as a vast reservoir, the mother-fountain of all the waters of the world
(_thadan eigo votn aull vega_). In the front rank are mentioned a number
of subterranean rivers which rise in Hvergelmer, and seek their courses
thence in various directions. But the waters of earth and heaven also
come from this immense fountain, and after completing their circuits they
return thither. The liquids or saps which rise in the world-tree's stem
to its branches and leaves around Herfather's hall (Valhal) return in the
form of rain to Hvergelmer (Grimnersmal, 26).
Forty rivers rising there are named. (Whether they were all found in
the original text may be a subject of doubt. Interpolators may have
added from their own knowledge.) Three of them are mentioned in other
records--namely, _Slidr_ in Völuspa, 36, _Gjöll_ in that account of
Hermod's journey to Hel's realm, which in its main outlines was rescued
by the author of Gylfaginning (Gylfag., ch. 52), and _Leiptr_ in Helge
Hund., ii. 31--and all three are referred to in such a way as to prove
that they are subterranean rivers. Slid flows to the realms of torture,
and whirls weapons in its eddies, presumably to hinder or frighten
anybody from attempting to cross. Over _Gjöll_ there is a bridge of
gold to Balder's subterranean abode. _Leiptr_ (which name means "the
shining one") has clear waters which are holy, and by which solemn
oaths are sworn, as by Styx. Of these last two rivers flowing out of
Hvergelmer it is said that they flow down to Hel (_falla til Heljar_,
str. 28). Thus these are all subterranean. The next strophe (29) adds
four rivers--_Körmt_ and _Örmt_, and the two _Kerlögar_, of which it is
said that it is over these Thor must wade every day when he has to go
to the judgment-seats of the gods near the ash Ygdrasil. For he does
not ride like the other gods when they journey down over Bifrost to the
thingstead near Urd's fountain. The horses which they use are named in
strophe 30, and are ten in number, like the asas, when we subtract Thor
who walks, and Balder and _Hödr_ who dwell in Hel. Nor must Thor on
these journeys, in case he wished to take the route by way of Bifrost,
use the thunder-chariot, for the flames issuing from it might set fire
to the Asa-bridge and make the holy waters glow (str. 29). That the
thunder-chariot also is dangerous for higher regions when it is set in
motion, thereof Thjodolf gives us a brilliant description in the poem
Haustlaung. Thor being for this reason obliged to wade across four rivers
before he gets to Urd's fountain, the beds of these rivers must have been
conceived as crossing the paths travelled by the god journeying to the
thingstead. Accordingly they must have their courses somewhere in Urd's
realm, or on the way thither, and consequently they too belong to the
lower world.
Other rivers coming from Hvergelmer are said to turn their course around
a place called _Hodd-goda_ (str. 27 _ther hverfa um Hodd-goda_). This
girdle of rivers, which the mythology unites around a single place,
seems to indicate that this is a realm from which it is important
to shut out everything that does not belong there. The name itself,
_Hodd-goda_, points in the same direction. The word _hodd_ means that
which is concealed (the treasure), and at the same time a protected
sacred place. In the German poem _Heliand_ the word _hord_, corresponding
to _hodd_, is used about the holiest of holies in the Jerusalem temple.
As we already know, there is in the lower world a place to which these
references apply, namely, the citadel guarded by Delling, the elf of
dawn, and decorated by the famous artists of the lower world--a citadel
in which the _ásmegir_ and Balder--and probably _Hodr_ too, since
he is transferred to the lower world, and with Balder is to return
thence--await the end of the historical time and the regeneration.
The word _goda_ in Hodd-goda shows that the place is possessed by, or
entrusted to, beings of divine rank.
From what has here been stated in regard to Hvergelmer it follows that
the mighty well was conceived as situated on a high water-shed, far up
in a subterranean mountain range, whence those rivers of which it is
the source flow down in different directions to different realms of
Hades. Of several of these rivers it is said that they in their upper
courses, before they reach Hel, flow in the vicinity of mankind (_gumnom
nær_--str. 28, 7), which naturally can have no other meaning than that
the high land through which they flow after leaving Hvergelmer has been
conceived as lying not very deep below the crust of Midgard (the earth).
Hvergelmer and this high land are not to be referred to that division of
the lower world which in Grimnersmal is called Hel, for not until after
the rivers have flowed through the mountain landscape, where their source
is, are they said to _falla til Heljar_.
