others) Borgar is remembered by the name Berchtung, Berker, and Berther.
His mythic character as ancient patriarch is there well preserved. He
is _der grise mann_, a Teutonic Nestor, wears a beard reaching to the
belt, and becomes 250 years old. He was fostered by a king Anzius, the
progenitor of the Amelungs (the Amalians). The name Anzius points to the
Gothic _ansi_ (Asa-god). Borgar's fostering by "the white Asa-god" has
accordingly not been forgotten. Among the exercises taught him by Anzius
are _daz werfen mit dem messer und schissen zu dem zil_ (compare Rig
Jarl's exercises, Rigsthula, 35). Like Borgar, Berchtung is not a king,
but a very noble and greatly-trusted chief, wise and kind, the
foster-father and counsellor of heroes and kings. The Norse saga places
Borgar, and the German saga places Berchtung, in close relation to
heroes who belong to the race of Hildings. Borgar is, according to Saxo,
the stepfather of Hildeger; Berchtung is, according to "Wolfdieterich,"
Hildebrand's ancestor. Of Hildeger Saxo relates in part the same as the
German poem tells of Hildebrand. Berchtung becomes the foster-father of
an Amalian prince; with Borgar's son grows up as foster-brother Hamal
(Helge Hund., 2; see Nos. 29, 42), whose name points to the Amalian
race. The very name _Borgarr_, which, as indicated, in this form refers
to _bjarga_, may in an older form have been related to the name
Berchter, Berchtung.
23.
BORGAR-SKJOLD'S SON HALFDAN, THE THIRD PATRIARCH.
_The Identity of Gram, Halfdan Berggram, and Halfdan
Borgarson._
In the time of Borgar and his son, the third patriarch, many of the
most important events of the myth take place. Before I present these,
the chain of evidence requires that I establish clearly the names
applied to Borgar in our literary sources. Danish scholars have already
discovered what I pointed out above, that the kings Gram Skjoldson,
Halfdan Berggram, and Halfdan Borgarson mentioned by Saxo, and referred
to different generations, are identical with each other and with Halfdan
the Skjoldung and Halfdan the Old of the Icelandic documents.
The correctness of this view will appear from the following
parallels:[11]
{Saxo: Gram slays king Sictrugus, and marries Signe,
{ daughter of Sumblus, king of the Finns.
{Hyndluljod: Halfdan Skjoldung slays king Sigtrygg, and
1. { marries Almveig with the consent of Eymund.
{Prose Edda: Halfdan the Old slays king Sigtrygg, and
{ marries Alveig, daughter of Eyvind.
{Fornald. S.: Halfdan the Old slays king Sigtrygg, and
{ marries Alfny, daughter of Eymund.
{Saxo: Gram, son of Skjold, is the progenitor of the Skjoldungs.
{Hyndluljod: Halfdan Skjoldung, son or descendant of
{ Skjold, is the progenitor of the Skjoldungs, Ynglings,
2. { Odlungs, &c.
{Prose Edda: Halfdan the Old is the progenitor of the
{ Hildings, Ynglings, Odlungs, &c.
{Saxo: Halfdan Bogarson is the progenitor of a royal
{ family of Denmark.
{Saxo: Gram uses a club as a weapon. He kills seven
{ brothers and nine of their half-brothers.
{Saxo: Halfdan Berggram uses an oak as a weapon. He
3. { kills seven brothers.
{Saxo: Halfdan Borgarson uses an oak as a weapon. He
{ kills twelve brothers.
{Saxo: Gram secures Groa and slays Henricus on his wedding-day.
{Saxo: Halfdan Berggram marries Sigrutha, after having
4. { slain Ebbo on his wedding-day.
{Saxo: Halfdan Borgarson marries Guritha, after having
{ killed Sivarus on his wedding-day.
{Saxo: Gram, who slew a Swedish king, is attacked in war
{ by Svipdag.
{Saxo: Halfdan Berggram, who slew a Swedish king, is
5. { attacked by Ericus.
{Combined sources: Svipdag is the slain Swedish king's
{ grandson (daughter's son).
{Saxo: Ericus is the son of the daughter of the slain Swedish
{ king.
These parallels are sufficient to show the identity of Gram Skjoldson,
Halfdan Berggram, and Halfdan Borgarson. A closer analysis of these
sagas, the synthesis possible on the basis of such an analysis, and the
position the saga (restored in this manner) concerning the third
patriarch, the son of Skjold-Borgar, and the grandson of Heimdal,
assumes in the chain of mythic events, gives complete proof of this
identity.
[Footnote 11: The first nine books of Saxo form a labyrinth constructed
out of myths related as history, but the thread of Ariadne seems to be
wanting. On this account it might be supposed that Saxo had treated the
rich mythical materials at his command in an arbitrary and unmethodical
manner; and we must bear in mind that these mythic materials were far
more abundant in his time than they were in the following centuries,
when they were to be recorded by the Icelandic authors. This supposition
is, however, wrong. Saxo has examined his sources methodically and with
scrutiny, and has handled them with all due reverence, when he assumed
the desperate task of constructing, by the aid of the mythic traditions
and heroic poems at hand, a chronicle spanning several centuries--a
chronicle in which fifty to sixty successive rulers were to be brought
upon the stage and off again, while myths and heroic traditions embrace
but few generations, and most mythic persons continue to exist through
all ages. In the very nature of the case, Saxo was obliged, in order to
solve this problem, to put his material on the rack; but a thorough
study of the above-mentioned books of his history shows that he treated
the delinquent with consistency. The simplest of the rules he followed
was to avail himself of the polyonomy with which the myths and heroic
poems are overloaded, and to do so in the following manner:
Assume that a person in the mythic or heroic poems had three or four
names or epithets (he may have had a score). We will call this person A,
and the different forms of his name A', A'', A'''. Saxo's task of
producing a chain of events running through many centuries forced him to
consider the three names A', A'', and A''' as originally three persons,
who had performed certain similar exploits, and therefore had, in course
of time, been confounded with each other, and blended by the authors of
myths and stories into one person A. As best he can, Saxo tries to
resolve this mythical product, composed, in his opinion, of historical
elements, and to distribute the exploits attributed to A between A',
A'', and A'''. It may also be that one or more of the stories applied to
A were found more or less varied in different sources. In such cases he
would report the _same_ stories with slight variations about A', A'',
and A'''. The similarities remaining form _one_ important group of
indications which he has furnished to guide us, but which can assure us
that our investigation is in the right course only when corroborated by
indications belonging to other groups, or corroborated by statements
preserved in other sources.
But in the events which Saxo in this manner relates about A', A'', and
A''', other persons are also mentioned. We will assume that in the myths
and heroic poems these have been named B and C. These, too, have in the
songs of the skalds had several names and epithets. B has also been
called B', B'', B'''. C has also been styled C', C'', C'''. Out of this
one subordinate person B, Saxo, by the aid of the abundance of names,
makes as many subordinate persons--B', B'', and B'''--as he made out of
the original chief person A--that is, the chief persons A', A'', and
A'''. Thus also with C, and in this way we got the following analogies:
A' is to B' and C' as
A'' B'' C'' and as
A''' B''' C'''.
By comparing all that is related concerning these nine names, we are
enabled gradually to form a more or less correct idea of what the
original myth has contained in regard to A, B, and C. If it then
happens--as is often the case--that two or more of the names A', B', C',
&c., are found in Icelandic or other documents, and there belong to
persons whose adventures are in some respects the same, and in other
respects are made clearer and more complete, by what Saxo tells about
A', A'', and A''', &c., then it is proper to continue the investigation
in the direction thus started. If, then, every new step brings forth new
confirmations from various sources, and if a myth thus restored easily
dovetails itself into an epic cycle of myths, and there forms a
necessary link in the chain of events, then the investigation has
produced the desired result.
An aid in the investigation is not unfrequently the circumstance that
the names at Saxo's disposal were not sufficient for all points in the
above scheme. We then find analogies which open for us, so to speak,
short cuts--for instance, as follows:
A' is to B' and C' as
A'' B' C'' and as
A''' B'' C'.
The parallels given in the text above are a concrete example of the
above scheme. For we have seen--
A=Halfdan, trebled in A'=Gram, A''=Halfdan Berggram, A'''=Halfdan
Borgarson.
B=Ebbo (Ebur, Ibor, Joefurr), trebled in B'=Henricus, B''=Ebbo,
B'''=Sivarus.
C doubled in C'=Svipdag, and C''=Ericus.]
24.
HALFDAN'S ENMITY WITH ORVANDEL AND SVIPDAG (cp. No. 33).
Saxo relates in regard to Gram that he carried away the royal daughter
Groa, though she was already bound to another man, and that he slew her
father, whereupon he got into a feud with Svipdag, an irreconcilably
bitter foe, who fought against him with varying success of arms, and
gave himself no rest until he had taken Gram's life and realm. Gram left
two sons, whom Svipdag treated in a very different manner. The one named
Guthormus (_Gudhormr_), who was a son of Groa, he received into his good
graces. To the other, named Hadingus, or Hadding, and who was a son of
Signe, he transferred the deadly hate he had cherished towards the
father. The cause of the hatred of Svipdag against Gram, and which could
not be extinguished in his blood, Saxo does not mention, but this point
is cleared up by a comparison with other sources. Nor does Saxo mention
who the person was from whom Gram robbed Groa, but this, too, we learn
in another place.
The Groa of the myth is mentioned in two other places: in Groagalder and
in Gylfaginning. Both sources agree in representing her as skilled in
good, healing, harm-averting songs; both also in describing her as a
tender person devoted to the members of her family. In Gylfaginning she
is the loving wife who forgets everything in her joy that her husband,
the brave archer Orvandel, has been saved by Thor from a dangerous
adventure. In Groagalder she is the mother whose love to her son
conquers death and speaks consoling and protecting words from the grave.
Her husband is, as stated, Orvandel; her son is Svipdag.
If we compare the statements in Saxo with those in Groagalder and
Gylfaginning we get the following result:
Saxo: King Sigtrygg has a daughter Groa.
Gylfaginning: Groa is married to the brave Orvandel.
Groagalder: Groa has a son Svipdag.
Saxo: Groa is robbed by Gram-Halfdan.
Saxo: } Hostilities on account of the robbing of
Hyndluljod: } the woman. Gram-Halfdan kills
Skaldskap.mal:} Groa's father Sigtrygg.
Saxo: With Gram-Halfdan Groa has the son Gudhorm.
Gram-Halfdan is separated from Groa. He courts
Signe (Almveig in Hyndluljod; Alveig in Skaldskaparmal),
daughter of Sumbel, king of the Finns.
Groagalder: Groa with her son Svipdag is once more with
her first husband. Groa dies. Svipdag's father Orvandel
marries a second time. Before her death Groa
has told Svipdag that he, if need requires her help,
must go to her grave and wake her out of the sleep
of death.
The stepmother gives Svipdag a task which he thinks surpasses
his strength. He then goes to his mother's
grave. From the grave Groa sings protecting incantations
over her son.
Saxo: Svipdag attacks Gram-Halfdan. After several conflicts
he succeeds in conquering him and gives him a
deadly wound.
Svidpdag pardons the son Gram-Halfdan has had with
Groa, but persecutes his son with Signe (Alveig).
In this connection we find the key to Svipdag's irreconcilable conflict
with Gram-Halfdan. He must revenge himself on him on his father's and
mother's account. He must avenge his mother's disgrace, his grandfather
Sigtrygg's death, and, as a further investigation shows, the murder also
of his father Orvandel. We also find why he pardons Gudhorm: he is his
own half-brother and Groa's son.
Sigtrygg, Groa, Orvandel, and Svipdag have in the myth belonged to the
pedigree of the Ynglings, and hence Saxo calls Sigtrygg king in
Svithiod. Concerning the Ynglings, Ynglingasaga remarks that Yngve was
the name of everyone who in that time was the head of the family (Yngl.,
p. 20). Svipdag, the favourite hero of the Teutonic mythology, is
accordingly celebrated in song under the name Yngve, and also under
other names to which I shall refer later, when I am to give a full
account of the myth concerning him.
