The first thing that strikes us in Saxo's narrative is that sorcery, the

black art, plays, as in Voeluspa, the chief part in the chain of events.

His account is taken from a mythic circumstance, mentioned by the

heathen skald Kormak (_seid Y ggr til Rindar_--Younger Edda, i. 236),

according to which Odin, forced by extreme need, sought the favour of

Rind, and gained his point by sorcery and witchcraft, as he could not

gain it otherwise. According to Saxo, Odin touched Rind with a piece of

bark on which he had inscribed magic songs, and the result was that she

became insane (_Rinda ... quam Othinus cortice carminibus adnotato

contingens lymphanti similem reddidit_). In immediate connection

herewith it is related that the gods held a council, in which it was

claimed that Odin had stained his divine honour, and ought to be deposed

from his royal dignity (_dii ... Othinum variis majestatis detrimentis

divinitatis gloriam maculasse cernentes, collegio suo submovendum

duxerunt--Hist._, 129). Among the deeds of which his opponents in this

council accused him was, as it appears from Saxo, at least one of which

he ought to take the consequences, but for which all the gods ought not

to be held responsible ( ... _ne vel ipsi, alieno crimine implicati,

insontes nocentis crimine punirentur--Hist., 129; in omnium caput unius

culpam recidere putares, Hist._, 130). The result of the deliberation of

the gods is, in Saxo as in Voeluspa, that Odin is banished, and that

another clan of gods than his holds the power for some time. Thereupon

he is, with the consent of the reigning gods, recalled to the throne,

which he henceforth occupies in a brilliant manner. But one of his first

acts after his return is to banish the black art and its agents from

heaven and from earth (_Hist._, 44).

Thus the chain of events in Saxo both begins and ends with sorcery. It

is the background on which both in Saxo and in Voeluspa those events

occur which are connected with the dispute between the Asas and Vans. In

both the documents the gods meet in council before the breaking out of

the enmity. In both the question turns on a deed done by Odin, for which

certain gods do not wish to take the responsibility. Saxo indicates this

by the words: _Ne vel ipsi, alieno crimine implicati innocentes nocentis

crimine punirentur._ Voeluspa indicates it by letting the Vans present,

against the proposition that _godin oell skyldu gildi eiga_, the claim

that Odin's own clan, and it alone, should _afrad gjalda_. And while

Voeluspa makes Odin suddenly interrupt the deliberations and hurl his

spear among the deliberators, Saxo gives us the explanation of his

sudden wrath. He and his clan had slain and burnt Gulveig-Heid because

she practised sorcery and other evil arts of witchcraft. And as he

refuses to make compensation for the murder and demands that all the

gods take the consequences and share the blame, the Vans have replied in

council, that he too once practised sorcery on the occasion when he

visited Rind, and that, if Gulveig was justly burnt for this crime, then

he ought justly to be deposed from his dignity stained by the same crime

as the ruler of all the gods. Thus Voeluspa's and Saxo's accounts

supplement and illustrate each other.

_One_ dark point remains, however. Why have the Vans objected to the

killing of Gulveig-Heid? Should this clan of gods, celebrated in song as

benevolent, useful, and pure, be kindly disposed toward the evil and

corrupting arts of witchcraft? This cannot have been the meaning of the

myth. As shall be shown, the evil plans of Gulveig-Heid have

particularly been directed against those very Vana-gods who in the

council demand compensation for her death. In this regard Saxo has in

perfect faithfulness toward his mythic source represented Odin on the

one hand, and his opponents among the gods on the other, as alike

hostile to the black art. Odin, who on one occasion and under peculiar

circumstances, which I shall discuss in connection with the Balder myth,

was guilty of the practise of sorcery, is nevertheless the declared

enemy of witchcraft, and Saxo makes him take pains to forbid and

persecute it. The Vans likewise look upon it with horror, and it is this

horror which adds strength to their words when they attack and depose

Odin, because he has himself practised that for which he has punished

Gulveig.

The explanation of the fact is, as shall be shown below, that Frey, on

account of a passion of which he is the victim (probably through

sorcery), was driven to marry the giant maid Gerd, whose kin in that way

became friends of the Vans. Frey is obliged to demand satisfaction for a

murder perpetrated on a kinswoman of his wife. The kinship of blood

demands its sacred right, and according to Teutonic ideas of law, the

Vans must act as they do regardless of the moral character of Gulveig.

35.

GULVEIG-HEIDR. HER IDENTITY WITH AURBODA, ANGRBODA,

HYRROKIN. THE MYTH CONCERNING THE

SWORD GUARDIAN AND FJALAR.

The duty of the Vana-deities becomes even more plain, if it can be shown

that Gulveig-Heid is Gerd's mother; for Frey, supported by the

Vana-gods, then demands satisfaction for the murder of his own

mother-in-law. Gerd's mother is, in Hyndluljod, 30, called Aurboda, and

is the wife of the giant Gymer:

Freyr atti Gerdi,

Hon vor Gymis dottir,

iotna aettar

ok Aurbodu.

It can, in fact, be demonstrated that Aurboda is identical with

Gulveig-Heid. The evidence is given below in two divisions. (a) Evidence

that Gulveig-Heid is identical with Angerboda, "the ancient one in the

Ironwood;" (b) evidence that Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda is identical with

Aurboda, Gerd's mother.

(a) Gulveid-Heid identical with Angerboda.

Hyndluljod, 40, 41, says:

Ol ulf Loki

vid Angrbodu,

(enn Sleipni gat

vid Svadilfara);

eitt thotti skars

allra feiknazst

that var brodur fra

Byleistz komit.

Loki af hiarta

lindi brendu,

fann hann haalfsuidinn

hugstein konu;

vard Loptr kvidugr

af konu illri;

thadan er aa folldu

flagd hvert komit.

From the account we see that an evil female being (_ill kona_) had been

burnt, but that the flames were not able to destroy the seed of life in

her nature. Her heart had not been burnt through or changed to ashes. It

was only half-burnt (_halfsvidinn hugsteinn_), and in this condition it

had together with the other remains of the cremated woman been thrown

away, for Loke finds and swallows the heart.

Our ancestors looked upon the heart as the seat of the life principle,

of the soul of living beings. A number of linguistic phrases are founded

on the idea that goodness and evil, kindness and severity, courage and

cowardice, joy and sorrow, are connected with the character of the

heart; sometimes we find _hjarta_ used entirely in the sense of soul, as

in the expression _hold ok hjarta_, soul and body. So long as the heart

in a dead body had not gone into decay, it was believed that the

principle of life dwelling therein still was able, under peculiar

circumstances, to operate on the limbs and exercise an influence on its

environment, particularly if the dead person in life had been endowed

with a will at once evil and powerful. In such cases it was regarded as

important to pierce the heart of the dead with a pointed spear (cp.

Saxo, _Hist._, 43, and No. 95).

The half-burnt heart, accordingly, contains the evil woman's soul, and

its influence upon Loke, after he has swallowed it, is most remarkable.

Once before when he bore Sleipner with the giant horse Svadilfare, Loke

had revealed his androgynous nature. So he does now. The swallowed heart

redeveloped the feminine in him (_Loki lindi af brendu hjarta_). It

fertilised him with the evil purposes which the heart contained. Loke

became the possessor of the evil woman (_kvidugr af konu illri_), and

became the father of the children from which the trolls (_flagd_) are

come which are found in the world. First among the children is mentioned

the wolf, which is called _Fenrir_, and which in Ragnarok shall cause

the death of the Asa-father. To this event point Njord's words about

Loke, in Lokasenna, str. 33: _ass ragr er hefir born of borit_. The

woman possessing the half-burnt heart, who is the mother or rather the

father of the wolf, is called Angerboda (_ol ulf Loki vid Angrbodu_). N.

M. Peterson and other mythologists have rightly seen that she is the

same as "the old one," who in historical times and until Ragnarok dwells

in the Ironwood, and "there fosters Fenrer's kinsmen" (Voeluspa, 39), her

own offspring, which at the close of this period are to issue from the

Ironwood, and break into Midgard and dye its citadels with blood

(Voeluspa, 30).

The fact that Angerboda now dwells in the Ironwood, although there on a

former occasion did not remain more of her than a half-burnt heart,

proves that the attempt to destroy her with fire was unsuccessful, and

that she arose again in bodily form after this cremation, and became the

mother and nourisher of were-wolves. Thus the myth about Angerboda is

identical with the myth about Gulveig-Heid in the two characteristic

points:

Unsuccessful burning of an evil woman.

Her regeneration after the cremation.

These points apply equally to Gulveig-Heid and to Angerboda, "the old

one in the Ironwood."

The myth about Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda, as it was remembered in the first

period after the introduction of Christianity, we find in part

recapitulated in Helgakvida Hundingsbane, i. 37-40, where Sinfjotle

compares his opponent Gudmund with the evil female principle in the

heathen mythology, the vala in question, and where Gudmund in return

compares Sinfjotle with its evil masculine principle, Loke.

Sinfjotle says:

Thu vart vaulva

i Varinseyio,

scollvis kona

bartu scrauc saman;

* * * * *

Thu vart, en scetha,

scass valkyria,

autul, amatlig

at Alfaudar;

mundo einherjar

allir beriaz,

svevis kona,

um sakar thinar.

Nio attu vith

a neri Sagu

ulfa alna

ec var einn fathir theirra.

Gudmund's answer begins:

Fadir varattu

fenrisulfa....

The evil woman with whom one of the two heroes compares the other is

said to be a vala, who has practised her art partly on Varin's Isle

partly in Asgard at Alfather's, and there she was the cause of a war in

which all the warriors of Asgard took part. This refers to the war

between the Asas and Vans. It is the second feud among the powers of

Asgard.

The vala must therefore be Gulveig-Heid of the myth, on whose account

the war between the Asas and Vans broke out, according to Voeluspa. Now

it is said of her in the lines above quoted, that she gave birth to

wolves, and that these wolves were "fenrisulfar." Of Angerboda we

already know that she is the mother of the real Fenris-wolf, and that

she, in the Ironwood, produces other wolves which are called by Fenrer's

name (_Fenris kindir_--Voeluspa). Thus the identity of Gulveig-Heid and

Angerboda is still further established by the fact that both the one and

the other is called the mother of the Fenris family.

The passage quoted is not the only one which has preserved the memory of

Gulveig-Heid as mother of the were-wolves. Volsungasaga (c. ii. 8)

relates that a giantess, _Hrimnir's_ daughter, first dwelt in Asgard as

the maid-servant of Frigg, then on earth, and that she, during her

sojourn on earth, became the wife of a king, and with him the mother and

grandmother of were-wolves, who infested the woods and murdered men. The

fantastic and horrible saga about these were-wolves has, in Christian

times and by Christian authors been connected with the poems about Helge

Hundingsbane and Sigurd Fafnersbane. The circumstance that the giantess

in question first dwelt in Asgard and thereupon in Midgard, indicates

that she is identical with Gulveig-Heid, and this identity is confirmed

by the statement that she is a daughter of the giant _Hrimnir_.

The myth, as it has come down to our days, knows only one daughter of

this giant, and she is the same as Gulveig-Heid. Hyndluljod states that

_Heidr_ is _Hrimnir's_ daughter, and mentions no sister of hers, but, on

the other hand, a brother _Hrossthiofr_ (_Heidr ok Hrorsthiofr Hrimnis

kindar_--Hyndl., 30). In allusion to the cremation of Gulveig-Heid fire

is called in Thorsdrapa _Hrimnis drosar lyptisylgr_, "the lifting drink

of Hrimner's daughter," the drink which Heid lifted up on spears had to

drink. Nowhere is any other daughter of Hrimner mentioned. And while it

is stated in the above-cited strophe that the giantess who caused the

war in Asgard and became the mother of fenris-wolves was a vala on

Varin's Isle (_vaulva i Varinseyio_), a comparison of Helgakv. Hund., i.

26, with Volsungasaga, c. 2, shows that Varin's Isle and Varin's Fjord

were located in that very country, where Hrimner's daughter was supposed

to have been for some time the wife of a king and to have given birth to

were-wolves.

Thus we have found that the three characteristic points--

unsuccessful cremation of an evil giantess,

her regeneration after the cremation,

the same woman as mother of the Fenrer race--

are common to Gulveig-Heid and Angerboda.

