The mythic progenitor of the Amalians, _Hamall_, has already been

mentioned above as the foster-brother of the Teutonic patriarch, Halfdan

(Helge Hundingsbane). According to Norse tradition, Hamal's father,

_Hagall_, had been Halfdan's foster-father (Helge Hund., ii.), and thus

the devoted friend of Borgar. There being so close a relation between

the progenitors of these great hero-families of Teutonic mythology, it

is highly improbable that the Amalians did not also act an important

part in the first great world war, since all the Teutonic tribes, and

consequently surely their first families of mythic origin, took part in

it. In the ancient records of the North, we discover a trace which

indicates that the Amalians actually did fight on that side where we

should expect to find them, that is, on Hadding's, and that Hamal

himself was the field-commander of his foster-brother. The trace is

found in the phrase _fylkja Hamalt_, occurring in several places (Sig.

Faf., ii. 23; Har. Hardr., ch. 2; Fornalds. Saga, ii. 40; Fornm., xi.

304). The phrase can only be explained in one way, "arranged the

battle-array as _Hamall_ first did it." To Hamal has also been ascribed

the origin of the custom of fastening the shields close together along

the ship's railing, which appears from the following lines in Harald

Hardrade's Saga, 63:

Hamalt syndiz mer hoemlur

hildings vinir skilda.

We also learn in our Norse records that _fylkja Hamalt_, "to draw up in

line of battle as Hamal did," means the same as _svinfylkja_, that is,

to arrange the battalions in the form of a wedge.[29] Now Saxo relates

(_Hist._, 52) that Hadding's army was the first to draw the forces up in

this manner, and that an old man (Odin) whom he has taken on board on a

sea-journey had taught and advised him to do this.[30] Several centuries

later Odin, according to Saxo, taught this art to Harald Hildetand. But

the mythology has not made Odin teach it twice. The repetition has its

reason in the fact that Harald Hildetand, in one of the records

accessible to Saxo, was a son of Halfdan Borgarson (_Hist._, 361;

according to other records a son of Borgar himself--_Hist._, 337), and

consequently a son of Hadding's father, the consequence of which is that

features of Hadding's saga have been incorporated into the saga produced

in a later time concerning the saga-hero Harald Hildetand. Thereby the

Bravalla battle has obtained so universal and gigantic a character.

It has been turned into an arbitrarily written version of the battle

which ended in Hadding's defeat. Swedes, Goths, Norsemen, Curians, and

Esthonians here fight on that side which, in the original model of the

battle, was represented by the hosts of Svipdag and Gudhorm; Danes (few

in number, according to Saxo), Saxons (according to Saxo, the main part

of the army), Livonians, and Slavs fight on the other side. The fleets

and armies are immense on both sides. Shield-maids (amazons) occupy the

position which in the original was held by the giantesses Hardgrep,

Fenja, and Menja. In the saga description produced in Christian times

the Bravalla battle is a ghost of the myth concerning the first great

war. Therefore the names of several of the heroes who take part in the

battle are an echo from the myth concerning the Teutonic patriarchs and

the great war. There appear _Borgar_ and _Behrgar_ the wise (Borgar),

_Haddir_ (Hadding), _Ruthar_ (_Hrutr_-Heimdal, see No. 28_a_), _Od_

(_Odr_, a surname of Freyja's, husband, Svipdag, see Nos. 96-98, 100,

101), _Brahi_ (_Brache_, _Asa-Bragr_, see No. 102), _Gram_ (Halfdan),

and _Ingi_ (Yngve), all of which names we recognise from the patriarch

saga, but which, in the manner in which they are presented in the new

saga, show how arbitrarily the mythic records were treated at that time.

The myth has rightly described the wedge-shaped arrangement of the

troops as an ancient custom among the Teutons. Tacitus (_Germ._, 6) says

that the Teutons arranged their forces in the form of a wedge (_acies

per cuneos componitur_), and Caesar suggests the same (_De Bell.

Gall._, i. 52: _Germani celeriter ex consuetudine sua phalange

facta_...). Thus our knowledge of this custom as Teutonic extends back

to the time before the birth of Christ. Possibly it was then already

centuries old. The Aryan-Asiatic kinsmen of the Teutons had knowledge of

it, and the Hindooic law-book, called Manus', ascribes to it divine

sanctity and divine origin. On the geographical line which unites

Teutondom with Asia it was also in vogue. According to AElianus (_De

instr. ac._, 18), the wedge-shaped array of battle was known to the

Scythians and Thracians.

The statement that Harald Hildetand, son of Halfdan Borgarson, learned

this arrangement of the forces from Odin many centuries after he had

taught the art to Hadding, does not disprove, but on the contrary

confirms, the theory that Hadding, son of Halfdan Borgarson, was not

only the first but also the only one who received this instruction from

the Asa-father. And as we now have side by side the two statements, that

Odin gave Hadding this means of victory, and that Hamal was the first

one who arranged his forces in the shape of a wedge, then it is all the

more necessary to assume that these statements belong together, and that

Hamal was Hadding's general, especially as we have already seen that

Hadding's and Hamal's families were united by the sacred ties which

connect foster-father with foster-son and foster-brother with

foster-brother.

[Footnote 29: Compare the passage, _Eirikr konungr fylkti sva lidi sinu,

at rani (the swine-snout) var a framan a fylkinganni, ok lukt allt utan

med skjaldbjorg_, (Fornm., xi. 304), with the passage quoted in this

connection: _hildingr fylkti Hamalt lidi miklu_.]

[Footnote 30: The saga of Sigurd Fafnersbane, which absorbed materials

from all older sagas, has also incorporated this episode. On a

sea-journey Sigurd takes on board a man who calls himself _Hnikarr_ (a

name of Odin). He advises him to "_fylkja Hamalt_" (Sig. Fafn., ii.

16-23).]

43.

EVIDENCE THAT DIETERICH "OF BERN" IS HADDING. THE

DIETERICH SAGA THUS HAS ITS ORIGIN IN THE MYTH

CONCERNING THE WAR BETWEEN MANNUS-HALFDAN'S

SONS.

The appearance of Hamal and the Amalians on Hadding's side in the great

world war becomes a certainty from the fact that we discover among the

descendants of the continental Teutons a great cycle of sagas, all of

whose events are more or less intimately connected with the mythic

kernel: that Amalian heroes with unflinching fidelity supported a prince

who already in the tender years of his youth had been deprived of his

share of his father's kingdom, and was obliged to take flight from the

persecution of a kinsman and his assistants to the far East, where he

remained a long time, until after various fortunes of war he was able to

return, conquer, and take possession of his paternal inheritance. And

for this he was indebted to the assistance of the brave Amalians. These

are the chief points in the saga cycle about Dieterich of Bern

(_thjodrekr_, _Thidrek_, _Theodericus_), and the fortunes of the young

prince are, as we have thus seen, substantially the same as Hadding's.

When we compare sagas preserved by the descendants of the Teutons of the

Continent with sagas handed down to us from Scandinavian sources, we

must constantly bear in mind that the great revolution which the victory

of Christianity over Odinism produced in the Teutonic world of thought,

inasmuch as it tore down the ancient mythical structure and applied the

fragments that were fit for use as material for a new saga

structure--that this revolution required a period of more than eight

hundred years before it had conquered the last fastnesses of the Odinic

doctrine. On the one side of the slowly advancing borders between the

two religions there developed and continued a changing and

transformation of the old sagas, the main purpose of which was to

obliterate all that contained too much flavour of heathendom and was

incompatible with Christianity; while, on the other side of the borders

of faith, the old mythic songs, but little affected by the tooth of

time, still continued to live in their original form. Thus one might, to

choose the nearest example at hand, sing on the northern side of this

faith-border, where heathendom still prevailed, about how Hadding, when

the persecutions of Svipdag and his half-brother Gudhorm compelled him

to fly to the far East, there was protected by Odin, and how he through

him received the assistance of _Hrutr-Heimdall_; while the Christians,

on the south side of this border, sang of how Dieterich, persecuted by a

brother and the protectors of the latter, was forced to take flight to

the far East, and how he was there received by a mighty king, who, as he

could no longer be Odin, must be the mightiest king in the East ever

heard of--that is, Attila--and how Attila gave him as protector a

certain Ruediger, whose very name contains an echo of Ruther (Heimdal),

who could not, however, be the white Asa-god, Odin's faithful servant,

but must be changed into a faithful vassal and "markgrave" under Attila.

The Saxons were converted to Christianity by fire and sword in the

latter part of the eighth century. In the deep forests of Sweden

heathendom did not yield completely to Christianity before the twelfth

century. In the time of Saxo's father there were still heathen

communities in Smaland on the Danish border. It follows that Saxo must

have received the songs concerning the ancient Teutonic heroes in a far

more original form than that in which the same songs could be found in

Germany.

Hadding means "the hairy one," "the fair-haired;" Dieterich

(_thjodrekr_) means "the ruler of the people," "the great ruler." Both

epithets belong to one and the same saga character. Hadding is the

epithet which belongs to him as a youth, before he possessed a kingdom;

Dieterich is the epithet which represents him as the king of many

Teutonic tribes. The Vilkinsaga says of him that he had an abundant and

beautiful growth of hair, but that he never got a beard. This is

sufficient to explain the name Hadding, by which he was presumably

celebrated in song among all Teutonic tribes; for we have already seen

that Hadding is known in Anglo-Saxon poetry as Hearding, and, as we

shall see, the continental Teutons knew him not only as Dieterich, but

also as Hartung. It is also possible that the name "the hairy" has in

the myth had the same purport as the epithet "the fair-haired" has in

the Norse account of Harald, Norway's first ruler, and that Hadding of

the myth was the prototype of Harald, when the latter made the vow to

let his hair grow until he was king of all Norway (Harald Harfager's

Saga, 4). The custom of not cutting hair or beard before an exploit

resolved upon was carried out was an ancient one among the Teutons, and

so common and so sacred that it must have had foothold and prototype in

the hero-saga. Tacitus mentions it (_Germania_, 31); so does Paulus

Diaconus (_Hist._, iii. 7) and Gregorius of Tours (v. 15).

Although it had nearly ceased to be heard in the German saga cycle,

still the name Hartung has there left traces of its existence. "Anhang

des Heldenbuchs" mentions King Hartung _aus Reuessenlant_; that is to

say, a King Hartung who came from some land in the East. The poem

"Rosengarten" (variant D; cp. W. Grimm, _D. Heldensage_, 139, 253) also

mentions Hartunc, king _von Riuzen_. A comparison of the different

versions of "Rosengarten" with the poem "Dieterichs Flucht" shows that

the name Hartung _von Riuzen_ in the course of time becomes Hartnit _von

Riuzen_ and Hertnit _von Riuzen_, by which form of the name the hero

reappears in Vilkinasaga as a king in Russia. If we unite the scattered

features contained in these sources about Hartung we get the following

main outlines of his saga:

(_a_) Hartung is a king and dwells in an eastern country (all the

records).

(_b_) He is not, however, an independent ruler there, at least not in

the beginning, but is subject to Attila (who in the Dieterich's saga has

supplanted Odin as chief ruler in the East). He is Attila's man

("Dieterichs Flucht").

(_c_) A Swedish king has robbed him of his land and driven him into

exile.

(_d_) The Swedish king is of the race of elves, and the chief of the

same race as the celebrated Velint--that is to say, Volund

(Wayland)--belonged to (Vilkinasaga). As shall be shown later (see Nos.

108, 109), Svipdag, the banisher of Hadding, belongs to the same race.

He is Volund's nephew (brother's son).

(_e_) Hartung recovers, after the death of the Swedish conqueror, his

own kingdom, and also conquers that of the Swedish king (Vilkinasaga).

All these features are found in the saga of Hadding. Thus the original

identity of Hadding and Hartung is beyond doubt. We also find that

Hartung, like Dieterich, is banished from his country; that he fled,

like him, to the East; that he got, like him, Attila the king of the

East as his protector; that he thereupon returned, conquered his

enemies, and recovered his kingdom. Hadding's, Hartung's and Dieterich's

sagas are, therefore, one and the same in root and in general outline.

Below it shall also be shown that the most remarkable details are common

to them all.

