But some evil tongue persuaded the gods that the Ribhus had said something derogatory of the goblet made by Tvashtar. This made Tvashtar angry, and he demanded their death. The gods then sent the fire-god Agni to the Ribhus. The Ribhus asked: "Why has the most excellent,the most youthful one come to us? On what errand does he come?" Agni told them that it was reported that they had found fault with Tvashtar's goblet; they declared that they had not said anything derogatory, but only talked about the material of which it was made. Agni meanwhile stated the resolution of the gods, to the effect that they were to make from Tvashtar's goblet four others of the same kind. If they were unable to do this, then the gods would doubtless satisfy Tvashtar's request and take their lives; but if they were able to make the goblets, then they should share with the gods the right to receive offerings. Moreover, they were to give the following proof of mastership. They were to smithy a living horse, a living chariot, a living cow, and they were to create a means of rejuvenation and demonstrate its efficacy on two aged and enfeebled beings. The Ribhus informed the gods that they would do what was demanded of them. So they made the wonderful chariot or the chariot-ship, which they gave to the Asvinians—the beautiful twin-gods—on which they ride through the air and on the sea (cp. Skidbladner, Frey's ship, and Hringhorne, Balder's, and probably also Hoder's means of locomotion through the air and on the sea). Of one horse they made two, and presented them to Indra. Out of an empty cow's hide they smithied a cow (cp. Sindre's work of art when he made the boar Slidringtanne out of an empty pig's skin). They made the remedy of rejuvenation, and tested it successfully on their aged parents. Finally, they do the great master-work of producing four goblets of equal excellence from Tvashtar's. Thereupon they appear beforethe gods who, "with insight," test their works. Tvashtar himself could not help being astounded when he saw the goblets. But the result of the test by the gods, and the judgment passed on the art-works of the Ribhus, were fraught with danger for the future. Both Tvashtar and the Ribhus became dissatisfied. Tvashtar abandoned the gods and betook himself to the mountains with the dises of vegetation, in whose company he is often mentioned. The Ribhus refused to accept from the gods the proffered share in morning and noon sacrifices, and went away cursing their adversaries. They proceeded on long journeys, and the gods knew not where to find them (Rigv., i. 161, 1-13; iv. 33, 1-11, &c.).
The result of this trouble between the primeval artists themselves, and between them and the gods, becomes clear from the significance which Tvashtar, he who nourishes the world, and the Ribhus, they who deck the deserts with vegetation, and irrigate the valleys, have as symbols of nature. The beneficent powers of nature, who hitherto had operated in the service of the gods, abandon their work, and over the world are spread that winter of which the Iranian mythology speaks, that darkness, and that reign of giant-monsters which, according to Rigveda, once prevailed, and during which time Indra, at the head of the gods, fought valiantly to restore order and to bring back the sun.
Here we find remarkable points of contact, or rather contact surfaces, between the Asiatic-Aryan groups of myths and the Teutonic. The question is not as to similarity in special details. That kind of similarities may bepointed out in nearly all mythic groups in the world, and, as a rule, altogether too bold hypotheses are built on the feeble foundations they offer. The question here is in regard to identity in great, central, connected collections of myths. Such are: The myths concerning an original harmony between a divine clan on the one hand, and artists subordinate to, and in the service of, the divine clan on the other hand. Artists who produce fertility, ornaments, and weapons for the gods, know how to brew the strength- and inspiration-giving mead, and are closely connected with dises of vegetation, who, as we shall show, appear as swan-maids, not only in the Teutonic mythology but also in the Hindooic; the myths telling how this harmony was frustrated by a judgment in a competition, the contending parties being on the one hand he who in the Hindooic mythology made Indra's thunderbolt, and in the Teutonic Thor's thundering Mjolner; and on the other hand three brothers, of whom one is an excellent archer; the myths concerning the consequences of the judgment, the destruction of nature by frost-powers and giant-monsters; the myths (in the Iranian and Teutonic records of antiquity) concerning the subterranean paradise, in which a selection of the best beings of creation are protected against annihilation, and continue to live uncorrupted through centuries; the myths (in the Iranian and Teutonic records of antiquity) of the destiny of these beings, connected with the myths likewise common to the Iranian and Teutonic mythologies concerning the destruction and regeneration of the world. Common to the Hindooic and Teutonic mythology is also the idea that a cunning, spying,being, in Rigveda Dadhyak (Dadhyank), in the Icelandic sources Loke, has lost his head to an artist who smithied the bolt for Indra and the hammer for Thor, but saves his wager through cunning.