Their identity is apparent from various other circumstances, but may be

regarded as completely demonstrated by the proofs given. Gulveig's

activity in antiquity as the founder of the diabolical magic art, as one

who awakens man's evil passions and produces strife in Asgard itself,

has its complement in Angerboda's activity as the mother and nourisher

of that class of beings in whose members witchcraft, thirst for blood,

and hatred of the gods are personified. The activity of the evil

principle has, in the great epic of the myth, formed a continuity

spanning all ages, and this continuous thread of evil is twisted from

the treacherous deeds of Gulveig and Loke, the feminine and the

masculine representatives of the evil principle. Both appear at the dawn

of mankind: Loke has already at the beginning of time secured access to

Alfather (Lokasenna, 9), and Gulveig deceives the sons of men already in

the time of Heimdal's son Borgar. Loke entices Idun from the secure

grounds of Asgard, and treacherously delivers her to the powers of

frost; Gulveig, as we shall see, plays Freyja into the hands of the

giants. Loke plans enmity between the gods and the forces of nature,

which hitherto had been friendly, and which have their personal

representatives in Ivalde's sons; Gulveig causes the war between the

Asas and Vans. The interference of both is interrupted at the close of

the mythic age, when Loke is chained, and Gulveig, in the guise of

Angerboda, is an exile in the Ironwood. Before this they have for a time

been blended, so to speak, into a single being, in which the feminine

assuming masculineness, and the masculine effeminated, bear to the world

an offspring of foes to the gods and to creation. Both finally act their

parts in the destruction of the world. Before that crisis comes

Angerboda has fostered that host of "sons of world-ruin" which Loke is

to lead to battle, and a magic sword which she has kept in the Ironwood

is given to Surt, in whose hand it is to be the death of Frey, the lord

of harvests (see Nos. 89, 98, 101, 103).

That the woman who in antiquity, in various guises, visited Asgard and

Midgard was believed to have had her home in the Ironwood[18] of the

East during the historical age down to Ragnarok is explained by what

Saxo says--viz., that Odin, after his return and reconciliation with the

Vans, banished the agents of the black art both from heaven and from

earth. Here, too, the connection between Gulveig-Heid and Angerboda is

manifest. The war between the Asas and Vans was caused by the burning of

Gulveig by the former. After the reconciliation with the Asas this

punishment cannot again be inflicted on the regenerated witch. The Asas

must allow her to live to the end of time; but both the clans of gods

agree that she must not show her face again in Asgard or Midgard. The

myth concerning the banishment of the famous vala to the Ironwood, and

of the Loke progeny which she there fosters, has been turned into

history by Jordanes in his _De Goth. Origine_, ch. 24, where it is

stated that a Gothic king compelled the suspected valas (_haliorunas_)

found among his people to take their refuge to the deserts in the East

beyond the Moeotian Marsh, where they mixed with the wood-sprites, and

thus became the progenitors of the Huns. In this manner the Christian

Goths got from their mythic traditions an explanation of the source of

the eastern hosts of horsemen, whose ugly faces and barbarous manners

seemed to them to prove an other than purely human origin. The vala

Gulveig-Heid and her like become in Jordanes these _haliorunae_; Loke and

the giants of the Ironwood become these wood-sprites; the Asa-god who

caused the banishment becomes a king, son of Gandaricus Magnus (the

great ruler of the Gandians, Odin), and Loke's and Angerboda's wonderful

progeny become the Huns.

Stress should be laid on the fact that Jordanes and Saxo have in the

same manner preserved the tradition that Odin and the Asas, after making

peace and becoming reconciled with the Vans, do not apply the

death-penalty and burning to Gulveid-Heid-Angerboda and her kith and

kin, but, instead, sentence them to banishment from the domains of gods

and men. That the tradition preserved in Saxo and Jordanes corresponded

with the myth is proved by the fact that we there rediscover

Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda with her offspring in the Ironwood, which was

thought to be situated in the utmost East, far away from the human

world, and that she remains there undisturbed until the destruction of

the world. The reconciliation between the Asas and Vans has, as this

conclusively shows, been based on an admission on the part of the Asas

that the Vans had a right to find fault with and demand satisfaction for

the murder of Gulveig-Heid. Thus the dispute which caused the war

between Asas and Vans was at last decided to the advantage of the

latter, while they on their part, after being satisfied, reinstate Odin

in his dignity as universal ruler and father of the gods.

(b) Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda identical with Aurboda.

In the Ironwood dwells Angerboda, together with a giant, who is _gygjar

hirdir_, the guardian and watcher of the giantess. He has charge of her

remarkable herds, and also guards a sword brought to the Ironwood. This

vocation has given him the epithet Egther (_Egtherr_--Voeluspa), which

means sword-guardian. Saxo speaks of him as Egtherus, an ally of Finns,

skilled in magic, and a chief of Bjarmians, equally skilful in magic

(cp. _Hist._, 248, 249, with Nos. 52, 53). Bjarmians and Finns are in

Saxo made the heirs of the wicked inhabitants of Jotunheim. Vilkinasaga

knows him by the name Etgeir, who watches over precious implements in

Isung's wood. Etgeir is a corruption of Egther, and Isung's wood is a

reminiscence of _Isarnvidr_, _Isarnho_, the Ironwood. In the Vilkinasaga

he is the brother of Vidolf. According to Hyndluljod, all the valas of

the myth come from Vidolf. As Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda is the chief of all

valas, and the teacher of the arts practised by the valas this statement

in Hyndluljod makes us think of her particularly; and as _Hrimnir's_

daughter has been born and burnt several times, she may also have had

several fathers. Among them, then, is Vidolf, whose character, as

described by Saxo, fits well for such a daughter. He is a master in

sorcery, and also skilful in the art of medicine. But the medical art he

practises in such a manner that those who seek his help receive from him

such remedies as do harm instead of good. Only by threats can he be made

to do good with his art (_Hist._, 323, 324). The statement in

Vilkinasaga compared with that in Hyndluljod seems therefore to point

to a near kinship between Angerboda and her sword-guard. She appears to

be the daughter of his brother.

In Voeluspa's description of the approach of Ragnarok, Egther Angerboda's

shepherd, is represented as sitting on a mound--like Aurboda's shepherd

in _Skirnisfoer_--and playing a harp, happy over that which is to happen.

That the giant who is hostile to the gods, and who is the guardian of

the strange herds, does not play an idyl on the strings of his harp does

not need to be stated. He is visited by a being in the guise of the red

cock. The cock, says Voeluspa, is _Fjalarr_ (str. 44).

What the heathen records tell us about Fjalar is the following:[19]

(a) He is the same giant as the Younger Edda (i. 144 ff.) calls

Utgard-Loke. The latter is a fire-giant, _Loge's_, the fire's ruler

(Younger Edda, 152), the cause of earthquakes (Younger Edda, 144), and

skilled in producing optical delusions. Fjalar's identity with

Utgard-Loke is proved by Harbardsljod, str. 26, where Thor, on his way

to Fjalar, meets with the same adventures as, according to the Younger

Edda, he met with on his way to Utgard-Loke.

(b) He is the same giant as the one called Suttung. The giant from whom

Odin robs the skaldic mead, and whose devoted daughter Gunlad he causes

bitter sorrow, is called in Havamal sometimes Fjalar and sometimes

Suttung (cp. strs. 13, 14, 104, 105).

(c) Fjalar is the son of the chief of the fire-giants, _Surtr_, and

dwells in the subterranean dales of the latter. A full account of this

in No. 89. Here it will suffice to point out that when Odin flies out of

Fjalar's dwelling with the skaldic mead, it is "from Surt's deep dales"

that he "flying bears" the precious drink (_hinn er Surts or soekkdoelum

farmagnudr fljugandi bar_, a strophe by Eyvind, quoted in the Younger

Edda, p. 242), and that this drink while it remained with Fjalar was

"the drink of Surt's race" (_Sylgr Surts aettar_, Fornms., iii. 3).

(d) Fjalar, with Froste, takes part in the attack of Thjasse's kinsmen

and the Skilfings from Svarin's Mound against "the land of the clayey

plains, to Jaravall" (Voeluspa, 14, 15; see Nos. 28, 32). Thus he is

allied with the powers of frost, who are foes of the gods, and who seek

to conquer the Teutonic domain. The approach of the fimbul-winter was

also attended by an earthquake (see Nos. 28, 81).

When, therefore, Voeluspa makes Fjalar on his visit to the sword-guardian

in the Ironwood appear in the guise of the red cock, then this is in

harmony with Fjalar's nature as a fire-giant and as a son of Surt.

Sat thar a haugi

oc slo haurpo

gygjar hirthir

gladr Egther.

Gol um hanom

i galgvithi

fagrraudr hani

sa er Fjalar heitir (Voelusp., 41).

The red cock has from time immemorial been the symbol of fire as a

destructive power.

That what Odin does against Fjalar--when he robs him of the mead, which

in the myth is the most precious of all drinks, and when he deceived his

daughter--is calculated to awaken Fjalar's thirst for revenge and to

bring about a satisfaction sooner or later, lies in the very spirit of

Teutonic poetry and ethics, especially since, Odin's act, though done

from a good motive, was morally reprehensible. What Fjalar's errand to

Angerboda's sword-guard was appears from the fact that when the last war

between the gods and their enemies is fought a short time afterwards,

Fjalar's father, the chief of the fire-giants, Surt, is armed with the

best of the mythical weapons, the sword which had belonged to a

_valtivi_, one of the gods of Asgard (Voelusp., 50), and which casts the

splendour of the sun upon the world. The famous sword of the myth, that

which Thjasse finished with a purpose hostile to the gods (see No. 87

and elsewhere), the sword concealed by Mimer (see Nos. 87, 98, 101), the

sword found by Svipdag (see Nos. 89, 101, 103), the sword secured

through him by Frey, the one given by Frey to Gymer and Aurboda in

exchange for Gerd,--this sword is found again in the Ragnarok conflict,

wielded by Surt, and causes Frey's death (Voeluspa), it having been

secured by Surt's son, Fjalar, in the Ironwood from Angerboda's

sword-guard.

Gulli keypta

leztu Gymis dottur

oc seldir thitt sva sverth;

Enn er Muspells synir

rida myrcvith yfir

veizta thu tha, vesall, hve thu vegr (Lokas., 42).

This passage not only tells us that Frey gave his sword in exchange for

Gerd to the parents of the giantess, Gymer and Aurboda, but also gives

us to understand that this bargain shall cause his death in Ragnarok.

This bride-purchase is fully described in Skirnismal, in which poem we

learn that the gods most unwillingly part with the safety which the

incomparable sword secured to Asgard. They yield in order to save the

life of the harvest-god, who was wasting away with longing and anxiety,

but not until the giants had refused to accept other Asgard treasures,

among them the precious ring Draupner, which the Asa-father once laid on

the pulseless breast of his favourite son Balder. At the approach of

Ragnarok, Surt's son, Fjalar, goes to the Ironwood to fetch for his

father the sword by which Frey, its former possessor, is to fall. The

sword is then guarded by Angerboda's shepherd, and consequently belongs

to her. In other words, the sword which Aurboda enticed Frey to give her

is now found in the possession of Angerboda. This circumstance of itself

is a very strong reason for their identity. If there were no other

evidence of their identity than this, a sound application of methodology

would still bid us accept this identity rather than explain the matter

by inventing a new, nowhere-supported myth, and thus making the sword

pass from Aurboda to another giantess.

When we now add the important fact in the disposition of this matter,

that Aurboda's son-in-law, Frey, demands, in behalf of a near kinsman,

satisfaction from the Asas when they had killed and burnt

Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda, then it seems to me that there can be no doubt

in regard to the identity of Aurboda and Angerboda, the less so, since

all that our mythic fragments have to tell us about Gymer's wife

confirms the theory that she is the same person. Aurboda has, like

Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda, practised the arts of sorcery: she is one of the

valas of the evil giant world. This is told to us in a strophe by the

skald _Refr_, who calls her "Gymer's primeval cold vala" (_ursvoel Gymis

voelva_--Younger Edda, i. 326, 496). She might be called "primeval cold"

(_ursvoel_) from the fact that the fire was not able to pierce her heart

and change it to ashes, in spite of a threefold burning. Under all

circumstances, the passage quoted informs us that she is a vala.

But have our mythic fragments preserved any allusion to show that

Aurboda, like Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda, ever dwelt among the gods in

Asgard? Asgard is a place where giants are refused admittance.

Exceptions from this prohibition must have been very few, and the myths

must have given good reasons for them. We know in regard to Loke's

appearance in Asgard, that it is based on a promise given him by the

Asa-father in time's morning; and the promise was sealed with blood

(Lokasenna, 9). If, now, this Aurboda, who, like Angerboda, is a vala of

giant race, and like Angerboda, is the owner of Frey's sword, and, like

Angerboda, is a kinswoman of the Vans--if now this same Aurboda, in

further likeness with Angerboda, was one of the certainly very few of

the giant class who was permitted to enter within the gates of Asgard,

then it must be admitted that this fact absolutely confirms their

identity.