Thus (1) there is in the lower world a mountain ridge, a high land, where
is found Hvergelmer, the source of all waters; (2) this mountain, which
we for the present may call Mount Hvergelmer, is the watershed of the
lower world, from which rivers flow in different directions; and (3) that
division of the lower world which is called Hel lies below one side of
Mount Hvergelmer, and thence receives many rivers. What that division
of the lower world which lies below the other side of Mount Hvergelmer
is called is not stated in Grimnersmal. But from Vafthrudnersmal and
Vegtamskvida we already know that Hel is bounded by Nifelhel. In
Vegtamskvida Odin rides through Nifelhel to Hel; in Vafthrudnersmal
_halir_ die from Hel to Nifelhel. Hel and Nifelhel thus appear to be each
other's opposites, and to complement each other, and combined they form
the whole lower world. Hence it follows that the land on the other side
of the Hvergelmer mountain is Nifelhel.
It also seems necessary that both these Hades realms should in the
mythology be separated from each other not only by an abstract
boundary line, but also by a natural boundary--a mountain or a body of
water--which might prohibit the crossing of the boundary by persons who
neither had a right nor were obliged to cross. The tradition on which
Saxo's account of Gorm's journey to the lower world is based makes Gorm
and his men, when from Gudmund-Mimer's realm they wish to visit the
abodes of the damned, first cross a river and then come to a boundary
which cannot be crossed, excepting by _scalæ_, steps on the mountain
wall, or ladders, above which the gates are placed, that open to a city
"resembling most a cloud of vapour" (_vaporanti maxime nubi simile_--i.
425). This is Saxo's way of translating the name Nifelhel, just as he
in the story about Hadding's journey to the lower world translated
_Glæsisvellir_ (the Glittering Fields) with _loca aprica_.
In regard to the topography and eschatology of the Teutonic lower world,
it is now of importance to find out on which opposite sides of the
Hvergelmer mountain Hel and Nifelhel were conceived to be situated.
_Nifl_, an ancient word, related to _nebula_ and _nephek_ means fog,
mist, cloud, darkness. Nifelhel means _that_ Hel which is enveloped
in fog and twilight. The name _Hel_ alone has evidently had partly a
more general application to a territory embracing the whole kingdom
of death--else it could not be used as a part of the compound word
_Nifelhel_--partly a more limited meaning, in which _Hel_, as in
Vafthrudnersmal and Vegtamskvida, forms a sharp contrast to _Nifelhel_,
and from the latter point of view it is that division of the lower world
which is not enveloped in mist and fog.
According to the cosmography of the mythology there was, before the time
when "Ymer lived," Nifelheim, a world of fog, darkness, and cold, north
of Ginungagap, and an opposite world, that of fire and heat, south of the
empty abyss. Unfortunately it is only Gylfaginning that has preserved for
our time these cosmographical outlines, but there is no suspicion that
the author of Gylfaginning invented them. The fact that his cosmographic
description also mentions the ancient cow Audhumla, which is nowhere
else named in our mythic records, but is not utterly forgotten in our
popular traditions, and which is a genuine Aryan conception, this is
the strongest argument in favour of his having had genuine authorities
for his theo-cosmogony at hand, though he used them in an arbitrary
manner. The Teutons may also be said to have been compelled to construct
a cosmogony in harmony with their conception of that world with which
they were best acquainted, their own home between the cold North and the
warmer South.
Nifelhel in the lower world has its counterpart in Nifelheim in chaos.
Gylfaginning identifies the two (ch. 6 and 34). Forspjallsljod does the
same, and locates Nifelheim far to the north in the lower world (_nordr
at Nifelheim_--str. 26), behind Ygdrasil's farthest root, under which
the poem makes the goddess of night, after completing her journey around
the heavens, rest for a new journey. When Night has completed such a
journey and come to the lower world, she goes northward in the direction
towards Nifelheim, to remain in her hall, until Dag with his chariot gets
down to the western horizon and in his turn rides through the "horse
doors" of Hades into the lower world.
From this it follows that Nifelhel is to be referred to the north of
the mountain Hvergelmer, Hel to the south of it. Thus this mountain is
the wall separating Hel from Nifelhel. On that mountain in the gate,
or gates, which in the Gorm story separates Gudmund-Mimer's abode from
those dwellings which resemble a "cloud of vapour," and up there is the
death boundary, at which "halir" die for the second time, when they are
transferred from Hel to Nifelhel.
