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diff --git a/13007-0.txt b/13007-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..847edc9 --- /dev/null +++ b/13007-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1356 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13007 *** + +Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folklore, No. 12 + + + +The Edda + +I + +The Divine Mythology of the North + + +By + +Winifred Faraday, M.A. + + + +Published by David Nutt, at the Sign of the Phoenix, Long Acre, London +1902 + + + + +Author's Note + +Some explanation is needed of the form of spelling I have adopted +in transcribing Norse proper names. The spirants thorn and eth +are represented by _th_ and _d_, as being more familiar to readers +unacquainted with the original. Marks of vowel-length are in all cases +omitted. The inflexional _-r_ of the nominative singular masculine +is also omitted, whether it appears as _-r_ or is assimilated to a +preceding consonant (as in Odinn, Eysteinn, Heindall, Egill) in the +Norse form, with the single exception of the name Tyr, where I use +the form which has become conventional in English. + +Manchester, +December 1901. + + + + +The Edda: I. The Divine Mythology of the North + + +The Icelandic Eddas are the only vernacular record of Germanic +heathendom as it developed during the four centuries which in England +saw the destruction of nearly all traces of the heathen system. The +so-called Elder Edda is a collection of some thirty poems, mythic and +heroic in substance, interspersed with short pieces of prose, which +survives in a thirteenth-century MS., known as the Codex Regius, +discovered in Iceland in 1642; to these are added other poems of +similar character from other sources. The Younger Edda is a prose +paraphrase of, and commentary on, these poems and others which are +lost, together with a treatise on metre, written by the historian +Snorri Sturluson about 1220. + +This use of the word Edda is incorrect and unhistorical, though +convenient and sanctioned by the use of several centuries. It was early +used as a general term for the rules and materials for versemaking, +and applied in this sense to Snorri's work. When the poems on which +his paraphrase is founded were discovered, Icelandic scholars by a +misunderstanding applied the name to them also; and as they attributed +the collection quite arbitrarily to the historian Saemund (1056-1133), +it was long known as Saemundar Edda, a name now generally discarded in +favour of the less misleading titles of Elder or Poetic Edda. From its +application to this collection, the word derives a more extended use, +(1) as a general term for Norse mythology; (2) as a convenient name +to distinguish the simpler style of these anonymous narrative poems +from the elaborate formality of the Skalds. + +The poems of the Edda are certainly older than the MS., although +the old opinion as to their high antiquity is untenable. The majority +probably date from the tenth century in their present form; this dating +does not necessitate the ascription of the shape in which the legends +are presented, still less of their substance, to that period. With +regard to the place of their composition opinions vary widely, +Norway, the British Isles and Greenland having all found champions; +but the evidence is rather questionable, and I incline to leave +them to the country which has preserved them. They are possibly of +popular origin; this, together with their epic or narrative character, +would account for the striking absence from them of some of the chief +characteristics of Skaldic poetry: the obscuring of the sense by the +elaborate interlacing of sentences and the extensive use of kennings +or mythological synonyms, and the complication of the metre by such +expedients as the conjunction of end-rhyme with alliteration. Eddie +verse is governed solely by the latter, and the strophic arrangement +is simple, only two forms occurring: (1) couplets of alliterative +short lines; (2) six-line strophes, consisting of a couplet followed +by a single short line, the whole repeated. + +Roughly speaking, the first two-fifths of the MS. is mythological, +the rest heroic. I propose to observe this distinction, and to +deal in this study with the stories of the Gods. In this connexion, +Snorri's Edda and the mythical Ynglinga Saga may also be considered, +but as both were compiled a couple of centuries or more after the +introduction of Christianity into Iceland, it is uncertain how much in +them is literary explanation of tradition whose meaning was forgotten; +some also, especially in Snorri, is probably pure invention, fairy +tale rather than myth. + +Many attempts have been made to prove that the material of the Edda +is largely borrowed. The strength and distinction of Icelandic poetry +rest rather on the fact that it is original and national and, like +that of Greece, owes little to foreign sources; and that it began in +the heathen age, before Christian or Romantic influences had touched +Iceland. Valuable as the early Christian poetry of England is, we look +in vain there for the humour, the large-minded simplicity of motive, +the suggestive character-drawing, the swift dramatic action, which +are as conspicuous in many poems in the Edda as in many of the Sagas. + +Omitting the heroic poems, there are in Codex Regius the following: (1) +Of a more or less comprehensive character, _Völuspa, Vafthrudnismal, +Grimnismal, Lokasenna, Harbardsljod_; (2) dealing with episodes, +_Hymiskvida, Thrymskvida, Skirnisför. Havamal_ is a collection +of proverbs, but contains two interpolations from mythical +poems; _Alvissmal_, which, in the form of a dialogue between +Thor and a dwarf Alviss, gives a list of synonyms, is a kind of +mythologico-poetical glossary. Several of these poems are found +in another thirteenth-century vellum fragment, with an additional +one, variously styled _Vegtamskvida_ or _Baldr's Dreams_; the great +fourteenth-century codex Flateybook contains _Hyndluljod_, partly +genealogical, partly an imitation of _Völuspa_; and one of the MSS. of +Snorri's Edda gives us _Rigsthula_. + +_Völuspa_, though not one of the earliest poems, forms an appropriate +opening. Metrical considerations forbid an earlier date than the +first quarter of the eleventh century, and the last few lines are +still later. The material is, however, older: the poem is an outline, +in allusions often obscure to us, of traditions and beliefs familiar to +its first hearers. The very bareness of the outline is sufficient proof +that the material is not new. The framework is apparently imitated from +that of the poem known as _Baldr's Dreams_, some lines from which are +inserted in _Völuspa_. This older poem describes Odin's visit to the +Sibyl in hell-gates to inquire into the future. He rides down to her +tomb at the eastern door of Nifl-hell and chants spells, until she +awakes and asks: "What man unknown to me is that, who has troubled me +with this weary journey? Snow has snowed on me, rain has beaten me, +dew has drenched me, I have long been dead." He gives the name Wegtam, +or Way-wise, and then follow question and answer until she discovers +his identity and will say no more. In _Völuspa_ there is no descriptive +introduction, and no dialogue; the whole is spoken by the Sibyl, +who plunges at once into her story, with only the explanatory words: +"Thou, Valfather, wouldst have me tell the ancient histories of men as +far as I remember." She describes the creation of the world and sky +by Bor's sons; the building by the Gods of a citadel in Ida-plain, +and their age of innocence till three giant-maids brought greed of +gold; the creation of the dwarfs; the creation of the first man and +woman out of two trees by Odin, Hoeni and Lodur; the world-ash and +the spring beside it where dwell the three Norns who order the fates +of men. Then follows an allusion to the war between the Aesir and the +Vanir, the battle with the giants who had got possession of the goddess +Freyja, and the breaking of bargains; an obscure reference to Mimi's +spring where Odin left his eye as a pledge; and an enumeration of his +war-maids or Valkyries. Turning to the future, the Sibyl prophesies +the death of Baldr, the vengeance on his slayer, and the chaining of +Loki, the doom of the Gods and the destruction of the world at the +coming of the fire-giants and the release of Loki's children from +captivity. The rest of the poem seems to be later; it tells how the +earth shall rise again from the deep, and the Aesir dwell once more +in Odin's halls, and there is a suggestion of Christian influence in +it which is absent from the earlier part. + +Of the other general poems, the next four were probably composed before +950; in each the setting is different. _Vafthrudnismal_, a