Aurboda did actually dwell in Asgard. Of this we are assured by the poem

"Fjoelsvinsmal." There it is related that when Svipdag came to the gates

of Asgard to seek and find Menglad-Freyja, who was destined to be his

wife (see Nos. 96, 97), he sees Menglad sitting on a hill surrounded by

goddesses, whose very names _Eir_, _Bjoert_, _Blid_, and _Frid_, tell us

that they are goddesses of lower or higher rank. _Eir_ is an asynja of

the healing art (Younger Edda, i. 114). _Bjoert_, _Blid_, and _Frid_ are

the dises of splendour, benevolence, and beauty. They are mighty beings,

and can give aid in distress to all who worship them (Fjolsv., 40). But

in the midst of this circle of dises, who surround Menglad, Svipdag also

sees Aurboda (Fjolsv., 38).

Above them Svipdag sees Mimer's tree--the world-tree (see No. 97),

spreading its all-embracing branches, on which grow fruits which soothe

_kelisjukar konur_ and lighten the entrance upon terrestrial life for

the children of men (Fjolsv., 22). Menglad-Freyja is, as we know, the

goddess of love and fertility, and it is Frigg's and her vocation to

dispose of these fruits for the purposes for which they are intended.

The Volsungasaga has preserved a record concerning these fruits, and

concerning the giant-daughter who was admitted to Asgard as a

maid-servant of the goddesses. A king and queen had long been married

without getting any children. They beseeched the gods for an heir.

Frigg heard their prayers and sent them in the guise of a crow the

daughter of the giant Hrimner, a giantess who had been adopted in Asgard

as Odin's "wish-may." Hrimner's daughter took an apple with her, and

when the queen had eaten it, it was not long before she perceived that

her wish would come to pass (Volsungasaga, pp. 1, 2). Hrimner's daughter

is, as we know, Gulveig-Heid.

Thus the question whether Aurboda ever dwelt in Asgard is answered in

the affirmative. We have discovered her, though she is the daughter of a

giant, in the circle around Menglad-Freyja, where she has occupied a

subordinate position as maid-servant. At the same time we have found

that Gulveig-Heid has for some time had an occupation in Asgard of

precisely the same kind as that which belongs to a dis serving under the

goddess of fertility. Thus the similarity between Aurboda and

Gulveig-Heid is not confined to the fact that they, although giantesses,

dwelt in Asgard, but they were employed there in the same manner.

The demonstration that Gulveig-Heid-Angerboda is identical with Aurboda

may now be regarded as complete. Of the one as of the other it is

related that she was a vala of giant-race, that she nevertheless dwelt

for some time in Asgard, and was there employed by Frigg or Freyja in

the service of fertility, and that she possessed the sword, which had

formerly belonged to Frey, and by which Frey is to fall. Aurboda is

Frey's mother-in-law, consequently closely related to him; and it must

have been in behalf of a near relation that Frey and Njord demanded

satisfaction from the Asas when the latter slew Gulveig-Heid. Under such

circumstances it is utterly impossible from a methodological standpoint

to regard them otherwise than identical. We must consider that nearly

all mythic characters are polyonomous, and that the Teutonic mythology,

particularly, on account of its poetics, is burdened with a

highly-developed polyonomy.

But of Gulveig-Heid's and Aurboda's identity there are also other proofs

which, for the sake of completeness, we will not omit.

So far as the very names Gulveig and Aurboda are concerned the one can

serve as a paraphrase of the other. The first part of the name

_Aurboda_, the _aur_ of many significations may be referred to _eyrir_,

pl. _aurar_, which means precious metal, and is thought to be borrowed

from the Latin _aurum_ (gold). Thus _Gull_ and _Aur_ correspond. In the

same manner _veig_ in Gulveig can correspond to _boda_ in _Aurboda_.

_Veig_ means a fermenting liquid. _Boda_ has two significations. It can

be the feminine form of _bodi_, meaning fermenting water, froth, foam.

No other names compounded with _boda_ occur in Norse literature than

_Aurboda_ and _Angrboda_.

Ynglingasaga[20] (ch. 4) relates a tradition that _Freyja kendi fyrst

med Asum seid_, that Freyja was the first to practise sorcery in Asgard.

There is no doubt that the statement is correct. For we have seen that

Gulveig-Heid, the sorceress and spreader of sorcery in antiquity,

succeeded in getting admission to Asgard, and that Aurboda is mentioned

as particularly belonging to the circle of serving dises who attended

Freyja. As this giantess was so zealous in spreading her evil arts among

the inhabitants of Midgard, it would be strange if the myth did not make

her, after she had gained Freyja's confidence, try to betray her into

practising the same arts. Doubtless Voeluspa and Saxo have reference to

Gulveig-Heid-Aurboda when they say that Freyja, through some treacherous

person among her attendants, was delivered into the hands of the giants.

In his historical account relating how Freyja (_Syritha_) was robbed

from Asgard and came to the giants but was afterwards saved from their

power, Saxo (_Hist._, 331; cp. No. 100) tells that a woman, who was

secretly allied with a giant, had succeeded in ingratiating herself in

her favour, and for some time performed the duties of a maid-servant at

her home; but this she did in order to entice her in a cunning manner

away from her safe home to a place where the giant lay in ambush and

carried her away to the recesses of his mountain country. (_Gigas

faeminam subornat, quae cum obtenta virginis familiaritate, ejus

aliquamdiu pedissequam egisset, hanc tandem a paternis procul penatibus,

quaesita callidius digressione, reduxit; quam ipse mox irruens in

arctiora montanae crepidinis septa devexit._) Thus Saxo informs us that

it was a woman among Freyja's attendants who betrayed her, and that this

woman was allied with the giant world, which is hostile to the gods,

while she held a trusted servant's place with the goddess. Aurboda is

the only woman connected with the giants in regard to whom our mythic

records inform us that she occupied such a position with Freyja; and as

Aurboda's character and part, played in the epic of the myth, correspond

with such an act of treason, there is no reason for assuming the mere

possibility, that the betrayer of Freyja may have been some one else,

who is neither mentioned nor known.

With this it is important to compare Voeluspa, 26, 27, which not only

mentions the fact that Freyja came into the power of the giants through

treachery, but also informs us how the treason was punished:

Tha gengo regin oll

A raukstola,

ginheilog god

oc um that gettuz

hverir hefdi lopt alt

levi blandit

etha ett iotuns

Oths mey gefna

thorr ein thar va

thrungin modi,

hann sialdan sitr

er hann slict um fregn.

These Voeluspa lines stand in Codex Regius in immediate connection with

the above-quoted strophes which speak of Gulveig-Heid and of the war

caused by her between the Asas and Vans. They inform us that the gods

assembled to hold a solemn counsel to find out "who had filled all the

air with evil," or "who had delivered Freyja to the race of giants;" and

that the person found guilty was at once slain by Thor, who grew most

angry.

Now if this person is Gulveig-Aurboda, then it follows that she

received her death-blow from Thor's hammer, before the Asas made in

common the unsuccessful attempt to change her body into ashes. We also

find elsewhere in our mythic records that an exceedingly dangerous woman

met with precisely this fate. There she is called _Hyrrokin_. A strophe

by Thorbjorn Disarskald preserved in the Younger Edda, states that

_Hyrrokin_ was one of the giantesses slain by Thor. But the very

appellation _Hyrrokin_, which must be an epithet of a giantess known by

some other more common name indicates that some effort worthy of being

remembered in the myth had been made to burn her, but that the effort

resulted in her being smoked (_roekt_) rather than that she was burnt;

for the epithet _Hyrrokin_ means the "fire-smoked." For those familiar

with the contents of the myth, this epithet was regarded as plain enough

to indicate who was meant. If it is not, therefore, to be looked upon as

an unhappy and misleading epithet, it must refer to the thrice in vain

burnt Gulveig. All that we learn about _Hyrrokin_ confirms her identity

with Aurboda. In the symbolic-allegorical work of art, which toward the

close of the tenth century decorated a hall at Hjardarholt, and of which

I shall give a fuller account elsewhere, the storm which from the land

side carried Balder's ship out on the sea is represented by the giantess

Hyrrokin. In the same capacity of storm-giantess carrying sailors out

upon the ocean appears Gymer's wife, Aurboda, in a poem by _Refr_;

Faerir bjoern, thar er bara

brestr, undinna festa,

Opt i AEgis kjopta

ursvoel Gymis voelva.

"Gymer's ancient-cold vala often carries the ship amid breaking billows

into the jaws of AEgir." Gymer, Aurboda's husband, represents in the

physical interpretation of the myth the east wind coming from the

Ironwood. From the other side of Eystrasalt (the Baltic) Gymer sings his

song (Ynglingasaga, 36); and the same gale belongs to Aurboda, for AEgir,

into whose jaws she drives the ships, is the great open western ocean.

That Aurboda represents the gale from the east finds its natural

explanation in her identity with Angerboda "the old," who dwells in the

Ironwood in the uttermost east, "_Austr byr hin alldna i iarnvithi_"

(Voelusp.).

The result of the investigation is that _Gullveig-Heidr_, _Aurboda_, and

_Angrboda_ are different names for the different hypostases of the

thrice-born and thrice-burnt one, and that _Hyrrokin_, "the

fire-smoked," is an epithet common to all these hypostases.

[Footnote 18: In Voeluspa the wood is called both _Jarnvidr, Gaglvidr_

(Cod. Reg.), and _Galgvidr_ (Cod. Hauk.). It may be that we here have a

fossil word preserved in Voeluspa meaning metal. Perhaps the wood was a

copper or bronze forest before it became an iron wood. Compare

_ghalgha_, _ghalghi_ (Fick., ii. 578) = metal, which, again, is to be

compared with _Chalkos._ = copper, bronze.]

[Footnote 19: In _Bragaraedur's_ pseudo-mythic account of the Skaldic

mead (Younger Edda, 216 ff.) the name _Fjalarr_ also appears. In regard

to the value of this account, see the investigation in No. 89.]

[Footnote 20: Ynglingasaga is the opening chapters of Snorre Sturlason's

Heimskringla.]

36.

THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). THE BREACH OF PEACE

BETWEEN ASAS AND VANS. FRIGG, SKADE, AND ULL

IN THE CONFLICT. THE SIEGE OF ASGARD. THE

VAFERFLAMES. THE DEFENCE AND SURROUNDINGS

OF ASGARD. THE VICTORY OF THE VANS.

When the Asas had refused to give satisfaction for the murder of

Gulveig, and when Odin, by hurling his spear, had indicated that the

treaty of peace between him and the Vans was broken, the latter leave

the assembly hall and Asgard. This is evident from the fact that they

afterwards return to Asgard and attack the citadel of the Asa clan. The

gods are now divided into two hostile camps: on the one side Odin and

his allies, among whom are Heimdal (see Nos. 38, 39, 40), and Skade; on

the other Njord, Frigg (Saxo, _Hist._, 42-44), Frey, Ull (Saxo, _Hist_.,

130, 131), and Freyja and her husband Svipdag, besides all that clan of

divinities who were not adopted in Asgard, but belong to the race of

Vans and dwell in Vanaheim.

So far as Skade is concerned the breach between the gods seems to have

furnished her an opportunity of getting a divorce from Njord, with whom

she did not live on good terms. According to statements found in the

myths, Thjasse's daughter and he were altogether too different in

disposition to dwell in peace together. Saxo (_Hist._, 53 ff.) and the

Younger Edda (p. 94) have both preserved the record of a song which

describes their different tastes as to home and surroundings. Skade

loved Thrymheim, the rocky home of her father Thjasse, on whose

snow-clad plains she was fond of running on skees and of felling wild

beasts with her arrows; but when Njord had remained nine days and nine

nights among the mountains he was weary of the rocks and of the howling

of wolves, and longed for the song of swans on the sea-strand. But when

Skade accompanied him thither she could not long endure to be awakened

every morning by the shrieking of sea-fowls. In Grimnismal, 11, it is

said that Skade "now" occupies her father's "ancient home" in

Thrymheim, but Njord is not named there. In a strophe by Thord Sjarekson

(Younger Edda, 262) we read that Skade never became devoted to the

Vana-god (_nama snotr una godbrudr Vani_), and Eyvind Skalda-spiller

relates in _Haleygjatal_ that there was a time when Odin dwelt _i

Manheimum_ together with Skade, and begat with her many sons. With

_Manheimar_ is meant that part of the world which is inhabited by man;

that is to say, Midgard and the lower world, where are also found a race

of _menskir menn_ (see Nos. 52, 53, 59, 63), and the topographical

counterpart of the word is _Asgardr_. Thus it must have been after his

banishment from Asgard, while he was separated from Frigg and found

refuge somewhere in _Manheimar_, that Odin had Skade for his wife. Her

epithet in Grimnismal, _skir brudr goda_, also seems to indicate that

she had conjugal relations with more than one of the gods.

