gives his Danes an entirely different origin,
+_quanquam Dudo, rerum Aquitanicarum scriptor, Danos a Danais ortos
+nuncupatosque recenseat_. The Icelanders on the other hand, accepted and
+continued to develop the belief, resting on the authority of five
+hundred years, concerning Troy as the starting-point for the Teutonic
+race; and in Iceland the theory is worked out and systematised as we
+have already seen, and is made to fit in a frame of the history of the
+world. The accounts given in Heimskringla and the Prose Edda in regard
+to the emigration from Asgard form the natural denouement of an era
+which had existed for centuries, and in which the events of antiquity
+were able to group themselves around a common centre. All peoples and
+families of chiefs were located around the Mediterranean Sea, and every
+event and every hero was connected in some way or other with Troy.
+
+In fact, a great part of the lands subject to the Roman sceptre were in
+ancient literature in some way connected with the Trojan war and its
+consequences: Macedonia and Epirus through the Trojan emigrant Helenus;
+Illyria and Venetia through the Trojan emigrant Antenor; Rhetia and
+Vindelicia through the Amazons, allies of the Trojans, from whom the
+inhabitants of these provinces were said to be descended (_Servius ad
+Virg._, i. 248); Etruria through Dardanus, who was said to have
+emigrated from there to Troy; Latium and Campania through the AEneids;
+Sicily, the very home of the AEnean traditions, through the relation
+between the royal families of Troy and Sicily; Sardinia (see Sallust);
+Gaul (see Lucanus and Ammianus Marcellinus); Carthage through the visit
+of AEneas to Dido; and of course all of Asia Minor. This was not all.
+According to the lost Argive History by Anaxikrates, Scamandrius, son of
+Hektor and Andromache, came with emigrants to Scythia and settled on the
+banks of the Tanais; and scarcely had Germany become known to the
+Romans, before it, too, became drawn into the cycle of Trojan stories,
+at least so far as to make this country visited by Ulysses on his many
+journeys and adventures (Tac., _Germ._). Every educated Greek and Roman
+person's fancy was filled from his earliest school-days with Troy, and
+traces of Dardanians and Danaians were found everywhere, just as the
+English in our time think they have found traces of the ten lost tribes
+of Israel both in the old and in the new world.
+
+In the same degree as Christianity, Church learning, and Latin
+manuscripts were spread among the Teutonic tribes, there were
+disseminated among them knowledge of and an interest in the great Trojan
+stories. The native stories telling of Teutonic gods and heroes
+received terrible shocks from Christianity, but were rescued in another
+form on the lips of the people, and continued in their new guise to
+command their attention and devotion. In the class of Latin scholars
+which developed among the Christianised Teutons, the new stories learned
+from Latin literature, telling of Ilium, of the conflicts between
+Trojans and Greeks, of migrations, of the founding of colonies on
+foreign shores and the creating of new empires, were the things which
+especially stimulated their curiosity and captivated their fancy. The
+Latin literature which was to a greater or less extent accessible to the
+Teutonic priests, or to priests labouring among the Teutons, furnished
+abundant materials in regard to Troy both in classical and
+pseudo-classical authors. We need only call attention to Virgil and his
+commentator Servius, which became a mine of learning for the whole
+middle age, and among pseudo-classical works to Dares Phrygius'
+_Historia de Excidio Trojae_ (which was believed to have been written by
+a Trojan and translated by Cornelius Nepos!), to Dictys Cretensis'
+_Ephemeris belli Trojani_ (the original of which was said to have been
+Phoenician, and found in Dictys' alleged grave after an earthquake in
+the time of Nero!), and to "Pindari Thebani," _Epitome Iliados Homeri_.
+
+Before the story of the Trojan descent of the Franks had been created,
+the Teuton Jordanes, active as a writer in the middle of the sixth
+century, had already found a place for his Gothic fellow-countrymen in
+the events of the great Trojan epic. Not that he made the Goths the
+descendants either of the Greeks or Trojans. On the contrary, he
+maintained the Goths' own traditions in regard to their descent and
+their original home, a matter which I shall discuss later. But according
+to Orosius, who is Jordanes' authority, the Goths were the same as the
+_Getae_, and when the identity of these was accepted, it was easy for
+Jordanes to connect the history of the Goths with the Homeric stories. A
+Gothic chief marries Priam's sister and fights with Achilles and Ulysses
+(Jord., c. 9), and Ilium, having scarcely recovered from the war with
+Agamemnon, is destroyed a second time by Goths (c. 20).
+
+
+                              11.
+
+        THE ORIGIN OF THE STORY IN REGARD TO THE TROJAN
+                    DESCENT OF THE FRANKS.
+
+We must now return to the Frankish chronicles, to Fredegar's and _Gesta
+regum Francorum_, where the theory of the descent from Troy of a
+Teutonic tribe is presented for the first time, and thus renews the
+agitation handed down from antiquity, which attempted to make all
+ancient history a system of events radiating from Troy as their centre.
+I believe I am able to point out the sources of all the statements made
+in these chronicles in reference to this subject, and also to find the
+very kernel out of which the illusion regarding the Trojan birth of the
+Franks grew.
+
+As above stated, Fredegar admits that Virgil is the earliest authority
+for the claim that the Franks are descended from Troy. Fredegar's
+predecessor, Gregorius of Tours, was ignorant of it, and, as already
+shown, the word Franks does not occur anywhere in Virgil. The discovery
+that he nevertheless gave information about the Franks and their origin
+must therefore have been made or known in the time intervening between
+Gregorius' chronicle and Fredegar's. Which, then, can be the passage in
+Virgil's poems in which the discoverer succeeded in finding the proof
+that the Franks were Trojans? A careful examination of all the
+circumstances connected with the subject leads to the conclusion that
+the passage is in _AEneis_, lib. i., 242ff.:
+
+  "Antenor potuit, mediis elapsus Achivis,
+  Illyricos penetrare sinus atque intima tutus
+  Regna Liburnorum, et fontem superare Timavi:
+  Unde per ora novem vasto cum murmere montis
+  It mare proruptum, et pelago premit arva sonanti.
+  Hic tamen ille urbem Patavi sedesque locavit
+  Teucrorum."
+
+"Antenor having escaped from amidst the Greeks, could with safety
+penetrate the Illyrian Gulf and the inmost realms of Liburnia, and
+overpass the springs of Timavus, whence, through nine months, with loud
+echoing from the mountain, it bursts away, a sea impetuous, and sweeps
+the fields with a roaring deluge. Yet there he built the city of Padua
+and established a Trojan settlement."
+
+The nearest proof at hand, that this is really the passage which was
+interpreted as referring to the ancient history of the Franks, is based
+on the following circumstances:
+
+Gregorius of Tours had found in the history of Sulpicius Alexander
+accounts of violent conflicts, on the west bank of the Rhine, between
+the Romans and Franks, the latter led by the chiefs Markomir and Sunno
+(Greg., _Hist._, ii. 9).
+
+From Gregorius, _Gesta regum Francorum_ has taken both these names.
+According to _Gesta_, the Franks, under the command of Markomir and
+Sunno, emigrate from Pannonia, near the Moeotian marshes, and settle on
+the Rhine. The supposition that they had lived in Pannonia before their
+coming to the Rhine, the author of _Gesta_ had learned from Gregorius.
+In _Gesta_, Markomir is made a son of the Trojan Priam, and Sunno _a son
+of the Trojan Antenor_.
+
+From this point of view, Virgil's account of Antenor's and his Trojans'
+journey to Europe from fallen Troy refers to the emigration of the
+father of the Frankish chief Sunno at the head of a tribe of Franks. And
+as _Gesta's_ predecessor, the so-called Fredegar, appeals to Virgil as
+his authority for this Frankish emigration, and as the wanderings of
+Antenor are nowhere else mentioned by the Roman poet, there can be no
+doubt that the lines above quoted were the very ones which were regarded
+as the Virgilian evidence in regard to a Frankish emigration from Troy.
+
+But how did it come to be regarded as an evidence?
+
+Virgil says that Antenor, when he had escaped the Achivians, succeeded
+in penetrating _Illyricos sinus_, the very heart of Illyria. The name
+Illyricum served to designate all the regions inhabited by kindred
+tribes extending from the Alps to the mouth of the Danube and from the
+Danube to the Adriatic Sea and Haemus (cp. _Marquardt Roem.
+Staatsverwalt_, 295). To Illyricum belonged the Roman provinces
+Dalmatia, Pannonia, and Moesia, and the Pannonians were an Illyrian
+tribe. In Pannonia Gregorius of Tours had located the Franks in early
+times. Thus Antenor, with his Trojans, on their westward journey,
+traverses the same regions from which, according to Gregorius, the
+Franks had set out for the Rhine.
+
+Virgil also says that Antenor extended his journeys to the Liburnian
+kingdoms (_regna Liburnorum_). From Servius' commentary on this passage,
+the middle age knew that the Liburnian kingdoms were Rhetia and
+Vindelicia (_Rhetia Vindelici ipsi sunt Liburni_). Rhetia and Vindelicia
+separate Pannonia from the Rhine. Antenor, accordingly, takes the same
+route toward the West as the Franks must have taken if they came from
+Pannonia to the Rhine.
+
+Virgil then brings Antenor to a river, which, it is true, is called
+Timavus, but which is described as a mighty stream, coming thundering
+out of a mountainous region, where it has its source, carrying with it a
+mass of water which the poet compares with a sea, forming before it
+reaches the sea a delta, the plains of which are deluged by the billows,
+and finally emptying itself by many outlets into the ocean. Virgil says
+_nine_; but Servius interprets this as meaning _many_: "_finitus est
+numerus pro infinito_."
+
+We must pardon the Frankish scribes for taking this river to be the
+Rhine; for if a water-course is to be looked for in Europe west of the
+land of the Liburnians, which answers to the Virgilian description, then
+this must be the Rhine, on whose banks the ancestors of the Franks for
+the first time appear in history.
+
+Again, Virgil tells us that Antenor settled near this river and founded
+a colony--Patavium--on the low plains of the delta. The Salian Franks
+acquired possession of the low and flat regions around the outlets of
+the Rhine (_Insula Batavorum_) about the year 287, and also of the land
+to the south as far as to the Scheldt; and after protracted wars the
+Romans had to leave them in control of this region. By the very
+occupation of this low country, its conquerors might properly be called
+Batavian Franks. It is only necessary to call attention to the
+similarity of the words _Patavi_ and _Batavi_, in order to show at the
+same time that the conclusion could scarcely be avoided that Virgil had
+reference to the immigration of the Franks when he spoke of the
+wanderings of Antenor, the more so, since from time out of date the
+pronunciation of the initials _B_ and _P_ have been interchanged by the
+Germans. In the conquered territory the Franks founded a city (Ammian.
+Marc., xvii. 2, 5).
+
+Thus it appears that the Franks were supposed to have migrated to the
+Rhine under the leadership of Antenor. The first Frankish chiefs
+recorded, after their appearance there, are Markomir and Sunno. From
+this the conclusion was drawn that Sunno was Antenor's son; and as
+Markomir ought to be the son of some celebrated Trojan chief, he was
+made the son of Priam. Thus we have explained Fredegar's statement that
+Virgil is his authority for the Trojan descent of these Franks. This
+seemed to be established for all time.
+
+The wars fought around the Moeotian marshes between the emperor
+Valentinianus, the Alamanni, and the Franks, of which _Gesta_ speaks,
+are not wholly inventions of the fancy. The historical kernel in this
+confused semi-mythical narrative is that Valentinianus really did fight
+with the Alamanni, and that the Franks for some time were allies of the
+Romans, and came into conflict with those same Alamanni (Ammian. Marc.,
+libs, xxx., xxxi.). But the scene of these battles was not the Moeotian
+marshes and Pannonia, as _Gesta_ supposes, but the regions on the Rhine.
+
+The unhistorical statement of Gregorius that the Franks came from
+Pannonia is based only on the fact that Frankish warriors for some time
+formed a _Sicambra cohors_, which about the year 26 was incorporated
+with the Roman troops stationed in Pannonia and Thracia. The cohort is
+believed to have remained in Hungary and formed a colony, where Buda now
+is situated. _Gesta_ makes Pannonia extend from the Moeotian marshes to
+Tanais, since according to Gregorius and earlier chroniclers, these
+waters were the boundary between Europe and Asia, and since Asia was
+regarded as a synonym of the Trojan empire. Virgil had called the Trojan
+kingdom Asia: _Postquam res Asiae Priamique evertere gentem_, &c.,
+(_AEneid_, iii. 1).
+
+Thus we have exhibited the seed out of which the fable about the Trojan
+descent of the Franks grew into a tree spreading its branches over all
+Teutonic Europe, in the same manner as the earlier fable, which was at
+least developed if not born in Sicily, in regard to the Trojan descent
+of the Romans had grown into a tree overshadowing all the lands around
+the Mediterranean, and extending one of its branches across Gaul to
+Britain and Ireland. The first son of the Britons, "Brutus," was,
+according to Galfred, great-grandson of AEneas, and migrated from Alba
+Longa to Ireland.
+
+So far as the Gauls are concerned, the incorporation of Cis-Alpine Gaul
+with the Roman Empire, and the Romanising of the Gauls dwelling there,
+had at an early day made way for the belief that they had the same
+origin and were of the same blood as the Romans. Consequently they too
+were Trojans. This view, encouraged by Roman politics, gradually found
+its way to the Gauls on the other side of the Rhine; and even before
+Caesar's time the Roman senate had in its letters to the AEduans, often
+called them the "brothers and kinsmen" of the Romans (_fratres
+consanguineique_--Caesar, _De Bell. Gall._, i. 33, 2). Of the Avernians
+Lucanus sings (i. 427): _Averni ... ausi Latio se fingere fratres,
+sanguine ab Iliaco populi_.
+
+Thus we see that when the Franks, having made themselves masters of the
+Romanised Gaul, claimed a Trojan descent, then this was the repetition
+of a history of which Gaul for many centuries previously had been the
+scene. After the Frankish conquest the population of Gaul consisted for
+the second time of two nationalities unlike in language and customs, and
+now as before it was a political measure of no slight importance to
+bring these two nationalities as closely together as possible by the
+belief in a common descent. The Roman Gauls and the Franks were
+represented as having been one people in the time of the Trojan war.
+After the fall of the common fatherland they were divided into two
+separate tribes, with separate destinies, until they refound each other
+in the west of Europe, to dwell together again in Gaul. This explains
+how it came to pass that, when they thought they had found evidence of
+this view in Virgil, this was at once accepted, and was so eagerly
+adopted that the older traditions in regard to the origin and migrations
+of the Franks were thrust aside and consigned to oblivion. History
+repeats itself a third time when the Normans conquered and became
+masters of that part of Gaul which after them is called Normandy. Dudo,
+their chronicler, says that they regarded themselves as being _ex
+Antenore progenitos_, descendants of Antenor. This is sufficient proof
+that they had borrowed from the Franks the tradition in regard to their
+Trojan descent.
+
+
+                                12.
+
+          WHY ODIN WAS GIVEN ANTENOR'S PLACE AS LEADER OF
+                      THE TROJAN EMIGRATION.
+
+So long as the Franks were the only ones of the Teutons who claimed
+Trojan descent, it was sufficient that the Teutonic-Trojan immigration
+had the father of a Frankish chief as its leader. But in the same degree
+as the belief in a Trojan descent spread among the other Teutonic tribes
+and assumed the character of a statement equally important to all the
+Teutonic tribes, the idea would naturally present itself that the leader
+of the great immigration was a person of general Teutonic importance.
+There was no lack of names to choose from. Most conspicuous was the
+mythical Teutonic patriarch, whom Tacitus speaks of and calls _Mannus_
+(_Germania_, 2), the grandson of the goddess Jord (Earth). There can be
+no doubt that he still was remembered by this (Mann) or some other name
+(for nearly all Teutonic mythic persons have several names), since he
+reappears in the beginning of the fourteenth century in Heinrich
+Frauenlob as Mennor, the patriarch of the German people and German
+tongue.[5] But Mannus had to yield to another universal Teutonic mythic
+character, Odin, and for reasons which we shall now present.
+
+As Christianity was gradually introduced among the Teutonic peoples, the
+question confronted them, what manner of beings those gods had been in
+whom they and their ancestors so long had believed. Their Christian
+teachers had two answers, and both were easily reconcilable. The common
+answer, and that usually given to the converted masses, was that the
+gods of their ancestors were demons, evil spirits, who ensnared men in
+superstition in order to become worshipped as divine beings. The other
+answer, which was better calculated to please the noble-born Teutonic
+families, who thought themselves descended from the gods, was that these
+divinities were originally human persons--kings, chiefs, legislators,
+who, endowed with higher wisdom and secret knowledge, made use of these
+to make people believe that they were gods, and worship them as such.
+Both answers could, as stated, easily be reconciled with each other, for
+it was evident that when these proud and deceitful rulers died, their
+unhappy spirits joined the ranks of evil demons, and as demons they
+continued to deceive the people, in order to maintain through all ages a
+worship hostile to the true religion. Both sides of this view we find
+current among the Teutonic races through the whole middle age. The one
+which particularly presents the old gods as evil demons is found in
+popular traditions from this epoch. The other, which presents the old
+gods as mortals, as chiefs and lawmakers with magic power, is more
+commonly reflected in the Teutonic chronicles, and was regarded among
+the scholars as the scientific view.
+
+Thus it followed of necessity that Odin, the chief of the Teutonic gods,
+and from whom their royal houses were fond of tracing their descent,
+also must have been a wise king of antiquity and skilled in the magic
+arts, and information was of course sought with the greatest interest in
+regard to the place where he had reigned, and in regard to his origin.
+There were two sources of investigation in reference to this matter. One
+source was the treasure of mythic songs and traditions of their own
+race. But what might be history in these seemed to the students so
+involved in superstition and fancy, that not much information seemed
+obtainable from them. But there was also another source, which in regard
+to historical trustworthiness seemed incomparably better, and that was
+the Latin literature to be found in the libraries of the convents.
+
+During centuries when the Teutons had employed no other art than poetry
+for preserving the memory of the life and deeds of their ancestors, the
+Romans, as we know, had had parchment and papyrus to write on, and had
+kept systematic annals extending centuries back. Consequently this
+source _must_ be more reliable. But what had this source--what had the
+Roman annals or the Roman literature in general to tell about Odin?
+Absolutely nothing, it would seem, inasmuch as the name Odin, or Wodan,
+does not occur in any of the authors of the ancient literature. But this
+was only an apparent obstacle. The ancient king of our race, Odin, they
+said, has had many names--one name among one people, and another among
+another, and there can be no doubt that he is the same person as the
+Romans called Mercury and the Greeks Hermes.
+
+The evidence of the correctness of identifying Odin with Mercury and
+Hermes the scholars might have found in Tacitus' work on Germany, where
+it is stated in the ninth chapter that the chief god of the Germans is
+the same as Mercury among the Romans. But Tacitus was almost unknown in
+the convents and schools of this period of the middle age. They could
+not use this proof, but they had another and completely compensating
+evidence of the assertion.
+
+Originally the Romans did not divide time into weeks of seven days.
+Instead, they had weeks of eight days, and the farmer worked the seven
+days and went on the eighth to the market. But the week of seven days
+had been in existence for a very long time among certain Semitic
+peoples, and already in the time of the Roman republic many Jews lived
+in Rome and in Italy. Through them the week of seven days became
+generally known. The Jewish custom of observing the sacredness of the
+Sabbath, the first day of the week, by abstaining from all labour, could
+not fail to be noticed by the strangers among whom they dwelt. The Jews
+had, however, no special name for each day of the week. But the
+Oriental, Egyptian, and Greek astrologers and astronomers, who in large
+numbers sought their fortunes in Rome, did more than the Jews to
+introduce the week of seven days among all classes of the metropolis,
+and the astrologers had special names for each of the seven days of the
+week. Saturday was the planet's and the planet-god Saturnus' day;
+Sunday, the sun's; Monday, the moon's; Tuesday, Mars'; Wednesday,
+Mercury's; Thursday, Jupiter's; Friday, Venus' day. Already in the
+beginning of the empire these names of the days were quite common in
+Italy. The astrological almanacs, which were circulated in the name of
+the Egyptian Petosiris among all families who had the means to buy them
+contributed much to bring this about. From Italy both the taste for
+astrology and the adoption of the week of seven days, with the
+above-mentioned names, spread not only into Spain and Gaul, but also
+into those parts of Germany that were incorporated with the Roman
+Empire, Germania superior and inferior, where the Romanising of the
+people, with Cologne (_Civitas Ubiorum_) as the centre, made great
+progress. Teutons who had served as officers and soldiers in the Roman
+armies, and were familiar with the everyday customs of the Romans, were
+to be found in various parts of the independent Teutonic territory, and
+it is therefore not strange if the week of seven days, with a separate
+name given to each day, was known and in use more or less extensively
+throughout Teutondom even before Christianity had taken root east of the
+Rhine, and long before Rome itself was converted to Christianity. But
+from this introduction of the seven-day week did not follow the adoption
+of the Roman names of the days. The Teutons translated the names into
+their own language, and in so doing chose among their own divinities
+those which most nearly corresponded to the Roman. The translation of
+the names is made with a discrimination which seems to show that it was
+made in the Teutonic border country, governed by the Romans, by people
+who were as familiar with the Roman gods as with their own. In that
+border land there must have been persons of Teutonic birth who
+officiated as priests before Roman altars. The days of the sun and moon
+were permitted to retain their names. They were called Sunday and
+Monday. The day of the war-god Mars became the day of the war-god Tyr,
+Tuesday. The day of Mercury became Odin's day, Wednesday. The day of the
+lightning-armed Jupiter became the day of the thundering Thor, Thursday.
+The day of the goddess of love Venus became that of the goddess of love
+Freyja, Friday. Saturnus, who in astrology is a watery star, and has his
+house in the sign of the waterman, was among the Romans, and before them
+among the Greeks and Chaldaeans, the lord of the seventh day. Among the
+North Teutons, or at least, among a part of them, his day got its name
+from laug,[6] which means a bath, and it is worthy of notice in this
+connection that the author of the Prose Edda's Foreword identifies
+Saturnus with the sea-god Njord.
+
+Here the Latin scholars had what seemed to them a complete proof that
+the Odin of which their stories of the past had so much to tell was--and
+was so recognised by their heathen ancestors--the same historical person
+as the Romans worshipped by the name Mercury.
+
+At first sight it may seem strange that Mercury and Odin were regarded
+as identical. We are wont to conceive Hermes (Mercury) as the Greek
+sculptors represented him, the ideal of beauty and elastic youth, while
+we imagine Odin as having a contemplative, mysterious look. And while
+Odin in the Teutonic mythology is the father and ruler of the gods,
+Mercury in the Roman has, of course, as the son of Zeus, a high rank,
+but his dignity does not exempt him from being the very busy messenger
+of the gods of Olympus. But neither Greeks nor Romans nor Teutons
+attached much importance to such circumstances in the specimens we have
+of their comparative mythology. The Romans knew that the same god among
+the same people might be represented differently, and that the local
+traditions also sometimes differed in regard to the kinship and rank of
+a divinity. They therefore paid more attention to what Tacitus calls
+_vis numinis_--that is, the significance of the divinity as a symbol of
+nature, or its relation to the affairs of the community and to human
+culture. Mercury was the symbol of wisdom and intelligence; so was
+Odin. Mercury was the god of eloquence; Odin likewise. Mercury had
+introduced poetry and song among men; Odin also. Mercury had taught men
+the art of writing; Odin had given them the runes. Mercury did not
+hesitate to apply cunning when it was needed to secure him possession of
+something that he desired; nor was Odin particularly scrupulous in
+regard to the means. Mercury, with wings on his hat and on his heels,
+flew over the world, and often appeared as a traveller among men; Odin,
+the ruler of the wind, did the same. Mercury was the god of martial
+games, and still he was not really the war-god; Odin also was the chief
+of martial games and combats, but the war-god's occupation he had left
+to Tyr. In all important respects Mercury and Odin, therefore, resembled
+each other.
+
+To the scholars this must have been an additional proof that this, in
+their eyes, historical chief, whom the Romans called Mercury and the
+Teutons Odin, had been one and the same human person, who had lived in a
+distant past, and had alike induced Greeks, Romans, and Goths to worship
+him as a god. To get additional and more reliable information in regard
+to this Odin-Mercury than what the Teutonic heathen traditions could
+impart, it was only necessary to study and interpret correctly what
+Roman history had to say about Mercury.
+
+As is known, some mysterious documents called the Sibylline books were
+preserved in Jupiter's temple, on the Capitoline Hill, in Rome. The
+Roman State was the possessor, and kept the strictest watch over them,
+so that their contents remained a secret to all excepting those whose
+position entitled them to read them. A college of priests, men in high
+standing, were appointed to guard them and to consult them when
+circumstances demanded it. The common opinion that the Roman State
+consulted them for information in regard to the future is incorrect.
+They were consulted only to find out by what ceremonies of penance and
+propitiation the wrath of the higher powers might be averted at times
+when Rome was in trouble, or when prodigies of one kind or another had
+excited the people and caused fears of impending misfortune. Then the
+Sibylline books were produced by the properly-appointed persons, and in
+some line or passage they found which divinity was angry and ought to be
+propitiated. This done, they published their interpretation of the
+passage, but did not make known the words or phrases of the passage, for
+the text of the Sibylline books must not be known to the public. The
+books were written in the Greek tongue.
+
+The story telling how these books came into the possession of the Roman
+State through a woman who sold them to Tarquin--according to one version
+Tarquin the Elder, according to another Tarquin the Younger--is found in
+Roman authors who were well known and read throughout the whole middle
+age. The woman was a Sibylla, according to Varro the Erythreian, so
+called from a Greek city in Asia Minor; according to Virgil the Cumaean,
+a prophetess from Cumae in southern Italy. Both versions could easily be
+harmonised, for Cumae was a Greek colony from Asia Minor; and we read in
+Servius' commentaries on Virgil's poems that the Erythreian Sibylla was
+by many regarded as identical with the Cumaean. From Asia Minor she was
+supposed to have come to Cumae.
+
+In western Europe the people of the middle age claimed that there were
+twelve Sibyllas: the Persian, the Libyan, the Delphian, the Cimmerinean,
+the Erythreian, the Samian, the Cumaean, the Hellespontian or Trojan, the
+Phrygian and Tiburtinian, and also the Sibylla Europa and the Sibylla
+Agrippa. Authorities for the first ten of these were the Church father
+Lactantius and the West Gothic historian Isodorus of Sevilla. The last
+two, Europa and Agrippa, were simply added in order to make the number
+of Sibyllas equal to that of the prophets and the apostles.
+
+But the scholars of the middle ages also knew from Servius that the
+Cumaean Sibylla was, in fact, the same as the Erythreian; and from the
+Church father Lactantius, who was extensively read in the middle ages,
+they also learned that the Erythreian was identical with the Trojan.
+Thanks to Lactantius, they also thought they could determine precisely
+where the Trojan Sibylla was born. Her birthplace was the town
+Marpessus, near the Trojan Mount Ida. From the same Church father they
+learned that the real contents of the Sibylline books had consisted of
+narrations concerning Trojan events, of lives of the Trojan kings, &c.,
+and also of prophecies concerning the fall of Troy and other coming
+events, and that the poet Homer in his works was a mere plagiator, who
+had found a copy of the books of the Sibylla, had recast and falsified
+it, and published it in his own name in the form of heroic poems
+concerning Troy.
+
+This seemed to establish the fact that those books, which the woman from
+Cumae had sold to the Roman king Tarquin, were written by a Sibylla who
+was born in the Trojan country, and that the books which Trojan bought
+off her contained accounts and prophecies--accounts especially in regard
+to the Trojan chiefs and heroes afterwards glorified in Homer's poems.
+As the Romans came from Troy, these chiefs and heroes were their
+ancestors, and in this capacity they were entitled to the worship which
+the Romans considered due to the souls of their forefathers. From a
+Christian standpoint this was of course idolatry; and as the Sibyllas
+were believed to have made predictions even in regard to Christ, it
+might seem improper for them to promote in this manner the cause of
+idolatry. But Lactantius gave a satisfactory explanation of this matter.
+The Sibylla, he said, had certainly prophesied truthfully in regard to
+Christ; but this she did by divine compulsion and in moments of divine
+inspiration. By birth and in her sympathies she was a heathen, and when
+under the spell of her genuine inspirations, she proclaimed heathen and
+idolatrous doctrines.
+
+In our critical century all this may seem like mere fancies. But careful
+examinations have shown that an historical kernel is not wanting in
+these representations. And the historical fact which lies back of all
+this is that the Sibylline books which were preserved in Rome actually
+were written in Asia Minor in the ancient Trojan territory; or, in
+other words, that the oldest known collection of so-called Sibylline
+oracles was made in Marpessus, near the Trojan mountain Ida, in the time
+of Solon. From Marpessus the collection came to the neighbouring city
+Gergis, and was preserved in the Apollo temple there; from Gergis it
+came to Cumae, and from Cumae to Rome in the time of the kings. How it
+came there is not known. The story about the Cumaean woman and Tarquin is
+an invention, and occurs in various forms. It is also demonstrably an
+invention that the Sibylline books in Rome contained accounts of the
+heroes in the Trojan war. On the other hand, it is absolutely certain
+that they referred to gods and to a worship which in the main were
+unknown to the Romans before the Sibylline books were introduced there,
+and that to these books must chiefly be attributed the remarkable change
+which took place in Roman mythology during the republican centuries. The
+Roman mythology, which from the beginning had but few gods of clear
+identity with the Greek, was especially during this epoch enlarged, and
+received gods and goddesses who were worshipped in Greece and in the
+Greek and Hellenised part of Asia Minor where the Sibylline books
+originated. The way this happened was that whenever the Romans in
+trouble or distress consulted the Sibylline books they received the
+answer that this or that Greek-Asiatic god or goddess was angry and must
+be propitiated. In connection with the propitiation ceremonies the god
+or goddess was received in the Roman pantheon, and sooner or later a
+temple was built to him; and thus it did not take long before the
+Romans appropriated the myths that were current in Greece concerning
+these borrowed divinities. This explains why the Roman mythology, which
+in its oldest sources is so original and so unlike the Greek, in the
+golden period of Roman literature comes to us in an almost wholly Greek
+attire; this explains why Roman and Greek mythology at that time might
+be regarded as almost identical. Nevertheless the Romans were able even
+in the later period of antiquity to discriminate between their native
+gods and those introduced by the Sibylline books. The former were
+worshipped according to a Roman ritual, the latter according to a Greek.
+To the latter belonged Apollo, Artemis, Latona, Ceres, Hermes, Mercury,
+Proserpina, Cybile, Venus, and Esculapius; and that the Sibylline books
+were a Greek-Trojan work, whose original home was Asia Minor and the
+Trojan territory, was well known to the Romans. When the temple of the
+Capitoline Jupiter was burned down eighty-four years before Christ, the
+Sibylline books were lost. But the State could not spare them. A new
+collection had to be made, and this was mainly done by gathering the
+oracles which could be found one by one in those places which the Trojan
+or Erythreian Sibylla had visited, that is to say, in Asia Minor,
+especially in Erythrae, and in Ilium, the ancient Troy.
+
+So far as Hermes-Mercury is concerned, the Roman annals inform us that
+he got his first lectisternium in the year 399 before Christ by order
+from the Sibylline books. Lectisternium was a sacrifice: the image of
+the god was laid on a bed with a pillow under the left arm, and beside
+the image was placed a table and a meal, which as a sacrifice was
+offered to the god. About one hundreds years before that time,
+Hermes-Mercury had received his first temple in Rome.
+
+Hermes-Mercury seemed, therefore, like Apollo, Venus, Esculapius, and
+others, to have been a god originally unknown to the Romans, the worship
+of whom the Trojan Sibylla had recommended to the Romans.
+
+This was known to the scholars of the middle age. Now, we must bear in
+mind that it was as certain to them as an undoubted scientific fact that
+the gods were originally men, chiefs, and heroes, and that the deified
+chief whom the Romans worshipped as Mercury, and the Greeks as Hermes,
+was the same as the Teutons called Odin, and from whom distinguished
+Teutonic families traced their descent. We must also remember that the
+Sibylla who was supposed to have recommended the Romans to worship the
+old king Odin-Mercurius was believed to have been a Trojan woman, and
+that her books were thought to have contained stories about Troy's
+heroes, in addition to various prophecies, and so this manner of
+reasoning led to the conclusion that the gods who were introduced in
+Rome through the Sibylline books were celebrated Trojans who had lived
+and fought at a time preceding the fall of Troy. Another inevitable and
+logical conclusion was that Odin had been a Trojan chief, and when he
+appears in Teutonic mythology as the chief of gods, it seemed most
+probable that he was identical with the Trojan king Priam, and that
+Priam was identical with Hermes-Mercury.
+
+Now, as the ancestors of the Romans were supposed to have emigrated from
+Troy to Italy under the leadership of AEneas, it was necessary to assume
+that the Romans were not the only Trojan emigrants, for, since the
+Teutons worshipped Odin-Priamus-Hermes as their chief god, and since a
+number of Teutonic families traced their descent from this Odin, the
+Teutons, too, must have emigrated from Troy. But, inasmuch as the
+Teutonic dialects differed greatly from the Roman language, the Trojan
+Romans and the Trojan Teutons must have been separated a very long time.
+
+They must have parted company immediately after the fall of Troy and
+gone in different directions, and as the Romans had taken a southern
+course on their way to Europe, the Teutons must have taken a northern.
+It was also apparent to the scholars that the Romans had landed in
+Europe many centuries earlier than the Teutons, for Rome had been
+founded already in 754 or 753 before Christ, but of the Teutons not a
+word is to be found in the annals before the period immediately
+preceding the birth of Christ. Consequently, the Teutons must have made
+a halt somewhere on their journey to the North. This halt must have been
+of several centuries' duration, and, of course, like the Romans, they
+must have founded a city, and from it ruled a territory in commemoration
+of their fallen city Troy. In that age very little was known of Asia,
+where this Teutonic-Trojan colony was supposed to have been situated,
+but, both from Orosius and, later, from Gregorius of Tours, it was known
+that our world is divided into three large divisions--Asia, Europe, and
+Africa--and that Asia and Europe are divided by a river called Tanais.
+And having learned from Gregorius of Tours that the Teutonic Franks were
+said to have lived in Pannonia in ancient times, and having likewise
+learned that the Moeotian marshes lie east of Pannonia, and that the
+Tanais empties into these marshes, they had the course marked out by
+which the Teutons had come to Europe--that is, by way of Tanais and the
+Moeotian marshes. Not knowing anything at all of importance in regard to
+Asia beyond Tanais, it was natural that they should locate the colony of
+the Teutonic Trojans on the banks of this river.
+
+I think I have now pointed out the chief threads of the web of that
+scholastic romance woven out of Latin convent learning concerning a
+Teutonic emigration from Troy and Asia, a web which extends from
+Fredegar's Frankish chronicle, through the following chronicles of the
+middle age, down into Heimskringla and the Foreword of the Younger Edda.
+According to the Frankish chronicle, _Gesta regum Francorum_, the
+emigration of the Franks from the Trojan colony near the Tanais was
+thought to have occurred very late; that is, in the time of
+Valentinianus I., or in other words, between 364 and 375 after Christ.
+The Icelandic authors very well knew that Teutonic tribes had been far
+into Europe long before that time, and the reigns they had constructed
+in regard to the North indicated that they must have emigrated from the
+Tanais colony long before the Franks. As the Roman attack was the cause
+of the Frankish emigration, it seemed probable that these
+world-conquerors had also caused the earlier emigration from Tanais;
+and as Pompey's expedition to Asia was the most celebrated of all the
+expeditions made by the Romans in the East--Pompey even entered
+Jerusalem and visited its Temple--it was found most convenient to let
+the Asas emigrate in the time of Pompey, but they left a remnant of
+Teutons near the Tanais, under the rule of Odin's younger brothers Vile
+and Ve, in order that this colony might continue to exist until the
+emigration of the Franks took place.
+
+Finally, it should be mentioned that the Trojan migration saga, as born
+and developed in antiquity, does not indicate by a single word that
+Europe was peopled later than Asia, or that it received its population
+from Asia. The immigration of the Trojans to Europe was looked upon as a
+return to their original homes. Dardanus, the founder of Troy, was
+regarded as the leader of an emigration from Etruria to Asia (_AEneid_,
+iii. 165 ff., Serv. Comm.). As a rule the European peoples regarded
+themselves in antiquity as autochthones if they did not look upon
+themselves as immigrants from regions within Europe to the territories
+they inhabited in historic times.
+
+[Footnote 5:
+
+"Mennor der erste was genant,
+Dem diutische rede got tet bekant."
+
+Later on in this work we shall discuss the traditions of the Mannussaga
+found in Scandinavia and Germany.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Saturday is in the North called Loeverdag, Loerdag--that is,
+Laugardag=bathday.--TR.]
+
+
+                               13.
+
+          THE MATERIALS OF THE ICELANDIC TROY SAGA.
+
+
+We trust the facts presented above have convinced the reader that the
+saga concerning the immigration of Odin and the Asas to Europe is
+throughout a product of the convent learning of the middle ages. That
+it was born and developed independently of the traditions of the
+Teutonic heathendom shall be made still more apparent by the additional
+proofs that are accessible in regard to this subject. It may, however,
+be of some interest to first dwell on some of the details in the
+Heimskringla and in the Younger Edda and point out their source.
+
+It should be borne in mind that, according to the Younger Edda, it was
+Zoroaster who first thought of building the Tower of Babel, and that in
+this undertaking he was assisted by seventy-two master-masons. Zoroaster
+is, as is well known, another form for the Bactrian or Iranian name
+Zarathustra, the name of the prophet and religious reformer who is
+praised on every page of Avesta's holy books, and who in a prehistoric
+age founded the religion which far down in our own era has been
+confessed by the Persians, and is still confessed by their descendants
+in India, and is marked by a most serious and moral view of the world.
+In the Persian and in the classical literatures this Zoroaster has
+naught to do with Babel, still less with the Tower of Babel. But already
+in the first century of Christianity, if not earlier, traditions became
+current which made Zoroaster the founder of all sorcery, magic, and
+astrology (Plinius, _Hist. Nat._, xxx. 2); and as astrology particularly
+was supposed to have had its centre and base in Babylon, it was natural
+to assume that Babel had been the scene of Zoroaster's activity. The
+Greek-Roman chronicler Ammianus Marcellinus, who lived in the fourth
+century after Christ, still knows that Zoroaster was a man from Bactria,
+not from Babylon, but he already has formed the opinion that Zoroaster
+had gotten much of his wisdom from the writings of the Babylonians. In
+the Church fathers the saga is developed in this direction, and from the
+Church fathers it got into the Latin chronicles. The Christian historian
+Orosius also knows that Zoroaster was from Bactria, but he already
+connects Zoroaster with the history of Nineveh and Babylon, and makes
+Ninus make war against him and conquer him. Orosius speaks of him as the
+inventor of sorcery and the magic arts. Gregorius of Tours told in his
+time that Zoroaster was identical with Noah's grandson, with Chus, the
+son of Ham, that this Chus went to the Persians, and that the Persians
+called him Zoroaster, a name supposed to mean "the living star."
+Gregorius also relates that this Zoroaster was the first person who
+taught men the arts of sorcery and led them astray into idolatry, and as
+he knew the art of making stars and fire fall from heaven, men paid him
+divine worship. At that time, Gregorius continues, men desired to build
+a tower which should reach to heaven. But God confused their tongues and
+brought their project to naught. Nimrod, who was supposed to have built
+Babel, was, according to Gregorius, a son of Zoroaster.
+
+If we compare this with what the Foreword of the Younger Edda tells,
+then we find that there, too, Zoroaster is a descendant of Noah's son
+Cham and the founder of all idolatry, and that he himself was worshipped
+as a god. It is evident that the author of the Foreword gathered these
+statements from some source related to Gregorius' history. Of the 72
+master-masons who were said to have helped Zoroaster in building the
+tower, and from whom the 72 languages of the world originated, Gregorius
+has nothing to say, but the saga about these builders was current
+everywhere during the middle ages. In the earlier Anglo-Saxon literature
+there is a very naive little work, very characteristic of its age,
+called "A Dialogue between Saturn and Solomon," in which Saturnus tests
+Solomon's knowledge and puts to him all sorts of biblical questions,
+which Solomon answers partly from the Bible and partly from sagas
+connected with the Bible. Among other things Saturnus informs Solomon
+that Adam was created out of various elements, weighing altogether eight
+pounds, and that when created he was just 116 inches long. Solomon tells
+that Shem, Noah's son, had thirty sons, Cham thirty, and Japhet
+twelve--making 72 grandsons of Noah; and as there can be no doubt that
+it was the author's opinion that all the languages of the world, thought
+to be 72, originated at the Tower of Babel, and were spread into the
+world by these 72 grandsons of Noah, we here find the key to who those
+72 master-masons were who, according to the Edda, assisted Zoroaster in
+building the tower. They were accordingly his brothers. Luther's
+contemporary, Henricus Cornelius Agrippa, who, in his work _De occulta
+Philosophia_, gathered numerous data in regard to the superstition of
+all ages, has a chapter on the power and sacred meaning of various
+numbers, and says in speaking of the number 72: "The number 72
+corresponds to the 72 languages, the 72 elders in the synagogue, the 72
+commentators of the Old Testament, Christ's 72 disciples, God's 72
+names, the 72 angels who govern the 72 divisions of the Zodiac, each
+division of which corresponds to one of the 72 languages." This
+illustrates sufficiently how widespread was the tradition in regard to
+the 72 master-masons during the centuries of the middle ages. Even
+Nestor's Russian chronicle knows the tradition. It continued to enjoy a
+certain authority in the seventeenth century. An edition of Sulpicius
+Severus' _Opera Omnia_, printed in 1647, still considers it necessary to
+point out that a certain commentator had doubted whether the number 72
+was entirely exact. Among the doubters we find Rudbeck in his
+_Atlantica_.
+
+What the Edda tells about king Saturnus and his son, king Jupiter, is
+found in a general way, partly in the Church-father Lactantius, partly
+in Virgil's commentator Servius, who was known and read during the
+middle age. As the Edda claims that Saturnus knew the art of producing
+gold from the molten iron, and that no other than gold coins existed in
+his time, this must be considered an interpretation of the statement
+made in Latin sources that Saturnus' was the golden age--_aurea secula,
+aurea regna_. Among the Romans Saturnus was the guardian of treasures,
+and the treasury of the Romans was in the temple of Saturnus in the
+Forum.
+
+The genealogy found in the Edda, according to which the Trojan king
+Priam, supposed to be the oldest and the proper Odin, was descended in
+the sixth generation from Jupiter, is taken from Latin chronicles.
+Herikon of the Edda, grandson of Jupiter, is the Roman-Greek
+Erichtonius; the Edda's Lamedon is Laomedon. Then the Edda has the
+difficult task of continuing the genealogy through the dark centuries
+between the burning of Troy and the younger Odin's immigration to
+Europe. Here the Latin sources naturally fail it entirely, and it is
+obliged to seek other aid. It first considers the native sources. There
+it finds that Thor is also called Lorride, Indride, and Vingthor, and
+that he had two sons, Mode and Magne; but it also finds a genealogy made
+about the twelfth century, in which these different names of Thor are
+applied to different persons, so that Lorride is the son of Thor,
+Indride the son of Lorride, Vingthor the son of Indride, &c. This mode
+of making genealogies was current in Iceland in the twelfth century, and
+before that time among the Christian Anglo-Saxons. Thereupon the Edda
+continues its genealogy with the names Bedvig, Atra, Itrman, Heremod,
+Skjaldun or Skold, Bjaef, Jat, Gudolf, Fjarlaf or Fridleif, and finally
+Odin, that is to say, the younger Odin, who had adopted this name after
+his deified progenitor Hermes-Priam. This whole genealogy is taken from
+a Saxon source, and can be found in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle name for
+name. From Odin the genealogy divides itself into two branches, one from
+Odin's son, Veggdegg, and another from Odin's son, Beldegg or Balder.
+The one branch has the names Veggdegg, Vitrgils, Ritta, Heingest. These
+names are found arranged into a genealogy by the English Church
+historian Beda, by the English chronicler Nennius, and in the
+Anglo-Saxon chronicle. From one of these three sources the Edda has
+taken them, and the only difference is that the Edda must have made a
+slip in one place and changed the name Vitta to Ritta. The other branch,
+which begins with Balder or Beldegg, embraces eight names, which are
+found in precisely the same order in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle.
+
+In regard to Balder, the Edda says that Odin appointed him king in
+Westphalia. This statement is based on the tradition that Balder was
+known among the heathen Germans and Scandinavians by the name Fal
+(_Falr_, see No. 92), with its variation Fol. In an age when it was
+believed that Sweden got its name from a king Sven, Goetaland from a king
+Goet, Danmark from a king Dan, Angeln from a king Angul, the Franks from
+a duke Francio, it might be expected that Falen (East- and West-Phalia)
+had been named after a king Fal. That this name was recognised as
+belonging to Balder not only in Germany, but also in Scandinavia, I
+shall give further proof of in No. 92.
+
+As already stated, Thor was, according to the Edda, married to Sibil,
+that is to say, the Sibylla, and the Edda adds that this Sibil is called
+Sif in the North. In the Teutonic mythology Thor's wife is the goddess
+Sif. It has already been mentioned that it was believed in the middle
+age that the Cumaean or Erythreian Sibylla originally came from Troy, and
+it is not, therefore, strange that the author of the Younger Edda, who
+speaks of the Trojan descent of Odin and his people, should marry Thor
+to the most famous of Trojan women. Still, this marriage is not invented
+by the author. The statement has an older foundation, and taking all
+circumstances into consideration, may be traced to Germany, where Sif,
+in the days of heathendom, was as well known as Thor. To the northern
+form Sif corresponds the Gothic form _Sibba_, the Old English _Sib_, the
+Old Saxon _Sibbia_, and the Old High German _Sibba_, and Sibil, Sibilla,
+was thought to be still another form of the same name. The belief, based
+on the assumed fact that Thor's wife Sif was identical with the Sibylla,
+explains a phenomenon not hitherto understood in the saga-world and
+church sculpture of the middle age, and on this point I now have a few
+remarks to make.
+
+In the Norse mythology several goddesses or dises have, as we know,
+feather-guises, with which they fly through space. Freyja has a
+falcon-guise; several dises have swan-guises (Volundarkv. Helreid.
+Brynh., 6). Among these swan-maids was Sif (see No. 123). Sif could
+therefore present herself now in human form, and again in the guise of
+the most beautiful swimming bird, the swan.
+
+A legend, the origin of which may be traced to Italy, tells that when
+the queen of Saba visited king Solomon, she was in one place to cross a
+brook. A tree or beam was thrown across as a bridge. The wise queen
+stopped, and would not let her foot touch the beam. She preferred to
+wade across the brook, and when she was asked the reason for this, she
+answered that in a prophetic vision she had seen that the time would
+come when this tree would be made into a cross on which the Saviour of
+the world was to suffer.
+
+The legend came also to Germany, but here it appears with the addition
+that the queen of Saba was rewarded for this piety, and was freed while
+wading across the brook from a bad blemish. One of her feet, so says the
+German addition, was of human form, but the other like the foot of a
+water-bird up to the moment when she took it out of the brook. Church
+sculpture sometimes in the middle age represented the queen of Saba as a
+woman well formed, except that she had one foot like that of a
+water-bird. How the Germans came to represent her with this blemish,
+foreign to the Italian legend, has not heretofore been explained,
+although the influence of the Greek-Roman mythology on the legends of
+the Romance peoples, and that of the Teutonic mythology on the Teutonic
+legends, has been traced in numerous instances.
+
+During the middle ages the queen of Saba was called queen Seba, on
+account of the Latin translation of the Bible, where she is styled
+_Regina Seba_, and Seba was thought to be her name. The name suggested
+her identity, on the one hand, with Sibba, Sif, whose swan-guise lived
+in the traditions; on the other hand, with Sibilla, and the latter
+particularly, since queen Seba had proved herself to be in possession of
+prophetic inspiration, the chief characteristic of the Sibylla. Seba,
+Sibba, and Sibilla were in the popular fancy blended into one. This
+explains how queen Seba among the Germans, but not among the Italians,
+got the blemish which reminds us of the swan-guise of Thor's wife Sibba.
+And having come to the conclusion that Thor was a Trojan, his wife Sif
+also ought to be a Trojan woman. And as it was known that the Sibylla
+was Trojan, and that queen Seba was a Sibylla, this blending was almost
+inevitable. The Latin scholars found further evidence of the correctness
+of this identity in a statement drawn originally from Greek sources to
+the effect that Jupiter had had a Sibylla, by name Lamia, as mistress,
+and had begotten a daughter with her by name Herophile, who was endowed
+with her mother's gift of prophecy. As we know, Mercury corresponds to
+Odin, and Jupiter to Thor, in the names of the days of the week. It thus
+follows that it was Thor who stood in this relation to the Sibylla.
+
+The character of the anthropomorphosed Odin, who is lawgiver and king,
+as represented in Heimskringla and the Prose Edda, is only in part based
+on native northern traditions concerning the heathen god Odin, the ruler
+of heaven. This younger Odin, constructed by Christian authors, has
+received his chief features from documents found in the convent
+libraries. When the Prose Edda tells that the chief who proceeded from
+Asgard to Saxland and Scandinavia did not really bear the name Odin, but
+had assumed this name after the elder and deified Odin-Priam of Troy, to
+make people believe that he was a god, then this was no new idea.
+Virgil's commentator, Servius, remarks that ancient kings very
+frequently assumed names which by right belonged only to the gods, and
+he blames Virgil for making Saturnus come from the heavenly Olympus to
+found a golden age in Italy. This Saturnus, says Servius, was not a god
+from above, but a mortal king from Crete who had taken the god Saturnus'
+name. The manner in which Saturnus, on his arrival in Italy and the
+vicinity of Rome, was received by Janus, the king ruling there, reminds
+us of the manner in which Odin, on his arrival in Svithiod, was received
+by king Gylfe. Janus is unpretentious enough to leave a portion of his
+territory and his royal power to Saturnus, and Gylfe makes the same
+concessions to Odin. Saturnus thereupon introduces a higher culture
+among the people of Latium, and Odin brings a higher culture to the
+inhabitants of Scandinavia. The Church father Lactantius, like Servius,
+speaks of kings who tried to appropriate the name and worship of the
+gods, and condemns them as foes of truth and violators of the doctrines
+of the true God.
+
+In regard to one of them, the Persian Mithra, who, in the middle age,
+was confounded with Zoroaster, Tertulianus relates that he (Mithra), who
+knew in advance that Christianity would come, resolved to anticipate the
+true faith by introducing some of its customs. Thus, for example,
+Mithra, according to Tertulianus, introduced the custom of blessing by
+laying the hands on the head or the brow of those to whom he wished to
+insure prosperity, and he also adopted among his mysteries a practice
+resembling the breaking of the bread in the Eucharist. So far as the
+blessing by the laying on of hands is concerned, Mithra especially used
+it in giving courage to the men whom he sent out as soldiers to war.
+With these words of Tertulianus it is interesting to compare the
+following passage in regard to Odin in the Heimskringla: "It was his
+custom when he sent his men to war, or on some errand, to lay his hands
+on their heads and give them _bjannak_." Bjannak is not a Norse word,
+not even Teutonic, and there has been uncertainty in regard to its
+significance. The well-known Icelandic philologist, Vigfusson, has, as I
+believe, given the correct definition of the word, having referred it to
+the Scottish word _bannock_ and the Gaelic _banagh_, which means bread.
+Presumably the author of Heimskringla has chosen this foreign word in
+order not to wound the religious feelings of readers with a native term,
+for if _bjannak_ really means bread, and if the author of Heimskringla
+desired in this way to indicate that Odin, by the aid of sacred usages,
+practised in the Christian cult--that is, by the laying on of hands and
+the breaking of bread--had given his warriors assurance of victory, then
+it lay near at hand to modify, by the aid of a foreign word for bread,
+the impression of the disagreeable similarity between the heathen and
+Christian usages. But at the same time the complete harmony between what
+Tertulianus tells about Mithra and Heimskringla about Odin is manifest.
+
+What Heimskringla tells about Odin, that his spirit could leave the body
+and go to far-off regions, and that his body lay in the meantime as if
+asleep or dead, is told, in the middle age, of Zoroaster and of
+Hermes-Mercurius.
+
+New Platonian works had told much about an originally Egyptian god, whom
+they associated with the Greek Hermes and called Hermes-Trismegistus--that
+is, the thrice greatest and highest. The name Hermes-Trismegistus became
+known through Latin authors even to the scholars in the middle age
+convents, and, as a matter of course, those who believed that Odin
+was identical with Hermes also regarded him as identical with
+Hermes-Trismegistus. When Gylfe sought Odin and his men he came to a
+citadel which, according to the statement of the gatekeeper, belonged to
+king Odin, but when he had entered the hall he there saw not _one_
+throne, but three thrones, the one above the other, and upon each of the
+thrones a chief. When Gylfe asked the names of these chiefs, he received
+an answer that indicates that none of the three alone was Odin, but that
+Odin the sorcerer, who was able to turn men's vision, was present in
+them all. One of the three, says the doorkeeper, is named _Har_, the
+second, _Jafnhar_, and the one on the highest throne is _Thridi_. It
+seems to me probable that what gave rise to this story was the surname
+"the thrice-highest," which in the middle age was ascribed to Mercury,
+and, consequently, was regarded as one of the epithets which Odin
+assumed. The names _Third_ and _High_ seem to point to the phrase "the
+thrice-highest." It was accordingly taken for granted that Odin had
+appropriated this name in order to anticipate Christianity with a sort
+of idea of trinity, just as Zoroaster, his progenitor, had, under the
+name Mithra, in advance imitated the Christian usages.
