The Icelandic Eddas are the only vernacular record of Germanic
heathendom as it developed during the four centuries which in England
saw the destruction of nearly all traces of the heathen system. The
so-called Elder Edda is a collection of some thirty poems, mythic and
heroic in substance, interspersed with short pieces of prose, which
survives in a thirteenth-century MS., known as the Codex Regius,
discovered in Iceland in 1642; to these are added other poems of
similar character from other sources. The Younger Edda is a prose
paraphrase of, and commentary on, these poems and others which are
lost, together with a treatise on metre, written by the historian
Snorri Sturluson about 1220.
This use of the word Edda is incorrect and unhistorical, though
convenient and sanctioned by the use of several centuries. It was early
used as a general term for the rules and materials for versemaking,
and applied in this sense to Snorri's work. When the poems on which
his paraphrase is founded were discovered, Icelandic scholars by a
misunderstanding applied the name to them also; and as they attributed
the collection quite arbitrarily to the historian Saemund (1056-1133),
it was long known as Saemundar Edda, a name now generally discarded in
favour of the less misleading titles of Elder or Poetic Edda. From its
application to this collection, the word derives a more extended use,
(1) as a general term for Norse mythology; (2) as a convenient name
to distinguish the simpler style of these anonymous narrative poems
from the elaborate formality of the Skalds.
The poems of the Edda are certainly older than the MS., although
the old opinion as to their high antiquity is untenable. The majority
probably date from the tenth century in their present form; this dating
does not necessitate the ascription of the shape in which the legends
are presented, still less of their substance, to that period. With
regard to the place of their composition opinions vary widely,
Norway, the British Isles and Greenland having all found champions;
but the evidence is rather questionable, and I incline to leave
them to the country which has preserved them. They are possibly of
popular origin; this, together with their epic or narrative character,
would account for the striking absence from them of some of the chief
characteristics of Skaldic poetry: the obscuring of the sense by the
elaborate interlacing of sentences and the extensive use of kennings
or mythological synonyms, and the complication of the metre by such
expedients as the conjunction of end-rhyme with alliteration. Eddie
verse is governed solely by the latter, and the strophic arrangement
is simple, only two forms occurring: (1) couplets of alliterative
short lines; (2) six-line strophes, consisting of a couplet followed
by a single short line, the whole repeated.
Roughly speaking, the first two-fifths of the MS. is mythological,
the rest heroic. I propose to observe this distinction, and to
deal in this study with the stories of the Gods. In this connexion,
Snorri's Edda and the mythical Ynglinga Saga may also be considered,
but as both were compiled a couple of centuries or more after the
introduction of Christianity into Iceland, it is uncertain how much in
them is literary explanation of tradition whose meaning was forgotten;
some also, especially in Snorri, is probably pure invention, fairy
tale rather than myth.
Many attempts have been made to prove that the material of the Edda
is largely borrowed. The strength and distinction of Icelandic poetry
rest rather on the fact that it is original and national and, like
that of Greece, owes little to foreign sources; and that it began in
the heathen age, before Christian or Romantic influences had touched
Iceland. Valuable as the early Christian poetry of England is, we look
in vain there for the humour, the large-minded simplicity of motive,
the suggestive character-drawing, the swift dramatic action, which
are as conspicuous in many poems in the Edda as in many of the Sagas.
Omitting the heroic poems, there are in Codex Regius the following: (1)
Of a more or less comprehensive character, _Völuspa, Vafthrudnismal,
Grimnismal, Lokasenna, Harbardsljod_; (2) dealing with episodes,
_Hymiskvida, Thrymskvida, Skirnisför. Havamal_ is a collection
of proverbs, but contains two interpolations from mythical
poems; _Alvissmal_, which, in the form of a dialogue between
Thor and a dwarf Alviss, gives a list of synonyms, is a kind of
mythologico-poetical glossary. Several of these poems are found
in another thirteenth-century vellum fragment, with an additional
one, variously styled _Vegtamskvida_ or _Baldr's Dreams_; the great
fourteenth-century codex Flateybook contains _Hyndluljod_, partly
genealogical, partly an imitation of _Völuspa_; and one of the MSS. of
Snorri's Edda gives us _Rigsthula_.