While Odin was absent and deposed as ruler of the world, Ull has

occupied so important a position among the ruling Vans that, according

to the tradition preserved in Saxo, they bestowed upon him the task and

honour which until that time had belonged to Odin (_Dii ... Ollerum

quendam non solum in regni, sed etiam in divinitatis infulas

subrogavere_--_Hist._, 130). This is explained by the fact that Njord

and Frey, though _valtivar_ and brave warriors when they are invoked,

are in their very nature gods of peace and promoters of wealth and

agriculture, while Ull is by nature a warrior. He is a skilful archer,

excellent in a duel, and _hefir hermanns atgervi_ (Younger Edda, i.

102). Also after the reconciliation between the Asas and Vans, Thor's

stepson Ull has held a high position in Asgard, as is apparently

corroborated by Odin's words in Grimnismal, 41 (_Ullar hylli ok allra

goda_).

From the mythic accounts in regard to the situation and environment of

Asgard we may conclude that the siege by the Vans was no easy task. The

home of the Asas is surrounded by the atmospheric ocean, whose strong

currents make it difficult for the mythic horses to swim to it (see Nos.

65, 93). The bridge Bifrost is not therefore superfluous, but it is that

connection between the lower worlds and Asgard which the gods daily use,

and which must be captured by the enemy before the great cordon which

encloses the shining halls of the gods can be attacked. The wall is

built of "the limbs of Lerbrimer" (Fjolsv., 1), and constructed by its

architect in such a manner that it is a safe protection against

mountain-giants and frost-giants (Younger Edda, 134). In the wall is a

gate wondrously made by the artist-brothers who are sons of "Solblinde"

(_Valgrind_--Grimnism., 22; _thrymgjoell_--Fjoelsvimsm., 10). Few there

are who understand the lock of that gate, and if anybody brings it out

of its proper place in the wall-opening where it blocks the way for

those who have no right to enter, then the gate itself becomes a chain

for him who has attempted such a thing (_Forn er su grind, enn that fair

vito, hor hve er i las um lokin_--Grimn., 22. _Fjoeturr fastr verdr vid

faranda hvern er hana hefr fra hlidi_--Fjoelsv., 10).

Outside of the very high Asgard cordon and around it there flows a rapid

river (see below), the moat of the citadel. Over the eddies of the

stream floats a dark, shining ignitible mist. If it is kindled it

explodes in flames, whose bickering tongues strike their victims with

unerring certainty. It is the _vaferloge_, "the bickering flame," "the

quick fire," celebrated in ancient songs--_vafrlogi_, _vafreydi_,

_skjot-brinni_. It was this fire which the gods kindled around Asgard

when they saw Thjasse approaching in eagle guise. In it their

irreconcilable foe burnt his pinions, and fell to the ground.

"Haustlaung," Thjodolf's poem, says that when Thjasse approached the

citadel of the gods "the gods raised the quick fire and sharpened their

javelins"--_Hofu skjot; en skofu skoept; ginnregin brinna_. The "quick

fire," _skjot-brinni_, is the _vaferloge_.[21]

The material of which the ignitible mist consists is called "black

terror-gleam." It is _or odauccom_; that is to say, _ofdauccom ognar

ljoma_ (Fafn., 40) (_cp. myrckvan vafrloga_--Skirn., 8, 9; Fjolsv., 31).

It is said to be "wise," which implies that it consciously aims at him

for whose destruction it is kindled.

How a water could be conceived that evaporates a dark, ignitible mist we

find explained in Thorsdrapa. The thunder-storm is the "storm of the

vaferfire," and Thor is the "ruler of the chariot of the

vaferfire-storm" (_vafreyda hreggs hufstjori_). Thus the thunder-cloud

contains the water that evaporates a dark material for lightning. The

dark metallic colour which is peculiar to the thunder-cloud was regarded

as coming from that very material which is the "black terror-gleam" of

which lightning is formed. When Thor splits the cloud he separates the

two component parts, the water and the vafermist; the former falls down

as rain, the latter is ignited and rushes away in quick, bickering,

zigzag flames--the vaferfires. That these are "wise" was a common Aryan

belief. They do not proceed blindly, but know their mark and never miss

it.

The river that foams around Asgard thus has its source in the

thunder-clouds; not as we find them after they have been split by Thor,

but such as they are originally, swollen with a celestial water that

evaporates vafermist. All waters--subterranean, terrestrial, and

celestial--have their source in that great subterranean fountain

Hvergelmer. Thence they come and thither they return (Grimn., 26; see

Nos. 59, 63, 33). Hvergelmer's waters are sucked up by the northern root

of the world-tree; they rise through its trunk, spread into its branches

and leaves, and evaporate from its crown into a water-tank situated on

the top of Asgard, _Eikthyrnir_, in Grimnismal, str. 26, symbolised as a

"stag"[22] who stands on the roof of Odin's hall and out of whose horns

the waters stream down into Hvergelmer. _Eikthyrnir_ is the great

celestial water-tank which gathers and lets out the thunder-cloud. In

this tank the Asgard river has its source, and hence it consists not

only of foaming water but also of ignitible vafermists. In its capacity

of discharger of the thunder-cloud, the tank is called _Eikthyrnir_, the

oak-stinger. Oaks struck by lightning is no unusual occurrence. The oak

is, according to popular belief based on observation, that tree which

the lightning most frequently strikes.

But Asgard is not the only citadel which is surrounded by vafermists.

These are also found enveloping the home where dwelt the storm-giant

Gymer and the storm-giantess Aurboda, the sorceress who knows all of

Asgard's secrets, at the time when Frey sent Skirner to ask for the hand

of their daughter Gerd. Epics which in their present form date from

Christian times make vaferflames burn around castles, where goddesses,

pricked by sleep-thorns, are slumbering. This is a belief of a later

age.

To get over or through the vaferflame is, according to the myth,

impossible for anyone who has not got a certain mythical horse to

ride--probably Sleipner, the eight-footed steed of the Asa-father, which

is the best of all horses (Grimn., 44). The quality of this steed, which

enables it to bear its rider unscathed through the vaferflame, makes it

indespensable when this obstacle is to be overcome. When Skirner is to

go on Frey's journey of courtship to Gerd, he asks for that purpose _mar

thann er mic um myrckvan beri visan vafrloga_, and is allowed to ride it

on and for the journey (Skirn., 8, 9). This horse must accordingly have

been in the possession of the Vans when they conquered Asgard, an

assumption confirmed by what is to be stated below. (In the great epic

Sigurd's horse Grane is made to inherit the qualities of this divine

horse.)

On the outer side of the Asgard river, and directly opposite the Asgard

gate, lie projecting ramparts (_forgardir_) to protect the drawbridge,

which from the opening in the wall can be dropped down across the river

(see below). When Svipdag proceeded toward Menglad's abode in Asgard, he

first came to this _forgardir_ (Fjoels., i. 3). There he is hailed by the

watch of the citadel, and thence he gets a glimpse over the gate of all

the glorious things which are hid behind the high walls of the citadel.

Outside the river Asgard has fields with groves and woods (Younger Edda,

136, 210).

Of the events of the wars waged around Asgard, the mythic fragments,

which the Icelandic records have preserved, give us but very little

information, though they must have been favourite themes for the heathen

skaldic art, which here had an opportunity of describing in a

characteristic manner all the gods involved, and of picturing not only

their various characters, but also their various weapons, equipments,

and horses. In regard to the weapons of attack we must remember that

Thor at the outbreak of the conflict is deprived of the assistance of

his splendid hammer: it has been broken by Svipdag's sword of victory

(see Nos. 101, 103)--a point which it was necessary for the myth to

assume, otherwise the Vans could hardly he represented as conquerors.

Nor do the Vans have the above-mentioned sword at their disposal: it is

already in the power of Gymer and Aurboda. The irresistible weapons

which in a purely mechanical manner would have decided the issue of the

war, were disposed of in advance in order that the persons themselves,

with their varied warlike qualities, might get to the foreground and

decide the fate of the conflict by heroism or prudence, by prescient

wisdom or by blind daring. In this war the Vans have particularly

distinguished themselves by wise and well calculated strategies. This we

learn from Voeluspa, where it makes the final victors conquer Asgard

through _vigspa_, that is, foreknowledge applied to warlike ends (str.

26). The Asas, as we might expect from Odin's brave sons, have

especially distinguished themselves by their strength and courage. A

record of this is found in the words of Thorbjorn Disarskald (Younger

Edda, 256).

Thorr hefir Yggs med arum

Asgard of threk vardan.

"Thor with Odin's clan-men defended Asgard with indomitable courage."

But in number they must have been far inferior to their foes. Simply the

circumstance that Odin and his men had to confine themselves to the

defence of Asgard shows that nearly all other divinities of various

ranks had allied themselves with his enemies. The ruler of the lower

world (Mimer) and Honer are the only ones of whom it can be said that

they remained faithful to Odin; and if we can trust the Heimskringla

tradition, which is related as history and greatly corrupted, then Mimer

lost his life in an effort at mediation between the contending gods,

while he and Honer were held as hostages among the Vans (Ynglingas., ch.

4). Asgard was at length conquered. Voeluspa, str. 25, relates the final

catastrophe:

brotin var bordvegr

borgar asa

knatto vanir vigspa

vollo sporna.

Broken was the bulwark

of the asaburg;

Through warlike prudence were the Vans able

its fields to tread.

Voeluspa's words seem to indicate that the Vans took Asgard by strategy;

and this is confirmed by a source which shall be quoted below. But to

carry out the plan which chiefly involved the finding of means for

crossing the vaferflames kindled around the citadel and for opening the

gates of Asgard, not only cunning but also courage was required. The

myth has given the honour of this undertaking to Njord, the clan-chief

of the Vans and the commander of their forces. This is clear from the

above-quoted passage: _Njordr klauf Herjans hurdir_--"Njord broke Odin's

doors open," which should be compared with the poetical paraphrase for

battle-axe: _Gauts megin-hurdar galli_--"the destroyer of Odin's great

gate,"--a paraphrase that indicates that Njord burst the Asgard gate

open with the battle-axe. The conclusion which must be drawn from these

utterances is confirmed by an account with which the sixth book of Saxo

begins, and which doubtless is a fragment of the myth concerning the

conquest of Asgard by the Vans corrupted and told as history.

The event is transferred by Saxo to the reign of King Fridlevus II. It

should here be remarked that every important statement made by Saxo

about this Fridlevus, on a closer examination, is found to be taken from

the myth concerning Njord.

There were at that time twelve brothers, says Saxo, distinguished for

courage, strength, and fine physical appearance. They were "widely

celebrated for gigantic triumphs." To their trophies and riches many

peoples had paid tribute. But the source from which Saxo received

information in regard to Fridlevus' conflict with them did not mention

more than seven of these twelve, and of these seven Saxo gives the

names. They are called Bjorn, Asbjorn, Gunbjorn, &c. In all the names is

found the epithet of the Asa-god Bjorn.

The brothers had had allies, says Saxo further, but at the point when

the story begins they had been abandoned by them, and on this account

they had been obliged to confine themselves on an island surrounded by a

most violent stream which fell from the brow of a very high rock, and

the whole surface of which glittered with raging foam. The island was

fortified by a very high wall (_praealtum vallum_), in which was built a

remarkable gate. It was so built that the hinges were placed near the

ground between the sides of the opening in the wall, so that the gate

turning thereon could, by a movement regulated by chains, be lowered and

form a bridge across the stream.

Thus the gate is, at the same time, a drawbridge of that kind with which

the Germans became acquainted during the war with the Romans already

before the time of Tacitus (cp. _Annal._, iv. 51, with iv. 47). Within

the fortification there was a most strange horse, and also a remarkably

strong dog, which formerly had watched the herds of the giant Offotes.

The horse was celebrated for his size and speed, and it was the only

steed with which it was possible for a rider to cross the raging stream

around the island fortress.