I have above (No. 42) given reasons why Hamal (Amala), the

foster-brother of Halfdan Borgarson, was Hadding's assistant and general

in the war against his foes. The hero, who in the German saga has the

same place under Dieterich, is the aged "master" Hildebrand, Dieterich's

faithful companion, teacher, and commander of his troops. Can it be

demonstrated that what the German saga tells about Hildebrand reveals

threads that connect him with the saga of the original patriarchs, and

that not only his position as Dieterich's aged friend and general, but

also his genealogy, refer to this saga? And can a satisfactory

explanation be given of the reason why Hildebrand obtained in the German

Dieterich saga the same place as Hamal had in the old myth?

Hildebrand is, as his very name shows, a Hilding,[31] like Hildeger who

appears in the patriarch saga (Saxo, _Hist._, 356-359). Hildeger was,

according to the tradition in Saxo, the half-brother of Halfdan

Borgarson. They had the same mother _Drot_, but not the same father;

Hildeger counted himself a Swede on his father's side; Halfdan, Borgar's

son, considered himself as belonging to the South Scandinavians and

Danes, and hence the dying Hildeger sings to Halfdan (_Hist._, 357):

Danica te tellus, me Sveticus edidit orbis.

Drot tibi maternum, quondam distenderat uber;

Hac genitrici tibi pariter collacteus exto.[32]

In the German tradition Hildebrand is the son of Herbrand. The Old High

German fragment of the song, about Hildebrand's meeting with his son

Hadubrand, calls him _Heribrantes sunu_. Herbrand again is, according to

the poem "Wolfdieterich," Berchtung's son (concerning Berchtung, see No.

6). In a Norse tradition preserved by Saxo we find a Hilding (Hildeger)

who is Borgar's stepson; in the German tradition we find a Hilding

(Herbrand) who is Borgar-Berchtung's son. This already shows that the

German saga about Hildebrand was originally connected with the patriarch

saga about Borgar, Halfdan, and Halfdan's sons, and that the Hildings

from the beginning were akin to the Teutonic patriarchs. Borgar's

transformation from stepfather to the father of a Hilding shall be

explained below.

Hildeger's saga and Hildebrand's are also related in subject matter. The

fortunes of both the kinsmen are at the same time like each other and

the antithesis of each other. Hildeger's character is profoundly tragic;

Hildebrand is happy and secure. Hildeger complains in his death-song in

Saxo (cp. Asmund Kaempebane's saga) that he has fought with and slain his

own beloved son. In the Old High German song-fragment Hildebrand seeks,

after his return from the East, his son Hadubrand, who believed that his

father was dead and calls Hildebrand a deceiver, who has taken the dead

man's name, and forces him to fight a duel. The fragment ends before we

learn the issue of the duel; but Vilkinasaga and a ballad about

Hildebrand have preserved the tradition in regard to it. When the old

"master" has demonstrated that his Hadubrand is not yet equal to him in

arms, father and son ride side by side in peace and happiness to their

home. Both the conflicts between father and son, within the Hilding

family, are pendants and each other's antithesis. Hildeger, who

passionately loves war and combat, inflicts in his eagerness for strife

a deep wound in his own heart when he kills his own son. Hildebrand acts

wisely, prudently, and seeks to ward off and allay the son's love of

combat before the duel begins, and he is able to end it by pressing his

young opponent to his paternal bosom. On the other hand, Hildeger's

conduct toward his half-brother Halfdan, the ideal of a noble and

generous enemy, and his last words to his brother, who, ignorant of the

kinship, has given him the fatal wound, and whose mantle the dying one

wishes to wrap himself in (Asmund Kaempebane's saga), is one of the

touching scenes in the grand poems about our earliest ancestors. It

seems to have proclaimed that blood revenge was inadmissible, when a

kinsman, without being aware of the kinship, slays a kinsman, and when

the latter before he died declared his devotion to his slayer. At all

events we rediscover the aged Hildebrand as the teacher and protector of

the son of the same Halfdan who slew Hildeger, and not a word is said

about blood revenge between Halfdan's and Hildeger's descendants.

The kinship pointed out between the Teutonic patriarchs and the Hildings

has not, however, excluded a relation of subordination of the latter to

the former. In "Wolfdieterich" Hildebrand's father receives land and

fief from Dieterich's grandfather and carries his banner in war.

Hildebrand himself performs toward Dieterich those duties which are due

from a foster-father, which, as a rule, show a relation of

subordination to the real father of the foster-son. Among the kindred

families to which Dieterich and Hildebrand belong there was the same

difference of rank as between those to which Hadding and Hamal belong.

Hamal's father Hagal was Halfdan's foster-father, and, to judge from

this, occupied the position of a subordinate friend toward Halfdan's

father Borgar. Thus Halfdan and Hamal were foster-brothers, and from

this it follows that Hamal, if he survived Halfdan, was bound to assume

a foster-father's duties towards the latter's son Hadding, who was not

yet of age. Hamal's relation to Hadding is therefore entirely analagous

to Hildebrand's relation to Dieterich.

The pith of that army which attached itself to Dieterich are Amelungs,

Amalians (see "Biterolf"); that is to say, members of Hamal's race. The

oldest and most important hero, the pith of the pith, is old master

Hildebrand himself, Dieterich's foster-father and general. Persons who

in the German poems have names which refer to their Amalian birth are by

Hildebrand treated as members of a clan are treated by a clan-chief.

Thus Hildebrand brings from Sweden a princess, Amalgart, and gives her

as wife to a son of Amelolt serving among Dieterich's Amelungs, and to

Amelolt Hildebrand has already given his sister for a wife.

The question as to whether we find threads which connect the Hildebrand

of the German poem with the saga of the mythic patriarchs, and

especially with the Hamal (Amala) who appears in this saga, has now been

answered. Master Hildebrand has in the German saga-cycle received the

position and the tasks which originally belonged to Hamal, the

progenitor of the Amalians.

The relation between the kindred families--the patriarch family, the

Hilding family, and the Amal family--has certainly been just as

distinctly pointed out in the German saga-cycle as in the Norse before

the German met with a crisis, which to some extent confused the old

connection. This crisis came when Hadding-_thjodrekr_ of the ancient

myth was confounded with the historical king of the East Goths,

Theoderich. The East Goth Theoderich counted himself as belonging to the

Amal family, which had grown out of the soil of the myth. He was,

according to Jordanes (_De Goth. Orig._, 14), a son of Thiudemer, who

traced his ancestry to Amal (Hamal), son of Augis (Hagal).[33] The

result of the confusion was:

(_a_) That Hadding-_thjodrekr_ became the son of Thiudemer, and that his

descent from the Teuton patriarchs was cut off.

(_b_) That Hadding-_thjodrekr_ himself became a descendant of Hamal,

whereby the distinction between this race of rulers--the line of

Teutonic patriarchs begun with Ruther Heimdal--together with the Amal

family, friendly but subject to the Hadding family, and the Hilding

family was partly obscured and partly abolished. Dieterich himself

became an "Amelung" like several of his heroes.

(_c_) That when Hamal thus was changed from an elder contemporary of

Hadding-_thjodrekr_ into his earliest progenitor, separated from him by

several generations of time, he could no longer serve as Dieterich's

foster-father and general; but this vocation had to be transferred to

master Hildebrand, who also in the myth must have been closely connected

with Hadding, and, together with Hamal, one of his chief and constant

helpers.

(_d_) That Borgar-Berchtung, who in the myth is the grandfather of

Hadding-_thjodrekr_, must, as he was not an Amal, resign this dignity

and confine himself to being the progenitor of the Hildings. As we have

seen, he is in Saxo the progenitor of the Hilding Hildeger.

Another result of Hadding-_thjodrekr's_ confusion with the historical

Theoderich was that Dieterich's kingdom, and the scene of various of his

exploits, was transferred to Italy: to Verona (Bern), Ravenna (Raben),

&c. Still the strong stream of the ancient myths became master of the

confused historical increments, so that the Dieterich of the saga has

but little in common with the historical Theoderich.

After the dissemination of Christianity, the hero saga of the Teutonic

myths was cut off from its roots in the mythology, and hence this

confusion was natural and necessary. Popular tradition, in which traces

were found of the historical Theoderich-Dieterich, was no longer able to

distinguish the one Dieterich from the other. A writer acquainted with

the chronicle of Jordanes took the last step and made Theoderich's

father Thiudemer the father of the mythic Hadding-_thjodrekr_.

Nor did the similarity of names alone encourage this blending of the

persons. There was also another reason. The historical Theoderich had

fought against Odoacer. The mythic Hadding-_thjodrekr_ had warred with

Svipdag, the husband of Freyja, who also bore the name _Odr_ and _Ottar_

(see Nos. 96-100). The latter name-form corresponds to the English and

German _Otter_, the Old High German _Otar_, a name which suggested the

historical _Otacher_ (Odoacer). The Dieterich and Otacher of historical

traditions became identified with _thjodrekr_ and _Ottar_ of mythical

traditions.

As the Hadding-_thjodrekr_ of mythology was in his tender youth exposed

to the persecutions of Ottar, and had to take flight from them to the

far East, so the Dieterich of the historical saga also had to suffer

persecutions in his tender youth from Otacher, and take flight,

accompanied by his faithful Amalians, to a kingdom in the East.

Accordingly, Hadubrand says of his father Hildebrand, that, when he

betook himself to the East with Dieterich, _floh her Otachres nid_, "he

fled from Otacher's hate." Therefore, Otacher soon disappears from the

German saga-cycle, for Svipdag-Ottar perishes and disappears in the

myth, long before Hadding's victory and restoration to his father's

power (see No. 106).

Odin and Heimdal, who then, according to the myth, dwelt in the East and

there became the protectors of Hadding, must, as heathen deities, be

removed from the Christian saga, and be replaced as best they could by

others. The famous ruler in the East, Attila, was better suited than

anyone else to take Odin's place, though Attila was dead before

Theoderich was born. Ruther-Heimdal was, as we have already seen,

changed into Ruediger.

The myth made Hadding dwell in the East for many years (see above). The

ten-year rule of the Vans in Asgard must end, and many other events must

occur before the epic connection of the myths permitted Hadding to

return as a victor. As a result of this, the saga of "Dieterich of Bern"

also lets him remain a long time with Attila. An old English song

preserved in the Exeter manuscript, makes _Theodric_ remain _thrittig

wintra_ in exile at Maeringaburg. The song about Hildebrand and Hadubrand

make him remain in exile _sumaro enti wintro sehstic_, and Vilkinasaga

makes him sojourn in the East thirty-two years.

Maeringaburg of the Anglo-Saxon poem is the refuge which Odin opened for

his favourite, and where the former dwelt during his exile in the East.

Maeringaburg means a citadel inhabited by noble, honoured, and splendid

persons: compare the Old Norse _maeringr_. But the original meaning of

_maerr_, Old German _mara_, is "glittering," "shining," "pure," and it is

possible that, before _maeringr_ received its general signification of a

famous, honoured, noble man, it was used in the more special sense of a

man descended from "the shining one," that is to say, from Heimdal

through Borgar. However this may be, these "maeringar" have, in the

Anglo-Saxon version of the Hadding saga, had their antitheses in the

"baningar," that is, the men of Loke-Bicke (Bekki). This appears from

the expression _Bekka veold Baningum_, in Codex Exoniensis. The Banings

are no more than the Maerings, an historical name. The interpretation of

the word is to be sought in the Anglo-Saxon _bana_, the English _bane_.

The Banings means "the destroyers," "the corrupters," a suitable

appellation of those who follow the source of pest, the all-corrupting

Loke. In the German poems, Maeringaburg is changed to Meran, and

Borgar-Berchtung (Hadding's grandfather in the myth) is Duke of Meran.

It is his fathers who have gone to the gods that Hadding finds again

with Odin and Heimdal in the East.