_Völuspa_, though not one of the earliest poems, forms an appropriate
opening. Metrical considerations forbid an earlier date than the
first quarter of the eleventh century, and the last few lines are
still later. The material is, however, older: the poem is an outline,
in allusions often obscure to us, of traditions and beliefs familiar to
its first hearers. The very bareness of the outline is sufficient proof
that the material is not new. The framework is apparently imitated from
that of the poem known as _Baldr's Dreams_, some lines from which are
inserted in _Völuspa_. This older poem describes Odin's visit to the
Sibyl in hell-gates to inquire into the future. He rides down to her
tomb at the eastern door of Nifl-hell and chants spells, until she
awakes and asks: "What man unknown to me is that, who has troubled me
with this weary journey? Snow has snowed on me, rain has beaten me,
dew has drenched me, I have long been dead." He gives the name Wegtam,
or Way-wise, and then follow question and answer until she discovers
his identity and will say no more. In _Völuspa_ there is no descriptive
introduction, and no dialogue; the whole is spoken by the Sibyl,
who plunges at once into her story, with only the explanatory words:
"Thou, Valfather, wouldst have me tell the ancient histories of men as
far as I remember." She describes the creation of the world and sky
by Bor's sons; the building by the Gods of a citadel in Ida-plain,
and their age of innocence till three giant-maids brought greed of
gold; the creation of the dwarfs; the creation of the first man and
woman out of two trees by Odin, Hoeni and Lodur; the world-ash and
the spring beside it where dwell the three Norns who order the fates
of men. Then follows an allusion to the war between the Aesir and the
Vanir, the battle with the giants who had got possession of the goddess
Freyja, and the breaking of bargains; an obscure reference to Mimi's
spring where Odin left his eye as a pledge; and an enumeration of his
war-maids or Valkyries. Turning to the future, the Sibyl prophesies
the death of Baldr, the vengeance on his slayer, and the chaining of
Loki, the doom of the Gods and the destruction of the world at the
coming of the fire-giants and the release of Loki's children from
captivity. The rest of the poem seems to be later; it tells how the
earth shall rise again from the deep, and the Aesir dwell once more
in Odin's halls, and there is a suggestion of Christian influence in
it which is absent from the earlier part.
Of the other general poems, the next four were probably composed before
950; in each the setting is different. _Vafthrudnismal_, a riddle-poem,
shows Odin in a favourite position, seeking in disguise for knowledge
of the future. Under the name of Gangrad (Wanderer), he visits the
wise giant Vafthrudni, and the two agree to test their wisdom: the one
who fails to answer a question is to forfeit his head. In each case
the questions deal first with the past. Vafthrudni asks about Day and
Night, and the river which divides the Giants from the Gods, matters of
common knowledge; and then puts a question as to the future: "What is
the plain where Surt and the blessed Gods shall meet in battle?" Odin
replies, and proceeds to question in his turn; first about the creation
of Earth and Sky, the origin of Sun and Moon, Winter and Summer, the
Giants and the Winds; the coming of Njörd the Wane to the Aesir as
a hostage; the Einherjar, or chosen warriors of Valhalla. Then come
prophetic questions on the destruction of the Sun by the wolf Fenri,
the Gods who shall rule in the new world after Ragnarök, the end of
Odin. The poem is brought to a close by Odin's putting the question
which only himself can answer: "What did Odin say in his son's ear
before he mounted the pyre?" and the giant's head is forfeit.
In the third poem of this class, _Grimnismal_, a prose introduction
relates that Odin and Frigg quarrelled over the merits of their
respective foster-children. To settle the question, Odin goes
disguised as Grimni, "the Hooded One," to visit his foster-son Geirröd;
but Frigg, to justify her charge of inhospitality against Geirröd,
sends her maiden Fulla to warn him against the coming stranger. Odin
therefore meets with a harsh reception, and is bound between two fires
in the hall. Geirröd's young son, Agnar, protests against this rude
treatment, and gives wine to the guest, who then begins to instruct
him in matters concerning the Gods. He names the halls of the Aesir,
describes Valhalla and the ash Yggdrasil, the Valkyries, the creation
of the world (two stanzas in common with _Vafthrudnismal_), and
enumerates his own names. The poem ends with impressive abruptness
by his turning to Geirröd:
"Thou art drunk, Geirröd, thou hast drunk too deep; thou art bereft
of much since thou hast lost my favour, the favour of Odin and all
the Einherjar. I have told thee much, but thou hast minded little. Thy
friends betray thee: I see my friend's sword lie drenched in blood. Now
shall Odin have the sword-weary slain; I know thy life is ended,
the Fates are ungracious. Now thou canst see Odin: come near me,
if thou canst."
[Prose.] "King Geirröd sat with his sword on his knee, half drawn. When
he heard that Odin was there, he stood up and would have led Odin
from the fires. The sword slipt from his hand; the hilt turned
downwards. The king caught his foot and fell forwards, the sword
standing towards him, and so he met his death. Then Odin went away,
and Agnar was king there long afterwards."
_Harbardsljod_ is a dialogue, and humorous. Thor on his return from
the east comes to a channel, at the farther side of which stands Odin,
disguised as a ferryman, Greybeard. He refuses to ferry Thor across,
and they question each other as to their past feats, with occasional
threats from Thor and taunts from Odin, until the former goes off
vowing vengeance on the ferryman:
_Thor_. "Thy skill in words would serve thee ill if I waded across
the water; I think thou wouldst cry louder than the wolf, if thou
shouldst get a blow from the hammer."
_Odin_. "Sif has a lover at home, thou shouldst seek him. That is a
task for thee to try, it is more proper for thee."
_Thor_. "Thou speakest what thou knowest most displeasing to me;
thou cowardly fellow, I think that thou liest."