King Fridlevus now surrounds this citadel with his forces. These are

arrayed at some distance from the citadel, and in the beginning nothing

else is gained by the siege than that the besieged are hindered from

making sallies into the surrounding territory. The citadel cannot be

taken unless the above-mentioned horse gets into the power of Fridlevus.

Bjorn, the owner of the horse, makes sorties from the citadel, and in so

doing he did not always take sufficient care, for on one occasion when

he was on the outer side of the stream, and had gone some distance away

from his horse, he fell into an ambush laid by Fridlevus. He saved

himself by rushing headlong over the bridge, which was drawn up behind

him, but the precious horse became Fridlevus' booty. This was of course

a severe loss to the besieged, and must have diminished considerably

their sense of security. Meanwhile, Fridlevus was able to manage the

matter in such a way that the accident served rather to lull them into

increased safety. During the following night the brothers found their

horse, safe and sound, back on the island. Hence it must have swum back

across the stream. And when it was afterwards found that the dead body

of a man, clad in the shining robes of Fridlevus, floated on the eddies

of the stream, they took it for granted that Fridlevus himself had

perished in the stream.

But the real facts were as follows: Fridlevus, attended by a single

companion, had in the night ridden from his camp to the river. There his

companion's life had to be sacrificed, in order that the king's plan

might be carried out. Fridlevus exchanged clothes with the dead man,

who, in the king's splendid robes, was cast into the stream. Then

Fridlevus gave spur to the steed which he had captured, and rode through

the eddies of the stream. Having passed this obstacle safely, he set the

horse at liberty, climbed on a ladder over the wall, stole into the hall

where the brothers were wont to assemble, hid himself under a projection

over the hall door, listened to their conversation, saw them go out to

reconnoitre the island, and saw them return, secure in the conviction

that there was no danger at hand. Then he went to the gate and let it

fall across the stream. His forces had, during the night, advanced

toward the citadel, and when they saw the drawbridge down and the way

open, they stormed the fortress and captured it.

The fact that we here have a transformation of the myth, telling how

Njord at the head of the Vans conquered Asgard, is evident from the

following circumstances:

(_a_) The conqueror is Fridlevus. The most of what Saxo relates about

this Fridlevus is, as stated, taken from the myth about Njord, and told

as history.

(_b_) The brothers were, according to Saxo, originally twelve, which is

the well-established number of Odin's clansmen: his sons, and the

adopted Asa-gods. But when the siege in question takes place, Saxo finds

in his source only seven of the twelve mentioned as enclosed in the

citadel beseiged by Fridlevus. The reason for the diminishing of the

number is to be found in the fact that the adopted gods--Njord, Frey,

and Ull--had left Asgard, and are in fact identical with the leaders of

the besiegers. If we also deduct Balder and Hoedr, who, at the time of

the event, are dead and removed to the lower world, then we have left

the number seven given. The name Bjorn, which they all bear, is an Asa

epithet (Younger Edda, i. 553). The brothers have formerly had allies,

but these have abandoned them (_deficientibus a se sociis_), and it is

on this account that they must confine themselves within their citadel.

The Asas have had the Vans and other divine powers as allies, but these

abandon them, and the Asas must defend themselves on their own fortified

ground.

(_c_) Before this the brothers have made themselves celebrated for

extraordinary exploits, and have enjoyed a no less extraordinary power.

They shone on account of their _giganteis triumphis_--an ambiguous

expression which alludes to the mythic sagas concerning the victories of

the Asas over Jotunheim's giants (_gigantes_), and nations have

submitted to them as victors, and enriched them with treasures

(_trophaeis gentium celebres, spoliis locupletes_).

(_d_) The island on which they are confined is fortified, like the Asa

citadel, by an immensely high wall (_praealtum vallum_), and is

surrounded by a stream which is impassable unless one possesses a horse

which is found among the brothers. Asgard is surrounded by a river belt

covered with vaferflames, which cannot be crossed unless one has that

single steed which _um myrckvan beri visan vafrloga_, and this belongs

to the Asas.

(_e_) The stream which roars around the fortress of the brothers comes

_ex summis montium cacuminibus_. The Asgard stream comes from the

collector of the thunder-cloud, _Eikthynir_, who stands on the summit of

the world of the gods. The kindled vaferflames, which did not suit an

historical narration, are explained by Saxo to be a _spumeus candor_, a

foaming whiteness, a shining froth, which in uniform, eddying billows

everywhere whirl on the surface of the stream, (_tota alvei tractu undis

uniformiter turbidatis spumeus ubique candor exuberat_).

(_f_) The only horse which was able to run through the shining and

eddying foam is clearly one of the mythic horses. It is named along with

another prodigy from the animal kingdom of mythology, viz., the terrible

dog of the giant Offotes. Whether this is a reminiscence of _Fenrir_

which was kept for some time in Asgard, or of Odin's wolf-dog _Freki_,

or of some other saga-animal of that sort, we will not now decide.

(_g_) Just as Asgard has an artfully contrived gate, so has also the

citadel of the brothers. Saxo's description of the gate implies that any

person who does not know its character as a drawbridge, but lays violent

hands on the mechanism which holds it in an upright position, falls, and

is crushed under it. This explains the words of Fjoelsvinnsmal about the

gate to that citadel, within which Freyja-Menglad dwells: _Fjoeturr

fastr verdr vid faranda hvern, er hana hefr fra hlidi_.

(_h_) In the myth, it is Njord himself who removes the obstacle, "Odin's

great gate," placed in his way. In Saxo's account, it is Fridlevus

himself who accomplishes the same exploit.

(_i_) In Saxo's narration occurs an improbability, which is explained by

the fact that he has transformed a myth into history. When Fridlevus is

safe across the stream, he raises a ladder against the wall and climbs

up on to it. Whence did he get this ladder, which must have been

colossal, since the wall he got over in this manner is said to be

_praealtum_? Could he have taken it with him on the horse's back? Or did

the besieged themselves place it against the wall as a friendly aid to

the foe, who was already in possession of the only means for crossing

the stream? Both assumptions are alike improbable. Saxo had to take

recourse to a ladder, for he could not, without damaging the

"historical" character of his story, repeat the myth's probable

description of the event. The horse which can gallop through the

bickering flame can also leap over the highest wall. Sleipner's ability

in this direction is demonstrated in the account of how it, with Hermod

in the saddle, leaps over the wall to Balder's high hall in the lower

world (Younger Edda, 178). The impassibility of the Asgard wall is

limited to mountain-giants and frost-giants; for a god riding Odin's

horse the wall was no obstacle. No doubt the myth has also stated that

the Asas, after Njord had leaped over the wall and sought out the

above-mentioned place of concealment, found within the wall their

precious horse again, which lately had become the booty of the enemy.

And where else should they have found it, if we regard the stream with

the bickering flames as breaking against the very foot of the wall?

Finally, it should be added, that our myths tell of no other siege than

the one Asgard was subjected to by the Vans. If other sieges have been

mentioned, they cannot have been of the same importance as this one, and

consequently they could not so easily have left traces in the mythic

traditions adapted to history or heroic poetry; nor could a historicised

account of a mythic siege which did not concern Asgard have preserved

the points here pointed out, which are in harmony with the story of the

Asgard siege.

When the citadel of the gods is captured, the gods are, as we have seen,

once more in possession of the steed, which, judging from its qualities,

must be Sleipner. Thus Odin has the means of escaping from the enemy

after all resistance has proved impossible. Thor has his thundering car,

which, according to the Younger Edda, has room for several besides the

owner, and the other Asas have splendid horses (Grimnism., Younger

Edda), even though they are not equal to that of their father. The Asas

give up their throne of power, and the Vans now assume the rule of the

world.

[Footnote 21: The author of _Bragaraedur_ in the Younger Edda has

understood this passage to mean that the Asas, when they saw Thjasse

approaching, carried out a lot of shavings, which were kindled (!)]

[Footnote 22: In the same poem the elf-artist, Dainn, and the

"dwarf"-artist, Dvalinn, are symbolised as stags, the wanderer Ratr (see

below) as a squirrel, the wolf-giant _Grafvitner's_ sons as serpents,

the bridge Bifrost as a fish (see No. 93), &c. Fortunately for the

comprehension of our mythic records such symbolising is confined to a

few strophes in the poem named, and these strophes appear to have

belonged originally to an independent song which made a speciality of

that sort of symbolism, and to have been incorporated in Grimnismal in

later times.]

37.

THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). THE SIGNIFICANCE OF

THE CONFLICT FROM A RELIGIOUS-RITUAL STANDPOINT.

In regard to the significance of the change of administration in the

world of gods, Saxo has preserved a tradition which is of no small

interest. The circumstance that Odin and his sons had to surrender the

reign of the world did not imply that mankind should abandon their faith

in the old gods and accept a new religion. Hitherto the Asas and Vans

had been worshipped in common. Now, when Odin was deposed, his name,

honoured by the nations, was not to be obliterated. The name was given

to Ull, and, as if he really were Odin, he was to receive the sacrifices

and prayers that hitherto had been addressed to the banished one

(_Hist._, 130). The ancient faith was to be maintained, and the shift

involved nothing but the person; there was no change of religion. But in

connection with this information, we also learn, from another statement

in Saxo, that the myth concerning the war between Asas and Vans was

connected with traditions concerning a conflict between various views

among the believers in the Teutonic religion concerning offerings and

prayers. The one view was more ritual, and demanded more attention paid

to sacrifices. This view seems to have gotten the upper hand after the

banishment of Odin. It was claimed that sacrifices and hymns addressed

at the same time to several or all of the gods, did not have the

efficacy of pacifying and reconciling angry deities, but that to each

one of the gods should be given a separate sacrificial service (Saxo,

_Hist._, 43). The result of this was, of course, an increase of

sacrifices and a more highly-developed ritual, which from its very

nature might have produced among the Teutons the same hierarchy as

resulted from an excess of sacrifices among their Aryan-Asiatic kinsmen.

The correctness of Saxo's statement is fully confirmed by strophe 145 in

Havamal, which advocates the opposite and incomparably more moderate

view in regard to sacrifices. This view came, according to the strophe,

from Odin's own lips. He is made to proclaim it to the people "after his

return to his ancient power."

Betra er obethit

en se ofblothit

ey ser til gildis giof;

betra er osennt

enn se ofsoit.

Sva thundr um reist

fyr thiotha rauc,

thar hann up um reis

er hann aptr of kom.

The expression, _thar hann up um reis, er hann apter of kom_, refers to

the fact that Odin had for some time been deposed from the

administration of the world, but had returned, and that he then

proclaimed to the people the view in regard to the real value of prayers

and sacrifices which is laid down in the strophe. Hence it follows that

before Odin returned to his throne another more exacting doctrine in

regard to sacrifices had, according to the myth, secured prevalence.

This is precisely what Saxo tells us. It is difficult to repress the

question whether an historical reminiscence is not concealed in these

statements. May it not be the record of conflicting views within the

Teutonic religion--views represented in the myth by the Vana-gods on the

one side and the Asas on the other? The Vana views, I take it,

represented tendencies which had they been victorious, would have

resulted in hierarchy, while the Asa doctrine represented the tendencies

of the believers in the time-honoured Aryan custom of those who

maintained the priestly authority of the father of the family, and who

defended the efficacy of the simple hymns and sacrifices which from time

out of mind had been addressed to several or all of the gods in common.

That the question really has existed among the Teutonic peoples, at

least as a subject for reflection, spontaneously suggests itself in the

myth alluded to above. This myth has discussed the question, and decided

it in precisely the same manner as history has decided it among the

Teutonic races, among whom priestcraft and ritualism have held a far

less important position than among their western kinsmen, the Celts, and

their eastern kinsmen, the Iranians and Hindoos. That prayers on account

of their length, or sacrifices on account of their abundance, should

give evidence of greater piety and fear of God, and should be able to

secure a more ready hearing, is a doctrine which Odin himself rejects in

the strophe above cited. He understands human nature, and knows that

when a man brings abundant sacrifices he has the selfish purpose in view

of prevailing on the gods to give a more abundant reward--a purpose

prompted by selfishness, not by piety.

38.

THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). THE WAR IN MIDGARD

BETWEEN HALFDAN'S SONS. GROA'S SONS AGAINST

ALVEIG'S. LOKE'S APPEARANCE ON THE STAGE.

HADDING'S YOUTHFUL ADVENTURES.