25.
HALFDAN'S IDENTITY WITH MANNUS IN "GERMANIA."
With Gram-Halfdan the Teutonic patriarch period ends. The human race had
its golden age under Heimdal, its copper age under Skjold-Borgar, and
the beginning of its iron age under Halfdan. The Skilfinga-Ynglinga race
has been named after Heimdal-Skelfir himself, and he has been regarded
as its progenitor. His son Skjold-Borgar has been considered the founder
of the Skjoldungs. With Halfdan the pedigree is divided into three
through his stepson Yngve-Svipdag, the latter's half-brother Gudhorm,
and Gudhorm's half-brother Hading or Hadding. The war between these
three--a continuation of the feud between Halfdan and Svipdag--was the
subject of a cycle of songs sung throughout Teutondom, songs which
continued to live though greatly changed with the lapse of time, on the
lips of Germans throughout the middle ages (see Nos. 36-43).
Like his father, Halfdan was the fruit of a double fatherhood, a divine
and a human. Saxo was aware of this double fatherhood, and relates of
his Halfdan Berggram that he, although the son of a human prince, was
respected as a son of Thor, and honoured as a god among that people who
longest remained heathen; that is to say, the Swedes (_Igitur apud
Sveones tantus haberi caepit, ut magni Thor filius existimatus, divinis a
populo honoribus donaretur ac publico dignus libamine censeretur_). In
his saga, as told by Saxo, Thor holds his protecting hand over Halfdan
like a father over his son.
It is possible that both the older patriarchs originally were regarded
rather as the founders and chiefs of the whole human race than of the
Teutons alone. Certain it is that the appellation Teutonic patriarch
belonged more particularly to the third of the series. We have a
reminiscence of this in Hyndluljod, 14-16. To the question, "Whence came
the Skjoldungs, Skilfings, Andlungs, and Ylfings, and all the free-born
and gentle-born?" the song answers by pointing to "the foremost among
the Skjoldungs"--Sigtrygg's slayer Halfdan--a statement which, after the
memory of the myths had faded and become confused, was magnified in the
Younger Edda into the report that he was the father of eighteen sons,
nine of which were the founders of the heroic families whose names were
at that time rediscovered in the heathen-heroic songs then extant.
According to what we have now stated in regard to Halfdan's genealogical
position there can no longer be any doubt that he is the same patriarch
as the Mannus mentioned by Tacitus in _Germania_, ch. 2, where it is
said of the Germans: "In old songs they celebrate _Tuisco_, a god born
of Earth (_Terra_; compare the goddess _Terra Mater_, ch. 40), and his
son Mannus as the source and founder of the race. Mannus is said to have
had three sons, after whose names those who dwell nearest the ocean are
called Ingaevonians (_Ingaevones_), those who dwell in the centre
Hermionians (_Hermiones_, _Herminones_), and the rest Istaevonians
(_Istaevones_)." Tacitus adds that there were other Teutonic tribes, such
as the Marsians, the Gambrivians, the Svevians, and the Vandals, whose
names were derived from other heroes of divine birth.
Thus Mannus, though human, and the source and founder of the Teutonic
race, is also the son of a god. The mother of his divine father is the
goddess Earth, mother Earth. In our native myths we rediscover this
goddess--polyonomous like nearly all mythic beings--in Odin's wife
Frigg, also called _Fjorgyn_ and _Hlodyn_. As sons of her and Odin only
Thor (Voelusp.) and Balder (Lokasenna) are definitely mentioned.
In regard to the goddess Earth (Jord), Tacitus states (ch. 40), as a
characteristic trait that she is believed to take a lively interest and
active part in the affairs of men and nations (_eam intervenire rebus
hominum, invehi populis arbitrantur_), and he informs us that she is
especially worshipped by the Longobardians and some of their neighbours
near the sea. This statement, compared with the emigration saga of the
Longobardians (No. 15), confirms the theory that the goddess Jord, who,
in the days of Tacitus, was celebrated in song as the mother of Mannus'
divine father, is identical with Frigg. In their emigration saga the
Longobardians have great faith in Frigg, and trust in her desire and
ability to intervene when the fate of a nation is to be decided by arms.
Nor are they deceived in their trust in her; she is able to bring about
that Odin, without considering the consequences, gives the Longobardians
a new name; and as a christening present was in order, and as the
Longobardians stood arrayed against the Vandals at the moment when they
received their new name, the gift could be no other than victory over
their foes. Tacitus' statement, that the Longobardians were one of the
races who particularly paid worship to the goddess Jord, is found to be
intimately connected with, and to be explained by, this tradition, which
continued to be remembered among the Longobardians long after they
became converted to Christianity, down to the time when _Origo
Longobardorum_ was written.
Tacitus calls the goddess Jord Nerthus. Vigfusson (and before him J.
Grimm) and others have seen in this name a feminine version of _Njoerdr_.
Nor does any other explanation seem possible. The existence of such a
form is not more surprising than that we have in Freyja a feminine form
of Frey, and in Fjorgyn-Frigg a feminine form of Fjoergynr. In our
mythic documents neither Frigg nor Njord are of Asa race. Njord is, as
we know, a Van. Frigg's father is _Fjoergynr_ (perhaps the same as
_Parganya_ in the Vedic songs), also called _Annarr_, _Anarr_, and
_Onarr_, and her mother is Narve's daughter Night. Frigg's high position
as Odin's real and lawful wife, as the queen of the Asa world, and as
mother of the chief gods Thor and Balder, presupposes her to be of the
noblest birth which the myth could bestow on a being born outside of the
Asa clan, and as the Vans come next after the Asas in the mythology, and
were united with them from the beginning of time, as hostages, by
treaty, by marriage, and by adoption, probability, if no other proof
could be found, would favour the theory that Frigg is a goddess of the
race of Vans, and that her father _Fjoergyn_ is a clan-chief among the
Vans. This view is corroborated in two ways. The cosmogony makes Earth
and Sea sister and brother. The same divine mother Night (Nat), who
bears the goddess Jord, also bears a son _Udr_, _Unnr_, the ruler of the
sea, also called _Audr_ (Rich), the personification of wealth. Both
these names are applied among the gods to Njord alone as the god of
navigation, commerce, and wealth. (In reference to wealth compare the
phrase _audigr sem Njoerdr_--rich as Njord.) Thus Frigg is Njord's
sister. This explains the attitude given to Frigg in the war between the
Asas and Vans by Voeluspa, Saxo, and the author of Ynglingasaga, where
the tradition is related as history. In the form given to this tradition
in Christian times and in Saxo's hands, it is disparaging to Frigg as
Odin's wife; but the pith of Saxo's narrative is, that Frigg in the
feud between the Asas and Vans did not side with Odin but with the Vans,
and contributed towards making the latter lords of Asgard. When the
purely heathen documents (Voelusp., Vafthr., Lokas.) describe her as a
tender wife and mother, Frigg's taking part with the Vans against her
own husband can scarcely be explained otherwise than by the Teutonic
principle, that the duties of the daughter and sister are above the
wife's, a view plainly presented in Saxo (p. 353), and illustrated by
Gudrun's conduct toward Atle.
Thus it is proved that the god who is the father of the Teutonic
patriarch Mannus is himself the son of Frigg, the goddess of earth, and
must, according to the mythic records at hand, be either Thor or Balder.
The name given him by Tacitus, _Tuisco_, does not determine which of the
two. _Tuisco_ has the form of a patronymic adjective, and reappears in
the Norse _Tivi_, an old name of Odin, related to _Dios divus_, and
_devas_, from which all the sons of Odin and gods of Asgard received the
epithet _tivar_. But in the songs learned by Saxo in regard to the
northern race-patriarch and his divine father, his place is occupied by
Thor, not by Balder, and "Jord's son" is in Norse poetry an epithet
particularly applied to Thor.
Mannus has three sons. So has Halfdan. While Mannus has a son _Ingaevo_,
Halfdan has a stepson Yngve, Inge (Svipdag). The second son of Mannus is
named Hermio. Halfdan's son with Groa is called _Gudhormr_. The second
part of this name has, as Jessen has already pointed out, nothing to do
with _ormr_. It may be that the name should be divided _Gudhormr_, and
that _hormr_ should be referred to _Hermio_. Mannus' third son is
_Istaevo_. The Celtic scholar Zeuss has connected this name with that of
the Gothic (more properly Vandal) heroic race Azdingi, and Grimm has
again connected Azdigni with Hazdiggo (_Haddingr_). Halfdan's third son
is in Saxo called Hadingus. Whether the comparisons made by Zeuss and
Grimm are to the point or not (see further, No. 43) makes but little
difference here. It nevertheless remains as a result of the
investigation that all is related by Tacitus about the Teutonic
patriarch Mannus has its counterpart in the question concerning Halfdan,
and that both in the myths occupy precisely the same place as sons of a
god and as founders of Teutonic tribes and royal families. The pedigrees
are:
=_Tacitus._= =_Norse documents._=
Tivi and the goddess Jord. Tivi=Odin and the goddess
| Jord.
| |
Tivi's son (Tiusco). Tivi's son Thor.
| |
Mannus, progenitor of the Halfdan, progenitor of the
Teutonic tribes. royal families.
+--------+--------+ +---------+---------+
| | | | | |
Ingaevo. Hermio. Istaevo. Yngve. Gudhormr. Hadding.
26.
THE SACRED RUNES LEARNED FROM HEIMDAL.
The mythic ancient history of the human race and of the Teutons may, in
accordance with the analysis above given, be divided into the following
epochs:--(1) From Ask and Ernbla's creation until Heimdal's arrival; (2)
from Heimdal's arrival until his departure; (3) the age of
Skjold-Borgar; (4) Halfdan's time; (5) The time of Halfdan's sons.
And now we will discuss the events of the last three epochs.
In the days of Borgar the moral condition of men grows worse, and an
event in nature takes place threatening at least the northern part of
the Teutonic world with destruction. The myth gives the causes of both
these phenomena.
The moral degradation has its cause, if not wholly, yet for the greater
part, in the activity among men of a female being from the giant world.
Through her men become acquainted with the black art, the evil art of
sorcery, which is the opposite of the wisdom drawn from Mimer's holy
fountain, the knowledge of runes, and acquaintance with the application
of nature's secret forces for good ends (see Nos. 34, 35).
The sacred knowledge of runes, the "fimbul-songs," the white art, was,
according to the myth, originally in the possession of Mimer. Still he
did not have it of himself, but got it from the subterranean fountain,
which he guarded beneath the middle root of the world-tree (see No.
63)--a fountain whose veins, together with the deepest root of the
world-tree, extends to a depth which not even Odin's thought can
penerate (Havam., 138). By self-sacrifice in his youth Odin received
from Bestla's brother (Mimer; see No. 88) a drink from the precious
liquor of this fountain and nine fimbul-songs (Havam., 140; cp. Sigrdr.,
14), which were the basis of the divine magic of the application of the
power of the word and of the rune over spiritual and natural forces, in
prayer, in sacrifices and in other religious acts, in investigations, in
the practical affairs of life, in peace and in war (Havam., 144 ff.;
Sigrdr., 6 ff.). The character and purpose of these songs are clear from
the fact that at the head is placed "help's fimbul-song," which is able
to allay sorrow and cure diseases (Havam., 146).
In the hands of Odin they are a means for the protection of the power of
the Asa-gods, and enable them to assist their worshippers in danger and
distress. To these belong the fimbul-song of the _runes of victory_; and
it is of no little interest that we, in Havamal, 156, find what Tacitus
tells about the _barditus_ of the Germans, the shield-song with which
they went to meet their foes--a song which Ammianus Paulus himself has
heard, and of which he gives a vivid description. When the Teutonic
forces advanced to battle the warriors raised their shields up to a
level with the upper lip, so that the round of the shield formed a sort
of sounding-board for their song. This began in a low voice and
preserved its subdued colour, but the sound gradually increased, and at
a distance it resembled the roar of the breakers of the sea. Tacitus
says that the Teutons predicted the result of the battle from the
impression the song as a whole made upon themselves: it might sound in
their ears in such a manner that they thereby became more terrible to
their enemies, or in such a manner that they were overcome by despair.