_Odin_. "I think I speak true; thou art slow on the road. Thou wouldst
have got far, if thou hadst started at dawn."
_Thor_. "Harbard, scoundrel, it is rather thou who hast delayed me."
_Odin_. "I never thought a shepherd could so delay Asa-Thor's journey."
_Thor_. "I will counsel thee: row thy boat hither. Let us cease
quarrelling; come and meet Magni's father."
_Odin_. "Leave thou the river; crossing shall be refused thee."
_Thor_. "Show me the way, since thou wilt not ferry me."
_Odin_. "That is a small thing to refuse. It is a long way to go: a
while to the stock, and another to the stone, then keep to the left
hand till thou reach Verland. There will Fjörgyn meet her son Thor,
and she will tell him the highway to Odin's land."
_Thor_. "Shall I get there to-day?"
_Odin_. "With toil and trouble thou wilt get there about sunrise,
as I think."
_Thor_. "Our talk shall be short, since thou answerest with mockery. I
will reward thee for refusing passage, if we two meet again."
_Odin_. "Go thy way, where all the fiends may take thee."
_Lokasenna_ also is in dialogue form. A prose introduction tells
how the giant Oegi, or Gymi, gave a feast to the Aesir. Loki was
turned out for killing a servant, but presently returned and began to
revile the Gods and Goddesses, each one in turn trying to interfere,
only to provoke a taunt from Loki. At last Thor, who had been absent
on a journey, came in and threatened the slanderer with his hammer,
whereupon Loki said, "I spoke to the Aesir and the sons of the Aesir
what my mind told me; but for thee alone I will go away, for I know
thou wilt strike." Some of the poem is rather pointless abuse, but
much touches points already suggested in the other poems.
_Hyndluljod_ is much later than the others, probably not before
1200. The style is late, and the form imitated from _Völuspa_. It
describes a visit paid by Freyja to the Sibyl to learn the genealogy of
her favourite Ottar. The larger part deals with heroic genealogies, but
there are scanty allusions to Baldr, Frey, Heimdal, Loki's children,
and Thor, and a Christian reference to a God who shall come after
Ragnarök "when Odin shall meet the wolf." It tells nothing new.
We have here then, omitting _Hyndluljod_, five poems (four of them
belonging to the first half of the tenth century) which suggest a
general outline of Norse mythology: there is a hierarchy of Gods, the
Aesir, who live together in a citadel, Odin being the chief. Among
them are several who are not Aesir by origin: Njörd and his son and
daughter, Frey and Freyja, are Vanir; Loki is really an enemy and
an agent in their fall; and there are one or two Goddesses of giant
race. The giants are rivals and enemies to the Gods; the dwarfs are
also antagonistic, but in bondage. The meeting-place of the Gods is
by the World-Ash, Yggdrasil, on whose well-being the fate of Gods
and men depends; at its root lies the World-Snake. The Gods have
foreknowledge of their own doom, Ragnarök, the great fight when they
shall meet Loki's children, the Wolf and the Snake; both sides will
fall and the world be destroyed. An episode in the story is the death
of Baldr. This we may assume to be the religion of the Viking age
(800-1000 A.D.), a compound of the beliefs of various ages and tribes.
_The Aesir._--The number of the Aesir is not fixed. _Hyndluljod_
says there were twelve ("there were eleven Aesir when Baldr went
down into the howe"). Snorri gives a list of fourteen Aesir or Gods
(Odin, Thor, Baldr, Njörd, Frey, Tyr, Bragi, Heimdal, Höd, Vidar, Vali,
Ullr, Forseti, Loki), and adds Hoeni in another list, all the fifteen
occurring in the poems; and sixteen Goddesses (Asynjor), the majority
of whom are merely personified epithets, occurring nowhere else. Of
the sixteen, Frigg, Gefion, Freyja and Saga (really an epithet only)
are Goddesses in the poems, and Fulla is Frigg's handmaid. In another
chapter, Snorri adds Idunn, Gerd, Sigyn and Nanna, of whom the latter
does not appear in the Elder Edda, where Idunn, Gerd (a giantess)
and Sigyn are the wives of Bragi, Frey and Loki; and two others,
the giantess Skadi and Sif, are the wives of Njörd and Thor.
A striking difference from classical mythology is that neither Tyr
(who should etymologically be the Sky-god), nor Thor (the Thunder-god),
takes the highest place. Tyr is the hero of one important episode,
the chaining of the Wolf, through which he loses his right hand. This
is told in full by Snorri and alluded to in _Lokasenna_, both in the
prose preface ("Tyr also was there, with only one hand; the Fenris-wolf
had bitten off the other, when he was bound") and in the poem itself:
_Loki_. "I must remember that right hand which Fenri bit off thee."
_Tyr_. "I am short of a hand, but thou of the famous wolf; to each
the loss is ill-luck. Nor is the wolf in better plight, for he must
wait in bonds till Ragnarök."
