giant of this kind, of a giant representing the hurricane and thunder.
The rain-torrents and waterspouts of the hurricane, which directly or
indirectly became wedded to the sea through the swollen streams, gave
birth to Helblinde, who, accordingly, received _Rán_ as his "maid"
(Yngl., 51). The whirlwind in the hurricane received as his ward
_Byleistr_, whose name is composed of _bylr_, "whirlwind," and _eistr_,
"the one dwelling in the east" (the north), a paraphrase for "giant." A
thunderbolt from the hurricane gave birth to Loke. His father is called
_Fárbauti_, "the one inflicting harm," and his mother is _Laufey_, "the
leaf-isle," a paraphrase for the tree-crown (Younger Edda, 104, 268).
Thus Loke is the son of the burning and destructive lightning, the son
of him who particularly inflicts damaging blows on the sacred oaks (see
No. 36) and sets fire to the groves. But the violence of the father
does not appear externally in the son's character. He long prepares the
conflagration of the world in secret, and not until he is put in chains
does he exhibit, by the earthquakes he produces, the wild passion of
his giant nature. As a fire-being, he was conceived as handsome and
youthful. From an ethical point of view, the impurity of the flame which
he represents is manifested by his unrestrained sensuousness. After
he had been for ever exiled from the society of the gods and had been
fettered in his cave of torture, his exterior, which was in the beginning
beautiful, became transformed into an expression of his intrinsic
wickedness, and his hair grew out in the form of horny spears (see
above). In this too he reveals himself as a counterpart of Heimdal, whose
helmet is ornamented with a glittering ram's horn.
83.
MUNDILFORE'S IDENTITY WITH LODUR.
The position which we have found Mundilfore to occupy indicates that,
although not belonging to the powers dwelling in Asgard, he is one of
the chief gods of the Teutonic mythology. All natural phenomena, which
appear to depend on a fixed mechanical law and not on the initiative of
any mighty will momentarily influencing the events of the world, seem to
have been referred to his care. The mythology of the Teutons, like that
of the Rigveda-Aryans, has had gods of both kinds--gods who particularly
represent that order in the physical and moral world which became fixed
in creation, and which, under normal conditions, remain entirely uniform,
and gods who particularly represent the powerful temporary interference
for the purpose of restoring this order when it has been disturbed, and
for the purpose of giving protection and defence to their worshippers in
times of trouble and danger. The latter are in their very nature war-gods
always ready for battle, such as Vita and Indra in Rigveda, Odin and
Thor-Indride in the Eddas; and they have their proper abode in a group
of fortified celestial citadels like Asgard, whence they have their
out-look upon the world they have to protect--the atmosphere and Midgard.
The former, on the other hand, have their natural abode in Jormungrund's
outer zone and in the lower world, whence the world-tree grew, and where
the fountains are found whose liquids penetrate creation, and where that
wisdom had its source of which Odin only, by self-sacrifice, secured
a part. Down there dwell, accordingly, Urd and Mimer, Nat and Dag,
Mundilfore with the dises of the sun and the moon, Delling, the genius of
the glow of dawn, and Billing, the genius of the blushing sunset. There
dwell the smiths of antiquity who made the chariots of the sun and moon
and smithied the treasures of vegetation. There dwell the _nidjar_ who
represent the moon's waxing and waning; there the seven sons of Mimer
who represent the changing seasons (see No. 87). Mundilfore is the lord
of the regular revolutions of the starry firmament, and of the regular
rising and sinking of the sea in its ebb and flood. He is the father
of the dises of the sun and moon, who make their celestial journeys
according to established laws; and, finally, he is the origin of the holy
fire; he is father of Heimdal, who introduced among men a systematic
life in homes fixed and governed by laws. As the father of Heimdal, the
Vana-god, Mundilfore is himself a Vana-god, belonging to the oldest
branch of this race, and in all probability one of those "wise rulers"
who, according to Vafthrudnersmal, "created Njord in Vanaheim and sent
him as a hostage to the gods (the Asas)."