riddle-poem, +shows Odin in a favourite position, seeking in disguise for knowledge +of the future. Under the name of Gangrad (Wanderer), he visits the +wise giant Vafthrudni, and the two agree to test their wisdom: the one +who fails to answer a question is to forfeit his head. In each case +the questions deal first with the past. Vafthrudni asks about Day and +Night, and the river which divides the Giants from the Gods, matters of +common knowledge; and then puts a question as to the future: "What is +the plain where Surt and the blessed Gods shall meet in battle?" Odin +replies, and proceeds to question in his turn; first about the creation +of Earth and Sky, the origin of Sun and Moon, Winter and Summer, the +Giants and the Winds; the coming of Njörd the Wane to the Aesir as +a hostage; the Einherjar, or chosen warriors of Valhalla. Then come +prophetic questions on the destruction of the Sun by the wolf Fenri, +the Gods who shall rule in the new world after Ragnarök, the end of +Odin. The poem is brought to a close by Odin's putting the question +which only himself can answer: "What did Odin say in his son's ear +before he mounted the pyre?" and the giant's head is forfeit. + +In the third poem of this class, _Grimnismal_, a prose introduction +relates that Odin and Frigg quarrelled over the merits of their +respective foster-children. To settle the question, Odin goes +disguised as Grimni, "the Hooded One," to visit his foster-son Geirröd; +but Frigg, to justify her charge of inhospitality against Geirröd, +sends her maiden Fulla to warn him against the coming stranger. Odin +therefore meets with a harsh reception, and is bound between two fires +in the hall. Geirröd's young son, Agnar, protests against this rude +treatment, and gives wine to the guest, who then begins to instruct +him in matters concerning the Gods. He names the halls of the Aesir, +describes Valhalla and the ash Yggdrasil, the Valkyries, the creation +of the world (two stanzas in common with _Vafthrudnismal_), and +enumerates his own names. The poem ends with impressive abruptness +by his turning to Geirröd: + +"Thou art drunk, Geirröd, thou hast drunk too deep; thou art bereft +of much since thou hast lost my favour, the favour of Odin and all +the Einherjar. I have told thee much, but thou hast minded little. Thy +friends betray thee: I see my friend's sword lie drenched in blood. Now +shall Odin have the sword-weary slain; I know thy life is ended, +the Fates are ungracious. Now thou canst see Odin: come near me, +if thou canst." + +[Prose.] "King Geirröd sat with his sword on his knee, half drawn. When +he heard that Odin was there, he stood up and would have led Odin +from the fires. The sword slipt from his hand; the hilt turned +downwards. The king caught his foot and fell forwards, the sword +standing towards him, and so he met his death. Then Odin went away, +and Agnar was king there long afterwards." + +_Harbardsljod_ is a dialogue, and humorous. Thor on his return from +the east comes to a channel, at the farther side of which stands Odin, +disguised as a ferryman, Greybeard. He refuses to ferry Thor across, +and they question each other as to their past feats, with occasional +threats from Thor and taunts from Odin, until the former goes off +vowing vengeance on the ferryman: + +_Thor_. "Thy skill in words would serve thee ill if I waded across +the water; I think thou wouldst cry louder than the wolf, if thou +shouldst get a blow from the hammer." + +_Odin_. "Sif has a lover at home, thou shouldst seek him. That is a +task for thee to try, it is more proper for thee." + +_Thor_. "Thou speakest what thou knowest most displeasing to me; +thou cowardly fellow, I think that thou liest." + +_Odin_. "I think I speak true; thou art slow on the road. Thou wouldst +have got far, if thou hadst started at dawn." + +_Thor_. "Harbard, scoundrel, it is rather thou who hast delayed me." + +_Odin_. "I never thought a shepherd could so delay Asa-Thor's journey." + +_Thor_. "I will counsel thee: row thy boat hither. Let us cease +quarrelling; come and meet Magni's father." + +_Odin_. "Leave thou the river; crossing shall be refused thee." + +_Thor_. "Show me the way, since thou wilt not ferry me." + +_Odin_. "That is a small thing to refuse. It is a long way to go: a +while to the stock, and another to the stone, then keep to the left +hand till thou reach Verland. There will Fjörgyn meet her son Thor, +and she will tell him the highway to Odin's land." + +_Thor_. "Shall I get there to-day?" + +_Odin_. "With toil and trouble thou wilt get there about sunrise, +as I think." + +_Thor_. "Our talk shall be short, since thou answerest with mockery. I +will reward thee for refusing passage, if we two meet again." + +_Odin_. "Go thy way, where all the fiends may take thee." + +_Lokasenna_ also is in dialogue form. A prose introduction tells +how the giant Oegi, or Gymi, gave a feast to the Aesir. Loki was +turned out for killing a servant, but presently returned and began to +revile the Gods and Goddesses, each one in turn trying to interfere, +only to provoke a taunt from Loki. At last Thor, who had been absent +on a journey, came in and threatened the slanderer with his hammer, +whereupon Loki said, "I spoke to the Aesir and the sons of the Aesir +what my mind told me; but for thee alone I will go away, for I know +thou wilt strike." Some of the poem is rather pointless abuse, but +much touches points already suggested in the other poems. + +_Hyndluljod_ is much later than the others, probably not before +1200. The style is late, and the form imitated from _Völuspa_. It +describes a visit paid by Freyja to the Sibyl to learn the genealogy of +her favourite Ottar. The larger part deals with heroic genealogies, but +there are scanty allusions to Baldr, Frey, Heimdal, Loki's children, +and Thor, and a Christian reference to a God who shall come after +Ragnarök "when Odin shall meet the wolf." It tells nothing new. + +We have here then, omitting _Hyndluljod_, five poems (four of them +belonging to the first half of the tenth century) which suggest a +general outline of Norse mythology: there is a hierarchy of Gods, the +Aesir, who live together in a citadel, Odin being the chief. Among +them are several who are not Aesir by origin: Njörd and his son and +daughter, Frey and Freyja, are Vanir; Loki is really an enemy and +an agent in their fall; and there are one or two Goddesses of giant +race. The giants are rivals and enemies to the Gods; the dwarfs are +also antagonistic, but in bondage. The meeting-place of the Gods is +by the World-Ash, Yggdrasil, on whose well-being the fate of Gods +and men depends; at its root lies the World-Snake. The Gods have +foreknowledge of their own doom, Ragnarök, the great fight when they +shall meet Loki's children, the Wolf and the Snake; both sides will +fall and the world be destroyed. An episode in the story is the death +of Baldr. This we may assume to be the religion of the Viking age +(800-1000 A.D.), a compound of the beliefs of various ages and tribes. + +_The Aesir._--The number of the Aesir is not fixed. _Hyndluljod_ +says there were twelve ("there were eleven Aesir when Baldr went +down into the howe"). Snorri gives a list of fourteen Aesir or Gods +(Odin, Thor, Baldr, Njörd, Frey, Tyr, Bragi, Heimdal, Höd, Vidar, Vali, +Ullr, Forseti, Loki), and adds Hoeni in another list, all the fifteen +occurring in the poems; and sixteen Goddesses (Asynjor), the majority +of whom are merely personified epithets, occurring nowhere else. Of +the sixteen, Frigg, Gefion, Freyja and Saga (really an epithet only) +are Goddesses in the poems, and Fulla is Frigg's handmaid. In another +chapter, Snorri adds Idunn, Gerd, Sigyn and Nanna, of whom the latter +does not appear in the Elder Edda, where Idunn, Gerd (a giantess) +and Sigyn are the wives of Bragi, Frey and Loki; and two others, +the giantess Skadi and Sif, are the wives of Njörd and Thor. + +A striking difference from classical mythology is that neither Tyr +(who should etymologically be the Sky-god), nor Thor (the Thunder-god), +takes the highest place. Tyr is the hero of one important episode, +the chaining of the Wolf, through which he loses his right hand. This +is told in full by Snorri and alluded to in _Lokasenna_, both in the +prose preface ("Tyr also was there, with only one hand; the Fenris-wolf +had bitten off the other, when he was bound") and in the poem itself: + +_Loki_. "I must remember that right hand which Fenri bit off thee." + +_Tyr_. "I am short of a hand, but thou of the famous wolf; to each +the loss is ill-luck. Nor is the wolf in better plight, for he must +wait in bonds till Ragnarök." + +Otherwise, he only appears in connexion with two more popular Gods: +he speaks in Frey's defence in _Lokasenna_, and in _Hymiskvida_ he +is Thor's companion in the