Otherwise, he only appears in connexion with two more popular Gods:
he speaks in Frey's defence in _Lokasenna_, and in _Hymiskvida_ he
is Thor's companion in the search for a cauldron; the latter poem
represents him as a giant's son.
Thor, on the other hand, is second only to his father Odin; he is
the strongest of the Gods and their champion against the giants,
and his antagonist at Ragnarök is to be the World-Snake. Like Odin,
he travels much, but while the chief God generally goes craftily and
in disguise, to gain knowledge or test his wisdom, Thor's errands are
warlike; in _Lokasenna_ he is absent on a journey, in _Harbardsljod_
and _Alvissmal_ he is returning from one. His journeys are always
to the east; so in _Harbardsljod_: "I was in the east, fighting
the malevolent giant-brides.... I was in the east and guarding the
river, when Svarang's sons attacked me." The Giants live in the
east (_Hymiskvida_ 5); Thor threatened Loki: "I will fling thee up
into the east, and no one shall see thee more" (_Lokasenna_ 59);
the fire-giants at Ragnarök are to come from the east: "Hrym comes
driving from the east, he lifts his shield before him.... A ship
comes from the east, Muspell's sons will come sailing over the
sea, and Loki steers" (_Völuspa_ 50, 51). It would not, perhaps,
be overstraining the point to suggest that this is a reminiscence of
early warfare between the Scandinavians and eastern nations, either
Lapps and Finns or Slavonic tribes.
Thor is the God of natural force, the son of Earth. Two of the
episodical poems deal with his contests with the giants. _Thrymskvida_,
the story of how Thor won back his hammer, Mjöllni, from the giant
Thrym, is the finest and one of the oldest of the mythological poems;
a translation is given in the appendix, as an example of Eddic poetry
at its best. Loki appears as the willing helper of the Gods, and Thor's
companion. The Thunderer's journey with Tyr in quest of a cauldron
is related with much humour in _Hymiskvida_: Hymi's beautiful wife,
who helps her guests to outwit her husband, is a figure familiar in
fairy-tales as the Ogre's wife.
The chief God of the Scandinavians is, it must be confessed, an
unsympathetic character. He is the head of the Valhalla system;
he is Val-father (Father of the Slain), and the Valkyries are his
"Wishmaidens," as the Einherjar are his "Wishsons." He naturally takes
a special interest in mortal heroes, from whom come the chosen hosts
of Valhalla. But, in spite of the splendour of his surroundings, he
is wanting in dignity. The chief of the Gods has neither the might and
unthinking valour of Thor, nor the self-sacrificing courage of Tyr. He
is a God who practises magic, and it is as Father of Spells that he is
powerful. He is the wisest of the Gods in the sense that he remembers
most about the past and foresees most about the future; yet he is
powerless in difficulty without the craft of Loki and the hammer of
Thor. He always wanders in disguise, and the stories told of him are
chiefly love-adventures; this is true of all the deeds he mentions
in _Harbardsljod_, and also of the two interpolations in _Havamal_,
though one of the two had an object, the stealing of the mead of
inspiration from the giant Suptung, whose daughter Gunnlöd guarded it.
_Völuspa_ makes him one of three creative deities, the other two being
Lodur (probably Loki) and Hoeni, of whom nothing else is known except
the story that he was given as hostage to the Vanir in exchange for
Njörd. The same three Gods (Odin, Loki and Hoeni) are connected with
the legend of the Nibelung treasure; and it was another adventure of
theirs, according to Snorri, which led to the loss of Idunn.
Of the other Gods, Bragi is a later development; his name means
simply king or chief, and his attributes, as God of eloquence and
poetry, are apparently borrowed from Odin. Heimdal, the watchman and
"far-seeing like the Vanir," who keeps guard on the rainbow bridge
Bifröst, is represented in the curious poem _Rigsthula_ as founder of
the different social orders. He wandered over the world under the name
of Rig, and from his first journey sprang the race of thralls, swarthy,
crooked and broad-backed, who busied themselves with fencing land and
tending goats and swine; from his second, the churls, fine and ruddy,
who broke oxen, built houses and ploughed the land; from his third,
the earls, yellow-haired, rosy, and keen-eyed, who broke horses and
strung bows, rode, swam, and hurled spears; and the youngest of the
earls' race was Konung the king, who knew all mysteries, understood
the speech of birds, could quench fire and heal wounds. Heimdal is
said to be the son of nine mothers, and to have fought with Loki for
Freyja's Brising-necklace. His horn is hidden under Yggdrasil, to be
brought out at Ragnarök, when he will blow a warning blast. His origin
is obscure. Still less is known of Vidar and Vali, two sons of Odin,
one of whom is to avenge Baldr's death, the other to slay the wolf
after it has swallowed up the chief God at Ragnarök. Thor's stepson
Ullr (Glory) is probably, like his sons Modi and Magni (Wrath and
Strength), a mere epithet.