Whence came the clans of the Vans and the Elves? It should not have
escaped the notice of the mythologists that the Teutonic theogony, as
far as it is known, mentions only two progenitors of the mythological
races--_Ymer_ and _Bure_. From Ymer develop the two very different
races of giants, the offspring of his arms and that of his feet (see
No. 86)--in other words, the noble race to which the norns Mimer and
Beistla belong, and the ignoble, which begins with Thrudgelmer. _Bure_
gives birth to _Burr_ (Bor), and the latter has three sons--_Odinn_,
_Vei (Vé)_, and _Vili (Vilir)_. Unless Bure had more sons, the Van- and
Elf-clans have no other theogonic source than the same as the Asa-clan,
namely, _Burr_. That the hierologists of the Teutonic mythology did not
leave the origin of these clans unexplained we are assured by the very
existence of a Teutonic theogony, together with the circumstance that
the more thoroughly our mythology is studied the more clearly we see
that this mythology has desired to answer every question which could
reasonably be asked of it, and in the course of ages it developed into
a systematic and epic whole with clear outlines sharply drawn in all
details. To this must be added the important observation that _Vei_ and
_Vili_, though brothers of Odin, are never counted among the Asas proper,
and had no abode in Asgard. It is manifest that Odin himself with his
sons founds the Asa-race, that, in other words, he is a clan-founder
in which this race has its chieftain, and that his brothers, for this
very reason, could not be included in his clan. There is every reason to
assume that they, like him, were clan-founders; and as we find besides
the Asa-clan two other races of gods, this of itself makes it probable
that Odin's two brothers were their progenitors and clan-chieftains.
Odin's brothers, like himself, had many names. When Völuspa says that
Odin, in the creation of man, was assisted by Honer and Loder, and when
the Younger Edda (i. 52) says that, on this occasion, he was attended
by his brothers, who just before (i. 46) are called Ve and Vile, then
these are only different names of the same powers. Honer and Loder are Ve
and Vile. It is a mistake to believe that Odin's brothers were mythical
ghosts without characteristic qualities, and without prominent parts
in the mythological events after the creation of the world and of man,
in which we know they took an active part (Völuspa, 4, 16, 17). The
assumption that this was the case depends simply upon the fact that they
have not been found mentioned among the Asas, and that our records, when
not investigated with proper thoroughness, and when the mythological
synonymics have not been carefully examined, seem to have so little to
say concerning them.
Danish genealogies, Saxo's included, which desire to go further back in
the genealogy of the Skjoldungs than to Skjold, the eponym of the race,
mention before him a King Lotherus. There is no doubt that Lotherus,
like his descendants, Skjold, Halfdan, and Hadding, is taken from the
mythology. But in our mythic records there is only one name of which
Lotherus can be a Latinised form, and this name is, as Müller (_Notæ
ulterior ad Saxonis Hist._) has already pointed out, _Lodurr_.
It has above been demonstrated (see Nos. 20, 21, 22) that the
anthropomorphous Vana-god Heimdal was by Vana-gods sent as a child to the
primeval Teutonic country, to give to the descendants of Ask and Embla
the holy fire, tools, and implements, the runes, the laws of society,
and the rules for religious worship. It has been demonstrated that,
as an anthropomorphous god and first patriarch, he is identical with
Scef-Rig, the Scyld of the Beowulf poem, that he becomes the father of
the other original patriarch Skjold, and the grandfather of Halfdan. It
has likewise been demonstrated (No. 82) that Heimdal, the personified
sacred fire, is the son of the fire-producer (by friction) Mundilfore,
in the same manner as Agni is the son of Matariçvan. From all this it
follows that when the authors of mythic genealogies related as history
wish to get further back in the Skjoldung genealogy than to the Beowulf
Skjold, that is to say, further back than to the original patriarch
Heimdal, then they must go to that mythic person who is Heimdal's father,
that is to say, to Mundilfore, the fire-producer. Mundilfore is the one
who appears in the Latinised name Lotherus. In other words, Mundilfore,
the fire-producer, is _Lodurr_. For the name _Lodurr_ there is no other
rational explanation than that which Jacob Grimm, without knowing his
position in the epic of mythology, has given, comparing the name with the
verb lodern, "to blaze." _Lodurr_ is active in its signification, "he who
causes or produces the blaze," and thus refers to the origin of fire,
particularly of the friction-fire and of the bore-fire.
Further on (Nos. 90, 91, 92, 121, 123) I shall give an account of the
ward of the atmosphere, _Gevarr (Nökkvi, Næfr)_, and demonstrate that
he is identical with Mundilfore, the revolver of the starry firmament.
All that Saxo tells about Lotherus is explained by the character of
the latter as the chieftain of a Vana-clan, and by his identity with
_Mundilföri-Gevarr_. As a chieftain of the Vans he was their leader
when the war broke out between the Asas on the one side, and the Vans
and Elves on the other. The banishment of Odin and the Asas by the Vans
causes Saxo to say that Lotherus banished from the realm persons who were
his equals in noble birth (_nobilitate pares_), and whom he regarded
as competitors in regard to the government. It is also stated that he
took the power from an elder brother, but spared his life, although he
robbed him of the sceptre. The brother here referred to is not, however,
Odin, but _Hænir (Vei)_. The character of the one deposed is gentle and
without any greed for rule like that by which Honer is known. Saxo says
of him that he so patiently bore the injustice done him that he seemed to
be pleased therewith as with a kindness received (_ceterum injuriæ tam
patiens fuit, ut honoris damno tanquam beneficio gratulari crederetur_).
