mill has its origin in the myth concerning the greater mill. The stooping
position of the starry heavens and the sloping path of the stars in
relation to the horizontal line was a problem which in its way the
mythology wanted to solve. The phenomenon was put in connection with
the mythic traditions in regard to the terrible winter which visited
the earth after the gods and the sons of Alvalde (Ivalde) had become
enemies. Fenja and Menja were kinswomen of Alvalde's sons. For they were
brothers (half-brothers) of those mountain giants who were Fenja's and
Menja's fathers (the Grotte-song). Before the feud broke out between
their kin and the gods, both the giant-maids had worked in the service
of the latter and for the good of the world, grinding the blessings of
the golden age on the world-mill. Their activity in connection with
the great mechanism, mondul, which they pushed, amid the singing of
bliss-bringing songs of sorcery, was a counterpart of the activity of
the sons of Alvalde, who made for the gods the treasures of vegetation.
When the conflict broke out the giant-maids joined the cause of their
kinsmen. They gave the world-mill so rapid a motion that the foundations
of the earth trembled, pieces of the mill-stones were broken loose and
thrown up into space, and the sub-structure of the mill was damaged.
This could not happen without harm to the starry canopy of heaven which
rested thereon. The memory of this mythic event comes to the surface in
Rimbegla, which states that toward the close of King Frode's reign there
arose a terrible disorder in nature--a storm with mighty thundering
passed over the country, the earth quaked and cast up large stones. In
the Grotte-song the same event is mentioned as a "game" played by Fenja
and Menja, in which they cast up from the deep upon the earth those
stones which afterwards became the mill-stones in the Grotte-mill. After
that "game" the giant-maids betook themselves to the earth and took part
in the first world-war on the side hostile to Odin (see No. 39). It is
worthy of notice that the mythology has connected the fimbul-winter and
the great emigrations from the North with an earthquake and a damage to
the world-mill which makes the starry heavens revolve.
82.
THE WORLD-MILL (_continued_). THE ORIGIN OF THE SACRED FIRE
THROUGH MUNDILFORE. HEIMDAL THE PERSONIFICATION OF THE SACRED
FIRE. HIS IDENTITY WITH RIGVEDA'S AGNI. HIS ANTITHESIS, LOKE,
ALSO A FIRE-BEING.
Among the tasks to be performed by the world-mill there is yet another
of the greatest importance. According to a belief which originated in
ancient Aryan times, a fire is to be judged as to purity and holiness by
its origin. There are different kinds of fire more or less pure and holy,
and a fire which is holy as to its origin may become corrupted by contact
with improper elements. The purest fire, that which was originally
kindled by the gods and was afterwards given to man as an invaluable
blessing, as a bond of union between the higher world and mankind, was
a fire which was produced by rubbing two objects together (friction).
In hundreds of passages this is corroborated in Rigveda, and the belief
still exists among the common people of various Teutonic peoples. The
great mill which revolves the starry heavens was also the mighty rubbing
machine (friction machine) from which the sacred fire naturally ought to
proceed, and really was regarded as having proceeded, as shall be shown
below.
The word _möndull_, with which the handle of the mill is designated, is
found among our ancient Aryan ancestors. It can be traced back to the
ancient Teutonic _manthula_, a swing-tree (Fick, _Wörterb d. ind.-germ.
Spr._, iii. 232), related to Sanscr. _Manthati_, to swing, twist, bore,
from the root _manth_, which occurs in numerous passages in Rigveda, and
in its direct application always refers to the production of fire by
friction (Bergaigne, _Rel. ved._, iii. 7).
In Rigveda, the sacred fire is personified by the "pure," "upright,"
"benevolent" god _Agni_, whose very name, related to the Latin _ignis_,
designates the god of fire. According to Rigveda, there was a time when
Agni lived concealed from both gods and men, as the element of light
and warmth found in all beings and things. Then there was a time when
he dwelt in person among the gods, but not yet among men; and, finally,
there was a time when _Mâtaricvan_, a sacred being and Agni's father in a
literal or symbolic sense, brought it about that Agni came to our fathers
(Rigv., i. 60, 1). The generation of men then living was the race of
Bhriguians, so-called after an ancient patriarch Bhrigu. This Bhrigu, and
with him Manu (Manus), was the first person who, in his sacrifices to the
gods, used the fire obtained through Agni (Rigv., i. 31, 17, and other
passages).
