one, but whose "senses he stole," that is, whom he "cunningly deprived
of thought and reflection." There are two circumstances to which these
words might apply. The one concerns the giant-builder who built the
Asgard-wall, and, angry on account of the trick by which Loke cheated
him out of the compensation agreed on, rushed against the gods and was
slain by Thor. The other concerns Thjasse, who, seeing his beloved
carried away by Loke and his plan about to be frustrated, recklessly
rushed into his certain ruin. The real name of the giant alluded to
is not given, but it is indicated by the epithet _Hlébardr_, which,
according to the Younger Edda, (ii. 484), is a synonym of _Vargr_ and
_Gyldir_. It has already been shown above that _Vargr_ in Thorsdrapa
and _Fjallgyldir_ in Haustlaung are epithets of Thjasse. Loke says
that this same giant, whose sense he cunningly robbed, had previously
given him a _gambanteinn_. This word means a weapon made by Volund. His
sword of revenge and victory is called _gambanteinn_ in Skirnersmal.
But _gambanteinn_ is, at the same time, a synonym of _mistelteinn_,
hence, in an Icelandic saga from the Christian time, Volund's sword of
victory also reappears by the name _mistelteinn_ (see No. 60). Thus the
giant Hlebard gave Loke a weapon, which, according to its designation,
is either Volund's sword of victory or the mistletoe. It cannot be the
sword of victory. We know the hands to which this sword has gone and is
to go: Volund's, Mimer-Nidhad's, the night-dis Sinmara's, Svipdag's,
Frey's, Aurboda's and Eggther's, and finally Fjalar's and Surt's. The
weapon which Thjasse's namesake Hlebard gives Loke must, accordingly,
have been the mistletoe. In this connection we must bear in mind what
is said of the mistletoe. Unfortunately, the few words of Völuspa are
the only entirely reliable record we have on this subject; but certain
features of Gylfaginning's account (Younger Edda, i. 172-174) may be
mythologically correct. "Slender and fair"--not dangerous and fair to
behold--grew, according to Völuspa, the mistletoe, "higher than the
fields" (as a parasite on the trees); but from the shrub which seemed
innocent became "a dangerous arrow of pain," which _Hödr_ hurled.
According to a poetic fragment united with Vegtamskvida ("Balder's
draumar"), and according to Gylfaginning, the gods had previously
exacted an oath from all things not to harm Balder; but, according to
Gylfaginning, they had omitted to exact an oath from one thing, namely,
the mistletoe. By cunning Loke found this out. He went and pulled up the
mistletoe, which he was afterwards able to put into Hoder's hand, while,
according to Gylfaginning, the gods were amusing themselves by seeing
how every weapon aimed at Balder hit him without harming him. But that
Loke should hand Hoder this shrub in the form in which it had grown on
the tree, and that Hoder should use it in this form to shoot Balder, is
as improbable as that Hoder was blind.[13] We must take Völuspa's words
to mean that the shrub became an arrow, and we must conceive that this
arrow looked like every other arrow, and for this reason did not awaken
suspicion. Otherwise the suspicion would at once have been awakened,
for they who had exacted the oath of things, and Frigg who had sent the
messengers to exact the oaths, knew that the mistletoe was the only thing
in the whole world that had not been sworn. The heathen songs nowhere
betray such inconsistencies and such thoughtlessness as abound in the
accounts of the Younger Edda. The former are always well conceived, at
times incisive, but they always reveal a keen sense of everything that
may give even to the miraculous the appearance of reality and logic. The
mistletoe was made into an arrow by some one who knew how to turn it into
a "dangerous arrow of pain" in an infallible manner. The unhappy shot
depended on the magic qualities that were given to the mistletoe by the
hands that changed it into an arrow. The event becomes comprehensible,
and the statements found in the various sources dovetail together and
bear the test of sound criticism, if Loke, availing himself of the only
thing which had not been bound by oath not to harm Balder, goes with
this shrub, which of itself was innocent and hardly fit for an arrow,
to the artist who hated the gods, to the artist who had smithied the
sword of revenge, and if the latter, with his magic skill as a smith,
makes out of the _mistelteinn_ a new _gambanteinn_ dangerous to the
gods, and gives the weapon to Loke in order that he might accomplish
his evil purpose therewith. As Hlebard is a Thjasse-synonym, as this
Thjasse-synonym is connected with the weapon-name _gambanteinn_, which
indicates a Thjasse-work, and as Loke has treated Thjasse as he says he
has treated Hlebard--by a cunning act he robbed him of his senses--then
all accessible facts go to establish the theory that by Hlebard is meant
the celebrated ancient artist deceived by Loke. And as Hlebard has given
him a weapon which is designated by the name of the sword of revenge, but
which is not the sword of revenge, while the latter, on the other hand
and for corresponding reasons, also gets the name _mistelteinn_, then all
the facts go to show that the weapon which Hlebard gave to Loke was the
mistletoe fraught with woes and changed to an arrow. If Gylfaginning's
unreliable account, based on fragmentary and partly misunderstood mythic
records presented in a disjointed manner, had not been found, and if we
had been referred exclusively to the few but reliable statements which
are to be found in regard to the matter in the poetic songs, then a
correct picture of this episode, though not so complete as to details,
would have been the result of a compilation of the statements extant.