+
+The rest that Heimskringla and the Younger Edda tell about the king Odin
+who immigrated to Europe is mainly taken from the stories embodied in
+the mythological songs and traditions in regard to the god Odin who
+ruled in the celestial Valhal. Here belongs what is told about the war
+of Odin and the Asiatics with the Vans. In the myth, this war was waged
+around the walls built by a giant around the heavenly Asgard (Voelusp.,
+25). The citadel in which Gylfe finds the triple Odin is decorated in
+harmony with the Valhal described by the heathen skalds. The men who
+drink and present exercises in arms are the einherjes of the myth. Gylfe
+himself is taken from the mythology, but, to all appearances, he did not
+play the part of a king, but of a giant, dwelling in Jotunheim. The
+Fornmanna sagas make him a descendant of _Fornjotr_, who, with his sons,
+_Hler_, _Logi_, and _Kari_, and his descendants, _Joekull_, _Snaer_,
+_Geitir_, &c., doubtless belong to Jotunheim. When Odin and the Asas had
+been made immigrants to the North, it was quite natural that the giants
+were made a historical people, and as such were regarded as the
+aborigines of the North--an hypothesis which, in connection with the
+fable about the Asiatic emigration, was accepted for centuries, and
+still has its defenders. The story that Odin, when he perceived death
+drawing near, marked himself with the point of a spear, has its origin
+in the words which a heathen song lays on Odin's lips: "I know that I
+hung on the wind-tossed tree nine nights, by my spear wounded, given to
+Odin, myself given to myself" (Havam., 138).
+
+
+                                 14.
+
+           THE RESULT OF THE FOREGOING INVESTIGATIONS.
+
+Herewith I close the examination of the sagas in regard to the Trojan
+descent of the Teutons, and in regard to the immigration of Odin and his
+Asiamen to Saxland, Denmark, and the Scandinavian peninsula. I have
+pointed out the seed from which the sagas grew, the soil in which the
+seed could be developed, and how it gradually grew to be what we find
+these sagas to be in Heimskringla and the Younger Edda. I have shown
+that they do not belong to the Teutonic heathendom, but that they were
+born, as it were of necessity, in a Christian time, among Teutons
+converted to Christianity, and that they are throughout the work of the
+Latin scholars in the middle age. The assumption that they concealed
+within themselves a tradition preserved for centuries among the Teutons
+themselves of an ancient emigration from Asia is altogether improbable,
+and is completely refuted by the genuine migration sagas of Teutonic
+origin which were rescued from oblivion, and of which I shall give an
+account below. In my opinion, these old and genuine Teutonic migration
+sagas have, from a purely historical standpoint, but little more claim
+than the fables of the Christian age in regard to Odin's emigration from
+Asia to be looked upon as containing a kernel of reality. This must in
+each case be carefully considered. But that of which they furnish
+evidence is, how entirely foreign to the Teutonic heathens was the idea
+of an immigration from Troy or Asia, and besides, they are of great
+interest on account of their connection with what the myths have to say
+in regard to the oldest dwelling-places, history, and diffusion of the
+human race, or at least of the Teutonic part of it.
+
+As a rule, all the old migration sagas, no matter from what race they
+spring, should be treated with the utmost caution. Large portions of
+the earth's surface may have been appropriated by various races, not by
+the sudden influx of large masses, but by a gradual increase of the
+population and consequent moving of their boundaries, and there need not
+have been very remarkable or memorable events in connection therewith.
+Such an expansion of the territory may take place, and be so little
+remarked by the people living around the centre, that they actually do
+not need to be aware of it, and much less do they need to remember it in
+sagas and songs. That a few new settlers year by year extend the
+boundaries of a race has no influence on the imagination, and it can
+continue generation after generation, and produce as its final result an
+immense expansion, and yet the separate generations may scarcely have
+been conscious of the change in progress. A people's spreading over new
+territory may be compared with the movement of the hour-hand on a clock.
+It is not perceptible to the eye, and is only realized by continued
+observation.
+
+In many instances, however, immigrations have taken place in large
+masses, who have left their old abodes to seek new homes. Such
+undertakings are of themselves worthy of being remembered, and they are
+attended by results that easily cling to the memory. But even in such
+cases it is surprising how soon the real historical events either are
+utterly forgotten or blended with fables, which gradually, since they
+appeal more to the fancy, monopolise the interest. The conquest and
+settlement of England by Saxon and Scandinavian tribes--and that, too,
+in a time when the art of writing was known--is a most remarkable
+instance of this. Hengist, under whose command the Saxons, according to
+their own immigration saga, are said to have planted their feet on
+British soil, is a saga-figure taken from mythology, and there we shall
+find him later on (see No. 123). No wonder, then, if we discover in
+mythology those heroes under whose leadership the Longobardians and
+Goths believed they had emigrated from their original Teutonic homes.
+
+
+
+
+             B. REMINISCENCES IN THE POPULAR TRADITIONS
+                OF THE MIDDLE AGES OF THE
+                HEATHEN MIGRATION SAGA.
+
+
+                                15.
+
+                THE LONGOBARDIAN MIGRATION SAGA.
+
+What there still remains of migration sagas from the middle ages, taken
+from the saga-treasure of the Teutons themselves, is, alas! but little.
+Among the Franks the stream of national traditions early dried up, at
+least among the class possessing Latin culture. Among the Longobardians
+it fared better, and among them Christianity was introduced later.
+Within the ken of Roman history they appear in the first century after
+Christ, when Tiberius invaded their boundaries.
+
+Tacitus speaks of them with admiration as a small people whose paucity,
+he says, was balanced by their unity and warlike virtues, which rendered
+them secure in the midst of the numerous and mighty tribes around them.
+The Longobardians dwelt at that time in the most northern part of
+Germany, on the lower Elbe, probably in Luneburg. Five hundred years
+later we find them as rulers in Pannonia, whence they invade Italy. They
+had then been converted to Christianity. A hundred years after they had
+become settled in North Italy, one of their Latin scholars wrote a
+little treatise, _De Origine Longobardorum_, which begins in the
+following manner: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! Here begins the
+oldest history of our Longobardian people. There is an island called
+Skadan, far in the north. There dwelt many peoples. Among them was a
+little people called the Vinnilians, and among the Vinnilians was a
+woman by name Gambara. Gambara had two sons: one by name Ibor, the other
+named Ajo. She and these sons were the rulers among the Vinnilians. Then
+it came to pass that the Vandals, with their dukes Ambri and Assi,
+turned against the Vinnilians, and said to them: 'Pay ye tribute unto
+us. If ye will not, then arm yourselves for war!' Then made answer Ibor
+and Ajo and their mother Gambara: 'It is better for us to arm ourselves
+for war than to pay tribute to the Vandals'. When Ambri and Assi, the
+dukes of the Vandals, heard this, they addressed themselves to Odin
+(Godan) with a prayer that he should grant them victory. Odin answered
+and said: 'Those whom I first discover at the rising of the sun, to them
+I shall give victory'. But at the same time Ibor and Ajo, the chiefs of
+the Vinnilians, and their mother Gambara, addressed themselves to Frigg
+(Frea), Odin's wife, beseeching her to assist them. Then Frigg gave the
+advice that the Vinnilians should set out at the rising of the sun, and
+that the women should accompany their husbands and arrange their hair so
+that it should hang like a beard under their chins. When the sky cleared
+and the sun was about to rise, Frigg, Odin's wife, went to the couch
+where her husband was sleeping and directed his face to the east (where
+the Vinnilians stood), and then she waked him. And as he looked up he
+saw the Vinnilians, and observed the hair hanging down from the faces of
+their women. And then said he: 'What long-beards are they?' Then said
+Frigg to Odin: 'My lord, as you now have named them, you must also give
+them victory!' And he gave them victory, so that they, in accordance
+with his resolve, defended themselves well, and got the upper hand. From
+that day the Vinnilians were called Longobardians--that is to say,
+long-beards. Then the Longobardians left their country and came to
+Golaida, and thereupon they occupied Aldonus, Anthaib, Bainaib, and
+Burgundaib."
+
+In the days of Charlemagne the Longobardians got a historian by name
+Paulus Diaconus, a monk in the convent Monte Cassino, and he was himself
+a Longobardian by birth. Of the earliest history of his people he
+relates the following: The Vinnilians or Longobardians, who ruled
+successfully in Italy, are of Teutonic descent, and came originally from
+the island Scandinavia. Then he says that he has talked with persons who
+had been in Scandinavia, and from their reports he gives some facts,
+from which it is evident that his informants had reference to Scania
+with its extensive coast of lowlands and shallow water. Then he
+continues: "When the population on this island had increased beyond the
+ability of the island to support them, they were divided into three
+parts, and it was determined by lot which part should emigrate from the
+native land and seek new homes. The part whose destiny it became to
+leave their native land chose as their leaders the brothers Ibor and
+Ajo, who were in the bloom of manhood and were distinguished above the
+rest. Then they bade farewell to their friends and to their country, and
+went to seek a land in which they might settle. The mother of these two
+leaders was called Gambara, who was distinguished among her people for
+her keen understanding and shrewd advice, and great reliance was placed
+on her prudence in difficult circumstances." Paulus makes a digression
+to discuss many remarkable things to be seen in Scandinavia: the light
+summer nights and the long winter nights, a maelstrom which in its
+vortex swallows vessels and sometimes throws them up again, an animal
+resembling a deer hunted by the neighbours of the Scandinavians, the
+Scritobinians (the Skee[7] Finns), and a cave in a rock where seven men
+in Roman clothes have slept for centuries (see Nos. 79-81, and No. 94).
+Then he relates that the Vinnilians left Scandinavia and came to a
+country called Scoringia, and there was fought the aforesaid battle, in
+which, thanks to Frigg's help, the Vinnilians conquered the Vandals, who
+demanded tribute from them.
+
+The story is then told how this occurred, and how the Vinnilians got the
+name Longobardians in a manner corresponding with the source already
+quoted, with the one addition, that it was Odin's custom when he awoke
+to look out of the window, which was open, to the east toward the rising
+sun. Paulus Diaconus finds this Longobardian folk-saga ludicrous, not in
+itself, but because Odin was, in the first place, he says, a man, not a
+god. In the second place, Odin did not live among the Teutons, but among
+the Greeks, for he is the same as the one called by the Romans Mercury.
+In the third place, Odin-Mercury did not live at the time when the
+Longobardians emigrated from Scandinavia, but much earlier. According to
+Paulus, there were only five generations between the emigration of the
+Longobardians and the time of Odoacer. Thus we find in Paulus Diaconus
+the ideas in regard to Odin-Mercury which I have already called
+attention to. Paulus thereupon relates the adventures which happened to
+the Longobardians after the battle with the Vandals. I shall refer to
+these adventures later on. They belong to the Teutonic mythology, and
+reappear in mythic sources (see No. 112), but in a more original form,
+and as events which took place in the beginning of time in a conflict
+between the Asas and Vans on the one hand, and lower beings on the other
+hand; lower, indeed, but unavoidable in connection with the well-being
+of nature and man. This conflict resulted in a terrible winter and
+consequent famine throughout the North. In this mythological description
+we shall find Ajo and Ibor, under whose leadership the Longobardians
+emigrated, and Hengist, under whom the Saxons landed in Britain.
+
+It is proper to show what form the story about the Longobardian
+emigration had assumed toward the close of the twelfth century in the
+writings of the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus. The emigration took
+place, he says, at a time when a Danish king, by name Snoe, ruled, and
+when there occurred a terrible famine. First, those starving had
+resolved to kill all the aged and all children, but this awful resolve
+was not carried out, thanks to a good and wise woman, by name Gambaruc,
+who advised that a part of the people should emigrate. This was done
+under the leadership of her sons Aggo and Ebbo. The emigrants came first
+to Blekingia (Blekinge), then they sailed past Moringia (Moere) and came
+to Gutland, where they had a contest with the Vandals, and by the aid of
+the goddess Frigg they won the victory, and got the name Longobardians.
+From Gutland they sailed to Rugen, and thence to the German continent,
+and thus after many adventures they at length became masters of a large
+part of Italy.
+
+In regard to this account it must be remarked that although it contains
+many details not found in Paulus Diaconus, still it is the same
+narrative that has come to Saxo's knowledge. This Saxo also admits, and
+appeals to the testimony of Paulus Diaconus. Paulus' Gambara is Saxo's
+Gambaruc; Ajo and Ibor are Aggo and Ebbo. But the Longobardian monk is
+not Saxo's only source, and the brothers Aggo and Ebbo, as we shall
+show, were known to him from purely northern sources, though not as
+leaders of the Longobardians, but as mythic characters, who are actors
+in the great winter which Saxo speaks of.
+
+The Longobardian emigration saga--as we find it recorded in the seventh
+century, and then again in the time of Charlemagne--contains
+unmistakable internal evidence of having been taken from the people's
+own traditions. Proof of this is already the circumstance, that although
+the Longobardians had been Christians for nearly 200 years when the
+little book _De Origine Longobardorum_ appeared, still the long-banished
+divinities, Odin and Frigg, reappear and take part in the events, not as
+men, but as divine beings, and in a manner thoroughly corresponding with
+the stories recorded in the North concerning the relations between Odin
+and his wife. For although this relation was a good and tender one,
+judging from expressions in the heathen poems of the North (Voelusp., 51;
+Vafthr., 1-4), and although the queen of heaven, Frigg, seems to have
+been a good mother in the belief of the Teutons, this does not hinder
+her from being represented as a wily person, with a will of her own
+which she knows how to carry out. Even a Norse story tells how Frigg
+resolves to protect a person whom Odin is not able to help; how she and
+he have different favourites among men, and vie with each other in
+bringing greater luck to their favourites. The story is found in the
+prose introduction to the poem "Grimnismal," an introduction which in
+more than one respect reminds us of the Longobardian emigration saga. In
+both it is mentioned how Odin from his dwelling looks out upon the world
+and observes what is going on. Odin has a favourite by name Geirrod.
+Frigg, on the other hand, protects Geirrod's brother Agnar. The man and
+wife find fault with each other's proteges. Frigg remarks about Geirrod,
+that he is a prince, "stingy with food, so that he lets his guests
+starve if they are many." And the story goes on to say that Geirrod, at
+the secret command of Odin, had pushed the boat in which Agnar was
+sitting away from shore, and that the boat had gone to sea with Agnar
+and had not returned. The story looks like a parable founded on the
+Longobardian saga, or like one grown in a Christian time out of the same
+root as the Longobardian story. Geirrod is in reality the name of a
+giant, and the giant is in the myth a being who brings hail and frost.
+He dwells in the uttermost North, beyond the mythical Gandvik
+(Thorsdrapa, 2), and as a mythical winter symbol he corresponds to king
+Snoe in Saxo. His "stinginess of food when too many guests come" seems to
+point to lack of food caused by the unfavourable weather, which
+necessitated emigrations, when the country became over-populated. Agnar,
+abandoned to the waves of the sea, is protected, like the Longobardians
+crossing the sea, by Frigg, and his very name, Agnar, reminds us of the
+names Aggo, Acho, and Agio, by which Ajo, one of the leaders of the
+Longobardians, is known. The prose introduction has no original
+connection with _Grimnismal_ itself, and in the form in which we now
+have it, it belongs to a Christian age, and is apparently from an author
+belonging to the same school as those who regarded the giants as the
+original inhabitants of Scandinavia, and turned winter giants like
+Joekull, Snaer, &c., into historical kings of Norway.
+
+The absolutely positive result of the Longobardian narratives written by
+Longobardian historians is that the Teutonic race to which they belonged
+considered themselves sprung, not from Troy or Asia, but from an island,
+situated in the ocean, which washes the northern shores of the Teutonic
+continent, that is to say, of Germany.
+
+[Footnote 7: The snow-skate, used so extensively in the north of Europe,
+is called _Ski_ in the Norse, and I have taken the liberty of
+introducing this word here and spelling it phonetically--_skee_, pl.
+_skees_. The words snow-shoes, snow-skates, hardly describe sufficiently
+these skees used by the Finns, Norsemen, and Icelanders. Compare the
+English word _skid_, the drag applied to a coach-wheel.--_Tr._]
+
+
+                              16.
+
+            THE SAXON AND SWABIAN MIGRATION SAGA.
+
+
+From the Longobardians I now pass to the great Teutonic group of peoples
+comprised in the term the _Saxons_. Their historian, Widukind, who wrote
+his chronicle in the tenth century, begins by telling what he has
+learned about the origin of the Saxons. Here, he says, different
+opinions are opposed to each other. According to one opinion held by
+those who knew the Greeks and Romans, the Saxons are descended from the
+remnants of Alexander the Great's Macedonian army; according to the
+other, which is based on native traditions, the Saxons are descended
+from Danes and Northmen. Widukind so far takes his position between
+these opinions that he considers it certain that the Saxons had come in
+ships to the country they inhabited on the lower Elbe and the North Sea,
+and that they landed in Hadolaun, that is to say, in the district
+Hadeln, near the mouth of the Elbe, which, we may say in passing, still
+is distinguished for its remarkably vigorous population, consisting of
+peasants whose ancestors throughout the middle ages preserved the
+communal liberty in successful conflict with the feudal nobility.
+Widukind's statement that the Saxons crossed the sea to Hadeln is found
+in an older Saxon chronicle, written about 860, with the addition that
+the leader of the Saxons in their emigration was a chief by name
+Hadugoto.
+
+A Swabian chronicle, which claims that the Swabians also came from the
+North and experienced about the same adventures as the Saxons when they
+came to their new home, gives from popular traditions additional details
+in regard to the migration and the voyage. According to this account,
+the emigration was caused by a famine which visited the Northland
+situated on the other side of the sea, because the inhabitants were
+heathens who annually sacrificed twelve Christians to their gods. At the
+time when the famine came there ruled a king Rudolph over that region in
+the Northland whence the people emigrated. He called a convention of all
+the most noble men in the land, and there it was decided that, in order
+to put an end to the famine, the fathers of families who had several
+sons should slay them all except the one they loved most. Thanks to a
+young man, by name Ditwin, who was himself included in this dreadful
+resolution, a new convention was called, and the above resolution was
+rescinded, and instead, it was decided to procure ships, and that all
+they who, according to the former resolution, were doomed to die, should
+seek new homes beyond the sea. Accompanied by their female friends, they
+embarked, and they had not sailed far before they were attacked by a
+violent storm, which carried them to a Danish harbour near a place,
+says the author, which is called Slesvik. Here they went ashore, and to
+put an end to all discussion in regard to a return to the old dear
+fatherland, they hewed their ships into pieces. Then they wandered
+through the country which lay before them, and, together with much other
+booty, they gathered 20,000 horses, so that a large number of the men
+were able to ride on horseback. The rest followed the riders on foot.
+Armed with weapons, they proceeded in this manner through the country
+ruled by the Danes, and they came to the river Alba (Elbe), which they
+crossed; after which they scattered themselves along the coast. This
+Swabian narrative, which seems to be copied from the Saxon, tells, like
+the latter, that the Thuringians were rulers in the land to which the
+immigrants came, and that bloody battles had to be fought before they
+got possession of it. Widukind's account attempts to give the Saxons a
+legal right, at least to the landing-place and the immediate vicinity.
+This legal right, he says, was acquired in the following manner: While
+the Saxons were still in their ships in the harbour, out of which the
+Thuringians were unable to drive them, it was resolved on both sides to
+open negotiations, and thus an understanding was reached, that the
+Saxons, on the condition that they abstained from plundering and murder,
+might remain and buy what they needed and sell whatever they could. Then
+it occurred that a Saxon man, richly adorned with gold and wearing a
+gold necklace, went ashore. There a Thuringian met him and asked him:
+"Why do you wear so much gold around your lean neck?" The youth
+answered that he was perishing from hunger, and was seeking a purchaser
+of his gold ornaments. "How much do you ask?" inquired the Thuringian.
+"What do you bid?" answered the Saxon. Near by was a large sand-hill,
+and the Thuringian said in derision: "I will give you as much sand as
+you can carry in your clothes." The Saxon said he would accept this
+offer. The Thuringian filled the skirts of his frock with sand; the
+Saxon gave him his gold ornaments and returned to the ships. The
+Thuringians laughed at this bargain with contempt, and the Saxons found
+it foolish; but the youth said: "Go with me, brave Saxons, and I will
+show you that my foolishness will be your advantage." Then he took the
+sand he had bought and scattered it as widely as possible over the
+ground, covering in this manner so large an area that it gave the Saxons
+a fortified camp. The Thuringians sent messengers and complained of
+this, but the Saxons answered that hitherto they had faithfully observed
+the treaty, and that they had not taken more territory than they had
+purchased with their gold. Thus the Saxons got a firm foothold in the
+land.
+
+Thus we find that the sagas of the Saxons and the Swabians agree with
+those of the Longobardians in this, that their ancestors were supposed
+to have come from a northern country beyond the Baltic. The Swabian
+version identifies this country distinctly enough with the Scandinavian
+peninsula. Of an immigration from the East the traditions of these
+tribes have not a word to say.
+
+
+                               17.
+
+                  THE FRANKISH MIGRATION SAGA.
+
+We have already stated that the Frankish chronicles, unlike those of the
+other Teutonic tribes, wholly ignore the traditions of the Franks, and
+instead present the scholastic doctrine concerning the descent of the
+Franks from Troy and the Moeotian marshes. But I did not mean to say
+that we are wholly without evidence that another theory existed among
+the Franks, for they, too, had traditions in harmony with those of the
+other Teutonic tribes. There lived in the time of Charlemagne and after
+him a Frankish man whose name is written on the pages of history as a
+person of noble character and as a great educator in his day, the abbot
+in Fulda, later archbishop in Mayence, Hrabanus Maurus, a scholar of the
+distinguished Alcuin, the founder of the first library and of the first
+large convent school in Germany. The fact that he was particularly a
+theologian and Latinist did not prevent his honouring and loving the
+tongue of his fathers and of his race. He encouraged its study and use,
+and he succeeded in bringing about that sermons were preached in the
+churches in the Teutonic dialect of the church-goers. That a Latin
+scholar with so wide a horizon as his also was able to comprehend what
+the majority of his colleagues failed to understand--viz., that some
+value should be attached to the customs of the fathers and to the old
+memories from heathen times--should not surprise us. One of the proofs
+of his interest in this matter he has given us in his treatise _De
+invocatione linguarum_, in which he has recorded a Runic alphabet,
+and added the information that it is the alphabet used by the Northmen
+and by other heathen tribes, and that songs and formulas for healing,
+incantation, and prophecy are written with these characters. When
+Hrabanus speaks of the Northmen, he adds that those who speak the German
+tongue trace their descent from the Northmen. This statement cannot be
+harmonised with the hypothesis concerning the Asiatic descent of the
+Franks and other Teutons, except by assuming that the Teutons on their
+immigration from Asia to Europe took a route so far to the north that
+they reached the Scandinavian peninsula and Denmark without touching
+Germany and Central Europe, and then came from the North to Germany. But
+of such a view there is not a trace to be found in the middle age
+chronicles. The Frankish chronicles make the Franks proceed from
+Pannonia straight to the Rhine. The Icelandic imitations of the
+hypothesis make Odin and his people proceed from Tanais to Saxland, and
+found kingdoms there before he comes to Denmark and Sweden. Hrabanus has
+certainly not heard of any such theory. His statement that all the
+Teutons came from the North rests on the same foundation as the native
+traditions which produced the sagas in regard to the descent of the
+Longobardians, Saxons, and Swabians from the North. There still remains
+one trace of the Frankish migration saga, and that is the statement of
+Paulus Diaconus, made above, concerning the supposed identity of the
+name Ansgisel with the name Anchises. The identification is not made by
+Paulus himself, but was found in the Frankish source which furnished
+him with what he tells about the ancestors of Charlemagne, and the
+Frankish source, under the influence of the hypothesis regarding the
+Trojan descent of the Franks, has made an emigration leader mentioned in
+the popular traditions identical with the Trojan Anchises. This is
+corroborated by the Ravenna geographer, who also informs us that a
+certain Anschis, Ansgisel, was a Teutonic emigration leader, and that he
+was the one under whose leadership the Saxon tribes left their old
+homes. Thus it appears that, according to the Frankish saga, the Franks
+originally emigrated under the same chief as the Saxons. The character
+and position of Ansgisel in the heathen myth will be explained in No.
+123.
+
+
+                                18.
+
+         JORDANES ON THE EMIGRATION OF THE GOTHS, GEPIDAE,
+             AND HERULIANS. THE MIGRATION SAGA OF THE
+          BURGUNDIANS. TRACES OF AN ALAMANNIC MIGRATION
+                               SAGA.
+
+
+The most populous and mighty of all the Teutonic tribes was during a
+long period the _Gothic_, which carried victorious weapons over all
+eastern and southern Europe and Asia Minor, and founded kingdoms between
+the Don in the East and the Atlantic ocean and the Pillars of Hercules
+in the West and South. The traditions of the Goths also referred the
+cradle of the race to Scandinavia. Jordanes, a Romanised Goth, wrote in
+the sixth century the history of his people. In the North, he says,
+there is a great ocean, and in this ocean there is a large island called
+Scandza, out of whose loins our race burst forth like a swarm of bees
+and spread over Europe. In its capacity as cradle of the Gothic race,
+and of other Teutonic tribes, this island Scandza is clearly of great
+interest to Jordanes, the more so since he, through his father Vamod or
+Alano-Vamut, regarded himself as descended from the same royal family as
+that from which the Amalians, the famous royal family of the East Goths,
+traced their ancestry. On this account Jordanes gives as complete a
+description of this island as possible. He first tells what the Greek
+and Roman authors Claudius Ptolemy and Pomponius Mela have written about
+it, but he also reports a great many things which never before were
+known in literature, unless they were found in the lost _Historia
+Gothorum_ by Cassiodorus--things which either Jordanes himself or
+Cassiodorus had learned from Northmen who were members of the large
+Teutonic armies then in Italy. Jordanes also points out, with an air of
+superiority, that while the geographer Ptolemy did not know more than
+seven nations living on the island Scandza, he is able to enumerate many
+more. Unfortunately several of the Scandinavian tribe-names given by him
+are so corrupted by the transcriber that it is useless to try to restore
+them. It is also evident that Jordanes himself has had a confused notion
+of the proper geographical or political application of the names. Some
+of them, however, are easily recognisable as the names of tribes in
+various parts of Sweden and Norway, as, for instance, Vagoth,
+Ostrogothae, Finnaithae (inhabitants of Finved), Bergio, Hallin,
+Raumaricii, Ragnaricii, Rani. He gives us special accounts of a
+Scandinavian people, which he calls sometimes Svehans and sometimes
+Svethidi, and with these words there is every reason to believe that he
+means the Swedes in the wider or more limited application of this term.
+This is what he tells about the Svehans or Svethidi: The Svehans are in
+connection with the Thuringians living on the continent, that Teutonic
+people which is particularly celebrated for their excellent horses. The
+Svehans are excellent hunters, who kill the animals whose skins through
+countless hands are sent to the Romans, and are treasured by them as the
+finest of furs. This trade cannot have made the Svehans rich. Jordanes
+gives us to understand that their economical circumstances were not
+brilliant, but all the more brilliant were their clothes. He says they
+dressed _ditissime_. Finally, he has been informed that the Svethidi are
+superior to other races in stature and corporal strength, and that the
+Danes are a branch of the Svethidi. What Jordanes relates about the
+excellent horses of the Swedes is corroborated by the traditions which
+the Icelanders have preserved. The fact that so many tribes inhabited
+the island Scandza strengthens his conviction that this island is the
+cradle of many of the peoples who made war on and invaded the Roman
+Empire. The island Scandza, he says, has been _officina gentium_,
+_vagina nationum_--the source of races, the mother of nations. And
+thence--he continues, relying on the traditions and songs of his own
+people--the Goths, too, have emigrated. This emigration occurred under
+the leadership of a chief named Berig, and he thinks he knows where
+they landed when they left their ships, and that they, like the
+Longobardians, on their progress came in conflict with the Vandals
+before they reached the regions north of the Black Sea, where they
+afterwards founded the great Gothic kingdom which flourished when the
+Huns invaded Europe.
+
+The saga current among the Goths, that they had emigrated from
+Scandinavia, ascribed the same origin to the Gepidae. The Gepidae were a
+brave but rather sluggish Teutonic tribe, who shared the fate of the
+Goths when the Huns invaded Europe, and, like the Goths, they cast off
+the Hunnish yoke after the death of Attila. The saga, as Jordanes found
+it, stated that when the ancestors of the Goths left Scandza, the whole
+number of the emigrants did not fill more than three ships. Two of them
+came to their destination at the same time; but the third required more
+time, and therefore the first-comers called those who arrived last
+Gepanta (possibly Gepaita), which, according to Jordanes, means those
+tarrying, or the slow ones, and this name changed in course of time into
+Gepidae. That the interpretation is taken from Gothic traditions is
+self-evident.
+
+Jordanes has heard a report that even the warlike Teutonic Herulians had
+come to Germany from Scandinavia. According to the report, the Herulians
+had not emigrated voluntarily from the large islands, but had been
+driven away by the Svethidi, or by their descendants, the Danes. That
+the Herulians themselves had a tradition concerning their Scandinavian
+origin is corroborated by history. In the beginning of the sixth
+century, it happened that this people, after an unsuccessful war with
+the Longobardians, were divided into two branches, of which the one
+received land from the emperor Anastasius south of the Danube, while the
+other made a resolve, which has appeared strange to all historians,
+viz., to seek a home on the Scandinavian peninsula. The circumstances
+attending this resolution make it still more strange. When they had
+passed the Slavs, they came to uninhabited regions--uninhabited,
+probably, because they had been abandoned by the Teutons, and had not
+yet been occupied by the Slavs. In either case, they were open to the
+occupation of the Herulians; but they did not settle there. We
+misunderstand their character if we suppose that they failed to do so
+from fear of being disturbed in their possession of them. Among all the
+Teutonic tribes none were more distinguished than the Herulians for
+their indomitable desire for war, and for their rash plans. Their
+conduct furnishes evidence of that thoughtlessness with which the
+historian has characterised them. After penetrating the wilderness, they
+came to the landmarks of the Varinians, and then to those of the Danes.
+These granted the Herulians a free passage, whereupon the adventurers,
+in ships which the Danes must have placed at their disposal, sailed over
+the sea to the island "Thule," and remained there. Procopius, the East
+Roman historian who records this (_De Bello Goth._, ii., 15), says that
+on the immense island Thule, in whose northern part the midnight sun can
+be seen, thirteen large tribes occupy its inhabitable parts, each tribe
+having its own king. Excepting the Skee Finns, who clothe themselves in
+skins and live from the chase, these Thulitic tribes, he says, are
+scarcely to be distinguished from the people dwelling farther south in
+Europe. One of the largest tribes is the Gauts (the Goetar). The
+Herulians went to the Gauts and were received by them.
+
+Some decades later it came to pass that the Herulians remaining in South
+Europe, and dwelling in Illyria, were in want of a king. They resolved
+to send messengers to their kinsmen who had settled in Scandinavia,
+hoping that some descendant of their old royal family might be found
+there who was willing to assume the dignity of king among them. The
+messengers returned with two brothers who belonged to the ancient family
+of rulers, and these were escorted by 200 young Scandinavian Herulians.
+
+As Jordanes tells us that the Herulians actually were descended from the
+great northern island, then this seems to me to explain this remarkable
+resolution. They were seeking new homes in that land which in their old
+songs was described as having belonged to their fathers. In their
+opinion, it was a return to the country which contained the ashes of
+their ancestors. According to an old middle age source, _Vita
+Sigismundi_, the Burgundians also had old traditions about a
+Scandinavian origin. As will be shown further on, the Burgundian saga
+was connected with the same emigration chief as that of the Saxons and
+Franks (see No. 123).
+
+Reminiscences of an Alamannic migration saga can be traced in the
+traditions found around the Vierwaldstaedter Lake. The inhabitants of
+the Canton Schwitz have believed that they originally came from Sweden.
+It is fair to assume that this tradition in the form given to it in
+literature has suffered a change, and that the chroniclers, on account
+of the similarity between Sweden and Schwitz, have transferred the home
+of the Alamannic Switzians to Sweden, while the original popular
+tradition has, like the other Teutonic migration sagas, been satisfied
+with the more vague idea that the Schwitzians came from the country in
+the sea north of Germany when they settled in their Alpine valleys. In
+the same regions of Switzerland popular traditions have preserved the
+memory of an exploit which belongs to the Teutonic mythology, and is
+there performed by the great archer Ibor (see No. 108), and as he
+reappears in the Longobardian tradition as a migration chief, the
+possibility lies near at hand, that he originally was no stranger to the
+Alamannic migration saga.
+
+
+                                19.
+
+          THE TEUTONIC EMIGRATION SAGA FOUND IN TACITUS.
+
+
+The migration sagas which I have now examined are the only ones
+preserved to our time on Teutonic ground. They have come down to us from
+the traditions of various tribes. They embrace the East Goths, West
+Goths, Longobardians, Gepidae, Burgundians, Herulians, Franks, Saxons,
+Swabians, and Alamannians. And if we add to these the evidence of
+Hrabanus Maurus, then all the German tribes are embraced in the
+traditions. All the evidences are unanimous in pointing to the North as
+the Teutonic cradle. To these testimonies we must, finally, add the
+oldest of all--the testimony of the sources of Tacitus from the time of
+the birth of Christ and the first century of our era.
+
+[Illustration: THOR, THE THUNDER GOD. (_From the painting by M. E.
+Winge._)
+
+Thor was reputed to be the son of Odin, surnamed the All-father, and
+Jorth, the earth. He was the source of wisdom, patron of culture and of
+heroes, friend of mankind and slayer of giants. He always carried a
+heavy hammer, called The Crusher, with which he fought, assisted by
+thunder and lightning. From Thor is derived the middle English words
+Thursday (Thorsday) and Thunder.]
+
+The statements made by Tacitus in his masterly work concerning the
+various tribes of Germany and their religion, traditions, laws, customs,
+and character, are gathered from men who, in Germany itself, had seen
+and heard what they reported. Of this every page of the work bears
+evidence, and it also proves its author to have been a man of keen
+observation, veracity, and wide knowledge. The knowledge of his
+reporters extends to the myths and heroic songs of the Teutons. The
+latter is the characteristic means with which a gifted people, still
+leading their primitive life, makes compensation for their lack of
+written history in regard to the events and exploits of the past. We
+find that the man he interviewed had informed himself in regard to the
+contents of the songs which described the first beginning and the most
+ancient adventures of the race, and he had done this with sufficient
+accuracy to discover a certain disagreement in the genealogies found in
+these songs of the patriarchs and tribe heroes of the Teutons--a
+disagreement which we shall consider later on. But the man who had done
+this had heard nothing which could bring him, and after him Tacitus, to
+believe that the Teutons had immigrated from some remote part of the
+world to that country which they occupied immediately before the birth
+of Christ--to that Germany which Tacitus describes, and in which he
+embraces that large island in the North Sea where the seafaring and
+warlike Sviones dwelt. Quite the contrary. In his sources of information
+Tacitus found nothing to hinder him from assuming as probable the view
+he expresses--that the Teutons were aborigines, autochthones, fostered
+on the soil which was their fatherland. He expresses his surprise at the
+typical similarity prevailing among all the tribes of this populous
+people, and at the dissimilarity existing between them on the one hand,
+and the non-Teutonic peoples on the other; and he draws the conclusion
+that they are entirely unmixed with other races, which, again,
+presupposes that the Teutons from the most ancient times have possessed
+their country for themselves, and that no foreign element has been able
+to get a foothold there. He remarks that there could scarcely have been
+any immigrations from that part of Asia which was known to him, or from
+Africa or Italy, since the nature of Germany was not suited to invite
+people from richer and more beautiful regions. But while Tacitus thus
+doubts that non-Teutonic races ever settled in Germany, still he has
+heard that people who desired to exchange their old homes for new ones
+have come there to live. But these settlements did not, in his opinion,
+result in a mixing of the race. Those early immigrants did not come by
+land, but in fleets over the sea; and as this sea was the boundless
+ocean which lies beyond the Teutonic continent and was seldom visited by
+people living in the countries embraced in the Roman empire, those
+immigrants must themselves have been Teutons. The words of Tacitus are
+_(Germ., 2): Germanos indigenas crediderim minimeque aliarum
+gentium adventibus et hospitiis mixtos, quia nec terra olim sed
+classibus advehebantur qui mutare sedes quaerebant, et immensus ultra
+atque ut sic dixerim adversus Oceanus raris ab orbe nostro navibus
+aditur._ "I should think that the Teutons themselves are aborigines (and
+not at all mixed through immigrations or connection with non-Teutonic
+tribes). For those desiring to change homes did not in early times come
+by land, but in ships across the boundless and, so to speak, hostile
+ocean--a sea seldom visited by ships from the Roman world." This passage
+is to be compared with, and is interpreted by, what Tacitus tells when
+he, for the second time, speaks of this same ocean in chapter 44, where
+he relates that in the very midst of this ocean lies a land inhabited by
+Teutonic tribes, rich not only in men and arms, but also in _fleets_
+(_praeter viros armaque classibus valent_), and having a stronger and
+better organization than the other Teutons. These people formed several
+communities (_civitates_). He calls them the Sviones, and describes
+their ships. The conclusion to be drawn from his words is, in short,
+that those immigrants were Northmen belonging to the same race as the
+continental Teutons. Thus traditions concerning immigrations from the
+North to Germany have been current among the continental Teutons already
+in the first century after Christ.
+
+But Tacitus' contribution to the Teutonic migration saga is not limited
+to this. In regard to the origin of a city then already ancient and
+situated on the Rhine, Asciburgium (_Germ._, 3), his reporter had heard
+that it was founded by an ancient hero who had come with his ships from
+the German Ocean, and had sailed up the Rhine a great distance beyond
+the Delta, and had then disembarked and laid the foundations of
+Asciburgium. His reporter had also heard such stories about this ancient
+Teutonic hero that persons acquainted with the Greek-Roman traditions
+(the Romans or the Gallic neighbours of Asciburgium) had formed the
+opinion that the hero in question could be none else than the Greek
+Ulysses, who, in his extensive wanderings, had drifted into the German
+Ocean and thence sailed up the Rhine. In weighing this account of
+Tacitus we must put aside the Roman-Gallic conjecture concerning
+Ulysses' visit to the Rhine, and confine our attention to the fact on
+which this conjecture is based. The fact is that around Asciburgium a
+tradition was current concerning an ancient hero who was said to have
+come across the northern ocean with a host of immigrants and founded the
+above-named city on the Rhine, and that the songs or traditions in
+regard to this ancient hero were of such a character that they who knew
+the adventures of Ulysses thought they had good reason for regarding him
+as identical with the latter. Now, the fact is that the Teutonic
+mythology has a hero who to quote the words of an ancient Teutonic
+document, "was the greatest of all travellers," and who on his journeys
+met with adventures which in some respects remind us of Ulysses'. Both
+descended to Hades; both travelled far and wide to find their beloved.
+Of this mythic hero and his adventures see Nos. 96-107, and No. 107
+about Asciburgium in particular.
+
+It lies outside the limits of the present work to investigate whether
+these traditions contain any historical facts. There is need of caution
+in this respect, since facts of history are, as a rule, short-lived
+among a people that do not keep written annals. The historical songs and
+traditions of the past which the Scandinavians recorded in the twelfth
+century do not go further back in time than to the middle of the ninth
+century, and the oldest were already mixed with stories of the
+imagination. The Hellenic historical records from a pre-literary time
+were no older; nor were those of the Romans. The question how far
+historically important emigrations from the Scandinavian peninsula and
+Denmark to Germany have taken place should in my opinion be considered
+entirely independent of the old migration traditions if it is to be
+based on a solid foundation. If it can be answered in the affirmative,
+then those immigrations must have been partial returns of an Aryan race
+which, prior to all records, have spread from the South to the
+Scandinavian countries. But the migration traditions themselves clearly
+have their firmest root in myths, and not in historical memories; and at
+all events are so closely united with the myths, and have been so
+transformed by song and fancy, that they have become useless for
+historical purposes. The fact that the sagas preserved to our time make
+nearly all the most important and most numerous Teutonic tribes which
+played a part in the destiny of Southern Europe during the Empire
+emigrants from Scandinavia is calculated to awaken suspicion.
+
+The wide diffusion this belief has had among the Teutons is sufficiently
+explained by their common mythology--particularly by the myth
+concerning the earliest age of man or of the Teutonic race. As this work
+of mine advances, I shall find opportunity of presenting the results of
+my investigations in regard to this myth. The fragments of it must, so
+to speak, be exhumed from various mounds, and the proofs that these
+fragments belong together, and once formed a unit, can only be presented
+as the investigation progresses. In the division "The Myth concerning
+the Earliest Period and the Emigrations from the North," I give the
+preparatory explanation and the general _resume_ (Nos. 20-43). For the
+points which cannot there be demonstrated without too long digressions
+the proofs will be presented in the division "The Myth concerning the
+Race of Ivalde" (Nos. 96-123).
+
+
+
+
+                                 III.
+
+                 THE MYTH CONCERNING THE EARLIEST
+                 PERIOD AND THE EMIGRATIONS
+                 FROM THE NORTH.
+
+
+                                 20.
+
+             THE CREATION OF MAN. THE PRIMEVAL COUNTRY.
+                    SCEF THE BRINGER OF CULTURE.
+
+
+The human race, or at least the Teutonic race, springs, according to the
+myth, from a single pair, and _has accordingly had a centre from which
+their descendants have spread over that world which was embraced by the
+Teutonic horizon_. The story of the creation of this pair has its root
+in a myth of ancient Aryan origin, according to which the first parents
+were plants before they became human beings. The Iranian version of the
+story is preserved in Bundehesh, chap. 15. There it is stated that the
+first human pair grew at the time of the autumnal equinox in the form of
+a _rheum ribes_ with a single stalk. After the lapse of fifteen years
+the bush had put forth fifteen leaves. The man and woman who developed
+in and with it were closely united, forming one body, so that it could
+not be seen which one was the man and which one was the woman, and they
+held their hands close to their ears. Nothing revealed whether the
+splendour of Ahuramazda--that is to say, the soul--was yet in them or
+not. Then said Ahuramazda to Mashia (the man) and to Mashiana (the
+woman): "Be human beings; become the parents of the world!" And from
+being plants they got the form of human beings, and Ahuramazda urged
+them to think good thoughts, speak good words and do good deeds. Still,
+they soon thought an evil thought and became sinners. The _rheum ribes_
+from which they sprang had its own origin in seed from a primeval being
+in human form, Gaya Maretan (Gayo-mert), which was created from
+perspiration (cp. Vafthrudnersmal, xxxiii. 1-4), but was slain by the
+evil Angra Mainyu. Bundehesh then gives an account of the first
+generations following Mashia and Mashiana, and explains how they spread
+over the earth and became the first parents of the human race.
+
+The Hellenic Aryans have known the myth concerning the origin of man
+from plants. According to Hesiodus, the men of the third age of the
+world grew from the ash tree (_ek meleon_); compare the _Odyssey_, xix,
+163.
+
+From this same tree came the first man according to the Teutonic myth.
+Three asas, mighty and worthy of worship, came to Midgard (at _husi_,
+Voelusp., 16; compare Voelusp., 4, where Midgard is referred to by the
+word _salr_) and found _a landi_ Ask and Embla. These beings were then
+"of little might" (_litt megandi_) and "without destiny"
+(_oerloegslausir_); they lacked _oend_, they lacked _odr_, they had no _la
+or laeti or litr goda_, but Odin gave them _oend_, Honor gave them _odr_,
+Loder gave them _la_ and _litr goda_. In reference to the meaning of
+these words I refer my readers to No. 95, simply noting here that _litr
+goda_, hitherto defined as "good colour" (_godr litr_), signifies "the
+appearance (image) of gods." From looking like trees Ask and Embla got
+the appearance which before them none but the gods had assumed. The
+Teutons, like the Greeks and Romans, conceived the gods in the image of
+men.
+
+Odin's words in Havamal, 43, refer to the same myth.
+
+The passage explains that when the Asa-god saw the modesty of the
+new-made human pair he gave them his own divine garments to cover them.
+When they found themselves so beautifully adorned it seems to indicate
+the awakening sense of pride in the first human pair. The words are: "In
+the field (_velli at_) I gave my clothes to the two wooden men (_tveim
+tremoennum_). Heroes they seemed to themselves when they got clothes. The
+naked man is embarrassed."
+
+But the expressions _a landi_ and _velli at_ should be observed. That
+the trees grew on the ground, and that the acts of creating and clothing
+took place there is so self-evident that these words would be
+meaningless if they were not called for by the fact that the authors of
+these passages in Havamal and Voeluspa had in their minds the ground
+_along the sea_, that is, a sea-beach. This is also clear from a
+tradition given in Gylfaginning, chapter 9, according to which the three
+asas were walking along the sea-beach (_med saevarstroendu_) when they
+found Ask and Embla, and created of them the first human pair.
+
+Thus the first human pair were created on the beach of an ocean. To
+which sea can the myth refer? The question does not concern the ancient
+Aryan time, but the Teutonic antiquity, not Asia, but Europe; and if we
+furthermore limit it to the Christian era there can be but one answer.
+Germany was bounded in the days of Tacitus, and long before his time, by
+Gaul, Rhoetia, and Pannonia on the west and south, by the extensive
+territories of the Sarmatians and Dacians on the east, and by the ocean
+on the north. The so-called German Ocean, the North Sea and the Baltic,
+was then the only body of water within the horizon of the Teutons, the
+only one which in the days of Jordanes, after the Goths long had ruled
+north of the Black Sea, was thought to wash the primeval Teutonic
+strands. The myth must therefore refer to the German Ocean. It is
+certain that the borders of this ocean where the myth has located the
+creation of the first human pair, or the first Teutonic pair, was
+regarded as the centre from which their descendants spread over more and
+more territory. Where near the North Sea or the Baltic was this centre
+located?
+
+Even this question can be answered, thanks to the mythic fragments
+preserved. A feature common to all well-developed mythological systems
+is the view that the human race in its infancy was under the special
+protection of friendly divinities, and received from them the doctrines,
+arts, and trades without which all culture is impossible. The same view
+is strongly developed among the Teutons. Anglo-Saxon documents have
+rescued the story telling how Ask's and Embla's descendants received the
+first blessings of culture from the benign gods. The story has come to
+us through Christian hands, which, however, have allowed enough of the
+original to remain to show that its main purpose was to tell us how the
+great gifts of culture came to the human race. The saga names the land
+where this took place. The country was the most southern part of the
+Scandinavian peninsula, and especially the part of it bordering on the
+western sea. Had these statements come to us only from northern sources,
+there would be good reason for doubting their originality and general
+application to the Teutonic tribes. The Icelandic-Norwegian middle-age
+literature abounds in evidence of a disposition to locate the events of
+a myth and the exploits of mythic persons in the author's own land and
+town. But in this instance there is no room for the suspicion that
+patriotism has given to the southern-most part of the Scandinavian
+peninsula a so conspicuous prominence in the earliest history of the
+myth. The chief evidence is found in the traditions of the Saxons in
+England, and this gives us the best clue to the unanimity with which the
+sagas of the Teutonic continent, from a time prior to the birth of
+Christ far down in the middle ages, point out the great peninsula in the
+northern sea as the land of the oldest ancestors, in conflict with the
+scholastic opinion in regard to an emigration from Troy. The region
+where the myth located the first dawn of human culture was certainly
+also the place which was regarded as the cradle and centre of the race.
+
+The non-Scandinavian sources in question are: Beowulf's poem,
+Ethelwerdus, Willielmus Malmesburiensis, Simeon Dunelmensis, and
+Matthaeus Monasteriensis. A closer examination of them reveals the fact
+that they have their information from three different sources, which
+again have a common origin in a heathen myth. If we bring together what
+they have preserved of the story we get the following result:[8]
+
+One day it came to pass that a ship was seen sailing near the coast of
+Scedeland or Scani,[9] and it approached the land without being
+propelled either by oars or sails. The ship came to the sea-beach, and
+there was seen lying in it a little boy, who was sleeping with his head
+on a sheaf of grain, surrounded by treasures and tools, by glaives and
+coats of mail. The boat itself was steady and beautifully decorated. Who
+he was and whence he came nobody had any idea, but the little boy was
+received as if he had been a kinsman, and he received the most constant
+and tender care. As he came with a sheaf of grain to their country the
+people called him Scef, Sceaf.[10] (The Beowulf poem calls him Scyld,
+son of Sceaf, and gives Scyld the son Beowulf, which originally was
+another name of Scyld.) Scef grew up among this people, became their
+benefactor and king, and ruled most honourably for many years. He died
+far advanced in age. In accordance with his own directions, his body was
+borne down to the strand where he had landed as a child. There in a
+little harbour lay the same boat in which he had come. Glittering from
+hoar-frost and ice, and eager to return to the sea, the boat was waiting
+to receive the dead king, and around him the grateful and sorrowing
+people laid no fewer treasures than those with which Scef had come. And
+when all was finished the boat went out upon the sea, and no one knows
+where it landed. He left a son Scyld (according to the Beowulf poem,
+Beowulf son of Scyld), who ruled after him. Grandson of the boy who came
+with the sheaf was Healfdene--Halfdan, king of the Danes (that is,
+according to the Beowulf poem).
+
+The myth gives the oldest Teutonic patriarchs a very long life, in the
+same manner as the Bible in the case of Adam and his descendants. They
+lived for centuries (see below). The story could therefore make the
+culture introduced by Scef spread far and wide during his own reign, and
+it could make his realm increase with the culture. According to
+scattered statements traceable to the Scef-saga, Denmark, Angeln, and at
+least the northern part of Saxland, have been populated by people who
+obeyed his sceptre. In the North Goetaland and Svealand were subject to
+him.
+
+The proof of this, so far as Denmark is concerned, is that, according to
+the Beowulf poem, its first royal family was descended from Scef through
+his son Scyld (Skjold). In accordance herewith, Danish and Icelandic
+genealogies make Skjold the progenitor of the first dynasty in Denmark,
+and also make him the ruler of the land to which his father came, that
+is, Skane. His origin as a divinely-born patriarch, as a hero receiving
+divine worship, and as the ruler of the original Teutonic country,
+appears also in _Fornmannasoegur_, v. 239, where he is styled _Skaninga
+god_, the god of the Scanians.
+
+Matthaeus Westmonast. informs us that Scef ruled in Angeln.
+
+According to the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, the dynasty of Wessex came from
+Saxland, and its progenitor was Scef.
+
+If we examine the northern sources we discover that the Scef myth still
+may be found in passages which have been unnoticed, and that the tribes
+of the far North saw in the boy who came with the sheaf and the tools
+the divine progenitor of their celebrated dynasty in Upsala. This can be
+found in spite of the younger saga-geological layer which the hypothesis
+of Odin's and his Trojan Asas' immigration has spread over it since the
+introduction of Christianity. Scef's personality comes to the surface,
+we shall see, as Skefill and Skelfir.
+
+In the Fornalder-sagas, ii. 9, and in Flateyarbok, i. 24, Skelfir is
+mentioned as family patriarch and as Skjold's father, the progenitor of
+the Skjoldungs. There can, therefore, be no doubt that Scef, Scyld's
+father, and through him the progenitor of the Skjoldungs, originally is
+the same as Skelfir, Skjold's father, and progenitor of the Skjoldungs
+in these Icelandic works.
+
+But he is not only the progenitor of the Skjoldungs, but also of the
+Ynglings. The genealogy beginning with him is called in the
+Flateryarbok, _Skilfinga aett edr skjoldunga aett_. The Younger Edda also
+(i. 522) knows Skelfir, and says he was a famous king whose genealogy
+_er koellut skilvinga aett_. Now the Skilfing race in the oldest sources
+is precisely the same as the Yngling race both from an Anglo-Saxon and
+from a heathen Norse standpoint. The Beowulf poem calls the Swedish
+kings _scilfingas_, and according to Thjodulf, a kinsman of the Ynglings
+and a kinsman of the Skilfing, _Skilfinga nidr_, are identical
+(Ynglingatal, 30). Even the Younger Edda seems to be aware of this. It
+says in the passage quoted above that the Skilfing race _er i
+Austrvegum_. In the Thjodulf strophes _Austrvegar_ means simply
+Svealand, and _Austrkonungur_ means Swedish king.
+
+Thus it follows that the Scef who is identical with Skelfir was in the
+heathen saga of the North the common progenitor of the Ynglinga and of
+the Skjoldunga race. From his dignity as original patriarch of the royal
+families of Sweden, Denmark, Angeln, Saxland, and England, he was
+displaced by the scholastic fiction of the middle ages concerning the
+immigration of Trojan Asiatics under the leadership of Odin, who as the
+leader of the immigration also had to be the progenitor of the most
+distinguished families of the immigrants. This view seems first to have
+been established in England after this country had been converted to
+Christianity and conquered by the Trojan immigration hypothesis. Wodan
+is there placed at the head of the royal genealogies of the chronicles,
+excepting in Wessex, where Scef is allowed to retain his old position,
+and where Odin must content himself with a secondary place in the
+genealogy. But in the Beowulf poem Scef still retains his dignity as
+ancient patriarch of the kings of Denmark.
+
+From England this same distortion of the myth comes to the North in
+connection with the hypothesis concerning the immigration of the
+"Asiamen," and is there finally accepted in the most unconcerned manner,
+without the least regard to the mythic records which were still well
+known. Skjold, Scef's son, is without any hesitation changed into a son
+of Odin (Ynglingasaga, 5; Foreword to Gylfag., 11). Yngve, who as the
+progenitor of the Ynglings is identical with Scef, and whose very name,
+perhaps, is or has been conceived as an epithet indicating Scef's tender
+age when he came to the coast of Scandia--Yngve-Scef is confounded with
+Frey, is styled Yngve-Frey after the appellation of the Vana-god Ingunar
+Frey, and he, too, is called a son of Odin (Foreword to Gylfag., c. 13),
+although Frey in the myth is a son of Njord and belongs to another race
+of gods than Odin. The epithet with which Are Frode in his _Schedae_
+characterises Yngve, viz., _Tyrkiakonungr_, Trojan king, proves that the
+lad who came with the sheaf of grain to Skane is already in Are changed
+into a Trojan.