search for a cauldron; the latter poem +represents him as a giant's son. + +Thor, on the other hand, is second only to his father Odin; he is +the strongest of the Gods and their champion against the giants, +and his antagonist at Ragnarök is to be the World-Snake. Like Odin, +he travels much, but while the chief God generally goes craftily and +in disguise, to gain knowledge or test his wisdom, Thor's errands are +warlike; in _Lokasenna_ he is absent on a journey, in _Harbardsljod_ +and _Alvissmal_ he is returning from one. His journeys are always +to the east; so in _Harbardsljod_: "I was in the east, fighting +the malevolent giant-brides.... I was in the east and guarding the +river, when Svarang's sons attacked me." The Giants live in the +east (_Hymiskvida_ 5); Thor threatened Loki: "I will fling thee up +into the east, and no one shall see thee more" (_Lokasenna_ 59); +the fire-giants at Ragnarök are to come from the east: "Hrym comes +driving from the east, he lifts his shield before him.... A ship +comes from the east, Muspell's sons will come sailing over the +sea, and Loki steers" (_Völuspa_ 50, 51). It would not, perhaps, +be overstraining the point to suggest that this is a reminiscence of +early warfare between the Scandinavians and eastern nations, either +Lapps and Finns or Slavonic tribes. + +Thor is the God of natural force, the son of Earth. Two of the +episodical poems deal with his contests with the giants. _Thrymskvida_, +the story of how Thor won back his hammer, Mjöllni, from the giant +Thrym, is the finest and one of the oldest of the mythological poems; +a translation is given in the appendix, as an example of Eddic poetry +at its best. Loki appears as the willing helper of the Gods, and Thor's +companion. The Thunderer's journey with Tyr in quest of a cauldron +is related with much humour in _Hymiskvida_: Hymi's beautiful wife, +who helps her guests to outwit her husband, is a figure familiar in +fairy-tales as the Ogre's wife. + +The chief God of the Scandinavians is, it must be confessed, an +unsympathetic character. He is the head of the Valhalla system; +he is Val-father (Father of the Slain), and the Valkyries are his +"Wishmaidens," as the Einherjar are his "Wishsons." He naturally takes +a special interest in mortal heroes, from whom come the chosen hosts +of Valhalla. But, in spite of the splendour of his surroundings, he +is wanting in dignity. The chief of the Gods has neither the might and +unthinking valour of Thor, nor the self-sacrificing courage of Tyr. He +is a God who practises magic, and it is as Father of Spells that he is +powerful. He is the wisest of the Gods in the sense that he remembers +most about the past and foresees most about the future; yet he is +powerless in difficulty without the craft of Loki and the hammer of +Thor. He always wanders in disguise, and the stories told of him are +chiefly love-adventures; this is true of all the deeds he mentions +in _Harbardsljod_, and also of the two interpolations in _Havamal_, +though one of the two had an object, the stealing of the mead of +inspiration from the giant Suptung, whose daughter Gunnlöd guarded it. + +_Völuspa_ makes him one of three creative deities, the other two being +Lodur (probably Loki) and Hoeni, of whom nothing else is known except +the story that he was given as hostage to the Vanir in exchange for +Njörd. The same three Gods (Odin, Loki and Hoeni) are connected with +the legend of the Nibelung treasure; and it was another adventure of +theirs, according to Snorri, which led to the loss of Idunn. + +Of the other Gods, Bragi is a later development; his name means +simply king or chief, and his attributes, as God of eloquence and +poetry, are apparently borrowed from Odin. Heimdal, the watchman and +"far-seeing like the Vanir," who keeps guard on the rainbow bridge +Bifröst, is represented in the curious poem _Rigsthula_ as founder of +the different social orders. He wandered over the world under the name +of Rig, and from his first journey sprang the race of thralls, swarthy, +crooked and broad-backed, who busied themselves with fencing land and +tending goats and swine; from his second, the churls, fine and ruddy, +who broke oxen, built houses and ploughed the land; from his third, +the earls, yellow-haired, rosy, and keen-eyed, who broke horses and +strung bows, rode, swam, and hurled spears; and the youngest of the +earls' race was Konung the king, who knew all mysteries, understood +the speech of birds, could quench fire and heal wounds. Heimdal is +said to be the son of nine mothers, and to have fought with Loki for +Freyja's Brising-necklace. His horn is hidden under Yggdrasil, to be +brought out at Ragnarök, when he will blow a warning blast. His origin +is obscure. Still less is known of Vidar and Vali, two sons of Odin, +one of whom is to avenge Baldr's death, the other to slay the wolf +after it has swallowed up the chief God at Ragnarök. Thor's stepson +Ullr (Glory) is probably, like his sons Modi and Magni (Wrath and +Strength), a mere epithet. + +Frigg, Odin's wife and the chief Goddess, daughter of Earth, +is not very distinctly characterised, and is often confused with +Freyja. Gefion should be the sea-goddess, since that seems to be +the meaning of her name, but her functions are apparently usurped by +the Wane Njörd; according to Snorri, she is the patron of those who +die unwedded. + +_Baldr_.--The story of Baldr is the most debated point in the Edda. The +chief theories advanced are: (1) That it is the oldest part of Norse +mythology, and of ritual origin; (2) that Baldr is really a hero +transformed into a God; (3) that the legend is a solar myth with +or without Christian colouring; (4) that it is entirely borrowed +from Mediæval Greek and Christian sources. This last theory is too +ingenious to be credible; and with regard to the third, there is +nothing essentially Christian in the chief features of the legend, +while the solar idea leaves too much unexplained. The references to +the myth in the Elder Edda are: + +(1) _Vegtamskvida_ (about 900 A.D.). Odin questions the Sibyl as to +the meaning of Baldr's dreams: + +_Odin_. "For whom are the benches (in hell) strewn with rings, the +halls fairly adorned with gold?" + +_Sibyl_. "Here the mead, clear drink, stands brewed for Baldr; the +shields are spread. The sons of the Aesir are too merry." + +_Odin_. "Who will be Baldr's slayer and rob Odin's son of life?" + +_Sibyl_. "Höd bears thither the high branch of fame: he will be +Baldr's slayer and rob Odin's son of life." + +_Odin_. "Who will avenge the deed on Höd and bring Baldr's slayer to +the funeral pyre?" + +_Sibyl_. "Rind bears a son, Vali, in the halls of the west. He shall +not wash his hands nor comb his hair till he bears Baldr's foe to +the pyre." + +(2) In _Lokasenna_ Frigg says: "If I had a son like Baldr here in +Oegi's halls, thou shouldst not pass out from the sons of the Aesir, +but be slain here in thy anger"; to which Loki replies, "Wilt thou +that I speak more ill words, Frigg? I am the cause that thou wilt +never more see Baldr ride into the hall." + +(3) In _Vafthrudnismal_ the only reference is Odin's question, +"What said Odin in his son's ear when he mounted the pyre?" + +(4) In _Völuspa_ the Sibyl prophesies, "I saw doom threatening Baldr, +the bleeding victim, the son of Odin. Grown high above the meadows +stood the mistletoe, slender and fair. From this stem, which looked +so slender, grew a fatal and dangerous shaft. Höd shot it, and Frigg +wept in Fenhall over Valhall's woe." The following lines, on the +chaining of Loki, suggest his complicity. + +(5) _Hyndluljod_ has one reference: "There were eleven Aesir by +number when Baldr went down into the howe. Vali was his avenger and +slew his brother's slayer." + +Besides these there is a fragment quoted by Snorri: "Thökk will weep +dry tears at Baldr's funeral pyre. I had no good of the old man's +son alive or dead; let Hel keep what she has." _Grimnismal_ assigns +a hall to Baldr among the Gods. + +There are, in addition, two prose versions of the story by later +writers: the Icelandic version of Snorri (1178-1241) with all the +details familiar to every one; and the Latin one of the Dane Saxo +Grammaticus (about thirty years earlier), which makes Baldr and Höd +heroes instead of Gods, and completely alters the character of the +legend by making a rivalry for Nanna's favour the centre of the plot +and cause of the catastrophe. On the Eddic version and on Saxo's +depend the theories of Golther, Detter, Niedner and other German +scholars on the one hand, and Dr. Frazer on the other. + +It has often been pointed out that there is no trace of Baldr-worship +in other Germanic nations, nor in any of the Icelandic sagas except +the late Frithjofssaga. This, however, is true of other Gods, notably +of Tyr, who