The immense water-reservoir on the brow of the mountain, which stands
under Ygdrasil's northern root, sends, as already stated, rivers down to
both sides--to Nifelhel in the North and to Hel in the South. Of the most
of these rivers we now know only the names. But those of which we do know
more are characterised in such a manner that we find that it is a sacred
land to which those flowing to the South towards Hel hasten their course,
and that it is an unholy land which is sought by those which send their
streams to the north down into Nifelhel. The rivers _Gjöll_ and _Leiptr_
fall down into Hel, and _Gjöll_ is, as already indicated, characterised
by a bridge of gold, Leiptr by a shining, clear, and most holy water.
Down there in the South are found the mystic Hodd-goda, surrounded by
other Hel-rivers; Balder's and the _ásmegir's_ citadel (perhaps identical
with Hodd-goda); Mimer's fountain, seven times overlaid with gold,
the fountain of inspiration and of the creative force, over which the
"overshadowing holy tree" spreads its branches (Völuspa), and around
whose reed-wreathed edge the seed of poetry grows (Eilif Gudrunson);
the Glittering Fields, with flowers which never fade and with harvests
which never are gathered; Urd's fountain, over which Ygdrasil stands
for ever green (Völuspa), and in whose silver-white waters swans swim;
and the sacred thingstead of the Asas, to which they daily ride down
over Bifrost. North of the mountain roars the weapon-hurling Slid, and
doubtless is the same river as that in whose "heavy streams" the souls of
nithings must wade. In the North _solú fjarri_ stands, also at Nastrands,
that hall, the walls of which are braided of serpents (Völuspa). Thus Hel
is described as an Elysium, Nifelhel with its subject regions as a realm
of unhappiness.
Yet a few words about Hvergelmer, from and to which "all waters find
their way." This statement in Grimnersmal is of course true of the
greatest of all waters, the ocean. The myth about Hvergelmer and its
subterranean connection with the ocean gave our ancestors the explanation
of ebb- and flood-tide. High up in the northern channels the bottom
of the ocean opened itself in a hollow tunnel, which led down to the
"kettle-roarer," "the one roaring in his basin" (this seems to be the
meaning of _Hvergelmir_: _hverr_ = kettle; _galm_ = Anglo-Saxon _gealm_,
a roaring). When the waters of the ocean poured through this tunnel down
into the Hades-well there was ebb-tide; when it returned water from its
superabundance there was flood-tide (see Nos. 79, 80, 81).
Adam of Bremen had heard this tunnel mentioned in connection with the
story about the Frisian noblemen who went by sea to the furthest north,
came to the land of subterranean giants, and plundered their treasures
(see No. 48). On the way up some of the ships of the Frisians got into
the eddy caused by the tunnel, and were sucked with terrible violence
down into the lower world.[8]
Charlemagne's contemporary, Paul Varnefrid (Diaconus), relates in his
history of the Longobardians that he had talked with men who had been in
Scandinavia. Among remarkable reports which they gave him of the regions
of the far north was also that of a maelstrom, which swallows ships, and
sometimes even casts them up again (see Nos. 15, 79, 80, 81).
Between the death-kingdom and the ocean there was, therefore, one
connecting link, perhaps several. Most of the people who drowned did not
remain with _Ran_. Ægir's wife received them hospitably, according to
the Icelandic sagas of the middle age. She had a hall in the bottom of
the sea, where they were welcomed and offered _sess ok rekkju_ (seat and
bed). Her realm was only an ante-chamber to the realms of death (Kormak,
Sonatorrek).
The demon Nidhog, which by Gylfaginning is thrown into Hvergelmer is,
according to the ancient records, a winged dragon flying about, one of
several similar monsters which have their abode in Nifelhel and those
lower regions, and which seek to injure that root of the world-tree
which is nearest to them, that is the northern one, which stands over
Nifelhel and stretches its rootlets southward over Mount Hvergelmer and
down into its great water-reservoir (Grimnersmal, 34, 35). Like all the
Aryan mythologies, the Teutonic also knew this sort of monsters, and did
so long before the word "dragon" (_drake_) was borrowed from southern
kinsmen as a name for them. Nidhog abides now on Nastrands, where, by
the side of a wolf-demon, it tortures _náir_ (corpses), now on the Nida
Mountains, whence the vala in Völuspa sees him flying away with _náir_
under his wings. Nowhere (except in Gylfaginning) is it said that he
lives in the well Hvergelmer, though it is possible that he, in spite of
his wings, was conceived as an amphibious being which also could subsist
in the water. Tradition tells of dragons who dwell in marshes and swamps.