The above-mentioned strophe of Havamal gives us an explanation of this:
the warriors were roused to confidence if they, in the harmony of the
subdued song increasing in volume, seemed to perceive Valfather's voice
blended with their own. The strophe makes Odin say: _Ef ec scal til
orrostu leitha langvini, undir randir ec gel, en their meth riki fara
heilir hildar til, heilir hildi fra_--"If I am to lead those to battle
whom I have long held in friendship, then I sing under their shields.
With success they go to the conflict, and successfully they go out of
it." Voeluspa also refers to the shield-song in 47, where it makes the
storm-giant, _Hrymr_, advancing against the gods, "lift his shield
before him" (_hefiz lind fyrir_), an expression which certainly has
another significance than that of unnecessarily pointing out that he has
a shield for protection. The runes of victory were able to arrest
weapons in their flight and to make those whom Odin loved proof against
sword-edge and safe against ambush (Havam., 148, 150). Certain kinds of
runes were regarded as producing victory and were carved on the hilt and
on the blade of the sword, and while they were carved Tyr's name was
twice named (Sigrdr., 6).
Another class of runes (_brimrunar_, Sigrdr., 10; Havam., 150)
controlled the elements, purified the air from evil beings (Havm., 155),
gave power over wind and waves for good purposes--as, for instance, when
sailors in distress were to be rescued--or power over the flames when
they threatened to destroy human dwellings (Havam., 152). A third kind
of runes (_malrunar_) gave speech to the mute and speechless, even to
those whose lips were sealed in death (see No. 70). A fourth kind of
runes could free the limbs from bonds (Havam., 149). A fifth kind of
runes protected against witchcraft (Havam., 151). A sixth kind of runes
(_oelrunar_) takes the strength from the love-potion prepared by another
man's wife, and from every treachery mingled therein (Sigrdr., 7, 8). A
seventh kind (_bjargrunar_ and _limrunar_) helps in childbirth and heals
wounds. An eighth kind gives wisdom and knowledge (_hugrunar_, Sigrdr.,
13; cp. Havam., 159). A ninth kind extinguishes enmity and hate, and
produces friendship and love (Havam., 153, 161). Of great value, and a
great honour to kings and chiefs, was the possession of healing runes
and healing hands; and that certain noble-born families inherited the
power of these runes was a belief which has been handed down even to our
time. There is a distinct consciousness that the runes of this kind were
a gift of the blithe gods. In a strophe, which sounds as if it were
taken from an ancient hymn, the gods are beseeched for runes of wisdom
and healing: "Hail to the gods! Hail to the goddesses! Hail to the
bounteous Earth (the goddess Jord). Words and wisdom give unto us, and
healing hands while we live!" (Sigrdr., 4).
In ancient times arrangements were made for spreading the knowledge of
the good runes among all kinds of beings. Odin taught them to his own
clan; Dainn taught them to the Elves; Dvalinn among the dwarfs; Asvinr
(see No. 88) among the giants (Havam., 143). Even the last-named became
participators in the good gift, which, mixed with sacred mead, was sent
far and wide, and it has since been among the Asas, among the Elves,
among the wise Vans, and among the children of men (Sigrdr., 18). The
above-named Dvalinn, who taught the runes to his clan of ancient
artists, is the father of daughters, who, together with dises of Asa and
Vana birth, are in possession of _bjargrunar_, and employ them in the
service of man (Fafnism., 13).
To men the beneficent runes came through the same god who as a child
came with the sheaf of grain and the tools to Scandia. Hence the belief
current among the Franks and Saxons that the alphabet of the Teutons,
like the Teutons themselves, was of northern origin. Rigsthula expressly
presents Heimdal as teaching runes to the people whom he blessed by his
arrival in Midgard. The noble-born are particularly his pupils in runic
lore. Of Heimdal's grandson, the son of Jarl Borgar, named Kon-Halfdan,
it is said:
En Konr ungr But Kon the young
kunni runar, taught himself runes,
aefinrunar runes of eternity
ok alldrrunar. and runes of earthly life.
Meir kunni hann Then he taught himself
monnum bjarga, men to save,
eggjar deyfa, the sword-edge to deaden,
aegi legia, the sea to quiet,
klok nam fugla, bird-song to interpret,
kyrra ellda, fires to extinguish,
saeva ok svefia, to soothe and comfort,
sorgir laegia. sorrows to allay.
The fundamental character of this rune-lore bears distinctly the stamp
of nobility. The runes of eternity united with those of the earthly life
can scarcely have any other reference than to the heathen doctrines
concerning religion and morality. These were looked upon as being for
all time, and of equal importance to the life hereafter. Together with
physical runes with magic power--that is, runes that gave their
possessors power over the hostile forces of nature--we find runes
intended to serve the cause of sympathy and mercy.
27.
SORCERY THE REVERSE OF THE SACRED RUNES. GULLVEIG-HEIDR,
THE SOURCE OF SORCERY. THE MORAL
DETERIORATION OF THE ORIGINAL MAN.
But already in the beginning of time evil powers appear for the purpose
of opposing and ruining the good influences from the world of gods upon
mankind. Just as Heimdal, "the fast traveller," proceeds from house to
house, forming new ties in society and giving instruction in what is
good and useful, thus we soon find a messenger of evil wandering about
between the houses in Midgard, practising the black art and stimulating
the worst passions of the human soul. The messenger comes from the
powers of frost, the enemies of creation. It is a giantess, the daughter
of the giant _Hrimnir_ (Hyndlulj., 32), known among the gods as Gulveig
and by other names (see Nos. 34, 35), but on her wanderings on earth
called _Heidr_. "Heid they called her (Gulveig) when she came to the
children of men, the crafty, prophesying vala, who practised sorcery
(_vitti ganda_), practised the evil art, caused by witchcraft
misfortunes, sickness, and death (_leikin_, see No. 67), and was always
sought by bad women." Thus Voeluspa describes her. The important position
Heid occupies in regard to the corruption of ancient man, and the
consequences of her appearance for the gods, for man, and for nature
(see below), have led Voeluspa's author, in spite of his general poverty
of words, to describe her with a certain fulness, pointing out among
other things that she was the cause of the first war in the world. That
the time of her appearance was during the life of Borgar and his son
shall be demonstrated below.
In connection with this moral corruption, and caused by the same powers
hostile to the world, there occur in this epoch such disturbances in
nature that the original home of man and culture--nay, all Midgard--is
threatened with destruction on account of long, terrible winters. A
series of connected myths tell of this. Ancient artists--forces at work
in the growth of nature--personifications of the same kind as Rigveda's
Ribhus, that had before worked in harmony with the gods, become, through
the influence of Loke, foes of Asgard, their work becoming as harmful as
it before was beneficent, and seek to destroy what Odin had created (see
Nos. 111 and 112). Idun, with her life-renewing apples, is carried by
Thjasse away from Asgard to the northernmost wilderness of the world,
and is there concealed. Freyja, the goddess of fertility, is robbed and
falls into the power of giants. Frey, the god of harvests, falls sick.
The giant king Snow and his kinsmen _Thorri_ (Black Frost), _Joekull_
(the Glacier), &c., extend their sceptres over Scandia.
Already during Heimdal's reign, after his protege Borgar had grown up,
something happens which forebodes these terrible times, but still has a
happy issue.
28A.
HEIMDAL AND THE SUN-DIS (Dis-goddess).
In Saxo's time there was still extant a myth telling how Heimdal, as the
ruler of the earliest generation, got himself a wife. The myth is found
related as history in _Historia Danica_, pp. 335-337. Changed into a
song of chivalry in middle age style, we find it on German soil in the
poem concerning king Ruther.
Saxo relates that a certain king Alf undertook a perilous journey of
courtship, and was accompanied by Borgar. Alf is the more noble of the
two; Borgar attends him. This already points to the fact that the mythic
figure which Saxo has changed into a historical king must be Heimdal,
Borgar's co-father, his ruler and fosterer, otherwise Borgar himself
would be the chief person in his country, and could not be regarded as
subject to anyone else. Alf's identity with Heimdal is corroborated by
"King Ruther," and to a degree also by the description Saxo makes of his
appearance, a description based on a definite mythic prototype. Alf,
says Saxo, had a fine exterior, and over his hair, though he was young,
a so remarkably white splendour was diffused that rays of light seemed
to issue from his silvery locks (_cujus etiam insignem candore
caesariem tantus comae decor asperierat, ut argenteo crine nitere
putaretur_). The Heimdal of the myth is a god of light, and is described
by the colour applied to pure silver in the old Norse literature to
distinguish it from that which is alloyed; he is _hviti ass_ (Gylfag.,
27) and _hvitastr asa_ (Thrymskvida, 5); his teeth glitter like gold,
and so does his horse. We should expect that the maid whom Alf, if he is
Heimdal, desires to possess belongs like himself to the divinities of
light. Saxo also says that her beauty could make one blind if she was
seen without her veil, and her name Alfhild belongs, like Alfsol, Hild,
Alfhild Solglands, Svanhild Guldfjaeder, to that class of names by which
the sundises, mother and daughter, were transferred from mythology to
history. She is watched by two dragons. Suitors who approach her in vain
get their heads chopped off and set up on poles (thus also in "King
Ruther"). Alf conquers the guarding dragons; but at the advice of her
mother Alfhild takes flight, puts on a man's clothes and armour, and
becomes a female warrior, fighting at the head of other Amazons. Alf and
Borgar search for and find the troop of Amazons amid ice and snow. It is
conquered and flies to "Finnia," Alf and Borgar pursue them thither.
There is a new conflict. Borgar strikes the helmet from Alfhild's head.
She has to confess herself conquered, and becomes Alf's wife.
In interpreting the mythic contents of this story we must remember that
the lad who came with the sheaf of grain to Scandia needed the help of
the sun for the seed which he brought with him to sprout, before it
could give harvests to the inhabitants. But the saga also indicates
that the sun-dis had veiled herself, and made herself as far as possible
unapproachable, and that when Heimdal had forced himself into her
presence she fled to northern ice-enveloped regions, where the god and
his foster-son, sword in hand, had to fetch her, whereupon a happy
marriage between him and the sun-dis secures good weather and rich
harvests to the land over which he rules. At the first glance it might
seem as if this myth had left no trace in our Icelandic records. This
is, however, not the case. Its fundamental idea, that the sun at one
time in the earliest ages went astray from southern regions to the
farthest north and desired to remain there, but that it was brought back
by the might of the gods who created the world, and through them
received, in the same manner as Day and Night, its course defined and
regularly established, we find in the Voeluspa strophe, examined with so
great acumen by Julius Hoffory, which speaks of a bewilderment of this
kind on the part of the sun, occurring before it yet "knew its proper
sphere," and in the following strophe, which tells how the all-holy gods
thereupon held solemn council and so ordained the activity of these
beings, that time can be divided and years be recorded by their course.
Nor is the marriage into which the sun-dis entered forgotten.
Skaldskaparmal quotes a strophe from Skule Thorsteinson where Sol[12] is
called _Glenr's_ wife. That he whom the skald characterises by this
epithet is a god is a matter of course. _Glenr_ signifies "the shining
one," and this epithet was badly chosen if it did not refer to "the
most shining of the Asas," _hvitastr asa_--that is, Heimdal.
