Jötun-heim
As we have already seen, the Northern races imagined that the giants
were the first creatures who came to life among the icebergs which
filled the vast abyss of Ginnunga-gap. These giants were from the
very beginning the opponents and rivals of the gods, and as the
latter were the personifications of all that is good and lovely,
the former were representative of all that was ugly and evil.
"He comes--he comes--the Frost Spirit comes! on the rushing
northern blast,
And the dark Norwegian pines have bowed as his fearful breath
went past.
With an unscorched wing he has hurried on, where the fires on
Hecla glow
On the darkly beautiful sky above and the ancient ice below."
J. G. Whittier.
When Ymir, the first giant, fell lifeless on the ice, slain by the
gods, his progeny were drowned in his blood. One couple only, Bergelmir
and his wife, effected their escape to Jötun-heim, where they took
up their abode and became the parents of all the giant race. In the
North the giants were called by various names, each having a particular
meaning. Jötun, for instance, meant "the great eater," for the giants
were noted for their enormous appetites as well as for their uncommon
size. They were fond of drinking as well as of eating, wherefore they
were also called Thurses, a word which some writers claim had the
same meaning as thirst; but others think they owed this name to the
high towers ("turseis") which they were supposed to have built. As the
giants were antagonistic to the gods, the latter always strove to force
them to remain in Jötun-heim, which was situated in the cold regions of
the Pole. The giants were almost invariably worsted in their encounters
with the gods, for they were heavy and slow-witted, and had nothing
but stone weapons to oppose to the Æsir's bronze. In spite of this
inequality, however, they were sometimes greatly envied by the gods,
for they were thoroughly conversant with all knowledge relating to
the past. Even Odin was envious of this attribute, and no sooner had
he secured it by a draught from Mimir's spring than he hastened to
Jötun-heim to measure himself against Vafthrudnir, the most learned
of the giant brood. But he might never have succeeded in defeating
his antagonist in this strange encounter had he not ceased inquiring
about the past and propounded a question relating to the future.
Of all the gods Thor was most feared by the Jötuns, for he was
continually waging war against the frost and mountain giants,
who would fain have bound the earth for ever in their rigid bands,
thus preventing men from tilling the soil. In fighting against them,
Thor, as we have already seen, generally had recourse to his terrible
hammer Miölnir.
Origin of the Mountains
According to German legends the uneven surface of the earth was due
to the giants, who marred its smoothness by treading upon it while
it was still soft and newly created, while streams were formed from
the copious tears shed by the giantesses upon seeing the valleys made
by their husbands' huge footprints. As such was the Teutonic belief,
the people imagined that the giants, who personified the mountains
to them, were huge uncouth creatures, who could only move about in
the darkness or fog, and were petrified as soon as the first rays of
sunlight pierced through the gloom or scattered the clouds.
This belief led them to name one of their principal mountain chains
the Riesengebirge (giant mountains). The Scandinavians also shared
this belief, and to this day the Icelanders designate their highest
mountain peaks by the name of Jokul, a modification of the word
"Jötun." In Switzerland, where the everlasting snows rest upon the
lofty mountain tops, the people still relate old stories of the time
when the giants roamed abroad; and when an avalanche came crashing
down the mountain side, they say the giants have restlessly shaken
off part of the icy burden from their brows and shoulders.
The First Gods
As the giants were also personifications of snow, ice, cold, stone, and
subterranean fire, they were said to be descended from the primitive
Fornjotnr, whom some authorities identify with Ymir. According to this
version of the myth, Fornjotnr had three sons: Hler, the sea; Kari, the
air; and Loki, fire. These three divinities, the first gods, formed the
oldest trinity, and their respective descendants were the sea giants
Mimir, Gymir, and Grendel, the storm giants Thiassi, Thrym, and Beli,
and the giants of fire and death, such as the Fenris wolf and Hel.
As all the royal dynasties claimed descent from some mythical being,
the Merovingians asserted that their first progenitor was a sea giant,
who rose out of the waves in the form of an ox, and surprised the
queen while she was walking alone on the seashore, compelling her to
become his wife. She gave birth to a son named Meroveus, the founder
of the first dynasty of Frankish kings.
Many stories have already been told about the most important
giants. They reappear in many of the later myths and fairy-tales,
and manifest, after the introduction of Christianity, a peculiar
dislike to the sound of church bells and the singing of monks and nuns.
The Giant in Love
The Scandinavians relate, in this connection, that in the days
of Olaf the Saint a giant called Senjemand, dwelt on the Island of
Senjen, and he was greatly incensed because a nun on the Island of
Grypto daily sang her morning hymn. This giant fell in love with a
beautiful maiden called Juterna-jesta, and it was long ere he could
find courage to propose to her. When at last he made his halting
request, the fair damsel scornfully rejected him, declaring that he
was far too old and ugly for her taste.
"Miserable Senjemand--ugly and grey!
Thou win the maid of Kvedfiord!
No--a churl thou art and shalt ever remain."
Ballad (Brace's tr.).
In his anger at being thus scornfully refused, the giant swore
vengeance, and soon after he shot a great flint arrow from his bow
at the maiden, who dwelt eighty miles away. Another lover, Torge,
also a giant, seeing her peril and wishing to protect her, flung
his hat at the speeding arrow. This hat was a thousand feet high
and proportionately broad and thick, nevertheless the arrow pierced
the headgear, falling short, however, of its aim. Senjemand, seeing
that he had failed, and fearing the wrath of Torge, mounted his steed
and prepared to ride off as quickly as possible; but the sun, rising
just then above the horizon, turned him into stone, together with the
arrow and Torge's hat, the huge pile being known as the Torghatten
mountain. The people still point to an obelisk which they say is the
stone arrow; to a hole in the mountain, 289 feet high and 88 feet wide,
which they say is the aperture made by the arrow in its flight through
the hat; and to the horseman on Senjen Island, apparently riding a
colossal steed and drawing the folds of his wide cavalry cloak closely
about him. As for the nun whose singing had so disturbed Senjemand, she
was petrified too, and never troubled any one with her psalmody again.