Despite the confusion of the historical Theoderich with the mythic

Hadding-_thjodrekr_, a tradition has been handed down within the German

saga-cycle to the effect that "Dieterich of Bern" belonged to a

genealogy which Christianity had anathematised. Two of the German

Dieterich poems, "Nibelunge Noth" and "Klage," refrain from mentioning

the ancestors of their hero. Wilhelm Grimm suspects that the reason for

this is that the authors of these poems knew something about Dieterich's

descent, which they could not relate without wounding Christian ears;

and he reminds us that, when the Vilkinasaga Thidrek (Dieterich) teases

Hoegne (Hagen) by calling him the son of an elf, Hoegne answers that

Thidrek has a still worse descent, as he is the son of the devil

himself. The matter, which in Grimm's eyes is mystical, is explained by

the fact that Hadding-_thjodrekr's_ father in the myth, Halfdan

Borgarson, was supposed to be descended from Thor, and in his capacity

of a Teutonic patriarch he had received divine worship (see Nos. 23 and

30). _Anhang des Heldenbuchs_ says that Dieterich was the son of a

"boeser geyst."

It has already been stated (No. 38) that Hadding from Odin received a

drink which exercised a wonderful influence upon his physical nature. It

made him _recreatum vegetiori corporis firmitate_, and, thanks to it and

to the incantation sung over him by Odin, he was able to free himself

from the chains afterwards put on him by Loke. It has also been pointed

out that this drink contained something called Leifner's or Leifin's

flames. There is every reason for assuming that these "flames" had the

effect of enabling the person who had partaken of the potion of

Leifner's flames to free himself from his chains with his own breath.

Groa (Groagalder, 10) gives her son Svipdag "Leifner's fires" in order

that if he is chained, his enchanted limbs may be liberated (_ek laet

ther Leifnis elda fyr kvedinn legg_). The record of the giving of this

gift to Hadding meets us in the German saga, in the form that Dieterich

was able with his breath to burn the fetters laid upon him (see

"Laurin"), nay, when he became angry, he could breathe fire and make the

cuirass of his opponent red-hot. The tradition that Hadding by eating,

on the advice of Odin, the heart of a wild beast (Saxo says of a lion)

gained extraordinary strength, is also preserved in the form, that when

Dieterich was in distress, God sent him _eines loewen krafft von

herczenlichen zoren_ ("Ecken Ausfarth").

Saxo relates that Hadding on one occasion was invited to descend into

the lower world and see its strange things (see No. 47). The heathen

lower world, with its fields of bliss and places of torture, became in

the Christian mind synonymous with hell. Hadding's descent to the lower

world, together with the mythic account of his journey through the air

on Odin's horse Sleipner, were remembered in Christian times in the form

that he once on a black diabolical horse rode to hell. This explains the

remarkable _denouement_ of the Dieterich saga; namely, that he, the

magnanimous and celebrated hero, was captured by the devil. Otto of

Friesingen (first half of the twelfth century) states that _Theodoricus

vivus equo sedens ad inferos descendit_. The Kaiser chronicle says that

"many saw that the devils took Dieterich and carried him into the

mountain to Vulcan."

In Saxo we read that Hadding once while bathing had an adventure which

threatened him with the most direful revenge from the gods (see No.

106). Manuscripts of the Vilkinasaga speak of a fateful bath which

Thidrek took, and connects it with his journey to hell. While the hero

was bathing there came a black horse, the largest and stateliest ever

seen. The king wrapped himself in his bath towel and mounted the horse.

He found, too late, that the steed was the devil, and he disappeared for

ever.

[Illustration: ODIN PUNISHES THE MONSTROUS PROGENY OF LOKE.

(_From an etching by Lorenz Froelich Froelloh._)

Loke was at one time the comrade of Odin but by his mismating with a

giantess, Angerboda, he became the father of three monsters, the Fenris

Wolf, the Midgard Serpent and the terrible Hel, at the sight of which

latter living creatures were immediately stricken dead. Odin was so

enraged by these issues of Loke's commerce with a giantess, that he had

the brood brought before him in Asgard, and seizing Hel and the snake in

his powerful arms he flung them far out into space. Hel fell for nine

days until she reached Helheim, far beneath the earth, where she became

ruler over the dead. The snake dropped into the ocean that surrounds

Midgard, where it was to remain growing until its coils should envelop

the earth and in the end should help to bring about the destruction of

the world. The Wolf was borne away by Tyr and placed in chains, but

escaping later at Ragnarok he devoured Odin.]

Saxo tells that Hadding made war on a King Handuanus, who had concealed

his treasures in the bottom of a lake, and who was obliged to ransom his

life with a golden treasure of the same weight as his body (_Hist._. 41,

42, 67). Handuanus is a Latinised form of the dwarf name _Andvanr,

Andvani_. The Sigurd saga has a record of this event, and calls the

dwarf _Andvari_ (Sig. Fafn., ii.). The German saga is also able to

tell of a war which Dieterich waged against a dwarf king. The war has

furnished the materials for the saga of "Laurin." Here, too, the

conquered dwarf-king's life is spared, and Dieterich gets possession of

many of his treasures.

In the German as in the Norse saga, Hadding-_thjodrekr's_ rival to

secure the crown was his brother, supported by _Otacher-Ottar_

(Svipdag). The tradition in regard to this, which agrees with the myth,

was known to the author of _Anhang des Heldenbuchs_. But already in an

early day the brother was changed into uncle on account of the

intermixing of historical reminiscences.

The brother's name in the Norse tradition is _Gudhormr_, in the German

_Ermenrich_ (_Ermanaricus_). _Ermenrich Joermunrekr_ means, like

_thjodrekr_, a ruler over many people, a great king. Jordanes already

has confounded the mythic _Joermunrekr-Gudhormr_ with the historical

Gothic King _Hermanaricus_, whose kingdom was destroyed by the Huns, and

has applied to him the saga of Svanhild and her brothers _Sarus_

(_Soerli_) and _Ammius_ (_Hamdir_), a saga which originally was connected

with that of the mythic _Joermunrek_. The Sigurd epic, which expanded

with plunder from all sources, has added to the confusion by annexing

this saga.

In the Roman authors the form _Herminones_ is found by the side of

_Hermiones_ as the name of one of the three Teutonic tribes which

descended from Mannus. It is possible, as already indicated, that

_-horm_ in _Gudhorm_ is connected with the form _Hermio_, and it is

probable, as already pointed out by several linguists, that the

Teutonic _irmin_ (_joermun_, Goth. _airmana_) is linguistically

connected with the word _Hermino_. In that case, the very names

_Gudhormr_ and _Joermunrekr_ already point as such to the mythic

progenitor of the Hermiones, Herminones, just as Yngve-Svipdag's name

points to the progenitor of the _Ingvaeones_ (Ingaevones), and possibly

also Hadding's to that of the Istaevones (see No. 25). To the name

Hadding corresponds, as already shown, the Anglo-Saxon Hearding, the old

German Hartung. The _Hasdingi_ (_Asdingi_) mentioned by Jordanes were

the chief warriors of the Vandals (_Goth. Orig._, 22), and there may be

a mythic reason for rediscovering this family name among an East

Teutonic tribe (the Vandals), since Hadding, according to the myth, had

his support among the East Teutonic tribes. To the form _Hasdingi_

(Goth. _Hazdiggos_) the words _istaevones_, _istvaeones_, might readily

enough correspond, provided the vowel _i_ in the Latin form can be

harmonised with _a_ in the Teutonic. That the vowel _i_ was an uncertain

element may be seen from the genealogy in Codex La Cava, which calls

Istaevo _Ostius_, _Hostius_.

As to geography, both the Roman and Teutonic records agree that the

northern Teutonic tribes were Ingaevones. In the myths they are

Scandinavians and neighbours to the Ingaevones. In the Beowulf poem the

king of the Danes is called _eodor Inguina_, the protection of the

Ingaevones, and _frea Inguina_, the lord of the Ingaevones. Tacitus says

that they live nearest to the ocean (_Germ._, 2); Pliny says that

Cimbrians, Teutons, and Chaucians were Ingaevones (_Hist. Nat._, iv. 28).

Pomponius Mela says that the land of the Cimbrians and Teutons was

washed by the Codan bay (iii. 3). As to the Hermiones and Istaevones, the

former dwelt along the middle Rhine, and of the latter, who are the East

Teutons of mythology, several tribes had already before the time of

Pliny pressed forward south of the Hermiones to this river.

The German saga-cycle has preserved the tradition that in the first

great battle in which Hadding-_thjodrekr_ measured his strength with the

North and West Teutons he suffered a great defeat. This is openly avowed

in the Dieterich poem "die Klage." Those poems, on the other hand, which

out of sympathy for their hero give him victory in this battle ("the

Raben battle") nevertheless in fact acknowledge that such was not the

case, for they make him return to the East after the battle and remain

there many years, robbed of his crown, before he makes his second and

successful attempt to regain his kingdom. Thus the "Raben battle"

corresponds to the mythic battle in which Hadding is defeated by

Ingaevones and Hermiones. Besides the "Raben battle" has from a Teutonic

standpoint a trait of universality, and the German tradition has upon

the whole faithfully, and in harmony with the myth, grouped the allies

and heroes of the hostile brothers. Dieterich is supported by East

Teutonic warriors, and by non-Teutonic people from the East--from

Poland, Wallachia, Russia, Greece, &c.; Ermenrich, on the other hand, by

chiefs from Thuringia, Swabia, Hessen, Saxony, the Netherlands, England,

and the North, and, above all, by the Burgundians, who in the genealogy

in the St. Gaelen Codex are counted among the Hermiones, and in the

genealogy in the La Cava Codex are counted with the Ingaevones. For the

mythic descent of the Burgundian dynasty from an uncle of Svipdag I

shall present evidence in my chapters on the Ivalde race.

The original identity of Hadding's and Dieterich's sagas, and their

descent from the myth concerning the earliest antiquity and the

patriarchs, I now regard as demonstrated and established. The war

between Hadding-Dieterich and Gudhorm-Ermenrich is identical with the

conflict begun by Yngve-Svipdag between the tribes of the Ingaevones,

Hermiones, and Istaevones. It has also been demonstrated that Halfdan,

Gudhorm's, and Hadding's father, and Yngve-Svipdag's stepfather, is

identical with Mannus. One of the results of this investigation is,

therefore, that _the songs about Mannus and his sons, ancient already in

the days of Tacitus, have, more or less influenced by the centuries,

continued to live far down in the middle ages, and that, not the songs

themselves, but the main features of their contents, have been preserved

to our time_, and should again be incorporated in our mythology together

with the myth in regard to the primeval time, the main outline of which

has been restored, and the final episode of which is the first great war

in the world.

The Norse-Icelandic school, which accepted and developed the learned

hypothesis of the middle age in regard to the immigration of Odin and

his Asiamen, is to blame that the myth, in many respects important, in

regard to the olden time and its events in the world of gods and

men--among Aryan myths one of the most important, either from a

scientific or poetic point of view, that could be handed down to our

time--was thrust aside and forgotten. The learned hypothesis and the

ancient myth could not be harmonised. For that reason the latter had to

yield. Nor was there anything in this myth that particularly appealed to

the Norse national feeling, and so could claim mercy. Norway is not at

all named in it. Scania, Denmark, Svithiod (Sweden), and continental

Teutondom are the scene of the mythic events. Among the many causes

co-operating in Christian times, in giving what is now called "Norse

mythology" its present character, there is not one which has contributed

so much as the rejection of this myth toward giving "Norse mythology"

the stamp which it hitherto has borne of a narrow, illiberal town

mythology, which, built chiefly on the foundation of the Younger Edda,

is, as shall be shown in the present work, in many respects a caricature

of the real Norse, and at the same time in its main outlines Teutonic,

mythology.

In regard to the ancient Aryan elements in the myth here presented, see

Nos. 82 and 111.

[Footnote 31: In nearly all the names of members of this family, Hild-

or -brand, appears as a part of the compound word. All that the names

appear to signify is that their owners belong to the Hilding race.

Examples:--

_Old High German fragment._ Herbrand - Hildebrand - Hadubrand.

_Wolfdieterich_ Berchtung. - Herbrand - Hildebrand.

_Vilkinasaga._ Hildebrand. - Alebrand.

_A popular song about

Hildebrand._ Hildebrand. - The younger Hildebrand.

/ Hildir.

_Fundin Noregur._ Hildir. - Hildebrand.

\ Herbrand.

/ Hildir.

_Flateybook, i. 25,_ Hildir. - Hildebrand. - Vigbrand.

\ Herbrand.

_Asmund Kaempebane's Saga._ Hildebrand. - Helge. - Hildebrand.