The fundamental traits of "King Ruther" resemble Saxo's story. There,
too, it is a king who undertakes a perilous journey of courtship and
must fight several battles to win the wondrous fair maiden whose
previous suitors had had to pay for their eagerness by having their
heads chopped off and fastened on poles. The king is accompanied by
Berter, identical with Berchtung-Borgar, but here, as always in the
German story, described as the patriarch and adviser. A giant,
Vidolt--Saxo's Vitolphus, Hyndluljod's _Vidolfr_--accompanies Ruther and
Berter on the journey; and when Vitolphus in Saxo is mentioned under
circumstances which show that he accompanied Borgar on a warlike
expedition, and thereupon saved his son Halfdan's life, there is no room
for doubt that Saxo's saga and "King Ruther" originally flowed from the
same mythic source. It can also be demonstrated that the very name
Ruther is one of those epithets which belong to Heimdal. The Norse
_Hrutr_ is, according to the Younger Edda (i. 588, 589), a synonym of
_Heimdali_, and _Heimdali_ is another form of _Heimdall_ (Isl., i. 231).
As _Hrutr_ means a ram, and as _Heimdali_ is an epithet of a ram (see
Younger Edda, i. 589), light is thrown upon the bold metaphors,
according to which "head," "Heimdal's head," and "Heimdal's sword" are
synonyms (Younger Edda, i. 100, 264; ii. 499). The ram's head carries
and is the ram's sword. Of the age of this animal symbol we give an
account in No. 82. There is reason for believing that Heimdal's helmet
has been conceived as decorated with ram's horns.[13] A strophe quoted
in the Younger Edda (i. 608) mentions Heimdal's helmet, and calls the
sword the _fyllr_ of Heimdal's helmet, an ambiguous expression, which
may be interpreted as that which fills Heimdal's helmet; that is to say,
Heimdal's head, but also as that which has its place on the helmet.
Compare the expression _fyllr hilmis stols_ as a metaphor for the power
of the ruler.
[Footnote 12: Sol is feminine in the Teutonic tongues.--TR.]
[Footnote 13: That some one of the gods has worn a helmet with such a
crown can be seen on one of the golden horns found near Gallehuus. There
twice occurs a being wearing a helmet furnished with long, curved, sharp
pointed horns. Near him a ram is drawn and in his hand he has something
resembling a staff which ends in a circle, and possibly is intended to
represent Heimdal's horn.]
28B.
LOKE CAUSES ENMITY BETWEEN THE GODS AND THE
ORIGINAL ARTISTS (THE CREATORS OF ALL THINGS
GROWING). THE CONSEQUENCE IS THE FIMBUL-WINTER
AND EMIGRATIONS.
The danger averted by Heimdal when he secured the sun-dis with bonds of
love begins in the time of Borgar. The corruption of nature and of man
go hand in hand. Borgar has to contend with robbers (_pugiles_ and
_piratae_), and among them the prototype of pirates--that terrible
character, remembered also in Icelandic poetry, called _Rodi_ (Saxo,
_Hist._, 23, 345). The moderate laws given by Heimdal had to be made
more severe by Borgar (_Hist._, 24, 25).
While the moral condition in Midgard grows worse, Loke carries out in
Asgard a cunningly-conceived plan, which seems to be to the advantage of
the gods, but is intended to bring about the ruin of both the gods and
man. His purpose is to cause enmity between the original artists
themselves and between them and the gods.
Among these artists the sons of Ivalde constitute a separate group.
Originally they enjoyed the best relations to the gods, and gave them
the best products of their wonderful art, for ornament and for use.
Odin's spear _Gungnir_, the golden locks on Sif's head, and Frey's
celebrated ship Skidbladner, which could hold all the warriors of Asgard
and always had favourable wind, but which also could be folded as a
napkin and be carried in one's pocket (Gylfaginning), had all come from
the workshop of these artists.
Ivalda synir The sons of Ivalde
gengu i ardaga went in ancient times
Scidbladni at skapa, to make Skidbladner,
scipa bezt, among ships the best,
scirom Frey, for the shining Frey,
nytom Njardar bur. Njord's useful son.
(Grimnismal.)
Another group of original artists were Sindre and his kinsmen, who dwelt
on Nida's plains in the happy domain of the lower world (Voelusp., Nos.
93, 94). According to the account given in Gylfaginning, ch. 37, Loke
meets Sindre's brother Brok, and wagers his head that Sindre cannot make
treasures as good as the above-named gifts from Ivalde's sons to the
Asas. Sindre then made in his smithy the golden boar for Frey, the ring
Draupner for Odin, from which eight gold rings of equal weight drop
every ninth night, and the incomparable hammer Mjolner for Thor. When
the treasures were finished, Loke cunningly gets the gods to assemble
for the purpose of deciding whether or not he has forfeited his head.
The gods cannot, of course, decide this without at the same time passing
judgment on the gifts of Sindre and those of Ivalde's sons, and showing
that one group of artists is inferior to the other. And this is done.
Sindre's treasures are preferred, and thus the sons of Ivalde are
declared to be inferior in comparison. But at the same time Sindre
fails, through the decision of the gods, to get the prize agreed on.
Both groups of artists are offended by the decision.
Gylfaginning does not inform us whether the sons of Ivalde accepted the
decision with satisfaction or anger, or whether any noteworthy
consequences followed or not. An entirely similar judgment is mentioned
in Rigveda (see No. 111). The judgment there has the most important
consequences: hatred toward the artists who were victorious, and toward
the gods who were the judges, takes possession of the ancient artist who
was defeated, and nature is afflicted with great suffering. That the
Teutonic mythology has described similar results of the decision shall
be demonstrated in this work.
Just as in the names _Alveig_ and _Almveig_, _Bil-roest_ and _Bifroest_,
_Arinbjoern_ and _Grjotbjorn_, so also in the name _Ivaldi_ or _Ivaldr_,
the latter part of the word forms the permanent part, corresponding to
the Old English Valdere, the German Walther, the Latinised
Waltharius.[14]
The former part of the word may change without any change as to the
person indicated: _Ivaldi_, _Allvaldi_, _Oelvaldi_, _Audvaldi_, may be
names of one and the same person. Of these variations _Ivaldi_ and
_Allvaldi_ are in their sense most closely related, for the prefix I
(_Id_) and _All_ may interchange in the language without the least
change in the meaning. Compare _all-likr_, _ilikr_, and _idglikr_;
_all-litill_ and _ilitill_; _all-nog_, _ignog_ and _idgnog_. On the
other hand, the prefixes in _Oelvaldi_ and _Audvaldi_ produce different
meanings of the compound word. But the records give most satisfactory
evidence that _Oelvaldi_ and _Audvaldi_ nevertheless are the same person
as _Allvaldi_ (Ivaldi). Thjasse's father is called in Harbardsljod (19)
_Allvaldi_; in the Younger Edda (i. 214) _Oelvaldi_ and _Audvaldi_. He
has three sons, Ide, Gang, also called Urner (the Grotte-song), and the
just-named Thjasse, who are the famous ancient artists, "the sons of
Ivalde" (_Ivalda synir_). We here point this out in passing. Complete
statement and proof of this fact, so important from a mythological
standpoint, will be given in Nos. 113, 114, 115.
Nor is it long before it becomes apparent what the consequences are of
the decision pronounced by the Asas on Loke's advice upon the treasures
presented to the gods. The sons of Ivalde regarded it as a mortal
offence, born of the ingratitude of the gods. Loke, the originator of
the scheme, is caught in the snares laid by Thjasse in a manner fully
described in Thjodolf's poem "Haustlaung," and to regain his liberty he
is obliged to assist him (Thjasse) in carrying Idun away from Asgard.
[Illustration: GIANT THJASSE, IN THE GUISE OF AN EAGLE, CARRIES OFF LOKE.
(_From an etching by Lorenz Froelich._)
Thjasse was known as the storm-giant who having been born in deformity
was ever seeking golden apples from Idun to cure his ugliness. Upon one
occasion assuming the form of an eagle he interrupted a feast of Odin,
Honer and Loke and when the latter attempted to strike the voracious
bird with a stake found himself fastened to both stake and eagle and was
borne away shrieking for mercy. Thjasse promised to release Loke if he
would bring to him Idun and her golden apples. Loke in fulfillment of
his promise beguiled Idun out of Asgard whereupon Thjasse in the form of
an eagle seized the goddess in his talons and bore her away to his
castle, Thrymheim. He was soon afterwards killed by the gods, and Idun
was released.]
Idun, who possesses "the Asas' remedy against old age," and keeps the
apples which symbolise the ever-renewing and rejuvenating force of
nature, is carried away by Thjasse to a part of the world inaccessible
to the gods. The gods grow old, and winter extends its power more and
more beyond the limits prescribed for it in creation. Thjasse, who
before was the friend of the gods, is now their irreconcilable foe. He
who was the promoter of growth and the benefactor of nature--for Sif's
golden locks, and Skidbladner, belonging to the god of fertility,
doubtless are symbols thereof--is changed into "the mightiest foe of
earth," _dolg ballastan vallar_ (Haustl., 6), and has wholly assumed the
nature of a giant.
At the same time, with the approach of the great winter, a terrible
earthquake takes place, the effects of which are felt even in heaven.
The myth in regard to this is explained in No. 81. In this explanation
the reader will find that the great earthquake in primeval time is
caused by Thjasse's kinswomen on his mother's side (the
Grotte-song)--that is, by the giantesses Fenja and Menja, who turned the
enormous world-mill, built on the foundations of the lower world, and
working in the depths of the sea, the prototype of the mill of the
Grotte-song composed in Christian times; that the world-mill has a
_moendull_, the mill-handle, which sweeps the uttermost rim of the earth,
with which handle not only the mill-stone but also the starry heavens
are made to whirl round; and that when the mill was put in so violent a
motion by the angry giantesses that it got out of order, then the starry
constellations were also disturbed. The ancient terrible winter and the
inclination of the axis of heaven have in the myth been connected, and
these again with the close of the golden age. The mill had up to this
time ground gold, happiness, peace, and good-will among men; henceforth
it grinds salt and dust.
The winter must of course first of all affect those people who inhabited
the extensive Svithiod north of the original country and over which
another kinsman of Heimdal, the first of the race of Skilfings or
Ynglings, ruled. This kinsman of Heimdal has an important part in the
mythology, and thereof we shall give an account in Nos. 89, 91, 110,
113-115, and 123. It is there found that he is the same as Ivalde, who,
with a giantess, begot the illegitimate children Ide, Urner, and
Thjasse. Already before his sons he became the foe of the gods, and from
Svithiod now proceeds, in connection with the spreading of the
fimbul-winter, a migration southward, the work at the same time of the
Skilfings and the primeval artists. The list of dwarfs in Voeluspa has
preserved the record of this in the strophe about the artist migration
from the rocks of the hall (_Salar steinar_) and from Svarin's mound
situated in the north (the Voeluspa strophe quoted in the Younger Edda;
cp. Saxo., _Hist._, 32, 33, and Helg. Hund., i. 31, ii. to str. 14). The
attack is directed against _aurvanga sjoet_, the land of the clayey
plains, and the assailants do not stop before they reach _Joeruvalla_ the
Jara plains, which name is still applied to the south coast of
Scandinavia (see No. 32). In the pedigree of these emigrants--
their er sottu
fra Salar steina (or Svarins haugi)
aurvanga sjot
til Joeruvalla--
occur the names _Alfr_ and _Yngvi_, who have Skilfing names; _Fjalarr_,
who is Ivalde's ally and Odin's enemy (see No. 89); _Finnr_, which is
one of the several names of Ivalde himself (see No. 123); _Frosti_, who
symbolises cold; _Skirfir_, a name which points to the Skilfings; and
_Virfir_, whom Saxo (_Hist. Dan._, 178, 179) speaks of as _Huyrvillus_,
and the Icelandic records as _Virvill_ and _Vifill_ (Fornalders. ii. 8;
Younger Edda, i. 548). In Fornalders. Vifill is an emigration leader who
married to Loge's daughter _Eymyrja_ (a metaphor for fire--Younger Edda,
ii. 570), betakes himself from the far North and takes possession of an
island on the Swedish coast. That this island is Oland is clear from
Saxo, 178, where Huyrvillus is called _Holandiae princeps_. At the same
time a brother-in-law of Virfir takes possession of Bornholm, and
Gotland is colonised by Thjelvar (_Thjalfi_ of the myth), who is the son
of Thjasse's brother (see Nos. 113, 114, 115). _Virfir_ is allied with
the sons of _Finnr_ (_Fyn_--Saxo, _Hist._, 178). The saga concerning the
emigration of the Longobardians is also connected with the myth about
Thjasse and his kinsmen (see Nos. 112-115).