+
+[Footnote 8: Geijer has partly indicated its significance in _Svea Rikes
+Haefder_, where he says: "The tradition anent Sceaf is remarkable, as it
+evidently has reference to the introduction of agriculture, and shows
+that it was first introduced in the most southern part of Scandinavia."]
+
+[Footnote 9: The Beowulf poem has the name Scedeland (Scandia): compare
+the name Skadan in _De origine Longobardorum_. Ethelwerd writes: "Ipse
+Skef cum uno dromone advectus est in insulam Oceani, quae dicitur Scani,
+armis circumdatus," &c.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Matthaeus Westmonast. translates this name with _frumenti
+manipulus_, a sheaf.]
+
+
+                              21.
+
+     SCEF THE AUTHOR OF CULTURE IDENTICAL WITH HEIMDAL-RIG,
+                  THE ORIGINAL PATRIARCH.
+
+
+But in one respect Are Frode or his authority has paid attention to the
+genuine mythic tradition, and that is by making the Vana-gods the
+kinsmen of the descendants of Yngve. This is correct in the sense that
+Scef-Yngve, the son of a deity transformed into a man, was in the myth a
+Vana-god. Accordingly every member of the Yngling race and every
+descendant of Scef may be styled a _son of Frey_ (_Freys attungr_),
+epithets applied by Thjodulf in Ynglingatal in regard to the Upsala
+kings. They are gifts from the Vana-gods--the implements which point to
+the opulent Njord, and the grain sheaf which is Frey's symbol--which
+Scef-Yngve brings with him to the ancient people of Scandia, and his
+rule is peaceful and rich in blessings.
+
+Scef-Yngve comes across the ocean. Vanaheim was thought to be situated
+on the other side of it, in the same direction as AEgir's palace in the
+great western ocean and in the outermost domain of Jormumgrund (see 93).
+This is indicated in Lokasenna, 34, where Loke in AEgir's hall says to
+the Van Njord: "You were sent from here to the East as a hostage to the
+gods (_thu vart austr hedan gisl um sendr at godum_)". Thus Njord's
+castle Noatun is situated in the West, on a strand outside of which the
+swans sing (Gylfag., 23). In the faded memory of Scef, preserved in the
+saga of the Lower Rhine and of the Netherlands, there comes to a
+poverty-stricken people a boat in which there lies a sleeping youth. The
+boat is, like Scef's, without sails or oars, but is drawn over the
+billows by a swan. From Gylfaginning, 16, we learn that there are myths
+telling of the origin of the swans. They are all descended from that
+pair of swans which swim in the sacred waters of Urd's fountain. Thus
+the descendants of these swans that sing outside of the Vanapalace
+Noatun and their arrival to the shores of Midgard seems to have some
+connection with the coming of the Van Scef and of culture.
+
+The Vans most prominent in the myths are Njord, Frey, and Heimdal.
+Though an Asa-god by adoption, Heimdal is like Njord and Frey a Vana-god
+by birth and birthplace, and is accordingly called both _ass_ and _vanr_
+(Thrymskv., 15). Meanwhile these three divinities, definitely named
+Vans, are only a few out of many. The Vans have constituted a numerous
+clan, strong enough to wage a victorious war against the Asas (Voelusp.).
+Who among them was Scef-Yngve? The question can be answered as follows:
+
+(1) Of Heimdal, and of him alone among the gods, it is related that he
+lived for a time among men as a man, and that he performed that which is
+attributed to Scef--that is, organised and elevated human society and
+became the progenitor of sacred families in Midgard.
+
+(2) Rigsthula relates that the god Heimdal, having assumed the name Rig,
+begot with an earthly woman the son Jarl-Rig, who in turn became the
+father of Konr-Rig. Konr-Rig is, as the very name indicates and as
+Vigfusson already has pointed out, the first who bore the kingly name.
+In Rigsthula the Jarl begets the king, as in Ynglingasaga the judge
+(Domarr) begets the first king. Rig is, according to Ynglingasaga, ch.
+20, grandfather to Dan, who is a Skjoldung. Heimdal-Rig is thus the
+father of the progenitor of the Skjoldungs, and it is the story of the
+divine origin of the Skjoldungs Rigsthula gives us when it sings of
+Heimdal as Jarl's father and the first king's grandfather. But the
+progenitor of the Skjoldungs is, according to both Anglo-Saxon and the
+northern sources above quoted, Scef. Thus Heimdal and Scef are
+identical.
+
+These proofs are sufficient. More can be presented, and the identity
+will be established by the whole investigation.
+
+As a tender boy, Heimdal was sent by the Vans to the southern shores of
+Scandinavia with the gifts of culture. Hyndla's lay tells how these
+friendly powers prepared the child for its important mission, after it
+was born in the outermost borders of the earth (_vid jardar thraum_), in
+a wonderful manner, by nine sisters (Hyndla's Lay, 35; Heimdallar
+Galdr., in the Younger Edda; compare No. 82, where the ancient Aryan
+root of the myth concerning Heimdal's nine mothers is pointed out).
+
+For its mission the child had to be equipped with strength, endurance,
+and wisdom. It was given to drink _jardar magn svalkaldr saer_ and _Sonar
+dreyri_. It is necessary to compare these expressions with _Urdar magn_,
+_svalkaldr saer_ and _Sonar dreyri_ in Gudrunarkivda, ii. 21, a song
+written in Christian times, where this reminiscence of a triple
+heathen-mythic drink reappears as a potion of forgetfulness allaying
+sorrow. The expression _Sonar dreyri_ shows that the child had tasted
+liquids from the subterranean fountains which water Yggdrasil and
+sustain the spiritual and physical life of the universe (cp. Nos. 63 and
+93). _Son_ contains the mead of inspiration and wisdom. In Gylfaginning,
+which quotes a satire of late origin, this name is given to a jar in
+which Suttung preserves this valuable liquor, but to the heathen skalds
+_Son_ is the name of Mimer's fountain, which contains the highest
+spiritual gifts, and around whose rush-bordered edge the reeds of poetry
+grow (Eilif Gudrunson, Skaldskaparmal). The child Heimdal has,
+therefore, drunk from Mimer's fountain. _Jardar magn_ (the earth's
+strength) is in reality the same as _Urdar magn_, the strength of the
+water in Urd's fountain, which keeps the world-tree ever green and
+sustains the physical life of creation (Voelusp.). The third subterranean
+fountain is Hvergelmer, with hardening liquids. From Hvergelmer comes
+the river Sval, and the venom-cold Elivogs (Grimner's Lay,
+Gylfaginning). _Svalkaldar saer_, cool sea, is an appropriate designation
+of this fountain.
+
+When the child has been strengthened in this manner for its great
+mission, it is laid sleeping in the decorated ship, gets the grain-sheaf
+for its pillow, and numerous treasures are placed around it. It is
+certain that there were not only weapons and ornaments, but also
+workmen's tools among the treasures. It should be borne in mind that the
+gods made on the plains of Ida not only ornaments, but also tools
+(_tangir skopu ok tol goerdu_). Evidence is presented in No. 82 that
+Scef-Heimdal brought the fire-auger to primeval man who until that time
+had lived without the blessings produced by the sacred fire.
+
+The boy grows up among the inhabitants on the Scandian coast, and, when
+he has developed into manhood, human culture has germinated under his
+influence and the beginnings of classes in society with distinct
+callings appear. In Rigsthula, we find him journeying along "green
+paths, from house to house, in that land which his presence has
+blessed." Here he is called _Rigr_--it is true of him as of nearly all
+mythological persons, that he has several names--but the introduction
+to the poem informs us that the person so called is the god Heimdal
+(_einhverr af asum sa er Heimdallr het_). The country is here also
+described as situated near the sea. Heimdal journeys _framm med
+sjofarstroendu_. Culture is in complete operation. The people are
+settled, they spin and weave, perform handiwork, and are smiths, they
+plough and bake, and Heimdal has instructed them in runes. Different
+homes show different customs and various degrees of wealth, but
+happiness prevails everywhere. Heimdal visits Ai's and Edda's
+unpretentious home, is hospitably received, and remains three days. Nine
+months thereafter the son Trael (thrall) is born to this family. Heimdal
+then visits Ave's and Amma's well-kept and cleanly house, and nine
+months thereafter the son Karl (churl) is born in this household. Thence
+Rig betakes himself to _Fadir's_ and _Modir's_ elegant home. There is
+born, nine months later, the son Jarl. Thus the three Teutonic
+classes--the thralls, the freemen, and the nobility--have received their
+divine sanction from Heimdal-Rig, and all three have been honoured with
+divine birth.
+
+In the account of Rig's visit to the three different homes lies the
+mythic idea of a common fatherhood, an idea which must not be left out
+of sight when human heroes are described as sons of gods in the
+mythological and heroic sagas. They are sons of the gods and, at the
+same time, from a genealogical standpoint, men. Their pedigree, starting
+with Ask and Embla, is not interrupted by the intervention of the
+visiting god, nor is there developed by this intervention a half-divine,
+half-human middle class or bastard clan. The Teutonic patriarch Mannus
+is, according to Tacitus, the son of a god and the grandson of the
+goddess Earth. Nevertheless he is, as his name indicates, in the full
+physical sense of the word, a man, and besides his divine father he has
+had a human father. They are the descendants of Ask and Embla, men of
+all classes and conditions, whom Voeluspa's skald gathered around the
+seeress when she was to present to them a view of the world's
+development and commanded silence with the formula: "Give ear, all ye
+divine races, great and small, sons of Heimdal." The idea of a common
+fatherhood we find again in the question of _Fadir's_ grandson, as we
+shall show below. Through him the families of chiefs get the right of
+precedence before both the other classes. Thor becomes their progenitor.
+While all classes trace their descent from Heimdal, the nobility trace
+theirs also from Thor, and through him from Odin.
+
+Heimdal-Rig's and _Fadir's_ son, begotten with _Modir_, inherits in
+Rigsthula the name of the divine co-father, and is called Rig Jarl.
+Jarl's son, Kon, gets the same name after he has given proof of his
+knowledge in the runes introduced among the children of men by Heimdal,
+and has even shown himself superior to his father in this respect. This
+view that the younger generation surpasses the older points to the idea
+of a progress in culture among men, during a time when they live in
+peace and happiness protected by Heimdal's fostering care and sceptre,
+but must not be construed into the theory of a continued progress based
+on the law and nature of things, a theory alike strange to the Teutons
+and to the other peoples of antiquity. Heimdal-Rig's reign must be
+regarded as the happy ancient age, of which nearly all mythologies have
+dreamed. Already in the next age following, that is, that of the second
+patriarch, we read of men of violence who visit the peaceful, and under
+the third patriarch begins the "knife-age, and axe-age with cloven
+shields," which continues through history and receives its most terrible
+development before Ragnarok.
+
+The more common mythical names of the persons appearing in Rigsthula are
+not mentioned in the song, not even Heimdal's. In strophe 48, the last
+of the fragment, we find for the first time words which have the
+character of names--_Danr_ and _Danpr_. A crow sings from the tree to
+Jarl's son, the grandson of Heimdal, Kon, saying that peaceful amusement
+(_kyrra fugla_) does not become him longer, but that he should rather
+mount his steed and fight against men; and the crow seeks to awaken his
+ambition or jealousy by saying that "Dan and Danp, skilled in navigating
+ships and wielding swords, have more precious halls and a better
+freehold than you." The circumstance that these names are mentioned
+makes it possible, as shall be shown below, to establish in a more
+satisfactory manner the connection between Rigsthula and other accounts
+which are found in fragments concerning the Teutonic patriarch period.
+
+The oldest history of man did not among the Teutons begin with a
+paradisian condition. Some time has elapsed between the creation of Ask
+and Embla, and Heimdal's coming among men. As culture begins with
+Heimdal, a condition of barbarism must have preceded his arrival. At all
+events the first generations after Ask and Embla have been looked upon
+as lacking fire; consequently they have been without the art of the
+smith, without metal implements, and without knowledge of agriculture.
+Hence it is that the Vana-child comes across the western sea with fire,
+with implements, and with the sheaf of grain. But the barbarous
+condition may have been attended with innocence and goodness of heart.
+The manner in which the strange child was received by the inhabitants of
+Scandia's coast, and the tenderness with which it was cared for
+(_diligenti animo_, says Ethelwerd) seem to indicate this.
+
+When Scef-Heimdal had performed his mission, and when the beautiful boat
+in which he came had disappeared beyond the western horizon, then the
+second mythic patriarch-age begins.
+
+
+                                  22.
+
+           HEIMDAL'S SON BORGAR-SKJOLD, THE SECOND PATRIARCH.
+
+
+Ynglingasaga, ch. 20, contains a passage which is clearly connected with
+Rigsthula or with some kindred source. The passage mentions three
+persons who appear in Rigsthula, viz., Rig, Danp, and Dan, and it is
+there stated that the ruler who first possessed the kingly title in
+Svithiod was the son of a chief, whose name was Judge (_Domarr_), and
+Judge was married to Drott (_Drott_), the daughter of Danp.
+
+That Domar and his royal son, the latter with the epithet _Dyggvi_,
+"the worthy," "the noble," were afterwards woven into the royal pedigree
+in Ynglingasaga, is a matter which we cannot at present consider.
+Vigfusson (_Corpus Poet. Bor._) has already shown the mythic symbolism
+and unhistorical character of this royal pedigree's _Visburr_, the
+priest, son of a god; of _Domaldr-Domvaldr_, the legislator; of
+_Domarr_, the judge; and of _Dyggvi_, the first king. These are not
+historical Upsala kings, but personified myths, symbolising the
+development of human society on a religious basis into a political
+condition of law culminating in royal power. It is in short the same
+chain of ideas as we find in Rigsthula, where Heimdal, the son of a god
+and the founder of culture, becomes the father of the Jarl-judge, whose
+son is the first king. _Domarr_, in the one version of the chain of
+ideas, corresponds to Rig Jarl in the other, and _Dyggvi_ corresponds to
+Kon. Heimdal is the first patriarch, the Jarl-judge is the second, and
+the oldest of kings is the third.
+
+Some person, through whose hands Ynglingasaga has passed before it got
+its present form in Heimskringla, has understood this correspondence
+between _Domarr_ and Rig-Jarl, and has given to the former the wife
+which originally belonged to the latter. Rigsthula has been rescued in a
+single manuscript. This manuscript was owned by Arngrim Jonsson, the
+author of _Supplementum Historiae Norvegiae_, and was perhaps in his time,
+as Bugge (_Norr. Fornkv._) conjectures, less fragmentary than it now is.
+Arngrim relates that Rig Jarl was married to a daughter of Danp, lord of
+Danpsted. Thus the representative of the Jarl's dignity, like the
+representative of the Judge's dignity in Ynglingasaga, is here
+married to Danp's daughter.
+
+In Saxo, a man by name Borgar (_Borcarus_--_Hist. Dan._ 336-354)
+occupies an important position. He is a South Scandinavian chief, leader
+of Skane's warriors (_Borcarus cum Scanico equitatu_, p. 350), but
+instead of a king's title, he holds a position answering to that of the
+Jarl. Meanwhile he, like Skjold, becomes the founder of a Danish royal
+dynasty. Like Skjold he fights beasts and robbers, and like him he wins
+his bride, sword in hand. Borgar's wife is Drott (_Drotta_, _Drota_),
+the same name as Danp's daughter. Skjold's son Gram and Borgar's son
+Halfdan are found on close examination (see below) to be identical with
+each other, and with king Halfdan Berggram in whom the names of both are
+united. Thus we find:
+
+(1) That Borgar appears as a chief in Skane, which in the myth is the
+cradle of the human race, or of the Teutonic race. As such he is also
+mentioned in _Script. rer. Dan._ (pp. 16-19, 154), where he is called
+Burgarus and Borgardus.
+
+(2) That he has performed similar exploits to those of Skjold, the son
+of Scef-Heimdal.
+
+(3) That he is not clothed with kingly dignity, but has a son who founds
+a royal dynasty in Denmark. This corresponds to Heimdal's son Rig Jarl,
+who is not himself styled king, but whose son becomes a Danish king and
+the progenitor of the Skjoldungs.
+
+(4) That he is married to Drott, who, according to Ynglingasaga, is
+Danp's daughter. This corresponds to Heimdal's son Rig Jarl, who takes
+a daughter of Danp as his wife.
+
+(5) That his son is identical with the son of Skjold, the progenitor of
+the Skjoldungs.
+
+(6) That this son of his is called Halfdan, while in the Anglo-Saxon
+sources Scef, through his son Scyld (Skjold), is the progenitor of
+Denmark's king Healfdene.
+
+These testimonies contain incontestible evidence that Skjold, Borgar,
+and Rig Jarl are names of the same mythic person, the son of the ancient
+patriarch Heimdal, and himself the second patriarch, who, after Heimdal,
+determines the destiny of his race. The name _Borgarr_ is a synonym of
+_Skjoeldr_. The word _Skjoeldr_ has from the beginning had, or has in the
+lapse of past ages acquired, the meaning "the protecting one," "the
+shielding one," and as such it was applied to the common defensive
+armour, the shield. _Borgarr_ is derived from _bjarga_ (past. part.
+_borginn_; cp. _borg_), and thus has the same meaning, that is, "the
+defending or protecting one." From Norse poetry a multitude of examples
+can be given of the paraphrasing of a name with another, or even several
+others, of similar meaning.
+
+The second patriarch, Heimdal's son, thus has the names Skjold, Borgar,
+and Rig Jarl in the heathen traditions, and those derived therefrom.
+
+In German poems of the middle age ("Wolfdieterich," "Koenig Ruther," and
+others) Borgar is remembered by the name Berchtung, Berker, and Berther.
+His mythic character as ancient patriarch is there well preserved. He
+is _der grise mann_, a Teutonic Nestor, wears a beard reaching to the
+belt, and becomes 250 years old. He was fostered by a king Anzius, the
+progenitor of the Amelungs (the Amalians). The name Anzius points to the
+Gothic _ansi_ (Asa-god). Borgar's fostering by "the white Asa-god" has
+accordingly not been forgotten. Among the exercises taught him by Anzius
+are _daz werfen mit dem messer und schissen zu dem zil_ (compare Rig
+Jarl's exercises, Rigsthula, 35). Like Borgar, Berchtung is not a king,
+but a very noble and greatly-trusted chief, wise and kind, the
+foster-father and counsellor of heroes and kings. The Norse saga places
+Borgar, and the German saga places Berchtung, in close relation to
+heroes who belong to the race of Hildings. Borgar is, according to Saxo,
+the stepfather of Hildeger; Berchtung is, according to "Wolfdieterich,"
+Hildebrand's ancestor. Of Hildeger Saxo relates in part the same as the
+German poem tells of Hildebrand. Berchtung becomes the foster-father of
+an Amalian prince; with Borgar's son grows up as foster-brother Hamal
+(Helge Hund., 2; see Nos. 29, 42), whose name points to the Amalian
+race. The very name _Borgarr_, which, as indicated, in this form refers
+to _bjarga_, may in an older form have been related to the name
+Berchter, Berchtung.
+
+
+                               23.
+
+       BORGAR-SKJOLD'S SON HALFDAN, THE THIRD PATRIARCH.
+
+     _The Identity of Gram, Halfdan Berggram, and Halfdan
+     Borgarson._
+
+
+In the time of Borgar and his son, the third patriarch, many of the
+most important events of the myth take place. Before I present these,
+the chain of evidence requires that I establish clearly the names
+applied to Borgar in our literary sources. Danish scholars have already
+discovered what I pointed out above, that the kings Gram Skjoldson,
+Halfdan Berggram, and Halfdan Borgarson mentioned by Saxo, and referred
+to different generations, are identical with each other and with Halfdan
+the Skjoldung and Halfdan the Old of the Icelandic documents.
+
+The correctness of this view will appear from the following
+parallels:[11]
+
+
+       {Saxo: Gram slays king Sictrugus, and marries Signe,
+       {   daughter of Sumblus, king of the Finns.
+       {Hyndluljod: Halfdan Skjoldung slays king Sigtrygg, and
+    1. {   marries Almveig with the consent of Eymund.
+       {Prose Edda: Halfdan the Old slays king Sigtrygg, and
+       {   marries Alveig, daughter of Eyvind.
+       {Fornald. S.: Halfdan the Old slays king Sigtrygg, and
+       {   marries Alfny, daughter of Eymund.
+
+       {Saxo: Gram, son of Skjold, is the progenitor of the Skjoldungs.
+       {Hyndluljod: Halfdan Skjoldung, son or descendant of
+       {    Skjold, is the progenitor of the Skjoldungs, Ynglings,
+    2. {    Odlungs, &c.
+       {Prose Edda: Halfdan the Old is the progenitor of the
+       {    Hildings, Ynglings, Odlungs, &c.
+       {Saxo: Halfdan Bogarson is the progenitor of a royal
+       {    family of Denmark.
+
+       {Saxo: Gram uses a club as a weapon. He kills seven
+       {    brothers and nine of their half-brothers.
+       {Saxo: Halfdan Berggram uses an oak as a weapon. He
+    3. {    kills seven brothers.
+       {Saxo: Halfdan Borgarson uses an oak as a weapon. He
+       {    kills twelve brothers.
+
+
+       {Saxo: Gram secures Groa and slays Henricus on his wedding-day.
+       {Saxo: Halfdan Berggram marries Sigrutha, after having
+    4. {    slain Ebbo on his wedding-day.
+       {Saxo: Halfdan Borgarson marries Guritha, after having
+       {    killed Sivarus on his wedding-day.
+
+       {Saxo: Gram, who slew a Swedish king, is attacked in war
+       {    by Svipdag.
+       {Saxo: Halfdan Berggram, who slew a Swedish king, is
+    5. {    attacked by Ericus.
+       {Combined sources: Svipdag is the slain Swedish king's
+       {    grandson (daughter's son).
+       {Saxo: Ericus is the son of the daughter of the slain Swedish
+       {    king.
+
+These parallels are sufficient to show the identity of Gram Skjoldson,
+Halfdan Berggram, and Halfdan Borgarson. A closer analysis of these
+sagas, the synthesis possible on the basis of such an analysis, and the
+position the saga (restored in this manner) concerning the third
+patriarch, the son of Skjold-Borgar, and the grandson of Heimdal,
+assumes in the chain of mythic events, gives complete proof of this
+identity.
+
+[Footnote 11: The first nine books of Saxo form a labyrinth constructed
+out of myths related as history, but the thread of Ariadne seems to be
+wanting. On this account it might be supposed that Saxo had treated the
+rich mythical materials at his command in an arbitrary and unmethodical
+manner; and we must bear in mind that these mythic materials were far
+more abundant in his time than they were in the following centuries,
+when they were to be recorded by the Icelandic authors. This supposition
+is, however, wrong. Saxo has examined his sources methodically and with
+scrutiny, and has handled them with all due reverence, when he assumed
+the desperate task of constructing, by the aid of the mythic traditions
+and heroic poems at hand, a chronicle spanning several centuries--a
+chronicle in which fifty to sixty successive rulers were to be brought
+upon the stage and off again, while myths and heroic traditions embrace
+but few generations, and most mythic persons continue to exist through
+all ages. In the very nature of the case, Saxo was obliged, in order to
+solve this problem, to put his material on the rack; but a thorough
+study of the above-mentioned books of his history shows that he treated
+the delinquent with consistency. The simplest of the rules he followed
+was to avail himself of the polyonomy with which the myths and heroic
+poems are overloaded, and to do so in the following manner:
+
+Assume that a person in the mythic or heroic poems had three or four
+names or epithets (he may have had a score). We will call this person A,
+and the different forms of his name A', A'', A'''. Saxo's task of
+producing a chain of events running through many centuries forced him to
+consider the three names A', A'', and A''' as originally three persons,
+who had performed certain similar exploits, and therefore had, in course
+of time, been confounded with each other, and blended by the authors of
+myths and stories into one person A. As best he can, Saxo tries to
+resolve this mythical product, composed, in his opinion, of historical
+elements, and to distribute the exploits attributed to A between A',
+A'', and A'''. It may also be that one or more of the stories applied to
+A were found more or less varied in different sources. In such cases he
+would report the _same_ stories with slight variations about A', A'',
+and A'''. The similarities remaining form _one_ important group of
+indications which he has furnished to guide us, but which can assure us
+that our investigation is in the right course only when corroborated by
+indications belonging to other groups, or corroborated by statements
+preserved in other sources.
+
+But in the events which Saxo in this manner relates about A', A'', and
+A''', other persons are also mentioned. We will assume that in the myths
+and heroic poems these have been named B and C. These, too, have in the
+songs of the skalds had several names and epithets. B has also been
+called B', B'', B'''. C has also been styled C', C'', C'''. Out of this
+one subordinate person B, Saxo, by the aid of the abundance of names,
+makes as many subordinate persons--B', B'', and B'''--as he made out of
+the original chief person A--that is, the chief persons A', A'', and
+A'''. Thus also with C, and in this way we got the following analogies:
+
+    A'   is to B'   and C'  as
+    A''        B''      C'' and as
+    A'''       B'''     C'''.
+
+By comparing all that is related concerning these nine names, we are
+enabled gradually to form a more or less correct idea of what the
+original myth has contained in regard to A, B, and C. If it then
+happens--as is often the case--that two or more of the names A', B', C',
+&c., are found in Icelandic or other documents, and there belong to
+persons whose adventures are in some respects the same, and in other
+respects are made clearer and more complete, by what Saxo tells about
+A', A'', and A''', &c., then it is proper to continue the investigation
+in the direction thus started. If, then, every new step brings forth new
+confirmations from various sources, and if a myth thus restored easily
+dovetails itself into an epic cycle of myths, and there forms a
+necessary link in the chain of events, then the investigation has
+produced the desired result.
+
+An aid in the investigation is not unfrequently the circumstance that
+the names at Saxo's disposal were not sufficient for all points in the
+above scheme. We then find analogies which open for us, so to speak,
+short cuts--for instance, as follows:
+
+    A'   is to B'  and C'  as
+    A''        B'      C'' and as
+    A'''       B''     C'.
+
+The parallels given in the text above are a concrete example of the
+above scheme. For we have seen--
+
+A=Halfdan, trebled in A'=Gram, A''=Halfdan Berggram, A'''=Halfdan
+Borgarson.
+
+B=Ebbo (Ebur, Ibor, Joefurr), trebled in B'=Henricus, B''=Ebbo,
+B'''=Sivarus.
+
+C doubled in C'=Svipdag, and C''=Ericus.]
+
+
+                               24.
+
+     HALFDAN'S ENMITY WITH ORVANDEL AND SVIPDAG (cp. No. 33).
+
+
+Saxo relates in regard to Gram that he carried away the royal daughter
+Groa, though she was already bound to another man, and that he slew her
+father, whereupon he got into a feud with Svipdag, an irreconcilably
+bitter foe, who fought against him with varying success of arms, and
+gave himself no rest until he had taken Gram's life and realm. Gram left
+two sons, whom Svipdag treated in a very different manner. The one named
+Guthormus (_Gudhormr_), who was a son of Groa, he received into his good
+graces. To the other, named Hadingus, or Hadding, and who was a son of
+Signe, he transferred the deadly hate he had cherished towards the
+father. The cause of the hatred of Svipdag against Gram, and which could
+not be extinguished in his blood, Saxo does not mention, but this point
+is cleared up by a comparison with other sources. Nor does Saxo mention
+who the person was from whom Gram robbed Groa, but this, too, we learn
+in another place.
+
+The Groa of the myth is mentioned in two other places: in Groagalder and
+in Gylfaginning. Both sources agree in representing her as skilled in
+good, healing, harm-averting songs; both also in describing her as a
+tender person devoted to the members of her family. In Gylfaginning she
+is the loving wife who forgets everything in her joy that her husband,
+the brave archer Orvandel, has been saved by Thor from a dangerous
+adventure. In Groagalder she is the mother whose love to her son
+conquers death and speaks consoling and protecting words from the grave.
+Her husband is, as stated, Orvandel; her son is Svipdag.
+
+If we compare the statements in Saxo with those in Groagalder and
+Gylfaginning we get the following result:
+
+    Saxo: King Sigtrygg has a daughter Groa.
+    Gylfaginning: Groa is married to the brave Orvandel.
+    Groagalder: Groa has a son Svipdag.
+    Saxo: Groa is robbed by Gram-Halfdan.
+    Saxo:         } Hostilities on account of the robbing of
+    Hyndluljod:   }     the woman.  Gram-Halfdan kills
+    Skaldskap.mal:}     Groa's father Sigtrygg.
+    Saxo: With Gram-Halfdan Groa has the son Gudhorm.
+        Gram-Halfdan is separated from Groa. He courts
+        Signe (Almveig in Hyndluljod; Alveig in Skaldskaparmal),
+        daughter of Sumbel, king of the Finns.
+    Groagalder: Groa with her son Svipdag is once more with
+        her first husband. Groa dies. Svipdag's father Orvandel
+        marries a second time. Before her death Groa
+        has told Svipdag that he, if need requires her help,
+        must go to her grave and wake her out of the sleep
+        of death.
+      The stepmother gives Svipdag a task which he thinks surpasses
+        his strength. He then goes to his mother's
+        grave. From the grave Groa sings protecting incantations
+        over her son.
+    Saxo: Svipdag attacks Gram-Halfdan. After several conflicts
+        he succeeds in conquering him and gives him a
+        deadly wound.
+      Svidpdag pardons the son Gram-Halfdan has had with
+        Groa, but persecutes his son with Signe (Alveig).
+
+In this connection we find the key to Svipdag's irreconcilable conflict
+with Gram-Halfdan. He must revenge himself on him on his father's and
+mother's account. He must avenge his mother's disgrace, his grandfather
+Sigtrygg's death, and, as a further investigation shows, the murder also
+of his father Orvandel. We also find why he pardons Gudhorm: he is his
+own half-brother and Groa's son.
+
+Sigtrygg, Groa, Orvandel, and Svipdag have in the myth belonged to the
+pedigree of the Ynglings, and hence Saxo calls Sigtrygg king in
+Svithiod. Concerning the Ynglings, Ynglingasaga remarks that Yngve was
+the name of everyone who in that time was the head of the family (Yngl.,
+p. 20). Svipdag, the favourite hero of the Teutonic mythology, is
+accordingly celebrated in song under the name Yngve, and also under
+other names to which I shall refer later, when I am to give a full
+account of the myth concerning him.
+
+
+                                25.
+
+           HALFDAN'S IDENTITY WITH MANNUS IN "GERMANIA."
+
+
+With Gram-Halfdan the Teutonic patriarch period ends. The human race had
+its golden age under Heimdal, its copper age under Skjold-Borgar, and
+the beginning of its iron age under Halfdan. The Skilfinga-Ynglinga race
+has been named after Heimdal-Skelfir himself, and he has been regarded
+as its progenitor. His son Skjold-Borgar has been considered the founder
+of the Skjoldungs. With Halfdan the pedigree is divided into three
+through his stepson Yngve-Svipdag, the latter's half-brother Gudhorm,
+and Gudhorm's half-brother Hading or Hadding. The war between these
+three--a continuation of the feud between Halfdan and Svipdag--was the
+subject of a cycle of songs sung throughout Teutondom, songs which
+continued to live though greatly changed with the lapse of time, on the
+lips of Germans throughout the middle ages (see Nos. 36-43).
+
+Like his father, Halfdan was the fruit of a double fatherhood, a divine
+and a human. Saxo was aware of this double fatherhood, and relates of
+his Halfdan Berggram that he, although the son of a human prince, was
+respected as a son of Thor, and honoured as a god among that people who
+longest remained heathen; that is to say, the Swedes (_Igitur apud
+Sveones tantus haberi caepit, ut magni Thor filius existimatus, divinis a
+populo honoribus donaretur ac publico dignus libamine censeretur_). In
+his saga, as told by Saxo, Thor holds his protecting hand over Halfdan
+like a father over his son.
+
+It is possible that both the older patriarchs originally were regarded
+rather as the founders and chiefs of the whole human race than of the
+Teutons alone. Certain it is that the appellation Teutonic patriarch
+belonged more particularly to the third of the series. We have a
+reminiscence of this in Hyndluljod, 14-16. To the question, "Whence came
+the Skjoldungs, Skilfings, Andlungs, and Ylfings, and all the free-born
+and gentle-born?" the song answers by pointing to "the foremost among
+the Skjoldungs"--Sigtrygg's slayer Halfdan--a statement which, after the
+memory of the myths had faded and become confused, was magnified in the
+Younger Edda into the report that he was the father of eighteen sons,
+nine of which were the founders of the heroic families whose names were
+at that time rediscovered in the heathen-heroic songs then extant.
+
+According to what we have now stated in regard to Halfdan's genealogical
+position there can no longer be any doubt that he is the same patriarch
+as the Mannus mentioned by Tacitus in _Germania_, ch. 2, where it is
+said of the Germans: "In old songs they celebrate _Tuisco_, a god born
+of Earth (_Terra_; compare the goddess _Terra Mater_, ch. 40), and his
+son Mannus as the source and founder of the race. Mannus is said to have
+had three sons, after whose names those who dwell nearest the ocean are
+called Ingaevonians (_Ingaevones_), those who dwell in the centre
+Hermionians (_Hermiones_, _Herminones_), and the rest Istaevonians
+(_Istaevones_)." Tacitus adds that there were other Teutonic tribes, such
+as the Marsians, the Gambrivians, the Svevians, and the Vandals, whose
+names were derived from other heroes of divine birth.
+
+Thus Mannus, though human, and the source and founder of the Teutonic
+race, is also the son of a god. The mother of his divine father is the
+goddess Earth, mother Earth. In our native myths we rediscover this
+goddess--polyonomous like nearly all mythic beings--in Odin's wife
+Frigg, also called _Fjorgyn_ and _Hlodyn_. As sons of her and Odin only
+Thor (Voelusp.) and Balder (Lokasenna) are definitely mentioned.
+
+In regard to the goddess Earth (Jord), Tacitus states (ch. 40), as a
+characteristic trait that she is believed to take a lively interest and
+active part in the affairs of men and nations (_eam intervenire rebus
+hominum, invehi populis arbitrantur_), and he informs us that she is
+especially worshipped by the Longobardians and some of their neighbours
+near the sea. This statement, compared with the emigration saga of the
+Longobardians (No. 15), confirms the theory that the goddess Jord, who,
+in the days of Tacitus, was celebrated in song as the mother of Mannus'
+divine father, is identical with Frigg. In their emigration saga the
+Longobardians have great faith in Frigg, and trust in her desire and
+ability to intervene when the fate of a nation is to be decided by arms.
+Nor are they deceived in their trust in her; she is able to bring about
+that Odin, without considering the consequences, gives the Longobardians
+a new name; and as a christening present was in order, and as the
+Longobardians stood arrayed against the Vandals at the moment when they
+received their new name, the gift could be no other than victory over
+their foes. Tacitus' statement, that the Longobardians were one of the
+races who particularly paid worship to the goddess Jord, is found to be
+intimately connected with, and to be explained by, this tradition, which
+continued to be remembered among the Longobardians long after they
+became converted to Christianity, down to the time when _Origo
+Longobardorum_ was written.
+
+Tacitus calls the goddess Jord Nerthus. Vigfusson (and before him J.
+Grimm) and others have seen in this name a feminine version of _Njoerdr_.
+Nor does any other explanation seem possible. The existence of such a
+form is not more surprising than that we have in Freyja a feminine form
+of Frey, and in Fjorgyn-Frigg a feminine form of Fjoergynr. In our
+mythic documents neither Frigg nor Njord are of Asa race. Njord is, as
+we know, a Van. Frigg's father is _Fjoergynr_ (perhaps the same as
+_Parganya_ in the Vedic songs), also called _Annarr_, _Anarr_, and
+_Onarr_, and her mother is Narve's daughter Night. Frigg's high position
+as Odin's real and lawful wife, as the queen of the Asa world, and as
+mother of the chief gods Thor and Balder, presupposes her to be of the
+noblest birth which the myth could bestow on a being born outside of the
+Asa clan, and as the Vans come next after the Asas in the mythology, and
+were united with them from the beginning of time, as hostages, by
+treaty, by marriage, and by adoption, probability, if no other proof
+could be found, would favour the theory that Frigg is a goddess of the
+race of Vans, and that her father _Fjoergyn_ is a clan-chief among the
+Vans. This view is corroborated in two ways. The cosmogony makes Earth
+and Sea sister and brother. The same divine mother Night (Nat), who
+bears the goddess Jord, also bears a son _Udr_, _Unnr_, the ruler of the
+sea, also called _Audr_ (Rich), the personification of wealth. Both
+these names are applied among the gods to Njord alone as the god of
+navigation, commerce, and wealth. (In reference to wealth compare the
+phrase _audigr sem Njoerdr_--rich as Njord.) Thus Frigg is Njord's
+sister. This explains the attitude given to Frigg in the war between the
+Asas and Vans by Voeluspa, Saxo, and the author of Ynglingasaga, where
+the tradition is related as history. In the form given to this tradition
+in Christian times and in Saxo's hands, it is disparaging to Frigg as
+Odin's wife; but the pith of Saxo's narrative is, that Frigg in the
+feud between the Asas and Vans did not side with Odin but with the Vans,
+and contributed towards making the latter lords of Asgard. When the
+purely heathen documents (Voelusp., Vafthr., Lokas.) describe her as a
+tender wife and mother, Frigg's taking part with the Vans against her
+own husband can scarcely be explained otherwise than by the Teutonic
+principle, that the duties of the daughter and sister are above the
+wife's, a view plainly presented in Saxo (p. 353), and illustrated by
+Gudrun's conduct toward Atle.
+
+Thus it is proved that the god who is the father of the Teutonic
+patriarch Mannus is himself the son of Frigg, the goddess of earth, and
+must, according to the mythic records at hand, be either Thor or Balder.
+The name given him by Tacitus, _Tuisco_, does not determine which of the
+two. _Tuisco_ has the form of a patronymic adjective, and reappears in
+the Norse _Tivi_, an old name of Odin, related to _Dios divus_, and
+_devas_, from which all the sons of Odin and gods of Asgard received the
+epithet _tivar_. But in the songs learned by Saxo in regard to the
+northern race-patriarch and his divine father, his place is occupied by
+Thor, not by Balder, and "Jord's son" is in Norse poetry an epithet
+particularly applied to Thor.
+
+Mannus has three sons. So has Halfdan. While Mannus has a son _Ingaevo_,
+Halfdan has a stepson Yngve, Inge (Svipdag). The second son of Mannus is
+named Hermio. Halfdan's son with Groa is called _Gudhormr_. The second
+part of this name has, as Jessen has already pointed out, nothing to do
+with _ormr_. It may be that the name should be divided _Gudhormr_, and
+that _hormr_ should be referred to _Hermio_. Mannus' third son is
+_Istaevo_. The Celtic scholar Zeuss has connected this name with that of
+the Gothic (more properly Vandal) heroic race Azdingi, and Grimm has
+again connected Azdigni with Hazdiggo (_Haddingr_). Halfdan's third son
+is in Saxo called Hadingus. Whether the comparisons made by Zeuss and
+Grimm are to the point or not (see further, No. 43) makes but little
+difference here. It nevertheless remains as a result of the
+investigation that all is related by Tacitus about the Teutonic
+patriarch Mannus has its counterpart in the question concerning Halfdan,
+and that both in the myths occupy precisely the same place as sons of a
+god and as founders of Teutonic tribes and royal families. The pedigrees
+are:
+
+           =_Tacitus._=                 =_Norse documents._=
+
+    Tivi and the goddess Jord.      Tivi=Odin and the goddess
+                |                             Jord.
+                |                               |
+       Tivi's son (Tiusco).              Tivi's son Thor.
+                |                               |
+    Mannus, progenitor of the       Halfdan, progenitor of the
+         Teutonic tribes.                 royal families.
+       +--------+--------+            +---------+---------+
+       |        |        |            |         |         |
+    Ingaevo.  Hermio.  Istaevo.       Yngve.  Gudhormr.  Hadding.
+
+
+                                 26.
+
+               THE SACRED RUNES LEARNED FROM HEIMDAL.
+
+
+The mythic ancient history of the human race and of the Teutons may, in
+accordance with the analysis above given, be divided into the following
+epochs:--(1) From Ask and Ernbla's creation until Heimdal's arrival; (2)
+from Heimdal's arrival until his departure; (3) the age of
+Skjold-Borgar; (4) Halfdan's time; (5) The time of Halfdan's sons.
+
+And now we will discuss the events of the last three epochs.
+
+In the days of Borgar the moral condition of men grows worse, and an
+event in nature takes place threatening at least the northern part of
+the Teutonic world with destruction. The myth gives the causes of both
+these phenomena.
+
+The moral degradation has its cause, if not wholly, yet for the greater
+part, in the activity among men of a female being from the giant world.
+Through her men become acquainted with the black art, the evil art of
+sorcery, which is the opposite of the wisdom drawn from Mimer's holy
+fountain, the knowledge of runes, and acquaintance with the application
+of nature's secret forces for good ends (see Nos. 34, 35).
+
+The sacred knowledge of runes, the "fimbul-songs," the white art, was,
+according to the myth, originally in the possession of Mimer. Still he
+did not have it of himself, but got it from the subterranean fountain,
+which he guarded beneath the middle root of the world-tree (see No.
+63)--a fountain whose veins, together with the deepest root of the
+world-tree, extends to a depth which not even Odin's thought can
+penerate (Havam., 138). By self-sacrifice in his youth Odin received
+from Bestla's brother (Mimer; see No. 88) a drink from the precious
+liquor of this fountain and nine fimbul-songs (Havam., 140; cp. Sigrdr.,
+14), which were the basis of the divine magic of the application of the
+power of the word and of the rune over spiritual and natural forces, in
+prayer, in sacrifices and in other religious acts, in investigations, in
+the practical affairs of life, in peace and in war (Havam., 144 ff.;
+Sigrdr., 6 ff.). The character and purpose of these songs are clear from
+the fact that at the head is placed "help's fimbul-song," which is able
+to allay sorrow and cure diseases (Havam., 146).
+
+In the hands of Odin they are a means for the protection of the power of
+the Asa-gods, and enable them to assist their worshippers in danger and
+distress. To these belong the fimbul-song of the _runes of victory_; and
+it is of no little interest that we, in Havamal, 156, find what Tacitus
+tells about the _barditus_ of the Germans, the shield-song with which
+they went to meet their foes--a song which Ammianus Paulus himself has
+heard, and of which he gives a vivid description. When the Teutonic
+forces advanced to battle the warriors raised their shields up to a
+level with the upper lip, so that the round of the shield formed a sort
+of sounding-board for their song. This began in a low voice and
+preserved its subdued colour, but the sound gradually increased, and at
+a distance it resembled the roar of the breakers of the sea. Tacitus
+says that the Teutons predicted the result of the battle from the
+impression the song as a whole made upon themselves: it might sound in
+their ears in such a manner that they thereby became more terrible to
+their enemies, or in such a manner that they were overcome by despair.
+The above-mentioned strophe of Havamal gives us an explanation of this:
+the warriors were roused to confidence if they, in the harmony of the
+subdued song increasing in volume, seemed to perceive Valfather's voice
+blended with their own. The strophe makes Odin say: _Ef ec scal til
+orrostu leitha langvini, undir randir ec gel, en their meth riki fara
+heilir hildar til, heilir hildi fra_--"If I am to lead those to battle
+whom I have long held in friendship, then I sing under their shields.
+With success they go to the conflict, and successfully they go out of
+it." Voeluspa also refers to the shield-song in 47, where it makes the
+storm-giant, _Hrymr_, advancing against the gods, "lift his shield
+before him" (_hefiz lind fyrir_), an expression which certainly has
+another significance than that of unnecessarily pointing out that he has
+a shield for protection. The runes of victory were able to arrest
+weapons in their flight and to make those whom Odin loved proof against
+sword-edge and safe against ambush (Havam., 148, 150). Certain kinds of
+runes were regarded as producing victory and were carved on the hilt and
+on the blade of the sword, and while they were carved Tyr's name was
+twice named (Sigrdr., 6).
+
+Another class of runes (_brimrunar_, Sigrdr., 10; Havam., 150)
+controlled the elements, purified the air from evil beings (Havm., 155),
+gave power over wind and waves for good purposes--as, for instance, when
+sailors in distress were to be rescued--or power over the flames when
+they threatened to destroy human dwellings (Havam., 152). A third kind
+of runes (_malrunar_) gave speech to the mute and speechless, even to
+those whose lips were sealed in death (see No. 70). A fourth kind of
+runes could free the limbs from bonds (Havam., 149). A fifth kind of
+runes protected against witchcraft (Havam., 151). A sixth kind of runes
+(_oelrunar_) takes the strength from the love-potion prepared by another
+man's wife, and from every treachery mingled therein (Sigrdr., 7, 8). A
+seventh kind (_bjargrunar_ and _limrunar_) helps in childbirth and heals
+wounds. An eighth kind gives wisdom and knowledge (_hugrunar_, Sigrdr.,
+13; cp. Havam., 159). A ninth kind extinguishes enmity and hate, and
+produces friendship and love (Havam., 153, 161). Of great value, and a
+great honour to kings and chiefs, was the possession of healing runes
+and healing hands; and that certain noble-born families inherited the
+power of these runes was a belief which has been handed down even to our
+time. There is a distinct consciousness that the runes of this kind were
+a gift of the blithe gods. In a strophe, which sounds as if it were
+taken from an ancient hymn, the gods are beseeched for runes of wisdom
+and healing: "Hail to the gods! Hail to the goddesses! Hail to the
+bounteous Earth (the goddess Jord). Words and wisdom give unto us, and
+healing hands while we live!" (Sigrdr., 4).
+
+In ancient times arrangements were made for spreading the knowledge of
+the good runes among all kinds of beings. Odin taught them to his own
+clan; Dainn taught them to the Elves; Dvalinn among the dwarfs; Asvinr
+(see No. 88) among the giants (Havam., 143). Even the last-named became
+participators in the good gift, which, mixed with sacred mead, was sent
+far and wide, and it has since been among the Asas, among the Elves,
+among the wise Vans, and among the children of men (Sigrdr., 18). The
+above-named Dvalinn, who taught the runes to his clan of ancient
+artists, is the father of daughters, who, together with dises of Asa and
+Vana birth, are in possession of _bjargrunar_, and employ them in the
+service of man (Fafnism., 13).
+
+To men the beneficent runes came through the same god who as a child
+came with the sheaf of grain and the tools to Scandia. Hence the belief
+current among the Franks and Saxons that the alphabet of the Teutons,
+like the Teutons themselves, was of northern origin. Rigsthula expressly
+presents Heimdal as teaching runes to the people whom he blessed by his
+arrival in Midgard. The noble-born are particularly his pupils in runic
+lore. Of Heimdal's grandson, the son of Jarl Borgar, named Kon-Halfdan,
+it is said:
+
+    En Konr ungr         But Kon the young
+    kunni runar,         taught himself runes,
+    aefinrunar            runes of eternity
+    ok alldrrunar.       and runes of earthly life.
+    Meir kunni hann      Then he taught himself
+    monnum bjarga,       men to save,
+    eggjar deyfa,        the sword-edge to deaden,
+    aegi legia,           the sea to quiet,
+    klok nam fugla,      bird-song to interpret,
+    kyrra ellda,         fires to extinguish,
+    saeva ok svefia,      to soothe and comfort,
+    sorgir laegia.        sorrows to allay.
+
+The fundamental character of this rune-lore bears distinctly the stamp
+of nobility. The runes of eternity united with those of the earthly life
+can scarcely have any other reference than to the heathen doctrines
+concerning religion and morality. These were looked upon as being for
+all time, and of equal importance to the life hereafter. Together with
+physical runes with magic power--that is, runes that gave their
+possessors power over the hostile forces of nature--we find runes
+intended to serve the cause of sympathy and mercy.
+
+
+                               27.
+
+   SORCERY THE REVERSE OF THE SACRED RUNES. GULLVEIG-HEIDR,
+              THE SOURCE OF SORCERY. THE MORAL
+             DETERIORATION OF THE ORIGINAL MAN.
+
+
+But already in the beginning of time evil powers appear for the purpose
+of opposing and ruining the good influences from the world of gods upon
+mankind. Just as Heimdal, "the fast traveller," proceeds from house to
+house, forming new ties in society and giving instruction in what is
+good and useful, thus we soon find a messenger of evil wandering about
+between the houses in Midgard, practising the black art and stimulating
+the worst passions of the human soul. The messenger comes from the
+powers of frost, the enemies of creation. It is a giantess, the daughter
+of the giant _Hrimnir_ (Hyndlulj., 32), known among the gods as Gulveig
+and by other names (see Nos. 34, 35), but on her wanderings on earth
+called _Heidr_. "Heid they called her (Gulveig) when she came to the
+children of men, the crafty, prophesying vala, who practised sorcery
+(_vitti ganda_), practised the evil art, caused by witchcraft
+misfortunes, sickness, and death (_leikin_, see No. 67), and was always
+sought by bad women." Thus Voeluspa describes her. The important position
+Heid occupies in regard to the corruption of ancient man, and the
+consequences of her appearance for the gods, for man, and for nature
+(see below), have led Voeluspa's author, in spite of his general poverty
+of words, to describe her with a certain fulness, pointing out among
+other things that she was the cause of the first war in the world. That
+the time of her appearance was during the life of Borgar and his son
+shall be demonstrated below.
+
+In connection with this moral corruption, and caused by the same powers
+hostile to the world, there occur in this epoch such disturbances in
+nature that the original home of man and culture--nay, all Midgard--is
+threatened with destruction on account of long, terrible winters. A
+series of connected myths tell of this. Ancient artists--forces at work
+in the growth of nature--personifications of the same kind as Rigveda's
+Ribhus, that had before worked in harmony with the gods, become, through
+the influence of Loke, foes of Asgard, their work becoming as harmful as
+it before was beneficent, and seek to destroy what Odin had created (see
+Nos. 111 and 112). Idun, with her life-renewing apples, is carried by
+Thjasse away from Asgard to the northernmost wilderness of the world,
+and is there concealed. Freyja, the goddess of fertility, is robbed and
+falls into the power of giants. Frey, the god of harvests, falls sick.
+The giant king Snow and his kinsmen _Thorri_ (Black Frost), _Joekull_
+(the Glacier), &c., extend their sceptres over Scandia.
+
+Already during Heimdal's reign, after his protege Borgar had grown up,
+something happens which forebodes these terrible times, but still has a
+happy issue.
+
+
+                               28A.
+
+              HEIMDAL AND THE SUN-DIS (Dis-goddess).
+
+
+In Saxo's time there was still extant a myth telling how Heimdal, as the
+ruler of the earliest generation, got himself a wife. The myth is found
+related as history in _Historia Danica_, pp. 335-337. Changed into a
+song of chivalry in middle age style, we find it on German soil in the
+poem concerning king Ruther.
+
+Saxo relates that a certain king Alf undertook a perilous journey of
+courtship, and was accompanied by Borgar. Alf is the more noble of the
+two; Borgar attends him. This already points to the fact that the mythic
+figure which Saxo has changed into a historical king must be Heimdal,
+Borgar's co-father, his ruler and fosterer, otherwise Borgar himself
+would be the chief person in his country, and could not be regarded as
+subject to anyone else. Alf's identity with Heimdal is corroborated by
+"King Ruther," and to a degree also by the description Saxo makes of his
+appearance, a description based on a definite mythic prototype. Alf,
+says Saxo, had a fine exterior, and over his hair, though he was young,
+a so remarkably white splendour was diffused that rays of light seemed
+to issue from his silvery locks (_cujus etiam insignem candore
+caesariem tantus comae decor asperierat, ut argenteo crine nitere
+putaretur_). The Heimdal of the myth is a god of light, and is described
+by the colour applied to pure silver in the old Norse literature to
+distinguish it from that which is alloyed; he is _hviti ass_ (Gylfag.,
+27) and _hvitastr asa_ (Thrymskvida, 5); his teeth glitter like gold,
+and so does his horse. We should expect that the maid whom Alf, if he is
+Heimdal, desires to possess belongs like himself to the divinities of
+light. Saxo also says that her beauty could make one blind if she was
+seen without her veil, and her name Alfhild belongs, like Alfsol, Hild,
+Alfhild Solglands, Svanhild Guldfjaeder, to that class of names by which
+the sundises, mother and daughter, were transferred from mythology to
+history. She is watched by two dragons. Suitors who approach her in vain
+get their heads chopped off and set up on poles (thus also in "King
+Ruther"). Alf conquers the guarding dragons; but at the advice of her
+mother Alfhild takes flight, puts on a man's clothes and armour, and
+becomes a female warrior, fighting at the head of other Amazons. Alf and
+Borgar search for and find the troop of Amazons amid ice and snow. It is
+conquered and flies to "Finnia," Alf and Borgar pursue them thither.
+There is a new conflict. Borgar strikes the helmet from Alfhild's head.
+She has to confess herself conquered, and becomes Alf's wife.
+
+In interpreting the mythic contents of this story we must remember that
+the lad who came with the sheaf of grain to Scandia needed the help of
+the sun for the seed which he brought with him to sprout, before it
+could give harvests to the inhabitants. But the saga also indicates
+that the sun-dis had veiled herself, and made herself as far as possible
+unapproachable, and that when Heimdal had forced himself into her
+presence she fled to northern ice-enveloped regions, where the god and
+his foster-son, sword in hand, had to fetch her, whereupon a happy
+marriage between him and the sun-dis secures good weather and rich
+harvests to the land over which he rules. At the first glance it might
+seem as if this myth had left no trace in our Icelandic records. This
+is, however, not the case. Its fundamental idea, that the sun at one
+time in the earliest ages went astray from southern regions to the
+farthest north and desired to remain there, but that it was brought back
+by the might of the gods who created the world, and through them
+received, in the same manner as Day and Night, its course defined and
+regularly established, we find in the Voeluspa strophe, examined with so
+great acumen by Julius Hoffory, which speaks of a bewilderment of this
+kind on the part of the sun, occurring before it yet "knew its proper
+sphere," and in the following strophe, which tells how the all-holy gods
+thereupon held solemn council and so ordained the activity of these
+beings, that time can be divided and years be recorded by their course.
