discovery in the lower world, he saw a vast ox-horn (_ingens bubali
cornu_) there. It lay near the gold-clad mead-cisterns, the fountains
of the lower world. Its purpose of being filled with their liquids is
sufficiently clear from its location. We are also told that it was carved
with figures (_nec cælaturæ artificio vacuum_), like the subterranean
horn in Gudrunarkvida. One of Gorm's men is anxious to secure the
treasure. Then the horn lengthens into a dragon who kills the would-be
robber (_cornu in draconem extractum sui spiritum latoris eripuit._)
Like Slidrugtanne and other subterranean treasures, the serpent or
dragon on the drinking-horn of the lower world is endowed with life when
necessary, or the horn itself acquires life in the form of a dragon, and
punishes with death him who has no right to touch it. The horn itself is
accordingly a _Fánn_, an artificial serpent or dragon, and its contents
is _Fánn's hrosti_ (_Fánn's_ brewing).
The Icelandic middle-age sagas have handed down the memory of an
aurocks-horn (_úrarhorn_), which was found in the lower world, and was
there used to drink from (Fornald., iii. 616).
Thus it follows that the _hilmir Fán's hrosta_, "the lord of Fan's
brewing," mentioned by Egil, is the master of the Hades-horn, he who
determines to whom it is to be handed, in order that they may imbibe
vigour and forgetfulness of sorrow from "Urd's strength, cool sea,
and Son's liquid." And thus the meaning of the strophe here discussed
(Sonatorrek, 18) is made perfectly clear. Egil's deceased sons have drunk
from this horn, and thus they have been initiated as dwellers for ever in
the lower world. Hence the skald can say that _Hilmir Fán's hrosta_ was
inexorably firm against him, their father, who desired to keep his sons
with him.[15]
From Völuspa (str. 28, 29), and from Gylfaginning (ch. 15), it appears
that the mythology knew of a drinking-horn which belonged at the same
time, so to speak, both to Asgard and to the lower world. Odin is
its possessor, Mimer its keeper. A compact is made between the Asas
dwelling in heaven and the powers dwelling in the lower world, and a
security (_ved_) is given for the keeping of the agreement. On the part
of the Asas and their clan patriarch Odin, the security given is a
drinking-horn. From this "Valfather's pledge" Mimer every morning drinks
mead from his fountain of wisdom (Völuspa, 29), and from the same horn
he waters the root of the world-tree (Völuspa, 28). As Müllenhoff has
already pointed out (_D. Alterth._, v. 100 ff.), this drinking-horn is
not to be confounded with Heimdal's war-trumpet, the Gjallarhorn, though
Gylfaginning is also guilty of this mistake.
Thus the drinking-horn given to Mimer by Valfather represents a treaty
between the powers of heaven and of the lower world. Can it be any other
than the Hades-horn, which, at the thingstead near Urd's fountain, is
employed in the service both of the Asa-gods and of the lower world? The
Asas determine the happiness or unhappiness of the dead, and consequently
decide what persons are to taste the strength-giving mead of the horn.
But the horn has its place in the lower world, is kept there--there
performs a task of the greatest importance, and gets its liquid from the
fountains of the lower world.
What Mimer gave Odin in exchange is that drink of wisdom, without which
he would not have been able to act as judge in matters concerning
eternity, but after receiving the which he was able to find and proclaim
the right decisions (_ord_) (_ord mér af ordi ordz leitadi_--Hav., 141).
Both the things exchanged are, therefore, used at the Thing near Urd's
fountain. The treaty concerned the lower world, and secured to the Asas
the power necessary, in connection with their control of mankind and with
their claim to be worshipped, to dispense happiness and unhappiness in
accordance with the laws of religion and morality. Without this power the
Asas would have been of but little significance. Urd and Mimer would have
been supreme.
With the _dyrar veigar_ (precious liquids), of which the dead Helge
speaks, we must compare the _skirar veigar_ (clear liquids), which,
according to Vegtamskvida, awaited the dead Balder in the lower world.
After tasting of it, the god who had descended to Hades regained his
broken strength, and the earth again grew green (see No. 53).