Frigg, Odin's wife and the chief Goddess, daughter of Earth,
is not very distinctly characterised, and is often confused with
Freyja. Gefion should be the sea-goddess, since that seems to be
the meaning of her name, but her functions are apparently usurped by
the Wane Njörd; according to Snorri, she is the patron of those who
die unwedded.
_Baldr_.--The story of Baldr is the most debated point in the Edda. The
chief theories advanced are: (1) That it is the oldest part of Norse
mythology, and of ritual origin; (2) that Baldr is really a hero
transformed into a God; (3) that the legend is a solar myth with
or without Christian colouring; (4) that it is entirely borrowed
from Mediæval Greek and Christian sources. This last theory is too
ingenious to be credible; and with regard to the third, there is
nothing essentially Christian in the chief features of the legend,
while the solar idea leaves too much unexplained. The references to
the myth in the Elder Edda are:
(1) _Vegtamskvida_ (about 900 A.D.). Odin questions the Sibyl as to
the meaning of Baldr's dreams:
_Odin_. "For whom are the benches (in hell) strewn with rings, the
halls fairly adorned with gold?"
_Sibyl_. "Here the mead, clear drink, stands brewed for Baldr; the
shields are spread. The sons of the Aesir are too merry."
_Odin_. "Who will be Baldr's slayer and rob Odin's son of life?"
_Sibyl_. "Höd bears thither the high branch of fame: he will be
Baldr's slayer and rob Odin's son of life."
_Odin_. "Who will avenge the deed on Höd and bring Baldr's slayer to
the funeral pyre?"
_Sibyl_. "Rind bears a son, Vali, in the halls of the west. He shall
not wash his hands nor comb his hair till he bears Baldr's foe to
the pyre."
(2) In _Lokasenna_ Frigg says: "If I had a son like Baldr here in
Oegi's halls, thou shouldst not pass out from the sons of the Aesir,
but be slain here in thy anger"; to which Loki replies, "Wilt thou
that I speak more ill words, Frigg? I am the cause that thou wilt
never more see Baldr ride into the hall."
(3) In _Vafthrudnismal_ the only reference is Odin's question,
"What said Odin in his son's ear when he mounted the pyre?"
(4) In _Völuspa_ the Sibyl prophesies, "I saw doom threatening Baldr,
the bleeding victim, the son of Odin. Grown high above the meadows
stood the mistletoe, slender and fair. From this stem, which looked
so slender, grew a fatal and dangerous shaft. Höd shot it, and Frigg
wept in Fenhall over Valhall's woe." The following lines, on the
chaining of Loki, suggest his complicity.
(5) _Hyndluljod_ has one reference: "There were eleven Aesir by
number when Baldr went down into the howe. Vali was his avenger and
slew his brother's slayer."
Besides these there is a fragment quoted by Snorri: "Thökk will weep
dry tears at Baldr's funeral pyre. I had no good of the old man's
son alive or dead; let Hel keep what she has." _Grimnismal_ assigns
a hall to Baldr among the Gods.
There are, in addition, two prose versions of the story by later
writers: the Icelandic version of Snorri (1178-1241) with all the
details familiar to every one; and the Latin one of the Dane Saxo
Grammaticus (about thirty years earlier), which makes Baldr and Höd
heroes instead of Gods, and completely alters the character of the
legend by making a rivalry for Nanna's favour the centre of the plot
and cause of the catastrophe. On the Eddic version and on Saxo's
depend the theories of Golther, Detter, Niedner and other German
scholars on the one hand, and Dr. Frazer on the other.
It has often been pointed out that there is no trace of Baldr-worship
in other Germanic nations, nor in any of the Icelandic sagas except
the late Frithjofssaga. This, however, is true of other Gods, notably
of Tyr, who is without question one of the oldest. The only deities
named with any suggestion of sacrifice or worship in the Icelandic
sagas proper are Odin, Thor, Frey, Njörd, Frigg and Freyja. The process
of choice is as arbitrary in mythology as in other sciences. Again,
it is more likely that the original version of the legend should have
survived in Iceland than in Denmark, which, being on the mainland,
was earlier subject to Christian and Romantic influences; and
that a heathen God should, in the two or three centuries following
the establishment of Christianity in the North, be turned into a
mortal hero, than that the reverse process should have acted at a
sufficiently late date to permit of both versions existing side by
side in the thirteenth century. A similar gradual elimination of the
supernatural may be found in the history of the Volsung myth. Snorri's
version is merely an amplification of that in the Elder Edda, which,
scanty as its account of Baldr is, leaves no doubt as to his divinity.
The outline gathered from the poems is as follows: Baldr, Odin's son,
is killed by his brother Höd through a mistletoe spray; Loki is in some
way concerned in his death, which is an overwhelming misfortune to the
Gods; but it is on Höd that his death is avenged. He is burnt on a pyre
(Snorri says on his ship, a feature which must come from the Viking
age; _Hyndluljod_ substitutes howe-burial). He will be absent from
the great fight at Ragnarök, but _Völuspa_ adds that he will return
afterwards. Nanna has nothing to do with the story. The connexion with
the hierarchy of the Aesir seems external only, since Baldr has no
apparent relation to the great catastrophe as have Odin, Thor, Frej,
Tyr and Loki; this, then, would point to the independence of his myth.