]

[Footnote 32: Compare in Asmund Kaempebane's saga the words of the dying

hero:

_thik Drott of bar

af Danmorku

en mik sjalfan

a Svithiodu._

]

[Footnote 33: The texts of Jordanes often omit the aspirate and write

Eruli for Heruli, &c. In regard to the name-form Amal, Closs remarks, in

his edition of 1886: AMAL, _sic, Ambr. cum Epit. et Pall, nisi quod hi

Hamal aspirate_.]

IV.

THE MYTH IN REGARD TO THE

LOWER WORLD.

44.

MIDDLE AGE SAGAS WITH ROOTS IN THE MYTH CONCERNING

THE LOWER WORLD. ERIK VIDFORLE'S SAGA.

Far down in Christian times there prevailed among the Scandinavians the

idea that their heathen ancestors had believed in the existence of a

place of joy, from which sorrow, pain, blemishes, age, sickness, and

death were excluded. This place of joy was called _Odainsakr_,

the-acre-of-the-not-dead, _Joerd lifanda manna_, the earth of living men.

It was situated not in heaven but below, either on the surface of the

earth or in the lower world, but it was separated from the lands

inhabited by men in such a manner that it was not impossible, but

nevertheless exceeding perilous, to get there.

A saga from the fourteenth century incorporated in Flateybook, and with

a few textual modifications in Fornald. Saga, iii., tells the following:

Erik, the son of a petty Norse king, one Christmas Eve, made the vow to

seek out Odainsaker, and the fame of it spread over all Norway. In

company with a Danish prince, who also was named Erik, he betook

himself first to Miklagard (Constantinople), where the king engaged the

young men in his service, and was greatly benefited by their warlike

skill. One day the king talked with the Norwegian Erik about religion,

and the result was that the latter surrendered the faith of his

ancestors and accepted baptism. He told his royal teacher of the vow he

had taken to find Odainsaker,--"_fra honum heyrdi ver sagt a voru

landi_,"--and asked him if he knew where it was situated. The king

believed that Odainsaker was identical with Paradise, and said it lies

in the East beyond the farthest boundaries of India, but that no one was

able to get there because it was enclosed by a fire-wall, which aspires

to heaven itself. Still Erik was bound by his vow, and with his Danish

namesake he set out on his journey, after the king had instructed them

as well as he was able in regard to the way, and had given them a letter

of recommendation to the authorities and princes through whose

territories they had to pass. They travelled through Syria and the

immense and wonderful India, and came to a dark country where the stars

are seen all day long. After having traversed its deep forests, they saw

when it began to grow light a river, over which there was a vaulted

stone bridge. On the other side of the river there was a plain, from

which came sweet fragrance. Erik conjectured that the river was the one

called by the king in Miklagard Pison, and which rises in Paradise. On

the stone bridge lay a dragon with wide open mouth. The Danish prince

advised that they return, for he considered it impossible to conquer the

dragon or to pass it. But the Norwegian Erik seized one of his men by

one hand, and rushed with his sword in the other against the dragon.

They were seen to vanish between the jaws of the monster. With the other

companions the Danish prince then returned by the same route as he had

come, and after many years he got back to his native land.

When Erik and his fellow-countryman had been swallowed by the dragon,

they thought themselves enveloped in smoke; but it was scattered, and

they were unharmed, and saw before them the great plain lit up by the

sun and covered with flowers. There flowed rivers of honey, the air was

still, but just above the ground were felt breezes that conveyed the

fragrance of the flowers. It is never dark in this country, and objects

cast no shadow. Both the adventurers went far into the country in order

to find, if possible, inhabited parts. But the country seemed to be

uninhabited. Still they discovered a tower in the distance. They

continued to travel in that direction, and on coming nearer they found

that the tower was suspended in the air, without foundation or pillars.

A ladder led up to it. Within the tower there was a room, carpeted with

velvet, and there stood a beautiful table with delicious food in silver

dishes, and wine in golden goblets. There were also splendid beds. Both

the men were now convinced that they had come to Odainsaker, and they

thanked God that they had reached their destination. They refreshed

themselves and laid themselves to sleep. While Erik slept there came to

him a beautiful lad, who called him by name, and said he was one of the

angels who guarded the gates of Paradise, and also Erik's guardian

angel, who had been at his side when he vowed to go in search of

Odainsaker. He asked whether Erik wished to remain where he now was or

to return home. Erik wished to return to report what he had seen. The

angel informed him that Odainsaker, or _joerd lifanda manna_, where he

now was, was not the same place as Paradise, for to the latter only

spirits could come, and the land of spirits, Paradise, was so glorious

that, in comparison, Odainsaker seemed like a desert. Still, these two

regions are on each other's borders, and the river which Erik had seen

has its source in Paradise. The angel permitted the two travellers to

remain in Odainsaker for six days to rest themselves. Then they returned

by way of Miklagard to Norway, and there Erik was called _vid-foerli_,

the far-travelled.

In regard to Erik's genealogy, the saga states (Fornald. Saga, iii. 519)

that his father's name was Thrand, that his aunt (mother's sister) was a

certain Svanhvit, and that he belonged to the race of Thjasse's daughter

Skade. Further on in the domain of the real myth, we shall discover an

Erik who belongs to Thjasse's family, and whose mother is a swan-maid

(goddess of growth). This latter Erik also succeeded in seeing

Odainsaker (see Nos. 102, 103).

45.

MIDDLE AGE SAGAS (_continued_). ICELANDIC SOURCES IN

REGARD TO GUDMUND, KING ON THE GLITTERING

PLAINS.

In the saga of Hervor, Odainsaker is mentioned, and there without any

visible addition of Christian elements. Gudmund (_Godmundr_) was the

name of a king in Jotunheim. His home was called _Grund_, but the

district in which it was situated was called the Glittering Plains

(_Glaesisvellir_). He was wise and mighty, and in a heathen sense pious,

and he and his men became so old that they lived many generations.

Therefore, the story continues, the heathens believed that Odainsaker

was situated in his country. "That place (Odainsaker) is for everyone

who comes there so healthy that sickness and age depart, and no one ever

dies there."

According to the saga-author, Jotunheim is situated north from

Halogaland, along the shores of Gandvik. The wise and mighty Gudmund

died after he had lived half a thousand years. After his death the

people worshipped him as a god, and offered sacrifices to him.

The same Gudmund is mentioned in Herrod's and Bose's saga as a ruler of

the Glittering Plains, who was very skilful in the magic arts. The

Glittering Plains are here said to be situated near Bjarmaland, just as

in Thorstein Baearmagn's saga, in which king Gudmund's kingdom,

Glittering Plains, is a country tributary to Jotunheim, whose ruler is

Geirrod.

In the history of Olaf Trygveson, as it is given in Flateybook, the

following episode is incorporated. The Northman Helge Thoreson was sent

on a commercial journey to the far North on the coast of Finmark, but he

got lost in a great forest. There he met twelve red-clad young maidens

on horseback, and the horses' trappings shone like gold. The chief one

of the maidens was Ingeborg, the daughter of Gudmund on the Glittering

Plains. The young maidens raised a splendid tent and set a table with

dishes of silver and gold. Helge was invited to remain, and he stayed

three days with Ingeborg. Then Gudmund's daughters got ready to leave;

but before they parted Helge received from Ingeborg two chests full of

gold and silver. With these he returned to his father, but mentioned to

nobody how he had obtained them. The next Yule night there came a great

storm, during which two men carried Helge away, none knew whither. His

sorrowing father reported this to Olaf Trygveson. The year passed. Then

it happened at Yule that Helge came in to the king in the hall, and with

him two strangers, who handed Olaf two gold-plated horns. They said they

were gifts from Gudmund on the Glittering Plains. Olaf filled the horns

with good drink and handed them to the messengers. Meanwhile he had

commanded the bishop who was present to bless the drink. The result was

that the heathen beings, who were Gudmund's messengers, cast the horns

away, and at the same time there was great noise and confusion in the

hall. The fire was extinguished, and Gudmund's men disappeared with

Helge, after having slain three of King Olaf's men. Another year passed.

Then there came to the king two men, who brought Helge with them, and

disappeared again. Helge was at that time blind. The king asked him many

questions, and Helge explained that he had spent most happy days at

Gudmund's; but King Olaf's prayers had at length made it difficult for

Gudmund and his daughter to retain him, and before his departure

Ingeborg picked his eyes out, in order that Norway's daughters should

not fall in love with them. With his gifts Gudmund had intended to

deceive King Olaf; but upon the whole Helge had nothing but good to

report about this heathen.

46.

MIDDLE AGE SAGAS (_continued_). SAXO CONCERNING

THIS SAME GUDMUND, RULER OF THE LOWER WORLD.

Saxo, the Danish historian, also knows Gudmund. He relates (_Hist.

Dan._, viii.) that King Gorm had resolved to find a mysterious country

in regard to which there were many reports in the North. Incredible

treasures were preserved in that land. A certain Geruthus, known in the

traditions, dwelt there, but the way thither was full of dangers and

well-nigh inaccessible for mortals. They who had any knowledge of the

situation of the land insisted that it was necessary to sail across the

ocean surrounding the earth, leave sun and stars behind, and make a

journey _sub Chao_, before reaching the land which is deprived of the

light of day, and over whose mountains and valleys darkness broods.

First there was a perilous voyage to be made, and then a journey in the

lower world. With the experienced sailor Thorkillus as his guide, King

Gorm left Denmark with three ships and a numerous company, sailed past

Halogaland, and came, after strange adventures on his way, to

Bjarmaland, situated beyond the known land of the same name, and

anchored near its coast. In this _Bjarmia ulterior_ it is always cold;

to its snow-clad fields there comes no summer warmth, through its deep

wild forests flow rapid foaming rivers which well forth from the rocky

recesses, and the woods are full of wild beasts, the like of which are

unknown elsewhere. The inhabitants are monsters with whom it is

dangerous for strangers to enter into conversation, for from

unconsidered words they get power to do harm. Therefore Thorkillus was

to do the talking alone for all his companions. The place for anchoring

he had chosen in such a manner that they thence had the shortest journey

to Geruthus. In the evening twilight the travellers saw a man of unusual

size coming to meet them, and to their joy he greeted them by name.

Thorkillus informed them that they should regard the coming of this man

as a good omen, for he was the brother of Geruthus, Guthmundus, a

friendly person and the most faithful protector in peril. When

Thorkillus had explained the perpetual silence of his companions by

saying that they were too bashful to enter into conversation with one

whose language they did not understand, Guthmundus invited them to be

his guests and led them by paths down along a river. Then they came to a

place where a golden bridge was built across the river. The Danes felt a

desire to cross the bridge and visit the land on the other side, but

Guthmundus warned them that nature with the bed of this stream has drawn

a line between the human and superhuman and mysterious, and that the

ground on the other side was by a sacred order proclaimed unlawful for

the feet of mortals.[34] They therefore continued the march on that

side of the river on which they had hitherto gone, and so came to the

mysterious dwelling of Guthmundus, where a feast was spread before them,

at which twelve of his sons, all of noble appearance, and as many

daughters, most fair of face, waited upon them.

But the feast was a peculiar one. The Danes heeded the advice of

Thorkillus not to come into too close contact with their strange

table-companions or the servants, and instead of tasting the courses

presented of food and drink, they ate and drank of the provisions they

had taken with them from home. This they did because Thorkillus knew

that mortals who accept the courtesies here offered them lose all memory

of the past and remain for ever among "these non-human and dismal

beings." Danger threatened even those who were weak in reference to the

enticing loveliness of the daughters of Guthmundus. He offered King Gorm

a daughter in marriage. Gorm himself was prudent enough to decline the

honour; but four of his men could not resist the temptation, and had to

pay the penalty with the loss of their memory and with enfeebled minds.

One more trial awaited them. Guthmundus mentioned to the king that he

had a villa, and invited Gorm to accompany him thither and taste of the

delicious fruits. Thorkillus, who had a talent for inventing excuses,

now found one for the king's lips. The host, though displeased with the

reserve of the guests, still continued to show them friendliness, and

when they expressed their desire to see the domain of Geruthus, he

accompanied them all to the river, conducted them across it, and

promised to wait there until they returned.

