already suggested by the third, namely, that Svipdag's adventurous
journeys are to be crowned with a visit in the lower world. He is to
meet Nat _á Niflvegi_, "on the Nifel-way," "in Nifel-land." The word
_nifl_ does not occur in the Old Norse literature except in reference to
the northern part of the Teutonic Hades, the forecourt to the worlds of
torture there. _Niflhel_ and _Niflheim_ are, as we know, the names of
that forecourt. _Niflfarinn_ is the designation, as heretofore mentioned,
of a deceased whose soul has descended to Nifelhel; _Niflgódr_ is a
nithing, one deserving to be damned to the tortures of the lower world.
Groa's eighth incantation is to protect her son against the perilous
consequences of encountering a "dead woman" (_daud kona_) on his journey
through Nifelhel. The ninth incantation shows that Svipdag, on having
traversed the way to the northern part of the lower world, crosses
the Hvergelmer mountain and comes to the realm of Mimer; for he is to
meet and talk with "the weapon-honoured giant," Mimer himself, under
circumstances which demand "tongue and brains" on the part of Groa's son:
ef thú vid inn náddgöfga
ordum skiptir jötun:
máls ok mannvits
sé ther á Mimis hjarta
gnóga of getit.
In the poem Fjölsvinnsmal, which I am now to discuss, we read with regard
to Svipdag's adventures in the lower world that on his journey in Mimer's
domain he had occasion to see the _ásmegir's_ citadel and the splendid
things within its walls (str. 33; cp. No. 53).
97.
SVIPDAG OUTSIDE OF THE GATES OF ASGARD. MENGLAD'S IDENTITY WITH
FREYJA.
In the first stanzas of Fjölsvinnsmal we see Svipdag making his way to a
citadel which is furnished with _forgördum_--that is to say, ramparts in
front of the gate in the wall which surrounds the place. On one of these
ramparts stands a watchman who calls himself _Fjölsvinnr_, which is an
epithet of Odin (Grimnersmal, 47).
The first strophe of the poem calls Svipdag _thursa thjódar sjólr_
(_sjóli_), "the leader of the Thurs people." The reason why he could be
designated thus has already been given (see Nos. 24, 33): During the
conflicts between the powers of winter and the sons of Ivalde, and the
race connected with them, on the one side, and the Teutonic patriarch
Halfdan, favoured by the Asa-gods, on the other side, Svipdag opposed the
latter and finally defeated him (see No. 93).
From the manner in which Fjölsvin receives the traveller it appears that
a "leader of the Thurs people" need not look for a welcome outside of
such a citadel as this. Fjölsvin calls him a _flagd_, a _vargr_, and
advises him to go back by "moist ways," for within this wall such a being
can never come. Meanwhile these severe words do not on this occasion
appear to be spoken in absolute earnest, for the watchman at the same
time encourages conversation, by asking Svipdag what his errand is. The
latter corrects the watchman for his rough manner of receiving him,
and explains that he is not able to return, for the burgh he sees is a
beautiful sight, and there he would be able to pass a happy life.
When the watchman now asks him about his parents and family he answers in
riddles. Himself "the leader of the Thurs people," the former ally of the
powers of frost, he calls Windcold, his father he calls Springcold, and
his grandfather Verycold (_Fjölkaldr_). This answer gives the key to the
character of the whole following conversation, in which Svipdag is the
questioner, whose interrogations the watchman answers in such a manner
that he gives persons and things names which seldom are their usual ones,
but which refer to their qualities.
What castle is this, then, before which Svipdag stopped, and within whose
walls he is soon to find Menglad, whom he seeks?
A correct answer to this question is of the greatest importance to a
proper understanding of the events of mythology and their connection.
Strange to say, it has hitherto been assumed that the castle is the
citadel of a giant, a resort of thurses, and that Menglad is a giantess.