An important observation should here be pointed out. A comparison between different passages in Rigveda shows, that of all the remarkable works of art which were exhibited to the gods for their examination, there was originally not one of metal. Tvashtar's goblet was not made of gold, but of fire and water and a third element. Indra's thunderbolt was made of the bones of the head of Dadhyak's horse, and it is in a later tradition that it becomes bronze. Common to the Aryan-Asiatic and the Teutonic mythology is the ability of the primeval artists to make animals from empty skins of beasts, and of making fromonework of art several similar ones (the goblet of the Ribhus, Sindre's Draupner). In the Teutonic mythology, Thor's hammer was not originally of metal, but of stone, and the other works produced by Sindre and Ivalde's sons may in the course of centuries have undergone similar changes. It should also be noted that not a trace is to be found in the Asiatic groups of myths of a single one to be compared with that concerning Svipdag and the sword of victory. In the Teutonic heroic saga, Geirvandel, the spear-hero, is the father of Orvandel, the archer, and of him is born Svipdag, the sword-hero (cp. No. 123). The myth concerning the sword of victory seems to be purely Teutonic, and to have sprung into existence during one of the bronze or iron ages, while the myths concerning the judgment passed on the primevalartists, and concerning the fimbul-winter following, must hail from a time when metals were not yet used by the Aryans. In the other event it would be most incredible to suppose that the judgment should concern works of art, of which not a single one originally suggested a product of metal.
112.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE JUDGMENT PASSED ON THE IVALDE SONS (continued). NJORD'S EFFORTS TO BRING ABOUT A RECONCILIATION.
It has already been stated that Fridlevus-Njord rescues a princely youth from the power of the giants. According to Saxo, the event was an episode in the feud between Fridlevus-Njord and Anundus (Volund), and Avo, the archer (Orvandel-Egil). This corroborates the theory that the rescued youth was Frey, Volund's and Egil's foster-son. The first one of the gods to be seized by fears on account of the judgment passed on Ivalde's sons, ought, naturally, to be Njord, whose son Frey was at that time in the care and power of Volund and Egil (see No. 109). We also learn from Saxo that Fridlevus took measures to propitiate the two brothers. He first sends messengers, who on his behalf woo the daughter of Anund-Volund, but the messengers do not return. Anund had slain them. Thereupon Fridlevus goes himself, accompanied by others, and among the latter was a "mediator." The name of the mediator was Bjorno, and he was one of those champions who constituted the defenceof that citadel, which Fridlevus afterwards captured, and which we have recognised as Asgard (see No. 36). Thus Bjorno is one of the Asas, and there are reasons, which I shall discuss later, for assuming him to be Balder's brotherHödr. The context shows that Fridlevus' journey to Ivalde's sons and meeting with them takes place while there was yet hope of reconciliation, and before the latter arrived in the inaccessible Wolfdales, which are situated below the Na-gates in the subterranean Jotunheim. On the way thither they must have been overtaken by Fridlevus, and doubtless the event occurred there which Saxo relates, and of which an account in historical form is preserved in the Longobardian migration saga.
The meeting did not lead to reconciliation, but to war. Avo, the archer (Orvandel-Egil; see Nos. 108, 109) appeared on the one side and challenged Fridlevus-Njord to a duel. Bjorno became angry that a person of so humble descent as this Avo dared to challenge the noble-born Fridlevus, and in his wrath he drew his bow to fell "the plebeian" with an arrow. Thus Bjorno also was an archer. But Avo anticipated him, and an arrow from him severed Bjorno's bow-string from the bow. While Bjorno was tying the string again, there came from Avo a second arrow, which passed between his fingers without hurting him, and then there came a third arrow, which shot away Bjorno's arrow just as he was placing it on the string. Then the Ivalde sons continued their departure. Bjorno let loose amolossushe had with him to pursue them, probably the same giant-dog or giant wolf-dog which Saxo describes in a preceding chapter (Hist.,260) as being in Bjorno's possession, and which before had guarded the giant Offote's herds. But thismolossuswas not able to prevent those fleeing from reaching their destination in safety. In all probability Frey had already been delivered by his wards to the giants when this happened. This must have occurred on the way between the abode abounding in gold, where Ivalde's sons had formerly lived in happiness, and the Wolfdales, and so within Jotunheim, where the gods were surrounded by foes.