The result would then have been: (1) Balder was slain by an arrow shot
by Hoder (Völuspa, Vegtamskvida); (2) Hoder was not the real slayer, but
Loke (Lokasenna, 28); (3) the material of which the arrow was made was a
tender or slender (_mjór_) mistletoe (Völuspa); (4) previously all things
had sworn not to harm Balder ("Balder's draumar"), but the mistletoe
must, for some reason or other, have been overlooked by the messengers
sent out to exact the oaths, since Balder was mortally wounded by it; (5)
since it was Loke who arranged (_réd_) matters so that this happened,
it must have been he who had charge of the mistletoe for the carrying
out of his evil purpose; (6) the mistletoe fell into the hands of a
giant-smith hostile to the gods, and mentioned under circumstances that
refer to Thjasse (Harbardsljod); (7) by his skill as a smith he gave such
qualities to the mistletoe as to change it into "a dangerous arrow of
pain," and then gave the arrow to Loke (Harbardsljod); (8) from Loke's
hands it passed into Hoder's, and was shot by the latter (Lokasenna,
Völuspa).
It is dangerous to employ nature-symbolism as a means of mythological
investigation. It is unserviceable for that purpose, so long as it
cannot be subjected to the rules of severe methodics. On the other hand,
it is admissible and justifiable to consider from a natural symbolic
standpoint the results gained in a mythological investigation by the
methodological system. If, as already indicated, Hlebard is identical
with Thjasse-Volund, then he who was the cause of the fimbul-winter
and sent the powers of frost out upon the earth, also had his hand in
the death of the sun-god Balder and in his descent to the lower world.
There is logic in this. And there is logic in the very fact that the
weapon with which the sun-god is slain is made from the mistletoe,
which blossoms and produces fruit in the winter, and is a plant which
rather shuns than seeks the light of the sun. When we remember how the
popular traditions have explained the appearance and qualities of various
animals and plants by connecting them with the figures of mythology or
of legendary lore, then I suppose it is possible that the popular fancy
saw in the mistletoe's dread of light the effect of grief and shame at
having been an instrument in evil hands for evil purposes. Various things
indicate that the mistletoe originally was a sacred plant, not only among
the Celts, but also among the Teutons. The Hindooic Aryans also knew
sacred parasitical plants.
The word _gamban_ which forms a part of _gambanteinn_ means
"compensation," "ransom," when used as a noun, and otherwise
"retaliating." In the Anglo-Saxon poetry occurs (see Grein's Dictionary)
the phrase _gamban gyldan_, "to compensate," "to pay dues." In the
Norse sources _gamban_ occurs only in the compounds _gambanteinn_
(Skirnersmal, 33; Harbardsljod, 20), _gambanreidi_ (Skirnersmal, 33),
and _gambansumbl_ (Lokasenna, 8). In the song of Skirner, the latter
threatens Gerd, who refused Frey's offer of marriage, that she shall
be struck by _gambanreidi goda_, the avenging wrath of the gods. In
Lokasenna, Loke comes unbidden into the banquet of the gods in Ægir's
hall to mix bitterness with their gladness, and he demands either a place
at the banquet table or to be turned out of doors. Brage answers that
the gods never will grant him a seat at a banquet, "since they well know
for whom among beings they are to prepare _gambansumbl_," a banquet of
revenge or a drink of revenge. This he manifestly mentions as a threat,
referring to the fate which soon afterwards happens to Loke, when he
is captured and bound, and when a venom-spitting serpent is fastened
above his mouth. For the common assumption that _gamban_ means something
"grand," "magnificent," "divine," there is not a single shadow of reason.
