IDUN.
[Sidenote: The apples of youth.]
Idun, the personification of spring or immortal youth, who, according
to some mythologists, had no birth and was never to taste death, was
also warmly welcomed by the gods when she made her appearance in Asgard
with Bragi. To win their affections she promised them a daily taste of
the marvelous apples which she bore in her casket, which had the power
of conferring immortal youth and loveliness upon all who partook of
them.
“The golden apples
Out of her garden
Have yielded you dower of youth,
Ate you them every day.”
WAGNER (Forman’s tr.).
Thanks to this magic fruit, the Scandinavian gods, who, because they
sprang from a mixed race, were not all immortal, warded off the
approach of old age and disease, and remained vigorous, beautiful, and
young through countless ages. These apples were therefore considered
very precious indeed, and Idun carefully treasured them in her magic
casket. But no matter how many she drew out, the same number always
remained for distribution at the feast of the gods, to whom alone she
vouchsafed a taste, although dwarfs and giants were eager to obtain
possession of this fruit.
“Bright Iduna, Maid immortal!
Standing at Valhalla’s portal,
In her casket has rich store
Of rare apples, gilded o’er;
Those rare apples, not of Earth,
Ageing Æsir give fresh birth.”
VALHALLA (J. C. Jones).
One day, Odin, Hoenir, and Loki started out upon one of their usual
excursions to earth, and, after wandering for a long while, found
themselves in a deserted region, where they could discover no
hospitable dwelling. Weary and very hungry, the gods perceiving a herd
of oxen, slew one, kindled a fire, and sat down beside it to rest while
waiting for their meat to cook.
To their surprise, however, in spite of the roaring flames the meat
remained quite raw. Realizing that some magic must be at work, they
looked about them to discover what could hinder their cookery. They
finally perceived an eagle perched upon a tree above them. The bird
addressed them and declared that the spell would be removed and the
meat done to a turn in a very short time if they would only give him as
much food as he could eat. The gods agreed to do this, and the eagle,
swooping downwards, fanned the flames with his huge wings, and soon
the meat was cooked. But as he was about to carry off three quarters
of the ox as his share, Loki seized a great stake lying near at hand,
and began to belabor the voracious bird, forgetting that it was versed
in magic arts. To his great dismay one end of the stake stuck fast to
the eagle’s back, the other to his hands, and he found himself dragged
over stones and through briers, flying through the air, his arms almost
torn out of their sockets. In vain he cried for mercy and implored the
eagle to let him go; the bird flew on, until he promised any ransom his
ravisher could ask in exchange for his release.
[Sidenote: Thiassi, the storm giant.]
The bird, who was the storm giant Thiassi in eagle guise, let him go
only upon one condition. He made him promise upon the most solemn of
oaths that he would lure Idun out of Asgard, so that the giant might
obtain possession of her and of her magic fruit.
Released at last, Loki returned to join Odin and Hoenir, to whom,
however, he was very careful not to confide the condition upon which he
had obtained his freedom; and when they had returned to Asgard he began
to plan how he might entice Idun outside of the gods’ abode. A few days
later, Bragi being absent on one of his minstrel tours, Loki sought
Idun in the groves of Brunnaker, where she had taken up her abode, and
by artfully describing some apples which grew at a short distance from
there, and which he mendaciously declared were exactly like hers, he
lured her away from home with a crystal dish full of fruit, which she
intended to compare with that which he extolled. No sooner had Idun
left Asgard, however, than the deceiver Loki forsook her, and ere she
could return home the storm giant Thiassi swept down from the north
on his eagle wings, caught her up in his cruel talons, and bore her
swiftly away to his barren and desolate home of Thrym-heim.
“Thrym-heim the sixth is named,
Where Thiassi dwelt,
That all-powerful Jötun.”
LAY OF GRIMNIR (Thorpe’s tr.).
There she pined, grew pale and sad, but persistently refused to give
him the smallest bite of her magic fruit, which, as he well knew, would
make him beautiful and renew his strength and youth.
“All woes that fall
On Odin’s hall
Can be traced to Loki base.
From out Valhalla’s portal
’Twas he who pure Iduna lured,--
Whose casket fair
Held apples rare
That render gods immortal,--
And in Thiassi’s tower immured.”
VALHALLA (J. C. Jones).
Time passed. The gods, thinking that Idun had accompanied her husband
and would soon return, at first paid no heed to her departure, but
little by little the beneficial effect of their last apple feast passed
away. They gradually felt themselves grow old and stiff, and saw their
youth and beauty disappear; so they became alarmed and began to search
for the missing goddess of perpetual youth.
Close investigation very soon revealed the fact that she had last been
seen in Loki’s company, and when Odin sternly called him to account,
this god was forced to reveal that he had betrayed her into the storm
giant’s power.
“By his mocking, scornful mien,
Soon in Valhal it was seen
’Twas the traitor Loki’s art
Which had led Idun apart
To gloomy tower
And Jötun power.”
VALHALLA (J. C. Jones).