The Giant and the Church Bells
Another legend relates that one of the mountain giants, annoyed by
the ringing of church bells more than fifty miles away, once caught
up a huge rock, which he hurled at the sacred building. Fortunately
it fell short and broke in two. Ever since then, the peasants say
that the trolls come on Christmas Eve to raise the largest piece of
stone upon golden pillars, and to dance and feast beneath it. A lady,
wishing to know whether this tale were true, once sent her groom
to the place. The trolls came forward and hospitably offered him a
drink from a horn mounted in gold and ornamented with runes. Seizing
the horn, the groom flung its contents away and dashed off with it
at a mad gallop, closely pursued by the trolls, from whom he escaped
only by passing through a stubble field and over running water. Some
of their number visited the lady on the morrow to claim this horn,
and when she refused to part with it they laid a curse upon her,
declaring that her castle would be burned down every time the horn
should be removed. The prediction has thrice been fulfilled, and now
the family guard the relic with superstitious care. A similar drinking
vessel, obtained in much the same fashion by the Oldenburg family,
is exhibited in the collection of the King of Denmark.
The giants were not supposed to remain stationary, but were said to
move about in the darkness, sometimes transporting masses of earth
and sand, which they dropped here and there. The sandhills in northern
Germany and Denmark were supposed to have been thus formed.
The Giants' Ship
A North Frisian tradition relates that the giants possessed a colossal
ship, called Mannigfual, which constantly cruised about in the Atlantic
Ocean. Such was the size of this vessel that the captain was said
to patrol the deck on horseback, while the rigging was so extensive
and the masts so high that the sailors who went up as youths came
down as gray-haired men, having rested and refreshed themselves in
rooms fashioned and provisioned for that purpose in the huge blocks
and pulleys.
By some mischance it happened that the pilot once directed the immense
vessel into the North Sea, and wishing to return to the Atlantic
as soon as possible, yet not daring to turn in such a small space,
he steered into the English Channel. Imagine the dismay of all on
board when they saw the passage growing narrower and narrower the
farther they advanced. When they came to the narrowest spot, between
Calais and Dover, it seemed barely possible that the vessel, drifting
along with the current, could force its way through. The captain,
with laudable presence of mind, promptly bade his men soap the sides
of the ship, and to lay an extra-thick layer on the starboard, where
the rugged cliffs of Dover rose threateningly. These orders were no
sooner carried out than the vessel entered the narrow space, and,
thanks to the captain's precaution, it slipped safely through. The
rocks of Dover scraped off so much soap, however, that ever since
they have been particularly white, and the waves dashing against them
still have an unusually foamy appearance.
This exciting experience was not the only one through which the
Mannigfual passed, for we are told that it once, nobody knows how,
penetrated into the Baltic Sea, where, the water not being deep enough
to keep the vessel afloat, the captain ordered all the ballast to be
thrown overboard. The material thus cast on either side of the vessel
into the sea formed the two islands of Bornholm and Christiansoë.
Princess Ilse
In Thuringia and in the Black Forest the stories of the giants are
legion, and one of the favourites with the peasants is that about
Ilse, the lovely daughter of the giant of the Ilsenstein. She was so
charming that far and wide she was known as the Beautiful Princess
Ilse, and was wooed by many knights, of whom she preferred the Lord of
Westerburg. But her father did not at all approve of her consorting
with a mere mortal, and forbade her to see her lover. Princess Ilse
was wilful, however, and in spite of her sire's prohibition she
daily visited her lover. The giant, exasperated by her persistency
and disobedience, finally stretched out his huge hands and, seizing
the rocks, tore a great gap between the height where he dwelt and the
castle of Westerburg. Upon this, Princess Ilse, going to the cleft
which parted her from her lover, recklessly flung herself over the
precipice into the raging flood beneath, and was there changed into
a bewitching undine. She dwelt in the limpid waters for many a year,
appearing from time to time to exercise her fascinations upon mortals,
and even, it is said, captivating the affections of the Emperor
Henry, who paid frequent visits to her cascade. Her last appearance,
according to popular belief, was at Pentecost, a hundred years ago;
and the natives have not yet ceased to look for the beautiful princess,
who is said still to haunt the stream and to wave her white arms to
entice travellers into the cool spray of the waterfall.
"I am the Princess Ilse,
And I dwell at the Ilsenstein;
Come with me to my castle,
And bliss shall be mine and thine.
"With the cool of my glass-clear waters
Thy brow and thy locks I'll lave;
And thou'lt think of thy sorrows no longer,
For all that thou look'st so grave.
"With my white arms twined around thee,
And lapped on my breast so white,
Thou shalt lie, and dream of elf-land--
Its loves and wild delight."
Heine (Martin's tr.).
The Giantess's Plaything
The giants inhabited all the earth before it was given to mankind, and
it was only with reluctance that they made way for the human race, and
retreated into the waste and barren parts of the country, where they
brought up their families in strict seclusion. Such was the ignorance
of their offspring, that a young giantess, straying from home, once
came to an inhabited valley, where for the first time in her life she
saw a farmer ploughing on the hillside. Deeming him a pretty plaything,
she caught him up with his team, and thrusting them into her apron,
she gleefully carried them home to exhibit to her father. But the
giant immediately bade her carry peasant and horses back to the place
where she had found them, and when she had done so he sadly explained
that the creatures whom she took for mere playthings, would eventually
drive the giant folk away, and become masters of the earth.