The other two subterranean fountains, Urd's and Mimer's, and the roots
of Ygdrasil standing over them, are well protected against the influence
of the foes of creation, and have their separate guardians. Mimer, with
his sons and the beings subject to him, protects and guards his root of
the tree, Urd and her sisters hers, and to the latter all the victorious
gods of Asgard come every day to hold counsel. Was the northern root of
Ygdrasil, which spreads over the realms of the frost-giants, of the
demons, and of the damned, and was Hvergelmer, which waters this root and
received so important a position in the economy of the world-tree, left
in the mythology without protection and without a guardian? Hvergelmer
we know is situated on the watershed, where we have the death-borders
between Hel and Nifelhel fortified with abysses and gates, and is
consequently situated in the immediate vicinity of beings hostile to
gods and men. Here, if anywhere, there was need of valiant and vigilant
watchers. Ygdrasil needs its northern root as well as the others, and if
Hvergelmer was not allowed undisturbed to conduct the circuitous flow of
all waters, the world would be either dried up or drowned.
Already, long before the creation of the world, there flowed from
Hvergelmer that broad river called _Elivágar_, which in its extreme north
froze into that ice, which, when it melted, formed out of its dropping
venom the primeval giant Ymer (Vafthr., 31; Gylfag., 5). After creation
this river like Hvergelmer, whence it rises and Nifelhel, into which
it empties, become integral parts of the northern regions of the lower
world. _Elivágar_, also called _Hraunn Hrönn_, sends in its upper course,
where it runs near the crust of the earth, a portion of its waters up to
it, and forms between Midgard and the upper Jotunheim proper, the river
Vimur, which is also called _Elivágar_ and _Hraunn_, like the parent
stream (cp. Hymerskv., 5, 38; Grimnersm., 28; Skaldskaparm., ch. 3, 16,
18, 19, and Helg. Hj., 25). Elivágar separates the realm of the giants
and frost-giants from the other "worlds."
South of Elivágar the gods have an "outgard," a "sæther" which is
inhabited by valiant watchers--_snotrir vikingar_ they are called in
Thorsdrapa, 8--who are bound by oaths to serve the gods. Their chief is
Egil, the most famous archer in the mythology (Thorsdrapa, 1, 8; cp.
Hymerskv., 7, 38; Skaldskap., ch. 16). As such he is also called Orvandel
(the one busy with the arrow). This Egil is the guardian entrusted with
the care of Hvergelmer and Elivágar. Perhaps it is for this reason that
he has a brother and fellow-warrior who is called Ide (_Idi_ from _ida_,
a fountain with eddying waters). The "sæter" is called "Ides sæter"
(Thorsdrapa, 1). The services which he as watcher on Mt. Hvergelmer
and on the Elivágar renders to the regions of bliss in the lower world
are so great that, although he does not belong to the race of the gods
by birth or by adoption, he still enjoys among the inhabitants of Hel
so great honour and gratitude that they confer divine honours on him.
He is "the one worshipped in Hel who scatters the clouds which rise
storm-threatening over the mountain of the lower world," _helblotinn
hneitr undir-fjálfrs bliku_ (Thorsdr., 19). The storm-clouds which Are,
_Hræsvelgr_, and other storm-demons of Nifelheim send to the elysian
fields of the death-kingdom, must, in order to get there, surmount Mt.
Hvergelmer, but there they are scattered by the faithful watchman. Now in
company with Thor, and now alone, Egil-Orvandel has made many remarkable
journeys to Jotunheim. Next after Thor, he was the most formidable foe
of the giants, and in connection with Heimdal he zealously watched their
every movement. The myth in regard to him is fully discussed in the
treatise on the Ivalde-sons which forms a part of this work, and there
the proofs will be presented for the identity of Orvandel and Egil. I
simply desire to point out here, in order to present complete evidence
later, that Ygdrasil's northern root and the corresponding part of the
lower world also had their defenders and watchmen, and I also wished to
call attention to the manner in which the name _Hel_ is employed in the
word _Helblótinn_. We find it to be in harmony with the use of the same
word in those passages of the poetic Edda which we have hitherto examined.
[8] "Et ecce instabilis Oceani Euripus, ad initia quædam fontis sui
arcana recurrens, infelices nautas jam desperatos, immo de morte sola
cogitantes, vehementissimo impetu traxit ad Chaos. Hanc dicunt esse
voraginem abyssi, illud profundum, in quo fama est omnes maris recursus,
qui decrescere videntur, absorberi et denuo removi, quod fluctuatio dici
solet" (_De situ Daniæ_, ed. Mad., p. 159).