The genuineness of the myth seems to depend on whether the mistletoe
is an original feature of it or not, and on this point there can
be little real doubt. The German theory that Baldr could only be
killed by his own sword, which was therefore disguised by enchantment
and used against him, and that the Icelandic writers misunderstood
this to mean a mistletoe sprig, is far-fetched and romantic, and
crumbles at a touch. For if, as it is claimed, the Icelanders had no
mistletoe, why should they introduce it into a story to which it did
not belong? They might preserve it by tradition, but they would hardly
invent it. Granting this, the mistletoe becomes the central point of
the legend. The older mythologists, who only saw in it a sun-myth,
overlooked the fact that since any weapon would have done to kill
the God with, the mistletoe must have some special significance; and
if it is a genuine part of the story, as we have no reason to doubt,
it will be hard to overturn Dr. Frazer's theory that the Baldr-myth
is a relic of tree-worship and the ritual sacrifice of the God,
Baldr being a tree-spirit whose soul is contained in the mistletoe.
The contradictions in the story, especially as told by Snorri
(such as the confusion between the parts played by Höd and Loki,
and the unsuspicious attitude of the Gods as Loki directs Höd's aim)
are sometimes urged against its genuineness. They are rather proofs
of antiquity. Apparent contradictions whose explanation is forgotten
often survive in tradition; the inventor of a new story takes care to
make it consistent. It is probable, however, that there were originally
only two actors in the episode, the victim and the slayer, and that
Loki's part is later than Höd's, for he really belongs to the Valhall
and Ragnarök myth, and was only introduced here as a link. The incident
of the oath extracted from everything on earth to protect Baldr, which
occurs in Snorri and in a paper MS. of _Baldr's Dreams_, was probably
invented to explain the choice of weapon, which would certainly need
explanation to an Icelandic audience. If Dr. Frazer's theory be right,
Vali, who slew the slayer, must also have been an original figure in
the legend. His antiquity is supported by the fact that he plays the
part of avenger in the poems; while in Snorri, where he is mentioned
as a God, his absence from the account of Baldr's death is only a
part of that literary development by which real responsibility for
the murder was transferred from Höd to Loki.
Snorri gives Baldr a son, Forseti (Judge), who is also named as a
God in _Grimnismal_. He must have grown out of an epithet of Baldr's,
of whom Snorri says that "no one can resist his sentence"; the sacred
tree would naturally be the seat of judgment.
* * * * *
_The Wanes._--Three of the Norse divinities, Njörd and his son and
daughter, are not Aesir by descent. The following account is given
of their presence in Asgard:
(1) In _Vafthrudnismal_, Odin asks:
"Whence came Njörd among the sons of the Aesir? for he was not born
of the Aesir."
_Vafthrudni_. "In Vanaheim wise powers ordained and gave him for a
hostage to the Gods; at the doom of the world he shall come back,
home to the wise Wanes."
(2) There is an allusion in _Völuspa_ to the war which caused the
giving of hostages:
"Odin shot into the host: this was the first war in the world. Broken
was the wall of the citadel of the Aesir, so that the Wanes could
tread the fields of war."
(3) Loki taunts Njörd with his position, in _Lokasenna_:
"Thou wast sent from the east as a hostage to the Gods...."
_Njörd_. "This is my comfort, though I was sent from far as a hostage
to the Gods, yet I have a son whom no one hates, and he is thought
the best of the Aesir."
_Loki_. "Stay, Njörd, restrain thy pride; I will hide it no longer:
thy son is thine own sister's son, and that is no worse than one
would expect."
_Tyr_. "Frey is the best of all the bold riders of Asgard."
There is little doubt that Njörd was once a God of higher importance
than he is in the Edda, where he is overshadowed by his son. Grimm's
suggestion that he and the goddess Nerthus, mentioned by Tacitus,
were brother and sister, is supported by the line in _Lokasenna_; it
is an isolated reference, and the Goddess has left no other traces in
Scandinavian mythology. They were the deities, probably agricultural,
of an earlier age, whose adoption by the later Northmen was explained
by the story of the compact between Aesir and Vanir. Then their places
were usurped by Frey and Freyja, who were possibly created out of
epithets originally applied to the older pair; Njörd was retained
with lessened importance, Nerthus passed out altogether. The Edda
gives Njörd a giant-bride, Skadi, who was admitted among the Gods in
atonement for the slaying of her father Thiazi; she is little more
than a name. Frey and Freyja have other marks of agricultural deities,
besides their relationship. Nothing is said about Frey's changing
shape, but Freyja possesses a hawk-dress which Loki borrows when
he wishes to change his form; and, according to Snorri, Frey was
sacrificed to for the crops. Njörd has an epithet, "the wealthy,"
which may have survived from his earlier connexion with the soil. In
that case, it would explain why, in Snorri and elsewhere, he is God of
the sea and ships, once the province of the ocean-goddess Gefion; the
transference is a natural one to an age whose wealth came from the sea.