is without question one of the oldest. The only deities +named with any suggestion of sacrifice or worship in the Icelandic +sagas proper are Odin, Thor, Frey, Njörd, Frigg and Freyja. The process +of choice is as arbitrary in mythology as in other sciences. Again, +it is more likely that the original version of the legend should have +survived in Iceland than in Denmark, which, being on the mainland, +was earlier subject to Christian and Romantic influences; and +that a heathen God should, in the two or three centuries following +the establishment of Christianity in the North, be turned into a +mortal hero, than that the reverse process should have acted at a +sufficiently late date to permit of both versions existing side by +side in the thirteenth century. A similar gradual elimination of the +supernatural may be found in the history of the Volsung myth. Snorri's +version is merely an amplification of that in the Elder Edda, which, +scanty as its account of Baldr is, leaves no doubt as to his divinity. + +The outline gathered from the poems is as follows: Baldr, Odin's son, +is killed by his brother Höd through a mistletoe spray; Loki is in some +way concerned in his death, which is an overwhelming misfortune to the +Gods; but it is on Höd that his death is avenged. He is burnt on a pyre +(Snorri says on his ship, a feature which must come from the Viking +age; _Hyndluljod_ substitutes howe-burial). He will be absent from +the great fight at Ragnarök, but _Völuspa_ adds that he will return +afterwards. Nanna has nothing to do with the story. The connexion with +the hierarchy of the Aesir seems external only, since Baldr has no +apparent relation to the great catastrophe as have Odin, Thor, Frej, +Tyr and Loki; this, then, would point to the independence of his myth. + +The genuineness of the myth seems to depend on whether the mistletoe +is an original feature of it or not, and on this point there can +be little real doubt. The German theory that Baldr could only be +killed by his own sword, which was therefore disguised by enchantment +and used against him, and that the Icelandic writers misunderstood +this to mean a mistletoe sprig, is far-fetched and romantic, and +crumbles at a touch. For if, as it is claimed, the Icelanders had no +mistletoe, why should they introduce it into a story to which it did +not belong? They might preserve it by tradition, but they would hardly +invent it. Granting this, the mistletoe becomes the central point of +the legend. The older mythologists, who only saw in it a sun-myth, +overlooked the fact that since any weapon would have done to kill +the God with, the mistletoe must have some special significance; and +if it is a genuine part of the story, as we have no reason to doubt, +it will be hard to overturn Dr. Frazer's theory that the Baldr-myth +is a relic of tree-worship and the ritual sacrifice of the God, +Baldr being a tree-spirit whose soul is contained in the mistletoe. + +The contradictions in the story, especially as told by Snorri +(such as the confusion between the parts played by Höd and Loki, +and the unsuspicious attitude of the Gods as Loki directs Höd's aim) +are sometimes urged against its genuineness. They are rather proofs +of antiquity. Apparent contradictions whose explanation is forgotten +often survive in tradition; the inventor of a new story takes care to +make it consistent. It is probable, however, that there were originally +only two actors in the episode, the victim and the slayer, and that +Loki's part is later than Höd's, for he really belongs to the Valhall +and Ragnarök myth, and was only introduced here as a link. The incident +of the oath extracted from everything on earth to protect Baldr, which +occurs in Snorri and in a paper MS. of _Baldr's Dreams_, was probably +invented to explain the choice of weapon, which would certainly need +explanation to an Icelandic audience. If Dr. Frazer's theory be right, +Vali, who slew the slayer, must also have been an original figure in +the legend. His antiquity is supported by the fact that he plays the +part of avenger in the poems; while in Snorri, where he is mentioned +as a God, his absence from the account of Baldr's death is only a +part of that literary development by which real responsibility for +the murder was transferred from Höd to Loki. + +Snorri gives Baldr a son, Forseti (Judge), who is also named as a +God in _Grimnismal_. He must have grown out of an epithet of Baldr's, +of whom Snorri says that "no one can resist his sentence"; the sacred +tree would naturally be the seat of judgment. + + * * * * * + +_The Wanes._--Three of the Norse divinities, Njörd and his son and +daughter, are not Aesir by descent. The following account is given +of their presence in Asgard: + +(1) In _Vafthrudnismal_, Odin asks: + +"Whence came Njörd among the sons of the Aesir? for he was not born +of the Aesir." + +_Vafthrudni_. "In Vanaheim wise powers ordained and gave him for a +hostage to the Gods; at the doom of the world he shall come back, +home to the wise Wanes." + +(2) There is an allusion in _Völuspa_ to the war which caused the +giving of hostages: + +"Odin shot into the host: this was the first war in the world. Broken +was the wall of the citadel of the Aesir, so that the Wanes could +tread the fields of war." + +(3) Loki taunts Njörd with his position, in _Lokasenna_: + +"Thou wast sent from the east as a hostage to the Gods...." + +_Njörd_. "This is my comfort, though I was sent from far as a hostage +to the Gods, yet I have a son whom no one hates, and he is thought +the best of the Aesir." + +_Loki_. "Stay, Njörd, restrain thy pride; I will hide it no longer: +thy son is thine own sister's son, and that is no worse than one +would expect." + +_Tyr_. "Frey is the best of all the bold riders of Asgard." + +There is little doubt that Njörd was once a God of higher importance +than he is in the Edda, where he is overshadowed by his son. Grimm's +suggestion that he and the goddess Nerthus, mentioned by Tacitus, +were brother and sister, is supported by the line in _Lokasenna_; it +is an isolated reference, and the Goddess has left no other traces in +Scandinavian mythology. They were the deities, probably agricultural, +of an earlier age, whose adoption by the later Northmen was explained +by the story of the compact between Aesir and Vanir. Then their places +were usurped by Frey and Freyja, who were possibly created out of +epithets originally applied to the older pair; Njörd was retained +with lessened importance, Nerthus passed out altogether. The Edda +gives Njörd a giant-bride, Skadi, who was admitted among the Gods in +atonement for the slaying of her father Thiazi; she is little more +than a name. Frey and Freyja have other marks of agricultural deities, +besides their relationship. Nothing is said about Frey's changing +shape, but Freyja possesses a hawk-dress which Loki borrows when +he wishes to change his form; and, according to Snorri, Frey was +sacrificed to for the crops. Njörd has an epithet, "the wealthy," +which may have survived from his earlier connexion with the soil. In +that case, it would explain why, in Snorri and elsewhere, he is God of +the sea and ships, once the province of the ocean-goddess Gefion; the +transference is a natural one to an age whose wealth came from the sea. + +In spite of their origin, Frey and Freyja become to all intents +and purposes Aesir. Frey is to be one of the chief combatants at +Ragnarök, with the fire-giant Surt for his antagonist, and a story is +told to explain his defeat: he fell in love with Gerd, a giant-maid, +and sacrificed his sword to get her; hence he is weaponless at the +last fight. Loki alludes to this episode in _Lokasenna_: "With gold +didst thou buy Gymi's daughter, and gavest thy sword for her; but when +Muspell's sons ride over Myrkwood, thou shalt not know with what to +fight, unhappy one." The story is told in full in _Skirnisför_. + +Freyja is called by Snorri "the chief Goddess after Frigg," and the +two are sometimes confused. Like her father and brother, she comes into +connexion with the giants; she is the beautiful Goddess, and coveted by +them. _Völuspa_ says that the Gods went into consultation to discuss +"who had given the bride of Od (_i.e._, Freyja) to the giant race"; +_Thrymskvida_ relates how the giant Thrym bargained for Freyja as +the ransom for Thor's hammer, which he had hidden, and how Loki and +Thor outwitted him; and Snorri says the giants bargained for her as +the price for building Valhalla, but were outwitted. Sir G.W. Dasent +notices in the folk-tales the eagerness of trolls and giants to learn +the details of the agricultural processes, and this is probably the +clue to the desire of the Frost-Giants in the Edda for the possession +of Freyja. Idunn, the wife of Bragi, and a purely Norse