VALI.
[Sidenote: The wooing of Rinda.]
Billing, the king of the Ruthenes, was greatly dismayed when he heard
that a great force was about to invade his kingdom, for he was too
old to fight as of yore, and his only child, a daughter named Rinda,
although she was of marriageable age, obstinately refused to choose a
husband among her many suitors, and thus give her father the assistant
he so sorely needed.
While Billing was musing disconsolately in his hall, a stranger
suddenly entered his palace. Looking up, the king beheld a middle-aged
man wrapped in a wide cloak, with a broad-brimmed hat drawn down over
his forehead to conceal the fact that he had but one eye. The stranger
courteously inquired the cause of his evident depression, and as soon
as he had learned it volunteered to command the army of the Ruthenes.
His services being joyfully accepted, Odin--for it was he--soon
won a signal victory for the aged king, and, returning in triumph,
asked permission to woo his daughter Rinda to be his wife. Billing,
hoping that his daughter would lend a favorable ear to this suitor,
who appeared very distinguished in spite of his years, immediately
signified his consent. So Odin, still unknown, presented himself before
the princess, who scornfully rejected his proposal, and rudely boxed
his ears when he attempted to kiss her.
Forced to withdraw, Odin nevertheless clung to his purpose to make
Rinda his wife, for he knew, thanks to Rossthiof’s prophecy, that none
but she could bear the destined avenger of his murdered son. Assuming
the form of a smith, Odin therefore soon came back to Billing’s
hall, fashioned costly ornaments of silver and gold, and so artfully
multiplied these precious metals that the king joyfully acquiesced when
he inquired whether he might pay his addresses to the princess. The
smith Rosterus was, however, as summarily dismissed by Rinda as the
successful old general had been; but although his ear tingled with the
force of her blow, he was more determined than ever to make her his
wife.
A third time Odin now presented himself before the capricious fair one,
disguised this time as a dashing warrior, thinking a young soldier
might perchance touch the maiden’s heart; but when he again attempted
to kiss her, she pushed him back so suddenly that he stumbled and fell
upon one knee.
“Many a fair maiden,
When rightly known,
Towards men is fickle:
That I experienced,
When that discreet maiden I
Strove to win:
Contumely of every kind
That wily girl
Heaped upon me;
Nor of that damsel gained I aught.”
SÆMUND’S EDDA (Thorpe’s tr.).
This third insult so enraged Odin that he drew his magic rune stick out
of his breast, pointed it at Rinda, and uttered such a terrible spell
that she fell back into the arms of her attendants rigid and apparently
lifeless.
When Rinda came to life again, the suitor had disappeared, but the king
discovered with great dismay that she had entirely lost her senses
and was melancholy mad. In vain all the physicians were summoned
and all their simples tried; the maiden remained as passive and sad
as before, and her distracted father was only too glad when an old
woman called Vecha, or Vak, appeared, offering to undertake the
cure of the princess. The old woman, who was Odin in disguise, first
prescribed a footbath for the patient; but as this did not appear to
have any very marked effect, she declared she would be forced to try
a severe treatment. This could only be administered if the patient
were intrusted to her exclusive care, securely bound so that she could
not offer the least resistance. Billing, anxious to save his child,
consented to all the strange attendant proposed; and when Odin had thus
gained full power over Rinda, he compelled her to marry him, releasing
her from bonds and spell only when she had faithfully promised to be
his wife.
[Sidenote: Birth of Vali.]
The prophecy made by Rossthiof was duly fulfilled, for Rinda bore a son
named Vali (Ali, Bous, or Beav), a personification of the lengthening
days, who grew with such marvelous rapidity, that in the course of a
single day he attained his full stature. Without even taking time to
wash his face or comb his hair, this young god hastened off to Asgard
with bow and arrow to avenge the death of Balder, god of light, by
slaying his murderer, Hodur, the blind god of darkness.
“But, see! th’ avenger, Vali, come,
Sprung from the west, in Rinda’s womb,
True son of Odin! one day’s birth!
He shall not stop nor stay on earth
His locks to comb, his hands to lave,
His frame to rest, should rest it crave,
Until his mission be complete,
And Baldur’s death find vengeance meet.”
VALHALLA (J. C. Jones).
In this myth, Rinda, a personification of the hard-frozen rind of the
earth, resists the warm wooing of the sun, Odin, who vainly points out
that spring is the time for warlike exploits, and offers the adornments
of golden summer. She only yields when, after a shower (the footbath),
a thaw set in. Conquered then by the sun’s irresistible might, the
earth yields to his embrace, is freed from the spell (ice) which made
her hard and cold, and brings forth Vali the nourisher, or Bous the
peasant, who emerges from his dark hut when the pleasant days have
come. The slaying of Hodur by Vali is therefore emblematical of “the
breaking forth of new light after wintry darkness.”
Vali, who ranked as one of the twelve deities occupying seats in the
great hall of Glads-heim, shared with his father the dwelling called
Valaskialf, and was destined, even before birth, to survive the last
battle and twilight of the gods, and to reign with Vidar over the
regenerated earth.
[Sidenote: Worship of Vali.]
Vali is god of eternal light, just as Vidar of imperishable matter;
and as beams of light were often called arrows, he is always
represented and worshiped as an archer. For that reason his month
in Norwegian calendars is designated by the sign of the bow, and is
called Lios-beri, the light-bringing. As it falls between the middle
of January and of February, the early Christians dedicated this month
to St. Valentine, who was also a skillful archer, and was said, like
Vali, to be the harbinger of brighter days, the awakener of tender
sentiments, and the patron of all lovers.