When, at the instigation of Mâtaricvan, Agni arrived among mankind, he
came from a far-off region (Rigv., i. 128, 2). The Bhriguians who did
not yet possess the fire, but were longing for it and were seeking for
it (Rigv., x. 40, 2), found the newly-arrived Agni, "at the confluence
of the waters." In a direct sense, "the confluence of the waters" cannot
mean anything else than the ocean, into which all waters flow. Thus
Agni came from the distance across a sea to the coast of the country
where that people dwelt who were named after the patriarch Bhrigu. When
they met this messenger of the gods (Rigv., viii. 19, 21), they adopted
him and cared for him at "the place of the water" (Rigv., ii. 4, 2).
_Mâtaricvan_, by whose directions Agni, "the one born on the other side
of the atmosphere" (x. 187, 5) was brought to mankind, becomes in the
classical Sanscrit language a designation for the wind. Thus everything
tends to show that Agni has traversed a wide ocean, and has been brought
by the wind when he arrives at the coast where the Bhriguians dwell. He
is very young, and hence bears the epithet _yavishtha_.
We are now to see why the gods sent him to men, and what he does among
them. He remains among those who care for him, and dwells among them "an
immortal among mortals" (Rigv., viii. 60, 11; iii. 5, 3), a guest among
men, a companion of mortals (iv. 1, 9). He who came with the inestimable
gift of fire long remains personally among men, in order that "a wise one
among the ignorant" may educate them. He who "knows all wisdom and all
sciences" (Rigv., iii. 1, 17; x. 21, 5) "came to be asked questions" (i.
60, 20) by men; he teaches them and "they listen to him as to a father"
(i. 68, 9). He becomes their first patriarch (ii. 10, 1) and their first
priest (v. 9, 4; x. 80, 4). Before that time they had lived a nomadic
life, but he taught them to establish fixed homes around the hearths, on
which the fire he had brought now was burning (iii. 1, 17). He visited
them in these fixed dwellings (iv. 1, 19), where the Bhriguians now let
the fire blaze (x. 122, 5); he became "the husband of wives" (i. 66, 4)
and the progenitor of human descendants (i. 96, 2), through whom he is
the founder of the classes or "races" of men (vi. 48, 8). He established
order in all human affairs (iv. 1, 2), taught religion, instructed men in
praying and sacrificing (vi. 1, 1, and many other passages), initiated
them in the art of poetry and gave them inspiration (iii. 10, 5; x. 11,
6).
This is related of Agni when he came to the earth and dwelt among men. As
to his divine nature, he is the pure, white god (iv. 1, 7; iii. 7, 1),
young, strong, and shining with golden teeth (v. 2, 2), and searching
eyes (iv. 2, 12) which can see far (vii. 1, 1), penetrate the darkness
of night (i. 94, 7), and watch the acts of demons (x. 87, 12). He, the
guard of order (i. 11, 8), is always attentive (i. 31, 12), and protects
the world by day and by night from dangers (i. 98, 1). On a circular path
he observes all things (vii. 13, 3), and sees and knows them all (x.
187, 4). He perceives everything, being able to penetrate the herbs, and
diffuse himself into plants and animals (vii. 9, 3; viii. 43, 9; x. 1,
2). He hears all who pray to him, and can make himself heard as if he had
the voice of thunder, so that both the halves of the world re-echo his
voice (x. 8, 1). His horses are like himself white (vi. 6, 4). His symbol
among the animals is the bull (i. 31, 5; i. 146, 2).
In regard to Agni's birth, it is characteristic of him that he is said
to have several mothers, although their number varies according to the
point from which the process of birth is regarded. When it is only to
be a figurative expression for the origin of the friction-fire, the
singer of the hymn can say that Agni had ten mothers or two mothers. In
the case of the former, it is the ten fingers of the person producing
the friction-fire that are meant. Sometimes this is stated outright
(Rigveda, iii. 23, 3); then again the fingers are paraphrased by "the
twice five sisters dwelling together" (iv. 6, 8), "the work-master's ten
untiring maids" (i. 95, 1). In the case of the latter--that is, when two
mothers are mentioned--the two pieces of wood rubbed together are meant
(viii. 49, 15). In a more real sense he is said to have three places
of nativity: one in the atmospheric sea, one in heaven, and one in the
waters (i. 95, 3), and that his "great, wise, divine nature proceeded
from the laps of many active mothers" (i. 95, 4), such as the waters,
the stones, the trees, the herbs (ii. 1, 1). In Rigveda (x. 45, 2) nine
maternal wombs or births are indicated; his "triple powers were sown in
triplets in heaven, among us, and in the waters." In Rigveda (i. 141, 2)
three places of nativity and three births are ascribed to him, and in
such a way that he had seven mothers in his second birth. In Rigveda (x.
20, 7) he is called the son of the rock.