The reason why Honer, at the outbreak of the war with the Asas, is
deposed from his dignity as the ruler of Vanaheim and is succeeded by
Loder, is explained by the fact that he, like Mimer, remained devoted to
the cause of Odin. In spite of the confused manner in which the troubles
between the Asas and Vans are presented in Heimskringla, it still appears
that, before the war between the Asas and Vans, Honer was the chief of
the latter on account of an old agreement between the two god-clans;
that he then always submitted to the counsels of the wise Mimer, Odin's
friend; that Mimer lost his life in the service of Odin, and that the
Vans sent his head to Odin; and, finally, that, at the outbreak of
the feud with the Asas and after the death of Mimer, they looked upon
Honer as unqualified to be their judge and leader. Thus Loder becomes
after Honer the ruler of Vanaheim and the chieftain of the Vans, while
the Vans Njord, Frey, and the Elf Ull, who had already been adopted
in Asgard, administer the affairs of the rest of the world. To the
mythical circumstance, that Honer lost his throne and his power points
also Völuspa, the poem restoring to the gentle and patient Vana-god,
after the regeneration, the rights of which he had been robbed, _thá kná
Hænir hlautvid kjosa_ (str. 60). "Then Honer becomes able to choose the
lot-wood," that is to say, he is permitted to determine and indicate
the fortunes of those consulting the oracle; in other words, then he is
again able to exercise the rights of a god. In the Eddas, Honer appears
as Odin's companion on excursions from Asgard. Skaldskaparmal, which does
not seem to be aware that Honer was Odin's brother, still is conscious
that he was intimately connected with him and calls him his _sessi_,
_sinni_, and _máli_ (Younger Edda, i. 266). During the war between Asas
and Vans, Frigg espoused the cause of the Vans (see No. 36); hence Loke's
insulting words to her (Lokasenna, 26), and the tradition in Heimskringla
(Yngl., 3), that Vilir and Vei took Frigg to themselves once when Odin
was far away from Asgard.
Saxo makes Lotherus fall at the hands of conspirators. The explanation of
this statement is to be sought in _Mundilföri-Gevarr's_ fate, of which,
see Nos. 91, 123.
Mundilfore's character seems at least in one respect to be the opposite
of Honer's. Gylfaginning speaks of his _ofdrambi_, his pride, founded,
according to this record, on the beauty of his children. Saxo mentions
the _insolentia_ of Lotherus, and one of his surnames was _Dulsi_, the
proud. See No. 89, where a strophe is quoted, in which the founder of
the Swedish Skilfing race (the Ynglings) is called _Dulsa knor_, Dulse's
descendant. As was shown above in the account of the myth about Scef, the
Skjoldungs, too, are Skilfings. Both these branches of the race have a
common origin; and as the genealogy of the Skjoldungs can be traced back
to Heimdal, and beyond him to Mundilfore, it must be this personality who
is mentioned for his _ofdrambi_, that bears the surname _Dulsi_.
With Odin, _Vei-Höner_ and _Vili-Lodurr-Mundilföri_ have participated
in the shaping of the world as well as in the creation of man. Of the
part they took in the latter act, and of the importance they thereby
acquired in the mythical anthropology, and especially in the conceptions
concerning the continued creation of man by generation and birth, see No.
95.
84.
NAT, THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
It has already been shown above that Nat, the mother of the gods, has her
hall in the northern part of Mimer's realm, below the southern slopes of
the Nida mountains.
There has been, and still is, an interpretation of the myths as symbols.
Light is regarded as the symbol of moral goodness, and darkness as that
of moral evil. That there is something psychologically correct in this
cannot be denied; but in regard to the Aryan religions the assumption
would lead to a great error, if, as we might be tempted to do, we should
make night identical with darkness, and should refer her to the world
of evil. In the mythologies of the Rigveda-Aryans and of the Teutons,
Nat is an awe-inspiring, adorable, noble, and beneficent being. Night is
said in Rigveda "to have a fair face, to increase riches, and to be one
of the mothers of order." None of the phenomena of nature seemed to the
Teutons evil _per se_; only when they transgressed what was thought to be
their lawful limits, and thus produced injury and harm, were giant-powers
believed to be active therein. Although the Teutonic gods are in a
constant, more or less violent conflict with the powers of frost, still
winter, when it observes its limits of time, is not an evil but a good
divinity, and the cold liquids of Hvergelmer mixed with those of Urd's
and Mimer's fountains are necessary to the world-tree. Still less could
night be referred to the domain of demons. Mother Nat never transgresses
the borders of her power; she never defies the sacred laws, which are
established for the order of the universe. According to the seasons
of the year, she divides in an unvarying manner the twenty-four hours
between herself and day. Work and rest must alternate with each other.