+Nor is the marriage into which the sun-dis entered forgotten.
+Skaldskaparmal quotes a strophe from Skule Thorsteinson where Sol[12] is
+called _Glenr's_ wife. That he whom the skald characterises by this
+epithet is a god is a matter of course. _Glenr_ signifies "the shining
+one," and this epithet was badly chosen if it did not refer to "the
+most shining of the Asas," _hvitastr asa_--that is, Heimdal.
+
+The fundamental traits of "King Ruther" resemble Saxo's story. There,
+too, it is a king who undertakes a perilous journey of courtship and
+must fight several battles to win the wondrous fair maiden whose
+previous suitors had had to pay for their eagerness by having their
+heads chopped off and fastened on poles. The king is accompanied by
+Berter, identical with Berchtung-Borgar, but here, as always in the
+German story, described as the patriarch and adviser. A giant,
+Vidolt--Saxo's Vitolphus, Hyndluljod's _Vidolfr_--accompanies Ruther and
+Berter on the journey; and when Vitolphus in Saxo is mentioned under
+circumstances which show that he accompanied Borgar on a warlike
+expedition, and thereupon saved his son Halfdan's life, there is no room
+for doubt that Saxo's saga and "King Ruther" originally flowed from the
+same mythic source. It can also be demonstrated that the very name
+Ruther is one of those epithets which belong to Heimdal. The Norse
+_Hrutr_ is, according to the Younger Edda (i. 588, 589), a synonym of
+_Heimdali_, and _Heimdali_ is another form of _Heimdall_ (Isl., i. 231).
+As _Hrutr_ means a ram, and as _Heimdali_ is an epithet of a ram (see
+Younger Edda, i. 589), light is thrown upon the bold metaphors,
+according to which "head," "Heimdal's head," and "Heimdal's sword" are
+synonyms (Younger Edda, i. 100, 264; ii. 499). The ram's head carries
+and is the ram's sword. Of the age of this animal symbol we give an
+account in No. 82. There is reason for believing that Heimdal's helmet
+has been conceived as decorated with ram's horns.[13] A strophe quoted
+in the Younger Edda (i. 608) mentions Heimdal's helmet, and calls the
+sword the _fyllr_ of Heimdal's helmet, an ambiguous expression, which
+may be interpreted as that which fills Heimdal's helmet; that is to say,
+Heimdal's head, but also as that which has its place on the helmet.
+Compare the expression _fyllr hilmis stols_ as a metaphor for the power
+of the ruler.
+
+[Footnote 12: Sol is feminine in the Teutonic tongues.--TR.]
+
+[Footnote 13: That some one of the gods has worn a helmet with such a
+crown can be seen on one of the golden horns found near Gallehuus. There
+twice occurs a being wearing a helmet furnished with long, curved, sharp
+pointed horns. Near him a ram is drawn and in his hand he has something
+resembling a staff which ends in a circle, and possibly is intended to
+represent Heimdal's horn.]
+
+
+                                 28B.
+
+            LOKE CAUSES ENMITY BETWEEN THE GODS AND THE
+            ORIGINAL ARTISTS (THE CREATORS OF ALL THINGS
+           GROWING). THE CONSEQUENCE IS THE FIMBUL-WINTER
+                          AND EMIGRATIONS.
+
+
+The danger averted by Heimdal when he secured the sun-dis with bonds of
+love begins in the time of Borgar. The corruption of nature and of man
+go hand in hand. Borgar has to contend with robbers (_pugiles_ and
+_piratae_), and among them the prototype of pirates--that terrible
+character, remembered also in Icelandic poetry, called _Rodi_ (Saxo,
+_Hist._, 23, 345). The moderate laws given by Heimdal had to be made
+more severe by Borgar (_Hist._, 24, 25).
+
+While the moral condition in Midgard grows worse, Loke carries out in
+Asgard a cunningly-conceived plan, which seems to be to the advantage of
+the gods, but is intended to bring about the ruin of both the gods and
+man. His purpose is to cause enmity between the original artists
+themselves and between them and the gods.
+
+Among these artists the sons of Ivalde constitute a separate group.
+Originally they enjoyed the best relations to the gods, and gave them
+the best products of their wonderful art, for ornament and for use.
+Odin's spear _Gungnir_, the golden locks on Sif's head, and Frey's
+celebrated ship Skidbladner, which could hold all the warriors of Asgard
+and always had favourable wind, but which also could be folded as a
+napkin and be carried in one's pocket (Gylfaginning), had all come from
+the workshop of these artists.
+
+    Ivalda synir            The sons of Ivalde
+    gengu i ardaga          went in ancient times
+    Scidbladni at skapa,    to make Skidbladner,
+    scipa bezt,             among ships the best,
+    scirom Frey,            for the shining Frey,
+    nytom Njardar bur.      Njord's useful son.
+
+    (Grimnismal.)
+
+Another group of original artists were Sindre and his kinsmen, who dwelt
+on Nida's plains in the happy domain of the lower world (Voelusp., Nos.
+93, 94). According to the account given in Gylfaginning, ch. 37, Loke
+meets Sindre's brother Brok, and wagers his head that Sindre cannot make
+treasures as good as the above-named gifts from Ivalde's sons to the
+Asas. Sindre then made in his smithy the golden boar for Frey, the ring
+Draupner for Odin, from which eight gold rings of equal weight drop
+every ninth night, and the incomparable hammer Mjolner for Thor. When
+the treasures were finished, Loke cunningly gets the gods to assemble
+for the purpose of deciding whether or not he has forfeited his head.
+The gods cannot, of course, decide this without at the same time passing
+judgment on the gifts of Sindre and those of Ivalde's sons, and showing
+that one group of artists is inferior to the other. And this is done.
+Sindre's treasures are preferred, and thus the sons of Ivalde are
+declared to be inferior in comparison. But at the same time Sindre
+fails, through the decision of the gods, to get the prize agreed on.
+Both groups of artists are offended by the decision.
+
+Gylfaginning does not inform us whether the sons of Ivalde accepted the
+decision with satisfaction or anger, or whether any noteworthy
+consequences followed or not. An entirely similar judgment is mentioned
+in Rigveda (see No. 111). The judgment there has the most important
+consequences: hatred toward the artists who were victorious, and toward
+the gods who were the judges, takes possession of the ancient artist who
+was defeated, and nature is afflicted with great suffering. That the
+Teutonic mythology has described similar results of the decision shall
+be demonstrated in this work.
+
+Just as in the names _Alveig_ and _Almveig_, _Bil-roest_ and _Bifroest_,
+_Arinbjoern_ and _Grjotbjorn_, so also in the name _Ivaldi_ or _Ivaldr_,
+the latter part of the word forms the permanent part, corresponding to
+the Old English Valdere, the German Walther, the Latinised
+Waltharius.[14]
+
+The former part of the word may change without any change as to the
+person indicated: _Ivaldi_, _Allvaldi_, _Oelvaldi_, _Audvaldi_, may be
+names of one and the same person. Of these variations _Ivaldi_ and
+_Allvaldi_ are in their sense most closely related, for the prefix I
+(_Id_) and _All_ may interchange in the language without the least
+change in the meaning. Compare _all-likr_, _ilikr_, and _idglikr_;
+_all-litill_ and _ilitill_; _all-nog_, _ignog_ and _idgnog_. On the
+other hand, the prefixes in _Oelvaldi_ and _Audvaldi_ produce different
+meanings of the compound word. But the records give most satisfactory
+evidence that _Oelvaldi_ and _Audvaldi_ nevertheless are the same person
+as _Allvaldi_ (Ivaldi). Thjasse's father is called in Harbardsljod (19)
+_Allvaldi_; in the Younger Edda (i. 214) _Oelvaldi_ and _Audvaldi_. He
+has three sons, Ide, Gang, also called Urner (the Grotte-song), and the
+just-named Thjasse, who are the famous ancient artists, "the sons of
+Ivalde" (_Ivalda synir_). We here point this out in passing. Complete
+statement and proof of this fact, so important from a mythological
+standpoint, will be given in Nos. 113, 114, 115.
+
+Nor is it long before it becomes apparent what the consequences are of
+the decision pronounced by the Asas on Loke's advice upon the treasures
+presented to the gods. The sons of Ivalde regarded it as a mortal
+offence, born of the ingratitude of the gods. Loke, the originator of
+the scheme, is caught in the snares laid by Thjasse in a manner fully
+described in Thjodolf's poem "Haustlaung," and to regain his liberty he
+is obliged to assist him (Thjasse) in carrying Idun away from Asgard.
+
+[Illustration: GIANT THJASSE, IN THE GUISE OF AN EAGLE, CARRIES OFF LOKE.
+
+(_From an etching by Lorenz Froelich._)
+
+Thjasse was known as the storm-giant who having been born in deformity
+was ever seeking golden apples from Idun to cure his ugliness. Upon one
+occasion assuming the form of an eagle he interrupted a feast of Odin,
+Honer and Loke and when the latter attempted to strike the voracious
+bird with a stake found himself fastened to both stake and eagle and was
+borne away shrieking for mercy. Thjasse promised to release Loke if he
+would bring to him Idun and her golden apples. Loke in fulfillment of
+his promise beguiled Idun out of Asgard whereupon Thjasse in the form of
+an eagle seized the goddess in his talons and bore her away to his
+castle, Thrymheim. He was soon afterwards killed by the gods, and Idun
+was released.]
+
+Idun, who possesses "the Asas' remedy against old age," and keeps the
+apples which symbolise the ever-renewing and rejuvenating force of
+nature, is carried away by Thjasse to a part of the world inaccessible
+to the gods. The gods grow old, and winter extends its power more and
+more beyond the limits prescribed for it in creation. Thjasse, who
+before was the friend of the gods, is now their irreconcilable foe. He
+who was the promoter of growth and the benefactor of nature--for Sif's
+golden locks, and Skidbladner, belonging to the god of fertility,
+doubtless are symbols thereof--is changed into "the mightiest foe of
+earth," _dolg ballastan vallar_ (Haustl., 6), and has wholly assumed the
+nature of a giant.
+
+At the same time, with the approach of the great winter, a terrible
+earthquake takes place, the effects of which are felt even in heaven.
+The myth in regard to this is explained in No. 81. In this explanation
+the reader will find that the great earthquake in primeval time is
+caused by Thjasse's kinswomen on his mother's side (the
+Grotte-song)--that is, by the giantesses Fenja and Menja, who turned the
+enormous world-mill, built on the foundations of the lower world, and
+working in the depths of the sea, the prototype of the mill of the
+Grotte-song composed in Christian times; that the world-mill has a
+_moendull_, the mill-handle, which sweeps the uttermost rim of the earth,
+with which handle not only the mill-stone but also the starry heavens
+are made to whirl round; and that when the mill was put in so violent a
+motion by the angry giantesses that it got out of order, then the starry
+constellations were also disturbed. The ancient terrible winter and the
+inclination of the axis of heaven have in the myth been connected, and
+these again with the close of the golden age. The mill had up to this
+time ground gold, happiness, peace, and good-will among men; henceforth
+it grinds salt and dust.
+
+The winter must of course first of all affect those people who inhabited
+the extensive Svithiod north of the original country and over which
+another kinsman of Heimdal, the first of the race of Skilfings or
+Ynglings, ruled. This kinsman of Heimdal has an important part in the
+mythology, and thereof we shall give an account in Nos. 89, 91, 110,
+113-115, and 123. It is there found that he is the same as Ivalde, who,
+with a giantess, begot the illegitimate children Ide, Urner, and
+Thjasse. Already before his sons he became the foe of the gods, and from
+Svithiod now proceeds, in connection with the spreading of the
+fimbul-winter, a migration southward, the work at the same time of the
+Skilfings and the primeval artists. The list of dwarfs in Voeluspa has
+preserved the record of this in the strophe about the artist migration
+from the rocks of the hall (_Salar steinar_) and from Svarin's mound
+situated in the north (the Voeluspa strophe quoted in the Younger Edda;
+cp. Saxo., _Hist._, 32, 33, and Helg. Hund., i. 31, ii. to str. 14). The
+attack is directed against _aurvanga sjoet_, the land of the clayey
+plains, and the assailants do not stop before they reach _Joeruvalla_ the
+Jara plains, which name is still applied to the south coast of
+Scandinavia (see No. 32). In the pedigree of these emigrants--
+
+    their er sottu
+    fra Salar steina (or Svarins haugi)
+    aurvanga sjot
+    til Joeruvalla--
+
+occur the names _Alfr_ and _Yngvi_, who have Skilfing names; _Fjalarr_,
+who is Ivalde's ally and Odin's enemy (see No. 89); _Finnr_, which is
+one of the several names of Ivalde himself (see No. 123); _Frosti_, who
+symbolises cold; _Skirfir_, a name which points to the Skilfings; and
+_Virfir_, whom Saxo (_Hist. Dan._, 178, 179) speaks of as _Huyrvillus_,
+and the Icelandic records as _Virvill_ and _Vifill_ (Fornalders. ii. 8;
+Younger Edda, i. 548). In Fornalders. Vifill is an emigration leader who
+married to Loge's daughter _Eymyrja_ (a metaphor for fire--Younger Edda,
+ii. 570), betakes himself from the far North and takes possession of an
+island on the Swedish coast. That this island is Oland is clear from
+Saxo, 178, where Huyrvillus is called _Holandiae princeps_. At the same
+time a brother-in-law of Virfir takes possession of Bornholm, and
+Gotland is colonised by Thjelvar (_Thjalfi_ of the myth), who is the son
+of Thjasse's brother (see Nos. 113, 114, 115). _Virfir_ is allied with
+the sons of _Finnr_ (_Fyn_--Saxo, _Hist._, 178). The saga concerning the
+emigration of the Longobardians is also connected with the myth about
+Thjasse and his kinsmen (see Nos. 112-115).
+
+From all this it appears that a series of emigration and colonisation
+tales have their origin in the myth concerning the fimbul-winter caused
+by Thjasse and concerning the therewith connected attack by the
+Skilfings and Thjasse's kinsmen on South Scandinavia, that is, on the
+clayey plains near Jaravall, where the second son of Heimdal,
+Skjold-Borgar, rules. It is the remembrance of this migration from north
+to south which forms the basis of all the Teutonic middle-age migration
+sagas. The migration saga of the Goths, as Jordanes heard it, makes them
+emigrate from Scandinavia under the leadership of Berig. (_Ex hac igitur
+Scandza insula quasi officina gentium aut certe velut vagina nationum
+cum rege suo Berig Gothi quondam memorantur egressi--De Goth. Orig., c.
+4. Meminisse debes, me de Scandzae insulae gremio Gothos dixisse egressos
+cum Berich suo rege_--c. 17.) The name Berig, also written Berich and
+Berigo, is the same as the German Berker, Berchtung, and indicates the
+same person as the Norse _Borgarr_. With Berig is connected the race of
+the Amalians; with Borgar the memory of Hamal (Amala), who is the
+foster-brother of Borgar's son (cp. No. 28 with Helge Hund., ii.). Thus
+the emigration of the Goths is in the myth a result of the fate
+experienced by Borgar and his people in their original country. And as
+the Swedes constituted the northernmost Teutonic branch, they were the
+ones who, on the approach of the fimbul-winter, were the first that were
+compelled to surrender their abodes and secure more southern
+habitations. This also appears from saga fragments which have been
+preserved; and here, but not in the circumstances themselves, lies the
+explanation of the statements, according to which the Swedes forced
+Scandinavian tribes dwelling farther south to emigrate. Jordanes (c. 3)
+claims that the Herulians were driven from their abode in Scandza by the
+Svithidians, and that the Danes are of Svithidian origin--in other
+words, that an older Teutonic population in Denmark was driven south,
+and that Denmark was repeopled by emigrants from Sweden. And in the
+Norse sagas themselves, the centre of gravity, as we have seen, is
+continually being moved farther to the south. Heimdal, under the name
+Scef-Skelfir, comes to the original inhabitants in Scania. Borgar, his
+son, becomes a ruler there, but founds, under the name Skjold, the royal
+dynasty of the Skjoldungs in Denmark. With Scef and Skjold the Wessex
+royal family of Saxon origin is in turn connected, and thus the royal
+dynasty of the Goths is again connected with the Skjold who emigrated
+from Scandza, and who is identical with Borgar. And finally there
+existed in Saxo's time mythic traditions or songs which related that all
+the present Germany came under the power of the Teutons who emigrated
+with Borgar; that, in other words, the emigration from the North carried
+with it the hegemony of Teutonic tribes over other tribes which before
+them inhabited Germany. Saxo says of Skjold-Borgar that _omnem
+Alamannorum gentem tributaria ditione perdomuit_; that is, "he made the
+whole race of Alamanni tributary." The name Alamanni is in this case not
+to be taken in an ethnographical but in a geographical sense. It means
+the people who were rulers in Germany before the immigration of Teutons
+from the North.
+
+From this we see that migration traditions remembered by Teutons beneath
+Italian and Icelandic skies, on the islands of Great Britain and on the
+German continent, in spite of their wide diffusion and their separation
+in time, point to a single root: to the myth concerning the primeval
+artists and their conflict with the gods; to the robbing of Idun and the
+fimbul-winter which was the result.
+
+The myth makes the gods themselves to be seized by terror at the fate of
+the world, and Mimer makes arrangements to save all that is best and
+purest on earth for an expected regeneration of the world. At the very
+beginning of the fimbul-winter Mimer opens in his subterranean grove of
+immortality an asylum, closed against all physical and spiritual evil,
+for the two children of men, Lif and Lifthrasir (Vafthr., 45), who are
+to be the parents of a new race of men (see Nos. 52, 53).
+
+The war begun in Borgar's time for the possession of the ancient country
+continues under his son Halfdan, who reconquers it for a time, invades
+Svithiod, and repels Thjasse and his kinsmen (see Nos. 32, 33).
+
+[Footnote 14: Elsewhere it shall be shown that the heroes mentioned in
+the middle age poetry under the names Valdere, Walther, Waltharius
+manufortis, and Valthere of Vaskasten are all variations of the name of
+the same mythic type changed into a human hero, and the same, too, as
+Ivalde of the Norse documents (see No. 123).]
+
+
+                             29.
+
+       EVIDENCE THAT HALFDAN IS IDENTICAL WITH HELGE
+                       HUNDINGSBANE.
+
+
+The main outlines of Halfdan's saga reappears related as history, and
+more or less blended with foreign elements, in Saxo's accounts of the
+kings Gram, Halfdan Berggram, and Halfdan Borgarson (see No. 23).
+Contributions to the saga are found in Hyndluljod (str. 14, 15, 16) and
+in Skaldskaparmal (Younger Edda, i. 516 ff.), in what they tell about
+Halfdan Skjoldung and Halfdan the Old. The juvenile adventures of the
+hero have, with some modifications, furnished the materials for both
+the songs about Helge Hundingsbane, with which Saxo's story of Helgo
+Hundingicida (_Hist._, 80-110) and Volsungasaga's about Helge Sigmundson
+are to be compared. The Grotte-song also (str. 22) identifies Helge
+Hundingsbane with Halfdan.
+
+For the history of the origin of the existing heroic poems from mythic
+sources, of their relation to these and to each other, it is important
+to get the original identity of the hero-myth, concerning Halfdan and
+the heroic poems concerning Helge Hundingsbane, fixed on a firm
+foundation. The following parallels suffice to show that this Helge is a
+later time's reproduction of the mythic Halfdan:
+
+    Halfdan-Gram, sent on a                Helge Hundingsbane, sent
+    warlike expedition, meets              on a warlike expedition,
+    Groa, who is mounted on                meets Sigrun, who is mounted
+    horseback and accompanied              on horseback and is accompanied
+    by other women on horseback            by other women
+    (Saxo, 26, 27).                        on horseback (Helge Hund.,
+                                           i. 16; Volsungasaga, c. 9).
+
+    The meeting takes place in             The meeting takes place in
+    a forest (Saxo, 26).                   a forest (Vols., c. 9).
+
+    Halfdan-Gram is on the                 Helge is on the occasion
+    occasion completely wrapped            disguised. He speaks fra
+    in the skin of a wild beast, so        ulfidi "from a wolf guise"
+    that even his face is concealed        (Helge Hund., i. 16), which
+    (Saxo, 26).                            expression finds its
+                                           interpretation
+                                           in Saxo, where Halfdan
+                                           appears wrapped in the
+                                           skin of a wild beast.
+
+    Conversation is begun between          Conversation is begun between
+    Halfdan-Gram and                       Helge and Sigrun.
+    Groa. Halfdan pretends to be           Helge pretends to be a person
+    a person who is his brother-at-arms    who is his foster-brother
+    (Saxo, 27).                             (Helge Hund., ii. 6).
+
+      Groa asks Halfdan-Gram:              Sigrun asks Helge:
+        Quis, rogo, vestrum                  Hverir lata fljota
+        dirigit agmen,                       fley vid backa,
+        quo duce signa                       hvar hermegir
+        bellica fertis?                      heima eigud?
+                  (Saxo, 27.)                   (Helge Hund., ii. 5.)
+
+    Halfdan-Gram invites Groa              Helge invites Sigrun to
+    to accompany him. At first             accompany him. At first the
+    the invitation is refused              invitation is rebuked (Helge
+    (Saxo, 27).                            Hund., i. 16, 17).
+
+    Groa's father had already              Sigrun's father had already
+    given her hand to another              promised her to another
+    (Saxo, 26).                            (Helge Hund., i. 18).
+
+    Halfdan-Gram explains                  Helge explains that this
+    that this rival ought not to           rival should not cause them to
+    cause them to fear (Saxo, 28).         fear (Helge Hund., i., ii.).
+
+    Halfdan-Gram makes war                 Helge makes war on Sigrun's
+    on Groa's father, on his rival,        father, on his rival, and
+    and on the kinsmen of the latter       on the kinsmen of the latter
+    (Saxo, 32).                            (Helge Hund., i., ii.).
+
+    Halfdan-Gram slays Groa's              Helge kills Sigrun's father
+    father and betrothed, and              and suitors, and many heroes
+    many heroes who belonged to            who were the brothers or
+    his circle of kinsmen or were          allies of his rival (Helge
+    subject to him (Saxo, 32).             Hund., ii.).
+
+    Halfdan-Gram marries Groa              Helge marries Sigrun (Helge
+    (Saxo, 33).                            Hund., i. 56).
+
+    Halfdan-Gram conquers a                Helge conquers Ring's sons
+    king Ring (Saxo, 32).                  (Helge Hund., i. 52).
+
+    Borgar's son has defeated              Helge has slain king Hunding,
+    and slain king Hunding                 and thus gotten the
+    (Saxo, 362; cp. Saxo, 337).            name Hundingsbane (Helge
+                                           Hund., i. 10).
+
+    Halfdan-Gram has felled                Helge's rival and the many
+    Svarin and many of his brothers.       brothers of the latter dwell
+    Svarin was viceroy under               around Svarin's grave-mound.
+    Groa's father (Saxo, 32).              They are allies or subjects of
+                                           Sigrun's father.
+
+    Halfdan-Gram is slain by               Helge is slain by Dag, who
+    Svipdag, who is armed with             is armed with an Asgard
+    an Asgard weapon (Saxo, 34,            weapon (Helge Hund., ii.).
+    to be compared with other
+    sources. See Nos. 33, 98, 101,
+    103).
+
+    Halfdan-Berggram's father              Helge's father was slain by
+    is slain by his brother Frode,         his brother Frode, who took
+    who took his kingdom (Saxo,            his kingdom (Rolf Krake's
+    320).                                  saga).
+
+    Halfdan Berggram and his               Helge and his brother were
+    brother were in their childhood        in their childhood protected
+    protected by Regno                     by Regin (Rolf Krake's saga).
+    (Saxo, 320).
+
+    Halfdan Berggram and his               Helge and his brothers
+    brother burnt Frode to death           burnt Frode to death in his
+    in his house (Saxo, 323).              house (Rolf Krake's saga).
+
+    Halfdan Berggram as a                  Helge Hundingsbane as a
+    youth left the kingdom to his          youth left the kingdom to his
+    brother and went warfaring             brother and went warfaring
+    (Saxo, 320 ff).                        (Saxo, 80).
+
+    During Halfdan's absence               During Helge Hundingsbane's
+    Denmark is attacked by an              absence Denmark is attacked
+    enemy, who conquers his                by an enemy, who conquers
+    brother in three battles and           his brother in three
+    slays him in a fourth (Saxo,           battles and slays him in a
+    325).                                  fourth (Saxo, 82).
+
+    Halfdan, the descendant of             Helge Hundingsbane became
+    Scef and Scyld, becomes the            the father of Rolf
+    father of Rolf (Beowulf                (Saxo, 83; compare Rolf
+    poem).                                 Krake's saga).
+
+    Halfdan had a son with his             Helge Hundingsbane had a
+    own sister Yrsa (Grotte-song,          son with his own sister Ursa
+    22; mon Yrsu sonr vid Half-dana        (Saxo, 82). The son was Rolf
+    hefna Froda; sa mun                    (compare Rolf Krake's saga).
+    hennar heitinn vertha boerr oc
+    brothir).
+
+A glance at these parallels is sufficient to remove every doubt that the
+hero in the songs concerning Helge Hundingsbane is originally the same
+mythic person as is celebrated in the song or songs from which Saxo
+gathered his materials concerning the kings, Gram Skjoldson, Halfdan
+Berggram, and Halfdan Borgarson. It is the ancient myth in regard to
+Halfdan, the son of Skjold-Borgar, which myth, after the introduction of
+Christianity in Scandinavia, is divided into two branches, of which the
+one continues to be the saga of this patriarch, while the other utilises
+the history of his youth and transforms it into a new saga, that of
+Helge Hundingsbane. In Saxo's time, and long before him, this division
+into two branches had already taken place. How this younger branch,
+Helge Hundingsbane's saga, was afterwards partly appropriated by the
+all-absorbing Sigurdsaga and became connected with it in an external and
+purely genealogical manner, and partly did itself appropriate (as in
+Saxo) the old Danish local tradition about Rolf, the illegitimate son of
+Halfdan Skjoldung, and, in fact, foreign to his pedigree; how it got
+mixed with the saga about an evil Frode and his stepsons, a saga with
+which it formerly had no connection;--all these are questions which I
+shall discuss fully in a second part of this work, and in a separate
+treatise on the heroic sagas. For the present, my task is to show what
+influence this knowledge of Halfdan and Helge Hundingsbane's identity
+has upon the interpretation of the myth concerning the antiquity of the
+Teutons.
+
+
+                                 30.
+
+           HALFDAN'S BIRTH AND THE END OF THE AGE OF PEACE.
+             THE FAMILY NAMES YLFING, HILDING, BUDLUNG.
+
+
+The first strophes of the first song of Helge Hundingsbane distinguish
+themselves in tone and character and broad treatment from the
+continuation of the song, and have clearly belonged to a genuine old
+mythic poem about Halfdan, and without much change the compiler of the
+Helge Hundingsbane song has incorporated them into his poem. They
+describe Halfdan's ("Helge Hundingsbane's") birth. The real mythic names
+of his parents, Borgar and Drott, have been retained side by side with
+the names given by the compiler, Sigmund and Borghild.
+
+    Ar var alda;                It was time's morning,
+    that er arar gullo,         eagles screeched,
+    hnigo heilog votn           holy waters fell
+    af himinfjollum;            from the heavenly mountains.
+    tha hafthi Helga            Then was the mighty
+    inn hugom stora             Helge born
+    Borghildr borit             by Borghild
+    i Bralundi.                 in Bralund.
+
+    Nott varth i boe,           It was night,
+    nornir qvomo,               norns came,
+    ther er authlingi           they who did shape
+    aldr urn scopo;             the fate of the nobleman;
+    thann batho fylci           they proclaimed him
+    fraegstan vertha             best among Budlungs,
+    oc buthlunga                and most famed
+    beztan ticcia.              among princes.
+
+    Snero ther af afli          With all their might the threads
+    aurlaugthatto,              of fate they twisted,
+    tha er Borgarr braut        when Borgar settled
+    i Bralundi;                 in Bralund;
+    ther um greiddo             of gold they made
+    gullin simo                 the warp of the web,
+    oc und manasal              and fastened it directly
+    mithian festo.              'neath the halls of the moon.
+
+    ther austr oc vestr         In the east and west
+    enda falo:                  they hid the ends:
+    thar atti lofdungr          there between
+    land a milli;               the chief should rule;
+    bra nipt Nera               Nere's[15] kinswoman
+    a nordrevega                northward sent
+    einni festi                 one thread and bade it
+    ey bath hon halda.          hold for ever.
+
+    Eitt var at angri           One cause there was
+    Ylfinga nith                of alarm to the Yngling (Borgar),
+    oc theirre meyio            and also for her
+    er nunuth faeddi;            who bore the loved one.
+    hrafn gvath at hrafni       Hungry cawed
+    --sat a ham meithi          raven to raven
+    andvanr ato:--              in the high tree:
+    "Ec veit noccoth!           "Hear what I know!
+
+    "Stendr i brynio            "In coat of mail
+    burr Sigmundar,             stands Sigmund's son,
+    doegrs eins gamall,         one day old,
+    nu er dagr kominn;          now the day is come;
+    hversir augo                sharp eyes of the Hildings
+    sem hildingar,              has he, and the wolves'
+    sa er varga vinr,           friend he becomes,
+    vith scolom teitir."        We shall thrive."
+
+    Drott thotti sa             Drott, it is said, saw
+    dauglingr vera              In him a dayling,[16]
+    quado meth gumnom           saying, "Now are good seasons
+    god-ar kominn;              come among men;"
+    sialfr gecc visi            to the young lord
+    or vig thrimo               from thunder-strife
+    ungum faera                  came the chief himself
+    itrlauc grami.              with a glorious flower.
+
+Halfdan's ("Helge Hundingsbane's") birth occurs, according to the
+contents of these strophes, when two epochs meet. His arrival announces
+the close of the peaceful epoch and the beginning of an age of strife,
+which ever since has reigned in the world. His significance in this
+respect is distinctly manifest in the poem. The raven, to whom the
+battle-field will soon be as a wellspread table, is yet suffering from
+hunger (_andvanr atu_); but from the high tree in which it sits, it has
+on the day after the birth of the child, presumably through the window,
+seen the newcomer, and discovered that he possessed "the sharp eyes of
+the Hildings," and with prophetic vision it has already seen him clad in
+coat of mail. It proclaims its discovery to another raven in the same
+tree, and foretells that theirs and the age of the wolves has come: "We
+shall thrive."
+
+The parents of the child heard and understood what the raven said.
+Among the runes which Heimdal, Borgar's father, taught him, and which
+the son of the latter in time learned, are the knowledge of bird-speech
+(_Konr ungr kloek nam fugla_--Rigsthula, 43, 44). The raven's appearance
+in the song of Helge Hundingsbane is to be compared with its relative
+the crow in Rigsthula; the one foretells that the new-born one's path of
+life lies over battle-fields, the other urges the grown man to turn away
+from his peaceful amusements. Important in regard to a correct
+understanding of the song, and characteristic of the original relation
+of the strophes quoted to the myth concerning primeval time, is the
+circumstance that Halfdan's ("Helge Hundingsbane's") parents are not
+pleased with the prophecies of the raven; on the contrary they are
+filled with alarm. Former interpreters have been surprised at this. It
+has seemed to them that the prophecy of the lad's future heroic and
+blood-stained career ought, in harmony with the general spirit pervading
+the old Norse literature, to have awakened the parents' joy and pride.
+But the matter is explained by the mythic connection which makes
+Borgars' life constitute the transition period from a happy and peaceful
+golden age to an age of warfare. With all their love of strife and
+admiration for warlike deeds, the Teutons still were human, and shared
+with all other people the opinion that peace and harmony is something
+better and more desirable than war and bloodshed. Like their Aryan
+kinsmen, they dreamed of primeval _Saturnia regna_, and looked forward
+to a regeneration which is to restore the reign of peace. Borgar, in the
+myth, established the community, was the legislator and judge. He was
+the hero of peaceful deeds, who did not care to employ weapons except
+against wild beasts and robbers. But the myth had also equipped him with
+courage and strength, the necessary qualities for inspiring respect and
+interest, and had given him abundant opportunity for exhibiting these
+qualities in the promotion of culture and the maintenance of the
+sacredness of the law. Borgar was the Hercules of the northern myth, who
+fought with the gigantic beasts and robbers of the olden time. Saxo
+(_Hist._, 23) has preserved the traditions which tell how he at one time
+fought breast to breast with a giant bear, conquering him and bringing
+him fettered into his own camp.
+
+As is well known, the family names Ylfings, Hildings, Budlungs, &c.,
+have in the poems of the Christian skalds lost their specific
+application to certain families, and are applied to royal and princely
+warriors in general. This is in perfect analogy with the Christian
+Icelandic poetry, according to which it is proper to take the name of
+any viking, giant, or dwarf, and apply it to any special viking, giant,
+or dwarf, a poetic principle which scholars even of our time claim can
+also be applied in the interpretation of the heathen poems. In regard to
+the old Norse poets this method is, however, as impossible as it would
+be in Greek poetry to call Odysseus a Peleid, or Achilleus a Laertiatid,
+or Prometheus Hephaestos, or Hephaestos Daedalos. The poems concerning
+Helge Hundingsbane are compiled in Christian times from old songs about
+Borgar's son Halfdan, and we find that the patronymic appellations
+Ylfing, Hilding, Budlung, and Lofdung are copiously strewn on "Helge
+Hundingsbane." But, so far as the above-quoted strophes are concerned,
+it can be shown that the appellations Ylfing, Hilding, and Budlung are
+in fact old usage and have a mythic foundation. The German poem
+"Wolfdieterich und Sabin" calls Berchtung (Borgar) Potelung--that is,
+Budlung; the poem "Wolfdieterich" makes Berchtung the progenitor of the
+Hildings, and adds: "From the same race the Ylfings have come to
+us"--_von dem selbe geslehte sint uns die wilfinge kumen_ (v. 223).
+
+Saxo mentions the Hilding Hildeger as Halfdan's half-brother, and the
+traditions on which the saga of Asmund Kaempebane is based has done the
+same (compare No. 43). The agreement in this point between German,
+Danish, and Icelandic statements points to an older source common to
+them all, and furnishes an additional proof that the German Berchtung
+occupied in the mythic genaelogies precisely the same place as the Norse
+Borgar.
+
+That Thor is one of Halfdan's fathers, just as Heimdal is one of
+Borgar's, has already been pointed out above (see No. 25). To a divine
+common fatherhood point the words: "Drott it is said, saw in him (the
+lad just born) a dayling (son of a god of light), a son divine." Who the
+divine partner-father is, is indicated by the fact that a storm has
+broken out the night when Drott's son is born. There is a thunder-strife
+_vig thrimo_, the eagles screech, and holy waters fall from the heavenly
+mountains (from the clouds). The god of thunder is present, and casts
+his shadow over the house where the child is born.
+
+[Footnote 15: Urd, the chief goddess of fate. See the treatise "Mythen
+om Under-jorden."]
+
+[Footnote 16: _Dayling_ = bright son of day or light.]
+
+
+                              31.
+
+             HALFDAN'S CHARACTER. THE WEAPON-MYTH.
+
+
+The myths and heroic poems are not wanting in ideal heroes, who are
+models of goodness of heart, justice, and the most sensitive nobleness.
+Such are, for example, the Asa-god Balder, his counter part among
+heroes, Helge Hjorvardson, Beowulf, and, to a certain degree also,
+Sigurd Fafnesbane. Halfdan did not belong to this group. His part in the
+myth is to be the personal representative of the strife-age that came
+with him, of an age when the inhabitants of the earth are visited by the
+great winter and by dire misfortunes, when the demoralisation of the
+world has begun along with disturbances in nature and when the words
+already are applicable, "_hart er i heimi_" (hard is the world). Halfdan
+is guilty of the abduction of a woman--the old custom of taking a maid
+from her father by violence or cunning is illustrated in his saga. It
+follows, however, that the myth at the same time embellished him with
+qualities which made him a worthy Teutonic patriarch, and attractive to
+the hearers of the songs concerning him. These qualities are, besides
+the necessary strength and courage, the above-mentioned knowledge of
+runes, wherein he even surpasses his father (Rigsth.), great skaldic
+gifts (Saxo, _Hist._, 325), a liberality which makes him love to strew
+gold about him (Helge Hund., i. 9), and an extraordinary, fascinating
+physical beauty--which is emphasised by Saxo (_Hist._, 30), and which is
+also evident from the fact that the Teutonic myth makes him, as the
+Greek myth makes Achilleus, on one occasion don a woman's attire, and
+resemble a valkyrie in this guise (Helge Hund., ii.). No doubt the myth
+also described him as the model of a faithful foster-brother in his
+relations to the silent Hamal, who externally was so like him that the
+one could easily be taken for the other (cp. Helge Hund., ii. 1, 6). In
+all cases it is certain that the myth made the foster-brotherhood
+between Halfdan and Hamal the basis of the unfailing fidelity with which
+Hamal's descendants, the Amalians, cling to the son of Halfdan's
+favourite Hadding, and support his cause even amid the most difficult
+circumstances (see Nos. 42, 43). The abduction of a woman by Halfdan is
+founded in the physical interpretation of the myth, and can thus be
+justified. The wife he takes by force is the goddess of vegetation,
+Groa, and he does it because her husband Orvandel has made a compact
+with the powers of frost (see Nos. 33, 38, 108, 109).
+
+There are indications that our ancestors believed the sword to be a
+later invention than the other kinds of weapons, and that it was from
+the beginning under a curse. The first and most important of all
+sword-smiths was, according to the myth, Thjasse,[17] who accordingly is
+called _fadir moerna_, the father of the swords (Haustlaung, Younger
+Edda, 306). The best sword made by him is intended to make way for the
+destruction of the gods (see Nos. 33, 98, 101, 103). After various
+fortunes it comes into the possession of Frey, but is of no service to
+Asgard. It is given to the parents of the giantess Gerd, and in Ragnarok
+it causes the death of Frey.
+
+Halfdan had two swords, which his mother's father, for whom they were
+made, had buried in the earth, and his mother long kept the place of
+concealment secret from him. The first time he uses one of them he slays
+in a duel his noble half-brother Hildeger, fighting on the side of the
+Skilfings, without knowing who he is (cp. Saxo, _Hist._, 351, 355, 356,
+with Asmund Kaempebane's saga). Cursed swords are several times mentioned
+in the sagas.
+
+Halfdan's weapon, which he wields successfully in advantageous exploits,
+is in fact, the club (Saxo, _Hist._, 26, 31, 323, 353). That the
+Teutonic patriarch's favourite weapon is the club, not the sword; that
+the latter, later, in his hand, sheds the blood of a kinsman; and that
+he himself finally is slain by the sword forged by Thjasse, and that,
+too, in conflict with a son (the stepson Svipdag--see below), I regard
+as worthy of notice from the standpoint of the views cherished during
+some of the centuries of the Teutonic heathendom in regard to the
+various age and sacredness of the different kinds of weapons. That the
+sword also at length was looked upon as sacred is plain from the fact
+that it was adopted and used by the Asa-gods. In Ragnarok, Vidar is to
+avenge his father with a _hjoerr_ and pierce Fafner's heart (_Voeluspa_).
+_Hjoerr_ may, it is true, also mean a missile, but still it is probable
+that it, in Vidar's hand, means a sword. The oldest and most sacred
+weapons were the spear, the hammer, the club, and the axe. The spear
+which, in the days of Tacitus, and much later, was the chief weapon both
+for foot-soldiers and cavalry in the Teutonic armies, is wielded by the
+Asa-father himself, whose Gungner was forged for him by Ivalde's sons
+before the dreadful enmity between the gods and them had begun.
+
+The hammer is Thor's most sacred weapon. Before Sindre forged one for
+him of iron (Gylfaginning), he wielded a hammer of stone. This is
+evident from the very name _hamarr_, a rock, a stone. The club is, as we
+have seen, the weapon of the Teutonic patriarch, and is wielded side by
+side with Thor's hammer in the conflict with the powers of frost. The
+battle-axe belonged to Njord. This is evident from the metaphors found
+in the Younger Edda, p. 346, and in Islend. Saga, 9. The mythological
+kernel in the former metaphor is _Njoerdrklauf Herjan's hurdir_, _i.e._,
+"_Njord_ cleaved Odin's gates" (when the Vans conquered Asgard); in the
+other the battle-axe is called _Gaut's megin-hurdar galli_, _i.e._, "the
+destroyer of Odin's great gate." The bow is a weapon employed by the
+Asa-gods _Hoedr_ and _Ullr_, but Balder is slain by a shot from the bow,
+and the chief archer of the myth is, as we shall see, not an Asa-god,
+but a brother of Thjasse. (Further discussion of the weapon-myth will be
+found in No. 39.)
+
+[Footnote 17: Proofs of Thjasse's original identity with Volund are
+given in Nos. 113-115.]
+
+
+                                 32.
+
+             HALFDAN'S CONFLICTS INTERPRETED AS MYTHS OF
+            NATURE. THE WAR WITH THE HEROES FROM SVARIN'S
+                MOUND. HALFDAN'S MARRIAGE WITH DISES
+                           OF VEGETATION.
+
+
+In regard to the significance of the conflicts awaiting Halfdan, and
+occupying his whole life, when interpreted as myths of nature, we must
+remember that he inherits from his father the duty of stopping the
+progress southward of the giant-world's wintry agents, the kinsmen of
+Thjasse, and of the Skilfing (Yngling) tribes dwelling in the north. The
+migration sagas have, as we have seen, shown that Borgar and his people
+had to leave the original country and move south to Denmark, Saxland,
+and to those regions on the other side of the Baltic in which the Goths
+settled. For a time the original country is possessed by the conquerors
+who according to Voeluspa, "from Svarin's Mound attacked and took
+(_sotti_) the clayey plains as far as Jaravall." But Halfdan represses
+them. That the words quoted from Voeluspa really refer to the same mythic
+persons with whom Halfdan afterwards fights is proved by the fact that
+Svarin and Svarin's Mound are never named in our documents except in
+connection with Halfdan's saga. In Saxo it is Halfdan-Gram who slays
+Svarin and his numerous brothers; in the saga of "Helge Hundingsbane" it
+is again Halfdan, under the name Helge, who attacks tribes dwelling
+around Svarin's Mound, and conquers them. To this may be added, that the
+compiler of the first song about Helge Hundingsbane borrowed from the
+saga-original, on which the song is based, names which point to the
+Voeluspa strophe concerning the attack on the south Scandinavian plains.
+In the category of names, or the genealogy of the aggressors, occur, as
+has been shown already, the Skilfing names Alf and Yngve. Thus also in
+the Helge-song's list of persons with whom the conflict is waged in the
+vicinity of Svarin's Mound. In the Voe1uspa's list Moinn is mentioned
+among the aggressors (in the variation in the Prose Edda); in the
+Helge-song, strophe 46, it is said that Helge-Halfdan fought _a
+Moinsheimom_ against his brave foes, whom he afterwards slew in the
+battle around Svarin's Mound. In the Voeluspa's list is named among the
+aggressors one _Haugspori_, "the one spying from the mound"; in the
+Helge-song is mentioned _Sporvitnir_, who from Svarin's Mound watches
+the forces of Helge-Halfdan advancing. I have already (No. 28B), pointed
+out several other names which occur in the Voeluspa list, and whose
+connection with the myth concerning the artists, frost-giants, and
+Skilfings of antiquity and their attack on the original country, can be
+shown.
+
+The physical significance of Halfdan's conflicts and adventures is
+apparent also from the names of the women, whom the saga makes him
+marry. Groa (grow), whom he robs and keeps for some time, is, as her
+very name indicates, a goddess of vegetation. Signe-Alveig, whom he
+afterwards marries, is the same. Her name signifies "the nourishing
+drink." According to Saxo she is the daughter of Sumblus, Latin for
+_Sumbl_, which means feast, ale, mead, and is a synonym for _Oelvaldi_,
+_Oelmodr_, names which belonged to the father of the Ivalde sons (see No.
+123).
+
+According to a well-supported statement in Forspjallsljod (see No. 123),
+Ivalde was the father of two groups of children. The mother of one of
+these groups is a giantess (see Nos. 113, 114, 115). With her he has
+three sons, viz., the three famous artists of antiquity--Ide,
+Gang-Urnir, and Thjasse. The mother of the other group is a goddess of
+light (see No. 123). With her he has daughters, who are goddesses of
+growth, among them Idun and Signe-Alveig. That Idun is the daughter of
+Ivalde is clear from Forspjallsljod (6), _alfa aettar Ithunni heto
+Ivallds ellri yngsta barna_.
+
+Of the names of their father _Sumbl_, _Oelvaldi_, _Oelmodr_, it may be
+said that, as nature-symbols, "oel" (ale) and "mjoed" (mead), are in the
+Teutonic mythology identical with _soma_ and _somamadhu_ in Rigveda and
+_haoma_ in Avesta, that is, they are the strength-developing, nourishing
+saps in nature. Mimer's subterranean well, from which the world-tree
+draws its nourishment, is a mead-fountain. In the poem "Haustlaung" Idun
+is called _Oelgefn_; in the same poem Groa is called _Oelgefion_. Both
+appellations refer to goddesses who give the drink of growth and
+regeneration to nature and to the gods. Thus we here have a family, the
+names and epithets of whose members characterise them as forces, active
+in the service of nature and of the god of harvests. Their names and
+epithets also point to the family bond which unites them. We have the
+group of names, _Idvaldi_, _Idi_, _Idunn_, and the group, _Oelvaldi_
+(_Oelmodr_), _Oelgefn_, and _Oelgefion_, both indicating members of the
+same family. Further on (see Nos. 113, 114, 115), proof shall be
+presented that Groa's first husband, Orvandel the brave, is one of
+Thjasse's brothers, and thus that Groa, too, was closely connected with
+this family.
+
+As we know, it is the enmity caused by Loke between the Asa-gods and the
+lower serving, yet powerful, divinities of nature belonging to the
+Ivalde group, which produces the terrible winter with its awful
+consequences for man, and particularly for the Teutonic tribes. These
+hitherto beneficent agents of growth have ceased to serve the gods, and
+have allied themselves with the frost-giants. The war waged by Halfdan
+must be regarded from this standpoint. Midgard's chief hero, the real
+Teutonic patriarch, tries to reconquer for the Teutons the country of
+which winter has robbed them. To be able to do this, he is the son of
+Thor, the divine foe of the frost-giants, and performs on the border of
+Midgard a work corresponding to that which Thor has to do in space and
+in Jotunheim. And in the same manner as Heimdal before secured
+favourable conditions of nature to the original country, by uniting the
+sun-goddess with himself through bonds of love, his grandson Halfdan now
+seeks to do the same for the Teutonic country, by robbing a hostile son
+of Ivalde, Orvandel, of his wife Groa, the growth-giver, and thereupon
+also of Alveig, the giver of the nourishing sap. A symbol of nature may
+also be found in Saxo's statement, that the king of Svithiod, Sigtrygg,
+Groa's father, could not be conquered unless Halfdan fastened a golden
+ball to his club (_Hist._, 31). The purpose of Halfdan's conflicts, the
+object which the norns particularly gave to his life, that of
+reconquering from the powers of frost the northernmost regions of the
+Teutonic territory and of permanently securing them for culture, and the
+difficulty of this task is indicated, it seems to me, in the strophes
+above quoted, which tell us that the norns fastened the woof of his
+power in the east and west, and that he from the beginning, and
+undisputed, extended the sceptre of his rule over these latitudes,
+while in regard to the northern latitudes, it is said that Nere's
+kinswoman, the chief of the norns (see Nos. 57-64, 85), cast a single
+thread in this direction and _prayed_ that it might hold for ever:
+
+    ther austr oc vestr
+    enda falo,
+    thar atti lofdungr
+    land a milli;
+    bra nipt Nera
+    a nordrvega
+    einni festi,
+    ey bath hon halda.
+
+The norns' prayer was heard. That the myth made Halfdan proceed
+victoriously to the north, even to the very starting-point of the
+emigration to the south caused by the fimbul-winter, that is to say, to
+Svarin's Mound, is proved by the statements that he slays Svarin and his
+brothers, and wins in the vicinity of Svarin's Mound the victory over
+his opponents, which was for a time decisive. His penetration into the
+north, when regarded as a nature-myth, means the restoration of the
+proper change of seasons, and the rendering of the original country and
+of Svithiod inhabitable. As far as the hero, who secured the "giver of
+growth" and the "giver of nourishing sap," succeeds with the aid of his
+father Thor to carry his weapons into the Teutonic lands destroyed by
+frost, so far spring and summer again extend the sceptre of their reign.
+The songs about Helge Hundingsbane have also preserved from the myth the
+idea that Halfdan and his forces penetrating northward by land and by
+sea are accompanied in the air by "valkyries," "goddesses from the
+south," armed with helmets, coats of mail, and shining spears, who fight
+the forces of nature that are hostile to Halfdan, and these valkyries
+are in their very nature goddesses of growth, from the manes of whose
+horses falls the dew which gives the power of growth back to the earth
+and harvests to men. (Cp. Helg. Hund., i. 15, 30; ii., the prose to v.
+5, 12, 13, with Helg. Hjoerv., 28.) On this account the Swedes, too, have
+celebrated Halfdan in their songs as their patriarch and benefactor, and
+according to Saxo they have worshipped him as a divinity, although it
+was his task to check the advance of the Skilfings to the south.
+
+Doubtless it is after this successful war that Halfdan performs the
+great sacrifice mentioned in Skaldskaparmal, ch. 64, in order that he
+may retain his royal power for three hundred years. The statement should
+be compared with what the German poems of the middle ages tell about the
+longevity of Berchtung-Borgar and other heroes of antiquity. They live
+for several centuries. But the response Halfdan gets from the powers to
+whom he sacrificed is that he shall live simply to the age of an old
+man, and that in his family there shall not for three hundred years be
+born a woman or a fameless man.
+
+
+                                 33.
+
+       REVIEW OF THE SVIPDAG MYTH AND ITS POINTS OF CONNECTION
+             WITH THE MYTH ABOUT HALFDAN (cp. No. 24).
+
+
+When Halfdan secured Groa, she was already the bride of Orvandel the
+brave, and the first son she bore in Halfdan's house was not his, but
+Orvandel's. The son's name is Svipdag. He develops into a hero who, like
+Halfdan himself, is the most brilliant and most beloved of those
+celebrated in Teutonic songs. We have devoted a special part of this
+work to him (see Nos. 96-107). There we have given proofs of various
+mythological facts, which I now already must incorporate with the
+following series of events in order that the epic thread may not be
+wanting:
+
+(_a_) Groa bears with Halfdan the son Guthorm (Saxo, _Hist._, _Dan._,
+34).
+
+(_b_) Groa is rejected by Halfdan (Saxo, _Hist. Dan._, 33). She returns
+to Orvandel, and brings with her her own and his son Svipdag.
+
+(_c_) Halfdan marries Signe-Alveig (Hyndluljod, 15; Prose Edda, i. 516;
+Saxo _Hist._, 33), and with her becomes the father of the son Hadding
+(Saxo, _Hist. Dan._, 34).
+
+(_d_) Groa dies, and Orvandel marries again (Grogaldr, 3). Before her
+death Groa has told her son that if he needs her help he must go to her
+grave and invoke her (Grogaldr, 1).
+
+(_e_) It is Svipdag's duty to revenge on Halfdan the disgrace done to
+his mother and the murder of his mother's father Sigtrygg. But his
+stepmother bids Svipdag seek Menglad, "the one loving ornaments"
+(Grogaldr, 3).
+
+(_f_) Under the weight of these tasks Svipdag goes to his mother's
+grave, bids her awake from her sleep of death, and from her he receives
+protecting incantations (Grogaldr, 1).
+
+(_g_) Before Svipdag enters upon the adventurous expedition to find
+Menglad, he undertakes, at the head of the giants, the allies of the
+Ivaldesons (see Fjoelsvinsm, 1, where Svipdag is called _thursathjodar
+sjolr_), a war of revenge against Halfdan (Saxo, 33 ff., 325; cp. Nos.
+102, 103). The host of giants is defeated, and Svipdag, who has entered
+into a duel with his stepfather, is overcome by the latter. Halfdan
+offers to spare his life and adopt him as his son. But Svipdag refuses
+to accept life as a gift from him, and answers a defiant no to the
+proffered father-hand. Then Halfdan binds him to a tree and leaves him
+to his fate (Saxo, _Hist._, 325; cp. No. 103).
+
+(_h_) Svipdag is freed from his bonds through one of the incantations
+sung over him by his mother (Grogaldr, 10).
+
+(_i_) Svipdag wanders about sorrowing in the land of the giants.
+Gevarr-Noekkve, god of the moon (see Nos. 90, 91), tells him how he is to
+find an irresistible sword, which is always attended by victory (see No.
+101). The Sword is forged by Thjasse, who intended to destroy the world
+of the gods with it; but just at the moment when the smith had finished
+his weapon he was surprised in his sleep by Mimer, who put him in chains
+and took the sword. The latter is now concealed in the lower world (see
+Nos. 98, 101, 103).
+
+(_j_) Following Gevarr-Noekkve's directions, Svipdag goes to the
+northernmost edge of the world, and finds there a descent to the lower
+world; he conquers the guard of the gates of Hades, sees the wonderful
+regions down there, and succeeds in securing the sword of victory (see
+Nos. 53, 97, 98, 101, 103, 112).