creation, seems +to be a double of Freyja; she, too, according to Snorri, is carried +away by the giants and rescued by Loki. The golden apples which she +is to keep till Ragnarök remind us of those which Frey offered to +Gerd; and the gift of eternal youth, of which they are the symbols, +would be appropriate enough to Freyja as an agricultural deity. + +The great necklace Brising, stolen by Loki and won back in fight +by Heimdal (according to the tenth-century Skalds Thjodulf and Ulf +Uggason), is Freyja's property. On this ground, she has been identified +with the heroine of _Svipdag and Menglad_, a poem undoubtedly old, +though it has only come down in paper MSS. It is in two parts, the +first telling how Svipdag aroused the Sibyl Groa, his mother, to +give him spells to guard him on his journey; the second describing +his crossing the wall of fire which surrounded his fated bride +Menglad. If Menglad is really Freyja, the "Necklace-glad," it is a +curious coincidence that one poem connects the waverlowe, or ring of +fire, with Frey also; for his bride Gerd is protected in the same way, +though his servant Skirni goes through it in his place: + +_Skirni_. "Give me the horse that will bear me through the dark magic +waverlowe, and the sword that fights of itself against the giant-race." + +_Frey_. "I give thee the horse that will bear thee through the dark +magic waverlowe, and the sword that will fight of itself if he is +bold who bears it." (_Skirnisför_.) + +The connexion of both with the Midsummer fires, originally part of +an agricultural ritual, can hardly be doubted. + + * * * * * + +_Loki_, or Lopt, is a strange figure. He is admitted among the Aesir, +though not one of them by birth, and his whole relation to them +points to his being an older elemental God. He is in alliance with +them against the giants; he and Odin have sworn blood-brothership, +according to _Lokasenna_, and he helps Thor to recover his hammer +that Asgard may be defended against the giants. On the other hand, +while in present alliance with the Gods, he is chief agent in their +future destruction, and this they know. In Snorri, he is a mischievous +spirit of the fairy-tale kind, exercising his ingenuity alternately in +getting the Gods into difficulties, and in getting them out again. So +he betrays Idunn to the giants, and delivers her; he makes the bargain +by which Freyja is promised to the giant-builders of Valhalla, +and invents the trick by which they are cheated of their prize; +by killing the otter he endangers his own head, Odin's and Hoeni's, +and he obtains the gold which buys their atonement. Hence, in the +systematising of the Viking religion, the responsibility for Baldr's +death also was transferred to him. At the coming of the fire-giants +at Ragnarök, he is to steer the ship in which Muspell's sons sail +(_Völuspa_), further evidence of his identity as a fire-spirit. Like +his son the Wolf, he is chained by the Gods; the episode is related +in a prose-piece affixed to _Lokasenna_: + +"After that Loki hid himself in Franangr's Foss in the form of +a salmon. There the Aesir caught him. He was bound with the guts +of his son Nari, but his son Narfi was changed into a wolf. Skadi +took a poisonous snake and fastened it up over Loki's face, and the +poison dropped down. Sigyn, Loki's wife, sat there and held a cup +under the poison. But when it was full she poured the poison away, +and meanwhile poison dropped on Loki, and he struggled so hard that +all the earth shook; those are called earthquakes now." + +_Völuspa_ inserts lines corresponding to this passage after the +Baldr episode, and Snorri makes it a consequence of Loki's share in +that event. + +He is more especially agent of the doom through his children: +at Ragnarök, Fenri the Wolf, bound long before by Tyr's help, +will be freed, and swallow the sun (_Vafthrudnismal_) and Odin +(_Vafthrudnismal_ and _Völuspa_); and Jörmungandr, the Giant-Snake, +will rise from the sea where he lies curled round the world, to slay +and be slain by Thor. The dragon's writhing in the waves is one +of the tokens to herald Ragnarök, and his battle with Thor is the +fiercest combat of that day. Only _Völuspa_ of our poems gives any +account of it: "Then comes the glorious son of Hlodyn, Odin's son +goes to meet the serpent; Midgard's guardian slays him in his rage, +but scarcely can Earth's son reel back nine feet from the dragon." + +When Thor goes fishing with the giant Hymi, he terrifies his companion +by dragging the snake's head out of the sea, but he does not slay it; +it must wait there till Ragnarök: + +"The protector of men, the only slayer of the Serpent, baited his hook +with the ox's head. The God-hated one who girds all lands from below +swallowed the bait. Doughtily pulled mighty Thor the poison-streaked +serpent up to the side; he struck down with his hammer the hideous +head of the wolf's companion. The monster roared, the wilderness +resounded, the old earth shuddered all through. The fish sank back +into the sea. Gloomy was the giant when they rowed back, so that he +spoke not a word." + +There is nothing to suggest that Jörmungandr, to whom the word +World-Snake (Midgardsorm) always refers in the Edda, is the same as +Nidhögg, the serpent that gnaws at Yggdrasil's roots; but both are +relics of Snake-worship. + + * * * * * + +_The World-Ash_, generally called Yggdrasil's Ash, is one of the most +interesting survivals of tree-worship. It is described by the Sibyl +in _Völuspa_: "I know an ash called Yggdrasil, a high tree sprinkled +with white moisture (thence come the dews that fall in the dales): +it stands ever-green by Urd's spring. Thence come three maids, +all-knowing, from the hall that stands under the tree"; and as a +sign of the approaching doom she says: "Yggdrasil's ash trembles as +it stands; the old tree groans." _Grimnismal_ says that the Gods go +every day to hold judgment by the ash, and describes it further: + +"Three roots lie three ways under Yggdrasil's ash: Hel dwells under +one, the frost-giants under the second, mortal men under the third. The +squirrel is called Ratatosk who shall run over Yggdrasil's ash; +he shall carry down the eagle's words, and tell them to Nidhögg +below. There are four harts, with necks thrown back, who gnaw +off the shoots.... More serpents lie under Yggdrasil's ash than +any one knows. Ofni and Svafni I know will ever gnaw at the tree's +twigs. Yggdrasil's ash suffers more hardships than men know: the hart +bites above, the side decays, and Nidhögg gnaws below.... Yggdrasil's +ash is the best of trees." + +The snake and the tree are familiar in other mythologies, though in +most other cases the snake is the protector, while here he is the +destroyer. Both Nidhögg and Jörmungandr are examples of the destroying +dragon rather than the treasure-guardian. The Ash is the oracle: the +judgment-place of the Gods, the dwelling of the Fates, the source of +the spring of knowledge. + + * * * * * + +_Ragnarök_.--The Twilight of the Gods (or Doom of the Gods) is the +central point of the Viking religion. The Regin (of which _Ragna_ +is genitive plural) are the ruling powers, often called Ginnregin +(the great Gods), Uppregin (the high Gods), Thrymregin (the warrior +Gods). The word is commonly used of the Aesir in _Völuspa_; in +_Alvissmal_ the Regin seem to be distinguished from both Aesir and +Vanir. The whole story of the Aesir is overshadowed by knowledge of +this coming doom, the time when they shall meet foes more terrible +than the giants, and fall before them; their constant effort is to +learn what will happen then, and to gather their forces together +to meet it. The coming Ragnarök is the reason for the existence of +Valhalla with its hosts of slain warriors; and of all the Gods, Odin, +Thor, Tyr and Loki are most closely connected with it. Two poems of +the verse Edda describe it: + +(1) _Vafthrudnismal_: + +V. "What is the plain called where Surt and the blessed Gods shall +meet in battle?" + +O. "Vigrid is the name of the place where Surt and the blessed Gods +shall meet in battle. It is a hundred miles every way; it is their +destined battle-field." + + * * * * * + +O. "Whence shall the sun come on the smooth heaven when Fenri has +destroyed this one?" + +V. "Before Fenri destroy her, the elf-beam shall bear a daughter: +that maid shall ride along her mother's paths, when the Gods perish." + +O. "Which of the Aesir shall rule over the realms of the Gods, when +Surt's fire is quenched?" + +V. "Vidar and Vali shall dwell in the sanctuary of the Gods when +Surt's fire is quenched. Modi and Magni shall have Mjöllni at the +end of Vingni's (_i.e._, Thor's) combat." + +O. "What shall be Odin's end, when the Gods perish?" + +V. "The Wolf will swallow the father of men; Vidar will avenge it. He +will cleave the Wolf's cold