was led by his curiosity to seat himself in an opening in the wall of
Geirrod's house and peep in. There he was captured by one of Geirrod's
servants, and the giant, who noticed from his eyes that it was not a
real falcon, did not release him before he had agreed so to arrange
matters that Thor should come to Geirrod's hall without bringing with
him his hammer and belt of strength. This Loke was able to bring about.
Thor went to Geirrod without taking any of these implements--not even
his steel gloves--with him. Loke accompanied him. On the way thither
Loke visited the giantess whose name was _Grídr_, and who was Vidar the
Silent's mother. From her Thor learned the facts about Geirrod--namely,
that the latter was a cunning giant and difficult to get on with. She
lent Thor her own belt of strength, her own iron gloves, and her staff,
_Grídarvölr_. Then Thor proceeded to the river which is called Vimur,
and which is the greatest of all rivers. There he buckled on his belt of
strength, and supported himself in the stream on the _Grídarvölr_. Loke
held himself fast to the belt of strength. When Thor reached the middle
of the stream, the water rose to his shoulders. Thor then perceived
that up in a mountain chasm below which the river flowed stood Gjalp,
Geirrod's daughter, with one foot on each side of the river, and it
was she who caused the rising of the tide. Then Thor picked up a stone
and threw it at the giantess, saying: "At its mouth the river is to be
stopped." He did not miss his mark. Having reached the other bank of
the river, he took hold of a rowan, and thus gained the land. Hence the
proverb: "Thor's salvation, the rowan." And when Thor came to Geirrod a
goat-house was first given to him and Loke (according to Codex Regius;
according to the Upsala Codex a guest-house) as their lodgings. Then are
related the adventures Thor had with Geirrod's daughters Gjalp and Greip,
and how he, invited to perform games in Geirrod's hall, was met by a
glowing iron which Geirrod threw against him with a pair of tongs, but
which he caught with the iron gloves and threw back with so great force
that the iron passed through a post, behind which Geirrod had concealed
himself, and through Geirrod himself and his house wall, and then
penetrated into the earth.
This narrative, composed freely from mythical and pseudo-mythical
elements, is related to Thorsdrapa, composed in heathen times, about in
the same manner as Bragarædur's account of Odin and Suttung is related
to that of Havamál. Just as in Bragarædur _punctum saliens_ lies in the
coarse jest about how poor poetry originated, so here a crude anecdote
built on the proverb, "A stream is to be stemmed at its mouth," seems
to be the basis of the story. In Christian times the mythology had to
furnish the theme not only for ancient history, heroic poems, and popular
traditions, but also for comic songs.
Now, a few words in regard to Thorsdrapa. This song, excellent from the
standpoint of poetry and important from a mythological point of view,
has, in my opinion, hitherto been entirely misunderstood, not so much
on account of the difficulties found in the text--for these disappear,
when they are considered without any preconceived opinion in regard to
the contents--as on account of the undeserved faith in Skaldskaparmal's
account of Thor's visit to Geirrod, and on account of the efforts
made under the influence of this misleading authority to rediscover
the statements of the latter in the heathen poem. In these efforts the
poetics of the Christian period in Iceland have been applied to the poem,
and in this way all mythological names, whose real meaning was forgotten
in later times, have received a general faded signification, which on a
more careful examination is proved to be incorrect. With a collection of
names as an armoury, in which the names of real or supposed "dwarfs,"
"giants," "sea-kings," &c., are brought together and arranged as
synonyms, this system of poetics teaches that from such lists we may take
whatever dwarf name, giant name, &c., we please to designate whichever
"dwarf," "giant," &c., we please. If, therefore, Thorsdrapa mentions
"_Idi's_ chalet" and "_Gángr's_ war-vans," then, according to this system
of poetics, _Idi_ and _Gángr's_--though they in heathen times designated
particular mythic persons who had their own history, their own personal
careers--have no other meaning than the general one of "a giant," for the
reason that _Idi_ and _Gángr_ are incorporated in the above-named lists
of giant names. Such a system of poetics could not arise before the most
of the mythological names had become mere empty sounds, the personalities
to whom they belonged being forgotten. The fact that they have been
adapted, and still continue to be adapted, to the poems of the heathen
skalds, is one of the reasons why the important contributions which names
and paraphrases in the heathen poetry are able to furnish in mythological
investigations have remained an unused treasure.