The gods now indignantly bade Loki undo the harm he had done and
immediately bring the goddess back, warning him that unless he complied
with this command he would forfeit his life.
Thus adjured, Loki promised to do all he could, and, borrowing Freya’s
falcon plumage, flew off to Thrym-heim, where he found Idun alone,
sadly mourning her exile from Asgard and her beloved Bragi. Changing
the fair goddess into a nut according to some mythologists, or
according to others, into a swallow, Loki held her tightly between his
claws, and rapidly winged his way back to Asgard, hoping he would reach
the shelter of its high walls ere Thiassi returned from his fishing
excursion in the Northern seas.
The gods, assembled on the ramparts of the heavenly city, were watching
for his return with far more anxiety than they had for Odin when he
went in search of Od-hroerir, and, remembering the success of their
ruse on that occasion, they had gathered great piles of fuel, which
they were ready to set on fire at any moment.
[Sidenote: Return of Idun.]
Suddenly they saw Loki coming, but descried in his wake the giant
Thiassi, who, in eagle plumes, was striving to overtake him and claim
his prey. Loki, knowing his life depended upon the success of his
venture, made such great efforts to reach the goal ere Thiassi overtook
him that he cleared the wall and sank exhausted in the midst of the
gods, who, setting fire to the accumulated fuel, singed Thiassi’s
wings, blinded him with smoke, and, when he dropped stunned in their
midst, ruthlessly fell upon and slew him.
The Æsir were overjoyed at the recovery of Idun,--who hastened to deal
out her apples to them all. Feeling their wonted strength and good
looks return with every mouthful they ate, they good-naturedly declared
that it was no wonder even the giants longed to taste the apples of
perpetual youth. They therefore vowed they would place Thiassi’s eyes
as constellations in the heavens, in order to soften any feeling of
anger which his relatives might experience upon learning how he had
been slain.
“Up I cast the eyes
Of Allvaldi’s son
Into the heaven serene:
They are signs the greatest
Of my deeds.”
LAY OF HARBARD (Thorpe’s tr.).
[Sidenote: The goddess of spring.]
The physical explanation of this myth is obvious. Idun, the emblem of
vegetation, is forcibly carried away in autumn, when Bragi is absent
and the singing of the birds has ceased. The cold wintry wind, Thiassi,
detains her in the frozen, barren north, where she cannot thrive,
until Loki, the south wind, brings back the seed or the swallow, which
are both precursors of the returning spring. The youth, beauty, and
strength conferred by Idun are symbolical of Nature’s resurrection in
spring after winter’s sleep, when color and vigor return to the earth,
which has grown wrinkled and gray.
As the disappearance of Idun (vegetation) was a yearly occurrence,
the old scalds were not content with this one myth, but also
invented another, which, unfortunately, has come down to us only in
a fragmentary and very incomplete form. According to this account,
Idun was once sitting upon the branches of the sacred ash Yggdrasil,
when, growing suddenly faint, she loosed her hold and dropped down on
the ground beneath, to the lowest depths of Nifl-heim. There she lay,
pale and motionless, gazing with fixed and horror-struck eyes upon the
grewsome sights of Hel’s realm, trembling violently all the while, as
if overcome by the penetrating cold.
“In the dales dwells
The prescient Dîs,
From Yggdrasil’s
Ash sunk down,
Of alfen race,
Idun by name,
The youngest of Ivaldi’s
Elder children.
She ill brooked
Her descent
Under the hoar tree’s
Trunk confined.
She would not happy be
With Norvi’s daughter,
Accustomed to a pleasanter
Abode at home.”
ODIN’S RAVENS’ SONG (Thorpe’s tr.).
Seeing that she did not rouse herself and return, Odin finally bade
Bragi, Heimdall, and another of the gods go in search of her, giving
them a white wolfskin to envelop her in, so that she should not suffer
from the cold, and bidding them make every effort to rouse her from her
stupor.
“A wolf’s skin they gave her,
In which herself she clad.”
ODIN’S RAVENS’ SONG (Thorpe’s tr.).
But although Idun passively allowed them to wrap her up in the warm
wolfskin, she persistently refused to speak or move, and the gods
sadly suspected she foresaw great ills, for the tears continually
rolled down her pallid cheeks. Bragi, seeing her unhappiness, bade the
other gods return to Asgard without him, vowing that he would remain
beside her until she was ready to leave Hel’s dismal realm. But the
sight of her woe oppressed him so sorely that he had no heart for his
usual merry songs, and the strings of his harp remained entirely mute.
“That voice-like zephyr o’er flow’r meads creeping,
Like Bragi’s music his harp strings sweeping.”
VIKING TALES OF THE NORTH (R. B. Anderson).
In this myth Idun’s fall from Yggdrasil is symbolical of the autumnal
falling of the leaves, which lie limp and helpless on the cold bare
ground until they are hidden from sight under the snow, represented by
the wolfskin, which Odin, the sky, sends down to keep them warm; and
the cessation of the birds’ songs is further typified by Bragi’s silent
harp.