_Gambanteinn_ is accordingly "the twig of revenge," and thus we have
the mythological reason why Thjasse-Volund's sword of revenge and the
mistletoe arrow were so called. With them he desires to avenge the insult
to which he refers in Volundarkvida, 28: _Nu hefi ec hefnt harma minna
allra nema einna ivithgjarnra._
[12] Holtzmann and Bergmann have long since pointed out that Harbard is
identical with Loke. The idea that Harbard, who in every trait is Loke
in Lokasenna, and, like him, appears as a mocker of the gods and boasts
of his evil deeds and of his success with the fair sex, should be Odin,
is one of the proofs showing how an unmethodical symbolic interpretation
could go astray. In the second part of this work I shall fully discuss
Harbardsljod. Proofs are to be found from the last days of heathendom in
Iceland that it was then well known that the Harbard who is mentioned in
this poem was a foe of the gods.
[13] When I come to consider the Balder-myth in the second part of
this work, I shall point out the source from which the author of
Gylfaginning, misunderstandingly, has drawn the conclusion that the man
of exploits, the warrior, the archer, and the hunter Hoder was blind. The
misunderstanding gave welcome support to the symbolic interpretation,
which, in the blind Hoder, found among other things a symbol of night
(but night has "many eyes").
117.
THE GUARD AT HVERGELMER AND THE ELIVAGAR.
It has already been shown (see Nos. 59, 93) that the Elivagar have their
source in the subterranean fountain Hvergelmer, situated on a mountain,
which separates the subterranean region of bliss (Hel) from Nifelhel.
Here, near the source of the Elivagar, stands the great world-mill,
which revolves the starry heavens, causes the ebb and flood of the
ocean and regulates its currents, and grinds the bodies of the primeval
giants into layers of mould on the rocky substrata (see Nos. 79, 80).
From Hvergelmer, the mother of all waters, the northern root of the
world-tree draws saps, which rise into its topmost branches, evaporate
into _Eikthyrnir_ above Asgard, and flow thence as vafer-laden clouds
(see No. 36), which emit fructifying showers upon Midgard, and through
the earth they return to their original source, the fountain Hvergelmer.
The Hvergelmer mountain (the Nida-mountains, _Nidafjöll_) cannot have
been left without care and protection, as it is of so vast importance
in the economy of the world, and this the less since it at the same
time forms the boundary between the lower world's realm of bliss and
Nifelhel, the subterranean Jotunheim, whose frost-thurses sustain the
same relation to the inhabitants on the evergreen fields of bliss as the
powers of frost in the upper Jotunheim sustain to the gods of Asgard and
to the inhabitants of Midgard. There is no reason for assuming that the
guard of brave sworn warriors of the Asgard gods, those warriors whom we
have already seen in array near the Elivagar, should have only a part
of this body of water to keep watch over. The clan of the elves, under
their chiefs, the three sons of Ivalde, even though direct evidence
were wanting, must be regarded as having watched over the Elivagar
along their whole extent, even to their source, and as having had the
same important duty in reference to the giants of the lower world as in
reference to those of the upper. As its name indicates, Nifelheim is
shrouded in darkness and mist, against which the peaks of the Hvergelmer
mountain form the natural rampart as a protection to the smiling fields
of bliss. But gales and storms might lift themselves above these peaks
and enshroud even Mimer's and Urd's realms in mist. The elves are endowed
with power to hinder this. The last strophe in Thorsdrapa, so interesting
from a mythological standpoint, confirms this view. Egil is there called
_hneitir undir-fjálfs bliku_, and is said to be _helblótinn_. _Blika_ is
a name for clouds while they are still near the horizon and appear as
pale vapours, which to those skilled in regard to the weather forbode
an approaching storm (compare Vigfusson's Dict., 69). _Undir-fjálfr_ is
thought by Egilson to mean subterranean mountains, by Vigfusson "the
deep," _abyssus_. _Hneitir undir-fjalfs bliku_ is "he who conquers (or
resolves, scatters) the clouds rising, storm-foreboding, from the abyss
(or over the lower-world mountain)." As Egil can be thus characterised,
it is easy to explain why he is called "_helblótinn_," "he who receives
sacrifices in the subterranean realm of bliss." He guards the Teutonic
elysian fields against the powers of frost and the mists of Nifelheim,
and therefore receives tokens of gratitude from their pious inhabitants.