While Skaldskaparmal makes Loke and no one else accompany Thor to
Geirrod, and represents the whole matter as a visit to the giant by
Thor, we learn from Thorsdrapa that this journey to Jotunheim is an
expedition of war, which Thor makes at the head of his warriors against
the much-dreaded chief of giants, and that on the way thither he had
to fight a real battle with Geirrod's giants before he is able to
penetrate to the destination of his expedition, Geirrod's hall, where
the giants put to flight in the battle just mentioned gather, and where
another battle is fought. Thorsdrapa does not mention with a single
word that Loke accompanied Thor on this warlike expedition. Instead of
this, we learn that he had a secret understanding with one of Geirrod's
daughters, that he encouraged Thor to go, and gave him untruthful
accounts of the character of the road, so that, if not Thor himself,
then at least the allies who went with him, might perish by the ambush
laid in wait for them. That Loke, under such circumstances, should
accompany Thor is highly incredible, since his misrepresentations in
regard to the character of the way would be discovered on the journey,
and reveal him as a traitor. But since Skaldskaparmal states that Loke
was Thor's companion, the interpreters of Thorsdrapa have allowed him so
to remain, and have attributed to him--the traitor and secret ally of
the giants--and to Thjalfe (who is not mentioned in the Skaldskaparmal
account) the exploits which Thor's companions perform against the giants.
That the poem, for instance, in the expression _Thjáfi med ýta sinni_,
"Thjalfe with his companions," in the most distinct manner emphasises
the fact that a whole host of warriors had Thor as their leader on this
expedition, was passed over as one of the obscure passages in which the
poem was supposed to abound, and the obscurity of which simply consists
in their contradicting the story in Skaldskaparmal. Thorsdrapa does not
mention with a single word that Thor, on his journey to Geirrod, stopped
at the home of a giantess _Gridr_, and borrowed from her a staff, a belt
of strength, and iron gloves; and I regard it as probable that this
whole episode in Skaldskaparmal has no other foundation than that the
staff which Thor uses as his support on wading across the rapid stream
is in Thorsdrapa now called _grídarvölr_, "the safety staff," and again,
_brautar lids tollr_, "the way-helping tree." The name _grídarvölr_,
and such proverbs as _at ósi skall á stemma_ and _reynir er björg
thórs_, appear to be the staple wares by the aid of which the story in
Skaldskaparmal was framed. The explanation given in Skaldskaparmal of the
proverb _reynir er björg thórs_, that, by seizing hold of a rowan growing
on the river bank, Thor succeeded in getting out of the river, is, no
doubt, an invention by the author of the story. The statement cannot
possibly have had any support in the mythology. In it Thor is endowed
with ability to grow equal to any stream he may have to cross. The rowan
mentioned in the proverb is probably none other than the "way-helping
tree," the "safety staff," on which he supports himself while wading,
and which, according to Thorsdrapa (19), is a _brotningr skógar_, a tree
broken or pulled up in the woods.
I now pass to the consideration of the contents of Thorsdrapa:
_Strophe 1._ The deceitful Loke encourages Thor to go from home and visit
Geirrod, "the master of the temple of the steep altars." The great liar
assures him that green paths would take him to Geirrod's halls, that is
to say, they were accessible to travellers on foot, and not obstructed by
rivers.
NOTE.--For Thor himself the condition of the roads might be of less
importance. He who wades across the Elivagar rivers and subterranean
streams did not need to be very anxious about finding water-courses
crossing his paths. But from the continuation of the poem we learn that
this expedition to Jotunheim was not a visit as a guest, or a meeting
to fight a duel, as when Thor went to find Hrungner, but this time he
is to press into Jotunheim with a whole army, and thus the character of
the road he was to travel was of some importance. The ambush laid in his
way does not concern Thor himself, but the giant-foes who constitute his
army. If the latter perish in the ambush, then Geirrod and his giants
will have Thor alone to fight against, and may then have some hope of
victory.
_Strophe 2._ Thor did not require much urging to undertake the
expedition. He leaves Asgard to visit Jotunheim. Of what happened on the
way between Asgard and the Elivagar rivers, before Thor penetrated into
Jotunheim, the strophe says:
thá er gjardvenjodr When the belt-wearer (Thor the
possessor of the belt of strength)
endr (= iterum, rursus) now, as on former occasions,
ríkri Idja Gandvikr-setrs skotum strengthened by the men of Ide's
chalet situated near Gandvik,
gördist frá thridia til Ymsa was on his way from Odin to
kindar, Ymse's (Ymer's) race,
fystust their (Cod. Worm.) it was to them (to Thor and to
fýrstuz (Cod. Reg.) the men of Ide's chalet) a joy
(or they rushed thither)
at thrysta thorns nidjum to conquer Thorn's (Bolthorn-Ymer's)
kinsmen.
