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diff --git a/37876.txt b/37876.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..961bbeb --- /dev/null +++ b/37876.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10031 @@ +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. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY, VOL. 1 OF 3 *** + +***** This file should be named 37876.txt or 37876.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/8/7/37876/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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