Rich in blessing, night comes with solace to the weary, and seeks if
possible to sooth the sufferer with a potion of slumber. Though sombre in
appearance (Gylfy., 10), still she is the friend of light. She decorates
herself with lunar effulgence and with starry splendour, with winning
twilight in midsummer, and with the light of snow and of northern aurora
in the winter. The following lines in Sigrdrifumal (str., 3, 4) sound
like a reverberation from the lost liturgic hymns of our heathendom.
Heill Dagr, Hail Dag,
heilir Dags synir, Hail Dag's sons,
heil Nott ok Nipt! Hail Nat and Nipt!
Oreithom augom Look down upon us
litith ocr thinig With benevolent eyes
oc gefit sitiondom règr! And give victory to the sitting!
Heilir æsir, Hail Asas,
heilar asynjor, Hail Asynjes,
heil sia in fiolnyta fold! Hail bounteous earth!
Of the Germans in the first century after Christ, Tacitus writes
(_Germ._, 3): "They do not, as we, compute time by days but by nights,
night seems to lead the day" (_nec dierum numerum, ut nos, sed noctium
computant: nox ducere diem videtur_). This was applicable to the
Scandinavians as far down as a thousand years later. Time was computed
by nights not by days, and in the phrases from heathen times, _nótt ok
dagr_, _nótt med degi bædi um nætr ok um daga_, night is named before
day. Linguistic usage and mythology are here intimately associated with
each other. According to Vafthrudnersmal (25) and Gylfaginning (10), Nat
bore with Delling the son Dag, with whom she divided the administration
of the twenty-four hours. Delling is the elf of the morning red (see No.
35). The symbolism of nature is here distinct as in all theogonies.
Through other divinities, _Naglfari_ and _Ónarr_ (_Anarr_, _Aunarr_), Nat
is the mother with the former of _Unnr (Udr)_, also called _Audr_, with
the latter of the goddess Jord, Odin's wife. _Unnr_ means water, _Audr_
means rich. It has above been shown that _Unnr-Audr_ is identical with
Njord, the lord of wealth and commerce, who in the latter capacity became
the protector of navigators, and to whom sacrifices were offered for a
prosperous voyage. Gods of all clans--Asas, Vans, and Elves--are thus
akin to Nat, and are descended from her.
85.
NARFI, NAT'S FATHER, IDENTICAL WITH MIMER. A PSEUDO-NARFI IN
THE YOUNGER EDDA.
Nat herself is the daughter of a being whose name has many forms.
_Naurr_, _Nörr_ (dative _Naurvi_, _Nörvi_, _Nott var Naurvi
borin_--Vafthrudnersmal, 25; _Nott_, _Naurvi
kenda_--Alvism., 29).
_Narfi_, _Narvi_ (_niderfi Narfa_--Egil Skallagr., 56, 2;
Gylfag., 10).
_Norvi_, _Nörvi_ (Gylfag., 10; _kund Nörva_--Forspjallsl., 7).
_Njörfi_, _Njörvi_ (Gylfag., 10; _Njörva nipt_--Sonatorr.).
_Nori_ (Gylfag., 10).
_Nari_ (Höfudl., 10).
_Neri_ (Helge Hund., 1).
All these variations are derived from the same original appellation,
related to the Old Norse verb _njörva_, the Old English _nearwian_
meaning "the one that binds," "the one who puts on tight-fitting bonds."
Simply the circumstance that Narve is Nat's father proves that he must
have occupied one of the most conspicuous positions in the Teutonic
cosmogony. In all cosmogonies and theogonies night is one of the oldest
beings, older than light, without which it cannot be conceived. Light
is kindled in the darkness, thus foreboding an important epoch in the
development of the world out of chaos. The being which is night's
father must therefore be counted among the oldest in the cosmogony. The
personified representatives of water and earth, like the day, are the
children of his daughter.