In _dyrar veigar_, _skirar veigar_, the plural form must not be passed
over without notice. The contents of one and the same drink are referred
to by the plural _veigar_--
Her stendr Balldri Here stands for Balder
of brugginn miœdr mead brewed
skirar veigar clear "veigar" (Vegt., 7)--
which can only be explained as referring to a drink prepared by a mixing
of several liquids, each one of which is a _veig_. Originally _veigar_
seems always to have designated a drink of the dead, allaying their
sorrows and giving them new life. In Hyndluljod (50) _dyrar veigar_ has
the meaning of a potion of bliss which Ottar, beloved by Freyja, is
to drink. In strophe 48, Freyja threatens the sorceress Hyndla with a
fire, which is to take her hence for ever. In strophe 49, Hyndla answers
the threat with a similar and worse one. She says she already sees the
conflagration of the world; there shall nearly all beings "suffer the
loss of life" (_verda flestir fjörlausn thola_), Freyja and her Ottar of
course included, and their final destiny, according to Hyndla's wish, is
indicated by Freyja's handing Ottar a pain-foreboding, venomous drink.
Hyndla invokes on Freyja and Ottar the flames of Ragnarok and damnation.
Freyja answers by including Ottar in the protection of the gods, and
foretelling that he is to drink _dyrar veigar_.
Besides in these passages _veigar_ occurs in a strophe composed by Ref
Gestson, quoted in Skaldskaparmal, ch. 2. Only half of the strophe is
quoted, so that it is impossible to determine definitely the meaning of
the _veigar_ referred to by the skald. We only see that they are given by
Odin, and that "we" must be grateful to him for them. The half strophe
is possibly a part of a death-song which Ref Gestson is known to have
composed on his foster-father, Gissur.
_Veig_ in the singular means not only drink, but also power, strength.
Perhaps Bugge is right in claiming that this was the original meaning
of the word. The plural _veigar_ accordingly means strengths. That this
expression "strengths" should come to designate in a rational manner a
special drink must be explained by the fact that "the strengths" was the
current expression for the liquids of which the invigorating mythical
drink was composed. The three fountains of the lower world are the
strength-givers of the universe, and as we have already seen, it is the
liquids of these wells that are mixed into the wonderful brewing in the
subterranean horn.
When Eilif Gudrunson, the skald converted to Christianity, makes Christ,
who gives the water of eternal life, sit near Urd's fountain, then
this is a Christianised heathen idea, and refers to the power of this
fountain's water to give, through the judge of the world, to the pious a
less troublesome life than that on earth. The water which gives warmth
to the world-tree and heals its wounds is to be found in the immediate
vicinity of the thingstead, and has also served to strengthen and heal
the souls of the dead.
To judge from Hyndluljod (49), those doomed to unhappiness must also
partake of some drink. It is "much mixed with venom" (_eitri blandinn
miok_), and _forebodes_ them evil (_illu heilli_). They must, therefore,
be compelled to drink it _before_ they enter the world of misery,
and accordingly, no doubt, while they sit _á nornastoli_ on the very
thingstead. The Icelandic sagas of the middle ages know the venom drink
as a potion of misery.
It appears that this potion of unhappiness did not loosen the speechless
tongues of the damned. _Eitr_ means the lowest degree of cold and poison
at the same time, and would not, therefore, be serviceable for that
purpose, since the tongues were made speechless with cold. In Saxo's
descriptions of the regions of misery in the lower world, it is only the
torturing demons that speak. The dead are speechless, and suffer their
agonies without uttering a sound; but, when the spirits of torture so
desire, and force and egg them on they can produce a howl (_mugitus_.)
There broods a sort of muteness over the forecourt of the domain of
torture, the Nifelheim inhabited by the frost-giants, according to
Skirnersmal's description thereof (see No. 60.) Skirner threatens Gerd
that she, among her kindred there, shall be more widely hated than
Heimdal himself; but the manner in which they express this hate is with
staring eyes, not with words (_a thic Hrimnir hari, a thic hotvetna
stari_--str. 28).
[15] The interpretation of the passage, which has hitherto prevailed,
begins with a text emendation. _Fánn_ is changed to Finn. Finn is the
name of a dwarf. _Finns hrosti_ is "the dwarf's drink," and "the dwarf's
drink" is, on the authority of the Younger Edda, synonymous with poetry.