The conflict between the gods has its counterpart in, and is connected

with, a war between all the Teutonic races, and the latter is again a

continuation of the feud between Halfdan and Svipdag. The Teutonic race

comes to the front fighting under three race-representatives--(1)

Yngve-Svipdag, the son of Orvandel and Groa; (2) Gudhorm, the son of

Halfdan and Groa, consequently Svipdag's half-brother; (3) Hadding, the

son of Halfdan and Alveig (in Saxo called Signe, daughter of Sumbel),

consequently Gudhorm's half-brother.

The ruling Vans favour Svipdag, who is Freyja's husband and Frey's

brother-in-law. The banished Asas support Hadding from their place of

refuge. The conflict between the gods and the war between Halfdan's

successor and heir are woven together. It is like the Trojan war, where

the gods, divided into parties, assist the Trojans or assist the Danai.

Odin, Thor, and Heimdal interfere, as we shall see, to protect Hadding.

This is their duty as kinsmen; for Heimdal, having assumed human nature,

was the lad with the sheaf of grain who came to the primeval country and

became the father of Borgar, who begat the son Halfdan. Thor was

Halfdan's associate father; hence he too had duties of kinship toward

Hadding and Gudhorm, Halfdan's sons. The gods, on the other hand, that

favour Svipdag are, in Hadding's eyes, foes, and Hadding long refuses to

propitiate Frey by a demanded sacrifice (Saxo, _Hist._, 49, 50).

This war, simultaneously waged between the clans of the gods on the one

hand, and between the Teutonic tribes on the other, is what the seeress

in Voeluspa calls "the first great war in the world." She not only gives

an account of its outbreak and events among the gods, but also indicates

that it was waged on the earth. Then--

sa hon valkyrior saw she valkyries

vitt um komnar far travelled

gaurvar at rida equipped to ride

til Godthjodar to Goththjod.

Goththjod is the Teutonic people and the Teutonic country.

When Svipdag had slain Halfdan, and when the Asas were expelled, the

sons of the Teutonic patriarch were in danger of falling into the power

of Svipdag. Thor interested himself in their behalf, and brought Gudhorm

and Hadding to Jotunheim, where he concealed them with the giants Hafle

and Vagnhofde--Gudhorm in Hafle's rocky gard and Hadding in Vagnhofde's.

In Saxo, who relates this story, the Asa-god Thor appears partly as

_Thor deus_ and _Thoro pugil_, Halfdan's protector, whom Saxo himself

identifies as the god Thor (_Hist._, 324), and partly as _Brac_ and

_Brache_, which name Saxo formed from Thor's epithet, _Asa-Bragr_. It is

by the name Brache that Thor appears as the protector of Halfdan's sons.

The giants Hafle and Vagnhofde dwell, according to Saxo, in "Svetia"

probably, since Jotunheim, the northernmost Sweden, and the most

distant east were called _Svithiod hinn kalda_.[23]

Svipdag waged war against Halfdan, since it was his duty to avenge the

disgrace of his mother Groa, and also that of his mother's father, and,

as shall be shown later, the death of his father Orvandel (see Nos. 108,

109). The revenge for bloodshed was sacred in the Teutonic world, and

this duty he performed when he with his irresistible sword felled his

stepfather. But thereby the duty of revenge for bloodshed was

transferred to Halfdan's sons--less to Gudhorm, who is himself a son of

Groa, but with all its weight to Hadding, the son of Alveig, and it is

_his_ bounden duty to bring about Svipdag's death, since Svipdag had

slain Halfdan. Connecting itself with Halfdan's robbery of Groa, the

goddess of growth, the red thread of revenge for bloodshed extends

throughout the great hero-saga of Teutonic mythology.

Svipdag makes an effort to cut the thread. He offers Gudhorm and Hadding

peace and friendship, and promises them kingship among the tribes

subject to him. Groa's son, Gudhorm, accepts the offer, and Svipdag

makes him ruler of the Danes; but Hadding sends answer that he prefers

to avenge his father's death to accepting favours from an enemy (Saxo,

_Hist._, 35, 36).

Svipdag's offer of peace and reconciliation is in harmony, if not with

his own nature, at least with that of his kinsmen, the reigning Vans. If

the offer to Hadding had been accepted, we might have looked for peace

in the world. Now the future is threatened with the devastations of war,

and the bloody thread of revenge shall continue to be spun if Svipdag

does not prevent it by overpowering Hadding. The myth may have contained

much information about the efforts of the one camp to capture him and

about contrivances of the other to frustrate these efforts. Saxo has

preserved a partial record thereof. Among those who plot against Hadding

is also Loke (_Lokerus_--Saxo, _Hist._, 40, 41),[24] the banished ally

of Aurboda. His purpose is doubtless to get into the favour of the

reigning Vans. Hadding is no longer safe in Vagnhofde's mountain home.

The lad is exposed to Loke's snares. From one of these he is saved by

the Asa-father himself. There came, says Saxo, on this occasion a rider

to Hadding. He resembled a very aged man, one of whose eyes was lost

(_grandaevus quidam altero orbus oculo_). He placed Hadding in front of

himself on the horse, wrapped his mantle about him, and rode away. The

lad became curious and wanted to see whither they were going. Through a

hole in the mantle he got an opportunity of looking down, and found to

his astonishment and fright that land and sea were far below the hoofs

of the steed. The rider must have noticed his fright, for he forbade him

to look out any more.

The rider, the one-eyed old man, is Odin, and the horse is Sleipner,

rescued from the captured Asgard. The place to which the lad is carried

by Odin is the place of refuge secured by the Asas during their exile _i

Manheimum_. In perfect harmony with the myths, Saxo refers Odin's exile

to the time preceding Hadding's juvenile adventures, and makes Odin's

return to power simultaneous with Hadding's great victory over his

enemies (_Hist._, 42-44). Saxo has also found in his sources that

sword-slain men, whom Odin chooses during "the first great war in the

world," cannot come to Valhal. The reason for this is that Odin is not

at that time the ruler there. They have dwelling-places and plains for

their warlike amusements appointed in the lower world (_Hist._, 51).

The regions which, according to Saxo, are the scenes of Hadding's

juvenile adventures lie on the other side of the Baltic down toward the

Black Sea. He is associated with "Curetians" and "Hellespontians,"

doubtless for the reason that the myth has referred those adventures to

the far east.

The one-eyed old man is endowed with wonderful powers. When he landed

with the lad at his home, he sang over him prophetic incantations to

protect him (_Hist._, 40), and gave him a drink of the "most splendid

sort," which produced in Hadding enormous physical strength, and

particularly made him able to free himself from bonds and chains.

(Compare Havamal, str. 149, concerning Odin's freeing incantations by

which "fetters spring from the feet and chains from the hands.") A

comparison with other passages, which I shall discuss later, shows that

the potion of which the old man is lord contains something which is

called "Leifner's flames," and that he who has been permitted to drink

it, and over whom freeing incantations have simultaneously been sung, is

able with his warm breath to free himself from every fetter which has

been put on his enchanted limbs (see Nos. 43, 96, 103).

The old man predicts that Hadding will soon have an opportunity of

testing the strength with which the drink and the magic songs have

endowed him. And the prophecy is fulfilled. Hadding falls into the power

of Loke. He chains him and threatens to expose him as food for a wild

beast--in Saxo a lion, in the myth presumably some one of the wolf or

serpent prodigies that are Loke's offspring. But when his guards are put

to sleep by Odin's magic song, though Odin is far away, Hadding bursts

his bonds, slays the beast, and eats, in obedience to Odin's

instructions, its heart. (The saga of Sigurd Fafnersbane has copied this

feature. Sigurd eats the heart of the dragon Fafner and gets wisdom

thereby.)

Thus Hadding has become a powerful hero, and his task to make war on

Svipdag, to revenge on him his father's death, and to recover the share

in the rulership of the Teutons which Halfdan had possessed, now lies

before him as the goal he is to reach.

Hadding leaves Vagnhofde's home. The latter's daughter, Hardgrep, who

had fallen in love with the youth, accompanies him. When we next find

Hadding he is at the head of an army. That this consisted of the tribes

of Eastern Teutondom is confirmed by documents which I shall hereafter

quote; but it also follows from Saxo's narrative, although he has

referred the war to narrower limits than were given to it in the myth,

since he, constructing a Danish history from mythic traditions, has his

eyes fixed chiefly on Denmark. Over the Scandian tribes and the Danes

rule, according to Saxo's own statement, Svipdag, and as his tributary

king in Denmark his half-brother Gudhorm. Saxo also is aware that the

Saxons, the Teutonic tribes of the German lowlands, on one occasion were

the allies of Svipdag (_Hist._, 34). From these parts of Teutondom did

not come Hadding's friends, but his enemies; and when we add that the

first battle which Saxo mentions in this war was fought among the

Curetians east of the Baltic, then it is clear that Saxo, too, like the

other records to which I am coming later, has conceived the forces under

Hadding's banner as having been gathered in the East. From this it is

evident that the war is one between the tribes of North Teutondom, led

by Svipdag and supported by the Vans on the one side, and the tribes of

East Teutondom, led by Hadding and supported by the Asas on the other.

But the tribes of the western Teutonic continent have also taken part in

the first great war of mankind. Gudhorm, whom Saxo makes a tributary

king in Yngve-Svipdag's most southern domain, Denmark, has in the mythic

traditions had a much greater empire, and has ruled over the tribes of

Western and Southern Teutondom, as shall be shown hereafter.

[Footnote 23: _Filii Gram, Guthormus et Hadingus, quorum alterum Gro,

alterum Signe enixa est, Svipdagero Daniam obtinente, per educatorem

suum Brache nave Svetiam deportati, Vagnophto et Haphlio gigantibus non

solum alendi, verum etiam defensandi traduntur_ (Saxo _Hist._, 34).]

[Footnote 24: The form _Loki_ is also duplicated by the form _Lokr_. The

latter is preserved in the sense of "effeminated man," found in myths

concerning Loke. Compare the phrase "_veykr Lokr_" with "_hinn veyki

Loki_."]

39.

THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). THE POSITION OF THE

DIVINE CLANS TO THE WARRIORS.

The circumstance that the different divine clans had their favourites in

the different camps gives the war a peculiar character. The armies see

before a battle supernatural forms contending with each other in the

starlight, and recognize in them their divine friends and opponents

(_Hist._, 48). The elements are conjured on one and the other side for

the good or harm of the contending brother-tribes. When fog and pouring

rain suddenly darken the sky and fall upon Hadding's forces from that

side where the fylkings of the North are arrayed, then the one-eyed old

man comes to their rescue and calls forth dark masses of clouds from the

other side, which force back the rain-clouds and the fog (_Hist._, 53).

In these cloud-masses we must recognize the presence of the thundering

Thor, the son of the one-eyed old man.

Giants also take part in the conflict. Vagnhofde and Hardgrep, the

latter in a man's attire, contend on the side of the foster-son and the

beloved Hadding (_Hist._, 45, 38). From Icelandic records we learn that

Hafle and the giantesses Fenja and Menja fight under Gudhorm's banners.

In the Grotte-song (14, 15) these maids sing:

En vit sithan

a Svidiothu

framvisar tvoer

i folk stigum;

beiddum biornu,

en brutum skioldu

gengum igegnum

graserkiat lit.

Steyptom stilli,

studdum annan,

veittum gothum

Guthormi lid.

That the giant Hafle fought on the side of Gudhorm is probable from the

fact that he is his foster-father, and it is confirmed by the fact that

Thor paraphrased (Grett., 30) is called _fangvinr Hafla_, "he who

wrestled with Hafle." Since Thor and Hafle formerly were friends--else

the former would not have trusted Gudhorm to the care of the

latter--their appearance afterwards as foes can hardly be explained

otherwise than by the war between Thor's protege Hadding and Hafle's

foster-son Gudhorm. And as Hadding's foster-father, the giant Vagnhofde,

faithfully supports the young chief whose childhood he protected, then

the myth could scarcely avoid giving a similar part to the giant Hafle,

and thus make the foster-fathers, like the foster-sons, contend with

each other. The heroic poems are fond of parallels of this kind.

When Svipdag learns that Hadding has suddenly made his appearance in the

East, and gathered its tribes around him for a war with Gudhorm, he

descends from Asgard and reveals himself in the primeval Teutonic

country on the Scandian peninsula, and requests its tribes to join the

Danes and raise the banner of war against Halfdan's and Alveig's son,

who, at the head of the eastern Teutons, is marching against their

half-brother Gudhorm. The friends of both parties among the gods, men

and giants, hasten to attach themselves to the cause which they have

espoused as their own, and Vagnhofde among the rest abandons his rocky

home to fight by the side of his foster-son and daughter.