In spite of their origin, Frey and Freyja become to all intents
and purposes Aesir. Frey is to be one of the chief combatants at
Ragnarök, with the fire-giant Surt for his antagonist, and a story is
told to explain his defeat: he fell in love with Gerd, a giant-maid,
and sacrificed his sword to get her; hence he is weaponless at the
last fight. Loki alludes to this episode in _Lokasenna_: "With gold
didst thou buy Gymi's daughter, and gavest thy sword for her; but when
Muspell's sons ride over Myrkwood, thou shalt not know with what to
fight, unhappy one." The story is told in full in _Skirnisför_.
Freyja is called by Snorri "the chief Goddess after Frigg," and the
two are sometimes confused. Like her father and brother, she comes into
connexion with the giants; she is the beautiful Goddess, and coveted by
them. _Völuspa_ says that the Gods went into consultation to discuss
"who had given the bride of Od (_i.e._, Freyja) to the giant race";
_Thrymskvida_ relates how the giant Thrym bargained for Freyja as
the ransom for Thor's hammer, which he had hidden, and how Loki and
Thor outwitted him; and Snorri says the giants bargained for her as
the price for building Valhalla, but were outwitted. Sir G.W. Dasent
notices in the folk-tales the eagerness of trolls and giants to learn
the details of the agricultural processes, and this is probably the
clue to the desire of the Frost-Giants in the Edda for the possession
of Freyja. Idunn, the wife of Bragi, and a purely Norse creation, seems
to be a double of Freyja; she, too, according to Snorri, is carried
away by the giants and rescued by Loki. The golden apples which she
is to keep till Ragnarök remind us of those which Frey offered to
Gerd; and the gift of eternal youth, of which they are the symbols,
would be appropriate enough to Freyja as an agricultural deity.
The great necklace Brising, stolen by Loki and won back in fight
by Heimdal (according to the tenth-century Skalds Thjodulf and Ulf
Uggason), is Freyja's property. On this ground, she has been identified
with the heroine of _Svipdag and Menglad_, a poem undoubtedly old,
though it has only come down in paper MSS. It is in two parts, the
first telling how Svipdag aroused the Sibyl Groa, his mother, to
give him spells to guard him on his journey; the second describing
his crossing the wall of fire which surrounded his fated bride
Menglad. If Menglad is really Freyja, the "Necklace-glad," it is a
curious coincidence that one poem connects the waverlowe, or ring of
fire, with Frey also; for his bride Gerd is protected in the same way,
though his servant Skirni goes through it in his place:
_Skirni_. "Give me the horse that will bear me through the dark magic
waverlowe, and the sword that fights of itself against the giant-race."
_Frey_. "I give thee the horse that will bear thee through the dark
magic waverlowe, and the sword that will fight of itself if he is
bold who bears it." (_Skirnisför_.)
The connexion of both with the Midsummer fires, originally part of
an agricultural ritual, can hardly be doubted.
* * * * *
_Loki_, or Lopt, is a strange figure. He is admitted among the Aesir,
though not one of them by birth, and his whole relation to them
points to his being an older elemental God. He is in alliance with
them against the giants; he and Odin have sworn blood-brothership,
according to _Lokasenna_, and he helps Thor to recover his hammer
that Asgard may be defended against the giants. On the other hand,
while in present alliance with the Gods, he is chief agent in their
future destruction, and this they know. In Snorri, he is a mischievous
spirit of the fairy-tale kind, exercising his ingenuity alternately in
getting the Gods into difficulties, and in getting them out again. So
he betrays Idunn to the giants, and delivers her; he makes the bargain
by which Freyja is promised to the giant-builders of Valhalla,
and invents the trick by which they are cheated of their prize;
by killing the otter he endangers his own head, Odin's and Hoeni's,
and he obtains the gold which buys their atonement. Hence, in the
systematising of the Viking religion, the responsibility for Baldr's
death also was transferred to him. At the coming of the fire-giants
at Ragnarök, he is to steer the ship in which Muspell's sons sail
(_Völuspa_), further evidence of his identity as a fire-spirit. Like
his son the Wolf, he is chained by the Gods; the episode is related
in a prose-piece affixed to _Lokasenna_:
"After that Loki hid himself in Franangr's Foss in the form of
a salmon. There the Aesir caught him. He was bound with the guts
of his son Nari, but his son Narfi was changed into a wolf. Skadi
took a poisonous snake and fastened it up over Loki's face, and the
poison dropped down. Sigyn, Loki's wife, sat there and held a cup
under the poison. But when it was full she poured the poison away,
and meanwhile poison dropped on Loki, and he struggled so hard that
all the earth shook; those are called earthquakes now."