+
+(_k_) Svipdag begins a new war with Halfdan. Thor fights on his son's
+side, but the irresistible sword cleaves the hammer Mjolner; the Asa-god
+himself must yield. The war ends with Halfdan's defeat. He dies of the
+wounds he has received in the battle (see Nos. 101, 103; cp. Saxo,
+_Hist._, 34).
+
+(_l_) Svipdag seeks and finds Menglad, who is Freyja who was robbed by
+the giants. He liberates her and sends her pure and undefiled to Asgard
+(see Nos. 96, 98, 100, 102).
+
+(_m_) Idun is brought back to Asgard by Loke. Thjasse, who is freed from
+his prison at Mimer's, pursues, in the guise of an eagle, Loke to the
+walls of Asgard, where he is slain by the gods (see the Eddas).
+
+(_n_) Svipdag, armed with the sword of victory, goes to Asgard, is
+received joyfully by Freyja, becomes her husband, and presents his sword
+of victory to Frey. Reconciliation between the gods and the Ivalde race.
+Njord marries Thjasse's daughter Skade. Orvandel's second son Ull,
+Svipdag's half-brother (see No. 102), is adopted in Valhal. A sister of
+Svipdag is married to Forsete (Hyndluljod, 20). The gods honour the
+memory of Thjasse by connecting his name with certain stars
+(Harbardsljod, 19). A similar honour had already been paid to his
+brother Orvandel (Prose Edda).
+
+From this series of events we find that, although the Teutonic patriarch
+finally succumbs in the war which he waged against the Thjasse-race and
+the frost-powers led by Thjasse's kinsmen, still the results of his work
+are permanent. When the crisis had reached its culminating point; when
+the giant hosts of the fimbul-winter had received as their leader the
+son of Orvandel, armed with the irresistible sword; when Halfdan's fate
+is settled; when Thor himself, _Midgard's veorr_ (Voelusp.), the mighty
+protector of earth and the human race, must retreat with his lightning
+hammer broken into pieces, then the power of love suddenly prevails and
+saves the world. Svipdag, who, under the spell of his deceased mother's
+incantations from the grave, obeyed the command of his stepmother to
+find and rescue Freyja from the power of the giants, thereby wins her
+heart and earns the gratitude of the gods. He has himself learned to
+love her, and is at last compelled by his longing to seek her in Asgard.
+The end of the power of the fimbul-winter is marked by Freyja's and
+Idun's return to the gods, by Thjasse's death, by the presentation of
+the invincible sword to the god of harvests (Frey), by the adoption of
+Thjasse's kinsmen, Svipdag, Ull, and Skade in Asgard, and by several
+marriage ties celebrated in commemoration of the reconciliation between
+Asgard's gods and the kinsmen of the great artist of antiquity.
+
+
+                               34.
+
+     THE WORLD WAR. ITS CAUSE. THE MURDER OF GULLVEIG-HEIDR.
+               THE VOICE OE COUNSEL BETWEEN THE
+                      ASAS AND THE VANS.
+
+
+Thus the peace of the world and the order of nature might seem secured.
+But it is not long before a new war breaks out, to which the former may
+be regarded as simply the prelude. The feud, which had its origin in the
+judgment passed by the gods on Thjasse's gifts, and which ended in the
+marriage of Svipdag and Freyja, was waged for the purpose of securing
+again for settlement and culture the ancient domain and Svithiod, where
+Heimdal had founded the first community. It was confined within the
+limits of the North Teutonic peninsula, and in it the united powers of
+Asgard supported the other Teutonic tribes fighting under Halfdan. But
+the new conflict rages at the same time in heaven and in earth, between
+the divine clans of the Asas and the Vans, and between all the Teutonic
+tribes led into war with each other by Halfdan's sons. From the
+standpoint of Teutonic mythology it is a world war; and Voeluspa calls it
+_the first great war in the world--folcvig fyrst i heimi_ (str. 21, 25).
+
+Loke was the cause of the former prelusive war. His feminine counterpart
+and ally _Gullveig-Heidr_, who gradually is blended, so to speak, into
+one with him, causes the other. This is apparent from the following
+Voeluspa strophes:
+
+    Str. 21. That man hon folcvig
+             fyrst i heimi
+             er Gullveig
+             geirum studdu
+             oc i haull Hars
+             hana brendo.
+
+    Str. 22. Thrysvar brendo
+             thrysvar borna
+             opt osialdan
+             tho hon en lifir.
+
+    Str. 23. Heida hana heto
+             hvars til husa com
+             volo velspa
+             vitti hon ganda
+             seid hon kuni
+             seid hon Leikin,
+             e var hon angan
+             illrar brudar.
+
+    Str. 24. Tha gengo regin oll
+             a raukstola
+             ginheilog god
+             oc um that gettuz
+             hvart scyldo esir
+             afrad gialda
+             etha scyldo godin aull
+             gildi eiga.
+
+    Str. 25. Fleygde Odin
+             oc i folc um scaut
+             that var en folcvig
+             fyrst i heimi.
+
+             Brotin var bordvegr
+             borgar asa
+             knatto vanir vigspa
+             vollo sporna.
+
+The first thing to be established in the interpretation of these
+strophes is the fact that they, in the order in which they are found in
+Codex Regius, and in which I have given them, all belong together and
+refer to the same mythic event--that is, to the origin of the great
+world war. This is evident from a comparison of strophe 21 with 25, the
+first and last of those quoted. Both speak of the war, which is called
+_folkvig fyrst i heimi_. The former strophe informs us that it occurred
+as a result of, and in connection with, the murder of Gulveig, a murder
+committed in Valhal itself, in the hall of the Asa-father, beneath the
+roof where the gods of the Asa-clan are gathered around their father.
+The latter strophe tells that the first great war in the world produced
+a separation between the two god-clans, the Asas and Vans, a division
+caused by the fact that Odin, hurling his spear, interrupted a
+discussion between them; and the strophe also explains the result of the
+war: the bulwark around Asgard was broken, and the Vans got possession
+of the power of the Asas. The discussion or council is explained in
+strophe 24. It is there expressly emphasised that all the gods, the Asas
+and Vans, _regin oll, godin aull_, solemnly assemble and seat themselves
+on their _raukstola_ to counsel together concerning the murder of
+_Gullveig-Heidr_. Strophe 23 has already described who Gulveig is, and
+thus given at least one reason for the hatred of the Asas towards her,
+and for the treatment she receives in Odin's hall. It is evident that
+she was in Asgard under the name Gulveig, since Gulveig was killed and
+burnt in Valhal; but Midgard, the abode of man, has also been the scene
+of her activity. There she has roamed about under the name Heidr,
+practising the evil arts of black sorcery (see No. 27) and encouraging
+the evil passions of mankind: _ae var hon angan illrar brudar_. Hence
+Gulveig suffers the punishment which from time immemorial was
+established among the Aryans for the practice of the black art: she was
+burnt. And her mysteriously terrible and magic nature is revealed by
+the fact that the flames, though kindled by divine hands, do not have
+the power over her that they have over other agents of sorcery. The gods
+burn her thrice; they pierce the body of the witch with their spears,
+and hold her over the flames of the fire. All is in vain. They cannot
+prevent her return and regeneration. Thrice burned and thrice born, she
+still lives.
+
+After Voeluspa has given an account of the vala who in Asgard was called
+_Gullveig_ and on earth _Heidr_, the poem speaks, in strophe 24, of the
+dispute which arose among the gods on account of her murder. The gods
+assembled on and around the judgment-seats are divided into two parties,
+of which the Asas constitute the one. The fact that the treatment
+received by Gulveig can become a question of dispute which ends in
+enmity between the gods is a proof that only one of the god-clans has
+committed the murder; and since this took place, not in Njord's, or
+Frey's, or Freyja's halls, but in Valhal, where Odin rules and is
+surrounded by his sons, it follows that the Asas must have committed the
+murder. Of course, Vans who were guests in Odin's hall _might_ have been
+the perpetrators of the murder; but, on the one hand, the poem would
+scarcely have indicated Odin's hall as the place where Gulveig was to be
+punished, unless it wished thereby to point out the Asas as the doers of
+the deed, and, on the other hand, we cannot conceive the murder as
+possible, as described in Voeluspa, if the Vans were the ones who
+committed it, and the Asas were Gulveig's protectors; for then the
+latter, who were the lords in Valhal, would certainly not have
+permitted the Vans quietly and peaceably to subject Gulveig to the long
+torture there described, in which she is spitted on spears and held over
+the flames to be burnt to ashes.
+
+That the Asas committed the murder is also corroborated by Voeluspa's
+account of the question in dispute. One of the views prevailing in the
+consultation and discussion in regard to the matter is that the Asas
+ought to _afrad gjalda_ in reference to the murder committed. In this
+_afrad gjalda_ we meet with a phrase which is echoed in the laws of
+Iceland, and in the old codes of Norway and Sweden. There can be no
+doubt that the phrase has found its way into the language of the law
+from the popular vernacular, and that its legal significance was simply
+more definite and precise than its use in the vernacular. The common
+popular meaning of the phrase is _to pay compensation_. The compensation
+may be of any kind whatsoever. It may be rent for the use of another's
+field, or it may be taxes for the enjoyment of social rights, or it may
+be death and wounds for having waged war. In the present instance, it
+must mean compensation to be paid by the Asas for the slaying of
+_Gullveig-Heidr_. As such a demand could not be made by the Asas
+themselves, it must have been made by the Vans and their supporters in
+the discussion. Against this demand we have the proposition from the
+Asas that all the gods should _gildi eiga_. In regard to this disputed
+phrase at least so much is clear, that it must contain either an
+absolute or a partial counter-proposition to the demand of the Vans, and
+its purpose must be that the Asas ought not--at least, not alone--to
+pay the compensation for the murder, but that the crime should be
+regarded as one in reference to which all the gods, the Asas and the
+Vans, were alike guilty, and as one for which they all together should
+assume the responsibility.
+
+The discussion does not lead to a friendly settlement. Something must
+have been said at which Odin has become deeply offended, for the
+Asa-father, distinguished for his wisdom and calmness, hurls his spear
+into the midst of those deliberating--a token that the contest of reason
+against reason is at an end, and that it is to be followed by a contest
+with weapons.
+
+The myth concerning this deliberation between Asas and Vans was well
+known to Saxo, and what he has to say about it (_Hist._, 126 ff.),
+turning myth as usual into history, should be compared with Voeluspa's
+account, for both these sources complement each other.
+
+The first thing that strikes us in Saxo's narrative is that sorcery, the
+black art, plays, as in Voeluspa, the chief part in the chain of events.
+His account is taken from a mythic circumstance, mentioned by the
+heathen skald Kormak (_seid Y ggr til Rindar_--Younger Edda, i. 236),
+according to which Odin, forced by extreme need, sought the favour of
+Rind, and gained his point by sorcery and witchcraft, as he could not
+gain it otherwise. According to Saxo, Odin touched Rind with a piece of
+bark on which he had inscribed magic songs, and the result was that she
+became insane (_Rinda ... quam Othinus cortice carminibus adnotato
+contingens lymphanti similem reddidit_). In immediate connection
+herewith it is related that the gods held a council, in which it was
+claimed that Odin had stained his divine honour, and ought to be deposed
+from his royal dignity (_dii ... Othinum variis majestatis detrimentis
+divinitatis gloriam maculasse cernentes, collegio suo submovendum
+duxerunt--Hist._, 129). Among the deeds of which his opponents in this
+council accused him was, as it appears from Saxo, at least one of which
+he ought to take the consequences, but for which all the gods ought not
+to be held responsible ( ... _ne vel ipsi, alieno crimine implicati,
+insontes nocentis crimine punirentur--Hist., 129; in omnium caput unius
+culpam recidere putares, Hist._, 130). The result of the deliberation of
+the gods is, in Saxo as in Voeluspa, that Odin is banished, and that
+another clan of gods than his holds the power for some time. Thereupon
+he is, with the consent of the reigning gods, recalled to the throne,
+which he henceforth occupies in a brilliant manner. But one of his first
+acts after his return is to banish the black art and its agents from
+heaven and from earth (_Hist._, 44).
+
+Thus the chain of events in Saxo both begins and ends with sorcery. It
+is the background on which both in Saxo and in Voeluspa those events
+occur which are connected with the dispute between the Asas and Vans. In
+both the documents the gods meet in council before the breaking out of
+the enmity. In both the question turns on a deed done by Odin, for which
+certain gods do not wish to take the responsibility. Saxo indicates this
+by the words: _Ne vel ipsi, alieno crimine implicati innocentes nocentis
+crimine punirentur._ Voeluspa indicates it by letting the Vans present,
+against the proposition that _godin oell skyldu gildi eiga_, the claim
+that Odin's own clan, and it alone, should _afrad gjalda_. And while
+Voeluspa makes Odin suddenly interrupt the deliberations and hurl his
+spear among the deliberators, Saxo gives us the explanation of his
+sudden wrath. He and his clan had slain and burnt Gulveig-Heid because
+she practised sorcery and other evil arts of witchcraft. And as he
+refuses to make compensation for the murder and demands that all the
+gods take the consequences and share the blame, the Vans have replied in
+council, that he too once practised sorcery on the occasion when he
+visited Rind, and that, if Gulveig was justly burnt for this crime, then
+he ought justly to be deposed from his dignity stained by the same crime
+as the ruler of all the gods. Thus Voeluspa's and Saxo's accounts
+supplement and illustrate each other.
+
+_One_ dark point remains, however. Why have the Vans objected to the
+killing of Gulveig-Heid? Should this clan of gods, celebrated in song as
+benevolent, useful, and pure, be kindly disposed toward the evil and
+corrupting arts of witchcraft? This cannot have been the meaning of the
+myth. As shall be shown, the evil plans of Gulveig-Heid have
+particularly been directed against those very Vana-gods who in the
+council demand compensation for her death. In this regard Saxo has in
+perfect faithfulness toward his mythic source represented Odin on the
+one hand, and his opponents among the gods on the other, as alike
+hostile to the black art. Odin, who on one occasion and under peculiar
+circumstances, which I shall discuss in connection with the Balder myth,
+was guilty of the practise of sorcery, is nevertheless the declared
+enemy of witchcraft, and Saxo makes him take pains to forbid and
+persecute it. The Vans likewise look upon it with horror, and it is this
+horror which adds strength to their words when they attack and depose
+Odin, because he has himself practised that for which he has punished
+Gulveig.
+
+The explanation of the fact is, as shall be shown below, that Frey, on
+account of a passion of which he is the victim (probably through
+sorcery), was driven to marry the giant maid Gerd, whose kin in that way
+became friends of the Vans. Frey is obliged to demand satisfaction for a
+murder perpetrated on a kinswoman of his wife. The kinship of blood
+demands its sacred right, and according to Teutonic ideas of law, the
+Vans must act as they do regardless of the moral character of Gulveig.
+
+
+                                 35.
+
+        GULVEIG-HEIDR. HER IDENTITY WITH AURBODA, ANGRBODA,
+               HYRROKIN. THE MYTH CONCERNING THE
+                  SWORD GUARDIAN AND FJALAR.
+
+
+The duty of the Vana-deities becomes even more plain, if it can be shown
+that Gulveig-Heid is Gerd's mother; for Frey, supported by the
+Vana-gods, then demands satisfaction for the murder of his own
+mother-in-law. Gerd's mother is, in Hyndluljod, 30, called Aurboda, and
+is the wife of the giant Gymer:
+
+    Freyr atti Gerdi,
+    Hon vor Gymis dottir,
+    iotna aettar
+    ok Aurbodu.
+
+It can, in fact, be demonstrated that Aurboda is identical with
+Gulveig-Heid. The evidence is given below in two divisions. (a) Evidence
+that Gulveig-Heid is identical with Angerboda, "the ancient one in the
+Ironwood;" (b) evidence that Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda is identical with
+Aurboda, Gerd's mother.
+
+(a) Gulveid-Heid identical with Angerboda.
+
+Hyndluljod, 40, 41, says:
+
+    Ol ulf Loki
+    vid Angrbodu,
+    (enn Sleipni gat
+    vid Svadilfara);
+    eitt thotti skars
+    allra feiknazst
+    that var brodur fra
+    Byleistz komit.
+
+    Loki af hiarta
+    lindi brendu,
+    fann hann haalfsuidinn
+    hugstein konu;
+    vard Loptr kvidugr
+    af konu illri;
+    thadan er aa folldu
+    flagd hvert komit.
+
+From the account we see that an evil female being (_ill kona_) had been
+burnt, but that the flames were not able to destroy the seed of life in
+her nature. Her heart had not been burnt through or changed to ashes. It
+was only half-burnt (_halfsvidinn hugsteinn_), and in this condition it
+had together with the other remains of the cremated woman been thrown
+away, for Loke finds and swallows the heart.
+
+Our ancestors looked upon the heart as the seat of the life principle,
+of the soul of living beings. A number of linguistic phrases are founded
+on the idea that goodness and evil, kindness and severity, courage and
+cowardice, joy and sorrow, are connected with the character of the
+heart; sometimes we find _hjarta_ used entirely in the sense of soul, as
+in the expression _hold ok hjarta_, soul and body. So long as the heart
+in a dead body had not gone into decay, it was believed that the
+principle of life dwelling therein still was able, under peculiar
+circumstances, to operate on the limbs and exercise an influence on its
+environment, particularly if the dead person in life had been endowed
+with a will at once evil and powerful. In such cases it was regarded as
+important to pierce the heart of the dead with a pointed spear (cp.
+Saxo, _Hist._, 43, and No. 95).
+
+The half-burnt heart, accordingly, contains the evil woman's soul, and
+its influence upon Loke, after he has swallowed it, is most remarkable.
+Once before when he bore Sleipner with the giant horse Svadilfare, Loke
+had revealed his androgynous nature. So he does now. The swallowed heart
+redeveloped the feminine in him (_Loki lindi af brendu hjarta_). It
+fertilised him with the evil purposes which the heart contained. Loke
+became the possessor of the evil woman (_kvidugr af konu illri_), and
+became the father of the children from which the trolls (_flagd_) are
+come which are found in the world. First among the children is mentioned
+the wolf, which is called _Fenrir_, and which in Ragnarok shall cause
+the death of the Asa-father. To this event point Njord's words about
+Loke, in Lokasenna, str. 33: _ass ragr er hefir born of borit_. The
+woman possessing the half-burnt heart, who is the mother or rather the
+father of the wolf, is called Angerboda (_ol ulf Loki vid Angrbodu_). N.
+M. Peterson and other mythologists have rightly seen that she is the
+same as "the old one," who in historical times and until Ragnarok dwells
+in the Ironwood, and "there fosters Fenrer's kinsmen" (Voeluspa, 39), her
+own offspring, which at the close of this period are to issue from the
+Ironwood, and break into Midgard and dye its citadels with blood
+(Voeluspa, 30).
+
+The fact that Angerboda now dwells in the Ironwood, although there on a
+former occasion did not remain more of her than a half-burnt heart,
+proves that the attempt to destroy her with fire was unsuccessful, and
+that she arose again in bodily form after this cremation, and became the
+mother and nourisher of were-wolves. Thus the myth about Angerboda is
+identical with the myth about Gulveig-Heid in the two characteristic
+points:
+
+    Unsuccessful burning of an evil woman.
+    Her regeneration after the cremation.
+
+These points apply equally to Gulveig-Heid and to Angerboda, "the old
+one in the Ironwood."
+
+The myth about Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda, as it was remembered in the first
+period after the introduction of Christianity, we find in part
+recapitulated in Helgakvida Hundingsbane, i. 37-40, where Sinfjotle
+compares his opponent Gudmund with the evil female principle in the
+heathen mythology, the vala in question, and where Gudmund in return
+compares Sinfjotle with its evil masculine principle, Loke.
+
+Sinfjotle says:
+
+    Thu vart vaulva
+    i Varinseyio,
+    scollvis kona
+    bartu scrauc saman;
+
+     *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Thu vart, en scetha,
+    scass valkyria,
+    autul, amatlig
+    at Alfaudar;
+    mundo einherjar
+    allir beriaz,
+    svevis kona,
+    um sakar thinar.
+    Nio attu vith
+    a neri Sagu
+    ulfa alna
+    ec var einn fathir theirra.
+
+    Gudmund's answer begins:
+
+    Fadir varattu
+    fenrisulfa....
+
+The evil woman with whom one of the two heroes compares the other is
+said to be a vala, who has practised her art partly on Varin's Isle
+partly in Asgard at Alfather's, and there she was the cause of a war in
+which all the warriors of Asgard took part. This refers to the war
+between the Asas and Vans. It is the second feud among the powers of
+Asgard.
+
+The vala must therefore be Gulveig-Heid of the myth, on whose account
+the war between the Asas and Vans broke out, according to Voeluspa. Now
+it is said of her in the lines above quoted, that she gave birth to
+wolves, and that these wolves were "fenrisulfar." Of Angerboda we
+already know that she is the mother of the real Fenris-wolf, and that
+she, in the Ironwood, produces other wolves which are called by Fenrer's
+name (_Fenris kindir_--Voeluspa). Thus the identity of Gulveig-Heid and
+Angerboda is still further established by the fact that both the one and
+the other is called the mother of the Fenris family.
+
+The passage quoted is not the only one which has preserved the memory of
+Gulveig-Heid as mother of the were-wolves. Volsungasaga (c. ii. 8)
+relates that a giantess, _Hrimnir's_ daughter, first dwelt in Asgard as
+the maid-servant of Frigg, then on earth, and that she, during her
+sojourn on earth, became the wife of a king, and with him the mother and
+grandmother of were-wolves, who infested the woods and murdered men. The
+fantastic and horrible saga about these were-wolves has, in Christian
+times and by Christian authors been connected with the poems about Helge
+Hundingsbane and Sigurd Fafnersbane. The circumstance that the giantess
+in question first dwelt in Asgard and thereupon in Midgard, indicates
+that she is identical with Gulveig-Heid, and this identity is confirmed
+by the statement that she is a daughter of the giant _Hrimnir_.
+
+The myth, as it has come down to our days, knows only one daughter of
+this giant, and she is the same as Gulveig-Heid. Hyndluljod states that
+_Heidr_ is _Hrimnir's_ daughter, and mentions no sister of hers, but, on
+the other hand, a brother _Hrossthiofr_ (_Heidr ok Hrorsthiofr Hrimnis
+kindar_--Hyndl., 30). In allusion to the cremation of Gulveig-Heid fire
+is called in Thorsdrapa _Hrimnis drosar lyptisylgr_, "the lifting drink
+of Hrimner's daughter," the drink which Heid lifted up on spears had to
+drink. Nowhere is any other daughter of Hrimner mentioned. And while it
+is stated in the above-cited strophe that the giantess who caused the
+war in Asgard and became the mother of fenris-wolves was a vala on
+Varin's Isle (_vaulva i Varinseyio_), a comparison of Helgakv. Hund., i.
+26, with Volsungasaga, c. 2, shows that Varin's Isle and Varin's Fjord
+were located in that very country, where Hrimner's daughter was supposed
+to have been for some time the wife of a king and to have given birth to
+were-wolves.
+
+Thus we have found that the three characteristic points--
+
+    unsuccessful cremation of an evil giantess,
+    her regeneration after the cremation,
+    the same woman as mother of the Fenrer race--
+
+are common to Gulveig-Heid and Angerboda.
+
+Their identity is apparent from various other circumstances, but may be
+regarded as completely demonstrated by the proofs given. Gulveig's
+activity in antiquity as the founder of the diabolical magic art, as one
+who awakens man's evil passions and produces strife in Asgard itself,
+has its complement in Angerboda's activity as the mother and nourisher
+of that class of beings in whose members witchcraft, thirst for blood,
+and hatred of the gods are personified. The activity of the evil
+principle has, in the great epic of the myth, formed a continuity
+spanning all ages, and this continuous thread of evil is twisted from
+the treacherous deeds of Gulveig and Loke, the feminine and the
+masculine representatives of the evil principle. Both appear at the dawn
+of mankind: Loke has already at the beginning of time secured access to
+Alfather (Lokasenna, 9), and Gulveig deceives the sons of men already in
+the time of Heimdal's son Borgar. Loke entices Idun from the secure
+grounds of Asgard, and treacherously delivers her to the powers of
+frost; Gulveig, as we shall see, plays Freyja into the hands of the
+giants. Loke plans enmity between the gods and the forces of nature,
+which hitherto had been friendly, and which have their personal
+representatives in Ivalde's sons; Gulveig causes the war between the
+Asas and Vans. The interference of both is interrupted at the close of
+the mythic age, when Loke is chained, and Gulveig, in the guise of
+Angerboda, is an exile in the Ironwood. Before this they have for a time
+been blended, so to speak, into a single being, in which the feminine
+assuming masculineness, and the masculine effeminated, bear to the world
+an offspring of foes to the gods and to creation. Both finally act their
+parts in the destruction of the world. Before that crisis comes
+Angerboda has fostered that host of "sons of world-ruin" which Loke is
+to lead to battle, and a magic sword which she has kept in the Ironwood
+is given to Surt, in whose hand it is to be the death of Frey, the lord
+of harvests (see Nos. 89, 98, 101, 103).
+
+That the woman who in antiquity, in various guises, visited Asgard and
+Midgard was believed to have had her home in the Ironwood[18] of the
+East during the historical age down to Ragnarok is explained by what
+Saxo says--viz., that Odin, after his return and reconciliation with the
+Vans, banished the agents of the black art both from heaven and from
+earth. Here, too, the connection between Gulveig-Heid and Angerboda is
+manifest. The war between the Asas and Vans was caused by the burning of
+Gulveig by the former. After the reconciliation with the Asas this
+punishment cannot again be inflicted on the regenerated witch. The Asas
+must allow her to live to the end of time; but both the clans of gods
+agree that she must not show her face again in Asgard or Midgard. The
+myth concerning the banishment of the famous vala to the Ironwood, and
+of the Loke progeny which she there fosters, has been turned into
+history by Jordanes in his _De Goth. Origine_, ch. 24, where it is
+stated that a Gothic king compelled the suspected valas (_haliorunas_)
+found among his people to take their refuge to the deserts in the East
+beyond the Moeotian Marsh, where they mixed with the wood-sprites, and
+thus became the progenitors of the Huns. In this manner the Christian
+Goths got from their mythic traditions an explanation of the source of
+the eastern hosts of horsemen, whose ugly faces and barbarous manners
+seemed to them to prove an other than purely human origin. The vala
+Gulveig-Heid and her like become in Jordanes these _haliorunae_; Loke and
+the giants of the Ironwood become these wood-sprites; the Asa-god who
+caused the banishment becomes a king, son of Gandaricus Magnus (the
+great ruler of the Gandians, Odin), and Loke's and Angerboda's wonderful
+progeny become the Huns.
+
+Stress should be laid on the fact that Jordanes and Saxo have in the
+same manner preserved the tradition that Odin and the Asas, after making
+peace and becoming reconciled with the Vans, do not apply the
+death-penalty and burning to Gulveid-Heid-Angerboda and her kith and
+kin, but, instead, sentence them to banishment from the domains of gods
+and men. That the tradition preserved in Saxo and Jordanes corresponded
+with the myth is proved by the fact that we there rediscover
+Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda with her offspring in the Ironwood, which was
+thought to be situated in the utmost East, far away from the human
+world, and that she remains there undisturbed until the destruction of
+the world. The reconciliation between the Asas and Vans has, as this
+conclusively shows, been based on an admission on the part of the Asas
+that the Vans had a right to find fault with and demand satisfaction for
+the murder of Gulveig-Heid. Thus the dispute which caused the war
+between Asas and Vans was at last decided to the advantage of the
+latter, while they on their part, after being satisfied, reinstate Odin
+in his dignity as universal ruler and father of the gods.
+
+(b) Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda identical with Aurboda.
+
+In the Ironwood dwells Angerboda, together with a giant, who is _gygjar
+hirdir_, the guardian and watcher of the giantess. He has charge of her
+remarkable herds, and also guards a sword brought to the Ironwood. This
+vocation has given him the epithet Egther (_Egtherr_--Voeluspa), which
+means sword-guardian. Saxo speaks of him as Egtherus, an ally of Finns,
+skilled in magic, and a chief of Bjarmians, equally skilful in magic
+(cp. _Hist._, 248, 249, with Nos. 52, 53). Bjarmians and Finns are in
+Saxo made the heirs of the wicked inhabitants of Jotunheim. Vilkinasaga
+knows him by the name Etgeir, who watches over precious implements in
+Isung's wood. Etgeir is a corruption of Egther, and Isung's wood is a
+reminiscence of _Isarnvidr_, _Isarnho_, the Ironwood. In the Vilkinasaga
+he is the brother of Vidolf. According to Hyndluljod, all the valas of
+the myth come from Vidolf. As Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda is the chief of all
+valas, and the teacher of the arts practised by the valas this statement
+in Hyndluljod makes us think of her particularly; and as _Hrimnir's_
+daughter has been born and burnt several times, she may also have had
+several fathers. Among them, then, is Vidolf, whose character, as
+described by Saxo, fits well for such a daughter. He is a master in
+sorcery, and also skilful in the art of medicine. But the medical art he
+practises in such a manner that those who seek his help receive from him
+such remedies as do harm instead of good. Only by threats can he be made
+to do good with his art (_Hist._, 323, 324). The statement in
+Vilkinasaga compared with that in Hyndluljod seems therefore to point
+to a near kinship between Angerboda and her sword-guard. She appears to
+be the daughter of his brother.
+
+In Voeluspa's description of the approach of Ragnarok, Egther Angerboda's
+shepherd, is represented as sitting on a mound--like Aurboda's shepherd
+in _Skirnisfoer_--and playing a harp, happy over that which is to happen.
+That the giant who is hostile to the gods, and who is the guardian of
+the strange herds, does not play an idyl on the strings of his harp does
+not need to be stated. He is visited by a being in the guise of the red
+cock. The cock, says Voeluspa, is _Fjalarr_ (str. 44).
+
+What the heathen records tell us about Fjalar is the following:[19]
+
+(a) He is the same giant as the Younger Edda (i. 144 ff.) calls
+Utgard-Loke. The latter is a fire-giant, _Loge's_, the fire's ruler
+(Younger Edda, 152), the cause of earthquakes (Younger Edda, 144), and
+skilled in producing optical delusions. Fjalar's identity with
+Utgard-Loke is proved by Harbardsljod, str. 26, where Thor, on his way
+to Fjalar, meets with the same adventures as, according to the Younger
+Edda, he met with on his way to Utgard-Loke.
+
+(b) He is the same giant as the one called Suttung. The giant from whom
+Odin robs the skaldic mead, and whose devoted daughter Gunlad he causes
+bitter sorrow, is called in Havamal sometimes Fjalar and sometimes
+Suttung (cp. strs. 13, 14, 104, 105).
+
+(c) Fjalar is the son of the chief of the fire-giants, _Surtr_, and
+dwells in the subterranean dales of the latter. A full account of this
+in No. 89. Here it will suffice to point out that when Odin flies out of
+Fjalar's dwelling with the skaldic mead, it is "from Surt's deep dales"
+that he "flying bears" the precious drink (_hinn er Surts or soekkdoelum
+farmagnudr fljugandi bar_, a strophe by Eyvind, quoted in the Younger
+Edda, p. 242), and that this drink while it remained with Fjalar was
+"the drink of Surt's race" (_Sylgr Surts aettar_, Fornms., iii. 3).
+
+(d) Fjalar, with Froste, takes part in the attack of Thjasse's kinsmen
+and the Skilfings from Svarin's Mound against "the land of the clayey
+plains, to Jaravall" (Voeluspa, 14, 15; see Nos. 28, 32). Thus he is
+allied with the powers of frost, who are foes of the gods, and who seek
+to conquer the Teutonic domain. The approach of the fimbul-winter was
+also attended by an earthquake (see Nos. 28, 81).
+
+When, therefore, Voeluspa makes Fjalar on his visit to the sword-guardian
+in the Ironwood appear in the guise of the red cock, then this is in
+harmony with Fjalar's nature as a fire-giant and as a son of Surt.
+
+    Sat thar a haugi
+    oc slo haurpo
+    gygjar hirthir
+    gladr Egther.
+    Gol um hanom
+    i galgvithi
+    fagrraudr hani
+    sa er Fjalar heitir (Voelusp., 41).
+
+The red cock has from time immemorial been the symbol of fire as a
+destructive power.
+
+That what Odin does against Fjalar--when he robs him of the mead, which
+in the myth is the most precious of all drinks, and when he deceived his
+daughter--is calculated to awaken Fjalar's thirst for revenge and to
+bring about a satisfaction sooner or later, lies in the very spirit of
+Teutonic poetry and ethics, especially since, Odin's act, though done
+from a good motive, was morally reprehensible. What Fjalar's errand to
+Angerboda's sword-guard was appears from the fact that when the last war
+between the gods and their enemies is fought a short time afterwards,
+Fjalar's father, the chief of the fire-giants, Surt, is armed with the
+best of the mythical weapons, the sword which had belonged to a
+_valtivi_, one of the gods of Asgard (Voelusp., 50), and which casts the
+splendour of the sun upon the world. The famous sword of the myth, that
+which Thjasse finished with a purpose hostile to the gods (see No. 87
+and elsewhere), the sword concealed by Mimer (see Nos. 87, 98, 101), the
+sword found by Svipdag (see Nos. 89, 101, 103), the sword secured
+through him by Frey, the one given by Frey to Gymer and Aurboda in
+exchange for Gerd,--this sword is found again in the Ragnarok conflict,
+wielded by Surt, and causes Frey's death (Voeluspa), it having been
+secured by Surt's son, Fjalar, in the Ironwood from Angerboda's
+sword-guard.
+
+    Gulli keypta
+    leztu Gymis dottur
+    oc seldir thitt sva sverth;
+    Enn er Muspells synir
+    rida myrcvith yfir
+    veizta thu tha, vesall, hve thu vegr (Lokas., 42).
+
+This passage not only tells us that Frey gave his sword in exchange for
+Gerd to the parents of the giantess, Gymer and Aurboda, but also gives
+us to understand that this bargain shall cause his death in Ragnarok.
+This bride-purchase is fully described in Skirnismal, in which poem we
+learn that the gods most unwillingly part with the safety which the
+incomparable sword secured to Asgard. They yield in order to save the
+life of the harvest-god, who was wasting away with longing and anxiety,
+but not until the giants had refused to accept other Asgard treasures,
+among them the precious ring Draupner, which the Asa-father once laid on
+the pulseless breast of his favourite son Balder. At the approach of
+Ragnarok, Surt's son, Fjalar, goes to the Ironwood to fetch for his
+father the sword by which Frey, its former possessor, is to fall. The
+sword is then guarded by Angerboda's shepherd, and consequently belongs
+to her. In other words, the sword which Aurboda enticed Frey to give her
+is now found in the possession of Angerboda. This circumstance of itself
+is a very strong reason for their identity. If there were no other
+evidence of their identity than this, a sound application of methodology
+would still bid us accept this identity rather than explain the matter
+by inventing a new, nowhere-supported myth, and thus making the sword
+pass from Aurboda to another giantess.
+
+When we now add the important fact in the disposition of this matter,
+that Aurboda's son-in-law, Frey, demands, in behalf of a near kinsman,
+satisfaction from the Asas when they had killed and burnt
+Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda, then it seems to me that there can be no doubt
+in regard to the identity of Aurboda and Angerboda, the less so, since
+all that our mythic fragments have to tell us about Gymer's wife
+confirms the theory that she is the same person. Aurboda has, like
+Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda, practised the arts of sorcery: she is one of the
+valas of the evil giant world. This is told to us in a strophe by the
+skald _Refr_, who calls her "Gymer's primeval cold vala" (_ursvoel Gymis
+voelva_--Younger Edda, i. 326, 496). She might be called "primeval cold"
+(_ursvoel_) from the fact that the fire was not able to pierce her heart
+and change it to ashes, in spite of a threefold burning. Under all
+circumstances, the passage quoted informs us that she is a vala.
+
+But have our mythic fragments preserved any allusion to show that
+Aurboda, like Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda, ever dwelt among the gods in
+Asgard? Asgard is a place where giants are refused admittance.
+Exceptions from this prohibition must have been very few, and the myths
+must have given good reasons for them. We know in regard to Loke's
+appearance in Asgard, that it is based on a promise given him by the
+Asa-father in time's morning; and the promise was sealed with blood
+(Lokasenna, 9). If, now, this Aurboda, who, like Angerboda, is a vala of
+giant race, and like Angerboda, is the owner of Frey's sword, and, like
+Angerboda, is a kinswoman of the Vans--if now this same Aurboda, in
+further likeness with Angerboda, was one of the certainly very few of
+the giant class who was permitted to enter within the gates of Asgard,
+then it must be admitted that this fact absolutely confirms their
+identity.
+
+Aurboda did actually dwell in Asgard. Of this we are assured by the poem
+"Fjoelsvinsmal." There it is related that when Svipdag came to the gates
+of Asgard to seek and find Menglad-Freyja, who was destined to be his
+wife (see Nos. 96, 97), he sees Menglad sitting on a hill surrounded by
+goddesses, whose very names _Eir_, _Bjoert_, _Blid_, and _Frid_, tell us
+that they are goddesses of lower or higher rank. _Eir_ is an asynja of
+the healing art (Younger Edda, i. 114). _Bjoert_, _Blid_, and _Frid_ are
+the dises of splendour, benevolence, and beauty. They are mighty beings,
+and can give aid in distress to all who worship them (Fjolsv., 40). But
+in the midst of this circle of dises, who surround Menglad, Svipdag also
+sees Aurboda (Fjolsv., 38).
+
+Above them Svipdag sees Mimer's tree--the world-tree (see No. 97),
+spreading its all-embracing branches, on which grow fruits which soothe
+_kelisjukar konur_ and lighten the entrance upon terrestrial life for
+the children of men (Fjolsv., 22). Menglad-Freyja is, as we know, the
+goddess of love and fertility, and it is Frigg's and her vocation to
+dispose of these fruits for the purposes for which they are intended.
+
+The Volsungasaga has preserved a record concerning these fruits, and
+concerning the giant-daughter who was admitted to Asgard as a
+maid-servant of the goddesses. A king and queen had long been married
+without getting any children. They beseeched the gods for an heir.
+Frigg heard their prayers and sent them in the guise of a crow the
+daughter of the giant Hrimner, a giantess who had been adopted in Asgard
+as Odin's "wish-may." Hrimner's daughter took an apple with her, and
+when the queen had eaten it, it was not long before she perceived that
+her wish would come to pass (Volsungasaga, pp. 1, 2). Hrimner's daughter
+is, as we know, Gulveig-Heid.
+
+Thus the question whether Aurboda ever dwelt in Asgard is answered in
+the affirmative. We have discovered her, though she is the daughter of a
+giant, in the circle around Menglad-Freyja, where she has occupied a
+subordinate position as maid-servant. At the same time we have found
+that Gulveig-Heid has for some time had an occupation in Asgard of
+precisely the same kind as that which belongs to a dis serving under the
+goddess of fertility. Thus the similarity between Aurboda and
+Gulveig-Heid is not confined to the fact that they, although giantesses,
+dwelt in Asgard, but they were employed there in the same manner.
+
+The demonstration that Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda is identical with Aurboda
+may now be regarded as complete. Of the one as of the other it is
+related that she was a vala of giant-race, that she nevertheless dwelt
+for some time in Asgard, and was there employed by Frigg or Freyja in
+the service of fertility, and that she possessed the sword, which had
+formerly belonged to Frey, and by which Frey is to fall. Aurboda is
+Frey's mother-in-law, consequently closely related to him; and it must
+have been in behalf of a near relation that Frey and Njord demanded
+satisfaction from the Asas when the latter slew Gulveig-Heid. Under such
+circumstances it is utterly impossible from a methodological standpoint
+to regard them otherwise than identical. We must consider that nearly
+all mythic characters are polyonomous, and that the Teutonic mythology,
+particularly, on account of its poetics, is burdened with a
+highly-developed polyonomy.
+
+But of Gulveig-Heid's and Aurboda's identity there are also other proofs
+which, for the sake of completeness, we will not omit.
+
+So far as the very names Gulveig and Aurboda are concerned the one can
+serve as a paraphrase of the other. The first part of the name
+_Aurboda_, the _aur_ of many significations may be referred to _eyrir_,
+pl. _aurar_, which means precious metal, and is thought to be borrowed
+from the Latin _aurum_ (gold). Thus _Gull_ and _Aur_ correspond. In the
+same manner _veig_ in Gulveig can correspond to _boda_ in _Aurboda_.
+_Veig_ means a fermenting liquid. _Boda_ has two significations. It can
+be the feminine form of _bodi_, meaning fermenting water, froth, foam.
+No other names compounded with _boda_ occur in Norse literature than
+_Aurboda_ and _Angrboda_.
+
+Ynglingasaga[20] (ch. 4) relates a tradition that _Freyja kendi fyrst
+med Asum seid_, that Freyja was the first to practise sorcery in Asgard.
+There is no doubt that the statement is correct. For we have seen that
+Gulveig-Heid, the sorceress and spreader of sorcery in antiquity,
+succeeded in getting admission to Asgard, and that Aurboda is mentioned
+as particularly belonging to the circle of serving dises who attended
+Freyja. As this giantess was so zealous in spreading her evil arts among
+the inhabitants of Midgard, it would be strange if the myth did not make
+her, after she had gained Freyja's confidence, try to betray her into
+practising the same arts. Doubtless Voeluspa and Saxo have reference to
+Gulveig-Heid-Aurboda when they say that Freyja, through some treacherous
+person among her attendants, was delivered into the hands of the giants.
+
+In his historical account relating how Freyja (_Syritha_) was robbed
+from Asgard and came to the giants but was afterwards saved from their
+power, Saxo (_Hist._, 331; cp. No. 100) tells that a woman, who was
+secretly allied with a giant, had succeeded in ingratiating herself in
+her favour, and for some time performed the duties of a maid-servant at
+her home; but this she did in order to entice her in a cunning manner
+away from her safe home to a place where the giant lay in ambush and
+carried her away to the recesses of his mountain country. (_Gigas
+faeminam subornat, quae cum obtenta virginis familiaritate, ejus
+aliquamdiu pedissequam egisset, hanc tandem a paternis procul penatibus,
+quaesita callidius digressione, reduxit; quam ipse mox irruens in
+arctiora montanae crepidinis septa devexit._) Thus Saxo informs us that
+it was a woman among Freyja's attendants who betrayed her, and that this
+woman was allied with the giant world, which is hostile to the gods,
+while she held a trusted servant's place with the goddess. Aurboda is
+the only woman connected with the giants in regard to whom our mythic
+records inform us that she occupied such a position with Freyja; and as
+Aurboda's character and part, played in the epic of the myth, correspond
+with such an act of treason, there is no reason for assuming the mere
+possibility, that the betrayer of Freyja may have been some one else,
+who is neither mentioned nor known.
+
+With this it is important to compare Voeluspa, 26, 27, which not only
+mentions the fact that Freyja came into the power of the giants through
+treachery, but also informs us how the treason was punished:
+
+    Tha gengo regin oll
+    A raukstola,
+    ginheilog god
+    oc um that gettuz
+    hverir hefdi lopt alt
+    levi blandit
+    etha ett iotuns
+    Oths mey gefna
+    thorr ein thar va
+    thrungin modi,
+    hann sialdan sitr
+    er hann slict um fregn.
+
+These Voeluspa lines stand in Codex Regius in immediate connection with
+the above-quoted strophes which speak of Gulveig-Heid and of the war
+caused by her between the Asas and Vans. They inform us that the gods
+assembled to hold a solemn counsel to find out "who had filled all the
+air with evil," or "who had delivered Freyja to the race of giants;" and
+that the person found guilty was at once slain by Thor, who grew most
+angry.
+
+Now if this person is Gulveig-Aurboda, then it follows that she
+received her death-blow from Thor's hammer, before the Asas made in
+common the unsuccessful attempt to change her body into ashes. We also
+find elsewhere in our mythic records that an exceedingly dangerous woman
+met with precisely this fate. There she is called _Hyrrokin_. A strophe
+by Thorbjorn Disarskald preserved in the Younger Edda, states that
+_Hyrrokin_ was one of the giantesses slain by Thor. But the very
+appellation _Hyrrokin_, which must be an epithet of a giantess known by
+some other more common name indicates that some effort worthy of being
+remembered in the myth had been made to burn her, but that the effort
+resulted in her being smoked (_roekt_) rather than that she was burnt;
+for the epithet _Hyrrokin_ means the "fire-smoked." For those familiar
+with the contents of the myth, this epithet was regarded as plain enough
+to indicate who was meant. If it is not, therefore, to be looked upon as
+an unhappy and misleading epithet, it must refer to the thrice in vain
+burnt Gulveig. All that we learn about _Hyrrokin_ confirms her identity
+with Aurboda. In the symbolic-allegorical work of art, which toward the
+close of the tenth century decorated a hall at Hjardarholt, and of which
+I shall give a fuller account elsewhere, the storm which from the land
+side carried Balder's ship out on the sea is represented by the giantess
+Hyrrokin. In the same capacity of storm-giantess carrying sailors out
+upon the ocean appears Gymer's wife, Aurboda, in a poem by _Refr_;
+
+    Faerir bjoern, thar er bara
+    brestr, undinna festa,
+
+    Opt i AEgis kjopta
+    ursvoel Gymis voelva.
+
+"Gymer's ancient-cold vala often carries the ship amid breaking billows
+into the jaws of AEgir." Gymer, Aurboda's husband, represents in the
+physical interpretation of the myth the east wind coming from the
+Ironwood. From the other side of Eystrasalt (the Baltic) Gymer sings his
+song (Ynglingasaga, 36); and the same gale belongs to Aurboda, for AEgir,
+into whose jaws she drives the ships, is the great open western ocean.
+That Aurboda represents the gale from the east finds its natural
+explanation in her identity with Angerboda "the old," who dwells in the
+Ironwood in the uttermost east, "_Austr byr hin alldna i iarnvithi_"
+(Voelusp.).
+
+The result of the investigation is that _Gullveig-Heidr_, _Aurboda_, and
+_Angrboda_ are different names for the different hypostases of the
+thrice-born and thrice-burnt one, and that _Hyrrokin_, "the
+fire-smoked," is an epithet common to all these hypostases.
+
+[Footnote 18: In Voeluspa the wood is called both _Jarnvidr, Gaglvidr_
+(Cod. Reg.), and _Galgvidr_ (Cod. Hauk.). It may be that we here have a
+fossil word preserved in Voeluspa meaning metal. Perhaps the wood was a
+copper or bronze forest before it became an iron wood. Compare
+_ghalgha_, _ghalghi_ (Fick., ii. 578) = metal, which, again, is to be
+compared with _Chalkos._ = copper, bronze.]
+
+[Footnote 19: In _Bragaraedur's_ pseudo-mythic account of the Skaldic
+mead (Younger Edda, 216 ff.) the name _Fjalarr_ also appears. In regard
+to the value of this account, see the investigation in No. 89.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Ynglingasaga is the opening chapters of Snorre Sturlason's
+Heimskringla.]
+
+
+                                   36.
+
+            THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). THE BREACH OF PEACE
+              BETWEEN ASAS AND VANS. FRIGG, SKADE, AND ULL
+               IN THE CONFLICT. THE SIEGE OF ASGARD. THE
+               VAFERFLAMES. THE DEFENCE AND SURROUNDINGS
+                   OF ASGARD. THE VICTORY OF THE VANS.
+
+
+When the Asas had refused to give satisfaction for the murder of
+Gulveig, and when Odin, by hurling his spear, had indicated that the
+treaty of peace between him and the Vans was broken, the latter leave
+the assembly hall and Asgard. This is evident from the fact that they
+afterwards return to Asgard and attack the citadel of the Asa clan. The
+gods are now divided into two hostile camps: on the one side Odin and
+his allies, among whom are Heimdal (see Nos. 38, 39, 40), and Skade; on
+the other Njord, Frigg (Saxo, _Hist._, 42-44), Frey, Ull (Saxo, _Hist_.,
+130, 131), and Freyja and her husband Svipdag, besides all that clan of
+divinities who were not adopted in Asgard, but belong to the race of
+Vans and dwell in Vanaheim.
+
+So far as Skade is concerned the breach between the gods seems to have
+furnished her an opportunity of getting a divorce from Njord, with whom
+she did not live on good terms. According to statements found in the
+myths, Thjasse's daughter and he were altogether too different in
+disposition to dwell in peace together. Saxo (_Hist._, 53 ff.) and the
+Younger Edda (p. 94) have both preserved the record of a song which
+describes their different tastes as to home and surroundings. Skade
+loved Thrymheim, the rocky home of her father Thjasse, on whose
+snow-clad plains she was fond of running on skees and of felling wild
+beasts with her arrows; but when Njord had remained nine days and nine
+nights among the mountains he was weary of the rocks and of the howling
+of wolves, and longed for the song of swans on the sea-strand. But when
+Skade accompanied him thither she could not long endure to be awakened
+every morning by the shrieking of sea-fowls. In Grimnismal, 11, it is
+said that Skade "now" occupies her father's "ancient home" in
+Thrymheim, but Njord is not named there. In a strophe by Thord Sjarekson
+(Younger Edda, 262) we read that Skade never became devoted to the
+Vana-god (_nama snotr una godbrudr Vani_), and Eyvind Skalda-spiller
+relates in _Haleygjatal_ that there was a time when Odin dwelt _i
+Manheimum_ together with Skade, and begat with her many sons. With
+_Manheimar_ is meant that part of the world which is inhabited by man;
+that is to say, Midgard and the lower world, where are also found a race
+of _menskir menn_ (see Nos. 52, 53, 59, 63), and the topographical
+counterpart of the word is _Asgardr_. Thus it must have been after his
+banishment from Asgard, while he was separated from Frigg and found
+refuge somewhere in _Manheimar_, that Odin had Skade for his wife. Her
+epithet in Grimnismal, _skir brudr goda_, also seems to indicate that
+she had conjugal relations with more than one of the gods.
+
+While Odin was absent and deposed as ruler of the world, Ull has
+occupied so important a position among the ruling Vans that, according
+to the tradition preserved in Saxo, they bestowed upon him the task and
+honour which until that time had belonged to Odin (_Dii ... Ollerum
+quendam non solum in regni, sed etiam in divinitatis infulas
+subrogavere_--_Hist._, 130). This is explained by the fact that Njord
+and Frey, though _valtivar_ and brave warriors when they are invoked,
+are in their very nature gods of peace and promoters of wealth and
+agriculture, while Ull is by nature a warrior. He is a skilful archer,
+excellent in a duel, and _hefir hermanns atgervi_ (Younger Edda, i.
+102). Also after the reconciliation between the Asas and Vans, Thor's
+stepson Ull has held a high position in Asgard, as is apparently
+corroborated by Odin's words in Grimnismal, 41 (_Ullar hylli ok allra
+goda_).
+
+From the mythic accounts in regard to the situation and environment of
+Asgard we may conclude that the siege by the Vans was no easy task. The
+home of the Asas is surrounded by the atmospheric ocean, whose strong
+currents make it difficult for the mythic horses to swim to it (see Nos.
+65, 93). The bridge Bifrost is not therefore superfluous, but it is that
+connection between the lower worlds and Asgard which the gods daily use,
+and which must be captured by the enemy before the great cordon which
+encloses the shining halls of the gods can be attacked. The wall is
+built of "the limbs of Lerbrimer" (Fjolsv., 1), and constructed by its
+architect in such a manner that it is a safe protection against
+mountain-giants and frost-giants (Younger Edda, 134). In the wall is a
+gate wondrously made by the artist-brothers who are sons of "Solblinde"
+(_Valgrind_--Grimnism., 22; _thrymgjoell_--Fjoelsvimsm., 10). Few there
+are who understand the lock of that gate, and if anybody brings it out
+of its proper place in the wall-opening where it blocks the way for
+those who have no right to enter, then the gate itself becomes a chain
+for him who has attempted such a thing (_Forn er su grind, enn that fair
+vito, hor hve er i las um lokin_--Grimn., 22. _Fjoeturr fastr verdr vid
+faranda hvern er hana hefr fra hlidi_--Fjoelsv., 10).
+
+Outside of the very high Asgard cordon and around it there flows a rapid
+river (see below), the moat of the citadel. Over the eddies of the
+stream floats a dark, shining ignitible mist. If it is kindled it
+explodes in flames, whose bickering tongues strike their victims with
+unerring certainty. It is the _vaferloge_, "the bickering flame," "the
+quick fire," celebrated in ancient songs--_vafrlogi_, _vafreydi_,
+_skjot-brinni_. It was this fire which the gods kindled around Asgard
+when they saw Thjasse approaching in eagle guise. In it their
+irreconcilable foe burnt his pinions, and fell to the ground.
+"Haustlaung," Thjodolf's poem, says that when Thjasse approached the
+citadel of the gods "the gods raised the quick fire and sharpened their
+javelins"--_Hofu skjot; en skofu skoept; ginnregin brinna_. The "quick
+fire," _skjot-brinni_, is the _vaferloge_.[21]
+
+The material of which the ignitible mist consists is called "black
+terror-gleam." It is _or odauccom_; that is to say, _ofdauccom ognar
+ljoma_ (Fafn., 40) (_cp. myrckvan vafrloga_--Skirn., 8, 9; Fjolsv., 31).
+It is said to be "wise," which implies that it consciously aims at him
+for whose destruction it is kindled.
+
+How a water could be conceived that evaporates a dark, ignitible mist we
+find explained in Thorsdrapa. The thunder-storm is the "storm of the
+vaferfire," and Thor is the "ruler of the chariot of the
+vaferfire-storm" (_vafreyda hreggs hufstjori_). Thus the thunder-cloud
+contains the water that evaporates a dark material for lightning. The
+dark metallic colour which is peculiar to the thunder-cloud was regarded
+as coming from that very material which is the "black terror-gleam" of
+which lightning is formed. When Thor splits the cloud he separates the
+two component parts, the water and the vafermist; the former falls down
+as rain, the latter is ignited and rushes away in quick, bickering,
+zigzag flames--the vaferfires. That these are "wise" was a common Aryan
+belief. They do not proceed blindly, but know their mark and never miss
+it.