This mythic situation is described in a hitherto unexplained strophe in

the Old English song concerning the names of the letters in the runic

alphabet. In regard to the rune which answers to _I_ there is added the

following lines:

Ing vaes oerest mid Eastdenum

geseven secgum od he siddan east

ofer vaeg gevat. Vaen aefter ran;

thus Heardingas thone haele nemdon.

"Yngve (Inge) was first seen among the East-Danemen.

Then he betook himself eastward over the sea.

Vagn hastened to follow:

Thus the Heardings called this hero."

The Heardings are the Haddings--that is to say, Hadding himself, the

kinsmen and friends who embraced his cause, and the Teutonic tribes who

recognised him as their chief. The Norse _Haddingr_ is to the

Anglo-Saxon _Hearding_ as the Norse _haddr_ to the Anglo-Saxon _heard_.

Vigfusson, and before him J. Grimm, have already identified these forms.

Ing is Yngve-Svipdag, who, when he left Asgard, "was first seen among

the East-Danemen." He calls Swedes and Danes to arms against Hadding's

tribes. The Anglo-Saxon strophe confirms the fact that they dwell in the

East, separated by a sea from the Scandian tribes. Ing, with his

warriors, "betakes himself eastward over the sea" to attack them. Thus

the armies of the Swedes and Danes go by sea to the seat of war. What

the authorities of Tacitus heard among the continental Teutons about the

mighty fleets of the Swedes may be founded on the heroic songs about the

first great war not less than on fact. As the army which was to cross

the Baltic must be regarded as immensely large, so the myth, too, has

represented the ships of the Swedes as numerous, and in part as of

immense size. A confused record from the songs about the expedition of

Svipdag and his friends against the East Teutons, found in Icelandic

tradition, occurs in Fornald, pp. 406-407, where a ship called Gnod, and

capable of carrying 3000 men, is mentioned as belonging to a King

Asmund. Odin did not want this monstrous ship to reach its destination,

but sank it, so it is said, in the Lessoe seaway, with all its men and

contents. The Asmund who is known in the heroic sagas of heathen times

is a son of Svipdag and a king among the Sviones (Saxo, _Hist._, 44).

According to Saxo, he has given brilliant proofs of his bravery in the

war against Hadding, and fallen by the weapons of Vagnhofde and Hadding.

That Odin in the Icelandic tradition appears as his enemy thus

corresponds with the myth. The same Asmund may, as Gisle Brynjulfsson

has assumed, be meant in Grimnersmal (49), where we learn that Odin,

concealing himself under the name Jalk, once visited Asmund.

The hero Vagn, whom "the Haddings so called," is Hadding's

foster-father, Vagnhofde. As the word _hoefdi_ constitutes the second

part of a mythic name, the compound form is a synonym of that name which

forms the first part of the composition. Thus _Svarthoefdi_ is identical

with _Svartr_, _Surtr_. In Hyndluljod, 33, all the mythical sorcerers

(_seidberendr_) are said to be sprung from _Svarthoefdi_. In this

connection we must first of all think of Fjalar, who is the greatest

sorcerer in mythology. The story about Thor's, Thjalfe's, and Loke's

visit to him is a chain of delusions of sight and hearing called forth

by Fjalar, so that the Asa-god and his companions always mistake things

for something else than they are. Fjalar is a son of _Surtr_ (see No.

89). Thus the greatest agent of sorcery is descended from _Surtr_,

_Svartr_, and, as Hyndluljod states that all magicians of mythology have

come of some _Svarthoefdi_, _Svartr_ and _Svarthoefdi_ must be identical.

And so it is with Vagn and _Vagnhoefdi_; they are different names for the

same person.

When the Anglo-Saxon rune-strophe says that Vang "made haste to follow"

after Ing had gone across the sea, then this is to be compared with

Saxo's statement (_Hist._, 45), where it is said that Hadding in a

battle was in greatest peril of losing his life, but was saved by the

sudden and miraculous landing of Vagnhofde, who came to the battle-field

and placed himself at his side. The Scandian fylkings advanced against

Hadding's; and Svipdag's son Asmund, who fought at the head of his men,

forced his way forward against Hadding himself, with his shield thrown

on his back, and with both his hands on the hilt of a sword which felled

all before it. Then Hadding invoked the gods who were the friends of

himself and his race (_Hadingo familiarium sibi numinum praesidia

postulante subito Vagnophtus partibus ejus propugnaturus advehitur_),

and then Vagnhofde is brought (_advehitur_) by some one of these gods to

the battle-field and suddenly stands by Hadding's side, swinging a

crooked sword[25] against Asmund, while Hadding hurls his spear against

him. This statement in Saxo corresponds with and explains the old

English strophe's reference to a quick journey which Vagn made to help

_Heardingas_ against _Ing_, and it is also illustrated by a passage in

Grimnismal, 49, which, in connection with Odin's appearance at Asmund's,

tells that he once by the name Kjalar "drew _Kjalki_" (_mic heto Jalc at

Asmundar, enn tha Kialar, er ec Kialka dro_). The word and name

_Kjalki_, as also _Sledi_, is used as a paraphrase of the word and name

_Vagn_.[26] Thus Odin has once "drawn Vagn" (waggon). The meaning of

this is clear from what is stated above. Hadding calls on Odin, who is

the friend of him and of his cause, and Odin, who on a former occasion

has carried Hadding on Sleipner's back through the air, now brings, in

the same or a similar manner, Vagnhofde to the battle-field, and places

him near his foster-son. This episode is also interesting from the fact

that we can draw from it the conclusion that the skalds who celebrated

the first great war in their songs made the gods influence the fate of

the battle, not directly but indirectly. Odin might himself have saved

his favourite, and he might have slain Svipdag's son Asmund with his

spear Gungner; but he does not do so; instead, he brings Vagnhofde to

protect him. This is well calculated from an epic standpoint, while _dii

ex machina_, when they appear in person on the battle-field with their

superhuman strength, diminish the effect of the deeds of mortal heroes,

and deprive every distress in which they have taken part of its more

earnest significance. Homer never violated this rule without injury to

the honour either of his gods or of his heroes.

[Footnote 25: The crooked sword, as it appears from several passages in

the sagas, has long been regarded by our heathen ancestors as a foreign

form of weapon, used by the giants, but not by the gods or by the heroes

of Midgard.]

[Footnote 26: Compare Fornald., ii. 118, where the hero of the saga

cries to _Gusi_, who comes running after him with "2 hreina ok _vagn_"--

_Skrid thu af kjalka,

Kyrr thu hreina,

seggr sidfoerull

seg hvattu heitir!_

]

40.

THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). HADDING'S DEFEAT.

LOKE IN THE COUNCIL AND ON THE BATTLE-FIELD.

HEIMDAL THE PROTECTOR OF HIS DESCENDANT HADDING.

The first great conflict in which the warriors of North and West

Teutondom fight with the East Teutons ends with the complete victory of

Groa's sons. Hadding's fylkings are so thoroughly beaten and defeated

that he, after the end of the conflict, is nothing but a defenceless

fugitive, wandering in deep forests with no other companion than

Vagnhofde's daughter, who survived the battle and accompanies her

beloved in his wanderings in the wildernesses. Saxo ascribes the victory

won over Hadding to Loke. It follows of itself that, in a war whose

deepest root must be sought in Loke's and Aurboda's intrigues, and in

which the clans of gods on both sides take part, Loke should not be

excluded by the skalds from influence upon the course of events. We have

already seen that he sought to ruin Hadding while the latter was still a

boy. He afterwards appears in various guises as evil counsellor, as an

evil intriguer, and as a skilful arranger of the fylkings on the field

of battle. His purpose is to frustrate every effort to bring about

reconciliation, and by means of persuasion and falsehoods to increase

the chances of enmity between Halfdan's descendants, in order that they

may mutually destroy each other (see below). His activity among the

heroes is the counterpart of his activity among the gods. The merry,

sly, cynical, blameworthy, and profoundly evil Mefisto of the Teutonic

mythology is bound to bring about the ruin of the Teutonic people like

that of the gods of the Teutons.

In the later Icelandic traditions he reveals himself as the evil

counsellor of princes in the forms of Blind ille, Blind boelvise (in Saxo

Bolvisus); _Bikki_; in the German and Old English traditions as Sibich,

Sifeca, Sifka. _Bikki_ is a name-form borrowed from Germany. The

original Norse Loke-epithet is _Bekki_, which means "the foe," "the

opponent". A closer examination shows that everywhere where this

counsellor appears his enterprises have originally been connected with

persons who belong to Borgar's race. He has wormed himself into the

favour of both the contending parties--as Blind ille with King

Hadding--whereof Hromund Greipson's saga has preserved a distorted

record--as Bikke, Sibeke, with King Gudhorm (whose identity with

Jormunrek shall be established below). As Blind boelvise he lies in

waiting for and seeks to capture the young "Helge Hundingsbane," that is

to say, Halfdan, Hadding's father (Helge Hund., ii.). Under his own

name, Loke, he lies in waiting for and seeks to capture the young

Hadding, Halfdan's son. As a cunning general and cowardly warrior he

appears in the German saga-traditions, and there is every reason to

assume that it is his activity in the first great war as the planner of

Gudhorm's battle-line that in the Norse heathen records secured Loke the

epithets _sagna hroerir_ and _sagna sviptir_, the leader of the warriors

forward and the leader of the warriors back--epithets which otherwise

would be both unfounded and incomprehensible, but they are found both in

Thjodolf's poem Haustlaung, and in Eilif Gudrunson's Thorsdrapa. It is

also a noticeable fact that while Loke in the first great battle which

ends with Hadding's defeat determines the array of the victorious

army--for only on this basis can the victory be attributed to him by

Saxo--it is in the other great battle in which Hadding is victorious

that Odin himself determines how the forces of his protege are to be

arranged, namely, in that wedge-form which after that time and for many

centuries following was the sacred and strictly preserved rule for the

battle-array of Teutonic forces. Thus the ancient Teutonic saga has

mentioned and compared with one another two different kinds of

battle-arrays--the one invented by Loke and the other invented by Odin.

During his wanderings in the forests of the East Hadding has had

wonderful adventures and passed through great trials. Saxo tells one of

these adventures. He and Hardgrep, Vagnhofde's daughter, came late one

evening to a dwelling where they got lodgings for the night. The husband

was dead, but not yet buried. For the purpose of learning Hadding's

destiny, Hardgrep engraved speech-runes (see No. 70) on a piece of wood,

and asked Hadding to place it under the tongue of the dead one. The

latter would in this wise recover the power of speech and prophecy. So

it came to pass. But what the dead one sang in an awe-inspiring voice

was a curse on Hardgrep, who had compelled him to return from life in

the lower world to life on earth, and a prediction that an avenging

Niflheim demon would inflict punishment on her for what she had done. A

following night, when Hadding and Hardgrep had sought shelter in a bower

of twigs and branches which they had gathered, there appeared a gigantic

hand groping under the ceiling of the bower. The frightened Hadding

waked Hardgrep. She then rose in all her giant strength, seized the

mysterious hand, and bade Hadding cut it off with his sword. He

attempted to do this, but from the wounds he inflicted on the ghost's

hand there issued matter or venom more than blood, and the hand seized

Hardgrep with its iron claws and tore her into pieces (Saxo, _Hist._, 36

ff.).

When Hadding in this manner had lost his companion, he considered

himself abandoned by everybody; but the one-eyed old man had not

forgotten his favourite. He sent him a faithful helper, by name

_Liserus_ (Saxo, _Hist._, 40). Who was _Liserus_ in our mythology?

First, as to the name itself: in the very nature of the case it must be

the Latinising of some one of the mythological names or epithets that

Saxo found in the Norse records. But as no such root as _lis_ or _lis_

is to be found in the old Norse language, and as Saxo interchanges the

vowels _i_ and _y_,[27] we must regard _Liserus_ as a Latinising of

_Lysir_, "the shining one," "the one giving light," "the bright one."

When Odin sent a helper thus described to Hadding, it must have been a

person belonging to Odin's circle and subject to him. Such a person and

described by a similar epithet is _hinn hviti ass, hvitastr asa_

(Heimdal). In Saxo's account, this shining messenger is particularly to

oppose Loke (_Hist._, 40). And in the myth it is the keen-sighted and

faithful Heimdal who always appears as the opposite of the cunning and

faithless Loke. Loke has to contend with Heimdal when the former tries

to get possession of Brisingamen, and in Ragnarok the two opponents kill

each other. Hadding's shining protector thus has the same part to act in

the heroic saga as the whitest of the Asas in the mythology. If we now

add that Heimdal is Hadding's progenitor, and on account of blood

kinship owes him special protection in a war in which all the gods have

taken part either for or against Halfdan's and Alveig's son, then we are

forced by every consideration to regard _Liserus_ and Heimdal as

identical (see further, No. 82).