Svipdag has before him a scene that enchants his gaze and fills him
with a longing to remain there for ever. It is a pleasure to the eyes,
he says, which no one willingly renounces who once has seen a thing so
charming. Several "halls," that is to say, large residences or palaces,
with their "open courts," are situated on these grounds. The halls
glitter with gold, which casts a reflection over the plains in front
of them (_gardar gloa mer thykkja af gullna sali_--str. 5). One of the
palaces, a most magnificent one (an audrann), is surrounded by "wise
Vaferflame," and Fjölsvin says of it that from time immemorial there has
been a report among men in regard to this dwelling. He calls it _Hýrr_,
"the gladdening one," "the laughing one," "the soul-stirring one." Within
the castle wall there rises a hill or rock, which the author of the song
conceived as decorated with flowers or in some other ravishing way, for
he calls it _a joyous rock_. There the fair Menglad is seen sitting
like an image (_thruma_), surrounded by lovely dises. Svipdag here sees
the world-tree, invisible on earth, spreading its branches loaded with
fruits (_aldin_) over all lands. In the tree sits the cock _Vidofnir_,
whose whole plumage glitters like gold (str. 19, 22, 23, 31, 32, 35, 49).
The whole place is surrounded by a wall, "so solid that it shall stand
as long as the world" (str. 12). It is built of Lerbrimer's (Ymer's)
limbs, and is called _Gastrofnir_, "the same one as refuses admittance
to uninvited guests." In the wall is inserted the gate skilfully made
by Solblinde's sons, the one which I have already mentioned in No. 36.
Svipdag, who had been in the lower world and had there seen the halls
of the gods and the well-fortified castle of the _ásmegir_ (see No.
53), admires the wall and the gate, and remarks that no more dangerous
contrivances (for uninvited guests) than these were seen among the gods
(str. 9-12).
The gate is guarded by two "garms," wolf-dogs. Fjölsvin explains that
their names are _Gifr_ and _Geri_, that they are to live and perform
their duty as watch-dogs to the end of the world (_unz rjúfask regin_),
and that they are the watchers of watchers, whose number is eleven
(_vardir ellifu, er their varda_--str. 14).
Just as the mythic personality that Svipdag met outside of the castle
is named by the Odin-epithet _Fjölsvidr_, so we here find one of the
watching dogs called after one of Odin's wolf-dogs, _Geri_ (Grimnersmal,
19). Their duty of watching, which does not cease before Ragnarok,
they perform in connection with eleven mythic persons dwelling within
the citadel, who are themselves called _vardir_, an epithet for
world-protecting divinities. Heimdal is _vördr goda_, Balder is _vördr
Hálfdanar jarda_. The number of the Asas is eleven after Balder descended
to the lower world. Hyndluljod says: _Voru ellifu æsir taldir, Balldr er
hne vid banathufu_.
These wolf-dogs are foes of giants and trolls. If a _vættr_ came there he
would not be able to get past them (str. 16--_ok kemt thá vættr, ef thá
kom_). The troll-beings that are called _gifr_ and _kveldridur_ (Völuspa,
50; Helge Hjorv., 15), and that fly about in the air with _lim_ (bundles
of sticks) in their hands, have been made to fall by these dogs. They
have made _gifr-lim_ into a "land-wreck" (_er gjordu gífrlim reka fyrir
löndin_--str. 13). As one of the dogs is himself called _Gifr_, his
ability, like that of those chased by him, to fly in the air seems to be
indicated. The old tradition about Odin, who with his dogs flies through
the air above the earth, has its root in the myth concerning the duty
devolving upon the Asa-father, in his capacity of lord of the heavens,
to keep space free from _gifr_, _kveddridur_, _tunridur_, who "_leika á
lopti_," do their mischief in the air (cp. Havamál, 155).