jaws in the battle." + +(2) _Völuspa_: + +"A hag sits eastward in Ironwood and rears Fenri's children; one of +them all, in troll's shape, shall be the sun's destroyer. He shall +feed on the lives of death-doomed men; with red blood he shall redden +the seat of the Gods. The sunshine shall grow black, all winds will +be unfriendly in the after-summers.... I see further in the future +the great Ragnarök of the Gods of Victory.... Heimdal blows loudly, +the horn is on high; Yggdrasil's ash trembles as it stands, the old +tree groans." + +The following lines tell of the fire-giants and the various combats, +and the last section of the poem deals with a new world when Baldr, +Höd and Hoeni are to come back to the dwelling-place of the Gods. + +The whole points to a belief in the early destruction of the world +and the passing away of the old order of things. Whether the new +world which _Vafthrudnismal_ and _Völuspa_ both prophesy belongs to +the original idea or not is a disputed point. Probably it does not; +at all events, none of the old Aesir, according to the poems, are +to survive, for Modi and Magni are not really Gods at all, Baldr, +Höd and Vali belong to another myth, Hoeni had passed out of the +hierarchy by his exchange with Njörd, and Vidar's origin is obscure. + + * * * * * + +_The Einherjar_, the great champions or chosen warriors, are intimately +connected with Ragnarök. All warriors who fall in battle are taken +to Odin's hall of the slain, Valhalla. According to _Grimnismal_, +he "chooses every day men dead by the sword"; his Valkyries ride +to battle to give the victory and bring in the fallen. Hence Odin +is the giver of victory. Loki in _Lokasenna_ taunts him with giving +victory to the wrong side: "Thou hast never known how to decide the +battle among men. Thou hast often given victory to those to whom thou +shouldst not give it, to the more cowardly"; this, no doubt, was in +order to secure the best fighters for Valhalla. That the defeated +side sometimes consoled themselves with this explanation of a notable +warrior's fall is proved by the tenth-century dirge on Eirik Bloodaxe, +where Sigmund the Volsung asks in Valhalla: "Why didst thou take the +victory from him, if thou thoughtest him brave?" and Odin replies: +"Because it is uncertain when the grey Wolf will come to the seat +of the Gods." There are similar lines in Eyvind's dirge on Hakon +the Good. In this way a host was collected ready for Ragnarök: +for _Grimnismal_ says: "There are five hundred doors and eighty +in Valhalla; eight hundred Einherjar will go out from each door, +when they go to fight the wolf." Meanwhile they fight and feast: +"All the Einherjar in Odin's courts fight every day: they choose +the slain and ride from the battle, and sit then in peace together" +(_Vafthrudnismal_,) and the Valkyries bear ale to them _(Grimnismal_). + +It is often too hastily assumed that the Norse Ragnarök with +the dependant Valhalla system are in great part the outcome of +Christian influence: of an imitation of the Christian Judgment Day +and the Christian heaven respectively. Owing to the lateness of our +material, it is, of course, impossible to decide how old the beliefs +may be, but it is likely that the Valhalla idea only took form at +the systematising of the mythology in the Viking age. The belief +in another world for the dead is, however, by no means exclusively +Christian, and a reference in _Grimnismal_ suggests the older system +out of which, under the influence of the Ragnarök idea, Valhalla was +developed. The lines, "The ninth hall is Folkvang, where Freyja rules +the ordering of seats in the hall; half the slain she chooses every +day, Odin has the other half," are an evident survival of a belief +that all the dead went to live with the Gods, Odin having the men, +and Freyja (or more probably Frigg) the women; the idea being here +confused with the later system, under which only those who fell in +battle were chosen by the Gods. Christian colouring appears in the +last lines of _Völuspa_ and in Snorri, where men are divided into the +"good and moral," who go after death to a hall of red gold, and the +"perjurers and murderers," who are sent to a hall of snakes. + +For Ragnarök also a heathen origin is at least as probable as a +Christian one. I would suggest as a possibility that the expectation of +the Twilight of the Gods may have grown out of some ritual connected +with the eclipse, such as is frequent among heathen races. Such +ceremonies are a tacit acknowledgment of a doubt, and if they ever +existed among the Scandinavians, the possibility, ever present to +the savage mind, of a time when his efforts to help the light might +be fruitless, and the darkness prove the stronger, would be the germ +of his more civilised descendant's belief in Ragnarök. + +By turning to the surviving poems of the Skalds, whose dates can be +approximately reckoned from the sagas, we can fix an inferior limit +for certain of the legends given above, placing them definitely in the +heathen time. Reference has already been made to the corroboration +of the Valhalla belief supplied by the elegies on Eirik Bloodaxe +and Hakon the Good. In the former (which is anonymous, but must have +been written soon after 950, since it was composed, on Eirik's death, +by his wife's orders), Odin commands the Einherjar and Valkyries to +prepare for the reception of the slain Eirik and his host, since no +one knows how soon the Gods will need to gather their forces together +for the great contest. Eyvind's dirge on Hakon (who fell in 970) is an +imitation of this: Odin sends two Valkyries to choose a king to enter +his service in Valhalla; they find Hakon on the battle-field, and +he is slain with many of his followers. Great preparation is made in +Valhalla for his reception, and the poet ends by congratulating Hakon +(who, though a Christian, having been educated in England, had not +interfered with the heathen altars and sacrifices) on the toleration +which has secured him such a welcome. A still earlier poet, Hornklofi, +writing during the reign of Harald Fairhair (who died in 933), alludes +to the slain as the property of "the one-eyed husband of Frigg." + +Several Skalds mention legends of Thor: his fishing for the World-Snake +is told by Bragi (who from his place in genealogies must have written +before 900), and by Ulf Uggason and Eystein Valdason, both in the +second half of the tenth century; and Thjodulf and Eilif (the former +about 960, the latter a little later) tell tales of his fights with +the giants. Turning to the other Gods, Egil Skallagrimsson (about 970) +names Frey and Njörd as the givers of wealth; Bragi tells the story +of Gefion's dragging the island of Zealand out of Lake Wener into +the sea; and Ulf Uggason speaks of Heimdal's wrestling with Loki. + +The legend of Idunn is told by Thjodulf much as Snorri tells it: +Odin, Hoeni and Loki, while on a journey, kill and roast an ox. The +giant Thiazi swoops down in eagle's shape and demands a share; Loki +strikes the eagle, who flies off with him, releasing him only on +condition that he will betray to the giants Idunn, "the care-healing +maid who understands the renewal of youth." He does so, and the Gods, +who grow old and withered for want of her apples, force him to go +and bring her back to Asgard. + +The poet of _Eiriksmal_, quoted above, alludes to the Baldr myth: +Bragi, hearing the approach of Eirik and his host, asks "What is +that thundering and tramping, as if Baldr were coming back to Odin's +hall?" The funeral pyre of Baldr is described by Ulf Uggason: he is +burnt on his ship, which is launched by a giantess, in the presence +of Frey, Heimdal, Odin and the Valkyries. + +Though heathen writers outside of Scandinavia are lacking, references +to Germanic heathendom fortunately survive in several Continental +Christian historians of earlier date than any of our Scandinavian +sources. The evidence of these, though scanty, is corroborative, +and the allusions are in striking agreement with the Edda stories in +tone and character. + +Odin (Wodanus) is always identified by these writers with the +Roman Mercurius (whom Tacitus named as the chief German God). This +identification occurs in the eighth-century Paulus Diaconus, and in +Jonas of Bobbio (first half of the seventh century), and probably rests +on Odin's character as a wandering God (Mercury being diaktoros), his +disguises, and his patronage of poetry and eloquence (as Mercury is +logios). Odin is not himself in general the conductor of dead souls +(psychopompos), like the Roman God, his attendant Valkyries performing +the office for him. The equation is only comprehensible on the +presumption of the independence of Germanic mythology, and cannot be +explained by transmission. For if Odin were in any degree an imitation +of