[Footnote 27: Compare the double forms _Trigo_, _Thrygir_; _Ivarus_,

_Yvarus_; _Sibbo_, _Sybbo_; _Siritha_, _Syritha_; _Sivardus_,

_Syvardus_; _Hibernia_, _Hybernia_; _Isora_, _Ysora_.]

41.

THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). HADDING'S JOURNEY TO

THE EAST. RECONCILIATION BETWEEN THE ASAS AND

VANS. "THE HUN WAR." HADDING RETURNS AND

CONQUERS. RECONCILIATION BETWEEN GROA'S DESCENDANTS

AND ALVEIG'S. LOKE'S PUNISHMENT.

Some time later there has been a change in Hadding's affairs. He is no

longer the exile wandering about in the forests, but appears once more

at the head of warlike hosts. But although he accomplishes various

exploits, it still appears from Saxo's narrative that it takes a long

time before he becomes strong enough to meet his enemies in a decisive

battle with hope of success. In the meanwhile he has succeeded in

accomplishing the revenge of his father and slaying Svipdag (Saxo

_Hist._, 42)--this under circumstances which I shall explain below (No.

106). The proof that the hero-saga has left a long space of time between

the great battle lost by Hadding and that in which he wins a decided

victory is that he, before this conflict is fought out, has slain a

young grandson (son's son) of Svipdag, that is, a son of Asmund, who was

Svipdag's son (Saxo, _Hist._, 46). Hadding was a mere boy when Svipdag

first tried to capture him. He is a man of years when he, through

decided successes on the battle-field, acquires and secures control of a

great part of the domain over which his father, the Teutonic patriarch,

reigned. Hence he must have spent considerable time in the place of

refuge which Odin opened for him, and under the protection of that

subject of Odin, called by Saxo _Liserus_.

In the time intervening important events have taken place in the world

of the gods. The two clans of gods, the Asas and Vans, have become

reconciled. Odin's exile lasted, according to Saxo, only ten years, and

there is no reason for doubting the mythical correctness of this

statement. The reconciliation must have been demanded by the dangers

which their enmity caused to the administration of the world. The

giants, whose purpose it is to destroy the world of man, became once

more dangerous to the earth on account of the war among the gods. During

this time they made a desperate effort to conquer Asgard occupied by the

Vans. The memory of this expedition was preserved during the Christian

centuries in the traditions concerning the great Hun war. Saxo (_Hist._,

231 ff.) refers this to _Frotho_ III.'s reign. What he relates about

this _Frotho_, son of _Fridlevus_ (Njord), is for the greatest part a

historicised version of the myth about the Vana-god Frey (see No. 102);

and every doubt that his account of the war of the "Huns" against Frotho

has its foundation in mythology, and belongs to the chain of events here

discussed, vanishes when we learn that the attack of the Huns against

Frotho-Frey's power happened at a time when an old prophet, by name

_Uggerus_, "whose age was unknown, but exceeded every measure of human

life," lived in exile, and belonged to the number of Frotho's enemies.

_Uggerus_ is a Latinised form of Odin's name _Yggr_, and is the same

mythic character as Saxo before introduced on the scene as "the old

one-eyed man," Hadding's protector. Although he had been Frotho's enemy,

the aged _Yggr_ comes to him and informs him what the "Huns" are

plotting, and thus Frotho is enabled to resist their assault.[28]

When Odin, out of consideration for the common welfare of mankind and

the gods, renders the Vans, who had banished him, this service, and as

the latter are in the greatest need of the assistance of the mighty

Asa-father and his powerful sons in the conflict with the giant world,

then these facts explain sufficiently the reconciliation between the

Asas and the Vans. This reconciliation was also in order on account of

the bonds of kinship between them. The chief hero of the Asas, Thor, was

the stepfather of Ull, the chief warrior of the Vans (Younger Edda, i.

252). The record of a friendly settlement between Thor and Ull is

preserved in a paraphrase, by which Thor is described in Thorsdrapa as

"_gulli Ullar_," he who with persuasive words makes Ull friendly. Odin

was invited to occupy again the high-seat in Asgard, with all the

prerogatives of a paterfamilias and ruler (Saxo, _Hist._, 44). But the

dispute which caused the conflict between him and the Vans was at the

same time manifestly settled to the advantage of the Vans. They do not

assume in common the responsibility for the murder of Gulveig Angerboda.

She is banished to the Ironwood, but remains there unharmed until

Ragnarok, and when the destruction of the world approaches, then Njord

shall leave the Asas threatened with the ruin they have themselves

caused and return to the "wise Vans" (_i aldar rauc hann mun aptr coma

heim med visom vaunom_--Vafthr., 39).

The "Hun war" has supplied the answer to a question, which those

believing in the myths naturally would ask themselves. That question

was: How did it happen that Midgard was not in historical times exposed

to such attacks from the dwellers in Jotunheim as occurred in antiquity,

and at that time threatened Asgard itself with destruction? The "Hun

war" was in the myth characterized by the countless lives lost by the

enemy. This we learn from Saxo. The sea, he says, was so filled with the

bodies of the slain that boats could hardly be rowed through the waves.

In the rivers their bodies formed bridges, and on land a person could

make a three days' journey on horseback without seeing anything but dead

bodies of the slain (_Hist._, 234, 240). And so the answer to the

question was, that the "Hun war" of antiquity had so weakened the giants

in number and strength that they could not become so dangerous as they

had been to Asgard and Midgard formerly, that is, before the time

immediately preceding Ragnarok, when a new fimbul-winter is to set in,

and when the giant world shall rise again in all its ancient might. From

the time of the "Hun war" and until then, Thor's hammer is able to keep

the growth of the giants' race within certain limits, wherefore Thor in

Harbardsljod explains his attack on giants and giantesses with _micil

mundi ett iotna, ef allir lifdi, vetr mundi manna undir Mithgarthi_.

Hadding's rising star of success must be put in connection with the

reconciliation between the Asas and Vans. The reconciled gods must lay

aside that seed of new feuds between them which is contained in the war

between Hadding, the favourite of the Asas, and Gudhorm, the favourite

of the Vans. The great defeat once suffered by Hadding must be balanced

by a corresponding victory, and then the contending kinsmen must be

reconciled. And this happens. Hadding wins a great battle and enters

upon a secure reign in his part of Teutondom. Then are tied new bonds of

kinship and friendship between the hostile races, so that the Teutonic

dynasties of chiefs may trace their descent both from Yngve (Svipdag)

and from Borgar's son Halfdan. Hadding and a surviving grandson of

Svipdag are united in so tender a devotion to one another that the

latter, upon an unfounded report of the former's death, is unable to

survive him and takes his own life. And when Hadding learns this, he

does not care to live any longer either, but meets death voluntarily

(Saxo, _Hist._, 59, 60).

After the reconciliation between the Asas and Vans they succeed in

capturing Loke. Saxo relates this in connection with Odin's return from

Asgard, and here calls Loke _Mitothin_. In regard to this name, we may,

without entering upon difficult conjectures concerning the first part of

the word, be sure that it, too, is taken by Saxo from the heathen

records in which he has found his account of the first great war, and

that it, in accordance with the rule for forming such epithets, must

refer to a mythic person who has had a certain relation with Odin, and

at the same time been his antithesis. According to Saxo, _Mitothin_ is a

thoroughly evil being, who, like Aurboda, strove to disseminate the

practice of witchcraft in the world and to displace Odin. He was

compelled to take flight and to conceal himself from the gods. He is

captured and slain, but from his dead body arises a pest, so that he

does no less harm after than before his death. It therefore became

necessary to open his grave, cut his head off, and pierce his breast

with a sharp stick (_Hist._, 43).

These statements in regard to _Mitothin's_ death seem at first glance

not to correspond very well with the mythic accounts of Loke's exit, and

thus give room for doubt as to his identity with the latter. It is also

clear that Saxo's narrative has been influenced by the mediaeval stories

about vampires and evil ghosts, and about the manner of preventing these

from doing harm to the living. Nevertheless, all that he here tells, the

beheading included, is founded on the mythic accounts of Loke. The place

where Loke is fettered is situated in the extreme part of the hell of

the wicked dead (see No. 78). The fact that he is relegated to the realm

of the dead, and is there chained in a subterranean cavern until

Ragnarok, when all the dead in the lower world shall return, has been a

sufficient reason for Saxo to represent him as dead and buried. That he

after death causes a pest corresponds with Saxo's account of

_Ugarthilocus_, who has his prison in a cave under a rock situated in a

sea, over which darkness broods for ever (the island _Lyngvi_ in

Amsvartner's sea, where Loke's prison is--see No. 78). The hardy

sea-captain, Thorkil, seeks and finds him in his cave of torture, pulls

a hair from the beard on his chin, and brings it with him to Denmark.

When this hair afterwards is exposed and exhibited, the awful exhalation

from it causes the death of several persons standing near (_Hist._, 432,

433). When a hair from the beard of the tortured Loke ("a hair from the

evil one") could produce this effect, then his whole body removed to the

kingdom of death must work even greater mischief, until measures were

taken to prevent it. In this connection it is to be remembered that

Loke, according to the Icelandic records, is the father of the feminine

demon of epidemics and diseases, of her who rules in Niflheim, the home

of the spirits of disease (see No. 60), and that it is Loke's daughter

who rides the three-footed steed, which appears when an epidemic breaks

out (see No. 67). Thus Loke is, according to the Icelandic mythic

fragments, the cause of epidemics. Lakasenna also states that he lies

with a pierced body, although the weapon there is a sword, or possibly a

spear (_pic a hiorvi scola binda god_--Lakas., 49). That Mitothin takes

flight and conceals himself from the gods corresponds with the myth

about Loke. But that which finally and conclusively confirms the

identity of Loke and Mitothin is that the latter, though a thoroughly

evil being and hostile to the gods, is said to have risen through the

enjoyment of divine favour (_caelesti beneficio vegetatus_). Among male

beings of his character this applies to Loke alone.

In regard to the statement that Loke after his removal to the kingdom of

death had his head separated from his body, Saxo here relates, though in

his own peculiar manner, what the myth contained about Loke's ruin,

which was a logical consequence of his acts and happened long after his

removal to the realm of death. Loke is slain in Ragnarok, to which he,

freed from his cave of torture in the kingdom of death, proceeds at the

head of the hosts of "the sons of destruction." In the midst of the

conflict he seeks or is sought by his constant foe, Heimdal. The shining

god, the protector of Asgard, the original patriarch and benefactor of

man, contends here for the last time with the Satan of the Teutonic

mythology, and Heimdal and Loke mutually slay each other (_Loki a orustu

vid Heimdall, ok verdr hvarr annars bani_--Younger Edda, 192). In this

duel we learn that Heimdal, who fells his foe, was himself pierced or

"struck through" to death by a head (_sva er sagt, at hann var lostinn

manns hoefdi i goegnum_--Younger Edda, 264; _hann var lostinn i hel med

manns hoefdi_--Younger Edda, 100, ed. Res). When Heimdal and Loke

mutually cause each other's death, this must mean that Loke's head is

that with which Heimdal is pierced after the latter has cut it off with

his sword and become the bane (death) of his foe. Light is thrown on

this episode by what Saxo tells about Loke's head. While the demon in

chains awaits Ragnarok, his hair and beard grow in such a manner that

"they in size and stiffness resemble horn-spears" (_Ugarthilocus ...

cujus olentes pili tam magnitudine quam rigore corneas aequaverant

hastas_--_Hist._, 431, 432). And thus it is explained how the myth could

make his head act the part of a weapon. That amputated limbs continue to

live and fight is a peculiarity mentioned in other mythic sagas, and

should not surprise us in regard to Loke, the dragon-demon, the father

of the Midgard-serpent (see further, No. 82).

[Footnote 28: _Deseruit eum_ (Hun) _quoque Uggerus vates, vir aetatis

incognitae et supra humanum terminum prolixae; qui Frothonem transfugae

titulo petens quidquid ab Hunis parabatur edocuit_ (_Hist._, 238).]

42.

HALFDAN AND HAMAL FOSTER-BROTHERS. THE AMALIANS

FIGHT IN BEHALF OF HALFDAN'S SON HADDING.

HAMAL AND THE WEDGE-FORMED BATTLE-ARRAY. THE

ORIGINAL MODEL OF THE BRAVALLA BATTLE.