+
+The river that foams around Asgard thus has its source in the
+thunder-clouds; not as we find them after they have been split by Thor,
+but such as they are originally, swollen with a celestial water that
+evaporates vafermist. All waters--subterranean, terrestrial, and
+celestial--have their source in that great subterranean fountain
+Hvergelmer. Thence they come and thither they return (Grimn., 26; see
+Nos. 59, 63, 33). Hvergelmer's waters are sucked up by the northern root
+of the world-tree; they rise through its trunk, spread into its branches
+and leaves, and evaporate from its crown into a water-tank situated on
+the top of Asgard, _Eikthyrnir_, in Grimnismal, str. 26, symbolised as a
+"stag"[22] who stands on the roof of Odin's hall and out of whose horns
+the waters stream down into Hvergelmer. _Eikthyrnir_ is the great
+celestial water-tank which gathers and lets out the thunder-cloud. In
+this tank the Asgard river has its source, and hence it consists not
+only of foaming water but also of ignitible vafermists. In its capacity
+of discharger of the thunder-cloud, the tank is called _Eikthyrnir_, the
+oak-stinger. Oaks struck by lightning is no unusual occurrence. The oak
+is, according to popular belief based on observation, that tree which
+the lightning most frequently strikes.
+
+But Asgard is not the only citadel which is surrounded by vafermists.
+These are also found enveloping the home where dwelt the storm-giant
+Gymer and the storm-giantess Aurboda, the sorceress who knows all of
+Asgard's secrets, at the time when Frey sent Skirner to ask for the hand
+of their daughter Gerd. Epics which in their present form date from
+Christian times make vaferflames burn around castles, where goddesses,
+pricked by sleep-thorns, are slumbering. This is a belief of a later
+age.
+
+To get over or through the vaferflame is, according to the myth,
+impossible for anyone who has not got a certain mythical horse to
+ride--probably Sleipner, the eight-footed steed of the Asa-father, which
+is the best of all horses (Grimn., 44). The quality of this steed, which
+enables it to bear its rider unscathed through the vaferflame, makes it
+indespensable when this obstacle is to be overcome. When Skirner is to
+go on Frey's journey of courtship to Gerd, he asks for that purpose _mar
+thann er mic um myrckvan beri visan vafrloga_, and is allowed to ride it
+on and for the journey (Skirn., 8, 9). This horse must accordingly have
+been in the possession of the Vans when they conquered Asgard, an
+assumption confirmed by what is to be stated below. (In the great epic
+Sigurd's horse Grane is made to inherit the qualities of this divine
+horse.)
+
+On the outer side of the Asgard river, and directly opposite the Asgard
+gate, lie projecting ramparts (_forgardir_) to protect the drawbridge,
+which from the opening in the wall can be dropped down across the river
+(see below). When Svipdag proceeded toward Menglad's abode in Asgard, he
+first came to this _forgardir_ (Fjoels., i. 3). There he is hailed by the
+watch of the citadel, and thence he gets a glimpse over the gate of all
+the glorious things which are hid behind the high walls of the citadel.
+
+Outside the river Asgard has fields with groves and woods (Younger Edda,
+136, 210).
+
+Of the events of the wars waged around Asgard, the mythic fragments,
+which the Icelandic records have preserved, give us but very little
+information, though they must have been favourite themes for the heathen
+skaldic art, which here had an opportunity of describing in a
+characteristic manner all the gods involved, and of picturing not only
+their various characters, but also their various weapons, equipments,
+and horses. In regard to the weapons of attack we must remember that
+Thor at the outbreak of the conflict is deprived of the assistance of
+his splendid hammer: it has been broken by Svipdag's sword of victory
+(see Nos. 101, 103)--a point which it was necessary for the myth to
+assume, otherwise the Vans could hardly he represented as conquerors.
+Nor do the Vans have the above-mentioned sword at their disposal: it is
+already in the power of Gymer and Aurboda. The irresistible weapons
+which in a purely mechanical manner would have decided the issue of the
+war, were disposed of in advance in order that the persons themselves,
+with their varied warlike qualities, might get to the foreground and
+decide the fate of the conflict by heroism or prudence, by prescient
+wisdom or by blind daring. In this war the Vans have particularly
+distinguished themselves by wise and well calculated strategies. This we
+learn from Voeluspa, where it makes the final victors conquer Asgard
+through _vigspa_, that is, foreknowledge applied to warlike ends (str.
+26). The Asas, as we might expect from Odin's brave sons, have
+especially distinguished themselves by their strength and courage. A
+record of this is found in the words of Thorbjorn Disarskald (Younger
+Edda, 256).
+
+    Thorr hefir Yggs med arum
+    Asgard of threk vardan.
+
+"Thor with Odin's clan-men defended Asgard with indomitable courage."
+
+But in number they must have been far inferior to their foes. Simply the
+circumstance that Odin and his men had to confine themselves to the
+defence of Asgard shows that nearly all other divinities of various
+ranks had allied themselves with his enemies. The ruler of the lower
+world (Mimer) and Honer are the only ones of whom it can be said that
+they remained faithful to Odin; and if we can trust the Heimskringla
+tradition, which is related as history and greatly corrupted, then Mimer
+lost his life in an effort at mediation between the contending gods,
+while he and Honer were held as hostages among the Vans (Ynglingas., ch.
+4). Asgard was at length conquered. Voeluspa, str. 25, relates the final
+catastrophe:
+
+    brotin var bordvegr
+    borgar asa
+    knatto vanir vigspa
+    vollo sporna.
+
+    Broken was the bulwark
+    of the asaburg;
+    Through warlike prudence were the Vans able
+    its fields to tread.
+
+Voeluspa's words seem to indicate that the Vans took Asgard by strategy;
+and this is confirmed by a source which shall be quoted below. But to
+carry out the plan which chiefly involved the finding of means for
+crossing the vaferflames kindled around the citadel and for opening the
+gates of Asgard, not only cunning but also courage was required. The
+myth has given the honour of this undertaking to Njord, the clan-chief
+of the Vans and the commander of their forces. This is clear from the
+above-quoted passage: _Njordr klauf Herjans hurdir_--"Njord broke Odin's
+doors open," which should be compared with the poetical paraphrase for
+battle-axe: _Gauts megin-hurdar galli_--"the destroyer of Odin's great
+gate,"--a paraphrase that indicates that Njord burst the Asgard gate
+open with the battle-axe. The conclusion which must be drawn from these
+utterances is confirmed by an account with which the sixth book of Saxo
+begins, and which doubtless is a fragment of the myth concerning the
+conquest of Asgard by the Vans corrupted and told as history.
+
+The event is transferred by Saxo to the reign of King Fridlevus II. It
+should here be remarked that every important statement made by Saxo
+about this Fridlevus, on a closer examination, is found to be taken from
+the myth concerning Njord.
+
+There were at that time twelve brothers, says Saxo, distinguished for
+courage, strength, and fine physical appearance. They were "widely
+celebrated for gigantic triumphs." To their trophies and riches many
+peoples had paid tribute. But the source from which Saxo received
+information in regard to Fridlevus' conflict with them did not mention
+more than seven of these twelve, and of these seven Saxo gives the
+names. They are called Bjorn, Asbjorn, Gunbjorn, &c. In all the names is
+found the epithet of the Asa-god Bjorn.
+
+The brothers had had allies, says Saxo further, but at the point when
+the story begins they had been abandoned by them, and on this account
+they had been obliged to confine themselves on an island surrounded by a
+most violent stream which fell from the brow of a very high rock, and
+the whole surface of which glittered with raging foam. The island was
+fortified by a very high wall (_praealtum vallum_), in which was built a
+remarkable gate. It was so built that the hinges were placed near the
+ground between the sides of the opening in the wall, so that the gate
+turning thereon could, by a movement regulated by chains, be lowered and
+form a bridge across the stream.
+
+Thus the gate is, at the same time, a drawbridge of that kind with which
+the Germans became acquainted during the war with the Romans already
+before the time of Tacitus (cp. _Annal._, iv. 51, with iv. 47). Within
+the fortification there was a most strange horse, and also a remarkably
+strong dog, which formerly had watched the herds of the giant Offotes.
+The horse was celebrated for his size and speed, and it was the only
+steed with which it was possible for a rider to cross the raging stream
+around the island fortress.
+
+King Fridlevus now surrounds this citadel with his forces. These are
+arrayed at some distance from the citadel, and in the beginning nothing
+else is gained by the siege than that the besieged are hindered from
+making sallies into the surrounding territory. The citadel cannot be
+taken unless the above-mentioned horse gets into the power of Fridlevus.
+Bjorn, the owner of the horse, makes sorties from the citadel, and in so
+doing he did not always take sufficient care, for on one occasion when
+he was on the outer side of the stream, and had gone some distance away
+from his horse, he fell into an ambush laid by Fridlevus. He saved
+himself by rushing headlong over the bridge, which was drawn up behind
+him, but the precious horse became Fridlevus' booty. This was of course
+a severe loss to the besieged, and must have diminished considerably
+their sense of security. Meanwhile, Fridlevus was able to manage the
+matter in such a way that the accident served rather to lull them into
+increased safety. During the following night the brothers found their
+horse, safe and sound, back on the island. Hence it must have swum back
+across the stream. And when it was afterwards found that the dead body
+of a man, clad in the shining robes of Fridlevus, floated on the eddies
+of the stream, they took it for granted that Fridlevus himself had
+perished in the stream.
+
+But the real facts were as follows: Fridlevus, attended by a single
+companion, had in the night ridden from his camp to the river. There his
+companion's life had to be sacrificed, in order that the king's plan
+might be carried out. Fridlevus exchanged clothes with the dead man,
+who, in the king's splendid robes, was cast into the stream. Then
+Fridlevus gave spur to the steed which he had captured, and rode through
+the eddies of the stream. Having passed this obstacle safely, he set the
+horse at liberty, climbed on a ladder over the wall, stole into the hall
+where the brothers were wont to assemble, hid himself under a projection
+over the hall door, listened to their conversation, saw them go out to
+reconnoitre the island, and saw them return, secure in the conviction
+that there was no danger at hand. Then he went to the gate and let it
+fall across the stream. His forces had, during the night, advanced
+toward the citadel, and when they saw the drawbridge down and the way
+open, they stormed the fortress and captured it.
+
+The fact that we here have a transformation of the myth, telling how
+Njord at the head of the Vans conquered Asgard, is evident from the
+following circumstances:
+
+(_a_) The conqueror is Fridlevus. The most of what Saxo relates about
+this Fridlevus is, as stated, taken from the myth about Njord, and told
+as history.
+
+(_b_) The brothers were, according to Saxo, originally twelve, which is
+the well-established number of Odin's clansmen: his sons, and the
+adopted Asa-gods. But when the siege in question takes place, Saxo finds
+in his source only seven of the twelve mentioned as enclosed in the
+citadel beseiged by Fridlevus. The reason for the diminishing of the
+number is to be found in the fact that the adopted gods--Njord, Frey,
+and Ull--had left Asgard, and are in fact identical with the leaders of
+the besiegers. If we also deduct Balder and Hoedr, who, at the time of
+the event, are dead and removed to the lower world, then we have left
+the number seven given. The name Bjorn, which they all bear, is an Asa
+epithet (Younger Edda, i. 553). The brothers have formerly had allies,
+but these have abandoned them (_deficientibus a se sociis_), and it is
+on this account that they must confine themselves within their citadel.
+The Asas have had the Vans and other divine powers as allies, but these
+abandon them, and the Asas must defend themselves on their own fortified
+ground.
+
+(_c_) Before this the brothers have made themselves celebrated for
+extraordinary exploits, and have enjoyed a no less extraordinary power.
+They shone on account of their _giganteis triumphis_--an ambiguous
+expression which alludes to the mythic sagas concerning the victories of
+the Asas over Jotunheim's giants (_gigantes_), and nations have
+submitted to them as victors, and enriched them with treasures
+(_trophaeis gentium celebres, spoliis locupletes_).
+
+(_d_) The island on which they are confined is fortified, like the Asa
+citadel, by an immensely high wall (_praealtum vallum_), and is
+surrounded by a stream which is impassable unless one possesses a horse
+which is found among the brothers. Asgard is surrounded by a river belt
+covered with vaferflames, which cannot be crossed unless one has that
+single steed which _um myrckvan beri visan vafrloga_, and this belongs
+to the Asas.
+
+(_e_) The stream which roars around the fortress of the brothers comes
+_ex summis montium cacuminibus_. The Asgard stream comes from the
+collector of the thunder-cloud, _Eikthynir_, who stands on the summit of
+the world of the gods. The kindled vaferflames, which did not suit an
+historical narration, are explained by Saxo to be a _spumeus candor_, a
+foaming whiteness, a shining froth, which in uniform, eddying billows
+everywhere whirl on the surface of the stream, (_tota alvei tractu undis
+uniformiter turbidatis spumeus ubique candor exuberat_).
+
+(_f_) The only horse which was able to run through the shining and
+eddying foam is clearly one of the mythic horses. It is named along with
+another prodigy from the animal kingdom of mythology, viz., the terrible
+dog of the giant Offotes. Whether this is a reminiscence of _Fenrir_
+which was kept for some time in Asgard, or of Odin's wolf-dog _Freki_,
+or of some other saga-animal of that sort, we will not now decide.
+
+(_g_) Just as Asgard has an artfully contrived gate, so has also the
+citadel of the brothers. Saxo's description of the gate implies that any
+person who does not know its character as a drawbridge, but lays violent
+hands on the mechanism which holds it in an upright position, falls, and
+is crushed under it. This explains the words of Fjoelsvinnsmal about the
+gate to that citadel, within which Freyja-Menglad dwells: _Fjoeturr
+fastr verdr vid faranda hvern, er hana hefr fra hlidi_.
+
+(_h_) In the myth, it is Njord himself who removes the obstacle, "Odin's
+great gate," placed in his way. In Saxo's account, it is Fridlevus
+himself who accomplishes the same exploit.
+
+(_i_) In Saxo's narration occurs an improbability, which is explained by
+the fact that he has transformed a myth into history. When Fridlevus is
+safe across the stream, he raises a ladder against the wall and climbs
+up on to it. Whence did he get this ladder, which must have been
+colossal, since the wall he got over in this manner is said to be
+_praealtum_? Could he have taken it with him on the horse's back? Or did
+the besieged themselves place it against the wall as a friendly aid to
+the foe, who was already in possession of the only means for crossing
+the stream? Both assumptions are alike improbable. Saxo had to take
+recourse to a ladder, for he could not, without damaging the
+"historical" character of his story, repeat the myth's probable
+description of the event. The horse which can gallop through the
+bickering flame can also leap over the highest wall. Sleipner's ability
+in this direction is demonstrated in the account of how it, with Hermod
+in the saddle, leaps over the wall to Balder's high hall in the lower
+world (Younger Edda, 178). The impassibility of the Asgard wall is
+limited to mountain-giants and frost-giants; for a god riding Odin's
+horse the wall was no obstacle. No doubt the myth has also stated that
+the Asas, after Njord had leaped over the wall and sought out the
+above-mentioned place of concealment, found within the wall their
+precious horse again, which lately had become the booty of the enemy.
+And where else should they have found it, if we regard the stream with
+the bickering flames as breaking against the very foot of the wall?
+
+Finally, it should be added, that our myths tell of no other siege than
+the one Asgard was subjected to by the Vans. If other sieges have been
+mentioned, they cannot have been of the same importance as this one, and
+consequently they could not so easily have left traces in the mythic
+traditions adapted to history or heroic poetry; nor could a historicised
+account of a mythic siege which did not concern Asgard have preserved
+the points here pointed out, which are in harmony with the story of the
+Asgard siege.
+
+When the citadel of the gods is captured, the gods are, as we have seen,
+once more in possession of the steed, which, judging from its qualities,
+must be Sleipner. Thus Odin has the means of escaping from the enemy
+after all resistance has proved impossible. Thor has his thundering car,
+which, according to the Younger Edda, has room for several besides the
+owner, and the other Asas have splendid horses (Grimnism., Younger
+Edda), even though they are not equal to that of their father. The Asas
+give up their throne of power, and the Vans now assume the rule of the
+world.
+
+[Footnote 21: The author of _Bragaraedur_ in the Younger Edda has
+understood this passage to mean that the Asas, when they saw Thjasse
+approaching, carried out a lot of shavings, which were kindled (!)]
+
+[Footnote 22: In the same poem the elf-artist, Dainn, and the
+"dwarf"-artist, Dvalinn, are symbolised as stags, the wanderer Ratr (see
+below) as a squirrel, the wolf-giant _Grafvitner's_ sons as serpents,
+the bridge Bifrost as a fish (see No. 93), &c. Fortunately for the
+comprehension of our mythic records such symbolising is confined to a
+few strophes in the poem named, and these strophes appear to have
+belonged originally to an independent song which made a speciality of
+that sort of symbolism, and to have been incorporated in Grimnismal in
+later times.]
+
+
+                                   37.
+
+           THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). THE SIGNIFICANCE OF
+           THE CONFLICT FROM A RELIGIOUS-RITUAL STANDPOINT.
+
+
+In regard to the significance of the change of administration in the
+world of gods, Saxo has preserved a tradition which is of no small
+interest. The circumstance that Odin and his sons had to surrender the
+reign of the world did not imply that mankind should abandon their faith
+in the old gods and accept a new religion. Hitherto the Asas and Vans
+had been worshipped in common. Now, when Odin was deposed, his name,
+honoured by the nations, was not to be obliterated. The name was given
+to Ull, and, as if he really were Odin, he was to receive the sacrifices
+and prayers that hitherto had been addressed to the banished one
+(_Hist._, 130). The ancient faith was to be maintained, and the shift
+involved nothing but the person; there was no change of religion. But in
+connection with this information, we also learn, from another statement
+in Saxo, that the myth concerning the war between Asas and Vans was
+connected with traditions concerning a conflict between various views
+among the believers in the Teutonic religion concerning offerings and
+prayers. The one view was more ritual, and demanded more attention paid
+to sacrifices. This view seems to have gotten the upper hand after the
+banishment of Odin. It was claimed that sacrifices and hymns addressed
+at the same time to several or all of the gods, did not have the
+efficacy of pacifying and reconciling angry deities, but that to each
+one of the gods should be given a separate sacrificial service (Saxo,
+_Hist._, 43). The result of this was, of course, an increase of
+sacrifices and a more highly-developed ritual, which from its very
+nature might have produced among the Teutons the same hierarchy as
+resulted from an excess of sacrifices among their Aryan-Asiatic kinsmen.
+The correctness of Saxo's statement is fully confirmed by strophe 145 in
+Havamal, which advocates the opposite and incomparably more moderate
+view in regard to sacrifices. This view came, according to the strophe,
+from Odin's own lips. He is made to proclaim it to the people "after his
+return to his ancient power."
+
+    Betra er obethit
+    en se ofblothit
+    ey ser til gildis giof;
+    betra er osennt
+    enn se ofsoit.
+    Sva thundr um reist
+    fyr thiotha rauc,
+    thar hann up um reis
+    er hann aptr of kom.
+
+The expression, _thar hann up um reis, er hann apter of kom_, refers to
+the fact that Odin had for some time been deposed from the
+administration of the world, but had returned, and that he then
+proclaimed to the people the view in regard to the real value of prayers
+and sacrifices which is laid down in the strophe. Hence it follows that
+before Odin returned to his throne another more exacting doctrine in
+regard to sacrifices had, according to the myth, secured prevalence.
+This is precisely what Saxo tells us. It is difficult to repress the
+question whether an historical reminiscence is not concealed in these
+statements. May it not be the record of conflicting views within the
+Teutonic religion--views represented in the myth by the Vana-gods on the
+one side and the Asas on the other? The Vana views, I take it,
+represented tendencies which had they been victorious, would have
+resulted in hierarchy, while the Asa doctrine represented the tendencies
+of the believers in the time-honoured Aryan custom of those who
+maintained the priestly authority of the father of the family, and who
+defended the efficacy of the simple hymns and sacrifices which from time
+out of mind had been addressed to several or all of the gods in common.
+That the question really has existed among the Teutonic peoples, at
+least as a subject for reflection, spontaneously suggests itself in the
+myth alluded to above. This myth has discussed the question, and decided
+it in precisely the same manner as history has decided it among the
+Teutonic races, among whom priestcraft and ritualism have held a far
+less important position than among their western kinsmen, the Celts, and
+their eastern kinsmen, the Iranians and Hindoos. That prayers on account
+of their length, or sacrifices on account of their abundance, should
+give evidence of greater piety and fear of God, and should be able to
+secure a more ready hearing, is a doctrine which Odin himself rejects in
+the strophe above cited. He understands human nature, and knows that
+when a man brings abundant sacrifices he has the selfish purpose in view
+of prevailing on the gods to give a more abundant reward--a purpose
+prompted by selfishness, not by piety.
+
+
+                                   38.
+
+            THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). THE WAR IN MIDGARD
+               BETWEEN HALFDAN'S SONS. GROA'S SONS AGAINST
+                ALVEIG'S. LOKE'S APPEARANCE ON THE STAGE.
+                     HADDING'S YOUTHFUL ADVENTURES.
+
+
+The conflict between the gods has its counterpart in, and is connected
+with, a war between all the Teutonic races, and the latter is again a
+continuation of the feud between Halfdan and Svipdag. The Teutonic race
+comes to the front fighting under three race-representatives--(1)
+Yngve-Svipdag, the son of Orvandel and Groa; (2) Gudhorm, the son of
+Halfdan and Groa, consequently Svipdag's half-brother; (3) Hadding, the
+son of Halfdan and Alveig (in Saxo called Signe, daughter of Sumbel),
+consequently Gudhorm's half-brother.
+
+The ruling Vans favour Svipdag, who is Freyja's husband and Frey's
+brother-in-law. The banished Asas support Hadding from their place of
+refuge. The conflict between the gods and the war between Halfdan's
+successor and heir are woven together. It is like the Trojan war, where
+the gods, divided into parties, assist the Trojans or assist the Danai.
+Odin, Thor, and Heimdal interfere, as we shall see, to protect Hadding.
+This is their duty as kinsmen; for Heimdal, having assumed human nature,
+was the lad with the sheaf of grain who came to the primeval country and
+became the father of Borgar, who begat the son Halfdan. Thor was
+Halfdan's associate father; hence he too had duties of kinship toward
+Hadding and Gudhorm, Halfdan's sons. The gods, on the other hand, that
+favour Svipdag are, in Hadding's eyes, foes, and Hadding long refuses to
+propitiate Frey by a demanded sacrifice (Saxo, _Hist._, 49, 50).
+
+This war, simultaneously waged between the clans of the gods on the one
+hand, and between the Teutonic tribes on the other, is what the seeress
+in Voeluspa calls "the first great war in the world." She not only gives
+an account of its outbreak and events among the gods, but also indicates
+that it was waged on the earth. Then--
+
+    sa hon valkyrior        saw she valkyries
+    vitt um komnar          far travelled
+    gaurvar at rida         equipped to ride
+    til Godthjodar          to Goththjod.
+
+Goththjod is the Teutonic people and the Teutonic country.
+
+When Svipdag had slain Halfdan, and when the Asas were expelled, the
+sons of the Teutonic patriarch were in danger of falling into the power
+of Svipdag. Thor interested himself in their behalf, and brought Gudhorm
+and Hadding to Jotunheim, where he concealed them with the giants Hafle
+and Vagnhofde--Gudhorm in Hafle's rocky gard and Hadding in Vagnhofde's.
+In Saxo, who relates this story, the Asa-god Thor appears partly as
+_Thor deus_ and _Thoro pugil_, Halfdan's protector, whom Saxo himself
+identifies as the god Thor (_Hist._, 324), and partly as _Brac_ and
+_Brache_, which name Saxo formed from Thor's epithet, _Asa-Bragr_. It is
+by the name Brache that Thor appears as the protector of Halfdan's sons.
+The giants Hafle and Vagnhofde dwell, according to Saxo, in "Svetia"
+probably, since Jotunheim, the northernmost Sweden, and the most
+distant east were called _Svithiod hinn kalda_.[23]
+
+Svipdag waged war against Halfdan, since it was his duty to avenge the
+disgrace of his mother Groa, and also that of his mother's father, and,
+as shall be shown later, the death of his father Orvandel (see Nos. 108,
+109). The revenge for bloodshed was sacred in the Teutonic world, and
+this duty he performed when he with his irresistible sword felled his
+stepfather. But thereby the duty of revenge for bloodshed was
+transferred to Halfdan's sons--less to Gudhorm, who is himself a son of
+Groa, but with all its weight to Hadding, the son of Alveig, and it is
+_his_ bounden duty to bring about Svipdag's death, since Svipdag had
+slain Halfdan. Connecting itself with Halfdan's robbery of Groa, the
+goddess of growth, the red thread of revenge for bloodshed extends
+throughout the great hero-saga of Teutonic mythology.
+
+Svipdag makes an effort to cut the thread. He offers Gudhorm and Hadding
+peace and friendship, and promises them kingship among the tribes
+subject to him. Groa's son, Gudhorm, accepts the offer, and Svipdag
+makes him ruler of the Danes; but Hadding sends answer that he prefers
+to avenge his father's death to accepting favours from an enemy (Saxo,
+_Hist._, 35, 36).
+
+Svipdag's offer of peace and reconciliation is in harmony, if not with
+his own nature, at least with that of his kinsmen, the reigning Vans. If
+the offer to Hadding had been accepted, we might have looked for peace
+in the world. Now the future is threatened with the devastations of war,
+and the bloody thread of revenge shall continue to be spun if Svipdag
+does not prevent it by overpowering Hadding. The myth may have contained
+much information about the efforts of the one camp to capture him and
+about contrivances of the other to frustrate these efforts. Saxo has
+preserved a partial record thereof. Among those who plot against Hadding
+is also Loke (_Lokerus_--Saxo, _Hist._, 40, 41),[24] the banished ally
+of Aurboda. His purpose is doubtless to get into the favour of the
+reigning Vans. Hadding is no longer safe in Vagnhofde's mountain home.
+The lad is exposed to Loke's snares. From one of these he is saved by
+the Asa-father himself. There came, says Saxo, on this occasion a rider
+to Hadding. He resembled a very aged man, one of whose eyes was lost
+(_grandaevus quidam altero orbus oculo_). He placed Hadding in front of
+himself on the horse, wrapped his mantle about him, and rode away. The
+lad became curious and wanted to see whither they were going. Through a
+hole in the mantle he got an opportunity of looking down, and found to
+his astonishment and fright that land and sea were far below the hoofs
+of the steed. The rider must have noticed his fright, for he forbade him
+to look out any more.
+
+The rider, the one-eyed old man, is Odin, and the horse is Sleipner,
+rescued from the captured Asgard. The place to which the lad is carried
+by Odin is the place of refuge secured by the Asas during their exile _i
+Manheimum_. In perfect harmony with the myths, Saxo refers Odin's exile
+to the time preceding Hadding's juvenile adventures, and makes Odin's
+return to power simultaneous with Hadding's great victory over his
+enemies (_Hist._, 42-44). Saxo has also found in his sources that
+sword-slain men, whom Odin chooses during "the first great war in the
+world," cannot come to Valhal. The reason for this is that Odin is not
+at that time the ruler there. They have dwelling-places and plains for
+their warlike amusements appointed in the lower world (_Hist._, 51).
+
+The regions which, according to Saxo, are the scenes of Hadding's
+juvenile adventures lie on the other side of the Baltic down toward the
+Black Sea. He is associated with "Curetians" and "Hellespontians,"
+doubtless for the reason that the myth has referred those adventures to
+the far east.
+
+The one-eyed old man is endowed with wonderful powers. When he landed
+with the lad at his home, he sang over him prophetic incantations to
+protect him (_Hist._, 40), and gave him a drink of the "most splendid
+sort," which produced in Hadding enormous physical strength, and
+particularly made him able to free himself from bonds and chains.
+(Compare Havamal, str. 149, concerning Odin's freeing incantations by
+which "fetters spring from the feet and chains from the hands.") A
+comparison with other passages, which I shall discuss later, shows that
+the potion of which the old man is lord contains something which is
+called "Leifner's flames," and that he who has been permitted to drink
+it, and over whom freeing incantations have simultaneously been sung, is
+able with his warm breath to free himself from every fetter which has
+been put on his enchanted limbs (see Nos. 43, 96, 103).
+
+The old man predicts that Hadding will soon have an opportunity of
+testing the strength with which the drink and the magic songs have
+endowed him. And the prophecy is fulfilled. Hadding falls into the power
+of Loke. He chains him and threatens to expose him as food for a wild
+beast--in Saxo a lion, in the myth presumably some one of the wolf or
+serpent prodigies that are Loke's offspring. But when his guards are put
+to sleep by Odin's magic song, though Odin is far away, Hadding bursts
+his bonds, slays the beast, and eats, in obedience to Odin's
+instructions, its heart. (The saga of Sigurd Fafnersbane has copied this
+feature. Sigurd eats the heart of the dragon Fafner and gets wisdom
+thereby.)
+
+Thus Hadding has become a powerful hero, and his task to make war on
+Svipdag, to revenge on him his father's death, and to recover the share
+in the rulership of the Teutons which Halfdan had possessed, now lies
+before him as the goal he is to reach.
+
+Hadding leaves Vagnhofde's home. The latter's daughter, Hardgrep, who
+had fallen in love with the youth, accompanies him. When we next find
+Hadding he is at the head of an army. That this consisted of the tribes
+of Eastern Teutondom is confirmed by documents which I shall hereafter
+quote; but it also follows from Saxo's narrative, although he has
+referred the war to narrower limits than were given to it in the myth,
+since he, constructing a Danish history from mythic traditions, has his
+eyes fixed chiefly on Denmark. Over the Scandian tribes and the Danes
+rule, according to Saxo's own statement, Svipdag, and as his tributary
+king in Denmark his half-brother Gudhorm. Saxo also is aware that the
+Saxons, the Teutonic tribes of the German lowlands, on one occasion were
+the allies of Svipdag (_Hist._, 34). From these parts of Teutondom did
+not come Hadding's friends, but his enemies; and when we add that the
+first battle which Saxo mentions in this war was fought among the
+Curetians east of the Baltic, then it is clear that Saxo, too, like the
+other records to which I am coming later, has conceived the forces under
+Hadding's banner as having been gathered in the East. From this it is
+evident that the war is one between the tribes of North Teutondom, led
+by Svipdag and supported by the Vans on the one side, and the tribes of
+East Teutondom, led by Hadding and supported by the Asas on the other.
+But the tribes of the western Teutonic continent have also taken part in
+the first great war of mankind. Gudhorm, whom Saxo makes a tributary
+king in Yngve-Svipdag's most southern domain, Denmark, has in the mythic
+traditions had a much greater empire, and has ruled over the tribes of
+Western and Southern Teutondom, as shall be shown hereafter.
+
+[Footnote 23: _Filii Gram, Guthormus et Hadingus, quorum alterum Gro,
+alterum Signe enixa est, Svipdagero Daniam obtinente, per educatorem
+suum Brache nave Svetiam deportati, Vagnophto et Haphlio gigantibus non
+solum alendi, verum etiam defensandi traduntur_ (Saxo _Hist._, 34).]
+
+[Footnote 24: The form _Loki_ is also duplicated by the form _Lokr_. The
+latter is preserved in the sense of "effeminated man," found in myths
+concerning Loke. Compare the phrase "_veykr Lokr_" with "_hinn veyki
+Loki_."]
+
+
+                                39.
+
+        THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). THE POSITION OF THE
+                 DIVINE CLANS TO THE WARRIORS.
+
+
+The circumstance that the different divine clans had their favourites in
+the different camps gives the war a peculiar character. The armies see
+before a battle supernatural forms contending with each other in the
+starlight, and recognize in them their divine friends and opponents
+(_Hist._, 48). The elements are conjured on one and the other side for
+the good or harm of the contending brother-tribes. When fog and pouring
+rain suddenly darken the sky and fall upon Hadding's forces from that
+side where the fylkings of the North are arrayed, then the one-eyed old
+man comes to their rescue and calls forth dark masses of clouds from the
+other side, which force back the rain-clouds and the fog (_Hist._, 53).
+In these cloud-masses we must recognize the presence of the thundering
+Thor, the son of the one-eyed old man.
+
+Giants also take part in the conflict. Vagnhofde and Hardgrep, the
+latter in a man's attire, contend on the side of the foster-son and the
+beloved Hadding (_Hist._, 45, 38). From Icelandic records we learn that
+Hafle and the giantesses Fenja and Menja fight under Gudhorm's banners.
+In the Grotte-song (14, 15) these maids sing:
+
+    En vit sithan
+    a Svidiothu
+    framvisar tvoer
+    i folk stigum;
+    beiddum biornu,
+    en brutum skioldu
+    gengum igegnum
+    graserkiat lit.
+    Steyptom stilli,
+    studdum annan,
+    veittum gothum
+    Guthormi lid.
+
+That the giant Hafle fought on the side of Gudhorm is probable from the
+fact that he is his foster-father, and it is confirmed by the fact that
+Thor paraphrased (Grett., 30) is called _fangvinr Hafla_, "he who
+wrestled with Hafle." Since Thor and Hafle formerly were friends--else
+the former would not have trusted Gudhorm to the care of the
+latter--their appearance afterwards as foes can hardly be explained
+otherwise than by the war between Thor's protege Hadding and Hafle's
+foster-son Gudhorm. And as Hadding's foster-father, the giant Vagnhofde,
+faithfully supports the young chief whose childhood he protected, then
+the myth could scarcely avoid giving a similar part to the giant Hafle,
+and thus make the foster-fathers, like the foster-sons, contend with
+each other. The heroic poems are fond of parallels of this kind.
+
+When Svipdag learns that Hadding has suddenly made his appearance in the
+East, and gathered its tribes around him for a war with Gudhorm, he
+descends from Asgard and reveals himself in the primeval Teutonic
+country on the Scandian peninsula, and requests its tribes to join the
+Danes and raise the banner of war against Halfdan's and Alveig's son,
+who, at the head of the eastern Teutons, is marching against their
+half-brother Gudhorm. The friends of both parties among the gods, men
+and giants, hasten to attach themselves to the cause which they have
+espoused as their own, and Vagnhofde among the rest abandons his rocky
+home to fight by the side of his foster-son and daughter.
+
+This mythic situation is described in a hitherto unexplained strophe in
+the Old English song concerning the names of the letters in the runic
+alphabet. In regard to the rune which answers to _I_ there is added the
+following lines:
+
+    Ing vaes oerest mid Eastdenum
+    geseven secgum od he siddan east
+    ofer vaeg gevat. Vaen aefter ran;
+    thus Heardingas thone haele nemdon.
+
+    "Yngve (Inge) was first seen among the East-Danemen.
+    Then he betook himself eastward over the sea.
+    Vagn hastened to follow:
+    Thus the Heardings called this hero."
+
+The Heardings are the Haddings--that is to say, Hadding himself, the
+kinsmen and friends who embraced his cause, and the Teutonic tribes who
+recognised him as their chief. The Norse _Haddingr_ is to the
+Anglo-Saxon _Hearding_ as the Norse _haddr_ to the Anglo-Saxon _heard_.
+Vigfusson, and before him J. Grimm, have already identified these forms.
+
+Ing is Yngve-Svipdag, who, when he left Asgard, "was first seen among
+the East-Danemen." He calls Swedes and Danes to arms against Hadding's
+tribes. The Anglo-Saxon strophe confirms the fact that they dwell in the
+East, separated by a sea from the Scandian tribes. Ing, with his
+warriors, "betakes himself eastward over the sea" to attack them. Thus
+the armies of the Swedes and Danes go by sea to the seat of war. What
+the authorities of Tacitus heard among the continental Teutons about the
+mighty fleets of the Swedes may be founded on the heroic songs about the
+first great war not less than on fact. As the army which was to cross
+the Baltic must be regarded as immensely large, so the myth, too, has
+represented the ships of the Swedes as numerous, and in part as of
+immense size. A confused record from the songs about the expedition of
+Svipdag and his friends against the East Teutons, found in Icelandic
+tradition, occurs in Fornald, pp. 406-407, where a ship called Gnod, and
+capable of carrying 3000 men, is mentioned as belonging to a King
+Asmund. Odin did not want this monstrous ship to reach its destination,
+but sank it, so it is said, in the Lessoe seaway, with all its men and
+contents. The Asmund who is known in the heroic sagas of heathen times
+is a son of Svipdag and a king among the Sviones (Saxo, _Hist._, 44).
+According to Saxo, he has given brilliant proofs of his bravery in the
+war against Hadding, and fallen by the weapons of Vagnhofde and Hadding.
+That Odin in the Icelandic tradition appears as his enemy thus
+corresponds with the myth. The same Asmund may, as Gisle Brynjulfsson
+has assumed, be meant in Grimnersmal (49), where we learn that Odin,
+concealing himself under the name Jalk, once visited Asmund.
+
+The hero Vagn, whom "the Haddings so called," is Hadding's
+foster-father, Vagnhofde. As the word _hoefdi_ constitutes the second
+part of a mythic name, the compound form is a synonym of that name which
+forms the first part of the composition. Thus _Svarthoefdi_ is identical
+with _Svartr_, _Surtr_. In Hyndluljod, 33, all the mythical sorcerers
+(_seidberendr_) are said to be sprung from _Svarthoefdi_. In this
+connection we must first of all think of Fjalar, who is the greatest
+sorcerer in mythology. The story about Thor's, Thjalfe's, and Loke's
+visit to him is a chain of delusions of sight and hearing called forth
+by Fjalar, so that the Asa-god and his companions always mistake things
+for something else than they are. Fjalar is a son of _Surtr_ (see No.
+89). Thus the greatest agent of sorcery is descended from _Surtr_,
+_Svartr_, and, as Hyndluljod states that all magicians of mythology have
+come of some _Svarthoefdi_, _Svartr_ and _Svarthoefdi_ must be identical.
+And so it is with Vagn and _Vagnhoefdi_; they are different names for the
+same person.
+
+When the Anglo-Saxon rune-strophe says that Vang "made haste to follow"
+after Ing had gone across the sea, then this is to be compared with
+Saxo's statement (_Hist._, 45), where it is said that Hadding in a
+battle was in greatest peril of losing his life, but was saved by the
+sudden and miraculous landing of Vagnhofde, who came to the battle-field
+and placed himself at his side. The Scandian fylkings advanced against
+Hadding's; and Svipdag's son Asmund, who fought at the head of his men,
+forced his way forward against Hadding himself, with his shield thrown
+on his back, and with both his hands on the hilt of a sword which felled
+all before it. Then Hadding invoked the gods who were the friends of
+himself and his race (_Hadingo familiarium sibi numinum praesidia
+postulante subito Vagnophtus partibus ejus propugnaturus advehitur_),
+and then Vagnhofde is brought (_advehitur_) by some one of these gods to
+the battle-field and suddenly stands by Hadding's side, swinging a
+crooked sword[25] against Asmund, while Hadding hurls his spear against
+him. This statement in Saxo corresponds with and explains the old
+English strophe's reference to a quick journey which Vagn made to help
+_Heardingas_ against _Ing_, and it is also illustrated by a passage in
+Grimnismal, 49, which, in connection with Odin's appearance at Asmund's,
+tells that he once by the name Kjalar "drew _Kjalki_" (_mic heto Jalc at
+Asmundar, enn tha Kialar, er ec Kialka dro_). The word and name
+_Kjalki_, as also _Sledi_, is used as a paraphrase of the word and name
+_Vagn_.[26] Thus Odin has once "drawn Vagn" (waggon). The meaning of
+this is clear from what is stated above. Hadding calls on Odin, who is
+the friend of him and of his cause, and Odin, who on a former occasion
+has carried Hadding on Sleipner's back through the air, now brings, in
+the same or a similar manner, Vagnhofde to the battle-field, and places
+him near his foster-son. This episode is also interesting from the fact
+that we can draw from it the conclusion that the skalds who celebrated
+the first great war in their songs made the gods influence the fate of
+the battle, not directly but indirectly. Odin might himself have saved
+his favourite, and he might have slain Svipdag's son Asmund with his
+spear Gungner; but he does not do so; instead, he brings Vagnhofde to
+protect him. This is well calculated from an epic standpoint, while _dii
+ex machina_, when they appear in person on the battle-field with their
+superhuman strength, diminish the effect of the deeds of mortal heroes,
+and deprive every distress in which they have taken part of its more
+earnest significance. Homer never violated this rule without injury to
+the honour either of his gods or of his heroes.
+
+[Footnote 25: The crooked sword, as it appears from several passages in
+the sagas, has long been regarded by our heathen ancestors as a foreign
+form of weapon, used by the giants, but not by the gods or by the heroes
+of Midgard.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Compare Fornald., ii. 118, where the hero of the saga
+cries to _Gusi_, who comes running after him with "2 hreina ok _vagn_"--
+
+    _Skrid thu af kjalka,
+    Kyrr thu hreina,
+    seggr sidfoerull
+    seg hvattu heitir!_
+]
+
+
+                                40.
+
+          THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). HADDING'S DEFEAT.
+           LOKE IN THE COUNCIL AND ON THE BATTLE-FIELD.
+         HEIMDAL THE PROTECTOR OF HIS DESCENDANT HADDING.
+
+
+The first great conflict in which the warriors of North and West
+Teutondom fight with the East Teutons ends with the complete victory of
+Groa's sons. Hadding's fylkings are so thoroughly beaten and defeated
+that he, after the end of the conflict, is nothing but a defenceless
+fugitive, wandering in deep forests with no other companion than
+Vagnhofde's daughter, who survived the battle and accompanies her
+beloved in his wanderings in the wildernesses. Saxo ascribes the victory
+won over Hadding to Loke. It follows of itself that, in a war whose
+deepest root must be sought in Loke's and Aurboda's intrigues, and in
+which the clans of gods on both sides take part, Loke should not be
+excluded by the skalds from influence upon the course of events. We have
+already seen that he sought to ruin Hadding while the latter was still a
+boy. He afterwards appears in various guises as evil counsellor, as an
+evil intriguer, and as a skilful arranger of the fylkings on the field
+of battle. His purpose is to frustrate every effort to bring about
+reconciliation, and by means of persuasion and falsehoods to increase
+the chances of enmity between Halfdan's descendants, in order that they
+may mutually destroy each other (see below). His activity among the
+heroes is the counterpart of his activity among the gods. The merry,
+sly, cynical, blameworthy, and profoundly evil Mefisto of the Teutonic
+mythology is bound to bring about the ruin of the Teutonic people like
+that of the gods of the Teutons.
+
+In the later Icelandic traditions he reveals himself as the evil
+counsellor of princes in the forms of Blind ille, Blind boelvise (in Saxo
+Bolvisus); _Bikki_; in the German and Old English traditions as Sibich,
+Sifeca, Sifka. _Bikki_ is a name-form borrowed from Germany. The
+original Norse Loke-epithet is _Bekki_, which means "the foe," "the
+opponent". A closer examination shows that everywhere where this
+counsellor appears his enterprises have originally been connected with
+persons who belong to Borgar's race. He has wormed himself into the
+favour of both the contending parties--as Blind ille with King
+Hadding--whereof Hromund Greipson's saga has preserved a distorted
+record--as Bikke, Sibeke, with King Gudhorm (whose identity with
+Jormunrek shall be established below). As Blind boelvise he lies in
+waiting for and seeks to capture the young "Helge Hundingsbane," that is
+to say, Halfdan, Hadding's father (Helge Hund., ii.). Under his own
+name, Loke, he lies in waiting for and seeks to capture the young
+Hadding, Halfdan's son. As a cunning general and cowardly warrior he
+appears in the German saga-traditions, and there is every reason to
+assume that it is his activity in the first great war as the planner of
+Gudhorm's battle-line that in the Norse heathen records secured Loke the
+epithets _sagna hroerir_ and _sagna sviptir_, the leader of the warriors
+forward and the leader of the warriors back--epithets which otherwise
+would be both unfounded and incomprehensible, but they are found both in
+Thjodolf's poem Haustlaung, and in Eilif Gudrunson's Thorsdrapa. It is
+also a noticeable fact that while Loke in the first great battle which
+ends with Hadding's defeat determines the array of the victorious
+army--for only on this basis can the victory be attributed to him by
+Saxo--it is in the other great battle in which Hadding is victorious
+that Odin himself determines how the forces of his protege are to be
+arranged, namely, in that wedge-form which after that time and for many
+centuries following was the sacred and strictly preserved rule for the
+battle-array of Teutonic forces. Thus the ancient Teutonic saga has
+mentioned and compared with one another two different kinds of
+battle-arrays--the one invented by Loke and the other invented by Odin.
+
+During his wanderings in the forests of the East Hadding has had
+wonderful adventures and passed through great trials. Saxo tells one of
+these adventures. He and Hardgrep, Vagnhofde's daughter, came late one
+evening to a dwelling where they got lodgings for the night. The husband
+was dead, but not yet buried. For the purpose of learning Hadding's
+destiny, Hardgrep engraved speech-runes (see No. 70) on a piece of wood,
+and asked Hadding to place it under the tongue of the dead one. The
+latter would in this wise recover the power of speech and prophecy. So
+it came to pass. But what the dead one sang in an awe-inspiring voice
+was a curse on Hardgrep, who had compelled him to return from life in
+the lower world to life on earth, and a prediction that an avenging
+Niflheim demon would inflict punishment on her for what she had done. A
+following night, when Hadding and Hardgrep had sought shelter in a bower
+of twigs and branches which they had gathered, there appeared a gigantic
+hand groping under the ceiling of the bower. The frightened Hadding
+waked Hardgrep. She then rose in all her giant strength, seized the
+mysterious hand, and bade Hadding cut it off with his sword. He
+attempted to do this, but from the wounds he inflicted on the ghost's
+hand there issued matter or venom more than blood, and the hand seized
+Hardgrep with its iron claws and tore her into pieces (Saxo, _Hist._, 36
+ff.).
+
+When Hadding in this manner had lost his companion, he considered
+himself abandoned by everybody; but the one-eyed old man had not
+forgotten his favourite. He sent him a faithful helper, by name
+_Liserus_ (Saxo, _Hist._, 40). Who was _Liserus_ in our mythology?
+
+First, as to the name itself: in the very nature of the case it must be
+the Latinising of some one of the mythological names or epithets that
+Saxo found in the Norse records. But as no such root as _lis_ or _lis_
+is to be found in the old Norse language, and as Saxo interchanges the
+vowels _i_ and _y_,[27] we must regard _Liserus_ as a Latinising of
+_Lysir_, "the shining one," "the one giving light," "the bright one."
+When Odin sent a helper thus described to Hadding, it must have been a
+person belonging to Odin's circle and subject to him. Such a person and
+described by a similar epithet is _hinn hviti ass, hvitastr asa_
+(Heimdal). In Saxo's account, this shining messenger is particularly to
+oppose Loke (_Hist._, 40). And in the myth it is the keen-sighted and
+faithful Heimdal who always appears as the opposite of the cunning and
+faithless Loke. Loke has to contend with Heimdal when the former tries
+to get possession of Brisingamen, and in Ragnarok the two opponents kill
+each other. Hadding's shining protector thus has the same part to act in
+the heroic saga as the whitest of the Asas in the mythology. If we now
+add that Heimdal is Hadding's progenitor, and on account of blood
+kinship owes him special protection in a war in which all the gods have
+taken part either for or against Halfdan's and Alveig's son, then we are
+forced by every consideration to regard _Liserus_ and Heimdal as
+identical (see further, No. 82).
+
+[Footnote 27: Compare the double forms _Trigo_, _Thrygir_; _Ivarus_,
+_Yvarus_; _Sibbo_, _Sybbo_; _Siritha_, _Syritha_; _Sivardus_,
+_Syvardus_; _Hibernia_, _Hybernia_; _Isora_, _Ysora_.]
+
+
+                                 41.
+
+          THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). HADDING'S JOURNEY TO
+            THE EAST. RECONCILIATION BETWEEN THE ASAS AND
+              VANS. "THE HUN WAR." HADDING RETURNS AND
+         CONQUERS. RECONCILIATION BETWEEN GROA'S DESCENDANTS
+                   AND ALVEIG'S. LOKE'S PUNISHMENT.
+
+Some time later there has been a change in Hadding's affairs. He is no
+longer the exile wandering about in the forests, but appears once more
+at the head of warlike hosts. But although he accomplishes various
+exploits, it still appears from Saxo's narrative that it takes a long
+time before he becomes strong enough to meet his enemies in a decisive
+battle with hope of success. In the meanwhile he has succeeded in
+accomplishing the revenge of his father and slaying Svipdag (Saxo
+_Hist._, 42)--this under circumstances which I shall explain below (No.
+106). The proof that the hero-saga has left a long space of time between
+the great battle lost by Hadding and that in which he wins a decided
+victory is that he, before this conflict is fought out, has slain a
+young grandson (son's son) of Svipdag, that is, a son of Asmund, who was
+Svipdag's son (Saxo, _Hist._, 46). Hadding was a mere boy when Svipdag
+first tried to capture him. He is a man of years when he, through
+decided successes on the battle-field, acquires and secures control of a
+great part of the domain over which his father, the Teutonic patriarch,
+reigned. Hence he must have spent considerable time in the place of
+refuge which Odin opened for him, and under the protection of that
+subject of Odin, called by Saxo _Liserus_.
+
+In the time intervening important events have taken place in the world
+of the gods. The two clans of gods, the Asas and Vans, have become
+reconciled. Odin's exile lasted, according to Saxo, only ten years, and
+there is no reason for doubting the mythical correctness of this
+statement. The reconciliation must have been demanded by the dangers
+which their enmity caused to the administration of the world. The
+giants, whose purpose it is to destroy the world of man, became once
+more dangerous to the earth on account of the war among the gods. During
+this time they made a desperate effort to conquer Asgard occupied by the
+Vans. The memory of this expedition was preserved during the Christian
+centuries in the traditions concerning the great Hun war. Saxo (_Hist._,
+231 ff.) refers this to _Frotho_ III.'s reign. What he relates about
+this _Frotho_, son of _Fridlevus_ (Njord), is for the greatest part a
+historicised version of the myth about the Vana-god Frey (see No. 102);
+and every doubt that his account of the war of the "Huns" against Frotho
+has its foundation in mythology, and belongs to the chain of events here
+discussed, vanishes when we learn that the attack of the Huns against
+Frotho-Frey's power happened at a time when an old prophet, by name
+_Uggerus_, "whose age was unknown, but exceeded every measure of human
+life," lived in exile, and belonged to the number of Frotho's enemies.
+_Uggerus_ is a Latinised form of Odin's name _Yggr_, and is the same
+mythic character as Saxo before introduced on the scene as "the old
+one-eyed man," Hadding's protector. Although he had been Frotho's enemy,
+the aged _Yggr_ comes to him and informs him what the "Huns" are
+plotting, and thus Frotho is enabled to resist their assault.[28]
+
+When Odin, out of consideration for the common welfare of mankind and
+the gods, renders the Vans, who had banished him, this service, and as
+the latter are in the greatest need of the assistance of the mighty
+Asa-father and his powerful sons in the conflict with the giant world,
+then these facts explain sufficiently the reconciliation between the
+Asas and the Vans. This reconciliation was also in order on account of
+the bonds of kinship between them. The chief hero of the Asas, Thor, was
+the stepfather of Ull, the chief warrior of the Vans (Younger Edda, i.
+252). The record of a friendly settlement between Thor and Ull is
+preserved in a paraphrase, by which Thor is described in Thorsdrapa as
+"_gulli Ullar_," he who with persuasive words makes Ull friendly. Odin
+was invited to occupy again the high-seat in Asgard, with all the
+prerogatives of a paterfamilias and ruler (Saxo, _Hist._, 44). But the
+dispute which caused the conflict between him and the Vans was at the
+same time manifestly settled to the advantage of the Vans. They do not
+assume in common the responsibility for the murder of Gulveig Angerboda.
+She is banished to the Ironwood, but remains there unharmed until
+Ragnarok, and when the destruction of the world approaches, then Njord
+shall leave the Asas threatened with the ruin they have themselves
+caused and return to the "wise Vans" (_i aldar rauc hann mun aptr coma
+heim med visom vaunom_--Vafthr., 39).
+
+The "Hun war" has supplied the answer to a question, which those
+believing in the myths naturally would ask themselves. That question
+was: How did it happen that Midgard was not in historical times exposed
+to such attacks from the dwellers in Jotunheim as occurred in antiquity,
+and at that time threatened Asgard itself with destruction? The "Hun
+war" was in the myth characterized by the countless lives lost by the
+enemy. This we learn from Saxo. The sea, he says, was so filled with the
+bodies of the slain that boats could hardly be rowed through the waves.
+In the rivers their bodies formed bridges, and on land a person could
+make a three days' journey on horseback without seeing anything but dead
+bodies of the slain (_Hist._, 234, 240). And so the answer to the
+question was, that the "Hun war" of antiquity had so weakened the giants
+in number and strength that they could not become so dangerous as they
+had been to Asgard and Midgard formerly, that is, before the time
+immediately preceding Ragnarok, when a new fimbul-winter is to set in,
+and when the giant world shall rise again in all its ancient might. From
+the time of the "Hun war" and until then, Thor's hammer is able to keep
+the growth of the giants' race within certain limits, wherefore Thor in
+Harbardsljod explains his attack on giants and giantesses with _micil
+mundi ett iotna, ef allir lifdi, vetr mundi manna undir Mithgarthi_.