What Gylfaginning tells of Narve is that he was of giant birth, and the
first one who inhabited Jotunheim (_Norvi eda Narfi hét jötun, er bygdi
fyrst Jotunheima_--Gylfag., 10). In regard to this we must remember that,
in Gylfaginning and in the traditions of the Icelandic sagas, the lower
world is embraced in the term Jotunheim, and this for mythical reasons,
since Nifelheim is inhabited by rimthurses and giants (see No. 60), and
since the regions of bliss are governed by Mimer and by the norns, who
also are of giant descent. As the father of the lower-world dis, Nat,
Narve himself belongs to that group of powers, with which the mythology
peopled the lower world. The upper Jotunheim did not exist before in a
later epoch of the cosmogonic development. It was created simultaneously
with Midgard by Odin and his brothers (Gylfaginning).
In a strophe by Egil Skallagrimson (ch. 56), poetry, or the source of
poetry, is called _niderfi Narfa_, "the inheritance left by Narve to
his descendants." As is well known, Mimer's fountain is the source
of poetry. The expression indicates that the first inhabitant of the
lower world, Narve, also presided over the precious fountain of wisdom
and inspiration, and that he died and left it to his descendants as an
inheritance.
Finally, we learn that Narve was a near kinsman to Urd and her sisters.
This appears from the following passages:
(_a_) Helge Hundingsbane (1, 3, ff.). When Helge was born norns came in
the night to the abode of his parents, twisted the threads of his fate,
stretched them from east to west, and fastened them beneath the hall of
the moon. One of the threads _nipt Nera_ cast to the north and bade it
hold for ever. It is manifest that by Nere's (Narve's) kinswoman is meant
one of the norns present.
(_b_) Sonatorr. (str. 24). The skald Egil Skallagrimson, weary of life,
closes his poem by saying that he sees the dis of death standing on the
ness (Digraness) near the grave-mound which conceals the dust of his
father and of his sons, and is soon to receive him:
Tveggja bága The kinswoman of Njorve (the binder)
Njörva nipt of Odin's (Tvegge's) foes
a nesi stendr. stands on the ness.
Skal ek thó gladr Then shall I be glad,
med gódan vilja with a good will,
ok úhryggr and without remorse,
Heljar bida. wait for Hel.
It goes without saying that the skald means a dis of death, Urd or one of
her messengers, with the words, "The kinswoman of Njorve (the binder) of
Odin's foes," whom he with the eye of presentiment sees standing on the
family grave-mound on Digraness. She is not to stop there, but she is to
continue her way to his hall, to bring him to the grave-mound. He awaits
her coming with gladness, and as the last line shows, she whose arrival
he awaits is Hel, the goddess of death or fate. It has already been
demonstrated that Hel in the heathen records is always identical with Urd.
Njorve is here used both as a proper and a common noun. "The kinswoman of
the Njorve of Odin's foes" means "the kinswoman of the binder of Odin's
foes." Odin's foe Fenrer was bound with an excellent chain smithied in
the lower world (dwarfs in _Svartalfheimr_--Gylfag., 37), and as shall be
shown later, there are more than one of Odin's foes who are bound with
Narve's chains (see No. 87).
(_c_) _Hofudlausn_ (str. 10). Egil Skallagrimson celebrates in song a
victory won by Erik Blood-axe, and says of the battle-field that there
_trad nipt Nara náttverd ara_ ("Nare's kinswoman trampled upon the supper
of the eagles," that is to say, upon the dead bodies of the fallen). The
psychopomps of disease, of age, and of misfortunes have nothing to do on
a battle-field. Thither come valkyries to fetch the elect. _Nipt Nara_
must therefore be a valkyrie, whose horse tramples upon the heaps of dead
bodies; and as Egil names only one shield-maid of that kind, he doubtless
has had the most representative, the most important one in mind. That one
is Skuld, Urd's sister, and thus a _nipt Nara_ like Urd herself.
(_d_) Ynglingatal (Ynglingasaga, ch. 20). Of King Dygve, who died from
disease, it is said that _jódis Narva_ (_jódis Nara_) chose him. The
right to choose those who die from disease belongs to the norns alone
(see No. 69). _Jódis_, a word doubtless produced by a vowel change from
the Old Germanic _idis_, has already in olden times been interpreted
partly as horse-dis (from _jór_, horse), partly as the dis of one's
kin (from _jod_, child, offspring). In this case the skald has taken
advantage of both significations. He calls the death-dis _ulfs ok Narva
jódis_, the wolf's horse-dis, Narve's kin-dis. In regard to the former
signification, it should be remembered that the wolf is horse for all
giantesses, the honoured norns not excepted. Cp. _grey norna_ as a
paraphrase for wolf.
Thus what our mythic records tell us about Narve is:
(_a_) He is one of the oldest beings of theogony, older than the upper
part of the world constructed by Bur's sons.
(_b_) He is of giant descent.