The land which they now entered was the home of terrors. They had not

gone very far before they discovered before them a city, which seemed to

be built of dark mists. Human heads were raised on stakes which

surrounded the bulwarks of the city. Wild dogs, whose rage Thorkillus,

however, knew how to calm, kept watch outside of the gates. The gates

were located high up in the bulwark, and it was necessary to climb up on

ladders in order to get to them. Within the city was a crowd of beings

horrible to look at and to hear, and filth and rottenness and a terrible

stench were everywhere. Further in was a sort of mountain-fastness. When

they had reached its entrance the travellers were overpowered by its

awful aspect, but Thorkillus inspired them with courage. At the same

time he warned them most strictly not to touch any of the treasures that

might entice their eyes. All that sight and soul can conceive as

terrible and loathsome was gathered within this rocky citadel. The

door-frames were covered with the soot of centuries, the walls were

draped with filth, the roofs were composed of sharp stings, the floors

were made of serpents encased in foulness. At the thresholds crowds of

monsters acted as doorkeepers and were very noisy. On iron benches,

surrounded by a hurdle-work of lead, there lay giant monsters which

looked like lifeless images. Higher up in a rocky niche sat the aged

Geruthus, with his body pierced and nailed to the rock, and there lay

also three women with their backs broken. Thorkillus explained that it

was this Geruthus whom the god Thor had pierced with a red-hot iron; the

women had also received their punishment from the same god.

When the travellers left these places of punishment they came to a place

where they saw cisterns of mead (_dolia_) in great numbers. These were

plated with seven sheets of gold, and above them hung objects of silver,

round as to form, from which shot numerous braids down into the

cisterns. Near by was found a gold-plated tooth of some strange animal,

and near it, again, there lay an immense horn decorated with pictures

and flashing with precious stones, and also an arm-ring of great size.

Despite the warnings, three of Gorm's men laid greedy hands on these

works of art. But the greed got its reward. The arm-ring changed into a

venomous serpent; the horn into a dragon, which killed their robbers;

the tooth became a sword, which pierced the heart of him who bore it.

The others who witnessed the fate of their comrades expected that they

too, although innocent, should meet with some misfortune. But their

anxiety seemed unfounded, and when they looked about them again they

found the entrance to another treasury, which contained a wealth of

immense weapons, among which was kept a royal mantle, together with a

splendid head-gear and a belt, the finest work of art. Thorkillus

himself could not govern his greed when he saw these robes. He took hold

of the mantle, and thus gave the signal to the others to plunder. But

then the building shook in its foundations; the voices of shrieking

women were heard, who asked if these robbers were longer to be

tolerated; beings which hitherto had been lying as if half-dead or

lifeless started up and joined other spectres who attacked the Danes.

The latter would all have lost their lives had not their retreat been

covered by two excellent archers whom Gorm had with him. But of the men,

nearly three hundred in number, with whom the king had ventured into

this part of the lower world, there remained only twenty when they

finally reached the river, where Guthmundus, true to his promise, was

waiting for them, and carried them in a boat to his own domain. Here he

proposed to them that they should remain, but as he could not persuade

them, he gave them presents and let them return to their ships in safety

the same way as they had come.

[Footnote 34: Cujus transeundi cupidos revocavit, docens, eo alveo

humana a monstrosis rerum secrevisse naturam, nec mortalibus ultra fas

esse vestigiis.]

47.

MIDDLE AGE SAGAS (_continued_). FJALLERUS AND HADINGUS

(HADDING) IN THE LOWER WORLD.

Two other Danish princes have, according to Saxo, been permitted to see

a subterranean world, or Odainsaker. Saxo calls the one Fjallerus, and

makes him a sub-regent in Scania. The question who this Fjallerus was in

the mythology is discussed in another part of this work (see No. 92).

According to Saxo he was banished from the realm by King Amlethus, the

son of Horvendillus, and so retired to Undensakre (Odainsaker), "a place

which is unknown to our people" (_Hist. Dan._ iv.).

The other of these two is King Hadingus (_Hist. Dan._, i.), the

above-mentioned Hadding, son of Halfdan. One winter's day, while Hadding

sat at the hearth, there rose out of the ground the form of a woman, who

had her lap full of cowbanes, and showed them as if she was about to ask

whether the king would like to see that part of the world where, in the

midst of winter, so fresh flowers could bloom. Hadding desired this.

Then she wrapped him in her mantle and carried him away down into the

lower world. "The gods of the lower world," says Saxo, "must have

determined that he should be transferred living to those places, which

are not to be sought until after death." In the beginning the journey

was through a territory wrapped in darkness, fogs, and mists. Then

Hadding perceived that they proceeded along a path "which is daily trod

by the feet of walkers." The path led to a river, in whose rapids spears

and other weapons were tossed about, and over which there was a bridge.

Before reaching this river Hadding had seen from the path he travelled a

region in which "a few" or "certain" (_quidam_), but very noble beings

(_proceres_) were walking, dressed in beautiful frocks and purple

mantles. Thence the woman brought him to a plain which glittered as in

sunshine (_loca aprica_, translation of "The Glittering Plains"), and

there grew the plants which she had shown him. This was one side of the

river. On the other side there was bustle and activity. There Hadding

saw two armies engaged in battle. They were, his fair guide explained to

him, the souls of warriors who had fallen in battle, and now imitated

the sword-games they had played on earth. Continuing their journey, they

reached a place surrounded by a wall, which was difficult to pass

through or to surmount. Nor did the woman make any effort to enter

there, either alone or with him: "It would not have been possible for

the smallest or thinnest physical being." They therefore returned the

way they had come. But before this, and while they stood near the wall,

the woman demonstrated to Hadding by an experiment that the walled place

had a strange nature. She jerked the head off a chicken which she had

taken with her, and threw it over the wall, but the head came back to

the neck of the chicken, and with a distinct crow it announced "that it

had regained its life and breath."

48.

MIDDLE AGE SAGAS (_continued_). A FRISIAN SAGA IN

ADAM OF BREMEN.

The series of traditions above narrated in regard to Odainsaker, the

Glittering Plains, and their ruler Gudmund, and also in regard to the

neighbouring domains as habitations of the souls of the dead, extends,

so far as the age of their recording in writing is concerned, through a

period of considerable length. The latest cannot be referred to an

earlier date than the fourteenth century; the oldest were put in writing

toward the close of the twelfth. Saxo began working on his history

between the years 1179 and 1186. Thus these literary evidences span

about two centuries, and stop near the threshold of heathendom. The

generation to which Saxo's father belonged witnessed the crusade which

Sigurd the Crusader made in Eastern Smaland, in whose forests the

Asa-doctrine until that time seems to have prevailed, and the Odinic

religion is believed to have flourished in the more remote parts of

Sweden even in Saxo's own time.

We must still add to this series of documents one which is to carry it

back another century, and even more. This document is a saga told by

Adam of Bremen in _De Situ Daniae_. Adam, or, perhaps, before him, his

authority Adalbert (appointed archbishop in the year 1043), has turned

the saga into history, and made it as credible as possible by excluding

all distinctly mythical elements. And as it, doubtless for this reason,

neither mentions a place which can be compared with Odainsaker or with

the Glittering Plains, I have omitted it among the literary evidences

above quoted. Nevertheless, it reminds us in its main features of Saxo's

account of Gorm's journey of discovery, and its relation both to it and

to the still older myth shall be shown later (see No. 94). In the form

in which Adam heard the saga, its point of departure has been located in

Friesland, not in Denmark. Frisian noblemen make a voyage past Norway up

to the farthest limits of the Arctic Ocean, get into a darkness which

the eyes scarcely can penetrate, are exposed to a maelstrom which

threatens to drag them down _ad Chaos_, but finally come quite

unexpectedly out of darkness and cold to an island which, surrounded as

by a wall of high rocks, contains subterranean caverns, wherein giants

lie concealed. At the entrances of the underground dwellings lay a great

number of tubs and vessels of gold and other metals which "to mortals

seem rare and valuable." As much as the adventurers could carry of

these treasures they took with them and hastened to their ships. But the

giants, represented by great dogs, rushed after them. One of the

Frisians was overtaken and torn into pieces before the eyes of the

others. The others succeeded, thanks to our Lord and to Saint Willehad,

in getting safely on board their ships.

49.

ANALYSIS OF THE SAGAS MENTIONED IN NOS. 44-48.

If we consider the position of the authors or recorders of these sagas

in relation to the views they present in regard to Odainsaker and the

Glittering Plains, then we find that they themselves, with or without

reason, believe that these views are from a heathen time and of heathen

origin. The saga of Erik Vidforle states that its hero had in his own

native land, and in his heathen environment, heard reports about

Odainsaker. The Miklagard king who instructs the prince in the doctrines

of Christianity knows, on the other hand, nothing of such a country. He

simply conjectures that the Odainsaker of the heathens must be the same

as the Paradise of the Christians, and the saga later makes this

conjecture turn out to be incorrect.

The author of Hervor's saga mentions Odainsaker as a heathen belief, and

tries to give reasons why it was believed in heathen times that

Odainsaker was situated within the limits of Gudmund's kingdom, the

Glittering Plains. The reason is: "Gudmund and his men became so old

that they lived through several generations (Gudmund lived five hundred

years), and therefore the heathens believed that Odainsaker was situated

in his domain."

The man who compiled the legend about Helge Thoreson connects it with

the history of King Olaf Trygveson, and pits this first king of Norway,

who laboured for the introduction of Christianity, as a representative

of the new and true doctrine against King Gudmund of the Glittering

Plains as the representative of the heathen doctrine. The author would

not have done this if he had not believed that the ruler of the

Glittering Plains had his ancestors in heathendom.

The saga of Thorstein Baearmagn puts Gudmund and the Glittering Plains in

a tributary relation to Jotunheim and to Geirrod, the giant, well known

in the mythology.

Saxo makes Gudmund Geirrod's (Geruthus') brother, and he believes he is

discussing ancient traditions when he relates Gorm's journey of

discovery and Hadding's journey to Jotunheim. Gorm's reign is referred

by Saxo to the period immediately following the reign of the mythical

King Snoe (Snow) and the emigration of the Longobardians. Hadding's

descent to the lower world occurred, according to Saxo, in an antiquity

many centuries before King Snow. Hadding is, in Saxo, one of the first

kings of Denmark, the grandson of Skjold, progenitor of the Skjoldungs.

The saga of Erik Vidforle makes the way to Odainsaker pass through

Syria, India, and an unknown land which wants the light of the sun, and

where the stars are visible all day long. On the other side of

Odainsaker, and bordering on it, lies the land of the happy spirits,

Paradise.

That these last ideas have been influenced by Christianity would seem to

be sufficiently clear. Nor do we find a trace of Syria, India, and

Paradise as soon as we leave this saga and pass to the others, in the

chain of which it forms one of the later links. All the rest agree in

transferring to the uttermost North the land which must be reached

before the journey can be continued to the Glittering Plains and

Odainsaker. Hervor's saga says that the Glittering Plains and Odainsaker

are situated north of Halogaland, in Jotunheim; Herrod's and Bose's saga

states that they are situated in the vicinity of Bjarmaland. The saga of

Thorstein Baearmagn says that they are a kingdom subject to Geirrod in

Jotunheim. Gorm's saga in Saxo says it is necessary to sail past

Halogaland north to a _Bjarmia ulterior_ in order to get to the kingdoms

of Gudmund and Geirrod. The saga of Helge Thoreson makes its hero meet

the daughters of Gudmund, the ruler of the Glittering Plains, after a

voyage to Finmarken. Hadding's saga in Saxo makes the Danish king pay a

visit to the unknown but wintry cold land of the "Nitherians," when he

is invited to make a journey to the lower world. Thus the older and

common view was that he who made the attempt to visit the Glittering

Plains and Odainsaker must first penetrate the regions of the uttermost

North, known only by hearsay.

Those of the sagas which give us more definite local descriptions in

addition to this geographical information all agree that the region

which forms, as it were, a foreground to the Glittering Plains and

Odainsaker is a land over which the darkness of night broods. As just

indicated, Erik Vidforle's saga claims that the stars there are visible

all day long. Gorm's saga in Saxo makes the Danish adventurers leave sun

and stars behind to continue the journey _sub Chao_. Darkness, fogs, and

mists envelop Hadding before he gets sight of the splendidly-clad

_proceres_ who dwell down there, and the shining meadows whose flowers

are never visited by winter. The Frisian saga in Adam of Bremen also

speaks of a gloom which must be penetrated ere one reaches the land

where rich giants dwell in subterranean caverns.