It scarcely needs to be pointed out that all that is here told about Agni
corresponds point by point with the Teutonic myth about Heimdal. Here,
as in many other instances, we find a similarity between the Teutonic
and the Aryan-Asiatic myths, which is surprising, when we consider that
the difference between the Rigveda and Zend languages on the one hand,
and the oldest Teutonic linguistic monuments on the other, appear in
connection with other circumstances to indicate that the old Aryan unity
of language and religion lies ages back in antiquity. Agni's birth
"beyond the atmosphere," his journey across the sea to original man in
the savage state, his vocation as the sower of the blessings of culture
among men, his appearance as the teacher of wisdom and "the sciences,"
his visit to the farms established by him, where he becomes "the husband
of wives," father of human sons, and the founder of "the races" (the
classes among the Teutons),--all this we rediscover completely in the
Heimdal myth, as if it were a copy of the Aryan-Asiatic saga concerning
the divine founder of culture; a copy fresh from the master's brush
without the effects of time, and without any retouching. The very names
of the ancient Aryan patriarchs, Bhrigu and Manu are recognisable
in the Teutonic patriarch names Berchter and Mann (Mannus-Halfdan).
In the case of Manu and Mann no explanation is necessary. Here the
identity of sound agrees with the identity of origin. The descendants
of Bhrigu and of his contemporary Bhriguians, are called Bhargavans,
which corroborates the conclusion that Bhrigu is derived from _bharg_
"to shine," whence is derived the ancient Teutonic _berhta_, "bright,"
"clear," "light," the Old Saxon _berht_, the Anglo-Saxon _beorht_, which
reoccurs in the Teutonic patriarch _Berchter_, which again is actually
(not linguistically) identical with the Norse _Borgarr_. By Bhrigu's side
stands Manu, just as Mann (Halfdan) is co-ordinate with Borgar.
Point by point the descriptions of Agni and Heimdal also correspond in
regard to their divine natures and attributes. Agni is the great holy
_white_ god; Heimdal is _mikill_ and _heilagr_, and is called _hviti
áss_ (Younger Edda) or "the whitest of the Asas" (Thrymskv., 15). While
Agni as the fire-god has golden teeth, Heimdal certainly for the same
reason bears the epithet _gullintanni_, "the one with the golden teeth."
Agni has white horses. In Ulf Uggeson's poem about the work of art in
Hjardarholt, Heimdal rides his horse _Gulltoppr_, whose name reflects its
splendour. While Agni's searching eyes can see in the distance and can
penetrate the gloom of night, it is said of Heimdal that _hann sér jafnt
nótt sem dag hundrad rasta frá sér_. While Agni perceives everything,
even the inaudible motions in the growing of herbs and animals; while
he penetrates and diffuses himself in plants and animals, it is said of
Heimdal that he _heyrir ok that, er gras vex á jordu eda ull á saudum_.
While Agni--it is not stated by what means--is able to produce a noise
like thunder which re-echoes through both the world-halves, Heimdal has
the horn, whose sound all the world shall hear, when Ragnarok is at hand.
On a "circular path," Agni observes the beings in the world. Heimdal
looks out upon the world from Bifrost. Agni keeps his eye on the deeds
of the demons, is perpetually on the look-out, and protects the world by
day and by night from dangers; Heimdal is the watchman of the gods _vördr
goda_ (Grimnersmal), needs in his vocation as watchman less sleep than a
bird, and faithfully guards the Asa-bridge against the giants. Agni is
born of several mothers; Heimdal has mothers nine. Agni is "the fast
traveller," who, in the human abodes he visits, opens a way for prayer
and sacrifice (Rigv., vii. 13, 3); in Rigsmal, Heimdal has the same
epithet, "the fast traveller," _röskr Stigandi_, as he goes from house to
house and teaches men the "runes of eternity" and "the runes of time."
The only discrepancy is in the animal symbols by which Agni and Heimdal
are designated. The bull is Agni's symbol, the ram is Heimdal's. Both
symbols are chosen from the domestic animals armed with horns, and the
difference is linguistically of such a kind, that it to some extent may
be said to corroborate the evidence in regard to Agni's and Heimdal's
identity. In the old Norse poetry, _Vedr_ (wether, ram), _Heimdali_ and
the Heimdal epithet _Hallinskidi_, are synonymous. The word _vedr_,
according to Fick (Wörterb., iii. 307), can be traced to an ancient
Teutonic _vethru_, the real meaning of which is "yearling," a young
domestic animal in general, and it is related to the Latin _vitulus_ and
the Sanscrit _vatsala_, "calf." If this is correct, then we also see
the lines along which one originally common symbol of a domestic animal
developed into two and among the Rigveda Aryans settled on the "yearling"
of the cow, and among the Teutons on that of the sheep. It should here be
remarked that according to Ammianus Marcellinus (xix. 1) the tiara of the
Persian kings was ornamented with a golden ram's-head. That Agni's span
of horses were transformed into Heimdal's riding horse was also a result
of time and circumstances. In Rigveda, riding and cavalry are unknown;
there the horses of the gods draw the divine chariots. In the Teutonic
mythology the draught horses are changed into riding horses, and chariots
occur only exceptionally.
