_Home of the Edda_. (Page 2.)
The chief apologists for the British theory are Professor Bugge
(_Studien über die Entstehung der nordischen Götter- und Heldensagen_,
München, 1889), and the editors of the _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_ (see
the Introduction to that work, and also the Prolegomena prefixed to
their edition of the _Sturlunga Saga_, Oxford). The case for Norway
and Greenland is argued by Dr. Finnur Jónsson (_Den oldnorsk og
oldislandske Literaturs-Historie,_ Copenhagen). The cases for both
British and Norwegian origin are based chiefly on rather fanciful
arguments from supposed local colour. The theory of the _Corpus
Poeticum_ editors that many of the poems were composed in the Scottish
isles is discredited by the absence of Gaelic words or traces of Gaelic
legend. Professor Bugge's North of England theory is slightly stronger,
being supported by several Old English expressions in the poems,
but these are not enough to prove that they were composed in England,
since most Icelanders travelled east at some time of their lives.
(Page 3.)
A later study will deal with the Heroic legends.
_Ynglinga Saga_. (Page 3.)
_Ynglinga Saga_ is prefixed to the Lives of the Kings in the collection
known as _Heimskringla_ (edited by Unger, Christiania, 1868, and by
Finnur Jónsson, Christiania, 1893); there is an English translation
in Laing's _Lives of the Kings of Norway_ (London, 1889).
_Völuspa_. (Page 4.)
A poem of similar form occurs among the heroic poems. _Gripisspa_,
a prophetic outline of Sigurd's life, introduces the Volsung poems,
as _Völuspa_ does the Asgard cycle.
_Riddle-poems_. (Page 6.)
So many of the mythological poems are in this form that they suggest
the question, did the asking of riddles form any part of Scandinavian
ritual?
_The Aesir_. (Page 11.)
_Ynglinga Saga_ says that Odin and the Aesir came to Norway from Asia;
a statement due, of course, to a false etymology, though theories as
to the origin of Norse mythology have been based on it.
_Tyr_. (Page 12.)
Tyr is etymologically identical with Zeus, and with the Sanskrit Dyaus
(Sky-God).
_Baldr_. (Pages 16 to 22.)
The Baldr theories are stated in the following authorities:
(1) Ritual origin: Frazer, _The Golden Bough_, vol. 3.
(2) Heroic origin: Golther, _Handbuch der Germanischen Mythologie_
(Leipzig, 1895); Niedner, _Eddische Fragen_ (_Zeitschrift
für deutsches Altertum_, new series, 29), _Zur Lieder-Edda_
(_Zeitschr. f. d. Alt_. vol. 36).
(3) Solar myth: Sir G.W. Cox, _Mythology of the Aryan Nations_
(London, 1870); Max Müller, _Chips from a German Workshop_, vol. 4.
(4) Borrowed: Bugge, _Studien über die Entstchung der nordischen
Götter- und Heldensagen_ (transl. Brenner, München, 1889).
_Vegtamskvida_. (Page 17.)
The word _hrodhrbadhm_ (which I have given as "branch of fame")
would perhaps be more accurately translated "tree of fame," which
Gering explains as a kenning for Baldr. But there are no kennings of
the same sort in the poem, and the line would have no meaning. If it
refers to the mistletoe, as most commentators agree, it merely shows
that the poet was ignorant of the nature of the plant, which would
be in favour of its antiquity, rather than the reverse.
_Saxo Grammaticus_. (Page 18.)
English translation by Professor Elton (London, D. Nutt, 1894). As
Saxo's references to the old Gods are made in much the same sympathetic
tone as that adopted by Old Testament writers towards heathen deities,
his testimony on mythological questions is of the less value.
_The Mistletoe_. (Page 20.)
It seems incredible that any writers should turn to the travesty of
the Baldr story given in the almost worthless saga of Hromund Gripsson
in support of a theory. In it "Bildr" is killed by Hromund, who has
the sword Mistilteinn. It must be patent to any one that this is a
perverted version of a story which the narrator no longer understood.
_Loki_. (Page 26.)
It is hardly necessary to point out the parallel between Loki and
Prometheus, also both helper and enemy of the Gods, and agent in their
threatened fall, though in the meantime a prisoner. In character
Loki has more in common with the mischievous spirit described by
Hesiod, than with the heroic figure of Aeschylus. The struggles of
Loki (p. 28) find a parallel in those of the fire-serpent Typhon,
to which the Greeks attributed earthquakes.
_Eclipse Ritual_. (Page 35.)
Mr. Lang, in _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_, (London, 1887) gives
examples of eclipse ritual. Grimm, in the _Teutonic Mythology_,
vol. 2, quotes Finnish and Lithuanian myths about sun-devouring beasts,
very similar to the Fenri myth.
_The Skalds_. (Page 35.)
All the Skaldic verses will be found, with translations, in the
_Corpus Poeticum_.