From all this it appears that a series of emigration and colonisation
tales have their origin in the myth concerning the fimbul-winter caused
by Thjasse and concerning the therewith connected attack by the
Skilfings and Thjasse's kinsmen on South Scandinavia, that is, on the
clayey plains near Jaravall, where the second son of Heimdal,
Skjold-Borgar, rules. It is the remembrance of this migration from north
to south which forms the basis of all the Teutonic middle-age migration
sagas. The migration saga of the Goths, as Jordanes heard it, makes them
emigrate from Scandinavia under the leadership of Berig. (_Ex hac igitur
Scandza insula quasi officina gentium aut certe velut vagina nationum
cum rege suo Berig Gothi quondam memorantur egressi--De Goth. Orig., c.
4. Meminisse debes, me de Scandzae insulae gremio Gothos dixisse egressos
cum Berich suo rege_--c. 17.) The name Berig, also written Berich and
Berigo, is the same as the German Berker, Berchtung, and indicates the
same person as the Norse _Borgarr_. With Berig is connected the race of
the Amalians; with Borgar the memory of Hamal (Amala), who is the
foster-brother of Borgar's son (cp. No. 28 with Helge Hund., ii.). Thus
the emigration of the Goths is in the myth a result of the fate
experienced by Borgar and his people in their original country. And as
the Swedes constituted the northernmost Teutonic branch, they were the
ones who, on the approach of the fimbul-winter, were the first that were
compelled to surrender their abodes and secure more southern
habitations. This also appears from saga fragments which have been
preserved; and here, but not in the circumstances themselves, lies the
explanation of the statements, according to which the Swedes forced
Scandinavian tribes dwelling farther south to emigrate. Jordanes (c. 3)
claims that the Herulians were driven from their abode in Scandza by the
Svithidians, and that the Danes are of Svithidian origin--in other
words, that an older Teutonic population in Denmark was driven south,
and that Denmark was repeopled by emigrants from Sweden. And in the
Norse sagas themselves, the centre of gravity, as we have seen, is
continually being moved farther to the south. Heimdal, under the name
Scef-Skelfir, comes to the original inhabitants in Scania. Borgar, his
son, becomes a ruler there, but founds, under the name Skjold, the royal
dynasty of the Skjoldungs in Denmark. With Scef and Skjold the Wessex
royal family of Saxon origin is in turn connected, and thus the royal
dynasty of the Goths is again connected with the Skjold who emigrated
from Scandza, and who is identical with Borgar. And finally there
existed in Saxo's time mythic traditions or songs which related that all
the present Germany came under the power of the Teutons who emigrated
with Borgar; that, in other words, the emigration from the North carried
with it the hegemony of Teutonic tribes over other tribes which before
them inhabited Germany. Saxo says of Skjold-Borgar that _omnem
Alamannorum gentem tributaria ditione perdomuit_; that is, "he made the
whole race of Alamanni tributary." The name Alamanni is in this case not
to be taken in an ethnographical but in a geographical sense. It means
the people who were rulers in Germany before the immigration of Teutons
from the North.
From this we see that migration traditions remembered by Teutons beneath
Italian and Icelandic skies, on the islands of Great Britain and on the
German continent, in spite of their wide diffusion and their separation
in time, point to a single root: to the myth concerning the primeval
artists and their conflict with the gods; to the robbing of Idun and the
fimbul-winter which was the result.
The myth makes the gods themselves to be seized by terror at the fate of
the world, and Mimer makes arrangements to save all that is best and
purest on earth for an expected regeneration of the world. At the very
beginning of the fimbul-winter Mimer opens in his subterranean grove of
immortality an asylum, closed against all physical and spiritual evil,
for the two children of men, Lif and Lifthrasir (Vafthr., 45), who are
to be the parents of a new race of men (see Nos. 52, 53).
The war begun in Borgar's time for the possession of the ancient country
continues under his son Halfdan, who reconquers it for a time, invades
Svithiod, and repels Thjasse and his kinsmen (see Nos. 32, 33).
[Footnote 14: Elsewhere it shall be shown that the heroes mentioned in
the middle age poetry under the names Valdere, Walther, Waltharius
manufortis, and Valthere of Vaskasten are all variations of the name of
the same mythic type changed into a human hero, and the same, too, as
Ivalde of the Norse documents (see No. 123).]
29.
EVIDENCE THAT HALFDAN IS IDENTICAL WITH HELGE
HUNDINGSBANE.
The main outlines of Halfdan's saga reappears related as history, and
more or less blended with foreign elements, in Saxo's accounts of the
kings Gram, Halfdan Berggram, and Halfdan Borgarson (see No. 23).
Contributions to the saga are found in Hyndluljod (str. 14, 15, 16) and
in Skaldskaparmal (Younger Edda, i. 516 ff.), in what they tell about
Halfdan Skjoldung and Halfdan the Old. The juvenile adventures of the
hero have, with some modifications, furnished the materials for both
the songs about Helge Hundingsbane, with which Saxo's story of Helgo
Hundingicida (_Hist._, 80-110) and Volsungasaga's about Helge Sigmundson
are to be compared. The Grotte-song also (str. 22) identifies Helge
Hundingsbane with Halfdan.
For the history of the origin of the existing heroic poems from mythic
sources, of their relation to these and to each other, it is important
to get the original identity of the hero-myth, concerning Halfdan and
the heroic poems concerning Helge Hundingsbane, fixed on a firm
foundation. The following parallels suffice to show that this Helge is a
later time's reproduction of the mythic Halfdan:
Halfdan-Gram, sent on a Helge Hundingsbane, sent
warlike expedition, meets on a warlike expedition,
Groa, who is mounted on meets Sigrun, who is mounted
horseback and accompanied on horseback and is accompanied
by other women on horseback by other women
(Saxo, 26, 27). on horseback (Helge Hund.,
i. 16; Volsungasaga, c. 9).
The meeting takes place in The meeting takes place in
a forest (Saxo, 26). a forest (Vols., c. 9).
Halfdan-Gram is on the Helge is on the occasion
occasion completely wrapped disguised. He speaks fra
in the skin of a wild beast, so ulfidi "from a wolf guise"
that even his face is concealed (Helge Hund., i. 16), which
(Saxo, 26). expression finds its
interpretation
in Saxo, where Halfdan
appears wrapped in the
skin of a wild beast.
Conversation is begun between Conversation is begun between
Halfdan-Gram and Helge and Sigrun.
Groa. Halfdan pretends to be Helge pretends to be a person
a person who is his brother-at-arms who is his foster-brother
(Saxo, 27). (Helge Hund., ii. 6).
Groa asks Halfdan-Gram: Sigrun asks Helge:
Quis, rogo, vestrum Hverir lata fljota
dirigit agmen, fley vid backa,
quo duce signa hvar hermegir
bellica fertis? heima eigud?
(Saxo, 27.) (Helge Hund., ii. 5.)
Halfdan-Gram invites Groa Helge invites Sigrun to
to accompany him. At first accompany him. At first the
the invitation is refused invitation is rebuked (Helge
(Saxo, 27). Hund., i. 16, 17).
Groa's father had already Sigrun's father had already
given her hand to another promised her to another
(Saxo, 26). (Helge Hund., i. 18).
Halfdan-Gram explains Helge explains that this
that this rival ought not to rival should not cause them to
cause them to fear (Saxo, 28). fear (Helge Hund., i., ii.).
Halfdan-Gram makes war Helge makes war on Sigrun's
on Groa's father, on his rival, father, on his rival, and
and on the kinsmen of the latter on the kinsmen of the latter
(Saxo, 32). (Helge Hund., i., ii.).
Halfdan-Gram slays Groa's Helge kills Sigrun's father
father and betrothed, and and suitors, and many heroes
many heroes who belonged to who were the brothers or
his circle of kinsmen or were allies of his rival (Helge
subject to him (Saxo, 32). Hund., ii.).
Halfdan-Gram marries Groa Helge marries Sigrun (Helge
(Saxo, 33). Hund., i. 56).
Halfdan-Gram conquers a Helge conquers Ring's sons
king Ring (Saxo, 32). (Helge Hund., i. 52).
Borgar's son has defeated Helge has slain king Hunding,
and slain king Hunding and thus gotten the
(Saxo, 362; cp. Saxo, 337). name Hundingsbane (Helge
Hund., i. 10).
Halfdan-Gram has felled Helge's rival and the many
Svarin and many of his brothers. brothers of the latter dwell
Svarin was viceroy under around Svarin's grave-mound.
Groa's father (Saxo, 32). They are allies or subjects of
Sigrun's father.
Halfdan-Gram is slain by Helge is slain by Dag, who
Svipdag, who is armed with is armed with an Asgard
an Asgard weapon (Saxo, 34, weapon (Helge Hund., ii.).
to be compared with other
sources. See Nos. 33, 98, 101,
103).
Halfdan-Berggram's father Helge's father was slain by
is slain by his brother Frode, his brother Frode, who took
who took his kingdom (Saxo, his kingdom (Rolf Krake's
320). saga).
Halfdan Berggram and his Helge and his brother were
brother were in their childhood in their childhood protected
protected by Regno by Regin (Rolf Krake's saga).
(Saxo, 320).
Halfdan Berggram and his Helge and his brothers
brother burnt Frode to death burnt Frode to death in his
in his house (Saxo, 323). house (Rolf Krake's saga).
Halfdan Berggram as a Helge Hundingsbane as a
youth left the kingdom to his youth left the kingdom to his
brother and went warfaring brother and went warfaring
(Saxo, 320 ff). (Saxo, 80).
During Halfdan's absence During Helge Hundingsbane's
Denmark is attacked by an absence Denmark is attacked
enemy, who conquers his by an enemy, who conquers
brother in three battles and his brother in three
slays him in a fourth (Saxo, battles and slays him in a
325). fourth (Saxo, 82).
Halfdan, the descendant of Helge Hundingsbane became
Scef and Scyld, becomes the the father of Rolf
father of Rolf (Beowulf (Saxo, 83; compare Rolf
poem). Krake's saga).
Halfdan had a son with his Helge Hundingsbane had a
own sister Yrsa (Grotte-song, son with his own sister Ursa
22; mon Yrsu sonr vid Half-dana (Saxo, 82). The son was Rolf
hefna Froda; sa mun (compare Rolf Krake's saga).
hennar heitinn vertha boerr oc
brothir).
A glance at these parallels is sufficient to remove every doubt that the
hero in the songs concerning Helge Hundingsbane is originally the same
mythic person as is celebrated in the song or songs from which Saxo
gathered his materials concerning the kings, Gram Skjoldson, Halfdan
Berggram, and Halfdan Borgarson. It is the ancient myth in regard to
Halfdan, the son of Skjold-Borgar, which myth, after the introduction of
Christianity in Scandinavia, is divided into two branches, of which the
one continues to be the saga of this patriarch, while the other utilises
the history of his youth and transforms it into a new saga, that of
Helge Hundingsbane. In Saxo's time, and long before him, this division
into two branches had already taken place. How this younger branch,
Helge Hundingsbane's saga, was afterwards partly appropriated by the
all-absorbing Sigurdsaga and became connected with it in an external and
purely genealogical manner, and partly did itself appropriate (as in
Saxo) the old Danish local tradition about Rolf, the illegitimate son of
Halfdan Skjoldung, and, in fact, foreign to his pedigree; how it got
mixed with the saga about an evil Frode and his stepsons, a saga with
which it formerly had no connection;--all these are questions which I
shall discuss fully in a second part of this work, and in a separate
treatise on the heroic sagas. For the present, my task is to show what
influence this knowledge of Halfdan and Helge Hundingsbane's identity
has upon the interpretation of the myth concerning the antiquity of the
Teutons.