Through this darkness one comes, according to the saga of Erik Vidforle,

to a plain full of flowers, delicious fragrances, rivers of honey (a

Biblical idea, but see Nos. 89, 123), and perpetual light. A river

separates this plain from the land of the spirits.

Through the same darkness, according to Gorm's saga, one comes to

Gudmund's Glittering Plains, where there is a pleasure-farm bearing

delicious fruits, while in that Bjarmaland whence the Glittering Plains

can be reached reign eternal winter and cold. A river separates the

Glittering Plains from two or more other domains, of which at least one

is the home of departed souls. There is a bridge of gold across the

river to another region, "which separates that which is mortal from the

superhuman," and on whose soil a mortal being must not set his foot.

Further on one can pass in a boat across the river to a land which is

the place of punishment for the damned and a resort of ghosts.

Through the same darkness one comes, according to Hadding's saga, to a

subterranean land where flowers grow in spite of the winter which reigns

on the surface of the earth. The land of flowers is separated from the

Elysian fields of those fallen in battle by a river which hurls about in

its eddies spears and other weapons.

These statements from different sources agree with each other in their

main features. They agree that the lower world is divided into two main

parts by a river, and that departed souls are found only on the farther

side of the river.

The other main part on this side the river thus has another purpose than

that of receiving the happy or damned souls of the dead. There dwells,

according to Gorm's saga, the giant Gudmund, with his sons and

daughters. There are also the Glittering Plains, since these, according

to Hervor's, Herrod's, Thorstein Baearmagn's, and Helge Thoreson's sagas,

are ruled by Gudmund.

Some of the accounts cited say that the Glittering Plains are situated

in Jotunheim. This statement does not contradict the fact that they are

situated in the lower world. The myths mention two Jotunheims, and hence

the Eddas employ the plural form, Jotunheimar. One of the Jotunheims is

located on the surface of the earth in the far North and East, separated

from the Midgard inhabited by man by the uttermost sea or the Elivogs

(Gylfaginning, 8). The other Jotunheim is subterranean. According to

Vafthrudnismal (31), one of the roots of the world-tree extends down "to

the frost-giants." Urd and her sisters, who guard one of the fountains

of Ygdrasil's roots, are giantesses. Mimer, who guards another fountain

in the lower world, is called a giant. That part of the world which is

inhabited by the goddesses of fate and by Mimer is thus inhabited by

giants, and is a subterranean Jotunheim. Both these Jotunheims are

connected with each other. From the upper there is a path leading to the

lower. Therefore those traditions recorded in a Christian age, which we

are here discussing, have referred to the Arctic Ocean and the uttermost

North as the route for those who have the desire and courage to visit

the giants of the lower world.

When it is said in Hadding's saga that he on the other side of the

subterranean river saw the shades of heroes fallen by the sword arrayed

in line of battle and contending with each other, then this is no

contradiction of the myth, according to which the heroes chosen on the

battle-field come to Asgard and play their warlike games on the plains

of the world of the gods.

In Voeluspa (str. 24) we read that when the first "folk"-war broke out in

the world, the citadel of Odin and his clan was stormed by the Vans, who

broke through its bulwark and captured Asgard. In harmony with this,

Saxo (_Hist._, i.) relates that at the time when King Hadding reigned

Odin was banished from his power and lived for some time in exile (see

Nos. 36-41).

It is evident that no great battles can have been fought, and that there

could not have been any great number of sword-fallen men, before the

_first_ great "folk" war broke out in the world. Otherwise this war

would not have been the first. Thus Valhal has not before this war had

those hosts of einherjes who later are feasted in Valfather's hall. But

as Odin, after the breaking out of this war, is banished from Valhal and

Asgard, and does not return before peace is made between the Asas and

Vans, then none of the einherjes chosen by him could be received in

Valhal _during_ the war. Hence it follows that the heroes fallen in this

war, though chosen by Odin, must have been referred to some other place

than Asgard (excepting, of course, all those chosen by the Vans, _in

case_ they chose einherjes, which is probable, for the reason that the

Vanadis Freyja gets, after the reconciliation with Odin, the right to

divide with him the choice of the slain). This other place can nowhere

else be so appropriately looked for as in the lower world, which we know

was destined to receive the souls of the dead. And as Hadding, who,

according to Saxo, descended to the lower world, is, according to Saxo,

the same Hadding during whose reign Odin was banished from Asgard, then

it follows that the statement of the saga, making him see in the lower

world those warlike games which else are practised on Asgard's plains,

far from contradicting the myth, on the contrary is a consequence of the

connection of the mythical events.

The river which is mentioned in Erik Vidforle's, Gorm's, and Hadding's

sagas has its prototype in the mythic records. When Hermod on Sleipner

rides to the lower world (Gylfaginning, 10) he first journeys through a

dark country (compare above) and then comes to the river _Gjoell_, over

which there is the golden bridge called the Gjallar bridge. On the other

side of _Gjoell_ is the Helgate, which leads to the realm of the dead. In

Gorm's saga the bridge across the river is also of gold, and it is

forbidden mortals to cross to the other side.

A subterranean river hurling weapons in its eddies is mentioned in

Voeluspa, 33. In Hadding's saga we also read of a weapon-hurling river

which forms the boundary of the Elysium of those slain by the sword.

In Vegtamskvida is mentioned an underground dog, bloody about the

breast, coming from Nifelhel, the proper place of punishment. In Gorm's

saga the bulwark around the city of the damned is guarded by great dogs.

The word "nifel" (_nifl_, the German _Nebel_), which forms one part of

the word Nifelhel, means mist, fog. In Gorm's saga the city in question

is most like a cloud of vapour (_vaporanti maxime nubi simile_).

Saxo's description of that house of torture, which is found within the

city, is not unlike Voeluspa's description of that dwelling of torture

called Nastrand. In Saxo the floor of the house consists of serpents

wattled together, and the roof of sharp stings. In Voeluspa the hall is

made of serpents braided together, whose heads from above spit venom

down on those dwelling there. Saxo speaks of soot a century old on the

door frames; Voeluspa of _ljorar_, air- and smoke-openings in the roof

(see further Nos. 77 and 78).

Saxo himself points out that the Geruthus (_Geirroedr_) mentioned by him,

and his famous daughters, belong to the myth about the Asa-god Thor.

That Geirrod after his death is transferred to the lower world is no

contradiction to the heathen belief, according to which beautiful or

terrible habitations await the dead, not only of men but also of other

beings. Compare Gylfaginning, ch. 46, where Thor with one blow of his

Mjolner sends a giant _nidr undir Niflhel_ (see further, No. 60).

As Mimer's and Urd's fountains are found in the lower world (see Nos.

63, 93), and as Mimer is mentioned as the guardian of Heimdal's horn and

other treasures, it might be expected that these circumstances would not

be forgotten in those stories from Christian times which have been cited

above and found to have roots in the myths.

When in Saxo's saga about Gorm the Danish adventurers had left the

horrible city of fog, they came to another place in the lower world

where the gold-plated mead-cisterns were found. The Latin word used by

Saxo, which I translate with cisterns of mead, is _dolium_. In the

classical Latin this word is used in regard to wine-cisterns of so

immense a size that they were counted among the immovables, and usually

were sunk in the cellar floors. They were so large that a person could

live in such a cistern, and this is also reported as having happened.

That the word _dolium_ still in Saxo's time had a similar meaning

appears from a letter quoted by Du Cange, written by Saxo's younger

contemporary, Bishop Gebhard. The size is therefore no obstacle to

Saxo's using this word for a wine-cistern to mean the mead-wells in the

lower world of Teutonic mythology. The question now is whether he

actually did so, or whether the subterranean _dolia_ in question are

objects in regard to which our earliest mythic records have left us in

ignorance.

In Saxo's time, and earlier, the epithets by which the mead-wells--Urd's

and Mimer's--and their contents are mentioned in mythological songs had

come to be applied also to those mead-buckets which Odin is said to have

emptied in the halls of the giant Fjalar or Suttung. This application

also lay near at hand, since these wells and these vessels contained the

same liquor, and since it originally, as appears from the meaning of the

words, was the liquor, and not the place where the liquor was kept, to

which the epithets _Odraerir_, _Bodn_, and _Son_ applied. In Havamal

(107) Odin expresses his joy that _Odraerir_ has passed out of the

possession of the giant Fjalar and can be of use to the beings of the

upper world. But if we may trust Bragar, (ch. 5), it is the drink and

not the empty vessels that Odin takes with him to Valhal. On this

supposition, it is the drink and not one of the vessels which in Havamal

is called _Odraerir_. In Havamal (140) Odin relates how he, through

self-sacrifice and suffering, succeeded in getting runic songs up from

the deep, and also a drink dipped out of _Odraerir_. He who gives him the

songs and the drink, and accordingly is the ruler of the fountain of the

drink, is a man, "Bolthorn's celebrated son." Here again Odraerer is one

of the subterranean fountains, and no doubt Mimer's, since the one who

pours out the drink is a man. But in Forspjalsljod (2) Urd's fountain is

also called Odraerer (_Odhraerir Urdar_). Paraphrases for the liquor of

poetry, such as "Bodn's growing billow" (Einar Skalaglam) and "Son's

reedgrown grass edge" (Eilif Gudrunson), point to fountains or wells,

not to vessels. Meanwhile a satire was composed before the time of Saxo

and Sturlason about Odin's adventure at Fjalar's, and the author of this

song, the contents of which the Younger Edda has preserved, calls the

vessels which Odin empties at the giant's _Odhraerir_, _Bodn_, and _Son_

(Brogaraedur, 6). Saxo, who reveals a familiarity with the genuine

heathen, or supposed heathen, poems handed down to his time, may thus

have seen the epithets _Odraerir_, _Bodn_, and _Son_ applied both to the

subterranean mead-wells and to a giant's mead-vessels. The greater

reason he would have for selecting the Latin _dolium_ to express an idea

that can be accommodated to both these objects.

Over these mead-reservoirs there hang, according to Saxo's description,

round-shaped objects of silver, which in close braids drop down and are

spread around the seven times gold-plated walls of the mead-cisterns.

[35]

Over Mimer's and Urd's fountains hang the roots of the ash Ygdrasil,

which sends its root-knots and root-threads down into their waters. But

not only the rootlets sunk in the water, but also the roots from which

they are suspended, partake of the waters of the fountains. The norns

take daily from the water and sprinkle the stem of the tree therewith,

"and the water is so holy," says Gylfaginning (16), "that everything

that is put in the well (consequently, also, all that which the norns

daily sprinkle with the water) becomes as white as the membrane between

the egg and the egg-shell." Also the root over Mimer's fountain is

sprinkled with its water (Voelusp., Cod. R., 28), and this water, so far

as its colour is concerned, seems to be of the same kind as that in

Urd's fountain, for the latter is called _hvitr aurr_ (Voelusp., 18) and

the former runs in _aurgum forsi_ upon its root of the world-tree

(Voelusp., 28). The adjective _aurigr_, which describes a quality of the

water in Mimer's fountain, is formed from the noun _aurr_, with which

the liquid is described which waters the root over Urd's fountain.

Ygdrasil's roots, as far up as the liquid of the wells can get to them,

thus have a colour like that of "the membrane between the egg and the

egg-shell," and consequently recall both as to position, form, and

colour the round-shaped objects "of silver" which, according to Saxo,

hang down and are intertwined in the mead-reservoirs of the lower world.

Mimer's fountain contains, as we know, the purest mead--the liquid of

inspiration, of poetry, of wisdom, of understanding.

Near by Ygdrasil, according to Voeluspa (27), Heimdal's horn is

concealed. The seeress in Voeluspa knows that it is hid "beneath the

hedge-o'ershadowing holy tree."

Veit hon Heimdallar

hljod um folgit

undir heidvoenum

helgum badmi.

Near one of the mead-cisterns in the lower world Gorm's men see a horn

ornamented with pictures and flashing with precious stones.