+
+Hadding's rising star of success must be put in connection with the
+reconciliation between the Asas and Vans. The reconciled gods must lay
+aside that seed of new feuds between them which is contained in the war
+between Hadding, the favourite of the Asas, and Gudhorm, the favourite
+of the Vans. The great defeat once suffered by Hadding must be balanced
+by a corresponding victory, and then the contending kinsmen must be
+reconciled. And this happens. Hadding wins a great battle and enters
+upon a secure reign in his part of Teutondom. Then are tied new bonds of
+kinship and friendship between the hostile races, so that the Teutonic
+dynasties of chiefs may trace their descent both from Yngve (Svipdag)
+and from Borgar's son Halfdan. Hadding and a surviving grandson of
+Svipdag are united in so tender a devotion to one another that the
+latter, upon an unfounded report of the former's death, is unable to
+survive him and takes his own life. And when Hadding learns this, he
+does not care to live any longer either, but meets death voluntarily
+(Saxo, _Hist._, 59, 60).
+
+After the reconciliation between the Asas and Vans they succeed in
+capturing Loke. Saxo relates this in connection with Odin's return from
+Asgard, and here calls Loke _Mitothin_. In regard to this name, we may,
+without entering upon difficult conjectures concerning the first part of
+the word, be sure that it, too, is taken by Saxo from the heathen
+records in which he has found his account of the first great war, and
+that it, in accordance with the rule for forming such epithets, must
+refer to a mythic person who has had a certain relation with Odin, and
+at the same time been his antithesis. According to Saxo, _Mitothin_ is a
+thoroughly evil being, who, like Aurboda, strove to disseminate the
+practice of witchcraft in the world and to displace Odin. He was
+compelled to take flight and to conceal himself from the gods. He is
+captured and slain, but from his dead body arises a pest, so that he
+does no less harm after than before his death. It therefore became
+necessary to open his grave, cut his head off, and pierce his breast
+with a sharp stick (_Hist._, 43).
+
+These statements in regard to _Mitothin's_ death seem at first glance
+not to correspond very well with the mythic accounts of Loke's exit, and
+thus give room for doubt as to his identity with the latter. It is also
+clear that Saxo's narrative has been influenced by the mediaeval stories
+about vampires and evil ghosts, and about the manner of preventing these
+from doing harm to the living. Nevertheless, all that he here tells, the
+beheading included, is founded on the mythic accounts of Loke. The place
+where Loke is fettered is situated in the extreme part of the hell of
+the wicked dead (see No. 78). The fact that he is relegated to the realm
+of the dead, and is there chained in a subterranean cavern until
+Ragnarok, when all the dead in the lower world shall return, has been a
+sufficient reason for Saxo to represent him as dead and buried. That he
+after death causes a pest corresponds with Saxo's account of
+_Ugarthilocus_, who has his prison in a cave under a rock situated in a
+sea, over which darkness broods for ever (the island _Lyngvi_ in
+Amsvartner's sea, where Loke's prison is--see No. 78). The hardy
+sea-captain, Thorkil, seeks and finds him in his cave of torture, pulls
+a hair from the beard on his chin, and brings it with him to Denmark.
+When this hair afterwards is exposed and exhibited, the awful exhalation
+from it causes the death of several persons standing near (_Hist._, 432,
+433). When a hair from the beard of the tortured Loke ("a hair from the
+evil one") could produce this effect, then his whole body removed to the
+kingdom of death must work even greater mischief, until measures were
+taken to prevent it. In this connection it is to be remembered that
+Loke, according to the Icelandic records, is the father of the feminine
+demon of epidemics and diseases, of her who rules in Niflheim, the home
+of the spirits of disease (see No. 60), and that it is Loke's daughter
+who rides the three-footed steed, which appears when an epidemic breaks
+out (see No. 67). Thus Loke is, according to the Icelandic mythic
+fragments, the cause of epidemics. Lakasenna also states that he lies
+with a pierced body, although the weapon there is a sword, or possibly a
+spear (_pic a hiorvi scola binda god_--Lakas., 49). That Mitothin takes
+flight and conceals himself from the gods corresponds with the myth
+about Loke. But that which finally and conclusively confirms the
+identity of Loke and Mitothin is that the latter, though a thoroughly
+evil being and hostile to the gods, is said to have risen through the
+enjoyment of divine favour (_caelesti beneficio vegetatus_). Among male
+beings of his character this applies to Loke alone.
+
+In regard to the statement that Loke after his removal to the kingdom of
+death had his head separated from his body, Saxo here relates, though in
+his own peculiar manner, what the myth contained about Loke's ruin,
+which was a logical consequence of his acts and happened long after his
+removal to the realm of death. Loke is slain in Ragnarok, to which he,
+freed from his cave of torture in the kingdom of death, proceeds at the
+head of the hosts of "the sons of destruction." In the midst of the
+conflict he seeks or is sought by his constant foe, Heimdal. The shining
+god, the protector of Asgard, the original patriarch and benefactor of
+man, contends here for the last time with the Satan of the Teutonic
+mythology, and Heimdal and Loke mutually slay each other (_Loki a orustu
+vid Heimdall, ok verdr hvarr annars bani_--Younger Edda, 192). In this
+duel we learn that Heimdal, who fells his foe, was himself pierced or
+"struck through" to death by a head (_sva er sagt, at hann var lostinn
+manns hoefdi i goegnum_--Younger Edda, 264; _hann var lostinn i hel med
+manns hoefdi_--Younger Edda, 100, ed. Res). When Heimdal and Loke
+mutually cause each other's death, this must mean that Loke's head is
+that with which Heimdal is pierced after the latter has cut it off with
+his sword and become the bane (death) of his foe. Light is thrown on
+this episode by what Saxo tells about Loke's head. While the demon in
+chains awaits Ragnarok, his hair and beard grow in such a manner that
+"they in size and stiffness resemble horn-spears" (_Ugarthilocus ...
+cujus olentes pili tam magnitudine quam rigore corneas aequaverant
+hastas_--_Hist._, 431, 432). And thus it is explained how the myth could
+make his head act the part of a weapon. That amputated limbs continue to
+live and fight is a peculiarity mentioned in other mythic sagas, and
+should not surprise us in regard to Loke, the dragon-demon, the father
+of the Midgard-serpent (see further, No. 82).
+
+[Footnote 28: _Deseruit eum_ (Hun) _quoque Uggerus vates, vir aetatis
+incognitae et supra humanum terminum prolixae; qui Frothonem transfugae
+titulo petens quidquid ab Hunis parabatur edocuit_ (_Hist._, 238).]
+
+
+                                42.
+
+          HALFDAN AND HAMAL FOSTER-BROTHERS. THE AMALIANS
+            FIGHT IN BEHALF OF HALFDAN'S SON HADDING.
+          HAMAL AND THE WEDGE-FORMED BATTLE-ARRAY. THE
+              ORIGINAL MODEL OF THE BRAVALLA BATTLE.
+
+
+The mythic progenitor of the Amalians, _Hamall_, has already been
+mentioned above as the foster-brother of the Teutonic patriarch, Halfdan
+(Helge Hundingsbane). According to Norse tradition, Hamal's father,
+_Hagall_, had been Halfdan's foster-father (Helge Hund., ii.), and thus
+the devoted friend of Borgar. There being so close a relation between
+the progenitors of these great hero-families of Teutonic mythology, it
+is highly improbable that the Amalians did not also act an important
+part in the first great world war, since all the Teutonic tribes, and
+consequently surely their first families of mythic origin, took part in
+it. In the ancient records of the North, we discover a trace which
+indicates that the Amalians actually did fight on that side where we
+should expect to find them, that is, on Hadding's, and that Hamal
+himself was the field-commander of his foster-brother. The trace is
+found in the phrase _fylkja Hamalt_, occurring in several places (Sig.
+Faf., ii. 23; Har. Hardr., ch. 2; Fornalds. Saga, ii. 40; Fornm., xi.
+304). The phrase can only be explained in one way, "arranged the
+battle-array as _Hamall_ first did it." To Hamal has also been ascribed
+the origin of the custom of fastening the shields close together along
+the ship's railing, which appears from the following lines in Harald
+Hardrade's Saga, 63:
+
+    Hamalt syndiz mer hoemlur
+    hildings vinir skilda.
+
+We also learn in our Norse records that _fylkja Hamalt_, "to draw up in
+line of battle as Hamal did," means the same as _svinfylkja_, that is,
+to arrange the battalions in the form of a wedge.[29] Now Saxo relates
+(_Hist._, 52) that Hadding's army was the first to draw the forces up in
+this manner, and that an old man (Odin) whom he has taken on board on a
+sea-journey had taught and advised him to do this.[30] Several centuries
+later Odin, according to Saxo, taught this art to Harald Hildetand. But
+the mythology has not made Odin teach it twice. The repetition has its
+reason in the fact that Harald Hildetand, in one of the records
+accessible to Saxo, was a son of Halfdan Borgarson (_Hist._, 361;
+according to other records a son of Borgar himself--_Hist._, 337), and
+consequently a son of Hadding's father, the consequence of which is that
+features of Hadding's saga have been incorporated into the saga produced
+in a later time concerning the saga-hero Harald Hildetand. Thereby the
+Bravalla battle has obtained so universal and gigantic a character.
+
+It has been turned into an arbitrarily written version of the battle
+which ended in Hadding's defeat. Swedes, Goths, Norsemen, Curians, and
+Esthonians here fight on that side which, in the original model of the
+battle, was represented by the hosts of Svipdag and Gudhorm; Danes (few
+in number, according to Saxo), Saxons (according to Saxo, the main part
+of the army), Livonians, and Slavs fight on the other side. The fleets
+and armies are immense on both sides. Shield-maids (amazons) occupy the
+position which in the original was held by the giantesses Hardgrep,
+Fenja, and Menja. In the saga description produced in Christian times
+the Bravalla battle is a ghost of the myth concerning the first great
+war. Therefore the names of several of the heroes who take part in the
+battle are an echo from the myth concerning the Teutonic patriarchs and
+the great war. There appear _Borgar_ and _Behrgar_ the wise (Borgar),
+_Haddir_ (Hadding), _Ruthar_ (_Hrutr_-Heimdal, see No. 28_a_), _Od_
+(_Odr_, a surname of Freyja's, husband, Svipdag, see Nos. 96-98, 100,
+101), _Brahi_ (_Brache_, _Asa-Bragr_, see No. 102), _Gram_ (Halfdan),
+and _Ingi_ (Yngve), all of which names we recognise from the patriarch
+saga, but which, in the manner in which they are presented in the new
+saga, show how arbitrarily the mythic records were treated at that time.
+
+The myth has rightly described the wedge-shaped arrangement of the
+troops as an ancient custom among the Teutons. Tacitus (_Germ._, 6) says
+that the Teutons arranged their forces in the form of a wedge (_acies
+per cuneos componitur_), and Caesar suggests the same (_De Bell.
+Gall._, i. 52: _Germani celeriter ex consuetudine sua phalange
+facta_...). Thus our knowledge of this custom as Teutonic extends back
+to the time before the birth of Christ. Possibly it was then already
+centuries old. The Aryan-Asiatic kinsmen of the Teutons had knowledge of
+it, and the Hindooic law-book, called Manus', ascribes to it divine
+sanctity and divine origin. On the geographical line which unites
+Teutondom with Asia it was also in vogue. According to AElianus (_De
+instr. ac._, 18), the wedge-shaped array of battle was known to the
+Scythians and Thracians.
+
+The statement that Harald Hildetand, son of Halfdan Borgarson, learned
+this arrangement of the forces from Odin many centuries after he had
+taught the art to Hadding, does not disprove, but on the contrary
+confirms, the theory that Hadding, son of Halfdan Borgarson, was not
+only the first but also the only one who received this instruction from
+the Asa-father. And as we now have side by side the two statements, that
+Odin gave Hadding this means of victory, and that Hamal was the first
+one who arranged his forces in the shape of a wedge, then it is all the
+more necessary to assume that these statements belong together, and that
+Hamal was Hadding's general, especially as we have already seen that
+Hadding's and Hamal's families were united by the sacred ties which
+connect foster-father with foster-son and foster-brother with
+foster-brother.
+
+[Footnote 29: Compare the passage, _Eirikr konungr fylkti sva lidi sinu,
+at rani (the swine-snout) var a framan a fylkinganni, ok lukt allt utan
+med skjaldbjorg_, (Fornm., xi. 304), with the passage quoted in this
+connection: _hildingr fylkti Hamalt lidi miklu_.]
+
+[Footnote 30: The saga of Sigurd Fafnersbane, which absorbed materials
+from all older sagas, has also incorporated this episode. On a
+sea-journey Sigurd takes on board a man who calls himself _Hnikarr_ (a
+name of Odin). He advises him to "_fylkja Hamalt_" (Sig. Fafn., ii.
+16-23).]
+
+
+                                 43.
+
+         EVIDENCE THAT DIETERICH "OF BERN" IS HADDING. THE
+          DIETERICH SAGA THUS HAS ITS ORIGIN IN THE MYTH
+           CONCERNING THE WAR BETWEEN MANNUS-HALFDAN'S
+                                SONS.
+
+
+The appearance of Hamal and the Amalians on Hadding's side in the great
+world war becomes a certainty from the fact that we discover among the
+descendants of the continental Teutons a great cycle of sagas, all of
+whose events are more or less intimately connected with the mythic
+kernel: that Amalian heroes with unflinching fidelity supported a prince
+who already in the tender years of his youth had been deprived of his
+share of his father's kingdom, and was obliged to take flight from the
+persecution of a kinsman and his assistants to the far East, where he
+remained a long time, until after various fortunes of war he was able to
+return, conquer, and take possession of his paternal inheritance. And
+for this he was indebted to the assistance of the brave Amalians. These
+are the chief points in the saga cycle about Dieterich of Bern
+(_thjodrekr_, _Thidrek_, _Theodericus_), and the fortunes of the young
+prince are, as we have thus seen, substantially the same as Hadding's.
+
+When we compare sagas preserved by the descendants of the Teutons of the
+Continent with sagas handed down to us from Scandinavian sources, we
+must constantly bear in mind that the great revolution which the victory
+of Christianity over Odinism produced in the Teutonic world of thought,
+inasmuch as it tore down the ancient mythical structure and applied the
+fragments that were fit for use as material for a new saga
+structure--that this revolution required a period of more than eight
+hundred years before it had conquered the last fastnesses of the Odinic
+doctrine. On the one side of the slowly advancing borders between the
+two religions there developed and continued a changing and
+transformation of the old sagas, the main purpose of which was to
+obliterate all that contained too much flavour of heathendom and was
+incompatible with Christianity; while, on the other side of the borders
+of faith, the old mythic songs, but little affected by the tooth of
+time, still continued to live in their original form. Thus one might, to
+choose the nearest example at hand, sing on the northern side of this
+faith-border, where heathendom still prevailed, about how Hadding, when
+the persecutions of Svipdag and his half-brother Gudhorm compelled him
+to fly to the far East, there was protected by Odin, and how he through
+him received the assistance of _Hrutr-Heimdall_; while the Christians,
+on the south side of this border, sang of how Dieterich, persecuted by a
+brother and the protectors of the latter, was forced to take flight to
+the far East, and how he was there received by a mighty king, who, as he
+could no longer be Odin, must be the mightiest king in the East ever
+heard of--that is, Attila--and how Attila gave him as protector a
+certain Ruediger, whose very name contains an echo of Ruther (Heimdal),
+who could not, however, be the white Asa-god, Odin's faithful servant,
+but must be changed into a faithful vassal and "markgrave" under Attila.
+The Saxons were converted to Christianity by fire and sword in the
+latter part of the eighth century. In the deep forests of Sweden
+heathendom did not yield completely to Christianity before the twelfth
+century. In the time of Saxo's father there were still heathen
+communities in Smaland on the Danish border. It follows that Saxo must
+have received the songs concerning the ancient Teutonic heroes in a far
+more original form than that in which the same songs could be found in
+Germany.
+
+Hadding means "the hairy one," "the fair-haired;" Dieterich
+(_thjodrekr_) means "the ruler of the people," "the great ruler." Both
+epithets belong to one and the same saga character. Hadding is the
+epithet which belongs to him as a youth, before he possessed a kingdom;
+Dieterich is the epithet which represents him as the king of many
+Teutonic tribes. The Vilkinsaga says of him that he had an abundant and
+beautiful growth of hair, but that he never got a beard. This is
+sufficient to explain the name Hadding, by which he was presumably
+celebrated in song among all Teutonic tribes; for we have already seen
+that Hadding is known in Anglo-Saxon poetry as Hearding, and, as we
+shall see, the continental Teutons knew him not only as Dieterich, but
+also as Hartung. It is also possible that the name "the hairy" has in
+the myth had the same purport as the epithet "the fair-haired" has in
+the Norse account of Harald, Norway's first ruler, and that Hadding of
+the myth was the prototype of Harald, when the latter made the vow to
+let his hair grow until he was king of all Norway (Harald Harfager's
+Saga, 4). The custom of not cutting hair or beard before an exploit
+resolved upon was carried out was an ancient one among the Teutons, and
+so common and so sacred that it must have had foothold and prototype in
+the hero-saga. Tacitus mentions it (_Germania_, 31); so does Paulus
+Diaconus (_Hist._, iii. 7) and Gregorius of Tours (v. 15).
+
+Although it had nearly ceased to be heard in the German saga cycle,
+still the name Hartung has there left traces of its existence. "Anhang
+des Heldenbuchs" mentions King Hartung _aus Reuessenlant_; that is to
+say, a King Hartung who came from some land in the East. The poem
+"Rosengarten" (variant D; cp. W. Grimm, _D. Heldensage_, 139, 253) also
+mentions Hartunc, king _von Riuzen_. A comparison of the different
+versions of "Rosengarten" with the poem "Dieterichs Flucht" shows that
+the name Hartung _von Riuzen_ in the course of time becomes Hartnit _von
+Riuzen_ and Hertnit _von Riuzen_, by which form of the name the hero
+reappears in Vilkinasaga as a king in Russia. If we unite the scattered
+features contained in these sources about Hartung we get the following
+main outlines of his saga:
+
+(_a_) Hartung is a king and dwells in an eastern country (all the
+records).
+
+(_b_) He is not, however, an independent ruler there, at least not in
+the beginning, but is subject to Attila (who in the Dieterich's saga has
+supplanted Odin as chief ruler in the East). He is Attila's man
+("Dieterichs Flucht").
+
+(_c_) A Swedish king has robbed him of his land and driven him into
+exile.
+
+(_d_) The Swedish king is of the race of elves, and the chief of the
+same race as the celebrated Velint--that is to say, Volund
+(Wayland)--belonged to (Vilkinasaga). As shall be shown later (see Nos.
+108, 109), Svipdag, the banisher of Hadding, belongs to the same race.
+He is Volund's nephew (brother's son).
+
+(_e_) Hartung recovers, after the death of the Swedish conqueror, his
+own kingdom, and also conquers that of the Swedish king (Vilkinasaga).
+
+All these features are found in the saga of Hadding. Thus the original
+identity of Hadding and Hartung is beyond doubt. We also find that
+Hartung, like Dieterich, is banished from his country; that he fled,
+like him, to the East; that he got, like him, Attila the king of the
+East as his protector; that he thereupon returned, conquered his
+enemies, and recovered his kingdom. Hadding's, Hartung's and Dieterich's
+sagas are, therefore, one and the same in root and in general outline.
+Below it shall also be shown that the most remarkable details are common
+to them all.
+
+I have above (No. 42) given reasons why Hamal (Amala), the
+foster-brother of Halfdan Borgarson, was Hadding's assistant and general
+in the war against his foes. The hero, who in the German saga has the
+same place under Dieterich, is the aged "master" Hildebrand, Dieterich's
+faithful companion, teacher, and commander of his troops. Can it be
+demonstrated that what the German saga tells about Hildebrand reveals
+threads that connect him with the saga of the original patriarchs, and
+that not only his position as Dieterich's aged friend and general, but
+also his genealogy, refer to this saga? And can a satisfactory
+explanation be given of the reason why Hildebrand obtained in the German
+Dieterich saga the same place as Hamal had in the old myth?
+
+Hildebrand is, as his very name shows, a Hilding,[31] like Hildeger who
+appears in the patriarch saga (Saxo, _Hist._, 356-359). Hildeger was,
+according to the tradition in Saxo, the half-brother of Halfdan
+Borgarson. They had the same mother _Drot_, but not the same father;
+Hildeger counted himself a Swede on his father's side; Halfdan, Borgar's
+son, considered himself as belonging to the South Scandinavians and
+Danes, and hence the dying Hildeger sings to Halfdan (_Hist._, 357):
+
+    Danica te tellus, me Sveticus edidit orbis.
+    Drot tibi maternum, quondam distenderat uber;
+    Hac genitrici tibi pariter collacteus exto.[32]
+
+In the German tradition Hildebrand is the son of Herbrand. The Old High
+German fragment of the song, about Hildebrand's meeting with his son
+Hadubrand, calls him _Heribrantes sunu_. Herbrand again is, according to
+the poem "Wolfdieterich," Berchtung's son (concerning Berchtung, see No.
+6). In a Norse tradition preserved by Saxo we find a Hilding (Hildeger)
+who is Borgar's stepson; in the German tradition we find a Hilding
+(Herbrand) who is Borgar-Berchtung's son. This already shows that the
+German saga about Hildebrand was originally connected with the patriarch
+saga about Borgar, Halfdan, and Halfdan's sons, and that the Hildings
+from the beginning were akin to the Teutonic patriarchs. Borgar's
+transformation from stepfather to the father of a Hilding shall be
+explained below.
+
+Hildeger's saga and Hildebrand's are also related in subject matter. The
+fortunes of both the kinsmen are at the same time like each other and
+the antithesis of each other. Hildeger's character is profoundly tragic;
+Hildebrand is happy and secure. Hildeger complains in his death-song in
+Saxo (cp. Asmund Kaempebane's saga) that he has fought with and slain his
+own beloved son. In the Old High German song-fragment Hildebrand seeks,
+after his return from the East, his son Hadubrand, who believed that his
+father was dead and calls Hildebrand a deceiver, who has taken the dead
+man's name, and forces him to fight a duel. The fragment ends before we
+learn the issue of the duel; but Vilkinasaga and a ballad about
+Hildebrand have preserved the tradition in regard to it. When the old
+"master" has demonstrated that his Hadubrand is not yet equal to him in
+arms, father and son ride side by side in peace and happiness to their
+home. Both the conflicts between father and son, within the Hilding
+family, are pendants and each other's antithesis. Hildeger, who
+passionately loves war and combat, inflicts in his eagerness for strife
+a deep wound in his own heart when he kills his own son. Hildebrand acts
+wisely, prudently, and seeks to ward off and allay the son's love of
+combat before the duel begins, and he is able to end it by pressing his
+young opponent to his paternal bosom. On the other hand, Hildeger's
+conduct toward his half-brother Halfdan, the ideal of a noble and
+generous enemy, and his last words to his brother, who, ignorant of the
+kinship, has given him the fatal wound, and whose mantle the dying one
+wishes to wrap himself in (Asmund Kaempebane's saga), is one of the
+touching scenes in the grand poems about our earliest ancestors. It
+seems to have proclaimed that blood revenge was inadmissible, when a
+kinsman, without being aware of the kinship, slays a kinsman, and when
+the latter before he died declared his devotion to his slayer. At all
+events we rediscover the aged Hildebrand as the teacher and protector of
+the son of the same Halfdan who slew Hildeger, and not a word is said
+about blood revenge between Halfdan's and Hildeger's descendants.
+
+The kinship pointed out between the Teutonic patriarchs and the Hildings
+has not, however, excluded a relation of subordination of the latter to
+the former. In "Wolfdieterich" Hildebrand's father receives land and
+fief from Dieterich's grandfather and carries his banner in war.
+Hildebrand himself performs toward Dieterich those duties which are due
+from a foster-father, which, as a rule, show a relation of
+subordination to the real father of the foster-son. Among the kindred
+families to which Dieterich and Hildebrand belong there was the same
+difference of rank as between those to which Hadding and Hamal belong.
+Hamal's father Hagal was Halfdan's foster-father, and, to judge from
+this, occupied the position of a subordinate friend toward Halfdan's
+father Borgar. Thus Halfdan and Hamal were foster-brothers, and from
+this it follows that Hamal, if he survived Halfdan, was bound to assume
+a foster-father's duties towards the latter's son Hadding, who was not
+yet of age. Hamal's relation to Hadding is therefore entirely analagous
+to Hildebrand's relation to Dieterich.
+
+The pith of that army which attached itself to Dieterich are Amelungs,
+Amalians (see "Biterolf"); that is to say, members of Hamal's race. The
+oldest and most important hero, the pith of the pith, is old master
+Hildebrand himself, Dieterich's foster-father and general. Persons who
+in the German poems have names which refer to their Amalian birth are by
+Hildebrand treated as members of a clan are treated by a clan-chief.
+Thus Hildebrand brings from Sweden a princess, Amalgart, and gives her
+as wife to a son of Amelolt serving among Dieterich's Amelungs, and to
+Amelolt Hildebrand has already given his sister for a wife.
+
+The question as to whether we find threads which connect the Hildebrand
+of the German poem with the saga of the mythic patriarchs, and
+especially with the Hamal (Amala) who appears in this saga, has now been
+answered. Master Hildebrand has in the German saga-cycle received the
+position and the tasks which originally belonged to Hamal, the
+progenitor of the Amalians.
+
+The relation between the kindred families--the patriarch family, the
+Hilding family, and the Amal family--has certainly been just as
+distinctly pointed out in the German saga-cycle as in the Norse before
+the German met with a crisis, which to some extent confused the old
+connection. This crisis came when Hadding-_thjodrekr_ of the ancient
+myth was confounded with the historical king of the East Goths,
+Theoderich. The East Goth Theoderich counted himself as belonging to the
+Amal family, which had grown out of the soil of the myth. He was,
+according to Jordanes (_De Goth. Orig._, 14), a son of Thiudemer, who
+traced his ancestry to Amal (Hamal), son of Augis (Hagal).[33] The
+result of the confusion was:
+
+(_a_) That Hadding-_thjodrekr_ became the son of Thiudemer, and that his
+descent from the Teuton patriarchs was cut off.
+
+(_b_) That Hadding-_thjodrekr_ himself became a descendant of Hamal,
+whereby the distinction between this race of rulers--the line of
+Teutonic patriarchs begun with Ruther Heimdal--together with the Amal
+family, friendly but subject to the Hadding family, and the Hilding
+family was partly obscured and partly abolished. Dieterich himself
+became an "Amelung" like several of his heroes.
+
+(_c_) That when Hamal thus was changed from an elder contemporary of
+Hadding-_thjodrekr_ into his earliest progenitor, separated from him by
+several generations of time, he could no longer serve as Dieterich's
+foster-father and general; but this vocation had to be transferred to
+master Hildebrand, who also in the myth must have been closely connected
+with Hadding, and, together with Hamal, one of his chief and constant
+helpers.
+
+(_d_) That Borgar-Berchtung, who in the myth is the grandfather of
+Hadding-_thjodrekr_, must, as he was not an Amal, resign this dignity
+and confine himself to being the progenitor of the Hildings. As we have
+seen, he is in Saxo the progenitor of the Hilding Hildeger.
+
+Another result of Hadding-_thjodrekr's_ confusion with the historical
+Theoderich was that Dieterich's kingdom, and the scene of various of his
+exploits, was transferred to Italy: to Verona (Bern), Ravenna (Raben),
+&c. Still the strong stream of the ancient myths became master of the
+confused historical increments, so that the Dieterich of the saga has
+but little in common with the historical Theoderich.
+
+After the dissemination of Christianity, the hero saga of the Teutonic
+myths was cut off from its roots in the mythology, and hence this
+confusion was natural and necessary. Popular tradition, in which traces
+were found of the historical Theoderich-Dieterich, was no longer able to
+distinguish the one Dieterich from the other. A writer acquainted with
+the chronicle of Jordanes took the last step and made Theoderich's
+father Thiudemer the father of the mythic Hadding-_thjodrekr_.
+
+Nor did the similarity of names alone encourage this blending of the
+persons. There was also another reason. The historical Theoderich had
+fought against Odoacer. The mythic Hadding-_thjodrekr_ had warred with
+Svipdag, the husband of Freyja, who also bore the name _Odr_ and _Ottar_
+(see Nos. 96-100). The latter name-form corresponds to the English and
+German _Otter_, the Old High German _Otar_, a name which suggested the
+historical _Otacher_ (Odoacer). The Dieterich and Otacher of historical
+traditions became identified with _thjodrekr_ and _Ottar_ of mythical
+traditions.
+
+As the Hadding-_thjodrekr_ of mythology was in his tender youth exposed
+to the persecutions of Ottar, and had to take flight from them to the
+far East, so the Dieterich of the historical saga also had to suffer
+persecutions in his tender youth from Otacher, and take flight,
+accompanied by his faithful Amalians, to a kingdom in the East.
+Accordingly, Hadubrand says of his father Hildebrand, that, when he
+betook himself to the East with Dieterich, _floh her Otachres nid_, "he
+fled from Otacher's hate." Therefore, Otacher soon disappears from the
+German saga-cycle, for Svipdag-Ottar perishes and disappears in the
+myth, long before Hadding's victory and restoration to his father's
+power (see No. 106).
+
+Odin and Heimdal, who then, according to the myth, dwelt in the East and
+there became the protectors of Hadding, must, as heathen deities, be
+removed from the Christian saga, and be replaced as best they could by
+others. The famous ruler in the East, Attila, was better suited than
+anyone else to take Odin's place, though Attila was dead before
+Theoderich was born. Ruther-Heimdal was, as we have already seen,
+changed into Ruediger.
+
+The myth made Hadding dwell in the East for many years (see above). The
+ten-year rule of the Vans in Asgard must end, and many other events must
+occur before the epic connection of the myths permitted Hadding to
+return as a victor. As a result of this, the saga of "Dieterich of Bern"
+also lets him remain a long time with Attila. An old English song
+preserved in the Exeter manuscript, makes _Theodric_ remain _thrittig
+wintra_ in exile at Maeringaburg. The song about Hildebrand and Hadubrand
+make him remain in exile _sumaro enti wintro sehstic_, and Vilkinasaga
+makes him sojourn in the East thirty-two years.
+
+Maeringaburg of the Anglo-Saxon poem is the refuge which Odin opened for
+his favourite, and where the former dwelt during his exile in the East.
+Maeringaburg means a citadel inhabited by noble, honoured, and splendid
+persons: compare the Old Norse _maeringr_. But the original meaning of
+_maerr_, Old German _mara_, is "glittering," "shining," "pure," and it is
+possible that, before _maeringr_ received its general signification of a
+famous, honoured, noble man, it was used in the more special sense of a
+man descended from "the shining one," that is to say, from Heimdal
+through Borgar. However this may be, these "maeringar" have, in the
+Anglo-Saxon version of the Hadding saga, had their antitheses in the
+"baningar," that is, the men of Loke-Bicke (Bekki). This appears from
+the expression _Bekka veold Baningum_, in Codex Exoniensis. The Banings
+are no more than the Maerings, an historical name. The interpretation of
+the word is to be sought in the Anglo-Saxon _bana_, the English _bane_.
+The Banings means "the destroyers," "the corrupters," a suitable
+appellation of those who follow the source of pest, the all-corrupting
+Loke. In the German poems, Maeringaburg is changed to Meran, and
+Borgar-Berchtung (Hadding's grandfather in the myth) is Duke of Meran.
+It is his fathers who have gone to the gods that Hadding finds again
+with Odin and Heimdal in the East.
+
+Despite the confusion of the historical Theoderich with the mythic
+Hadding-_thjodrekr_, a tradition has been handed down within the German
+saga-cycle to the effect that "Dieterich of Bern" belonged to a
+genealogy which Christianity had anathematised. Two of the German
+Dieterich poems, "Nibelunge Noth" and "Klage," refrain from mentioning
+the ancestors of their hero. Wilhelm Grimm suspects that the reason for
+this is that the authors of these poems knew something about Dieterich's
+descent, which they could not relate without wounding Christian ears;
+and he reminds us that, when the Vilkinasaga Thidrek (Dieterich) teases
+Hoegne (Hagen) by calling him the son of an elf, Hoegne answers that
+Thidrek has a still worse descent, as he is the son of the devil
+himself. The matter, which in Grimm's eyes is mystical, is explained by
+the fact that Hadding-_thjodrekr's_ father in the myth, Halfdan
+Borgarson, was supposed to be descended from Thor, and in his capacity
+of a Teutonic patriarch he had received divine worship (see Nos. 23 and
+30). _Anhang des Heldenbuchs_ says that Dieterich was the son of a
+"boeser geyst."
+
+It has already been stated (No. 38) that Hadding from Odin received a
+drink which exercised a wonderful influence upon his physical nature. It
+made him _recreatum vegetiori corporis firmitate_, and, thanks to it and
+to the incantation sung over him by Odin, he was able to free himself
+from the chains afterwards put on him by Loke. It has also been pointed
+out that this drink contained something called Leifner's or Leifin's
+flames. There is every reason for assuming that these "flames" had the
+effect of enabling the person who had partaken of the potion of
+Leifner's flames to free himself from his chains with his own breath.
+Groa (Groagalder, 10) gives her son Svipdag "Leifner's fires" in order
+that if he is chained, his enchanted limbs may be liberated (_ek laet
+ther Leifnis elda fyr kvedinn legg_). The record of the giving of this
+gift to Hadding meets us in the German saga, in the form that Dieterich
+was able with his breath to burn the fetters laid upon him (see
+"Laurin"), nay, when he became angry, he could breathe fire and make the
+cuirass of his opponent red-hot. The tradition that Hadding by eating,
+on the advice of Odin, the heart of a wild beast (Saxo says of a lion)
+gained extraordinary strength, is also preserved in the form, that when
+Dieterich was in distress, God sent him _eines loewen krafft von
+herczenlichen zoren_ ("Ecken Ausfarth").
+
+Saxo relates that Hadding on one occasion was invited to descend into
+the lower world and see its strange things (see No. 47). The heathen
+lower world, with its fields of bliss and places of torture, became in
+the Christian mind synonymous with hell. Hadding's descent to the lower
+world, together with the mythic account of his journey through the air
+on Odin's horse Sleipner, were remembered in Christian times in the form
+that he once on a black diabolical horse rode to hell. This explains the
+remarkable _denouement_ of the Dieterich saga; namely, that he, the
+magnanimous and celebrated hero, was captured by the devil. Otto of
+Friesingen (first half of the twelfth century) states that _Theodoricus
+vivus equo sedens ad inferos descendit_. The Kaiser chronicle says that
+"many saw that the devils took Dieterich and carried him into the
+mountain to Vulcan."
+
+In Saxo we read that Hadding once while bathing had an adventure which
+threatened him with the most direful revenge from the gods (see No.
+106). Manuscripts of the Vilkinasaga speak of a fateful bath which
+Thidrek took, and connects it with his journey to hell. While the hero
+was bathing there came a black horse, the largest and stateliest ever
+seen. The king wrapped himself in his bath towel and mounted the horse.
+He found, too late, that the steed was the devil, and he disappeared for
+ever.
+
+[Illustration: ODIN PUNISHES THE MONSTROUS PROGENY OF LOKE.
+
+(_From an etching by Lorenz Froelich Froelloh._)
+
+Loke was at one time the comrade of Odin but by his mismating with a
+giantess, Angerboda, he became the father of three monsters, the Fenris
+Wolf, the Midgard Serpent and the terrible Hel, at the sight of which
+latter living creatures were immediately stricken dead. Odin was so
+enraged by these issues of Loke's commerce with a giantess, that he had
+the brood brought before him in Asgard, and seizing Hel and the snake in
+his powerful arms he flung them far out into space. Hel fell for nine
+days until she reached Helheim, far beneath the earth, where she became
+ruler over the dead. The snake dropped into the ocean that surrounds
+Midgard, where it was to remain growing until its coils should envelop
+the earth and in the end should help to bring about the destruction of
+the world. The Wolf was borne away by Tyr and placed in chains, but
+escaping later at Ragnarok he devoured Odin.]
+
+Saxo tells that Hadding made war on a King Handuanus, who had concealed
+his treasures in the bottom of a lake, and who was obliged to ransom his
+life with a golden treasure of the same weight as his body (_Hist._. 41,
+42, 67). Handuanus is a Latinised form of the dwarf name _Andvanr,
+Andvani_. The Sigurd saga has a record of this event, and calls the
+dwarf _Andvari_ (Sig. Fafn., ii.). The German saga is also able to
+tell of a war which Dieterich waged against a dwarf king. The war has
+furnished the materials for the saga of "Laurin." Here, too, the
+conquered dwarf-king's life is spared, and Dieterich gets possession of
+many of his treasures.
+
+In the German as in the Norse saga, Hadding-_thjodrekr's_ rival to
+secure the crown was his brother, supported by _Otacher-Ottar_
+(Svipdag). The tradition in regard to this, which agrees with the myth,
+was known to the author of _Anhang des Heldenbuchs_. But already in an
+early day the brother was changed into uncle on account of the
+intermixing of historical reminiscences.
+
+The brother's name in the Norse tradition is _Gudhormr_, in the German
+_Ermenrich_ (_Ermanaricus_). _Ermenrich Joermunrekr_ means, like
+_thjodrekr_, a ruler over many people, a great king. Jordanes already
+has confounded the mythic _Joermunrekr-Gudhormr_ with the historical
+Gothic King _Hermanaricus_, whose kingdom was destroyed by the Huns, and
+has applied to him the saga of Svanhild and her brothers _Sarus_
+(_Soerli_) and _Ammius_ (_Hamdir_), a saga which originally was connected
+with that of the mythic _Joermunrek_. The Sigurd epic, which expanded
+with plunder from all sources, has added to the confusion by annexing
+this saga.
+
+In the Roman authors the form _Herminones_ is found by the side of
+_Hermiones_ as the name of one of the three Teutonic tribes which
+descended from Mannus. It is possible, as already indicated, that
+_-horm_ in _Gudhorm_ is connected with the form _Hermio_, and it is
+probable, as already pointed out by several linguists, that the
+Teutonic _irmin_ (_joermun_, Goth. _airmana_) is linguistically
+connected with the word _Hermino_. In that case, the very names
+_Gudhormr_ and _Joermunrekr_ already point as such to the mythic
+progenitor of the Hermiones, Herminones, just as Yngve-Svipdag's name
+points to the progenitor of the _Ingvaeones_ (Ingaevones), and possibly
+also Hadding's to that of the Istaevones (see No. 25). To the name
+Hadding corresponds, as already shown, the Anglo-Saxon Hearding, the old
+German Hartung. The _Hasdingi_ (_Asdingi_) mentioned by Jordanes were
+the chief warriors of the Vandals (_Goth. Orig._, 22), and there may be
+a mythic reason for rediscovering this family name among an East
+Teutonic tribe (the Vandals), since Hadding, according to the myth, had
+his support among the East Teutonic tribes. To the form _Hasdingi_
+(Goth. _Hazdiggos_) the words _istaevones_, _istvaeones_, might readily
+enough correspond, provided the vowel _i_ in the Latin form can be
+harmonised with _a_ in the Teutonic. That the vowel _i_ was an uncertain
+element may be seen from the genealogy in Codex La Cava, which calls
+Istaevo _Ostius_, _Hostius_.
+
+As to geography, both the Roman and Teutonic records agree that the
+northern Teutonic tribes were Ingaevones. In the myths they are
+Scandinavians and neighbours to the Ingaevones. In the Beowulf poem the
+king of the Danes is called _eodor Inguina_, the protection of the
+Ingaevones, and _frea Inguina_, the lord of the Ingaevones. Tacitus says
+that they live nearest to the ocean (_Germ._, 2); Pliny says that
+Cimbrians, Teutons, and Chaucians were Ingaevones (_Hist. Nat._, iv. 28).
+Pomponius Mela says that the land of the Cimbrians and Teutons was
+washed by the Codan bay (iii. 3). As to the Hermiones and Istaevones, the
+former dwelt along the middle Rhine, and of the latter, who are the East
+Teutons of mythology, several tribes had already before the time of
+Pliny pressed forward south of the Hermiones to this river.
+
+The German saga-cycle has preserved the tradition that in the first
+great battle in which Hadding-_thjodrekr_ measured his strength with the
+North and West Teutons he suffered a great defeat. This is openly avowed
+in the Dieterich poem "die Klage." Those poems, on the other hand, which
+out of sympathy for their hero give him victory in this battle ("the
+Raben battle") nevertheless in fact acknowledge that such was not the
+case, for they make him return to the East after the battle and remain
+there many years, robbed of his crown, before he makes his second and
+successful attempt to regain his kingdom. Thus the "Raben battle"
+corresponds to the mythic battle in which Hadding is defeated by
+Ingaevones and Hermiones. Besides the "Raben battle" has from a Teutonic
+standpoint a trait of universality, and the German tradition has upon
+the whole faithfully, and in harmony with the myth, grouped the allies
+and heroes of the hostile brothers. Dieterich is supported by East
+Teutonic warriors, and by non-Teutonic people from the East--from
+Poland, Wallachia, Russia, Greece, &c.; Ermenrich, on the other hand, by
+chiefs from Thuringia, Swabia, Hessen, Saxony, the Netherlands, England,
+and the North, and, above all, by the Burgundians, who in the genealogy
+in the St. Gaelen Codex are counted among the Hermiones, and in the
+genealogy in the La Cava Codex are counted with the Ingaevones. For the
+mythic descent of the Burgundian dynasty from an uncle of Svipdag I
+shall present evidence in my chapters on the Ivalde race.
+
+The original identity of Hadding's and Dieterich's sagas, and their
+descent from the myth concerning the earliest antiquity and the
+patriarchs, I now regard as demonstrated and established. The war
+between Hadding-Dieterich and Gudhorm-Ermenrich is identical with the
+conflict begun by Yngve-Svipdag between the tribes of the Ingaevones,
+Hermiones, and Istaevones. It has also been demonstrated that Halfdan,
+Gudhorm's, and Hadding's father, and Yngve-Svipdag's stepfather, is
+identical with Mannus. One of the results of this investigation is,
+therefore, that _the songs about Mannus and his sons, ancient already in
+the days of Tacitus, have, more or less influenced by the centuries,
+continued to live far down in the middle ages, and that, not the songs
+themselves, but the main features of their contents, have been preserved
+to our time_, and should again be incorporated in our mythology together
+with the myth in regard to the primeval time, the main outline of which
+has been restored, and the final episode of which is the first great war
+in the world.
+
+The Norse-Icelandic school, which accepted and developed the learned
+hypothesis of the middle age in regard to the immigration of Odin and
+his Asiamen, is to blame that the myth, in many respects important, in
+regard to the olden time and its events in the world of gods and
+men--among Aryan myths one of the most important, either from a
+scientific or poetic point of view, that could be handed down to our
+time--was thrust aside and forgotten. The learned hypothesis and the
+ancient myth could not be harmonised. For that reason the latter had to
+yield. Nor was there anything in this myth that particularly appealed to
+the Norse national feeling, and so could claim mercy. Norway is not at
+all named in it. Scania, Denmark, Svithiod (Sweden), and continental
+Teutondom are the scene of the mythic events. Among the many causes
+co-operating in Christian times, in giving what is now called "Norse
+mythology" its present character, there is not one which has contributed
+so much as the rejection of this myth toward giving "Norse mythology"
+the stamp which it hitherto has borne of a narrow, illiberal town
+mythology, which, built chiefly on the foundation of the Younger Edda,
+is, as shall be shown in the present work, in many respects a caricature
+of the real Norse, and at the same time in its main outlines Teutonic,
+mythology.
+
+In regard to the ancient Aryan elements in the myth here presented, see
+Nos. 82 and 111.
+
+[Footnote 31: In nearly all the names of members of this family, Hild-
+or -brand, appears as a part of the compound word. All that the names
+appear to signify is that their owners belong to the Hilding race.
+Examples:--
+
+  _Old High German fragment._ Herbrand - Hildebrand - Hadubrand.
+  _Wolfdieterich_             Berchtung. - Herbrand - Hildebrand.
+  _Vilkinasaga._              Hildebrand. - Alebrand.
+  _A popular song about
+     Hildebrand._             Hildebrand. - The younger Hildebrand.
+                                                / Hildir.
+  _Fundin Noregur._           Hildir. - Hildebrand.
+                                                \ Herbrand.
+                                                            / Hildir.
+  _Flateybook, i. 25,_        Hildir. - Hildebrand. - Vigbrand.
+                                                            \ Herbrand.
+  _Asmund Kaempebane's Saga._  Hildebrand. - Helge. - Hildebrand.
+]
+
+[Footnote 32: Compare in Asmund Kaempebane's saga the words of the dying
+hero:
+
+    _thik Drott of bar
+    af Danmorku
+    en mik sjalfan
+    a Svithiodu._
+]
+
+[Footnote 33: The texts of Jordanes often omit the aspirate and write
+Eruli for Heruli, &c. In regard to the name-form Amal, Closs remarks, in
+his edition of 1886: AMAL, _sic, Ambr. cum Epit. et Pall, nisi quod hi
+Hamal aspirate_.]
+
+
+
+
+                                 IV.
+
+                     THE MYTH IN REGARD TO THE
+                            LOWER WORLD.
+
+
+                                 44.
+
+        MIDDLE AGE SAGAS WITH ROOTS IN THE MYTH CONCERNING
+             THE LOWER WORLD.  ERIK VIDFORLE'S SAGA.
+
+
+Far down in Christian times there prevailed among the Scandinavians the
+idea that their heathen ancestors had believed in the existence of a
+place of joy, from which sorrow, pain, blemishes, age, sickness, and
+death were excluded. This place of joy was called _Odainsakr_,
+the-acre-of-the-not-dead, _Joerd lifanda manna_, the earth of living men.
+It was situated not in heaven but below, either on the surface of the
+earth or in the lower world, but it was separated from the lands
+inhabited by men in such a manner that it was not impossible, but
+nevertheless exceeding perilous, to get there.
+
+A saga from the fourteenth century incorporated in Flateybook, and with
+a few textual modifications in Fornald. Saga, iii., tells the following:
+
+Erik, the son of a petty Norse king, one Christmas Eve, made the vow to
+seek out Odainsaker, and the fame of it spread over all Norway. In
+company with a Danish prince, who also was named Erik, he betook
+himself first to Miklagard (Constantinople), where the king engaged the
+young men in his service, and was greatly benefited by their warlike
+skill. One day the king talked with the Norwegian Erik about religion,
+and the result was that the latter surrendered the faith of his
+ancestors and accepted baptism. He told his royal teacher of the vow he
+had taken to find Odainsaker,--"_fra honum heyrdi ver sagt a voru
+landi_,"--and asked him if he knew where it was situated. The king
+believed that Odainsaker was identical with Paradise, and said it lies
+in the East beyond the farthest boundaries of India, but that no one was
+able to get there because it was enclosed by a fire-wall, which aspires
+to heaven itself. Still Erik was bound by his vow, and with his Danish
+namesake he set out on his journey, after the king had instructed them
+as well as he was able in regard to the way, and had given them a letter
+of recommendation to the authorities and princes through whose
+territories they had to pass. They travelled through Syria and the
+immense and wonderful India, and came to a dark country where the stars
+are seen all day long. After having traversed its deep forests, they saw
+when it began to grow light a river, over which there was a vaulted
+stone bridge. On the other side of the river there was a plain, from
+which came sweet fragrance. Erik conjectured that the river was the one
+called by the king in Miklagard Pison, and which rises in Paradise. On
+the stone bridge lay a dragon with wide open mouth. The Danish prince
+advised that they return, for he considered it impossible to conquer the
+dragon or to pass it. But the Norwegian Erik seized one of his men by
+one hand, and rushed with his sword in the other against the dragon.
+They were seen to vanish between the jaws of the monster. With the other
+companions the Danish prince then returned by the same route as he had
+come, and after many years he got back to his native land.
+
+When Erik and his fellow-countryman had been swallowed by the dragon,
+they thought themselves enveloped in smoke; but it was scattered, and
+they were unharmed, and saw before them the great plain lit up by the
+sun and covered with flowers. There flowed rivers of honey, the air was
+still, but just above the ground were felt breezes that conveyed the
+fragrance of the flowers. It is never dark in this country, and objects
+cast no shadow. Both the adventurers went far into the country in order
+to find, if possible, inhabited parts. But the country seemed to be
+uninhabited. Still they discovered a tower in the distance. They
+continued to travel in that direction, and on coming nearer they found
+that the tower was suspended in the air, without foundation or pillars.
+A ladder led up to it. Within the tower there was a room, carpeted with
+velvet, and there stood a beautiful table with delicious food in silver
+dishes, and wine in golden goblets. There were also splendid beds. Both
+the men were now convinced that they had come to Odainsaker, and they
+thanked God that they had reached their destination. They refreshed
+themselves and laid themselves to sleep. While Erik slept there came to
+him a beautiful lad, who called him by name, and said he was one of the
+angels who guarded the gates of Paradise, and also Erik's guardian
+angel, who had been at his side when he vowed to go in search of
+Odainsaker. He asked whether Erik wished to remain where he now was or
+to return home. Erik wished to return to report what he had seen. The
+angel informed him that Odainsaker, or _joerd lifanda manna_, where he
+now was, was not the same place as Paradise, for to the latter only
+spirits could come, and the land of spirits, Paradise, was so glorious
+that, in comparison, Odainsaker seemed like a desert. Still, these two
+regions are on each other's borders, and the river which Erik had seen
+has its source in Paradise. The angel permitted the two travellers to
+remain in Odainsaker for six days to rest themselves. Then they returned
+by way of Miklagard to Norway, and there Erik was called _vid-foerli_,
+the far-travelled.
+
+In regard to Erik's genealogy, the saga states (Fornald. Saga, iii. 519)
+that his father's name was Thrand, that his aunt (mother's sister) was a
+certain Svanhvit, and that he belonged to the race of Thjasse's daughter
+Skade. Further on in the domain of the real myth, we shall discover an
+Erik who belongs to Thjasse's family, and whose mother is a swan-maid
+(goddess of growth). This latter Erik also succeeded in seeing
+Odainsaker (see Nos. 102, 103).
+
+
+                                 45.
+
+       MIDDLE AGE SAGAS (_continued_). ICELANDIC SOURCES IN
+             REGARD TO GUDMUND, KING ON THE GLITTERING
+                               PLAINS.
+
+
+In the saga of Hervor, Odainsaker is mentioned, and there without any
+visible addition of Christian elements. Gudmund (_Godmundr_) was the
+name of a king in Jotunheim. His home was called _Grund_, but the
+district in which it was situated was called the Glittering Plains
+(_Glaesisvellir_). He was wise and mighty, and in a heathen sense pious,
+and he and his men became so old that they lived many generations.
+Therefore, the story continues, the heathens believed that Odainsaker
+was situated in his country. "That place (Odainsaker) is for everyone
+who comes there so healthy that sickness and age depart, and no one ever
+dies there."
+
+According to the saga-author, Jotunheim is situated north from
+Halogaland, along the shores of Gandvik. The wise and mighty Gudmund
+died after he had lived half a thousand years. After his death the
+people worshipped him as a god, and offered sacrifices to him.
+
+The same Gudmund is mentioned in Herrod's and Bose's saga as a ruler of
+the Glittering Plains, who was very skilful in the magic arts. The
+Glittering Plains are here said to be situated near Bjarmaland, just as
+in Thorstein Baearmagn's saga, in which king Gudmund's kingdom,
+Glittering Plains, is a country tributary to Jotunheim, whose ruler is
+Geirrod.
+
+In the history of Olaf Trygveson, as it is given in Flateybook, the
+following episode is incorporated. The Northman Helge Thoreson was sent
+on a commercial journey to the far North on the coast of Finmark, but he
+got lost in a great forest. There he met twelve red-clad young maidens
+on horseback, and the horses' trappings shone like gold. The chief one
+of the maidens was Ingeborg, the daughter of Gudmund on the Glittering
+Plains. The young maidens raised a splendid tent and set a table with
+dishes of silver and gold. Helge was invited to remain, and he stayed
+three days with Ingeborg. Then Gudmund's daughters got ready to leave;
+but before they parted Helge received from Ingeborg two chests full of
+gold and silver. With these he returned to his father, but mentioned to
+nobody how he had obtained them. The next Yule night there came a great
+storm, during which two men carried Helge away, none knew whither. His
+sorrowing father reported this to Olaf Trygveson. The year passed. Then
+it happened at Yule that Helge came in to the king in the hall, and with
+him two strangers, who handed Olaf two gold-plated horns. They said they
+were gifts from Gudmund on the Glittering Plains. Olaf filled the horns
+with good drink and handed them to the messengers. Meanwhile he had
+commanded the bishop who was present to bless the drink. The result was
+that the heathen beings, who were Gudmund's messengers, cast the horns
+away, and at the same time there was great noise and confusion in the
+hall. The fire was extinguished, and Gudmund's men disappeared with
+Helge, after having slain three of King Olaf's men. Another year passed.
+Then there came to the king two men, who brought Helge with them, and
+disappeared again. Helge was at that time blind. The king asked him many
+questions, and Helge explained that he had spent most happy days at
+Gudmund's; but King Olaf's prayers had at length made it difficult for
+Gudmund and his daughter to retain him, and before his departure
+Ingeborg picked his eyes out, in order that Norway's daughters should
+not fall in love with them. With his gifts Gudmund had intended to
+deceive King Olaf; but upon the whole Helge had nothing but good to
+report about this heathen.
+
+
+                                46.
+
+           MIDDLE AGE SAGAS (_continued_). SAXO CONCERNING
+            THIS SAME GUDMUND, RULER OF THE LOWER WORLD.
+
+
+Saxo, the Danish historian, also knows Gudmund. He relates (_Hist.
+Dan._, viii.) that King Gorm had resolved to find a mysterious country
+in regard to which there were many reports in the North. Incredible
+treasures were preserved in that land. A certain Geruthus, known in the
+traditions, dwelt there, but the way thither was full of dangers and
+well-nigh inaccessible for mortals. They who had any knowledge of the
+situation of the land insisted that it was necessary to sail across the
+ocean surrounding the earth, leave sun and stars behind, and make a
+journey _sub Chao_, before reaching the land which is deprived of the
+light of day, and over whose mountains and valleys darkness broods.