the Roman deity, other notable attributes of the latter would have +been assigned to him: whereas in the Edda the thieving God (kleptis) +is not Odin but Loki, and the founder of civilisation is Heimdal. + +The legend of the origin of the Lombards given by Paulus Diaconus +illustrates the relations of Odin and Frigg. The Vandals asked Wodan +(Odin) to grant them victory over the Vinili; the latter made a similar +prayer to Frea (Frigg), the wife of Wodan. She advised them to make +their wives tie their hair round their faces like beards, and go with +them to meet Wodan in the morning. They did so, and Wodan exclaimed, +"Who are these _Long-beards_?" Then Frea said that having given the +Vinili a name, he must give them the victory (as Helgi in the Edda +claims a gift from Svava when she names him). As in _Grimnismal_, +Odin and Frigg are represented as supporting rival claims, and Frigg +gains the day for her favourites by superior cunning. This legend +also shows Odin as the giver of victory. + +Few heathen legends are told however by these early Christian writers, +and the Gods are seldom called by their German names. An exception is +the Frisian Fosite mentioned by Alcuin (who died 804) and by later +writers; he is to be identified with the Norse Forseti, the son of +(probably at first an epithet of) Baldr, but no legend of him is +told. It is disappointing that these writers should have said so +little of any God except the chief one. A very characteristic touch +survives in Gregory of Tours (died 594), when the Frank Chlodvig tells +his Christian wife that the Christian God "cannot be proved to be +of the race of the Gods," an idea entirely in keeping with the Eddic +hierarchy. Before leaving the Continental historians, reference may be +made to the abundant evidence of Germanic tree-worship to be gathered +from them. The holy oak mentioned by Wilibald (before 786), the sacred +pear-tree of Constantius (473), with numerous others, supply parallels +to the World-Ash which is so important a feature of Norse mythology. + +A study of this subject would be incomplete without some reference to +the mythology of Saxo Grammaticus. His testimony on the old religion +is unwilling, and his effort to discredit it very evident. The +bitterness of his attack on Frigg especially suggests that she +was, among the Northmen, a formidable rival to the Virgin. When he +repeats a legend of the Gods, he transforms them into mortal heroes, +and when, as often happens, he refers to them accidentally as Gods, +he invariably hastens to protest that he does so only because it had +been the custom. He describes Thor and Odin as men versed in sorcery +who claimed the rank of Gods; and in another passage he speaks of +the latter as a king who had his seat at Upsala, and who was falsely +credited with divinity throughout Europe. His description of Odin +agrees with that in the Edda: an old man of great stature and mighty +in battle, one-eyed, wearing a great cloak, and constantly wandering +about in disguise. The story which Saxo tells of his driving into +battle with Harald War-tooth, disguised as the latter's charioteer +Brun, and turning the fight against him by revealing to his enemy Ring +the order of battle which he had invented for Harald's advantage, is +in thorough agreement with the traditional character of the God who +betrayed Sigmund the Volsung and Helgi Hundingsbane. Saxo's version +of the Baldr story has been mentioned already. Baldr's transformation +into a hero (who could only be slain by a sword in the keeping of +a wood-satyr) is almost complete. But Odin and Thor and all the +Gods fight for him against his rival Hother, "so that it might be +called a battle of Gods against men"; and Nanna's excuse to Baldr +that "a God could not wed with a mortal," preserves a trace of his +origin. The chained Loki appears in Saxo as Utgarda-Loki, lying bound +in a cavern of snakes, and worshipped as a God by the Danish king +Gorm Haraldsson. Dr. Eydberg sees the Freyja myth in Saxo's story of +Syritha, who was carried away by the giants and delivered by her lover +Othar (the Od of the Edda): an example, like _Svipdag and Menglad_, +of the complete transformation of a divine into an heroic myth. In +almost all cases Saxo vulgarises the stories in the telling, a common +result when a mythical tale is retold by a Christian writer, though +it is still more conspicuous in his versions of the heroic legends. + + + + + +Appendix + + +_Thrymskvida_. + +1. Then Wing-Thor was angry when he awoke, and missed his hammer. He +shook his beard, he tossed his hair, the son of Earth groped about +for it. + +2. And first of all he spoke these words: "Hear now, Loki, what I +tell thee, a thing that no one in earth or heaven above has heard: +the Asa has been robbed of his hammer!" + +3. They went to the dwelling of fair Freyja, and these words he +spoke first of all: "Wilt thou lend me, Freyja, thy feather dress, +to see if I can find my hammer?" + +4. _Freyja_. "I would give it thee, though it were of gold; I would +grant it, though it were of silver." + +5. Then Loki flew, the feather-coat rustled, until he came out of +Asgard and into Jötunheim. + +6. Thrym, lord of the Giants, sat on a howe; he twisted golden bands +for his greyhounds and trimmed his horses' manes. + +7. _Thrym_. "How is it with the Aesir? How is it with the Elves? Why +art thou come alone into Jötunheim?" + +_Loki_. "It is ill with the Aesir, it is ill with the Elves; hast +thou hidden the Thunderer's hammer?" + +8. _Thrym_. "I have hidden the Thunderer's hammer eight miles below the +earth. No man shall bring it back, unless he bring me Freyja to wife." + +9. Then Loki flew, the feather-coat rustled, until he came out of +Jötunheim and into Asgard. Thor met him in the middle of the court, +and these words he spoke first: + +10. "Hast thou news in proportion to thy toil? Tell me from on high +thy distant tidings, for a sitting man often breaks down in his story, +and he who lies down falls into falsehood." + +11. _Loki_. "I bring news for my toil: Thrym, lord of the Giants, +has thy hammer; no man shall bring it back, unless he take him Freyja +as a bride." + +12. They went to see fair Freyja, spoke to her first of all these +words: "Bind on the bridal veil, Freyja, we two must drive to +Jötunheim." + +13. Angry then was Freyja; she panted, so that all the hall of the +Aesir trembled, and the great Brising necklace fell: "Eager indeed +for marriage wouldst thou think me, if I should drive with thee +to Jötunheim." + +14. Then all the Aesir went into council, and all the Asynjor to +consultation, and the mighty Gods discussed how they should recover +the Thunderer's hammer. + +15. Then spoke Heimdal, whitest of the Aesir; he could see into the +future like the Vanir: "Let us bind on Thor the bridal veil; let him +have the great necklace Brising. + +16. "Let the keys jingle, and let women's weeds fall about his knees; +let us put broad stones on his breast, and a hood dexterously on +his head." + +17. Then spoke Thor, the mighty Asa: "Vile would the Aesir call me, +if I let the bridal veil be bound on me." + +18. Then spoke Loki, Laufey's son: "Speak not such words, Thor! soon +will the Giants dwell in Asgard, unless thou bring home thy hammer." + +19. Then they bound on Thor the bridal veil, and the great necklace +Brising; they let the keys jingle and women's weeds fall about +his knees, and they put broad stones on his breast, and the hood +dexterously on his head. + +20. Then spoke Loki, Laufey's son: "I also will go with thee as thy +maiden; we two will drive together to Jötunheim." + +21. Then the goats were driven out, urged forward in their harness; +well must they run. Rocks were riven, the earth burned in name: +Odin's son was driving into Jötunheim. + +22. Then spoke Thrym, lord of the Giants: "Stand up, giants, and +strew the benches! They are bringing me now Freyja my bride, Njörd's +daughter from Noatun. + +23. "Gold-horned kine run in the court, oxen all-black, the giant's +delight. I have many treasures, I have many jewels, Freyja only +is lacking." + +24. The guests assembled early in the evening, and ale was carried +to the Giants. One ox did Sif's husband eat, and eight salmon, and +all the dishes prepared for the women; three casks of mead he drank. + +25. Then spoke Thrym, lord of the Giants: "Who ever saw a bride eat +so eagerly? I never saw a bride make such a hearty meal, nor a maid +drink so deep of mead." + +26. The prudent handmaid sat near, and she found answer to the Giant's +words: "Eight nights has Freyja eaten nothing, so eager was she to +be in Jötunheim." + +27. He looked under the veil, he longed to kiss the bride, but +he started back the length of the hall: "Why are Freyja's eyes so +terrible? Fire seems to burn from her eyes." + +28. The prudent handmaid sat near, and she found answer to the Giant's +speech: "Eight nights has Freyja had no sleep, so eager was she to +be in Jötunheim." + +29. In came the Giants' wretched sister, she dared to ask for a bridal +gift: "Take from thine arms the red rings, if thou wouldst gain my +love, my love and all my favour." + +30. Then spoke Thrym, lord of the Giants: "Bring the hammer to hallow +the bride. Lay Mjöllni on the maiden's knee, hallow us two in wedlock." + +31. The Thunderer's heart laughed in his breast, when the bold of +soul felt the hammer. Thrym killed he first, the lord of the Giants, +and all the race of the Giants he struck. + +32. He slew the Giants' aged sister, who had asked him for a bridal +gift. She got a blow instead of shillings, and a stroke of the hammer +for abundance of rings. So Odin's son got back his hammer. + + + +Bibliography + + +I. Study in the Original. + +(1) _Poetic Edda_.