We have reason to be surprised at finding that the Aryan-Asiatic myths
and the Teutonic have so broad surfaces of contact, on which not only
the main outlines but even the details completely resemble each other.
But the fact is not inexplicable. The hymns, the songs of the divine
worship and of the sacrifices of the Rigveda Aryans, have been preserved,
but the epic-mythological poems are lost, so that there remains the
difficult task of reconstructing out of the former a clear and concise
mythology, freed from "dissolving views" in which their mythic characters
now blend into each other. The Teutonic mythology has had an opposite
fate: here the genuine religious songs, the hymns of divine worship and
of sacrifices, are lost, and there remain fragments of the mighty divine
epic of the Teutons. But thus we have also been robbed of the opportunity
of studying those very songs which in a higher degree than the epic are
able to preserve through countless centuries ancient mythical traits; for
the hymns belong to the divine worship, popular customs are long-lived,
and the sacred customs are more conservative and more enduring than all
others, if they are not disturbed by revolutions in the domain of faith.
If an epithet of a god, _e.g._, "the fast traveller," has once become
fixed by hymns and been repeated in the divine service year after year,
then, in spite of the gradual transformation of the languages and the
types of the race, it may be preserved through hundreds and thousands
of years. Details of this kind may in this manner survive the ravages of
time just as well as the great outlines of the mythology, and if there be
a gradual change as to signification, then this is caused by the change
of language, which may make an old expression unintelligible or give it
another meaning based on the association of ideas.
From all this I am forced to draw the conclusion that Heimdal, like
several other Teutonic gods--for example, Odin (Wodan, Rigveda's
Vata)--belongs to the ancient Aryan age, and retained, even to the
decay of the Teutonic heathendom his ancient character as the personal
representative of the sacred fire, the fire produced by friction, and, in
this connection, as the representative of the oldest culture connected
with the introduction of fire.
This also explains Heimdal's epithet _Vindler_, in Cod. Reg. of the
Younger Edda (i. 266, 608). The name is a subform of _vindill_ and comes
from _vinda_, to twist or turn, wind, to turn anything around rapidly. As
the epithet "the turner" is given to that god who brought friction-fire
(bore-fire) to man, and who is himself the personification of this fire,
then it must be synonymous with "the borer."
A synonym of Heimdal's epithet _Stigandi_, "the traveller," is _Rati_,
"the traveller," from _rata_, "to travel," "to move about." Very
strangely, this verb (originally _vrata_, Goth. _vrâton_, to travel,
make a journey) can be traced to an ancient Teutonic word which meant to
turn or twist, or something of the sort (Fick, _Wörterb._, iii. 294).
And, so far as the noun _Rati_ is concerned, this signification has
continued to flourish in the domain of mythology after it long seems to
have been extinct in the domain of language. Havamál (106), Grimnersmal
(32), and Bragarædur testify each in its own way that the mythical name
_Rati_ was connected with a boring activity. In Havamál "Rate's mouth"
gnaws the tunnel through which Odin, in the guise of an eagle, flies away
with the mead-treasure concealed in the "deep dales" at Fjalar's under
the roots of the world-tree. In the allegorical Grimnersmal strophe it
is "Rate's tooth" (_Ratatoskr_) who lets the mead-drinking foe of the
gods near the root of the world-tree find out what the eagle in the top
of the world-tree (Odin) resolves and carries out in regard to the same
treasure. In Bragarædur the name is given to the gimlet itself which
produced the connection between Odin's world and Fjalar's halls. The
gimlet has here received the name of the boring "traveller," of him
who is furnished with "golden teeth." Hence there are good reasons for
assuming that in the epic of the myth it was Heimdal-Gullintanne himself
whose fire-gimlet helped Odin to fly away with his precious booty. In
Rigveda Agni plays the same part. The "tongue of Agni" has the same task
there as "Rate's mouth" in our Norse records. The sacred mead of the
liquids of nourishment was concealed in the womb of the mountain with
the Dasyus, hostile to the world; but Agni split the mountain open with
his tongue, his ray of light penetrated into the darkness where the
liquids of nourishment were preserved, and through him they were brought
to the light of day, after Trita (in some passages of Rigveda identical
with Vata) had slain a giant monster and found the "cows of the son of
the work-master" (cp. Rigveda, v. 14, 4; viii. 61, 4-8; x. 8, 6-9).