The possessor of _Finns hrosti_ is Odin, the lord of poetry. With text
emendations of this sort (they are numerous, are based on false notions
in regard to the adaptability of the Icelandic Christian poetics to
the heathen poetry and usually quote Gylfaginning as authority) we can
produce anything we like from the statements of the ancient records.
Odin's character as the Lord of poetry has not the faintest idea in
common with the contents of the strophe. His character as judge at the
court near Urd's fountain, and as the one who, as the judge of the dead,
has authority over the liquor in the subterranean horn, is on the other
hand closely connected with the contents of the strophe, and is alone
able to make it consistent and intelligible. Further on in the poem, Egil
speaks of Odin as the lord of poetry. Odin, he says, has not only been
severe against him (in the capacity of _hilmir Fáns hrosta_), but he has
also been kind in bestowing the gift of poetry, and therewith consolation
in sorrow (_bölva bætr_). The paraphrase here used by Egil for Odin's
name is _Mims vinr_ (Mimer's friend). From Mimer Odin received the drink
of inspiration, and thus the paraphrase is in harmony with the sense.
As _hilmir Fáns hrosta_ Odin has wounded Egil's heart; as _Mims vinr_
(Mimer's friend) he has given him balsam for the wounds inflicted. This
two-sided conception of Odin's relation to the poet permeates the whole
poem.
74.
AFTER THE JUDGMENT. THE LOT OF THE BLESSED.
When a deceased who has received a good _ords tirr_ leaves the Thing, he
is awaited in a home which his hamingje has arranged for her favourite
somewhere in "the green worlds of the gods." But what he first has to do
is to _leita kynnis_, that is, visit kinsmen and friends who have gone
before him to their final destination (Sonatorr., 17). Here he finds not
only those with whom he became personally acquainted on earth, but he
may also visit and converse with ancestors from the beginning of time,
and he may hear the history of his race, nay, the history of all past
generations, told by persons who were eye-witnesses. The ways he travels
are _munvegar_ (Sonatorr., 10), paths of pleasure, where the wonderful
regions of Urd's and Mimer's realms lie open before his eyes.
Those who have died in their tender years are received by a being
friendly to children, which Egil Skallagrimson (Sonatorrek, 20) calls
_Gauta spjalli_. The expression means "the one with whom Odin counsels,"
"Odin's friend." As the same poem (str. 22) calls Odin Mimer's friend,
and as in the next place _Gauta spjalli_ is characterised as a ruler
in _Godheim_ (compare _grænar heimar goda_--Hakonarmal, 12), he must
either be Mimer, who is Odin's friend and adviser from his youth until
his death, or he must be Honer, who also is styled Odin's friend, his
_sessi_ and _máli_. That Mimer was regarded as the friend of dead
children corresponds with his vocation as the keeper in his grove of
immortality _Mimisholt_, of the Asa-children, the _ásmegir_, who are to
be the mankind of the regenerated world. But Honer too has an important
calling in regard to children (see No. 95), and it must therefore be left
undecided which one of the two is here meant.
Egil is convinced that his drowned son Bodvar found a harbour in the
subterranean regions of bliss.[16] The land to which Bodvar comes is
called by Egil "the home of the bee-ship" (_býskips bær_.) The poetical
figure is taken from the experience of seamen, that birds who have grown
tired on their way across the sea alight on ships to recuperate their
strength. In Egil's paraphrase the bee corresponds to the bird, and the
honey-blossom where the bee alights corresponds to the ship. The fields
of bliss are the haven of the ship laden with honey. The figure may be
criticised on the point of poetic logic, but is of a charming kind on the
lips of the hardy old viking, and it is at the same time very appropriate
in regard to a characteristic quality ascribed to the fields of bliss.
For they are the proper home of the honey-dew which falls early in the
morning from the world-tree into the dales near Urd's fountain (Völuspa).