Among the treasures taken care of by Mimer is the world's foremost sword

and a wonderful arm-ring, smithied by the same master as made the sword

(see Nos. 87, 98, 101).

Near the gorgeous horn Gorm's men see a gold-plated tooth of an animal

and an arm-ring. The animal tooth becomes a sword when it is taken into

the hand.[36] Near by is a treasury filled with a large number of

weapons and a royal robe. Mimer is known in mythology as a collector of

treasures. He is therefore called _Hoddmimir_, _Hoddropnir_,

_Baugregin_.

Thus Gorm and his men have on their journeys in the lower world seen not

only Nastrand's place of punishment in Nifelhel, but also the holy land,

where Mimer reigns.

When Gorm and his men desire to cross the golden bridge and see the

wonders to which it leads, Gudmund prohibits it. When they in another

place farther up desire to cross the river to see what there is beyond,

he consents and has them taken over in a boat. He does not deem it

proper to show them the unknown land at the golden bridge, but it is

within the limits of his authority to let them see the places of

punishment and those regions which contain the mead-cisterns and the

treasure chambers. The sagas call him the king on the Glittering Plains,

and as the Glittering Plains are situated in the lower world, he must be

a lower world ruler.

Two of the sagas, Helge Thoreson's and Gorm's, cast a shadow on

Gudmund's character. In the former this shadow does not produce

confusion or contradiction. The saga is a legend which represents

Christianity, with Olaf Trygveson as its apostle, in conflict with

heathenism, represented by Gudmund. It is therefore natural that the

latter cannot be presented in the most favourable light. Olaf destroys

with his prayers the happiness of Gudmund's daughter. He compels her to

abandon her lover, and Gudmund, who is unable to take revenge in any

other manner, tries to do so, as is the case with so many of the

characters in saga and history, by treachery. This is demanded by the

fundamental idea and tendency of the legend. What the author of the

legend has heard about Gudmund's character from older saga-men, or what

he has read in records, he does not, however, conceal with silence, but

admits that Gudmund, aside from his heathen religion and grudge towards

Olaf Trygveson, was a man in whose home one might fare well and be

happy.

Saxo has preserved the shadow, but in his narrative it produces the

greatest contradiction. Gudmund offers fruits, drinks, and embraces in

order to induce his guests to remain with him for ever, and he does it

in a tempting manner and, as it seems, with conscious cunning.

Nevertheless, he shows unlimited patience when the guests insult him by

accepting nothing of what he offers. When he comes down to the

sea-strand, where Gorm's ships are anchored, he is greeted by the leader

of the discoverers with joy, because he is "the most pious being and

man's protector in perils." He conducts them in safety to his castle.

When a handful of them returns after the attempt to plunder the treasury

of the lower world, he considers the crime sufficiently punished by the

loss of life they have suffered, and takes them across the river to his

own safe home; and when they, contrary to his wishes, desire to return

to their native land, he loads them with gifts and sees to it that they

get safely on board their ships. It follows that Saxo's sources have

described Gudmund as a kind and benevolent person. Here, as in the

legend about Helge Thoreson, the shadow has been thrown by younger hands

upon an older background painted in bright colours.

Hervor's saga says that he was wise, mighty, in a heathen sense pious

("a great sacrificer"), and so honoured that sacrifices were offered to

him, and he was worshipped as a god after death. Herrod's saga says that

he was greatly skilled in magic arts, which is another expression for

heathen wisdom, for fimbul-songs, runes, and incantations.

The change for the worse which Gudmund's character seems in part to have

suffered is confirmed by a change connected with, and running parallel

to it, in the conception of the forces in those things which belonged to

the lower world of the Teutonic heathendom and to Gudmund's domain. In

Saxo we find an idea related to the antique Lethe myth, according to

which the liquids and plants which belong to the lower world produce

forgetfulness of the past. Therefore, Thorkil (Thorkillus) warns his

companions not to eat or drink any of that which Gudmund offers them. In

the Gudrun song (ii. 21, 22), and elsewhere, we meet with the same

idea. I shall return to this subject (see No. 50).

[Footnote 35: Inde digressis dolia septem zonis aureis circumligata

panduntur, quibus pensiles ex argento circuli crebros inseruerant

nexus.]

[Footnote 36: The word _biti_= a tooth (cp. bite) becomes in the

composition _leggbiti_, the name of a sword.]

50.

ANALYSIS OF THE SAGAS MENTIONED IN NOS. 44-48. THE

QUESTION IN REGARD TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF

ODAINSAKER.

Is Gudmund an invention of Christian times, although he is placed in an

environment which in general and in detail reflects the heathen

mythology? Or is there to be found in the mythology a person who has

precisely the same environment and is endowed with the same attributes

and qualities?

The latter form an exceedingly strange _ensemble_, and can therefore

easily be recognized. Ruler in the lower world, and at the same time a

giant. Pious and still a giant. King in a domain to which winter cannot

penetrate. Within that domain an enclosed place, whose bulwark neither

sickness, nor age, nor death can surmount. It is left to his power and

pleasure to give admittance to the mysterious meadows, where the

mead-cisterns of the lower world are found, and where the most precious

of all horns, a wonderful sword, and a splendid arm-ring are kept. Old

as the hills, but yet subject to death. Honoured as if he were not a

giant, but a divine being. These are the features which together

characterise Gudmund, and should be found in his mythological prototype,

if there is one. With these peculiar characteristics are united wisdom

and wealth.

The answer to the question whether a mythical original of this picture

is to be discovered will be given below. But before that we must call

attention to some points in the Christian accounts cited in regard to

Odainsaker.

Odainsaker is not made identical with the Glittering Plains, but is a

separate place on them, or at all events within Gudmund's domain. Thus

according to Hervor's saga. The correctness of the statement is

confirmed by comparison with Gorm's and Hadding's sagas. The former

mentions, as will be remembered, a place which Gudmund does not consider

himself authorized to show his guests, although they are permitted to

see other mysterious places in the lower world, even the mead-fountains

and treasure-chambers. To the unknown place, as to Balder's subterranean

dwelling, leads a golden bridge, which doubtless is to indicate the

splendour of the place. The subterranean goddess, who is Hadding's guide

in Hades, shows him both the Glittering Fields (_loca aprica_) and the

plains of the dead heroes, but stops with him near a wall, which is not

opened for them. The domain surrounded by the wall receives nothing

which has suffered death, and its very proximity seems to be enough to

keep death at bay (see No. 47).

All the sagas are silent in regard to who those beings are for whom

this wonderful enclosed place is intended. Its very name,

_Acre-of-the-not-dead_ (_Odainsakr_), and _The field-of-the-living_

(_Joerd lifanda manna_), however, makes it clear that it is not intended

for the souls of the dead. This Erik Vidforle's saga is also able to

state, inasmuch as it makes a definite distinction between _Odainsaker_

and the land of the spirits, between _Odainsaker_ and Paradise. If human

or other beings are found within the bulwark of the place, they must

have come there as living beings in a physical sense; and when once

there, they are protected from perishing, for diseases, age, and death

are excluded.

Erik Vidforle and his companion find on their journey on Odainsaker only

a single dwelling, a splendid one with two beds. Who the couple are who

own this house, and seem to have placed it at the disposal of the

travellers, is not stated. But in the night there came a beautiful lad

to Erik. The author of the saga has made him an angel, who is on duty on

the borders between Odainsaker and Paradise.

The purpose of Odainsaker is not mentioned in Erik Vidforle's saga.

There is no intelligible connection between it and the Christian

environment given to it by the saga. The ecclesiastical belief knows an

earthly Paradise, that which existed in the beginning and was the home

of Adam and Eve, but that it is guarded by the angel with the flaming

sword, or, as Erik's saga expresses it, it is encircled by a wall of

fire. In the lower world the Christian Church knows a Hades and a hell,

but the path to them is through the gates of death; physically living

persons, persons who have not paid tribute to death, are not found

there. In the Christian group of ideas there is no place for Odainsaker.

An underground place for physically living people, who are there no

longer exposed to aging and death, has nothing to do in the economy of

the Church. Was there occasion for it among the ideas of the heathen

eschatology? The above-quoted sagas say nothing about the purposes of

Odainsaker. Here is therefore a question of importance to our subject,

and one that demands an answer.

51.

GUDMUND'S IDENTITY WITH MIMER.

I dare say the most characteristic figure of Teutonic mythology is

Mimer, the lord of the fountain which bears his name. The liquid

contained in the fountain is the object of Odin's deepest desire. He has

neither authority nor power over it. Nor does he or anyone else of the

gods seek to get control of it by force. Instances are mentioned

showing that Odin, to get a drink from it, must subject himself to great

sufferings and sacrifices (Voeluspa, Cod. Reg., 28, 29; Havamal, 138-140;

Gylfag., 15), and it is as a gift or a loan that he afterwards receives

from Mimer the invigorating and soul-inspiring drink (Havamal, 140,

141). Over the fountain and its territory Mimer, of course, exercises

unlimited control, an authority which the gods never appear to have

disputed. He has a sphere of power which the gods recognize as

inviolable. The domain of his rule belongs to the lower world; it is

situated under one of the roots of the world-tree (Voeluspa, 28, 29;

Gylfag., 15), and when Odin, from the world-tree, asks for the precious

mead of the fountain, he peers _downward_ into the deep, and thence

brings up the runes (_nysta ec nithr_, _nam ec up runar_--Havamal,

139). Saxo's account of the adventure of Hotherus (_Hist_., pp. 113-115,

Mueller's ed.) shows that there was thought to be a descent to Mimer's

land in the form of a mountain cave (_specus_), and that this descent

was, like the one to Gudmund's domain, to be found in the uttermost

North, where terrible cold reigns.

Though a giant, Mimer is the friend of the order of the world and of the

gods. He, like Urd, guards the sacred ash, the world-tree (Voeluspa, 28),

which accordingly also bears his name and is called Mimer's tree

(_Mimameidr_--Fjolsvinsm, 20; _meidr Mima_--Fjolsv., 24). The

intercourse between the Asa-father and him has been of such a nature

that the expression "Mimer's friend" (_Mimsvinr_--Sonatorrek, 22;

Younger Edda, i. 238, 250, 602) could be used by the skalds as an

epithet of Odin. Of this friendship Ynglingasaga (ch. 4) has preserved a

record. It makes Mimer lose his life in his activity for the good of the

gods, and makes Odin embalm his head, in order that he may always be

able to get wise counsels from its lips. The song about Sigrdrifa (str.

14) represents Odin as listening to the words of truth which come from

Mimer's head. Voeluspa (str. 45) predicts that Odin, when Ragnarok

approaches, shall converse with Mimer's head; and, according to

Gylfaginning (56), he, immediately before the conflagration of the

world, rides to Mimer's fountain to get advice from the deep thinker for

himself and his friends. The firm friendship between Alfather and this

strange giant of the lower world was formed in time's morning while

Odin was still young and undeveloped (Hav., 141), and continued until

the end of the gods and the world.

Mimer is the collector of treasures. The same treasures as Gorm and his

men found in the land which Gudmund let them visit are, according to

mythology, in the care of Mimer. The wonderful horn (Voeluspa, 28), the

sword of victory, and the ring (Saxo, _Hist._, 113, 114; cp. Nos. 87,

97, 98, 101, 103).

In all these points the Gudmund of the middle-age sagas and Mimer of the

mythology are identical. There still remains an important point. In

Gudmund's domain there is a splendid grove, an enclosed place, from

which weaknesses, age, and death are banished--a Paradise of the

peculiar kind, that it is not intended for the souls of the dead, but

for certain _lifandi menn_, yet inaccessible to people in general. In

the myth concerning Mimer we also find such a grove.

52.

MIMER'S GROVE. LIF AND LEIFTHRASER.

The grove is called after its ruler and guardian, Mimer's or

Treasure-Mimer's grove (_Mimis holt_--Younger Edda, Upsala Codex;

Gylfag., 58; _Hoddmimis holt_--Vafthrudnism, 45; Gylfag., 58).

Gylfaginning describes the destruction of the world and its

regeneration, and then relates how the earth, rising out of the sea, is

furnished with human inhabitants. "During the conflagration (_i

Surtarloga_) two persons are concealed in Treasure-Mimer's grove. Their

names are Lif (_Lif_) and Leifthraser (_Leifthrasir_), and they feed on

the morning dews. From them come so great an offspring that all the

world is peopled."