+First there was a perilous voyage to be made, and then a journey in the
+lower world. With the experienced sailor Thorkillus as his guide, King
+Gorm left Denmark with three ships and a numerous company, sailed past
+Halogaland, and came, after strange adventures on his way, to
+Bjarmaland, situated beyond the known land of the same name, and
+anchored near its coast. In this _Bjarmia ulterior_ it is always cold;
+to its snow-clad fields there comes no summer warmth, through its deep
+wild forests flow rapid foaming rivers which well forth from the rocky
+recesses, and the woods are full of wild beasts, the like of which are
+unknown elsewhere. The inhabitants are monsters with whom it is
+dangerous for strangers to enter into conversation, for from
+unconsidered words they get power to do harm. Therefore Thorkillus was
+to do the talking alone for all his companions. The place for anchoring
+he had chosen in such a manner that they thence had the shortest journey
+to Geruthus. In the evening twilight the travellers saw a man of unusual
+size coming to meet them, and to their joy he greeted them by name.
+Thorkillus informed them that they should regard the coming of this man
+as a good omen, for he was the brother of Geruthus, Guthmundus, a
+friendly person and the most faithful protector in peril. When
+Thorkillus had explained the perpetual silence of his companions by
+saying that they were too bashful to enter into conversation with one
+whose language they did not understand, Guthmundus invited them to be
+his guests and led them by paths down along a river. Then they came to a
+place where a golden bridge was built across the river. The Danes felt a
+desire to cross the bridge and visit the land on the other side, but
+Guthmundus warned them that nature with the bed of this stream has drawn
+a line between the human and superhuman and mysterious, and that the
+ground on the other side was by a sacred order proclaimed unlawful for
+the feet of mortals.[34] They therefore continued the march on that
+side of the river on which they had hitherto gone, and so came to the
+mysterious dwelling of Guthmundus, where a feast was spread before them,
+at which twelve of his sons, all of noble appearance, and as many
+daughters, most fair of face, waited upon them.
+
+But the feast was a peculiar one. The Danes heeded the advice of
+Thorkillus not to come into too close contact with their strange
+table-companions or the servants, and instead of tasting the courses
+presented of food and drink, they ate and drank of the provisions they
+had taken with them from home. This they did because Thorkillus knew
+that mortals who accept the courtesies here offered them lose all memory
+of the past and remain for ever among "these non-human and dismal
+beings." Danger threatened even those who were weak in reference to the
+enticing loveliness of the daughters of Guthmundus. He offered King Gorm
+a daughter in marriage. Gorm himself was prudent enough to decline the
+honour; but four of his men could not resist the temptation, and had to
+pay the penalty with the loss of their memory and with enfeebled minds.
+
+One more trial awaited them. Guthmundus mentioned to the king that he
+had a villa, and invited Gorm to accompany him thither and taste of the
+delicious fruits. Thorkillus, who had a talent for inventing excuses,
+now found one for the king's lips. The host, though displeased with the
+reserve of the guests, still continued to show them friendliness, and
+when they expressed their desire to see the domain of Geruthus, he
+accompanied them all to the river, conducted them across it, and
+promised to wait there until they returned.
+
+The land which they now entered was the home of terrors. They had not
+gone very far before they discovered before them a city, which seemed to
+be built of dark mists. Human heads were raised on stakes which
+surrounded the bulwarks of the city. Wild dogs, whose rage Thorkillus,
+however, knew how to calm, kept watch outside of the gates. The gates
+were located high up in the bulwark, and it was necessary to climb up on
+ladders in order to get to them. Within the city was a crowd of beings
+horrible to look at and to hear, and filth and rottenness and a terrible
+stench were everywhere. Further in was a sort of mountain-fastness. When
+they had reached its entrance the travellers were overpowered by its
+awful aspect, but Thorkillus inspired them with courage. At the same
+time he warned them most strictly not to touch any of the treasures that
+might entice their eyes. All that sight and soul can conceive as
+terrible and loathsome was gathered within this rocky citadel. The
+door-frames were covered with the soot of centuries, the walls were
+draped with filth, the roofs were composed of sharp stings, the floors
+were made of serpents encased in foulness. At the thresholds crowds of
+monsters acted as doorkeepers and were very noisy. On iron benches,
+surrounded by a hurdle-work of lead, there lay giant monsters which
+looked like lifeless images. Higher up in a rocky niche sat the aged
+Geruthus, with his body pierced and nailed to the rock, and there lay
+also three women with their backs broken. Thorkillus explained that it
+was this Geruthus whom the god Thor had pierced with a red-hot iron; the
+women had also received their punishment from the same god.
+
+When the travellers left these places of punishment they came to a place
+where they saw cisterns of mead (_dolia_) in great numbers. These were
+plated with seven sheets of gold, and above them hung objects of silver,
+round as to form, from which shot numerous braids down into the
+cisterns. Near by was found a gold-plated tooth of some strange animal,
+and near it, again, there lay an immense horn decorated with pictures
+and flashing with precious stones, and also an arm-ring of great size.
+Despite the warnings, three of Gorm's men laid greedy hands on these
+works of art. But the greed got its reward. The arm-ring changed into a
+venomous serpent; the horn into a dragon, which killed their robbers;
+the tooth became a sword, which pierced the heart of him who bore it.
+The others who witnessed the fate of their comrades expected that they
+too, although innocent, should meet with some misfortune. But their
+anxiety seemed unfounded, and when they looked about them again they
+found the entrance to another treasury, which contained a wealth of
+immense weapons, among which was kept a royal mantle, together with a
+splendid head-gear and a belt, the finest work of art. Thorkillus
+himself could not govern his greed when he saw these robes. He took hold
+of the mantle, and thus gave the signal to the others to plunder. But
+then the building shook in its foundations; the voices of shrieking
+women were heard, who asked if these robbers were longer to be
+tolerated; beings which hitherto had been lying as if half-dead or
+lifeless started up and joined other spectres who attacked the Danes.
+The latter would all have lost their lives had not their retreat been
+covered by two excellent archers whom Gorm had with him. But of the men,
+nearly three hundred in number, with whom the king had ventured into
+this part of the lower world, there remained only twenty when they
+finally reached the river, where Guthmundus, true to his promise, was
+waiting for them, and carried them in a boat to his own domain. Here he
+proposed to them that they should remain, but as he could not persuade
+them, he gave them presents and let them return to their ships in safety
+the same way as they had come.
+
+[Footnote 34: Cujus transeundi cupidos revocavit, docens, eo alveo
+humana a monstrosis rerum secrevisse naturam, nec mortalibus ultra fas
+esse vestigiis.]
+
+
+                                  47.
+
+       MIDDLE AGE SAGAS (_continued_). FJALLERUS AND HADINGUS
+                   (HADDING) IN THE LOWER WORLD.
+
+
+Two other Danish princes have, according to Saxo, been permitted to see
+a subterranean world, or Odainsaker. Saxo calls the one Fjallerus, and
+makes him a sub-regent in Scania. The question who this Fjallerus was in
+the mythology is discussed in another part of this work (see No. 92).
+According to Saxo he was banished from the realm by King Amlethus, the
+son of Horvendillus, and so retired to Undensakre (Odainsaker), "a place
+which is unknown to our people" (_Hist. Dan._ iv.).
+
+The other of these two is King Hadingus (_Hist. Dan._, i.), the
+above-mentioned Hadding, son of Halfdan. One winter's day, while Hadding
+sat at the hearth, there rose out of the ground the form of a woman, who
+had her lap full of cowbanes, and showed them as if she was about to ask
+whether the king would like to see that part of the world where, in the
+midst of winter, so fresh flowers could bloom. Hadding desired this.
+Then she wrapped him in her mantle and carried him away down into the
+lower world. "The gods of the lower world," says Saxo, "must have
+determined that he should be transferred living to those places, which
+are not to be sought until after death." In the beginning the journey
+was through a territory wrapped in darkness, fogs, and mists. Then
+Hadding perceived that they proceeded along a path "which is daily trod
+by the feet of walkers." The path led to a river, in whose rapids spears
+and other weapons were tossed about, and over which there was a bridge.
+Before reaching this river Hadding had seen from the path he travelled a
+region in which "a few" or "certain" (_quidam_), but very noble beings
+(_proceres_) were walking, dressed in beautiful frocks and purple
+mantles. Thence the woman brought him to a plain which glittered as in
+sunshine (_loca aprica_, translation of "The Glittering Plains"), and
+there grew the plants which she had shown him. This was one side of the
+river. On the other side there was bustle and activity. There Hadding
+saw two armies engaged in battle. They were, his fair guide explained to
+him, the souls of warriors who had fallen in battle, and now imitated
+the sword-games they had played on earth. Continuing their journey, they
+reached a place surrounded by a wall, which was difficult to pass
+through or to surmount. Nor did the woman make any effort to enter
+there, either alone or with him: "It would not have been possible for
+the smallest or thinnest physical being." They therefore returned the
+way they had come. But before this, and while they stood near the wall,
+the woman demonstrated to Hadding by an experiment that the walled place
+had a strange nature. She jerked the head off a chicken which she had
+taken with her, and threw it over the wall, but the head came back to
+the neck of the chicken, and with a distinct crow it announced "that it
+had regained its life and breath."
+
+
+                                   48.
+
+           MIDDLE AGE SAGAS (_continued_). A FRISIAN SAGA IN
+                             ADAM OF BREMEN.
+
+
+The series of traditions above narrated in regard to Odainsaker, the
+Glittering Plains, and their ruler Gudmund, and also in regard to the
+neighbouring domains as habitations of the souls of the dead, extends,
+so far as the age of their recording in writing is concerned, through a
+period of considerable length. The latest cannot be referred to an
+earlier date than the fourteenth century; the oldest were put in writing
+toward the close of the twelfth. Saxo began working on his history
+between the years 1179 and 1186. Thus these literary evidences span
+about two centuries, and stop near the threshold of heathendom. The
+generation to which Saxo's father belonged witnessed the crusade which
+Sigurd the Crusader made in Eastern Smaland, in whose forests the
+Asa-doctrine until that time seems to have prevailed, and the Odinic
+religion is believed to have flourished in the more remote parts of
+Sweden even in Saxo's own time.
+
+We must still add to this series of documents one which is to carry it
+back another century, and even more. This document is a saga told by
+Adam of Bremen in _De Situ Daniae_. Adam, or, perhaps, before him, his
+authority Adalbert (appointed archbishop in the year 1043), has turned
+the saga into history, and made it as credible as possible by excluding
+all distinctly mythical elements. And as it, doubtless for this reason,
+neither mentions a place which can be compared with Odainsaker or with
+the Glittering Plains, I have omitted it among the literary evidences
+above quoted. Nevertheless, it reminds us in its main features of Saxo's
+account of Gorm's journey of discovery, and its relation both to it and
+to the still older myth shall be shown later (see No. 94). In the form
+in which Adam heard the saga, its point of departure has been located in
+Friesland, not in Denmark. Frisian noblemen make a voyage past Norway up
+to the farthest limits of the Arctic Ocean, get into a darkness which
+the eyes scarcely can penetrate, are exposed to a maelstrom which
+threatens to drag them down _ad Chaos_, but finally come quite
+unexpectedly out of darkness and cold to an island which, surrounded as
+by a wall of high rocks, contains subterranean caverns, wherein giants
+lie concealed. At the entrances of the underground dwellings lay a great
+number of tubs and vessels of gold and other metals which "to mortals
+seem rare and valuable." As much as the adventurers could carry of
+these treasures they took with them and hastened to their ships. But the
+giants, represented by great dogs, rushed after them. One of the
+Frisians was overtaken and torn into pieces before the eyes of the
+others. The others succeeded, thanks to our Lord and to Saint Willehad,
+in getting safely on board their ships.
+
+
+                                   49.
+
+            ANALYSIS OF THE SAGAS MENTIONED IN NOS. 44-48.
+
+
+If we consider the position of the authors or recorders of these sagas
+in relation to the views they present in regard to Odainsaker and the
+Glittering Plains, then we find that they themselves, with or without
+reason, believe that these views are from a heathen time and of heathen
+origin. The saga of Erik Vidforle states that its hero had in his own
+native land, and in his heathen environment, heard reports about
+Odainsaker. The Miklagard king who instructs the prince in the doctrines
+of Christianity knows, on the other hand, nothing of such a country. He
+simply conjectures that the Odainsaker of the heathens must be the same
+as the Paradise of the Christians, and the saga later makes this
+conjecture turn out to be incorrect.
+
+The author of Hervor's saga mentions Odainsaker as a heathen belief, and
+tries to give reasons why it was believed in heathen times that
+Odainsaker was situated within the limits of Gudmund's kingdom, the
+Glittering Plains. The reason is: "Gudmund and his men became so old
+that they lived through several generations (Gudmund lived five hundred
+years), and therefore the heathens believed that Odainsaker was situated
+in his domain."
+
+The man who compiled the legend about Helge Thoreson connects it with
+the history of King Olaf Trygveson, and pits this first king of Norway,
+who laboured for the introduction of Christianity, as a representative
+of the new and true doctrine against King Gudmund of the Glittering
+Plains as the representative of the heathen doctrine. The author would
+not have done this if he had not believed that the ruler of the
+Glittering Plains had his ancestors in heathendom.
+
+The saga of Thorstein Baearmagn puts Gudmund and the Glittering Plains in
+a tributary relation to Jotunheim and to Geirrod, the giant, well known
+in the mythology.
+
+Saxo makes Gudmund Geirrod's (Geruthus') brother, and he believes he is
+discussing ancient traditions when he relates Gorm's journey of
+discovery and Hadding's journey to Jotunheim. Gorm's reign is referred
+by Saxo to the period immediately following the reign of the mythical
+King Snoe (Snow) and the emigration of the Longobardians. Hadding's
+descent to the lower world occurred, according to Saxo, in an antiquity
+many centuries before King Snow. Hadding is, in Saxo, one of the first
+kings of Denmark, the grandson of Skjold, progenitor of the Skjoldungs.
+
+The saga of Erik Vidforle makes the way to Odainsaker pass through
+Syria, India, and an unknown land which wants the light of the sun, and
+where the stars are visible all day long. On the other side of
+Odainsaker, and bordering on it, lies the land of the happy spirits,
+Paradise.
+
+That these last ideas have been influenced by Christianity would seem to
+be sufficiently clear. Nor do we find a trace of Syria, India, and
+Paradise as soon as we leave this saga and pass to the others, in the
+chain of which it forms one of the later links. All the rest agree in
+transferring to the uttermost North the land which must be reached
+before the journey can be continued to the Glittering Plains and
+Odainsaker. Hervor's saga says that the Glittering Plains and Odainsaker
+are situated north of Halogaland, in Jotunheim; Herrod's and Bose's saga
+states that they are situated in the vicinity of Bjarmaland. The saga of
+Thorstein Baearmagn says that they are a kingdom subject to Geirrod in
+Jotunheim. Gorm's saga in Saxo says it is necessary to sail past
+Halogaland north to a _Bjarmia ulterior_ in order to get to the kingdoms
+of Gudmund and Geirrod. The saga of Helge Thoreson makes its hero meet
+the daughters of Gudmund, the ruler of the Glittering Plains, after a
+voyage to Finmarken. Hadding's saga in Saxo makes the Danish king pay a
+visit to the unknown but wintry cold land of the "Nitherians," when he
+is invited to make a journey to the lower world. Thus the older and
+common view was that he who made the attempt to visit the Glittering
+Plains and Odainsaker must first penetrate the regions of the uttermost
+North, known only by hearsay.
+
+Those of the sagas which give us more definite local descriptions in
+addition to this geographical information all agree that the region
+which forms, as it were, a foreground to the Glittering Plains and
+Odainsaker is a land over which the darkness of night broods. As just
+indicated, Erik Vidforle's saga claims that the stars there are visible
+all day long. Gorm's saga in Saxo makes the Danish adventurers leave sun
+and stars behind to continue the journey _sub Chao_. Darkness, fogs, and
+mists envelop Hadding before he gets sight of the splendidly-clad
+_proceres_ who dwell down there, and the shining meadows whose flowers
+are never visited by winter. The Frisian saga in Adam of Bremen also
+speaks of a gloom which must be penetrated ere one reaches the land
+where rich giants dwell in subterranean caverns.
+
+Through this darkness one comes, according to the saga of Erik Vidforle,
+to a plain full of flowers, delicious fragrances, rivers of honey (a
+Biblical idea, but see Nos. 89, 123), and perpetual light. A river
+separates this plain from the land of the spirits.
+
+Through the same darkness, according to Gorm's saga, one comes to
+Gudmund's Glittering Plains, where there is a pleasure-farm bearing
+delicious fruits, while in that Bjarmaland whence the Glittering Plains
+can be reached reign eternal winter and cold. A river separates the
+Glittering Plains from two or more other domains, of which at least one
+is the home of departed souls. There is a bridge of gold across the
+river to another region, "which separates that which is mortal from the
+superhuman," and on whose soil a mortal being must not set his foot.
+Further on one can pass in a boat across the river to a land which is
+the place of punishment for the damned and a resort of ghosts.
+
+Through the same darkness one comes, according to Hadding's saga, to a
+subterranean land where flowers grow in spite of the winter which reigns
+on the surface of the earth. The land of flowers is separated from the
+Elysian fields of those fallen in battle by a river which hurls about in
+its eddies spears and other weapons.
+
+These statements from different sources agree with each other in their
+main features. They agree that the lower world is divided into two main
+parts by a river, and that departed souls are found only on the farther
+side of the river.
+
+The other main part on this side the river thus has another purpose than
+that of receiving the happy or damned souls of the dead. There dwells,
+according to Gorm's saga, the giant Gudmund, with his sons and
+daughters. There are also the Glittering Plains, since these, according
+to Hervor's, Herrod's, Thorstein Baearmagn's, and Helge Thoreson's sagas,
+are ruled by Gudmund.
+
+Some of the accounts cited say that the Glittering Plains are situated
+in Jotunheim. This statement does not contradict the fact that they are
+situated in the lower world. The myths mention two Jotunheims, and hence
+the Eddas employ the plural form, Jotunheimar. One of the Jotunheims is
+located on the surface of the earth in the far North and East, separated
+from the Midgard inhabited by man by the uttermost sea or the Elivogs
+(Gylfaginning, 8). The other Jotunheim is subterranean. According to
+Vafthrudnismal (31), one of the roots of the world-tree extends down "to
+the frost-giants." Urd and her sisters, who guard one of the fountains
+of Ygdrasil's roots, are giantesses. Mimer, who guards another fountain
+in the lower world, is called a giant. That part of the world which is
+inhabited by the goddesses of fate and by Mimer is thus inhabited by
+giants, and is a subterranean Jotunheim. Both these Jotunheims are
+connected with each other. From the upper there is a path leading to the
+lower. Therefore those traditions recorded in a Christian age, which we
+are here discussing, have referred to the Arctic Ocean and the uttermost
+North as the route for those who have the desire and courage to visit
+the giants of the lower world.
+
+When it is said in Hadding's saga that he on the other side of the
+subterranean river saw the shades of heroes fallen by the sword arrayed
+in line of battle and contending with each other, then this is no
+contradiction of the myth, according to which the heroes chosen on the
+battle-field come to Asgard and play their warlike games on the plains
+of the world of the gods.
+
+In Voeluspa (str. 24) we read that when the first "folk"-war broke out in
+the world, the citadel of Odin and his clan was stormed by the Vans, who
+broke through its bulwark and captured Asgard. In harmony with this,
+Saxo (_Hist._, i.) relates that at the time when King Hadding reigned
+Odin was banished from his power and lived for some time in exile (see
+Nos. 36-41).
+
+It is evident that no great battles can have been fought, and that there
+could not have been any great number of sword-fallen men, before the
+_first_ great "folk" war broke out in the world. Otherwise this war
+would not have been the first. Thus Valhal has not before this war had
+those hosts of einherjes who later are feasted in Valfather's hall. But
+as Odin, after the breaking out of this war, is banished from Valhal and
+Asgard, and does not return before peace is made between the Asas and
+Vans, then none of the einherjes chosen by him could be received in
+Valhal _during_ the war. Hence it follows that the heroes fallen in this
+war, though chosen by Odin, must have been referred to some other place
+than Asgard (excepting, of course, all those chosen by the Vans, _in
+case_ they chose einherjes, which is probable, for the reason that the
+Vanadis Freyja gets, after the reconciliation with Odin, the right to
+divide with him the choice of the slain). This other place can nowhere
+else be so appropriately looked for as in the lower world, which we know
+was destined to receive the souls of the dead. And as Hadding, who,
+according to Saxo, descended to the lower world, is, according to Saxo,
+the same Hadding during whose reign Odin was banished from Asgard, then
+it follows that the statement of the saga, making him see in the lower
+world those warlike games which else are practised on Asgard's plains,
+far from contradicting the myth, on the contrary is a consequence of the
+connection of the mythical events.
+
+The river which is mentioned in Erik Vidforle's, Gorm's, and Hadding's
+sagas has its prototype in the mythic records. When Hermod on Sleipner
+rides to the lower world (Gylfaginning, 10) he first journeys through a
+dark country (compare above) and then comes to the river _Gjoell_, over
+which there is the golden bridge called the Gjallar bridge. On the other
+side of _Gjoell_ is the Helgate, which leads to the realm of the dead. In
+Gorm's saga the bridge across the river is also of gold, and it is
+forbidden mortals to cross to the other side.
+
+A subterranean river hurling weapons in its eddies is mentioned in
+Voeluspa, 33. In Hadding's saga we also read of a weapon-hurling river
+which forms the boundary of the Elysium of those slain by the sword.
+
+In Vegtamskvida is mentioned an underground dog, bloody about the
+breast, coming from Nifelhel, the proper place of punishment. In Gorm's
+saga the bulwark around the city of the damned is guarded by great dogs.
+The word "nifel" (_nifl_, the German _Nebel_), which forms one part of
+the word Nifelhel, means mist, fog. In Gorm's saga the city in question
+is most like a cloud of vapour (_vaporanti maxime nubi simile_).
+
+Saxo's description of that house of torture, which is found within the
+city, is not unlike Voeluspa's description of that dwelling of torture
+called Nastrand. In Saxo the floor of the house consists of serpents
+wattled together, and the roof of sharp stings. In Voeluspa the hall is
+made of serpents braided together, whose heads from above spit venom
+down on those dwelling there. Saxo speaks of soot a century old on the
+door frames; Voeluspa of _ljorar_, air- and smoke-openings in the roof
+(see further Nos. 77 and 78).
+
+Saxo himself points out that the Geruthus (_Geirroedr_) mentioned by him,
+and his famous daughters, belong to the myth about the Asa-god Thor.
+That Geirrod after his death is transferred to the lower world is no
+contradiction to the heathen belief, according to which beautiful or
+terrible habitations await the dead, not only of men but also of other
+beings. Compare Gylfaginning, ch. 46, where Thor with one blow of his
+Mjolner sends a giant _nidr undir Niflhel_ (see further, No. 60).
+
+As Mimer's and Urd's fountains are found in the lower world (see Nos.
+63, 93), and as Mimer is mentioned as the guardian of Heimdal's horn and
+other treasures, it might be expected that these circumstances would not
+be forgotten in those stories from Christian times which have been cited
+above and found to have roots in the myths.
+
+When in Saxo's saga about Gorm the Danish adventurers had left the
+horrible city of fog, they came to another place in the lower world
+where the gold-plated mead-cisterns were found. The Latin word used by
+Saxo, which I translate with cisterns of mead, is _dolium_. In the
+classical Latin this word is used in regard to wine-cisterns of so
+immense a size that they were counted among the immovables, and usually
+were sunk in the cellar floors. They were so large that a person could
+live in such a cistern, and this is also reported as having happened.
+That the word _dolium_ still in Saxo's time had a similar meaning
+appears from a letter quoted by Du Cange, written by Saxo's younger
+contemporary, Bishop Gebhard. The size is therefore no obstacle to
+Saxo's using this word for a wine-cistern to mean the mead-wells in the
+lower world of Teutonic mythology. The question now is whether he
+actually did so, or whether the subterranean _dolia_ in question are
+objects in regard to which our earliest mythic records have left us in
+ignorance.
+
+In Saxo's time, and earlier, the epithets by which the mead-wells--Urd's
+and Mimer's--and their contents are mentioned in mythological songs had
+come to be applied also to those mead-buckets which Odin is said to have
+emptied in the halls of the giant Fjalar or Suttung. This application
+also lay near at hand, since these wells and these vessels contained the
+same liquor, and since it originally, as appears from the meaning of the
+words, was the liquor, and not the place where the liquor was kept, to
+which the epithets _Odraerir_, _Bodn_, and _Son_ applied. In Havamal
+(107) Odin expresses his joy that _Odraerir_ has passed out of the
+possession of the giant Fjalar and can be of use to the beings of the
+upper world. But if we may trust Bragar, (ch. 5), it is the drink and
+not the empty vessels that Odin takes with him to Valhal. On this
+supposition, it is the drink and not one of the vessels which in Havamal
+is called _Odraerir_. In Havamal (140) Odin relates how he, through
+self-sacrifice and suffering, succeeded in getting runic songs up from
+the deep, and also a drink dipped out of _Odraerir_. He who gives him the
+songs and the drink, and accordingly is the ruler of the fountain of the
+drink, is a man, "Bolthorn's celebrated son." Here again Odraerer is one
+of the subterranean fountains, and no doubt Mimer's, since the one who
+pours out the drink is a man. But in Forspjalsljod (2) Urd's fountain is
+also called Odraerer (_Odhraerir Urdar_). Paraphrases for the liquor of
+poetry, such as "Bodn's growing billow" (Einar Skalaglam) and "Son's
+reedgrown grass edge" (Eilif Gudrunson), point to fountains or wells,
+not to vessels. Meanwhile a satire was composed before the time of Saxo
+and Sturlason about Odin's adventure at Fjalar's, and the author of this
+song, the contents of which the Younger Edda has preserved, calls the
+vessels which Odin empties at the giant's _Odhraerir_, _Bodn_, and _Son_
+(Brogaraedur, 6). Saxo, who reveals a familiarity with the genuine
+heathen, or supposed heathen, poems handed down to his time, may thus
+have seen the epithets _Odraerir_, _Bodn_, and _Son_ applied both to the
+subterranean mead-wells and to a giant's mead-vessels. The greater
+reason he would have for selecting the Latin _dolium_ to express an idea
+that can be accommodated to both these objects.
+
+Over these mead-reservoirs there hang, according to Saxo's description,
+round-shaped objects of silver, which in close braids drop down and are
+spread around the seven times gold-plated walls of the mead-cisterns.
+[35]
+
+Over Mimer's and Urd's fountains hang the roots of the ash Ygdrasil,
+which sends its root-knots and root-threads down into their waters. But
+not only the rootlets sunk in the water, but also the roots from which
+they are suspended, partake of the waters of the fountains. The norns
+take daily from the water and sprinkle the stem of the tree therewith,
+"and the water is so holy," says Gylfaginning (16), "that everything
+that is put in the well (consequently, also, all that which the norns
+daily sprinkle with the water) becomes as white as the membrane between
+the egg and the egg-shell." Also the root over Mimer's fountain is
+sprinkled with its water (Voelusp., Cod. R., 28), and this water, so far
+as its colour is concerned, seems to be of the same kind as that in
+Urd's fountain, for the latter is called _hvitr aurr_ (Voelusp., 18) and
+the former runs in _aurgum forsi_ upon its root of the world-tree
+(Voelusp., 28). The adjective _aurigr_, which describes a quality of the
+water in Mimer's fountain, is formed from the noun _aurr_, with which
+the liquid is described which waters the root over Urd's fountain.
+Ygdrasil's roots, as far up as the liquid of the wells can get to them,
+thus have a colour like that of "the membrane between the egg and the
+egg-shell," and consequently recall both as to position, form, and
+colour the round-shaped objects "of silver" which, according to Saxo,
+hang down and are intertwined in the mead-reservoirs of the lower world.
+
+Mimer's fountain contains, as we know, the purest mead--the liquid of
+inspiration, of poetry, of wisdom, of understanding.
+
+Near by Ygdrasil, according to Voeluspa (27), Heimdal's horn is
+concealed. The seeress in Voeluspa knows that it is hid "beneath the
+hedge-o'ershadowing holy tree."
+
+    Veit hon Heimdallar
+    hljod um folgit
+    undir heidvoenum
+    helgum badmi.
+
+Near one of the mead-cisterns in the lower world Gorm's men see a horn
+ornamented with pictures and flashing with precious stones.
+
+Among the treasures taken care of by Mimer is the world's foremost sword
+and a wonderful arm-ring, smithied by the same master as made the sword
+(see Nos. 87, 98, 101).
+
+Near the gorgeous horn Gorm's men see a gold-plated tooth of an animal
+and an arm-ring. The animal tooth becomes a sword when it is taken into
+the hand.[36] Near by is a treasury filled with a large number of
+weapons and a royal robe. Mimer is known in mythology as a collector of
+treasures. He is therefore called _Hoddmimir_, _Hoddropnir_,
+_Baugregin_.
+
+Thus Gorm and his men have on their journeys in the lower world seen not
+only Nastrand's place of punishment in Nifelhel, but also the holy land,
+where Mimer reigns.
+
+When Gorm and his men desire to cross the golden bridge and see the
+wonders to which it leads, Gudmund prohibits it. When they in another
+place farther up desire to cross the river to see what there is beyond,
+he consents and has them taken over in a boat. He does not deem it
+proper to show them the unknown land at the golden bridge, but it is
+within the limits of his authority to let them see the places of
+punishment and those regions which contain the mead-cisterns and the
+treasure chambers. The sagas call him the king on the Glittering Plains,
+and as the Glittering Plains are situated in the lower world, he must be
+a lower world ruler.
+
+Two of the sagas, Helge Thoreson's and Gorm's, cast a shadow on
+Gudmund's character. In the former this shadow does not produce
+confusion or contradiction. The saga is a legend which represents
+Christianity, with Olaf Trygveson as its apostle, in conflict with
+heathenism, represented by Gudmund. It is therefore natural that the
+latter cannot be presented in the most favourable light. Olaf destroys
+with his prayers the happiness of Gudmund's daughter. He compels her to
+abandon her lover, and Gudmund, who is unable to take revenge in any
+other manner, tries to do so, as is the case with so many of the
+characters in saga and history, by treachery. This is demanded by the
+fundamental idea and tendency of the legend. What the author of the
+legend has heard about Gudmund's character from older saga-men, or what
+he has read in records, he does not, however, conceal with silence, but
+admits that Gudmund, aside from his heathen religion and grudge towards
+Olaf Trygveson, was a man in whose home one might fare well and be
+happy.
+
+Saxo has preserved the shadow, but in his narrative it produces the
+greatest contradiction. Gudmund offers fruits, drinks, and embraces in
+order to induce his guests to remain with him for ever, and he does it
+in a tempting manner and, as it seems, with conscious cunning.
+Nevertheless, he shows unlimited patience when the guests insult him by
+accepting nothing of what he offers. When he comes down to the
+sea-strand, where Gorm's ships are anchored, he is greeted by the leader
+of the discoverers with joy, because he is "the most pious being and
+man's protector in perils." He conducts them in safety to his castle.
+When a handful of them returns after the attempt to plunder the treasury
+of the lower world, he considers the crime sufficiently punished by the
+loss of life they have suffered, and takes them across the river to his
+own safe home; and when they, contrary to his wishes, desire to return
+to their native land, he loads them with gifts and sees to it that they
+get safely on board their ships. It follows that Saxo's sources have
+described Gudmund as a kind and benevolent person. Here, as in the
+legend about Helge Thoreson, the shadow has been thrown by younger hands
+upon an older background painted in bright colours.
+
+Hervor's saga says that he was wise, mighty, in a heathen sense pious
+("a great sacrificer"), and so honoured that sacrifices were offered to
+him, and he was worshipped as a god after death. Herrod's saga says that
+he was greatly skilled in magic arts, which is another expression for
+heathen wisdom, for fimbul-songs, runes, and incantations.
+
+The change for the worse which Gudmund's character seems in part to have
+suffered is confirmed by a change connected with, and running parallel
+to it, in the conception of the forces in those things which belonged to
+the lower world of the Teutonic heathendom and to Gudmund's domain. In
+Saxo we find an idea related to the antique Lethe myth, according to
+which the liquids and plants which belong to the lower world produce
+forgetfulness of the past. Therefore, Thorkil (Thorkillus) warns his
+companions not to eat or drink any of that which Gudmund offers them. In
+the Gudrun song (ii. 21, 22), and elsewhere, we meet with the same
+idea. I shall return to this subject (see No. 50).
+
+[Footnote 35: Inde digressis dolia septem zonis aureis circumligata
+panduntur, quibus pensiles ex argento circuli crebros inseruerant
+nexus.]
+
+[Footnote 36: The word _biti_= a tooth (cp. bite) becomes in the
+composition _leggbiti_, the name of a sword.]
+
+
+                               50.
+
+        ANALYSIS OF THE SAGAS MENTIONED IN NOS. 44-48. THE
+           QUESTION IN REGARD TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF
+                          ODAINSAKER.
+
+
+Is Gudmund an invention of Christian times, although he is placed in an
+environment which in general and in detail reflects the heathen
+mythology? Or is there to be found in the mythology a person who has
+precisely the same environment and is endowed with the same attributes
+and qualities?
+
+The latter form an exceedingly strange _ensemble_, and can therefore
+easily be recognized. Ruler in the lower world, and at the same time a
+giant. Pious and still a giant. King in a domain to which winter cannot
+penetrate. Within that domain an enclosed place, whose bulwark neither
+sickness, nor age, nor death can surmount. It is left to his power and
+pleasure to give admittance to the mysterious meadows, where the
+mead-cisterns of the lower world are found, and where the most precious
+of all horns, a wonderful sword, and a splendid arm-ring are kept. Old
+as the hills, but yet subject to death. Honoured as if he were not a
+giant, but a divine being. These are the features which together
+characterise Gudmund, and should be found in his mythological prototype,
+if there is one. With these peculiar characteristics are united wisdom
+and wealth.
+
+The answer to the question whether a mythical original of this picture
+is to be discovered will be given below. But before that we must call
+attention to some points in the Christian accounts cited in regard to
+Odainsaker.
+
+Odainsaker is not made identical with the Glittering Plains, but is a
+separate place on them, or at all events within Gudmund's domain. Thus
+according to Hervor's saga. The correctness of the statement is
+confirmed by comparison with Gorm's and Hadding's sagas. The former
+mentions, as will be remembered, a place which Gudmund does not consider
+himself authorized to show his guests, although they are permitted to
+see other mysterious places in the lower world, even the mead-fountains
+and treasure-chambers. To the unknown place, as to Balder's subterranean
+dwelling, leads a golden bridge, which doubtless is to indicate the
+splendour of the place. The subterranean goddess, who is Hadding's guide
+in Hades, shows him both the Glittering Fields (_loca aprica_) and the
+plains of the dead heroes, but stops with him near a wall, which is not
+opened for them. The domain surrounded by the wall receives nothing
+which has suffered death, and its very proximity seems to be enough to
+keep death at bay (see No. 47).
+
+All the sagas are silent in regard to who those beings are for whom
+this wonderful enclosed place is intended. Its very name,
+_Acre-of-the-not-dead_ (_Odainsakr_), and _The field-of-the-living_
+(_Joerd lifanda manna_), however, makes it clear that it is not intended
+for the souls of the dead. This Erik Vidforle's saga is also able to
+state, inasmuch as it makes a definite distinction between _Odainsaker_
+and the land of the spirits, between _Odainsaker_ and Paradise. If human
+or other beings are found within the bulwark of the place, they must
+have come there as living beings in a physical sense; and when once
+there, they are protected from perishing, for diseases, age, and death
+are excluded.
+
+Erik Vidforle and his companion find on their journey on Odainsaker only
+a single dwelling, a splendid one with two beds. Who the couple are who
+own this house, and seem to have placed it at the disposal of the
+travellers, is not stated. But in the night there came a beautiful lad
+to Erik. The author of the saga has made him an angel, who is on duty on
+the borders between Odainsaker and Paradise.
+
+The purpose of Odainsaker is not mentioned in Erik Vidforle's saga.
+There is no intelligible connection between it and the Christian
+environment given to it by the saga. The ecclesiastical belief knows an
+earthly Paradise, that which existed in the beginning and was the home
+of Adam and Eve, but that it is guarded by the angel with the flaming
+sword, or, as Erik's saga expresses it, it is encircled by a wall of
+fire. In the lower world the Christian Church knows a Hades and a hell,
+but the path to them is through the gates of death; physically living
+persons, persons who have not paid tribute to death, are not found
+there. In the Christian group of ideas there is no place for Odainsaker.
+An underground place for physically living people, who are there no
+longer exposed to aging and death, has nothing to do in the economy of
+the Church. Was there occasion for it among the ideas of the heathen
+eschatology? The above-quoted sagas say nothing about the purposes of
+Odainsaker. Here is therefore a question of importance to our subject,
+and one that demands an answer.
+
+
+                                51.
+
+                   GUDMUND'S IDENTITY WITH MIMER.
+
+
+I dare say the most characteristic figure of Teutonic mythology is
+Mimer, the lord of the fountain which bears his name. The liquid
+contained in the fountain is the object of Odin's deepest desire. He has
+neither authority nor power over it. Nor does he or anyone else of the
+gods seek to get control of it by force. Instances are mentioned
+showing that Odin, to get a drink from it, must subject himself to great
+sufferings and sacrifices (Voeluspa, Cod. Reg., 28, 29; Havamal, 138-140;
+Gylfag., 15), and it is as a gift or a loan that he afterwards receives
+from Mimer the invigorating and soul-inspiring drink (Havamal, 140,
+141). Over the fountain and its territory Mimer, of course, exercises
+unlimited control, an authority which the gods never appear to have
+disputed. He has a sphere of power which the gods recognize as
+inviolable. The domain of his rule belongs to the lower world; it is
+situated under one of the roots of the world-tree (Voeluspa, 28, 29;
+Gylfag., 15), and when Odin, from the world-tree, asks for the precious
+mead of the fountain, he peers _downward_ into the deep, and thence
+brings up the runes (_nysta ec nithr_, _nam ec up runar_--Havamal,
+139). Saxo's account of the adventure of Hotherus (_Hist_., pp. 113-115,
+Mueller's ed.) shows that there was thought to be a descent to Mimer's
+land in the form of a mountain cave (_specus_), and that this descent
+was, like the one to Gudmund's domain, to be found in the uttermost
+North, where terrible cold reigns.
+
+Though a giant, Mimer is the friend of the order of the world and of the
+gods. He, like Urd, guards the sacred ash, the world-tree (Voeluspa, 28),
+which accordingly also bears his name and is called Mimer's tree
+(_Mimameidr_--Fjolsvinsm, 20; _meidr Mima_--Fjolsv., 24). The
+intercourse between the Asa-father and him has been of such a nature
+that the expression "Mimer's friend" (_Mimsvinr_--Sonatorrek, 22;
+Younger Edda, i. 238, 250, 602) could be used by the skalds as an
+epithet of Odin. Of this friendship Ynglingasaga (ch. 4) has preserved a
+record. It makes Mimer lose his life in his activity for the good of the
+gods, and makes Odin embalm his head, in order that he may always be
+able to get wise counsels from its lips. The song about Sigrdrifa (str.
+14) represents Odin as listening to the words of truth which come from
+Mimer's head. Voeluspa (str. 45) predicts that Odin, when Ragnarok
+approaches, shall converse with Mimer's head; and, according to
+Gylfaginning (56), he, immediately before the conflagration of the
+world, rides to Mimer's fountain to get advice from the deep thinker for
+himself and his friends. The firm friendship between Alfather and this
+strange giant of the lower world was formed in time's morning while
+Odin was still young and undeveloped (Hav., 141), and continued until
+the end of the gods and the world.
+
+Mimer is the collector of treasures. The same treasures as Gorm and his
+men found in the land which Gudmund let them visit are, according to
+mythology, in the care of Mimer. The wonderful horn (Voeluspa, 28), the
+sword of victory, and the ring (Saxo, _Hist._, 113, 114; cp. Nos. 87,
+97, 98, 101, 103).
+
+In all these points the Gudmund of the middle-age sagas and Mimer of the
+mythology are identical. There still remains an important point. In
+Gudmund's domain there is a splendid grove, an enclosed place, from
+which weaknesses, age, and death are banished--a Paradise of the
+peculiar kind, that it is not intended for the souls of the dead, but
+for certain _lifandi menn_, yet inaccessible to people in general. In
+the myth concerning Mimer we also find such a grove.
+
+
+                                    52.
+
+                    MIMER'S GROVE. LIF AND LEIFTHRASER.
+
+
+The grove is called after its ruler and guardian, Mimer's or
+Treasure-Mimer's grove (_Mimis holt_--Younger Edda, Upsala Codex;
+Gylfag., 58; _Hoddmimis holt_--Vafthrudnism, 45; Gylfag., 58).
+
+Gylfaginning describes the destruction of the world and its
+regeneration, and then relates how the earth, rising out of the sea, is
+furnished with human inhabitants. "During the conflagration (_i
+Surtarloga_) two persons are concealed in Treasure-Mimer's grove. Their
+names are Lif (_Lif_) and Leifthraser (_Leifthrasir_), and they feed on
+the morning dews. From them come so great an offspring that all the
+world is peopled."
+
+In support of its statement Gylfaginning quotes Vafthrudnersmal. This
+poem makes Odin and the giant Vafthrudner (_Vafthrudnir_) put questions
+to each other, and among others Odin asks this question:
+
+    Fiolth ec for,
+    fiolth ec freistathac,
+    fiolth ec um reynda regin:
+    hvat lifir manna,
+    tha er inn maera lithr
+    fimbulvetr meth firom?
+
+"Much I have travelled, much I have tried, much I have tested the
+powers. What human persons shall still live when the famous
+fimbul-winter has been in the world?"
+
+Vafthrudner answers:
+
+    Lif oc Leifthrasir,
+    enn thau leynaz muno
+    i holti Hoddmimis;
+    morgindauggvar
+    thau ser at mat hafa
+    enn thadan af aldir alaz.
+
+"Lif and Leifthraser (are still living); they are concealed in
+Hodd-Mimer's grove. They have morning dews for nourishment. Thence (from
+Hodd-Mimer's grove and this human pair) are born (new) races."
+
+Gylfaginning says that the two human beings, Lif and Leifthraser, who
+become the progenitors of the races that are to people the earth after
+Ragnarok, are concealed _during the conflagration of the world_ in
+Hodd-Mimer's grove. This is, beyond doubt, in accordance with mythic
+views. But mythologists, who have not paid sufficient attention to what
+Gylfaginning's source (Vafthrudnersmal) has to say on the subject, have
+from the above expression drawn a conclusion which implies a complete
+misunderstanding of the traditions in regard to Hodd-Mimer's grove and
+the human pair therein concealed. They have assumed that Lif and
+Leifthraser are, like all other people living at that time, inhabitants
+of the surface of the earth at the time when the conflagration of the
+world begins. They have explained Mimer's grove to mean the world-tree,
+and argued that when Surt's flames destroy all other mortals this one
+human pair have succeeded in climbing upon some particular branch of the
+world-tree, where they were protected from the destructive element.
+There they were supposed to live on morning dews until the end of
+Ragnarok, and until they could come down from their hiding-place in
+Ygdrasil upon the earth which has risen from the sea, and there become
+the progenitors of a more happy human race.
+
+According to this interpretation, Ygdrasil was a tree whose trunk and
+branches could be grasped by human hands, and one or more mornings, with
+attendant morning dews, are assumed to have come and gone, while fire
+and flames enveloped all creation, and after the sun had been swallowed
+by the wolf and the stars had fallen from the heavens (Gylfag., 55;
+Voelusp., 54)! And with this terrible catastrophe before their eyes, Lif
+and Leifthraser are supposed to sit in perfect unconcern, eating the
+morning dews!
+
+For the scientific reputation of mythical inquiry it were well if that
+sort of investigations were avoided when they are not made necessary by
+the sources themselves.
+
+If sufficient attention had been paid to the above-cited evidence
+furnished by Vafthrudnersmal in this question, the misunderstanding
+might have been avoided, and the statement of Gylfaginning would not
+have been interpreted to mean that Lif and Leifthraser inhabited Mimer's
+grove _only_ during Ragnarok. For Vafthrudnersmal plainly states that
+this human pair are in perfect security in Mimer's grove, _while a long
+and terrible winter, a fimbul-winter, visits the earth and destroys its
+inhabitants_. Not until after the end of this winter do giants and gods
+collect their forces for a decisive conflict on Vigrid's plains; and
+when this conflict is ended, then comes the conflagration of the world,
+and after it the regeneration. Anent the length of the fimbul-winter,
+Gylfaginning (ch. 55) claims that it continued for three years "without
+any intervening summer."
+
+Consequently Lif and Leifthraser must have had their secure place of
+refuge in Mimer's grove during the fimbul-winter, which precedes
+Ragnarok. And, accordingly, the idea that they were there only during
+Ragnarok, and all the strange conjectures based thereon, are unfounded.
+They continue to remain there while the winter rages, and during all the
+episodes which characterise the progress of the world towards ruin, and,
+finally, also, as Gylfaginning reports, during the conflagration and
+regeneration of the world.
+
+Thus it is explained why the myth finds it of importance to inform us
+how Lif and Leifthraser support themselves during their stay in Mimer's
+grove. It would not have occurred to the myth to present and answer this
+question had not the sojourn of the human pair in the grove continued
+for some length of time. Their food is the morning dew. The morning dew
+from Ygdrasil was, according to the mythology, a sweet and wonderful
+nourishment, and in the popular traditions of the Teutonic middle age
+the dew of the morning retained its reputation for having strange,
+nourishing qualities. According to the myth, it evaporates from the
+world-tree, which stands, ever green and blooming, over Urd's and
+Mimer's sacred fountains, and drops thence "in dales" (Voeluspa, 18, 28;
+Gylfag., 16). And as the world-tree is sprinkled and gets its
+life-giving sap from these fountains, then it follows that the liquid of
+its morning dew is substantially the same as that of the subterranean
+fountains, which contain the elixir of life, wisdom, and poesy (cp. Nos.
+72, 82, and elsewhere).
+
+_At what time_ Mimer's grove was opened as an asylum for Lif and
+Leifthraser, whether this happened during or shortly before the
+fimbul-winter, or perchance long before it, on this point there is not a
+word in the passages quoted from Vafthrudnersmal. But by the following
+investigation the problem shall be solved.
+
+The Teutonic mythology has not looked upon the regeneration of the world
+as a new creation. The life which in time's morning developed out of
+chaos is not destroyed by Surt's flames, but rescues itself, purified,
+for the coming age of the world. The world-tree survives the
+conflagration, for it defies both edge and fire (Fjolsvinnsm, 20, 21).
+The Ida-plains are not annihilated. After Ragnarok, as in the beginning
+of time, they are the scene of the assemblings of the gods (Voeluspa, 57;
+cp. 7). Vanaheim is not affected by the destruction, for Njord shall in
+_aldar rauc_ (Vafthrudnersmal, 39) return thither "to wise Vans." Odin's
+dwellings of victory remain, and are inhabited after regeneration by
+Balder and _Hoedr_ (Voeluspa, 59). The new sun is the daughter of the old
+one, and was born before Ragnarok (Vafthr., 47), which she passes
+through unscathed. The ocean does not disappear in Ragnarok, for the
+present earth sinks beneath its surface (Voeluspa, 54), and the new earth
+after regeneration rises from its deep (Voeluspa, 55). Gods survive
+(Voeluspa, 53, 56; Vafthr. 51; Gylfag., 58). Human beings survive, for
+Lif and Leifthraser are destined to become the connecting link between
+the present human race and the better race which is to spring therefrom.
+Animals and plants survive--though the animals and plants on the surface
+of the earth perish; but the earth risen from the sea was decorated with
+green, and there is not the slightest reference to a new act of creation
+to produce the green vegetation. Its cascades contain living beings, and
+over them flies the eagle in search of his prey (Voeluspa, 56; see
+further, No. 55). A work of art from antiquity is also preserved in the
+new world. The game of dice, with which the gods played in their youth
+while they were yet free from care, is found again among the flowers on
+the new earth (Voeluspa, 8, 58; see further, No. 55).
+
+If the regeneration had been conceived as a new creation, a wholly new
+beginning of life, then the human race of the new era would also have
+started from a new creation of a human pair. The myth about Lif and
+Leifthraser would then have been unnecessary and superfluous. But the
+fundamental idea is that the life of the new era is to be a continuation
+of the present life purified and developed to perfection, and from the
+standpoint of this fundamental idea Lif and Leifthraser are necessary.
+
+The idea of improvement and perfection are most clearly held forth in
+regard to both the physical and spiritual condition of the future world.
+All that is weak and evil shall be redeemed (_bauls mun allz
+batna_--Voeluspa, 59). In that perfection of nature the fields unsown by
+men shall yield their harvests. To secure the restored world against
+relapse into the faults of the former, the myth applies radical
+measures--so radical, that the Asa majesty himself, Valfather, must
+retire from the scene, in order that his son, the perfectly blameless
+Balder, may be the centre in the assembly of the chosen gods. But the
+mythology would fail in its purpose if it did not apply equally radical
+measures in the choice and care of the human beings who are to
+perpetuate our race after Ragnarok; for if the progenitors have within
+them the seed of corruption, it will be developed in their descendants.
+
+Has the mythology forgotten to meet this logical claim? The demand is no
+greater than that which is made in reference to every product of the
+fancy of whatever age. I do not mean to say that a logical claim made
+on the mythology, or that a conclusion which may logically be drawn from
+the premises of the mythology, is to be considered as evidence that the
+claim has actually been met by the mythology, and that the mythology
+itself has been developed into its logical conclusion. I simply want to
+point out what the claim is, and in the next place I desire to
+investigate whether there is evidence that the claim has been honoured.
+
+From the standpoint that there must be a logical harmony in the
+mythological system, it is necessary:
+
+1. That Lif and Leifthraser when they enter their asylum, Mimer's grove,
+are physically and spiritually uncorrupted persons.
+
+2. That during their stay in Mimer's grove they are protected against:
+
+(_a_) Spiritual degradation.
+
+(_b_) Physical degradation.
+
+(_c_) Against everything threatening their very existence.
+
+So far as the last point (2_c_) is concerned, we know already from
+Vafthrudnersmal that the place of refuge they received in the vicinity
+of those fountains, which, with never-failing veins, nourish the life of
+the world-tree, is approached neither by the frost of the fimbul-winter
+nor by the flames of Ragnarok. This claim is, therefore, met completely.
+
+In regard to the second point (2_b_), the above-cited mythic traditions
+have preserved from the days of heathendom the memory of a grove in the
+subterranean domain of Gudmund-Mimer, set aside for living men, not for
+the dead, and protected against sickness, aging, and death. Thus this
+claim is met also.
+
+As to the third point (2_a_), all we know at present is that there, in
+the lower world, is found an enclosed place, the very one which death
+cannot enter, and from which even _those_ mortals are banished by divine
+command who are admitted to the holy fountains and treasure chambers of
+the lower world, and who have been permitted to see the regions of bliss
+and places of punishment there. It would therefore appear that all
+contact between those who dwell there and those who take part in the
+events of our world is cut off. The realms of Mimer and the lower world
+have, according to the sagas--and, as we shall see later, according to
+the myths themselves--now and then been opened to bold adventurers, who
+have seen their wonders, looked at their remarkable fountains, their
+plains for the amusement of the shades of heroes, and their places of
+punishment of the wicked. But there is one place which has been
+inaccessible to them, a field proclaimed inviolable by divine command
+(Gorm's saga), a place surrounded by a wall, which can be entered only
+by such beings as can pass through the smallest crevices (Hadding's
+saga).[37] But that this difficulty of entrance also was meant to
+exclude the moral evil, by which the mankind of our age is stained, is
+not expressly stated.
+
+Thus we have yet to look and see whether the original documents from the
+heathen times contain any statements which can shed light on this
+subject. In regard to the point (1), the question it contains as to
+whether the mythology conceived Lif and Leifthraser as physically and
+morally undefiled at the time when they entered Mimer's grove, can only
+be solved if we, in the old records, can find evidence that a wise,
+foreseeing power opened Mimer's grove as asylum for them, at a time when
+mankind as a whole had not yet become the prey of physical and moral
+misery. But in that very primeval age in which the most of the events of
+mythology are supposed to have happened, creation had already become the
+victim of corruption. There was a time when the life of the gods was
+happiness and the joy of youthful activity; the condition of the world
+did not cause them anxiety, and, free from care, they amused themselves
+with the wonderful dice (Voeluspa, 7, 8). But the golden age ended in
+physical and moral catastrophies. The air was mixed with treacherous
+evil; Freyja, the goddess of fertility and modesty, was treacherously
+delivered into the hands of the frost giants; on the earth the sorceress
+Heid (_Heid_) strutted about teaching the secrets of black magic, which
+was hostile to the gods and hurtful to man. The first great war broke
+out in the world (Voeluspa, 21, 22, 26). The effects of this are felt
+down through the historical ages even to Ragnarok. The corruption of
+nature culminates in the fimbul-winter of the last days; the corruption
+of mankind has its climax in "the axe- and knife-ages." The separation
+of Lif and Leifthraser from their race and confinement in Mimer's grove
+must have occurred before the above catastrophies in time's beginning,
+if there is to be a guarantee that the human race of the new world is
+not to inherit and develop the defects and weaknesses of the present
+historical generations.
+
+[Footnote 37: _Prodcuntibus murus aditu transcensuque difficilis
+obsistebat, quem femina_ (the subterranean goddess who is Hadding's
+guide) _nequicquam transilire conata cum ne corrugati quidem exilitate
+proficeret_ (Saxo, _Hist. Dan._, i. 51).]
+
+           (_Continuation of Part IV in Volume II._)
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Teutonic Mythology,  Vol. 1 of 3, by
+Viktor Rydberg, Ph.D.
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