--The classic edition, and on the whole the best, +is Professor Bugge's (Christiania, 1867); the smaller editions of +Hildebrand (_Die Lieder der Aelteren Edda_, Paderborn, 1876), and +Finnur Jónsson (_Eddalieder_, Halle, 1888-90) are also good; the +latter is in two parts, _Göttersage_ and _Heldensage_. The poems may +also be found in the first volume of Vigfusson and Powell's _Corpus +Poeticum Boreale_ (Oxford, 1883), accompanied by translations; but in +many cases they are cut up and rearranged, and they suffer metrically +from the system adopted of printing two short lines as one long one, +with no dividing point. There is an excellent palaeographic edition +of the _Codex Regius of the Elder Edda_, by Wimmer and Finnur Jónsson +(Copenhagen, 1891), with photographic reproductions interleaved with +a literal transcription. + +(2) _Snorra Edda_.--The most recent edition of the whole is Dr. Finnur +Jónsson's (Copenhagen, 1875). There is a useful edition of the +mythological portions _(i.e., Gylfaginning, Bragaraedur_, and the +narrative parts of _Skaldskaparmal_) by Ernst Wilken (_Die Prosäische +Edda_, Paderborn, 1878). + +(3) _Dictionaries and Grammars_.--For the study of the Poetic Edda, +Gering's _Glossar zu den Liedern der Edda_ (Paderborn, 1896) will +be found most useful; it is complete and trustworthy, and in small +compass. A similar service has been performed for _Snorra Edda_ in +Wilken's _Glossar_ (Paderborn, 1883), which forms a second volume to +his edition, mentioned above. Both are, of course, in German. The only +English dictionary is the lexicon of Cleasby and Vigfusson (Oxford). + +Of Grammars, the best are German; those of Noreen (_Altnordische +Grammatik_, Halle, 1892), of which there is an abbreviated edition, +and Kahle (_Altisländisches Elementarbuch_, Heidelberg, 1896) being +better suited for advanced students; the English grammars included +in Vigfusson and Powell's _Icelandic Reader_ (Oxford) and Sweet's +_Icelandic Primer_ (Oxford) are more elementary, and therefore hardly +adequate for the study of the verse literature. + + +II. Translations. + +There are English translations of the Elder Edda by Anderson (Chicago, +1879) and Thorpe (1866), as well as the translations in the _Corpus +Poeticum_, which are, of course, liable to the same objection as +the text. The most accurate German translation is Gering's (Leipzig, +1893); in Simrock's (_Aeltere und Jüngere Edda_, Stuttgart, 1882), the +translations of the verse Edda are based on an uncritical text. Snorra +Edda was translated into English by Dasent (Stockholm, 1842); also +by Anderson (Chicago, 1880). + + +III. Modern Authorities. + +To the works on Northern mythology mentioned below in the note on +the Baldr theories, must be added Dr. Rydberg's _Teutonic Mythology_ +(English version by R.B. Anderson, London, 1889), which devotes +special attention to Saxo. + + + +Notes + +_Home of the Edda_. (Page 2.) + +The chief apologists for the British theory are Professor Bugge +(_Studien über die Entstehung der nordischen Götter- und Heldensagen_, +München, 1889), and the editors of the _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_ (see +the Introduction to that work, and also the Prolegomena prefixed to +their edition of the _Sturlunga Saga_, Oxford). The case for Norway +and Greenland is argued by Dr. Finnur Jónsson (_Den oldnorsk og +oldislandske Literaturs-Historie,_ Copenhagen). The cases for both +British and Norwegian origin are based chiefly on rather fanciful +arguments from supposed local colour. The theory of the _Corpus +Poeticum_ editors that many of the poems were composed in the Scottish +isles is discredited by the absence of Gaelic words or traces of Gaelic +legend. Professor Bugge's North of England theory is slightly stronger, +being supported by several Old English expressions in the poems, +but these are not enough to prove that they were composed in England, +since most Icelanders travelled east at some time of their lives. + +(Page 3.) + +A later study will deal with the Heroic legends. + +_Ynglinga Saga_. (Page 3.) + +_Ynglinga Saga_ is prefixed to the Lives of the Kings in the collection +known as _Heimskringla_ (edited by Unger, Christiania, 1868, and by +Finnur Jónsson, Christiania, 1893); there is an English translation +in Laing's _Lives of the Kings of Norway_ (London, 1889). + +_Völuspa_. (Page 4.) + +A poem of similar form occurs among the heroic poems. _Gripisspa_, +a prophetic outline of Sigurd's life, introduces the Volsung poems, +as _Völuspa_ does the Asgard cycle. + +_Riddle-poems_. (Page 6.) + +So many of the mythological poems are in this form that they suggest +the question, did the asking of riddles form any part of Scandinavian +ritual? + +_The Aesir_. (Page 11.) + +_Ynglinga Saga_ says that Odin and the Aesir came to Norway from Asia; +a statement due, of course, to a false etymology, though theories as +to the origin of Norse mythology have been based on it. + +_Tyr_. (Page 12.) + +Tyr is etymologically identical with Zeus, and with the Sanskrit Dyaus +(Sky-God). + +_Baldr_. (Pages 16 to 22.) + +The Baldr theories are stated in the following authorities: + +(1) Ritual origin: Frazer, _The Golden Bough_, vol. 3. + +(2) Heroic origin: Golther, _Handbuch der Germanischen Mythologie_ +(Leipzig, 1895); Niedner, _Eddische Fragen_ (_Zeitschrift +für deutsches Altertum_, new series, 29), _Zur Lieder-Edda_ +(_Zeitschr. f. d. Alt_. vol. 36). + +(3) Solar myth: Sir G.W. Cox, _Mythology of the Aryan Nations_ +(London, 1870); Max Müller, _Chips from a German Workshop_, vol. 4. + +(4) Borrowed: Bugge, _Studien über die Entstchung der nordischen +Götter- und Heldensagen_ (transl. Brenner, München, 1889). + +_Vegtamskvida_. (Page 17.) + +The word _hrodhrbadhm_ (which I have given as "branch of fame") +would perhaps be more accurately translated "tree of fame," which +Gering explains as a kenning for Baldr. But there are no kennings of +the same sort in the poem, and the line would have no meaning. If it +refers to the mistletoe, as most commentators agree, it merely shows +that the poet was ignorant of the nature of the plant, which would +be in favour of its antiquity, rather than the reverse. + + +_Saxo Grammaticus_. (Page 18.) + +English translation by Professor Elton (London, D. Nutt, 1894). As +Saxo's references to the old Gods are made in much the same sympathetic +tone as that adopted by Old Testament writers towards heathen deities, +his testimony on mythological questions is of the less value. + + +_The Mistletoe_. (Page 20.) + +It seems incredible that any writers should turn to the travesty of +the Baldr story given in the almost worthless saga of Hromund Gripsson +in support of a theory. In it "Bildr" is killed by Hromund, who has +the sword Mistilteinn. It must be patent to any one that this is a +perverted version of a story which the narrator no longer understood. + + +_Loki_. (Page 26.) + +It is hardly necessary to point out the parallel between Loki and +Prometheus, also both helper and enemy of the Gods, and agent in their +threatened fall, though in the meantime a prisoner. In character +Loki has more in common with the mischievous spirit described by +Hesiod, than with the heroic figure of Aeschylus. The struggles of +Loki (p. 28) find a parallel in those of the fire-serpent Typhon, +to which the Greeks attributed earthquakes. + + +_Eclipse Ritual_. (Page 35.) + +Mr. Lang, in _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_, (London, 1887) gives +examples of eclipse ritual. Grimm, in the _Teutonic Mythology_, +vol. 2, quotes Finnish and Lithuanian myths about sun-devouring beasts, +very similar to the Fenri myth. + + +_The Skalds_. (Page 35.) + +All the Skaldic verses will be found, with translations, in the +_Corpus Poeticum_. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Edda, Vol. 1, by Winifred Faraday + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13007 *** |