The hall in which Menglad lives, and that part of the wall-surrounded
domain which belongs to her, seems to be situated directly in front of
the gate, for Svipdag, standing before it, asks who is the ruler of
the domain which he sees before him, and Fjölsvin answers that it is
Menglad who there holds sway, owns the land, and is mistress of the
treasure-chambers.
The poem tells us in the most unmistakable manner that Menglad is an
asynje, and that one of the very noblest ones. "What are the names,"
asks Svipdag, "of the young women who sit so pleasantly together at
Menglad's feet?" Fjölsvin answers by naming nine, among whom are the
goddess of healing, _Eir_ (Prose Edda, i. 114), and the dises _Hlif_,
"the protectress," _Björt_, "the shining," _Blid_, "the blithe," and
_Frid_, "the fair." Their place at Menglad's feet indicates that they
are subordinate to her and belong to her attendants. Nevertheless they
are, Fjölsvin assures us, higher beings, who have sanctuaries and altars
(str. 40), and have both power and inclination quickly to help men who
offer sacrifices to them. Nay, "no so severe evil can happen to the sons
of men that these maids are not able to help them out of their distress."
It follows with certainty that their mistress Menglad, "the one fond of
ornaments," must be one of the highest and most worshipped goddesses
in the mythology. And to none of the asynjes is the epithet "fond of
ornaments" (Menglad) more applicable than to the fair owner of the first
among female ornaments, Brisingamen--to Freyja, whose daughters _Hnoss_
and _Gersami_ are called by names that mean "ornaments," and of whose
fondness for beautiful jewels even Christian saga authors speak. To the
court of no other goddess are such dises as _Björt_, _Blid_, and _Frid_
so well suited as to hers. And all that Fjölsvinnsmal tells about Menglad
is in harmony with this.
Freyja was the goddess of love, of matrimony, and of fertility, and for
this reason she was regarded as the divine ruler and helper, to whom
loving maids, wives who are to bear children, and sick women were to
address themselves with prayers and offerings. Figuratively this is
expressed in Fjölsvinnsmal with the words that every sick woman who
walks up the mountain on which Menglad sits regains her health. "That
mountain has long been the joy of the sick and wounded" (str. 36). The
great tree whose foliage spreads over Menglad's palace bears the fruits
that help _kélisjúkar konur_, so that _utar hverva that thær innar
skyli_ (str. 22). In the midst of the fair dises who attend Menglad the
poem also mentions _Aurboda_, the giantess, who afterwards becomes the
mother-in-law of Freyja's brother, and whose appearance in Asgard as a
maid-servant of Freyja, and as one of those that bring fruits from the
world-tree to _kélisjúkar konur_, has already been mentioned in No.
35. If we now add that Menglad, though a mighty goddess, is married to
Svipdag, who is not one of the gods, and that Freyja, despite her high
rank among the goddesses, does not have a god for her husband, but, as
Gylfaginning expresses it, _giptist theim manni er Ódr heitir_, and,
finally that Menglad's father is characterised by a name which refers
to Freyja's father, Njord,[3] then these circumstances alone, without
the additional and decisive proofs which are to be presented as this
investigation progresses, are sufficient to form a solid basis for the
identity of Menglad and Freyja, and as a necessary consequence for the
identity of Svipdag and _Ódr_, also called _Óttarr_.
The glorious castle to which Svipdag travelled "up" is therefore Asgard,
as is plain from its very description--with its gold-glittering palace,
with its wall standing until Ragnarok, with its artistic gate, with its
eleven watchers, with its Fjölsvin-Odin, with its asynje _Eir_, with its
benevolent and lovely dises worshipped by men, with its two wolf-dogs who
are to keep watch so long as the world stands, and which clear the air of
_tunridur_, with its shady arbour formed by the overhanging branches of
the world-tree, and with its gold-feathered cock _Vidofnir_ (Völuspa's
_Gullinkambi_).