NOTE.--The common understanding of this passage is (1) that _endr_ has
nothing to do with the contents, but is a complementary word which may
be translated with "once upon a time," a part which _endr_ has to play
only too often in the interpretation of the old poems; (2) that Ide is
merely a general giant name, applicable, like every other giant name, in
a paraphrase _Idja setr_, which is supposed to mean Jotunheim; (3) that
_rikri Idja setrs skotum_ or _rikri Gandvikr skotum_ was to give the
hearers or readers of Thorsdrapa the (utterly unnecessary) information
that Thor was stronger than the giants; and (4) that they who longed to
subdue Ymer's kinsmen were Thor and Loke--the same Loke who, in secret
understanding with the giant-chief and with one of his daughters (see
below), has the purpose of enticing Thor and his companions in arms into
a trap!
_Rikri ... skotum_ is to be regarded as an elliptical sentence in which
the instrumental preposition, as is often the case, is to be understood.
When Thor came from Asgard to the chalet of Ide, situated near Gandvik,
he there gets companions in arms, and through them he becomes _rikri_,
through them he gets an addition to his own powers in the impending
conflicts. The fact that when Thor invades Jotunheim he is at the head of
an army is perfectly evident from certain expressions in the poem, and
from the poem as a whole. Whence could all these warriors come all of a
sudden? They are not dwellers in Asgard, and he has not brought them with
him in his lightning chariot. They live near Gandvik, which means "the
magic bay," the Elivagar. Gandvik was a purely mythological-geographical
name before it became the name of the White Sea in a late Christian
time, when the sea between Greenland and America got the mythic name
Ginungagap. Their being the inhabitants on the coast of a bay gives the
author of Thorsdrapa an occasion further on to designate them as vikings,
bayings. We have already seen that it is a day's journey between Asgard
and the Elivagar (see No. 108), and that on the southern coast Thor has
an inn, where he stops, and where his precious team and chariot are taken
care of while he makes expeditions into Jotunheim. The continuation of
the poem shows that this time, too, he stopped at this inn, and that he
got his warriors there. Now, as always before, he proceeds on foot, after
having reached Jotunheim.
_Strophe 3_ first makes a mythic chronological statement, namely, that
the daughter of Geirrod, "skilled in magic," had come to an understanding
with Loke, before Rogner became the ally of the latter. This mythic
chronological statement shows (1) that there was a time when Rogner did
not share Loke's plans, which were inimical to the gods; (2) that the
events recounted in Thorsdrapa took place before Rogner became a foe of
the gods. Why Thorsdrapa thinks it necessary to give this information
becomes apparent already in the fourth strophe.
Then the departure from Ide's chalet is mentioned. The host hostile to
the giants proceeds to Jotunheim, but before it gets thither it must
traverse an intermediate region which is called Endil's meadow.
We might expect that instead of speaking of a meadow as the boundary
territory which had to be traversed before getting into Jotunheim, the
poem would have spoken of the body of water behind which Jotunheim lies,
and mentioned it by one of its names--Elivagar, Gandvik, or Hraun. But
on a more careful examination it appears that Endil's meadow is only a
paraphrase for a body of water. The proof of this is found in the fact
that "Endil's skees," _Endils andrar_, _Endils itrskid_, is a common
paraphrase for ship. So is _Endils eykr_, "Endil's horse." The meadow
which Endil crosses on such skees and on such a horse must therefore be
a body of water. And no other water can be meant than that which lies
between Endil's chalet and Jotunheim, that is, Elivagar, Gandvik.
The name _Endill_ may be the same as _Vendill_, _Vandill_ (Younger Edda,
i. 548), and abbreviation of _Örvandill_. The initial _V_ was originally
a semi-vowel, and as such it alliterated with other semi-vowels and
with vowels (compare the rhymes on an Oland runic stone, _Vandils
jörmungrundar urgrandari_). This easily-disappearing semi-vowel may
have been thrown out in later times where it seemed to obscure the
alliteration, and thus the form Endil may have arisen from Vendil,
Vandil. "Örvandel's meadow" is accordingly in poetic language synonymous
with Elivagar, and the paraphrase is a fitting one, since Orvandel-Egil
had skees which bore him over land and sea, and since Elivagar was the
scene of his adventures.
_Strophe 4_ tells that after crossing "Endil's meadow" the host of
warriors invaded Jotunheim on foot, and that information about their
invasion into the land of the giants came to the witches there.