The story of this adventure on the journey of the emigrating Ivalde sons reappears in a form easily recognised in Paulus Diaconus, where he tells of the emigration of the Longobardians under Ibor (Orvandel-Egil; see No. 108) and Ajo (Volund). In Saxo Avo-Egil, who belongs to the race of elves, becomes a low-born champion, while the Vana-god Njord becomes King Fridlevus. In Paulus the saga is not content with making the great archer of the emigrants a plebeian, but he is made a thrall who challenges a chosen free-born warrior among the foes of the Longobardians. In the mythology and in Saxo the duel was fought with bows and arrows, and the plebeian was found to be far superior to his opponent. Paulus does not name the kind of weapons used, but when it had ended with the victory of "the thrall," an oath was taken on anarrowthat the thralls were to be freed from their chains by the Longobardians. Consequently the arrow must have been the thrall's weapon of victory. In the mythology, the journey of the Ivalde sons to the Wolfdales was down to the lower world Jotunheim and northwardthrough Nifelhel, inhabited by thurses and monsters. Both in Saxo and Paulus this sort of beings take part in the adventures described. In Saxo, Fridlevus' war-comrade Bjorno sends a monster in the guise of a dog against the sons of Ivalde. In Paulus, according to the belief of their enemies, the emigrants had as their allies "men with dog-heads."
Bjorno is an Asa-god; and he is described as an archer who had confidence in his weapon, though he proved to be inferior to Avo in the use of it. Among the gods of Asgard only two archers are mentioned—HödrandUllr. At the time when this event occurred Ull had not yet been adopted in Asgard. As has been shown above (see No. 102), he is the son of Orvandel-Egil and Sif. His abode is still with his parents when Svipdag, his half-brother, receives instructions from Sif to seek Frey and Freyja in Jotunheim (see No. 102), and he faithfully accompanies Svipdag through his adventures on this journey. Thus Ull is out of the question—the more so as he would in that case be opposing his own father. Hoder (Hödr) is mentioned as an archer both in the Beowulf poem, where he, under the name Hædcyn, shoots Balder-Herebeald accidentally with his "horn-bow," and in Saxo (arcus peritia pollebat—Hist., 111), and in Christian tales based on myths, where he appears by the nameHedinn. That Bjorno, mentioned by Saxo as a beautiful youth, is Hoder is confirmed by another circumstance. He is said to besequestris ordinis vir(Hist., 270), an expression so difficult to interpret that scholars have proposed to change it intosequiorisorequestris ordinis vir.The word shows that Bjorno in Saxo's mythological authorities belonged to a group of persons whose functions were such that they together might be designated as asequestris ordo.Sequestermeans a mediator in general, and in the law language of Rome it meant an impartial arbitrator to whom a dispute might be referred. The Norse word which Saxo, accordingly, translated withsequestris ordo, "the mediators," "the arbitrators," can have been none other than the pluralljónar, a mythological word, and also an old legal term, of which it is said in the Younger Edda:Ljónar heita their menn, er ganga um sættir manna, "ljónarare called those men whose business it is to settle disputes." That this wordljónaroriginally designated a certain group of Asa-gods whose special duty it was to act as arbitrators is manifest from the phraseljóna kindir, "the children of the peacemakers," an expression inherited from heathendom and applied to mankind far down in Christian times; it is an expression to be compared with the phrasemegir Heimdallar, "Heimdal's sons," which also was used to designate mankind. In Christian times the phrase "children of men" was translated with the heathen expressionljóna kindir; and when the recollection of the original meaning ofljónarwas obliterated, the word, on account of this usage, came to mean men in general (viri,homines), a signification which it never had in the days of heathendom.
Three Asa-gods are mentioned in our mythological records as peacemakers—Balder, Hoder, and Balder's son, Forsete. Balder is mentioned as judge in the Younger Edda (90). As such he isliksamastr—that is, "the mostinfluential peacemaker." Of Forsete, who inherits his father's qualities as judge, it is said in Grimnersmal (15) that hesvefer allar sacir, "settles all disputes." Hoder, who both in name and character appears to be a most violent and thoughtless person, seems to be the one least qualified for this calling. Nevertheless he performed the duties of an arbitrator by the side of Balder and probably under his influence. Saxo (Hist., 122) speaks of him as a judge to whom men referred their disputes—consueverat consulenti populo plebiscita depromere—and describes him as gifted with great talents of persuasion. He hadeloquentiæ suavitatem, and was able to subdue stubborn minds withbenignissimo sermone(Hist., 116, 117). In Völuspa (60) the human race which peoples the renewed earth is calledburir brodra tvegia, "the sons of the two brothers," and the two brothers mentioned in the preceding strophe are Balder and Hoder. Herewith is to be comparedljóna kindirin Völuspa (14). In Harbardsljod (42) the insolent mocker of the gods, Harbard, refers to the miserable issue of an effort made byjafnendr, "the arbitrator," to reconcile gods with certain ones of their foes. I think it both possible and probable that the passage refers to the mythic event above described, and that it contains an allusion to the fact that the effort to make peace concerned the recovery of Frey and Freyja, who were delivered as "brides" to naughty giants, and for which "brides" the peacemakers received arrows and blows as compensation. Compare the expressionbæta mundi baugiand Thor's astonishment, expressed in the next strophe, at the insulting words, the worst of the kindhe ever heard. Saxo describes the giant in whose power Frey is, when he is rescued by his father, as a cowardly and enervated monster whose enormous body is amoles destituta rubore(Hist., 268). In this manner ended the effort of the gods to make peace. The three sons of Ivalde continue their journey to the Wolfdales, inaccessible to the gods, in order that they thence might send ruin upon the world.