Svipdag comes as a stranger to Asgard's gate, and what he there sees he
has never before seen. His conversation with Fjölsvin is a series of
curious questions in regard to the strange things that he now witnesses
for the first time. His designation as _thursa thjodar sjólr_ indicates
not only that he is a stranger in Asgard, but also that he has been the
foe of the Asgards. That he under such circumstances was able to secure
admittance to the only way that leads to Asgard, the bridge Bifrost;
that he was allowed unhindered to travel up this bridge and approach
the gate unpunished, and without encountering any other annoyances than
a few repelling words from Fjölsvin, who soon changes his tone and
gives him such information as he desires--all this presupposes that the
mythology must have had strong and satisfactory reasons for permitting a
thing so unusual to take place. In several passages in Grogalder and in
Fjölsvinnsmal it is hinted that the powers of fate had selected Svipdag
to perform extraordinary things and gain an end the attaining of which
seemed impossible. That the norns have some special purpose with him, and
that Urd is to protect him and direct his course with invisible bonds,
however erratic it may seem, all this gleams forth from the words of his
mother Groa in the grave-chamber. And when Svipdag finally sees Menglad
hasten to throw herself into his arms, he says himself that it is Urd's
irresistible decree that has shaped things thus: _Urdar ordi kvedr engi
madr_. But Urd's resolve alone cannot be a sufficient reason in the epic
for Svipdag's adoption in Asgard, and for his gaining, though he is not
of Asa-birth, the extraordinary honour and good luck of becoming the
husband of the fairest of the asynjes and of one of the foremost of the
goddesses. Urd must have arranged the chain of events in such a manner
that Menglad _desires_ to possess him, that Svipdag has deserved her
love, and that the Asa-gods deem it best for themselves to secure this
opponent of theirs by bonds of kinship.
[3] In strophe 8 Fjolsvin says of Menglad:
_Menglöd of heitir,
en hana módir of gat
vid Svafrthorins syni._
_Svafr_ alone, or as a part of a compound, indicates a Vana-god.
According to an account narrated as history in Fornaldersaga (i. 415), a
daughter of Thjasse was married to "king" _Svafrlami_. In the mythology
it is Freyja's father, the Vana-god Njord, who gets Thjasse's daughter
for his wife. The Sun-song (str. 79, 80) mentions Njord's daughters
together with _Svafr_ and _Svafrlogi_. The daughters are nine, like
Menglad and her dises.
98.
SVIPDAG BRINGS TO ASGARD THE SWORD OF REVENGE FORGED BY VOLUND.
The most important question put to Fjölsvin by Svipdag is, of course,
the one whether a stranger can enter. Fjölsvin's answer is to the effect
that this is, and remains, impossible, unless the stranger brings with
him a certain sword. The wall repels an uninvited comer; the gate holds
him fast if he ventures to lay hands on it; of the two wolf-dogs one is
always watching while the other sleeps, and no one can pass them without
permission.
To this assurance on the part of Fjölsvin are added a series of questions
and answers, which the author of the poem has planned with uncommon
acumen. Svipdag asks if it is not, after all, possible to get past the
watching dogs. There must be something in the world delicate enough to
satisfy their appetite and thus turn away their attention. Fjölsvin
admits that there are two delicacies that might produce this effect,
but they are pieces of flesh that lie in the limbs of the cock Vidofner
(str. 17, 18). He who can procure these can steal past the dogs. But the
cock Vidofner sits high in the top of the world-tree and seems to be
inaccessible. Is there, then, asks Svipdag, any weapon that can bring
him down dead? Yes, says Fjölsvin, there is such a weapon. It was made
outside of Na-gate (_nagrindr_). The smith was one _Loptr_. He was robbed
(_rúinn_) of this weapon so dangerous to the gold-glittering cock, and
now it is in the possession of _Sinmara_, who has laid it in a chest of
tough iron beneath nine _njard_-locks (str. 25, 26).
It must have been most difficult and dangerous to go to the place where
_Sinmara_ has her abode and try to secure the weapon so well kept.
