A Hostage with the Gods
We have already seen how the Æsir and Vanas exchanged hostages after
the terrible war they had waged against each other, and that while
Hoenir, Odin's brother, went to live in Vana-heim, Niörd, with his
two children, Frey and Freya, definitely took up his abode in Asgard.
"In Vana-heim
Wise powers him created,
And to the gods a hostage gave."
Lay of Vafthrudnir (Thorpe's tr.).
As ruler of the winds, and of the sea near the shore, Niörd was
given the palace of Nôatûn, near the seashore, where, we are told, he
stilled the terrible tempests stirred up by Ægir, god of the deep sea.
"Niörd, the god of storms, whom fishers know;
Not born in Heaven--he was in Van-heim rear'd,
With men, but lives a hostage with the gods;
He knows each frith, and every rocky creek
Fringed with dark pines, and sands where sea-fowl scream."
Balder Dead (Matthew Arnold).
He also extended his special protection over commerce and fishing,
which two occupations could be pursued with advantage only during
the short summer months, of which he was in a measure considered
the personification.
The God of Summer
Niörd is represented in art as a very handsome god, in the prime
of life, clad in a short green tunic, with a crown of shells and
seaweed upon his head, or a brown-brimmed hat adorned with eagle or
heron plumes. As personification of the summer, he was invoked to
still the raging storms which desolated the coasts during the winter
months. He was also implored to hasten the vernal warmth and thereby
extinguish the winter fires.
As agriculture was practised only during the summer months, and
principally along the fiords or sea inlets, Niörd was also invoked
for favourable harvests, for he was said to delight in prospering
those who placed their trust in him.
Niörd's first wife, according to some authorities, was his sister
Nerthus, Mother Earth, who in Germany was identified with Frigga, as we
have seen, but in Scandinavia was considered a separate divinity. Niörd
was, however, obliged to part with her when summoned to Asgard,
where he occupied one of the twelve seats in the great council hall,
and was present at all the assemblies of the gods, withdrawing to
Nôatûn only when his services were not required by the Æsir.
"Nôatûn is the eleventh;
There Niörd has
Himself a dwelling made,
Prince of men;
Guiltless of sin,
He rules o'er the high-built fane."
Lay of Grimnir (Thorpe's tr.).
In his home by the seashore, Niörd delighted in watching the gulls
fly to and fro, and in observing the graceful movements of the swans,
his favourite birds, which were held sacred to him. He spent many an
hour, too, gazing at the gambols of the gentle seals, which came to
bask in the sunshine at his feet.
Skadi, Goddess of Winter
Shortly after Idun's return from Thrym-heim, and Thiassi's death within
the bounds of Asgard, the assembled gods were greatly surprised and
dismayed to see Skadi, the giant's daughter, appear one day in their
midst, to demand satisfaction for her father's death. Although the
daughter of an ugly old Hrim-thurs, Skadi, the goddess of winter,
was very beautiful indeed, in her silvery armour, with her glittering
spear, sharp-pointed arrows, short white hunting dress, white fur
leggings, and broad snowshoes; and the gods could not but recognise
the justice of her claim, wherefore they offered the usual fine in
atonement. Skadi, however, was so angry that she at first refused
this compromise, and sternly demanded a life for a life, until Loki,
wishing to appease her wrath, and thinking that if he could only make
her cold lips relax in a smile the rest would be easy, began to play
all manner of pranks. Fastening a goat to himself by an invisible cord,
he went through a series of antics, which were reproduced by the goat;
and the sight was so grotesque that all the gods fairly shouted with
merriment, and even Skadi was forced to smile.
Taking advantage of this softened mood, the gods pointed to the
firmament where her father's eyes glowed like radiant stars in the
northern hemisphere. They told her they had placed them there to show
him all honour, and finally added that she might select as husband
any of the gods present at the assembly, providing she were content
to judge of their attractions by their naked feet.
Blindfolded, so that she could see only the feet of the gods standing
in a circle around her, Skadi looked about her and her gaze fell upon
a pair of beautifully formed feet. She felt sure they must belong to
Balder, the god of light, whose bright face had charmed her, and she
designated their owner as her choice.
When the bandage was removed, however, she discovered to her chagrin
that she had chosen Niörd, to whom her troth was plighted; but
notwithstanding her disappointment, she spent a happy honeymoon in
Asgard, where all seemed to delight in doing her honour. After this,
Niörd took his bride home to Nôatûn, where the monotonous sound of
the waves, the shrieking of the gulls, and the cries of the seals
so disturbed Skadi's slumbers that she finally declared it was quite
impossible for her to remain there any longer, and she implored her
husband to take her back to her native Thrym-heim.
"Sleep could I not
On my sea-strand couch,
For screams of the sea fowl.
There wakes me,
When from the wave he comes,
Every morning the mew."
Norse Mythology (R. B. Anderson).
Niörd, anxious to please his new wife, consented to take her to
Thrym-heim and to dwell there with her nine nights out of every twelve,
providing she would spend the remaining three with him at Nôatûn;
but when he reached the mountain region, the soughing of the wind in
the pines, the thunder of the avalanches, the cracking of the ice,
the roar of the waterfalls, and the howling of the wolves appeared
to him as unbearable as the sound of the sea had seemed to his wife,
and he could not but rejoice each time when his period of exile was
ended, and he found himself again at Nôatûn.
"Am weary of the mountains;
Not long was I there,
Only nine nights;
The howl of the wolves
Methought sounded ill
To the song of the swans."
Norse Mythology (R. B. Anderson).
The Parting of Niörd and Skadi
For some time, Niörd and Skadi, who are the personifications of summer
and winter, alternated thus, the wife spending the three short summer
months by the sea, and he reluctantly remaining with her in Thrym-heim
during the nine long winter months. But, concluding at last that their
tastes would never agree, they decided to part for ever, and returned
to their respective homes, where each could follow the occupations
which custom had endeared to them.
"Thrym-heim it's called,
Where Thjasse dwelled,
That stream-mighty giant;
But Skade now dwells,
Pure bride of the gods,
In her father's old mansion."
Norse Mythology (R. B. Anderson).
Skadi now resumed her wonted pastime of hunting, leaving her realm
again only to marry the semi-historical Odin, to whom she bore a son
called Sæming, the first king of Norway, and the supposed founder of
the royal race which long ruled that country.
According to other accounts, however, Skadi eventually married Uller,
the winter-god. As Skadi was a skilful marksman, she is represented
with bow and arrow, and, as goddess of the chase, she is generally
accompanied by one of the wolf-like Eskimo dogs so common in the
North. Skadi was invoked by hunters and by winter travellers, whose
sleighs she would guide over the snow and ice, thus helping them to
reach their destination in safety.
Skadi's anger against the gods, who had slain her father, the storm
giant, is an emblem of the unbending rigidity of the ice-enveloped
earth, which, softened at last by the frolicsome play of Loki (the
heat lightning), smiles, and permits the embrace of Niörd (summer). His
love, however, cannot hold her for more than three months of the year
(typified in the myth by nights), as she is always secretly longing for
the wintry storms and for her wonted activities among the mountains.
The Worship of Niörd
Niörd was supposed to bless the vessels passing in and out of port,
and his temples were situated by the seashore; there oaths in his
name were commonly sworn, and his health was drunk at every banquet,
where he was invariably named with his son Frey.
As all aquatic plants were supposed to belong to him, the marine sponge
was known in the North as "Niörd's glove," a name which was retained
until lately, when the same plant has been popularly re-named the
"Virgin's hand."