Two important facts are here given in regard to these warriors: they are
called _Gángs gunn-vanir_ and _Vargs fridar_, "Gang's warrior-vans,"
and "Varg's defenders of the land." Thus, in the first strophes of
Thorsdrapa, we meet with the names of Olvalde's three sons: _Rögnir_
(Thjasse), _Idi_, and _Gángr_. The poem mentions Rogner's name in
stating that the expedition occurred before Rogner became the foe of
the gods; it names Ide's name when it tells that it was at his (Ide's)
chalet near Gandvik that Thor gathered these warriors around him; and it
names _Gángr's_ name, and in connection therewith _Vargr's_ name, when
it is to state who the leaders were of those champions who accompanied
Thor against Geirrod. Under such circumstances it is manifest that
Thorsdrapa relates an episode in which Ide, Gang, and Thjasse appear
as friends of Thor and foes of the giants, and that the poem locates
their original country in the regions on the south coast of Elivagar,
and makes _Idja setr_ to be situated near the same strand, and play
in Thor's expeditions the same part as Orvandel-Egil's abode near
the Elivagar, which is also called chalet, _Geirvandil's setr_, and
_Ýsetr_. The _Vargr_ who is mentioned is, therefore, so far as can be
seen, Rogner-Thjasse himself, who in Haustlaung, as we know, is called
_fjallgyldir_, that is to say, wolf.
All the warriors accompanying Thor were eager to fight Ymer's
descendants, as we have seen in the second strophe. But the last lines
of strophe 4 represent one in particular as longing to contend with one
of the warlike and terrible giantesses of giant-land. This champion is
not mentioned by name, but he is characterised as _bragdmildr_, "quick
to conceive and quick to move;" as _brædivændr_, "he who is wont to
offer food to eat;" and as _bölkveitir_ or _bölkvetir Loka_, "he who
compensated Loke's evil deed." The characterisations fit Orvandel-Egil,
the nimble archer and skee-runner, who, at his chalet, receives Thor as
his guest, when the latter is on his way to Jotunheim, and who gave Thor
Thjalfe and Roskva as a compensation, when Loke had deceitfully induced
Thjalfe to break a bone belonging to one of Thor's slaughtered goats for
the purpose of getting at the marrow. If Thorsdrapa had added that the
champion thus designated also was the best archer of mythology, there
could be no doubt that Egil was meant. This addition is made further on
in the poem, and of itself confirms the fact that Egil took part in the
expedition.
_Strophe 5_, compared with strophes 6 and 7, informs us that Thor, with
his troop of champions, in the course of his march came into one of the
wild mountain-regions of Jotunheim. The weather is bad and hail-showers
fall. And here Thor finds out that Loke has deceived him in the most
insolent manner. By his directions Thor has led his forces to the place
where they now are, and here rushes forth from between the mountains a
river into which great streams, swelling with hail-showers, roll down
from the mountains with seething ice-water. To find in such a river a
ford by which his companions can cross was for Thor a difficult matter.
_Strophe 6._ Meanwhile the men from Ide's chalet had confidently
descended into the river. A comparison with strophes 7 and 8 shows that
they cautiously kept near Thor, and waded a little farther up the river
than he. They used their spears as staffs, which they put down into the
stony bottom of the river. The din of the spears, when their metallic
points came in contact with the stones of the bottom blended with the
noise of the eddies roaring around the rocks of the river (_Knátti hreggi
höggvinn hlymthel vid möl glymja, enn fjalla fellihryn thaut med Fedju
stedja_).
_Strophe 7._ In the meantime the river constantly rises and increases in
violence, and its ocean-like billows are already breaking against Thor's
powerful shoulders. If this is to continue, Thor will have to resort to
the power inherent in him of rising equally with the increase of the
waves.
NOTE.--But the warriors from Ide's sæter, who do not possess this power,
what are they to do? The plan laid between Loke and the witches of
Jotunheim is manifestly to drown them. And the succeeding strophes show
that they are in the most imminent danger.
_Strophes 8_ and _9_. These bold warriors waded with firm steps; but the
billowing masses of water increased in swiftness every moment. While
Thor's powerful hands hold fast to the staff of safety, the current is
altogether too strong for the spears, which the Gandvik champions have
to support themselves on. On the mountains stood giantesses increasing
the strength of the current. Then it happened that "the god of the bow,
driven by the violence of the billows, rushed upon Thor's shoulders
(_kykva naudar áss, blasinn hrönnjardar skafls hvetvidri, thurdi haudrs
runn of herdi_), while Thjalfe with his comrades came, as if they
had been automatically lifted up, and seized hold of the belt of the
celestial prince" (Thor) (_unnz thjálfi med ýta sinni kom sjálflopta á
himinsjóla skaunar-seil_).