The vocation of the sons of Ivalde, as the keepers of the Hvergelmer
fountain and of the Elivagar, has its counterpart in the vocation which,
in the Iranian mythology, is attributed to Thjasse's prototype, the
star-hero Tistrya (Tishya). The fountain Hvergelmer, the source of the
ocean and of all waters, has in the Iranian mythology its counterpart in
the immense body of water Vourukasha. Just as the Teutonic world-tree
grows from its northern root out of Hvergelmer, the Iranian world-tree
Gaokerena grows out of Vourukasha (Bundehesh, 18). Vourukasha is guarded
by Tistrya, assisted by two heroes belonging to the class of mythological
beings that are called Yazatas (Izads; in the Veda literature Yajata),
"they who deserve offerings," and in the Iranian mythology they form the
third rank of divine beings, and thus correspond to the elves of the
Teutonic mythology. Assisted by these two heroes and by the "fevers of
the just," Tistrya defends Vourukasha, and occasionally fights against
the demon Apaosha, who desires to destroy the world (Bundehesh, 7).
Tistrya, as such, appears in three forms: as a youth with bright and
glistening eyes, as a wild boar, and as a horse. Can it be an accident
that these forms have their counterparts in the Teutonic mythology in
the fact that one of Thjasse's brothers (Egil-Orvandel-Ebur) has the
epithet "wild boar," and that, as shall be shown below, his other brother
(Slagfin) bears the epithet Hengest, and that Thjasse-Volund himself, who
for years was possessor of, and presumably invented, the "remedy against
aging," which Idun, his beloved, has charge of--that Thjasse-Volund
himself was regarded as a youth with a "white neck" (Volundarkvida, 2)
and with glittering eyes (Volundarkvida, 17), which after his death were
placed in the heavens as stars?
118.
SLAGFIN. HIS IDENTITY WITH GJUKE. SLAGFIN, EGIL, AND VOLUND ARE
NIFLUNGS.
I now come to the third Ivalde son, Slagfin. The name Slagfin
(_Slagfidr_) occurs nowhere else than in Volundarkvida, and in the prose
introduction to the same. All that we learn of him is that, like Egil,
he accompanied his brother Volund to the Wolfdales; that, like them, he
runs on skees and is a hunter; and that, when the swan-maids, in the
ninth year of their abode in the Wolfdales, are overcome by longing and
return to the south, he goes away to find his beloved, just as Egil
goes to find his. We learn, furthermore, that Slagfin's swan-maid is a
sister of Volund's and a kinswoman of Egil's, and that she, accordingly,
is Slagfin's sister (half-sister). She is called _Hladgudr Svanhvit_,
likewise a name which occurs nowhere else. Her (and accordingly also
that of Volund's swan-maid) mother is called Swan-feather, _Svanfjödr_
(Slagfin's beloved is _Svanfjadrar drós_--str. 2). The name Svan-feather
reminds us of the Svanhild Gold-feather mentioned in Fornm., ii. 7, wife
of one Finalf. If Svanfeather is identical with Svanhild Goldfeather,
then Finalf must originally be identical with Ivalde, who also is an elf
and bears the name _Finnakonungr_, _Sumblus Phinnorum rex_. But this then
simply confirms what we already know, namely, that the Ivalde sons and
two of the swan-maids are brothers and sisters. It, however, gives us no
clue by which we can trace Slagfin in other sources, and rediscover him
bearing other names, and restore the myth concerning him which seems to
be lost. That he, however, played an important part in the mythology may
be assumed already from the fact that his brothers hold places so central
in the great epic of the mythology. It is, therefore, highly probable
that he is mentioned in our mythic fragments, though concealed under some
other name. One of these names, viz., Ide, we have already found (see
No. 114); and thereby we have learned that he, with his brother Egil,
had a citadel near the Elivagar, and guarded their coasts against the
powers of frost. But of his fate in general we are ignorant. No extensive
researches are required, however, before we find circumstances which,
compared with each other, give us the result that Slagfin is Gjuke, and
therewith the way is open for a nearer acquaintance with his position
in the heroic saga, and before that in the mythology. His identity with
Gjuke is manifest from the following circumstances:
The Gjukungs, famous in the heroic saga, are, according to the saga
itself, the first ones who bear this name. Their father is Gjuke, from
whom this patronymic is derived. Through their father they belong to a
race that is called Hniflungs, Niflungs, Nebelungs. The Gjukungs form a
branch of the Niflung race, hence all Gjukungs are Niflungs, but not all
Niflungs Gjukungs. The Younger Edda says correctly, _Af Niflunga ætt var
Gjuki_ (Younger Edda, i. 522), and Atlakvida (17) shows that the Gjukungs
constitute only a part of the Niflungs. The identity of the Gjukungs in
this relative sense with the Niflungs is known and pointed out in Atlamal
(47, 52, 88), in Brot Sigurdarkvida (16), in Atlakvida (11, 17, 27), and
in "Drap Niflunga."