30.
HALFDAN'S BIRTH AND THE END OF THE AGE OF PEACE.
THE FAMILY NAMES YLFING, HILDING, BUDLUNG.
The first strophes of the first song of Helge Hundingsbane distinguish
themselves in tone and character and broad treatment from the
continuation of the song, and have clearly belonged to a genuine old
mythic poem about Halfdan, and without much change the compiler of the
Helge Hundingsbane song has incorporated them into his poem. They
describe Halfdan's ("Helge Hundingsbane's") birth. The real mythic names
of his parents, Borgar and Drott, have been retained side by side with
the names given by the compiler, Sigmund and Borghild.
Ar var alda; It was time's morning,
that er arar gullo, eagles screeched,
hnigo heilog votn holy waters fell
af himinfjollum; from the heavenly mountains.
tha hafthi Helga Then was the mighty
inn hugom stora Helge born
Borghildr borit by Borghild
i Bralundi. in Bralund.
Nott varth i boe, It was night,
nornir qvomo, norns came,
ther er authlingi they who did shape
aldr urn scopo; the fate of the nobleman;
thann batho fylci they proclaimed him
fraegstan vertha best among Budlungs,
oc buthlunga and most famed
beztan ticcia. among princes.
Snero ther af afli With all their might the threads
aurlaugthatto, of fate they twisted,
tha er Borgarr braut when Borgar settled
i Bralundi; in Bralund;
ther um greiddo of gold they made
gullin simo the warp of the web,
oc und manasal and fastened it directly
mithian festo. 'neath the halls of the moon.
ther austr oc vestr In the east and west
enda falo: they hid the ends:
thar atti lofdungr there between
land a milli; the chief should rule;
bra nipt Nera Nere's[15] kinswoman
a nordrevega northward sent
einni festi one thread and bade it
ey bath hon halda. hold for ever.
Eitt var at angri One cause there was
Ylfinga nith of alarm to the Yngling (Borgar),
oc theirre meyio and also for her
er nunuth faeddi; who bore the loved one.
hrafn gvath at hrafni Hungry cawed
--sat a ham meithi raven to raven
andvanr ato:-- in the high tree:
"Ec veit noccoth! "Hear what I know!
"Stendr i brynio "In coat of mail
burr Sigmundar, stands Sigmund's son,
doegrs eins gamall, one day old,
nu er dagr kominn; now the day is come;
hversir augo sharp eyes of the Hildings
sem hildingar, has he, and the wolves'
sa er varga vinr, friend he becomes,
vith scolom teitir." We shall thrive."
Drott thotti sa Drott, it is said, saw
dauglingr vera In him a dayling,[16]
quado meth gumnom saying, "Now are good seasons
god-ar kominn; come among men;"
sialfr gecc visi to the young lord
or vig thrimo from thunder-strife
ungum faera came the chief himself
itrlauc grami. with a glorious flower.
Halfdan's ("Helge Hundingsbane's") birth occurs, according to the
contents of these strophes, when two epochs meet. His arrival announces
the close of the peaceful epoch and the beginning of an age of strife,
which ever since has reigned in the world. His significance in this
respect is distinctly manifest in the poem. The raven, to whom the
battle-field will soon be as a wellspread table, is yet suffering from
hunger (_andvanr atu_); but from the high tree in which it sits, it has
on the day after the birth of the child, presumably through the window,
seen the newcomer, and discovered that he possessed "the sharp eyes of
the Hildings," and with prophetic vision it has already seen him clad in
coat of mail. It proclaims its discovery to another raven in the same
tree, and foretells that theirs and the age of the wolves has come: "We
shall thrive."
The parents of the child heard and understood what the raven said.
Among the runes which Heimdal, Borgar's father, taught him, and which
the son of the latter in time learned, are the knowledge of bird-speech
(_Konr ungr kloek nam fugla_--Rigsthula, 43, 44). The raven's appearance
in the song of Helge Hundingsbane is to be compared with its relative
the crow in Rigsthula; the one foretells that the new-born one's path of
life lies over battle-fields, the other urges the grown man to turn away
from his peaceful amusements. Important in regard to a correct
understanding of the song, and characteristic of the original relation
of the strophes quoted to the myth concerning primeval time, is the
circumstance that Halfdan's ("Helge Hundingsbane's") parents are not
pleased with the prophecies of the raven; on the contrary they are
filled with alarm. Former interpreters have been surprised at this. It
has seemed to them that the prophecy of the lad's future heroic and
blood-stained career ought, in harmony with the general spirit pervading
the old Norse literature, to have awakened the parents' joy and pride.
But the matter is explained by the mythic connection which makes
Borgars' life constitute the transition period from a happy and peaceful
golden age to an age of warfare. With all their love of strife and
admiration for warlike deeds, the Teutons still were human, and shared
with all other people the opinion that peace and harmony is something
better and more desirable than war and bloodshed. Like their Aryan
kinsmen, they dreamed of primeval _Saturnia regna_, and looked forward
to a regeneration which is to restore the reign of peace. Borgar, in the
myth, established the community, was the legislator and judge. He was
the hero of peaceful deeds, who did not care to employ weapons except
against wild beasts and robbers. But the myth had also equipped him with
courage and strength, the necessary qualities for inspiring respect and
interest, and had given him abundant opportunity for exhibiting these
qualities in the promotion of culture and the maintenance of the
sacredness of the law. Borgar was the Hercules of the northern myth, who
fought with the gigantic beasts and robbers of the olden time. Saxo
(_Hist._, 23) has preserved the traditions which tell how he at one time
fought breast to breast with a giant bear, conquering him and bringing
him fettered into his own camp.
As is well known, the family names Ylfings, Hildings, Budlungs, &c.,
have in the poems of the Christian skalds lost their specific
application to certain families, and are applied to royal and princely
warriors in general. This is in perfect analogy with the Christian
Icelandic poetry, according to which it is proper to take the name of
any viking, giant, or dwarf, and apply it to any special viking, giant,
or dwarf, a poetic principle which scholars even of our time claim can
also be applied in the interpretation of the heathen poems. In regard to
the old Norse poets this method is, however, as impossible as it would
be in Greek poetry to call Odysseus a Peleid, or Achilleus a Laertiatid,
or Prometheus Hephaestos, or Hephaestos Daedalos. The poems concerning
Helge Hundingsbane are compiled in Christian times from old songs about
Borgar's son Halfdan, and we find that the patronymic appellations
Ylfing, Hilding, Budlung, and Lofdung are copiously strewn on "Helge
Hundingsbane." But, so far as the above-quoted strophes are concerned,
it can be shown that the appellations Ylfing, Hilding, and Budlung are
in fact old usage and have a mythic foundation. The German poem
"Wolfdieterich und Sabin" calls Berchtung (Borgar) Potelung--that is,
Budlung; the poem "Wolfdieterich" makes Berchtung the progenitor of the
Hildings, and adds: "From the same race the Ylfings have come to
us"--_von dem selbe geslehte sint uns die wilfinge kumen_ (v. 223).
Saxo mentions the Hilding Hildeger as Halfdan's half-brother, and the
traditions on which the saga of Asmund Kaempebane is based has done the
same (compare No. 43). The agreement in this point between German,
Danish, and Icelandic statements points to an older source common to
them all, and furnishes an additional proof that the German Berchtung
occupied in the mythic genaelogies precisely the same place as the Norse
Borgar.
That Thor is one of Halfdan's fathers, just as Heimdal is one of
Borgar's, has already been pointed out above (see No. 25). To a divine
common fatherhood point the words: "Drott it is said, saw in him (the
lad just born) a dayling (son of a god of light), a son divine." Who the
divine partner-father is, is indicated by the fact that a storm has
broken out the night when Drott's son is born. There is a thunder-strife
_vig thrimo_, the eagles screech, and holy waters fall from the heavenly
mountains (from the clouds). The god of thunder is present, and casts
his shadow over the house where the child is born.
[Footnote 15: Urd, the chief goddess of fate. See the treatise "Mythen
om Under-jorden."]
[Footnote 16: _Dayling_ = bright son of day or light.]
31.
HALFDAN'S CHARACTER. THE WEAPON-MYTH.
The myths and heroic poems are not wanting in ideal heroes, who are
models of goodness of heart, justice, and the most sensitive nobleness.
Such are, for example, the Asa-god Balder, his counter part among
heroes, Helge Hjorvardson, Beowulf, and, to a certain degree also,
Sigurd Fafnesbane. Halfdan did not belong to this group. His part in the
myth is to be the personal representative of the strife-age that came
with him, of an age when the inhabitants of the earth are visited by the
great winter and by dire misfortunes, when the demoralisation of the
world has begun along with disturbances in nature and when the words
already are applicable, "_hart er i heimi_" (hard is the world). Halfdan
is guilty of the abduction of a woman--the old custom of taking a maid
from her father by violence or cunning is illustrated in his saga. It
follows, however, that the myth at the same time embellished him with
qualities which made him a worthy Teutonic patriarch, and attractive to
the hearers of the songs concerning him. These qualities are, besides
the necessary strength and courage, the above-mentioned knowledge of
runes, wherein he even surpasses his father (Rigsth.), great skaldic
gifts (Saxo, _Hist._, 325), a liberality which makes him love to strew
gold about him (Helge Hund., i. 9), and an extraordinary, fascinating
physical beauty--which is emphasised by Saxo (_Hist._, 30), and which is
also evident from the fact that the Teutonic myth makes him, as the
Greek myth makes Achilleus, on one occasion don a woman's attire, and
resemble a valkyrie in this guise (Helge Hund., ii.). No doubt the myth
also described him as the model of a faithful foster-brother in his
relations to the silent Hamal, who externally was so like him that the
one could easily be taken for the other (cp. Helge Hund., ii. 1, 6). In
all cases it is certain that the myth made the foster-brotherhood
between Halfdan and Hamal the basis of the unfailing fidelity with which
Hamal's descendants, the Amalians, cling to the son of Halfdan's
favourite Hadding, and support his cause even amid the most difficult
circumstances (see Nos. 42, 43). The abduction of a woman by Halfdan is
founded in the physical interpretation of the myth, and can thus be
justified. The wife he takes by force is the goddess of vegetation,
Groa, and he does it because her husband Orvandel has made a compact
with the powers of frost (see Nos. 33, 38, 108, 109).
There are indications that our ancestors believed the sword to be a
later invention than the other kinds of weapons, and that it was from
the beginning under a curse. The first and most important of all
sword-smiths was, according to the myth, Thjasse,[17] who accordingly is
called _fadir moerna_, the father of the swords (Haustlaung, Younger
Edda, 306). The best sword made by him is intended to make way for the
destruction of the gods (see Nos. 33, 98, 101, 103). After various
fortunes it comes into the possession of Frey, but is of no service to
Asgard. It is given to the parents of the giantess Gerd, and in Ragnarok
it causes the death of Frey.
Halfdan had two swords, which his mother's father, for whom they were
made, had buried in the earth, and his mother long kept the place of
concealment secret from him. The first time he uses one of them he slays
in a duel his noble half-brother Hildeger, fighting on the side of the
Skilfings, without knowing who he is (cp. Saxo, _Hist._, 351, 355, 356,
with Asmund Kaempebane's saga). Cursed swords are several times mentioned
in the sagas.
Halfdan's weapon, which he wields successfully in advantageous exploits,
is in fact, the club (Saxo, _Hist._, 26, 31, 323, 353). That the
Teutonic patriarch's favourite weapon is the club, not the sword; that
the latter, later, in his hand, sheds the blood of a kinsman; and that
he himself finally is slain by the sword forged by Thjasse, and that,
too, in conflict with a son (the stepson Svipdag--see below), I regard
as worthy of notice from the standpoint of the views cherished during
some of the centuries of the Teutonic heathendom in regard to the
various age and sacredness of the different kinds of weapons. That the
sword also at length was looked upon as sacred is plain from the fact
that it was adopted and used by the Asa-gods. In Ragnarok, Vidar is to
avenge his father with a _hjoerr_ and pierce Fafner's heart (_Voeluspa_).