Svipdag asks if anyone who is willing to attempt it has any hope of
returning. Fjölsvin answers that in Vidofner's ankle-bones (_völum_) lies
a bright, hook-shaped bone. If one can secure this, bring it to _Ludr_
(the place of the lower-world mill), and give it to _Sinmara_, then she
can be induced to part with the weapon in question (str. 27-30).
It appears from this that the condition on which Svipdag can get into the
castle where Menglad dwells is that he shall be in possession of a weapon
which was smithied by an enemy of the gods, here called _Loptr_, and thus
to be compared with Loke, who actually bears this epithet. If he does
not possess this weapon, which doubtless is fraught with danger to the
gods, and is the only one that can kill the gold-glittering cock of the
world-tree, then the gate of the citadel is not opened to him, and the
watching wolf-dogs will not let him pass through it.
But Fjölsvin also indicates that under ordinary circumstances, and for
one who is not particularly chosen for this purpose by Fate, it is
utterly impossible to secure possession of the sword in question. Before
Sinmara can be induced to lend it, it is necessary to bring Vidofner dead
down from the branches of the world-tree. But to kill the cock that very
weapon is needed which Sinmara cannot otherwise be induced to part with.
Meanwhile the continuation of the poem shows that what was impossible
for everybody else has already been accomplished by Svipdag. When he
stands at the gate of the castle in conversation with Fjölsvin he has
the sword by his side, and knows perfectly well that the gate is to be
opened so soon as it pleases him to put an end to the talk with Fjölsvin
and pronounce his own name. The very moment he does this the gate swings
on its hinges, the mighty wolf-dogs welcome (_fagna_) him, and Menglad,
informed by Fjölsvin of his arrival, hastens eagerly to meet him (str.
42, &c.). Fjölsvinnsmal, so far as acumen in plot and in execution is
concerned, is the finest old poem that has been handed down to our time,
but it would be reduced to the most absurd nonsense if the sword were not
in Svipdag's possession, as the gate is never to be opened to anyone else
than to him who brings to Menglad's castle the sword in question.
So far as the sword is concerned we have now learned:
That it was made by an artist who must have been a foe of the gods, for
Fjölsvin designates him by the Loke-epithet _Loptr_;
That the place where the artist dwelt when he made the weapon was
situated _fyr nágrindr nedan_;
That while he dwelt there, and after he had finished the sword, he was
robbed of it (_Loptr rúinn fyr nágrindr nedan_);
That he or they who robbed him of it must have been closely related to
Nat and the night dises, for the sword was thereafter in the keeping of
the night-being _Sinmara_;
That she regarded it as exceedingly precious, and also dangerous if it
came into improper hands, since she keeps it in a "tough iron chest"
beneath nine magical locks;
That the eleven guards that dwell in the same castle with Menglad regard
it as of the greatest importance to get the sword within their castle
wall;
That it has qualities like no other weapon in the world: this sword, and
it alone, can kill the golden cock on the world-tree--a quality which
seems to indicate that it threatens the existence of the world and the
gods.
It is evident that the artist who made this incomparable and terrible
weapon was one of the most celebrated smiths in mythology. The question
now is, whether the information given us by Fjölsvinnsmal in regard to
him is sufficient to enable us to determine with certainty who he is.
The poem does not name him by any of his names, but calls him by the
Loke-epithet _Loptr_, "the airy." Among the ancient smiths mentioned in
our mythic fragments there is one who refers to himself with the epithet
_Byrr_, "Wind," suggesting to us the same person--this one is Volund.
After he in his sleep had been made prisoner by Mimer-_Nidadr_ and his
Njarians (see No. 87), he says when he awakes:
Hverir 'ro iofrar
their er a laugdo
besti Byr síma
oc mic bundo?
"Who are the mighty, who with bonds (_besti_, dative of _böstr_) bound
the wind (_laugdo sima a Byr_) and fettered me?" The expression implies
that it is as easy to bind the wind as Volund. He was also able to secure
his liberty again in spite of all precautions.