_Völuspa_ inserts lines corresponding to this passage after the
Baldr episode, and Snorri makes it a consequence of Loki's share in
that event.
He is more especially agent of the doom through his children:
at Ragnarök, Fenri the Wolf, bound long before by Tyr's help,
will be freed, and swallow the sun (_Vafthrudnismal_) and Odin
(_Vafthrudnismal_ and _Völuspa_); and Jörmungandr, the Giant-Snake,
will rise from the sea where he lies curled round the world, to slay
and be slain by Thor. The dragon's writhing in the waves is one
of the tokens to herald Ragnarök, and his battle with Thor is the
fiercest combat of that day. Only _Völuspa_ of our poems gives any
account of it: "Then comes the glorious son of Hlodyn, Odin's son
goes to meet the serpent; Midgard's guardian slays him in his rage,
but scarcely can Earth's son reel back nine feet from the dragon."
When Thor goes fishing with the giant Hymi, he terrifies his companion
by dragging the snake's head out of the sea, but he does not slay it;
it must wait there till Ragnarök:
"The protector of men, the only slayer of the Serpent, baited his hook
with the ox's head. The God-hated one who girds all lands from below
swallowed the bait. Doughtily pulled mighty Thor the poison-streaked
serpent up to the side; he struck down with his hammer the hideous
head of the wolf's companion. The monster roared, the wilderness
resounded, the old earth shuddered all through. The fish sank back
into the sea. Gloomy was the giant when they rowed back, so that he
spoke not a word."
There is nothing to suggest that Jörmungandr, to whom the word
World-Snake (Midgardsorm) always refers in the Edda, is the same as
Nidhögg, the serpent that gnaws at Yggdrasil's roots; but both are
relics of Snake-worship.
* * * * *
_The World-Ash_, generally called Yggdrasil's Ash, is one of the most
interesting survivals of tree-worship. It is described by the Sibyl
in _Völuspa_: "I know an ash called Yggdrasil, a high tree sprinkled
with white moisture (thence come the dews that fall in the dales):
it stands ever-green by Urd's spring. Thence come three maids,
all-knowing, from the hall that stands under the tree"; and as a
sign of the approaching doom she says: "Yggdrasil's ash trembles as
it stands; the old tree groans." _Grimnismal_ says that the Gods go
every day to hold judgment by the ash, and describes it further:
"Three roots lie three ways under Yggdrasil's ash: Hel dwells under
one, the frost-giants under the second, mortal men under the third. The
squirrel is called Ratatosk who shall run over Yggdrasil's ash;
he shall carry down the eagle's words, and tell them to Nidhögg
below. There are four harts, with necks thrown back, who gnaw
off the shoots.... More serpents lie under Yggdrasil's ash than
any one knows. Ofni and Svafni I know will ever gnaw at the tree's
twigs. Yggdrasil's ash suffers more hardships than men know: the hart
bites above, the side decays, and Nidhögg gnaws below.... Yggdrasil's
ash is the best of trees."
The snake and the tree are familiar in other mythologies, though in
most other cases the snake is the protector, while here he is the
destroyer. Both Nidhögg and Jörmungandr are examples of the destroying
dragon rather than the treasure-guardian. The Ash is the oracle: the
judgment-place of the Gods, the dwelling of the Fates, the source of
the spring of knowledge.
* * * * *
_Ragnarök_.--The Twilight of the Gods (or Doom of the Gods) is the
central point of the Viking religion. The Regin (of which _Ragna_
is genitive plural) are the ruling powers, often called Ginnregin
(the great Gods), Uppregin (the high Gods), Thrymregin (the warrior
Gods). The word is commonly used of the Aesir in _Völuspa_; in
_Alvissmal_ the Regin seem to be distinguished from both Aesir and
Vanir. The whole story of the Aesir is overshadowed by knowledge of
this coming doom, the time when they shall meet foes more terrible
than the giants, and fall before them; their constant effort is to
learn what will happen then, and to gather their forces together
to meet it. The coming Ragnarök is the reason for the existence of
Valhalla with its hosts of slain warriors; and of all the Gods, Odin,
Thor, Tyr and Loki are most closely connected with it. Two poems of
the verse Edda describe it:
(1) _Vafthrudnismal_:
V. "What is the plain called where Surt and the blessed Gods shall
meet in battle?"
O. "Vigrid is the name of the place where Surt and the blessed Gods
shall meet in battle. It is a hundred miles every way; it is their
destined battle-field."
* * * * *
O. "Whence shall the sun come on the smooth heaven when Fenri has
destroyed this one?"
V. "Before Fenri destroy her, the elf-beam shall bear a daughter:
that maid shall ride along her mother's paths, when the Gods perish."
O. "Which of the Aesir shall rule over the realms of the Gods, when
Surt's fire is quenched?"
V. "Vidar and Vali shall dwell in the sanctuary of the Gods when
Surt's fire is quenched. Modi and Magni shall have Mjöllni at the
end of Vingni's (_i.e._, Thor's) combat."