In support of its statement Gylfaginning quotes Vafthrudnersmal. This

poem makes Odin and the giant Vafthrudner (_Vafthrudnir_) put questions

to each other, and among others Odin asks this question:

Fiolth ec for,

fiolth ec freistathac,

fiolth ec um reynda regin:

hvat lifir manna,

tha er inn maera lithr

fimbulvetr meth firom?

"Much I have travelled, much I have tried, much I have tested the

powers. What human persons shall still live when the famous

fimbul-winter has been in the world?"

Vafthrudner answers:

Lif oc Leifthrasir,

enn thau leynaz muno

i holti Hoddmimis;

morgindauggvar

thau ser at mat hafa

enn thadan af aldir alaz.

"Lif and Leifthraser (are still living); they are concealed in

Hodd-Mimer's grove. They have morning dews for nourishment. Thence (from

Hodd-Mimer's grove and this human pair) are born (new) races."

Gylfaginning says that the two human beings, Lif and Leifthraser, who

become the progenitors of the races that are to people the earth after

Ragnarok, are concealed _during the conflagration of the world_ in

Hodd-Mimer's grove. This is, beyond doubt, in accordance with mythic

views. But mythologists, who have not paid sufficient attention to what

Gylfaginning's source (Vafthrudnersmal) has to say on the subject, have

from the above expression drawn a conclusion which implies a complete

misunderstanding of the traditions in regard to Hodd-Mimer's grove and

the human pair therein concealed. They have assumed that Lif and

Leifthraser are, like all other people living at that time, inhabitants

of the surface of the earth at the time when the conflagration of the

world begins. They have explained Mimer's grove to mean the world-tree,

and argued that when Surt's flames destroy all other mortals this one

human pair have succeeded in climbing upon some particular branch of the

world-tree, where they were protected from the destructive element.

There they were supposed to live on morning dews until the end of

Ragnarok, and until they could come down from their hiding-place in

Ygdrasil upon the earth which has risen from the sea, and there become

the progenitors of a more happy human race.

According to this interpretation, Ygdrasil was a tree whose trunk and

branches could be grasped by human hands, and one or more mornings, with

attendant morning dews, are assumed to have come and gone, while fire

and flames enveloped all creation, and after the sun had been swallowed

by the wolf and the stars had fallen from the heavens (Gylfag., 55;

Voelusp., 54)! And with this terrible catastrophe before their eyes, Lif

and Leifthraser are supposed to sit in perfect unconcern, eating the

morning dews!

For the scientific reputation of mythical inquiry it were well if that

sort of investigations were avoided when they are not made necessary by

the sources themselves.

If sufficient attention had been paid to the above-cited evidence

furnished by Vafthrudnersmal in this question, the misunderstanding

might have been avoided, and the statement of Gylfaginning would not

have been interpreted to mean that Lif and Leifthraser inhabited Mimer's

grove _only_ during Ragnarok. For Vafthrudnersmal plainly states that

this human pair are in perfect security in Mimer's grove, _while a long

and terrible winter, a fimbul-winter, visits the earth and destroys its

inhabitants_. Not until after the end of this winter do giants and gods

collect their forces for a decisive conflict on Vigrid's plains; and

when this conflict is ended, then comes the conflagration of the world,

and after it the regeneration. Anent the length of the fimbul-winter,

Gylfaginning (ch. 55) claims that it continued for three years "without

any intervening summer."

Consequently Lif and Leifthraser must have had their secure place of

refuge in Mimer's grove during the fimbul-winter, which precedes

Ragnarok. And, accordingly, the idea that they were there only during

Ragnarok, and all the strange conjectures based thereon, are unfounded.

They continue to remain there while the winter rages, and during all the

episodes which characterise the progress of the world towards ruin, and,

finally, also, as Gylfaginning reports, during the conflagration and

regeneration of the world.

Thus it is explained why the myth finds it of importance to inform us

how Lif and Leifthraser support themselves during their stay in Mimer's

grove. It would not have occurred to the myth to present and answer this

question had not the sojourn of the human pair in the grove continued

for some length of time. Their food is the morning dew. The morning dew

from Ygdrasil was, according to the mythology, a sweet and wonderful

nourishment, and in the popular traditions of the Teutonic middle age

the dew of the morning retained its reputation for having strange,

nourishing qualities. According to the myth, it evaporates from the

world-tree, which stands, ever green and blooming, over Urd's and

Mimer's sacred fountains, and drops thence "in dales" (Voeluspa, 18, 28;

Gylfag., 16). And as the world-tree is sprinkled and gets its

life-giving sap from these fountains, then it follows that the liquid of

its morning dew is substantially the same as that of the subterranean

fountains, which contain the elixir of life, wisdom, and poesy (cp. Nos.

72, 82, and elsewhere).

_At what time_ Mimer's grove was opened as an asylum for Lif and

Leifthraser, whether this happened during or shortly before the

fimbul-winter, or perchance long before it, on this point there is not a

word in the passages quoted from Vafthrudnersmal. But by the following

investigation the problem shall be solved.

The Teutonic mythology has not looked upon the regeneration of the world

as a new creation. The life which in time's morning developed out of

chaos is not destroyed by Surt's flames, but rescues itself, purified,

for the coming age of the world. The world-tree survives the

conflagration, for it defies both edge and fire (Fjolsvinnsm, 20, 21).

The Ida-plains are not annihilated. After Ragnarok, as in the beginning

of time, they are the scene of the assemblings of the gods (Voeluspa, 57;

cp. 7). Vanaheim is not affected by the destruction, for Njord shall in

_aldar rauc_ (Vafthrudnersmal, 39) return thither "to wise Vans." Odin's

dwellings of victory remain, and are inhabited after regeneration by

Balder and _Hoedr_ (Voeluspa, 59). The new sun is the daughter of the old

one, and was born before Ragnarok (Vafthr., 47), which she passes

through unscathed. The ocean does not disappear in Ragnarok, for the

present earth sinks beneath its surface (Voeluspa, 54), and the new earth

after regeneration rises from its deep (Voeluspa, 55). Gods survive

(Voeluspa, 53, 56; Vafthr. 51; Gylfag., 58). Human beings survive, for

Lif and Leifthraser are destined to become the connecting link between

the present human race and the better race which is to spring therefrom.

Animals and plants survive--though the animals and plants on the surface

of the earth perish; but the earth risen from the sea was decorated with

green, and there is not the slightest reference to a new act of creation

to produce the green vegetation. Its cascades contain living beings, and

over them flies the eagle in search of his prey (Voeluspa, 56; see

further, No. 55). A work of art from antiquity is also preserved in the

new world. The game of dice, with which the gods played in their youth

while they were yet free from care, is found again among the flowers on

the new earth (Voeluspa, 8, 58; see further, No. 55).

If the regeneration had been conceived as a new creation, a wholly new

beginning of life, then the human race of the new era would also have

started from a new creation of a human pair. The myth about Lif and

Leifthraser would then have been unnecessary and superfluous. But the

fundamental idea is that the life of the new era is to be a continuation

of the present life purified and developed to perfection, and from the

standpoint of this fundamental idea Lif and Leifthraser are necessary.

The idea of improvement and perfection are most clearly held forth in

regard to both the physical and spiritual condition of the future world.

All that is weak and evil shall be redeemed (_bauls mun allz

batna_--Voeluspa, 59). In that perfection of nature the fields unsown by

men shall yield their harvests. To secure the restored world against

relapse into the faults of the former, the myth applies radical

measures--so radical, that the Asa majesty himself, Valfather, must

retire from the scene, in order that his son, the perfectly blameless

Balder, may be the centre in the assembly of the chosen gods. But the

mythology would fail in its purpose if it did not apply equally radical

measures in the choice and care of the human beings who are to

perpetuate our race after Ragnarok; for if the progenitors have within

them the seed of corruption, it will be developed in their descendants.

Has the mythology forgotten to meet this logical claim? The demand is no

greater than that which is made in reference to every product of the

fancy of whatever age. I do not mean to say that a logical claim made

on the mythology, or that a conclusion which may logically be drawn from

the premises of the mythology, is to be considered as evidence that the

claim has actually been met by the mythology, and that the mythology

itself has been developed into its logical conclusion. I simply want to

point out what the claim is, and in the next place I desire to

investigate whether there is evidence that the claim has been honoured.

From the standpoint that there must be a logical harmony in the

mythological system, it is necessary:

1. That Lif and Leifthraser when they enter their asylum, Mimer's grove,

are physically and spiritually uncorrupted persons.

2. That during their stay in Mimer's grove they are protected against:

(_a_) Spiritual degradation.

(_b_) Physical degradation.

(_c_) Against everything threatening their very existence.

So far as the last point (2_c_) is concerned, we know already from

Vafthrudnersmal that the place of refuge they received in the vicinity

of those fountains, which, with never-failing veins, nourish the life of

the world-tree, is approached neither by the frost of the fimbul-winter

nor by the flames of Ragnarok. This claim is, therefore, met completely.

In regard to the second point (2_b_), the above-cited mythic traditions

have preserved from the days of heathendom the memory of a grove in the

subterranean domain of Gudmund-Mimer, set aside for living men, not for

the dead, and protected against sickness, aging, and death. Thus this

claim is met also.

As to the third point (2_a_), all we know at present is that there, in

the lower world, is found an enclosed place, the very one which death

cannot enter, and from which even _those_ mortals are banished by divine

command who are admitted to the holy fountains and treasure chambers of

the lower world, and who have been permitted to see the regions of bliss

and places of punishment there. It would therefore appear that all

contact between those who dwell there and those who take part in the

events of our world is cut off. The realms of Mimer and the lower world

have, according to the sagas--and, as we shall see later, according to

the myths themselves--now and then been opened to bold adventurers, who

have seen their wonders, looked at their remarkable fountains, their

plains for the amusement of the shades of heroes, and their places of

punishment of the wicked. But there is one place which has been

inaccessible to them, a field proclaimed inviolable by divine command

(Gorm's saga), a place surrounded by a wall, which can be entered only

by such beings as can pass through the smallest crevices (Hadding's

saga).[37] But that this difficulty of entrance also was meant to

exclude the moral evil, by which the mankind of our age is stained, is

not expressly stated.

Thus we have yet to look and see whether the original documents from the

heathen times contain any statements which can shed light on this

subject. In regard to the point (1), the question it contains as to

whether the mythology conceived Lif and Leifthraser as physically and

morally undefiled at the time when they entered Mimer's grove, can only

be solved if we, in the old records, can find evidence that a wise,

foreseeing power opened Mimer's grove as asylum for them, at a time when

mankind as a whole had not yet become the prey of physical and moral

misery. But in that very primeval age in which the most of the events of

mythology are supposed to have happened, creation had already become the

victim of corruption. There was a time when the life of the gods was

happiness and the joy of youthful activity; the condition of the world

did not cause them anxiety, and, free from care, they amused themselves

with the wonderful dice (Voeluspa, 7, 8). But the golden age ended in

physical and moral catastrophies. The air was mixed with treacherous

evil; Freyja, the goddess of fertility and modesty, was treacherously

delivered into the hands of the frost giants; on the earth the sorceress

Heid (_Heid_) strutted about teaching the secrets of black magic, which

was hostile to the gods and hurtful to man. The first great war broke

out in the world (Voeluspa, 21, 22, 26). The effects of this are felt

down through the historical ages even to Ragnarok. The corruption of

nature culminates in the fimbul-winter of the last days; the corruption

of mankind has its climax in "the axe- and knife-ages." The separation

of Lif and Leifthraser from their race and confinement in Mimer's grove

must have occurred before the above catastrophies in time's beginning,

if there is to be a guarantee that the human race of the new world is

not to inherit and develop the defects and weaknesses of the present

historical generations.

[Footnote 37: _Prodcuntibus murus aditu transcensuque difficilis

obsistebat, quem femina_ (the subterranean goddess who is Hadding's

guide) _nequicquam transilire conata cum ne corrugati quidem exilitate

proficeret_ (Saxo, _Hist. Dan._, i. 51).]

(_Continuation of Part IV in Volume II._)