"The cows of the son of the work-master" is a paraphrase for the saps
of nourishment. In the Teutonic mythology there is also "a son of the
work-master," who is robbed of the mead. Fjalar is a son of Surt, whose
character as an ancient artist is evident from what is stated in Nos. 53
and 89.
By friction Mataricvan brought Agni out of the maternal wombs in which
he was concealed as an embryo of light and warmth. Heimdal was born to
life in a similar manner. His very place of nativity indicates this.
His mothers have their abodes _vid jardar thraum_ (Hyndl., 35) near the
edge of the earth, on the outer rim of the earth, and that is where
they gave him life (_báru thann man vid jardar thraum_). His mothers
are giantesses (_iotna meyjar_), and nine in number. We have already
found giantesses, nine in number, mentioned as having their activity on
the outer edge of the earth--namely, those who with the _möndull_, the
handle, turn the vast friction-mechanism, the world-mill of Mundilfore.
They are the _níu brúdir of Eyludr_, "the Isle-grinder" mentioned by
Snæbjorn (see above). These nine giant-maids, who along the outer zone of
the earth (_fyrir jordar skauti_) push the mill's sweep before themselves
and grind the coasts of the islands, are the same nine giant-maids who
on the outer zone of the earth gave birth to Heimdal, the god of the
friction-fire. Hence one of Heimdal's mothers is in Hyndluljod called
_Angeyja_, "she who makes the islands closer," and another one is called
_Eyrgjafa_, "she who gives sandbanks." _Mundilföri_, who is the father
of Sol and Mane, and has the care of the motions of the starry heavens
is accordingly also, though in another sense, the father of Heimdal
the pure, holy fire to whom the glittering objects in the skies must
naturally be regarded as akin.
In Hyndluljod (37) Heimdal's nine giant-mothers are named: _Gjálp_,
_Greip_, _Eistla_, _Eyrgjafa_, _Ulfrun_, _Angeyja_, _Imdr_, _Atla_,
_Járnsaxa_. The first two are daughters of the fire-giant Geirrod
(Younger Edda, i. 288). To fire refers also _Imdr_, from _ím, embers_.
Two of the names, _Angeyja_ and _Eyrgjafa_, as already shown, indicate
the occupation of these giantesses in connection with the world-mill.
This is presumably also the case with _Járnsaxa_, "she who crushes the
iron." The iron which our heathen fathers worked was produced from
the sea- and swamp-iron mixed with sand and clay, and could therefore
properly be regarded as a grist of the world-mill.
Heimdal's antithesis in all respects, and therefore also his constant
opponent in the mythological epic, is Loke, he too a fire-being, but
representing another side of this element. Natural agents such as fire,
water, wind, cold, heat, and thunder have in the Teutonic mythology
a double aspect. When they work in harmony, each within the limits
which are fixed by the welfare of the world and the happiness of man,
then they are sacred forces and are represented by the gods. But when
these limits are transgressed, giants are at work, and the turbulent
elements are represented by beings of giant-race. This is also true
of thunder, although it is the common view among mythologists that it
was regarded exclusively as a product of Thor's activity. The genuine
mythical conception was, however, that the thunder which purifies the
atmosphere and fertilises the thirsty earth with showers of rain, or
strikes down the foes of Midgard, came from Thor; while that which
splinters the sacred trees, sets fire to the woods and houses, and kills
men that have not offended the gods, came from the foes of the world. The
blaze-element (see No. 35) was not only in the possession of the gods,
but also in that of the giants (Skirnersmal), and the lightning did not
proceed alone from Mjolner, but was also found in Hrungner's _hein_ and
in Geirrod's glowing javelin. The conflicts between Thor and the giants
were not only on _terra firma_, as when Thor made an expedition on foot
to Jotunheim, but also in the air. There were giant-horses that were able
to wade with force and speed through the atmosphere, as, for instance,
Hrungner's _Gullfaxi_ (Younger Edda, i. 270), and these giant-horses
with their shining manes, doubtless, were expected to carry their riders
to the lightning-conflict in space against the lightning-hurler, Thor.
The thunder-storm was frequently a _vig thrimu_, a conflict between
thundering beings, in which the lightnings hurled by the ward of Midgard,
the son of Hlodyn, crossed the lightnings hurled by the foes of Midgard.