60.
THE WORD HEL IN SKIRNERSMAL. DESCRIPTION OF NIFELHEL. THE
MYTHIC MEANING OF NÁR, NÁIR. THE HADES-DIVISION OF THE
FROST-GIANTS AND SPIRITS OF DISEASE.
In Skirnersmal (strophe 21) occurs the expression _horfa ok snugga Heljar
til_. It is of importance to our theme to investigate and explain the
connection in which it is found.
The poem tells that Frey sat alone, silent and longing, ever since he had
seen the giant Gymer's wonderfully beautiful daughter Gerd. He wasted
with love for her; but he said nothing, since he was convinced in advance
that neither Asas nor Elves would ever consent to a union between him
and her. But when the friend of his youth, who resided in Asgard, and
in the poem is called Skirner, succeeded in getting him to confess the
cause of his longing, it was, in Asgard, found necessary to do something
to relieve it, and so Skirner was sent to the home of the giant to ask
for the hand of Gerd on Frey's behalf. As bridal gifts he took with him
eleven golden apples and the ring _Draupnir_. He received one of the best
horses of Asgard to ride, and for his defence Frey's magnificent sword,
"which fights of itself against the race of giants." In the poem this
sword receives the epithets _Tams-vöndr_ (str. 26) and _Gambanteinn_
(str. 32). _Tams-vöndr_, means the "staff that subdues;" _Gambanteinn_
means the "rod of revenge" (see Nos. 105, 116). Both epithets are
formed in accordance with the common poetic usage of describing swords
by compound words of which the latter part is _vöndr_ or _teinn_. We
find, as names for swords, _benvondr_, _blodvondr_, _hjaltvondr_,
_hridvondr_, _hvitvondr_, _mordvondr_, _sarvondr_, _benteinn_,
_eggteinn_, _hævateinn_, _hjorteinn_, _hræteinn_, _sarteinn_, _valteinn_,
_mistelteinn_.
Skirner rides over damp fells and the fields of giants, leaps, after
a quarrel with the watchman of Gymer's citadel, over the fence, comes
in to Gerd, is welcomed with ancient mead, and presents his errand of
courtship, supported by the eleven golden apples. Gerd refuses both the
apples and the object of the errand. Skirner then offers her the most
precious treasure, the ring _Draupnir_, but in vain. Then he resorts to
threats. He exhibits the sword so dangerous to her kinsmen; with it he
will cut off her head if she refuses her consent. Gerd answers that she
is not to be frightened, and that she has a father who is not afraid to
fight. Once more Skirner shows her the sword, which also may fell her
father (_ser thu thenna mæki, mey_, &c.), and he threatens to strike her
with the "subduing staff," so that her heart shall soften, but too late
for her happiness, for a blow from the staff will remove her thither,
where sons of men never more shall see her.
Tamsvendi ec thic drep,
enn ec thic temia mun,
mer! at minom munom;
thar skaltu ganga
er thic gumna synir
sithan eva se (str. 26).
This is the former threat of death repeated in another form. The former
did not frighten her. But that which now overwhelms her with dismay is
the description Skirner gives her of the lot that awaits her in the
realm of death, whither she is destined--she, the giant maid, if she
dies by the avenging wrath of the gods (_gamban-reidi_). She shall then
come to that region which is situated below the Na-gates (_fyr nágrindr
nethan_--str. 35), and which is inhabited by frost-giants who, as we
shall find, do not deserve the name _mannasynir_, even though the word
_menn_ be taken in its most common sense, and made to embrace giants of
the masculine kind.
This phrase _fyr nágrindr nethan_ must have been a stereotyped
eschatological term applied to a particular division, a particular realm
in the lower world. In Lokasenna (str. 63), Thor says to Loke, after
the latter has emptied his phials of rash insults upon the gods, that
if he does not hold his tongue the hammer Mjolner shall send him to Hel
_fyr nágrindr nethan_. Hel is here used in its widest sense, and this
is limited by the addition of the words "below the Na-gates," so as to
refer to a particular division of the lower world. As we find by the
application of the phrase to Loke, this division is of such a character
that it is intended to receive the foes of the Asas and the insulters of
the gods.
The word _Nagrind_, which is always used in the plural, and accordingly
refers to more than one gate of the kind, has as its first part _nár_
(pl. _náir_), which means corpse, dead body. Thus Na-gates means
Corpse-gates.