According to the Norse version of the Volund saga, one of the precautions
resorted to is to sever the sinews of his knees (str. 17 and the prose).
It is _Nidadr's_ queen who causes this cruel treatment. In Fjölsvinnsmal
the nameless mythic personality who deprived the "airy one" of his
weapon has left it to be kept by a feminine person, _Sinmara_. The
name is composed of _sin_, which means "sinew," and _mara_, which
means "the one that maims." (_Mara_ is related to the verb _merja_, "to
maim"--see Vigfusson's Dict.) Thus _Sinmara_ means "the one who maims
by doing violence to the sinews." The one designated by this epithet in
Fjölsvinnsmal has therefore acted the same part as Mimer-_Nidadr's_ queen
in the Volundarkvida.
Mimer-_Nidadr_, who imprisons Volund and robs him of his sword and
the incomparable arm-ring, is the father of Nat and her sisters (see
No. 85). He who robs "the airy one" of his treasures must also have
been intimately related to the dises of night, else he would not have
selected as keeper of the weapon Sinmara, whose quality as a being of
night is manifested by the meaning _incubus nocturnes_ which is the name
_Mara_ acquired. In Fjölsvinnsmal (str. 29) Sinmara is called _hin fölva
gygr_, "the ashes-coloured giantess"--a designation pointing in the same
direction.
She is also called _Eir aurglasis_ (str. 28), an expression which, as
I believe, has been correctly interpreted as "the dis of the shining
arm-ring" (cp. Bugge Edda, p. 348). In Volundarkvida the daughter of
Mimer-_Nidadr_ receives Volund's incomparable arm-ring to wear.
According to Fjölsvinnsmal "the airy one" makes his weapon _fyr nágrindr
nedan_. The meaning of this expression has already been discussed in
No. 60. The smith has his abode in the frost-cold and foggy Nifelheim,
while he is at work on the sword. Nifelheim, the land _fyr nágrindr
nedan_, as we already know, is the northern subterranean border-land of
Mimer's domain. The two realms are separated by Mount Hvergelmer, on
which the Na-gates are set, and where the world-mill, called _Eylúdr_
and _Lúdr_ have their foundation-structure (see Nos. 59, 60, 79, 80). In
its vicinity below the southern slope of the Hvergelmer mountain Nat has
her hall (Nos. 84, 93). According to Fjölsvinnsmal Sinmara also dwells
here. For Fjölsvin says that if Svipdag is to borrow the sword which she
keeps, he must carry the above-mentioned hooked bone "to _Lúdr_ and give
it to Sinmara" (_ljósan ljá skaltu i Lúdr bera Sinmöra at selja_--str.
30). Lúdr, the subterranean world-mill, which stands on the Nida mountain
above Nat's hall, has given its name to the region where it stands.
In Volundarkvida Mimer-_Nidadr_ suddenly appears with his wife and
daughter and armed Njarians in the remote cold Wolfdales, where Volund
thinks himself secure, and no one knows whence these foes of his come.
The explanation is that the "Wolfdales" of the heroic saga were in the
mythology situated in Nifelheim, the border-land of Mimer's realm. Like
"the airy one," Volund made his sword _fyr nágrindr nedan_; the latter,
like the former, was robbed of the weapon as soon as it was finished by
a lower-world ruler, whose kinswomen are dises of the night; and in the
saga of the one, as of the other, one of these night dises has caused a
maiming by injuring the sinews.
Thus we can also understand why Svipdag must traverse Nifelheim, "meet
Nat on Nifelway," visit the world-mill, wade across Hel-rivers, and
encounter Mimer himself, "the weapon-honoured." If Svipdag wants the
sword made by _Loptr_, he must risk these adventures, since the sword is
kept in the lower world by a kinswoman of Mimer.