Who the Niflung race are in the widest sense of the word, or what known
heroes the race embraced besides Gjuke and his sons--to this question
the saga of Helge Hundingsbane (i. 48) gives important information,
inasmuch as the passage informs us that the hostile race which Helge
Hundingsbane--that is to say, Halfdan Borgarson (see No. 29)--combats are
the Niflungs. Foremost among the Niflungs Hodbrod is mentioned in this
poem, whose betrothed Helge (Halfdan Borgarson) gets into his power. It
has already been shown that, in this heroic poem, Hodbrod is the copy of
the mythological Orvandel-Egil (see Nos. 29, 32, 101). It follows that
Volund, Orvandel-Egil, and Slagfin are Niflungs, and that Gjuke either is
identical with one of them or that he at all events is descended from the
same progenitor as they.
The great treasure of works smithied from gold and other precious things
which the Gjukungs owned, according to the heroic traditions, are
designated in the different sources in the same manner as inherited. In
Atlakvida (11) the Gjukung treasure is called _arf Niflunga_; so also
in Atlakvida (27). In Gudrunarkvida (ii. 25) the queen of the deceased
Gjuke promises her and Gjuke's daughter, Gudrun, that she is to have the
control of all the treasures "after (_at_) her dead father (_fjöld allz
fjar at thin faudur daudan_)," and we are told that those treasures,
together with the halls in which they were kept and the precious carpets,
are an inheritance after (_at_) _Hlaudver_, "the fallen prince" (_hringa
rauda Hlaudves sali, arsal allan at jofur fallin_). From Volundarkvida
we gather that Volund's and Slagfin's swan-maids are daughters of
Hlaudver and sisters of their lovers. Thus Hlaudver is identical with
Ivalde, Volund's, Egil's, and Slagfin's father (see No. 123). Ivalde's
splendidly decorated halls, together with at least one son's share of
his golden treasures, have thus passed as an inheritance to Gjuke, and
from Gjuke to his sons, the Gjukungs. While the first song about Helge
Hundingsbane tells us that Volund, Egil, and Slagfin were, like Gjuke,
Niflungs, we here learn that Gjuke was the heir of Volund's, Egil's, and
Slagfin's father. And while Thorsdrapa, compared with other sources,
has already informed us that Ide-Slagfin and Gang-Egil inhabited that
citadel near the Elivagar which is called "Ide's chalet" and Geirvadel's
(Geirvandel's) chalet, and while Geirvandel is demonstrably an epithet
of Ivalde,[14] and as Ivalde's citadel accordingly passed into the
possession of Slagfin and Egil, we here find that Ivalde's citadel was
inherited by Gjuke. Finally, we must compare herewith Bragarædur (ch.
2), where it is said that Ivalde (there called Olvalde) was survived by
his sons, who harmoniously divided his great treasures. Thus Gjuke is one
of the sons of Ivalde, and inherited halls and treasures after Ivalde;
and as he can be neither Volund nor Egil, whose fates we already know,
he must be Slagfin--a result confirmed by the evidence which we shall
gradually present below.
[14] In Saxo Gervandillus (_Geirvandill_) is the father of Horvandillus
(_Örvandill_). Orvandel has been proved to be identical with Egil. And as
Egil is the son of Ivalde, Geirvandel is identical with Ivalde.
119.
THE NIFLUNG HOARD IS THE TREASURE LEFT BY VOLUND AND HIS
BROTHERS.