_Hjoerr_ may, it is true, also mean a missile, but still it is probable
that it, in Vidar's hand, means a sword. The oldest and most sacred
weapons were the spear, the hammer, the club, and the axe. The spear
which, in the days of Tacitus, and much later, was the chief weapon both
for foot-soldiers and cavalry in the Teutonic armies, is wielded by the
Asa-father himself, whose Gungner was forged for him by Ivalde's sons
before the dreadful enmity between the gods and them had begun.
The hammer is Thor's most sacred weapon. Before Sindre forged one for
him of iron (Gylfaginning), he wielded a hammer of stone. This is
evident from the very name _hamarr_, a rock, a stone. The club is, as we
have seen, the weapon of the Teutonic patriarch, and is wielded side by
side with Thor's hammer in the conflict with the powers of frost. The
battle-axe belonged to Njord. This is evident from the metaphors found
in the Younger Edda, p. 346, and in Islend. Saga, 9. The mythological
kernel in the former metaphor is _Njoerdrklauf Herjan's hurdir_, _i.e._,
"_Njord_ cleaved Odin's gates" (when the Vans conquered Asgard); in the
other the battle-axe is called _Gaut's megin-hurdar galli_, _i.e._, "the
destroyer of Odin's great gate." The bow is a weapon employed by the
Asa-gods _Hoedr_ and _Ullr_, but Balder is slain by a shot from the bow,
and the chief archer of the myth is, as we shall see, not an Asa-god,
but a brother of Thjasse. (Further discussion of the weapon-myth will be
found in No. 39.)
[Footnote 17: Proofs of Thjasse's original identity with Volund are
given in Nos. 113-115.]
32.
HALFDAN'S CONFLICTS INTERPRETED AS MYTHS OF
NATURE. THE WAR WITH THE HEROES FROM SVARIN'S
MOUND. HALFDAN'S MARRIAGE WITH DISES
OF VEGETATION.
In regard to the significance of the conflicts awaiting Halfdan, and
occupying his whole life, when interpreted as myths of nature, we must
remember that he inherits from his father the duty of stopping the
progress southward of the giant-world's wintry agents, the kinsmen of
Thjasse, and of the Skilfing (Yngling) tribes dwelling in the north. The
migration sagas have, as we have seen, shown that Borgar and his people
had to leave the original country and move south to Denmark, Saxland,
and to those regions on the other side of the Baltic in which the Goths
settled. For a time the original country is possessed by the conquerors
who according to Voeluspa, "from Svarin's Mound attacked and took
(_sotti_) the clayey plains as far as Jaravall." But Halfdan represses
them. That the words quoted from Voeluspa really refer to the same mythic
persons with whom Halfdan afterwards fights is proved by the fact that
Svarin and Svarin's Mound are never named in our documents except in
connection with Halfdan's saga. In Saxo it is Halfdan-Gram who slays
Svarin and his numerous brothers; in the saga of "Helge Hundingsbane" it
is again Halfdan, under the name Helge, who attacks tribes dwelling
around Svarin's Mound, and conquers them. To this may be added, that the
compiler of the first song about Helge Hundingsbane borrowed from the
saga-original, on which the song is based, names which point to the
Voeluspa strophe concerning the attack on the south Scandinavian plains.
In the category of names, or the genealogy of the aggressors, occur, as
has been shown already, the Skilfing names Alf and Yngve. Thus also in
the Helge-song's list of persons with whom the conflict is waged in the
vicinity of Svarin's Mound. In the Voe1uspa's list Moinn is mentioned
among the aggressors (in the variation in the Prose Edda); in the
Helge-song, strophe 46, it is said that Helge-Halfdan fought _a
Moinsheimom_ against his brave foes, whom he afterwards slew in the
battle around Svarin's Mound. In the Voeluspa's list is named among the
aggressors one _Haugspori_, "the one spying from the mound"; in the
Helge-song is mentioned _Sporvitnir_, who from Svarin's Mound watches
the forces of Helge-Halfdan advancing. I have already (No. 28B), pointed
out several other names which occur in the Voeluspa list, and whose
connection with the myth concerning the artists, frost-giants, and
Skilfings of antiquity and their attack on the original country, can be
shown.
The physical significance of Halfdan's conflicts and adventures is
apparent also from the names of the women, whom the saga makes him
marry. Groa (grow), whom he robs and keeps for some time, is, as her
very name indicates, a goddess of vegetation. Signe-Alveig, whom he
afterwards marries, is the same. Her name signifies "the nourishing
drink." According to Saxo she is the daughter of Sumblus, Latin for
_Sumbl_, which means feast, ale, mead, and is a synonym for _Oelvaldi_,
_Oelmodr_, names which belonged to the father of the Ivalde sons (see No.
123).
According to a well-supported statement in Forspjallsljod (see No. 123),
Ivalde was the father of two groups of children. The mother of one of
these groups is a giantess (see Nos. 113, 114, 115). With her he has
three sons, viz., the three famous artists of antiquity--Ide,
Gang-Urnir, and Thjasse. The mother of the other group is a goddess of
light (see No. 123). With her he has daughters, who are goddesses of
growth, among them Idun and Signe-Alveig. That Idun is the daughter of
Ivalde is clear from Forspjallsljod (6), _alfa aettar Ithunni heto
Ivallds ellri yngsta barna_.
Of the names of their father _Sumbl_, _Oelvaldi_, _Oelmodr_, it may be
said that, as nature-symbols, "oel" (ale) and "mjoed" (mead), are in the
Teutonic mythology identical with _soma_ and _somamadhu_ in Rigveda and
_haoma_ in Avesta, that is, they are the strength-developing, nourishing
saps in nature. Mimer's subterranean well, from which the world-tree
draws its nourishment, is a mead-fountain. In the poem "Haustlaung" Idun
is called _Oelgefn_; in the same poem Groa is called _Oelgefion_. Both
appellations refer to goddesses who give the drink of growth and
regeneration to nature and to the gods. Thus we here have a family, the
names and epithets of whose members characterise them as forces, active
in the service of nature and of the god of harvests. Their names and
epithets also point to the family bond which unites them. We have the
group of names, _Idvaldi_, _Idi_, _Idunn_, and the group, _Oelvaldi_
(_Oelmodr_), _Oelgefn_, and _Oelgefion_, both indicating members of the
same family. Further on (see Nos. 113, 114, 115), proof shall be
presented that Groa's first husband, Orvandel the brave, is one of
Thjasse's brothers, and thus that Groa, too, was closely connected with
this family.
As we know, it is the enmity caused by Loke between the Asa-gods and the
lower serving, yet powerful, divinities of nature belonging to the
Ivalde group, which produces the terrible winter with its awful
consequences for man, and particularly for the Teutonic tribes. These
hitherto beneficent agents of growth have ceased to serve the gods, and
have allied themselves with the frost-giants. The war waged by Halfdan
must be regarded from this standpoint. Midgard's chief hero, the real
Teutonic patriarch, tries to reconquer for the Teutons the country of
which winter has robbed them. To be able to do this, he is the son of
Thor, the divine foe of the frost-giants, and performs on the border of
Midgard a work corresponding to that which Thor has to do in space and
in Jotunheim. And in the same manner as Heimdal before secured
favourable conditions of nature to the original country, by uniting the
sun-goddess with himself through bonds of love, his grandson Halfdan now
seeks to do the same for the Teutonic country, by robbing a hostile son
of Ivalde, Orvandel, of his wife Groa, the growth-giver, and thereupon
also of Alveig, the giver of the nourishing sap. A symbol of nature may
also be found in Saxo's statement, that the king of Svithiod, Sigtrygg,
Groa's father, could not be conquered unless Halfdan fastened a golden
ball to his club (_Hist._, 31). The purpose of Halfdan's conflicts, the
object which the norns particularly gave to his life, that of
reconquering from the powers of frost the northernmost regions of the
Teutonic territory and of permanently securing them for culture, and the
difficulty of this task is indicated, it seems to me, in the strophes
above quoted, which tell us that the norns fastened the woof of his
power in the east and west, and that he from the beginning, and
undisputed, extended the sceptre of his rule over these latitudes,
while in regard to the northern latitudes, it is said that Nere's
kinswoman, the chief of the norns (see Nos. 57-64, 85), cast a single
thread in this direction and _prayed_ that it might hold for ever:
ther austr oc vestr
enda falo,
thar atti lofdungr
land a milli;
bra nipt Nera
a nordrvega
einni festi,
ey bath hon halda.
The norns' prayer was heard. That the myth made Halfdan proceed
victoriously to the north, even to the very starting-point of the
emigration to the south caused by the fimbul-winter, that is to say, to
Svarin's Mound, is proved by the statements that he slays Svarin and his
brothers, and wins in the vicinity of Svarin's Mound the victory over
his opponents, which was for a time decisive. His penetration into the
north, when regarded as a nature-myth, means the restoration of the
proper change of seasons, and the rendering of the original country and
of Svithiod inhabitable. As far as the hero, who secured the "giver of
growth" and the "giver of nourishing sap," succeeds with the aid of his
father Thor to carry his weapons into the Teutonic lands destroyed by
frost, so far spring and summer again extend the sceptre of their reign.
The songs about Helge Hundingsbane have also preserved from the myth the
idea that Halfdan and his forces penetrating northward by land and by
sea are accompanied in the air by "valkyries," "goddesses from the
south," armed with helmets, coats of mail, and shining spears, who fight
the forces of nature that are hostile to Halfdan, and these valkyries
are in their very nature goddesses of growth, from the manes of whose
horses falls the dew which gives the power of growth back to the earth
and harvests to men. (Cp. Helg. Hund., i. 15, 30; ii., the prose to v.
5, 12, 13, with Helg. Hjoerv., 28.) On this account the Swedes, too, have
celebrated Halfdan in their songs as their patriarch and benefactor, and
according to Saxo they have worshipped him as a divinity, although it
was his task to check the advance of the Skilfings to the south.
Doubtless it is after this successful war that Halfdan performs the
great sacrifice mentioned in Skaldskaparmal, ch. 64, in order that he
may retain his royal power for three hundred years. The statement should
be compared with what the German poems of the middle ages tell about the
longevity of Berchtung-Borgar and other heroes of antiquity. They live
for several centuries. But the response Halfdan gets from the powers to
whom he sacrificed is that he shall live simply to the age of an old
man, and that in his family there shall not for three hundred years be
born a woman or a fameless man.
33.
REVIEW OF THE SVIPDAG MYTH AND ITS POINTS OF CONNECTION
WITH THE MYTH ABOUT HALFDAN (cp. No. 24).
When Halfdan secured Groa, she was already the bride of Orvandel the
brave, and the first son she bore in Halfdan's house was not his, but
Orvandel's. The son's name is Svipdag. He develops into a hero who, like
Halfdan himself, is the most brilliant and most beloved of those
celebrated in Teutonic songs. We have devoted a special part of this
work to him (see Nos. 96-107). There we have given proofs of various
mythological facts, which I now already must incorporate with the
following series of events in order that the epic thread may not be
wanting:
(_a_) Groa bears with Halfdan the son Guthorm (Saxo, _Hist._, _Dan._,
34).
(_b_) Groa is rejected by Halfdan (Saxo, _Hist. Dan._, 33). She returns
to Orvandel, and brings with her her own and his son Svipdag.
(_c_) Halfdan marries Signe-Alveig (Hyndluljod, 15; Prose Edda, i. 516;
Saxo _Hist._, 33), and with her becomes the father of the son Hadding
(Saxo, _Hist. Dan._, 34).