NOTE.--Thus the plan laid by Loke and the giantesses to drown the men
hostile to the giants, the men dwelling on the south coast of the
Elivagar, came near succeeding. They were saved by their prudence in
wading higher up the stream than Thor, so that, if they lost their
foothold, they could be hurled by the eddies against him. One of the
Gandvik champions, and, as the continuation of the poems shows, the
foremost one among them, here characterised as "the god of the bow,"
is tossed by a storm-billow against Thor's shoulders, and there saves
himself. Thjalfe and the whole remaining host of the warriors of Ide's
sæter have at the same time been carried by the waves down against
_Hlodyn's_ powerful son, and save themselves by seizing hold of his belt
of strength. With "the god of the bow" on his shoulders, and with a
whole host of warriors clinging to his waist, Thor continues his wading
across the stream.
In strophe 8, the Gandvik champions are designated by two paraphrases.
We have already seen them described as "Gang's warrior-vans" and as
"Varg's land-defenders." Here they are called "the clever warriors of
the viking-sæter" (_víkinga setrs snotrir gunnar runnar_) and "Odin's
land-defenders, bound by oaths" (_Gauta eidsvara fridar_). That Ide's
sæter is called "the vikings' sæter" is explained by the fact that it is
situated near Gand_vik_, and that these _bayings_ had the Elivagar as the
scene of their conflicts with the powers of frost. That they are Odin's
land-defenders, bound by oaths, means that they are mythical beings,
who in rank are lower than the Asas, and are pledged by oaths to serve
Odin and defend his territory against the giants. Their sæter (chalet)
near Gandvik is therefore an outpost against the powers of frost. It
follows that Ide, Gang, and Thjasse originally are _numina_, though of
a lower, serving rank; that their relation to the higher world of gods
was of such a character that they could not by their very nature be
regarded as foes of the giants, but are bound to the cause of the gods
by oaths; but on the other hand they could not be full-blooded giants
of the race produced from Ymer's feet (see No. 86). Their original
home is not Jotunheim itself, but a land bordering on the home of the
giants, and this mytho-geographical locality must correspond with their
mytho-genealogical position. The last strophe in Thorsdrapa calls the
giants slain by the Gandvik champions "Alfheim's calves," Alfheim's
cattle to be slaughtered, and this seems to indicate that these champions
belong to the third and lowest of those clans into which the divinities
of the Teutonic mythology are divided, that is, the elves.
The Gandvik champion who rescues himself on Thor's shoulders, while the
rest of them hold fast to his girdle, is a celebrated archer, and so well
known to the hearers of Thorsdrapa, that it was not necessary to mention
him by name in order to make it clear who he was. In fact, the epithet
applied to him, "the god of the bow" (_áss kykva naudar_, and in strophe
18, _tvívidar Týr_), is quite sufficient to designate him as the foremost
archer of mythology, that is, Orvandel-Egil, who is here carried on
Thor's shoulders through the raging waves, just as on another occasion he
was carried by Thor in his basket across the Elivagar. Already in strophe
4 he is referred to as the hero nimble in thought and body, who is known
for his hospitality, and who made compensation for Loke's evil deed.
The foremost one next after him among the Gandvik champions is Thjalfe,
Egil's foster-son. The others are designated as Thjalfe's _ýta sinni_,
his body of men.
Thus we find that the two foremost among "Gang's warrior-vans," who
with Thor marched forth from "Ide's sæter," before Rogner (Thjasse)
became Loke's ally, are Volund's and Slagfin's brother Egil and Egil's
foster-son Thjalfe. We find that Egil and Thjalfe belong to the
inhabitants of Ide's sæter, where Thor on this occasion had stopped, and
where he had left his chariot and goats, for now, as on other occasions,
he goes on foot to Jotunheim. And as in other sources Egil is mentioned
as the one who on such occasions gives lodgings to Thor and his goats,
and as Thorsdrapa also indicates that he is the hospitable host who had
received Thor in his house, and had paid him a ransom for the damage
caused by Loke to one of his goats, then this must be a most satisfactory
proof that Ide's sæter is the same place as the _Geirvadils_ setr
inhabited by Egil and his brothers, and that Orvandel-Egil is identical
either with Ide or Gang, from which it follows, again, that Alvalde's
(Olvalde's) sons, Ide, Gang, and Thjasse, are identical with Ivalde's
sons, Slagfin, Egil, and Volund.