The norns or destinies have been previously explained (see p. 190);
Nanna will be discussed in connection with Balder, and Freyja, the
goddess of love, in connection with Njord and Frey; but there are
besides these a few other goddesses, who demand our attention here.
Gefjun is a maid, and all those who die maids become her hand-maidens.
Of her there is the following anecdote in the Younger Edda. King Gylfe
ruled over the land which is now called Sweden. It is related of him
that he once gave a wayfaring woman, as a recompense for her having
diverted him, as much land in his realm as she could plow with four oxen
in a day and a night.[44] This woman was however of the race of the
asas, and was called Gefjun. She took four oxen from the North, out of
Jotunheim, (but they were the sons she had had with a giant,) and set
them before a plow. Now the plow made such deep furrows that it tore up
the land, which the oxen drew westward out to the sea until they came to
a sound. There Gefjun fixed the land and called it Zealand. And the
place where the land had stood became water, and formed a lake which is
now called Logrinn (the sea) in Sweden, and the inlets of this lake
correspond exactly with the headlands of Zealand in Denmark. Thus saith
the Skald, Brage:
Gefjun drew from Gylfe,
Rich in stored up treasure,
The land she joined to Denmark.
Four heads and eight eyes bearing,
While hot sweat trickled down them,
The oxen dragged the reft mass
That formed this winsome island.
The etymology of Gefjun is uncertain. Some explain it as being a
combination of the Greek γῆ, and Norse _fjón_, separation (_terræ
separatio_). Grimm compares it with the Old Saxon _geban_, Anglo-Saxon,
_geofon_, _gifan_, the ocean. Grundtvig derives it from Anglo-Saxon
_gefean_, gladness. He says it is the same word as Funen (_Fyn_), and
that the meaning of the myth is that Funen and Jutland with united
strength tore Zealand from Sweden. This would then be a historical
interpretation.
The derivation from _gefa_, to give, has also been suggested, and there
is no doubt that the plowing Gefjun is the goddess of agriculture. She
unites herself with the giants (the barren and unfruitful fields or
deserts) and subdues them, thus preparing the land for cultivation. In
this sense she is Frigg’s maid-servant. Gefjun, the plowed land,
develops into Frigg, the fruit-bearing earth; hence she is a maid, not a
woman. The maid _is not_, but _shall become_ fruitful.
Eir is the goddess of the healing art, and this is about all that we
know of her; but that is a great deal. A healer for our frail body and
for the sick mind! what a beneficent divinity!