(_d_) Groa dies, and Orvandel marries again (Grogaldr, 3). Before her
death Groa has told her son that if he needs her help he must go to her
grave and invoke her (Grogaldr, 1).
(_e_) It is Svipdag's duty to revenge on Halfdan the disgrace done to
his mother and the murder of his mother's father Sigtrygg. But his
stepmother bids Svipdag seek Menglad, "the one loving ornaments"
(Grogaldr, 3).
(_f_) Under the weight of these tasks Svipdag goes to his mother's
grave, bids her awake from her sleep of death, and from her he receives
protecting incantations (Grogaldr, 1).
(_g_) Before Svipdag enters upon the adventurous expedition to find
Menglad, he undertakes, at the head of the giants, the allies of the
Ivaldesons (see Fjoelsvinsm, 1, where Svipdag is called _thursathjodar
sjolr_), a war of revenge against Halfdan (Saxo, 33 ff., 325; cp. Nos.
102, 103). The host of giants is defeated, and Svipdag, who has entered
into a duel with his stepfather, is overcome by the latter. Halfdan
offers to spare his life and adopt him as his son. But Svipdag refuses
to accept life as a gift from him, and answers a defiant no to the
proffered father-hand. Then Halfdan binds him to a tree and leaves him
to his fate (Saxo, _Hist._, 325; cp. No. 103).
(_h_) Svipdag is freed from his bonds through one of the incantations
sung over him by his mother (Grogaldr, 10).
(_i_) Svipdag wanders about sorrowing in the land of the giants.
Gevarr-Noekkve, god of the moon (see Nos. 90, 91), tells him how he is to
find an irresistible sword, which is always attended by victory (see No.
101). The Sword is forged by Thjasse, who intended to destroy the world
of the gods with it; but just at the moment when the smith had finished
his weapon he was surprised in his sleep by Mimer, who put him in chains
and took the sword. The latter is now concealed in the lower world (see
Nos. 98, 101, 103).
(_j_) Following Gevarr-Noekkve's directions, Svipdag goes to the
northernmost edge of the world, and finds there a descent to the lower
world; he conquers the guard of the gates of Hades, sees the wonderful
regions down there, and succeeds in securing the sword of victory (see
Nos. 53, 97, 98, 101, 103, 112).
(_k_) Svipdag begins a new war with Halfdan. Thor fights on his son's
side, but the irresistible sword cleaves the hammer Mjolner; the Asa-god
himself must yield. The war ends with Halfdan's defeat. He dies of the
wounds he has received in the battle (see Nos. 101, 103; cp. Saxo,
_Hist._, 34).
(_l_) Svipdag seeks and finds Menglad, who is Freyja who was robbed by
the giants. He liberates her and sends her pure and undefiled to Asgard
(see Nos. 96, 98, 100, 102).
(_m_) Idun is brought back to Asgard by Loke. Thjasse, who is freed from
his prison at Mimer's, pursues, in the guise of an eagle, Loke to the
walls of Asgard, where he is slain by the gods (see the Eddas).
(_n_) Svipdag, armed with the sword of victory, goes to Asgard, is
received joyfully by Freyja, becomes her husband, and presents his sword
of victory to Frey. Reconciliation between the gods and the Ivalde race.
Njord marries Thjasse's daughter Skade. Orvandel's second son Ull,
Svipdag's half-brother (see No. 102), is adopted in Valhal. A sister of
Svipdag is married to Forsete (Hyndluljod, 20). The gods honour the
memory of Thjasse by connecting his name with certain stars
(Harbardsljod, 19). A similar honour had already been paid to his
brother Orvandel (Prose Edda).
From this series of events we find that, although the Teutonic patriarch
finally succumbs in the war which he waged against the Thjasse-race and
the frost-powers led by Thjasse's kinsmen, still the results of his work
are permanent. When the crisis had reached its culminating point; when
the giant hosts of the fimbul-winter had received as their leader the
son of Orvandel, armed with the irresistible sword; when Halfdan's fate
is settled; when Thor himself, _Midgard's veorr_ (Voelusp.), the mighty
protector of earth and the human race, must retreat with his lightning
hammer broken into pieces, then the power of love suddenly prevails and
saves the world. Svipdag, who, under the spell of his deceased mother's
incantations from the grave, obeyed the command of his stepmother to
find and rescue Freyja from the power of the giants, thereby wins her
heart and earns the gratitude of the gods. He has himself learned to
love her, and is at last compelled by his longing to seek her in Asgard.
The end of the power of the fimbul-winter is marked by Freyja's and
Idun's return to the gods, by Thjasse's death, by the presentation of
the invincible sword to the god of harvests (Frey), by the adoption of
Thjasse's kinsmen, Svipdag, Ull, and Skade in Asgard, and by several
marriage ties celebrated in commemoration of the reconciliation between
Asgard's gods and the kinsmen of the great artist of antiquity.
34.
THE WORLD WAR. ITS CAUSE. THE MURDER OF GULLVEIG-HEIDR.
THE VOICE OE COUNSEL BETWEEN THE
ASAS AND THE VANS.
Thus the peace of the world and the order of nature might seem secured.
But it is not long before a new war breaks out, to which the former may
be regarded as simply the prelude. The feud, which had its origin in the
judgment passed by the gods on Thjasse's gifts, and which ended in the
marriage of Svipdag and Freyja, was waged for the purpose of securing
again for settlement and culture the ancient domain and Svithiod, where
Heimdal had founded the first community. It was confined within the
limits of the North Teutonic peninsula, and in it the united powers of
Asgard supported the other Teutonic tribes fighting under Halfdan. But
the new conflict rages at the same time in heaven and in earth, between
the divine clans of the Asas and the Vans, and between all the Teutonic
tribes led into war with each other by Halfdan's sons. From the
standpoint of Teutonic mythology it is a world war; and Voeluspa calls it
_the first great war in the world--folcvig fyrst i heimi_ (str. 21, 25).
Loke was the cause of the former prelusive war. His feminine counterpart
and ally _Gullveig-Heidr_, who gradually is blended, so to speak, into
one with him, causes the other. This is apparent from the following
Voeluspa strophes:
Str. 21. That man hon folcvig
fyrst i heimi
er Gullveig
geirum studdu
oc i haull Hars
hana brendo.
Str. 22. Thrysvar brendo
thrysvar borna
opt osialdan
tho hon en lifir.
Str. 23. Heida hana heto
hvars til husa com
volo velspa
vitti hon ganda
seid hon kuni
seid hon Leikin,
e var hon angan
illrar brudar.
Str. 24. Tha gengo regin oll
a raukstola
ginheilog god
oc um that gettuz
hvart scyldo esir
afrad gialda
etha scyldo godin aull
gildi eiga.
Str. 25. Fleygde Odin
oc i folc um scaut
that var en folcvig
fyrst i heimi.
Brotin var bordvegr
borgar asa
knatto vanir vigspa
vollo sporna.
The first thing to be established in the interpretation of these
strophes is the fact that they, in the order in which they are found in
Codex Regius, and in which I have given them, all belong together and
refer to the same mythic event--that is, to the origin of the great
world war. This is evident from a comparison of strophe 21 with 25, the
first and last of those quoted. Both speak of the war, which is called
_folkvig fyrst i heimi_. The former strophe informs us that it occurred
as a result of, and in connection with, the murder of Gulveig, a murder
committed in Valhal itself, in the hall of the Asa-father, beneath the
roof where the gods of the Asa-clan are gathered around their father.
The latter strophe tells that the first great war in the world produced
a separation between the two god-clans, the Asas and Vans, a division
caused by the fact that Odin, hurling his spear, interrupted a
discussion between them; and the strophe also explains the result of the
war: the bulwark around Asgard was broken, and the Vans got possession
of the power of the Asas. The discussion or council is explained in
strophe 24. It is there expressly emphasised that all the gods, the Asas
and Vans, _regin oll, godin aull_, solemnly assemble and seat themselves
on their _raukstola_ to counsel together concerning the murder of
_Gullveig-Heidr_. Strophe 23 has already described who Gulveig is, and
thus given at least one reason for the hatred of the Asas towards her,
and for the treatment she receives in Odin's hall. It is evident that
she was in Asgard under the name Gulveig, since Gulveig was killed and
burnt in Valhal; but Midgard, the abode of man, has also been the scene
of her activity. There she has roamed about under the name Heidr,
practising the evil arts of black sorcery (see No. 27) and encouraging
the evil passions of mankind: _ae var hon angan illrar brudar_. Hence
Gulveig suffers the punishment which from time immemorial was
established among the Aryans for the practice of the black art: she was
burnt. And her mysteriously terrible and magic nature is revealed by
the fact that the flames, though kindled by divine hands, do not have
the power over her that they have over other agents of sorcery. The gods
burn her thrice; they pierce the body of the witch with their spears,
and hold her over the flames of the fire. All is in vain. They cannot
prevent her return and regeneration. Thrice burned and thrice born, she
still lives.
After Voeluspa has given an account of the vala who in Asgard was called
_Gullveig_ and on earth _Heidr_, the poem speaks, in strophe 24, of the
dispute which arose among the gods on account of her murder. The gods
assembled on and around the judgment-seats are divided into two parties,
of which the Asas constitute the one. The fact that the treatment
received by Gulveig can become a question of dispute which ends in
enmity between the gods is a proof that only one of the god-clans has
committed the murder; and since this took place, not in Njord's, or
Frey's, or Freyja's halls, but in Valhal, where Odin rules and is
surrounded by his sons, it follows that the Asas must have committed the
murder. Of course, Vans who were guests in Odin's hall _might_ have been
the perpetrators of the murder; but, on the one hand, the poem would
scarcely have indicated Odin's hall as the place where Gulveig was to be
punished, unless it wished thereby to point out the Asas as the doers of
the deed, and, on the other hand, we cannot conceive the murder as
possible, as described in Voeluspa, if the Vans were the ones who
committed it, and the Asas were Gulveig's protectors; for then the
latter, who were the lords in Valhal, would certainly not have
permitted the Vans quietly and peaceably to subject Gulveig to the long
torture there described, in which she is spitted on spears and held over
the flames to be burnt to ashes.
That the Asas committed the murder is also corroborated by Voeluspa's
account of the question in dispute. One of the views prevailing in the
consultation and discussion in regard to the matter is that the Asas
ought to _afrad gjalda_ in reference to the murder committed. In this
_afrad gjalda_ we meet with a phrase which is echoed in the laws of
Iceland, and in the old codes of Norway and Sweden. There can be no
doubt that the phrase has found its way into the language of the law
from the popular vernacular, and that its legal significance was simply
more definite and precise than its use in the vernacular. The common
popular meaning of the phrase is _to pay compensation_. The compensation
may be of any kind whatsoever. It may be rent for the use of another's
field, or it may be taxes for the enjoyment of social rights, or it may
be death and wounds for having waged war. In the present instance, it
must mean compensation to be paid by the Asas for the slaying of
_Gullveig-Heidr_. As such a demand could not be made by the Asas
themselves, it must have been made by the Vans and their supporters in
the discussion. Against this demand we have the proposition from the
Asas that all the gods should _gildi eiga_. In regard to this disputed
phrase at least so much is clear, that it must contain either an
absolute or a partial counter-proposition to the demand of the Vans, and
its purpose must be that the Asas ought not--at least, not alone--to
pay the compensation for the murder, but that the crime should be
regarded as one in reference to which all the gods, the Asas and the
Vans, were alike guilty, and as one for which they all together should
assume the responsibility.
The discussion does not lead to a friendly settlement. Something must
have been said at which Odin has become deeply offended, for the
Asa-father, distinguished for his wisdom and calmness, hurls his spear
into the midst of those deliberating--a token that the contest of reason
against reason is at an end, and that it is to be followed by a contest
with weapons.
The myth concerning this deliberation between Asas and Vans was well
known to Saxo, and what he has to say about it (_Hist._, 126 ff.),
turning myth as usual into history, should be compared with Voeluspa's
account, for both these sources complement each other.