Lif and Leifthraser live through ages on this dew (see Nos. 52, 53), and
doubtless this same Teutonic ambrosia is the food of the happy dead. The
dales of the earth also unquestionably get their share of the honey-dew,
which was regarded as the fertilising and nourishing element of the
ground. But the earth gets her share directly from Rimfaxe, the steed
of the Hades-goddess Nat. This steed, satiated with the grass of the
subterranean meadows, produces with his mouth a froth which is honey-dew,
and from his bridle the dew drops "in the dales" in the morning (Vafthr.,
14). The same is true of the horses of the valkyries coming from the
lower world. From their manes, when they shake them, falls dew "in deep
dales," and thence come harvests among the peoples (Helge Hjorv., 28.)
[16] Likewise the warlike skald Kormak is certain that he would have come
to Valhal in case he had been drowned under circumstances described in
his saga, a work which is, however, very unreliable.
75.
AFTER THE JUDGMENT (_continued_). THE FATE OF THE DAMNED. THEIR
PATH. ARRIVAL AT THE NA-GATES.
When the na-dictum (the judgment of those who have committed sins unto
death) has been proclaimed, they must take their departure for their
terrible destination. They cannot take flight. The locks and fetters of
the norns (_Urdar lokur, Heljar reip_) hold them prisoners, and amid the
tears of their former hamingjes (_nornir gráta nái_) they are driven
along their path by _heiptir_, armed with rods of thorns, who without
mercy beat their lazy heels. The technical term for these instruments of
torture is _limar_, which seems to have become a word for eschatological
punishment in general. In Sigrdrifumal (23) it is said that horrible
_limar_ shall fall heavy on those who have broken oaths and promises,
or betrayed confidence. In Sigurd Fafnesb. (ii. 3) it is stated that
everyone who has lied about another shall long be tortured with _limar_.
Both the expressions _troll brutu hrís i hæla theim_ and _troll visi ydr
til búrs_ have their root in the recollection of the myth concerning
the march of the damned under the rod of the Eumenides to Nifelhel (see
further on this point Nos. 91 and 123).
Their way from Urd's well goes to the north (see No. 63) through Mimer's
domain. It is ordained that before their arrival at the home of torture
they are to see the regions of bliss. Thus they know what they have
forfeited. Then their course is past Mimer's fountain, the splendid
dwellings of Balder and the _ásmegir_, the golden hall of Sindre's race
(see Nos. 93, 94), and to those regions where mother Nat rests in a
hall built on the southern spur of the Nida mountains (Forspjallsljod).
The procession proceeds up this mountain region through valleys and
gorges in which the rivers flowing from Hvergelmer find their way to the
south. The damned leave Hvergelmer in their rear and cross the border
rivers _Hraunn_ (the subterranean Elivagar rivers, see No. 59), on the
other side of which rise Nifelhel's black, perpendicular mountain-walls
(Saxo, _Hist., Dan._; see No. 46). Ladders or stairways lead across
giddying precipices to the Na-gates. Howls and barking from the monstrous
Nifelheim dogs watching the gates (see Nos. 46, 58) announce the
arrival of the damned. Then hasten, in compact winged flocks, monsters,
Nifelheim's birds of prey, Nidhog, Are, _Hræsvelger_, and their like to
the south, and alight on the rocks around the Na-gates (see below). When
the latter are opened on creaking hinges, the damned have died their
second death. To that event, which is called "the second death," and to
what this consists of, I shall return below (see No. 95).
Those who have thus marched to a terrible fate are sinners of various
classes. Below Nifelheim there are nine regions of punishment. That these
correspond to nine kinds of unpardonable sins is in itself probable, and
is to some extent confirmed by Solarljod, if this poem, standing almost
on the border-line between heathendom and Christianity, may be taken as
a witness. Solarljod enumerates nine or ten kinds of punishments for as
many different kinds of sins. From the purely heathen records we know
that enemies of the gods (Loke), perjurers, murderers, adulterers (see
Völuspa), those who have violated faith and the laws, and those who have
lied about others, are doomed to Nifelhel for ever, or at least for a
very long time (_oflengi_--Sig. Fafn., ii. 3). Of the unmerciful we
know that they have already suffered great agony on their way to Urd's
fountain. Both in reference to them and to others, it doubtless depended
on the investigation at the Thing whether they could be ransomed or not.
The sacredness of the bond of kinship was strongly emphasised in
the eschatological conceptions. _Niflgódr_, "good for the realm of
damnation," is he who slays kinsmen and sells the dead body of his
brother for rings (Sonatorrek, 15); but he who in all respects has
conducted himself in a blameless manner toward his kinsmen and is slow
to take revenge if they have wronged him, shall reap advantage therefrom
after death (Sigrdr., 22).
When the damned come within the Na-gates, the winged demons rush at
the victims designated for them, press them under their wings, and fly
with them through Nifelheim's foggy space to the departments of torture
appointed for them. The seeress in Völuspa (str. 62) sees Nidhog,
loaded with _náir_ under his wings, soar away from the Nida mountains.
Whither he was accustomed to fly with them appears from strophe 38,
where he in Nastrands is sucking his prey. When King Gorm, beyond the
above-mentioned boundary river, and by the Nida mountains' ladders, had
reached the Na-gates opened for him, he sees dismal monsters (_larvæ
atræ_; cp. Völuspa's _in dimmi dreki_) in dense crowds, and hears the air
filled with their horrible screeches (cp. Völuspa's _Ari hlaccar, slitr
nai neffaulr_, 47). When Solarljod's skald enters the realm of torture
he sees "scorched" birds which are not birds but souls (_sálir_), flying
"numerous as gnats."
76.
THE PLACES OF PUNISHMENT.
The regions over which the flocks of demons fly are the same as those
which the author of Skirnersmal has in view when Skirner threatens
Gerd with sending her to the realms of death. It is the home of the
frost-giants, of the subterranean giants, and of the spirits of disease.
Here live the offspring of Ymer's feet, the primeval giants strangely
born and strangely bearing, who are waiting for the quaking of Ygdrasil
and for the liberation of their chained leader, in order that they may
take revenge on the gods in Ragnarok, and who in the meantime contrive
futile plans of attack on Hvergelmer's fountain or on the north end of
the Bifrost bridge. Here the demons of restless uneasiness, of mental
agony, of convulsive weeping, and of insanity (Othale, Morn, Ope, and
Tope) have their home; and here dwells also their queen, Loke's daughter,
Leikin, whose threshold is precipice and whose bed is disease. According
to the authority used by Saxo in the description of Gorm's journey,
the country is thickly populated. Saxo calls it _urbs, oppidum_ (cp.
Skirnismal's words about the giant-homes, among which Gerd is to drag
herself hopeless from house to house). The ground is a marsh with putrid
water (_putidum cœnum_), which diffuses a horrible stench. The river Slid
flowing north out of Hvergelmer there seeks its way in a muddy stream to
the abyss which leads down to the nine places of punishment. Over all
hovers Nifelheim's dismal sky.
The mortals who, like Gorm and his men, have been permitted to see these
regions, and who have conceived the idea of descending into those worlds
which lie below Nifelheim, or the most of them, are vast mountain caves,
abyss in question and have cast a glance down into it. The place is
narrow, but there is enough daylight for its bottom to be seen, and the
sight thereof is terrible. Still, there must have been a path down to
it, for when Gorm and his men had recovered from the first impression,
they continued their journey to their destination (Geirrod's place of
punishment), although the most terrible vapour (_teterrimus vapor_) blew
into their faces. The rest that Saxo relates is unfortunately wanting
both in sufficient clearness and in completeness. Without the risk of
making a mistake, we may, however, consider it as mythically correct that
some of the nine worlds of punishment below Nifelheim, or the most of
them, are vast mountain caves, mutually united by openings broken through
the mountain walls and closed with gates, which do not however, obstruct
the course of Slid to the Nastrands and to the sea outside. Saxo speaks
of a _perfractam scopuli partem_, "a pierced part of the mountain,"
through which travellers come from one of the subterranean caves to
another, and between the caves stand gatekeepers (_janitores_). Thus
there must be gates. At least two of these "homes" have been named after
the most notorious sinner found within them. Saxo speaks of one called
the giant Geirrod's, and an Icelandic document of one called the giant
_Geitir's_. The technical term for such a cave of torture was _guyskuti_
(clamour-grotto). Saxo translates _skúti_ with _conclave saxeum_. "To
thrust anyone before Geitir's clamour-grotto"--_reka einn fyrir Geitis
guyskuta_--was a phrase synonymous with damning a person to death and
hell.