113.
PROOFS THAT IVALDE'S SONS ARE IDENTICAL WITH OLVALDE'S.
Observations made in the course of my investigations anent Ivalde and his sons have time and again led me to the unexpected result that Ivalde's sons, Slagfin, Egil, and Volund, are identical with Olvalde-Alvalde's sons, who, in the Grotte-song, are calledIdi,UrnirorAurnir(Ornir), andthjazi, and in the Younger Edda (p. 214)thjazi,Idi, andGángr. This result was unexpected and, as it seemed to me in the beginning, improbable, for the reason that where Thjasse is mentioned in the Elder Edda, he is usually styled a giant, while Volund is called a prince or chief of elves in Volundarkvida. In Grimnersmal (11) Thjasse is designated asinn amátki iotunn; in Harbardsljod (19) asenn thrudmothgi iotunn; in Hyndluljod (30) as a kinsman of Gymer and Aurboda. The Grotte-song (9) says that Thjasse, Ide, and Aurnir were brothers of those mountain giants who were the fathers of Menja and Fenja. In the Younger Edda he is alsocalled ajötunn. In the beginning of my researches, and before Volund's position in the mythology was clear to me, it appeared to me highly improbable that a prince among the elves and one of the chief artists in the mythology could be characterised as a giant. Indeed I was already then aware that the clan-names occurring in the mythology—áss,vanr,álfr,dvergr, andjötunn—did not exclusively designate the descent of the beings, but could also be applied to them on account of qualities developed or positions acquired, regardless of the clan to which they actually belonged by their birth. In Thrymskvida (15), so to speak in the same breath, Heimdal is called bothássandvanr—"thá quath that Heimdallr, hvitastr ása, vissi han vel fram sem vanir áthrir." And Loke is designated both asássandjötunn, although the Asas and giants represent the two extremes. Neither Heimdal nor Loke are of the Asa-clan by birth; but they are adopted in Asgard, that is, they are adopted Asas, and this explains the appellation. Elves and dwarfs are doubtless by descent different classes of beings, but the word dwarf, which in the earliest Christian times became the synonym of a being of diminutive stature, also meant an artist, a smith, whence both Vans and elves, nay, even Fjalar, could be incorporated in the Völuspa dwarf-list. When, during the progress of my investigations, it appeared that Volund and his brothers in the epic of the mythology were the most dangerous foes of the gods and led the powers of frost in their efforts to destroy the world, it could no longer surprise me that Volund, though an elf prince, was characterised asinn ámátki iotunn, enn thrudmothgiiotunn. But there was another difficulty in the way: according to Hyndluljod and the Grotte-song, Thjasse and his brothers were kinsmen of giants, and must therefore undoubtedly have had giant-blood in their veins. But there are kinsmen of the giants among the Asas too; and when in the progress of the investigation it appears that Thjasse's mother is a giantess, but his father ahapt, a god of lower rank, then his maternal descent, and his position as an ally and chief of the giants, and as the most powerful foe of Asgard and Midgard, are sufficient to explain the apparent contradiction that he is at the same time a giant and a kinsman of the giants, and still identical with the elf-prince, Volund. It should also be observed that, as shall be shown below, the tradition has preserved the memory of the fact that Volund too was called a giant and had kinsmen among the giants.
The reasons which, taken collectively, prove conclusively at least to me, that Ivalde's sons and Olvalde's are identical are the following:
(1) In regard to the names themselves, we note in the first place that, as has already been pointed out, the name of the father of Ide, as Aurnir-Gang, and of Thjasse appears with the variationsAllvaldi,Ölvaldi, andAudvaldi. To persons speaking a language in which the prefixesI-,Id-, andAll-are equivalents and are substituted for one another, and accustomed to poetics, in which it was the most common thing to substitute equivalent nouns and names (for example,GrjótbjörnforArinbjörn,FjallgyldirforÁsólfr, &c.), it was impossible to see inIvaldiandAllvaldianything but names designating the same person.
(2) Anent the variation Olvalde we have already seen that its equivalents Olmodr and Sumbl (Finnakonungr,phinnorum rex) allude to Slagfin's, Orvandel-Egil's, and Volund's father, while Olvalde himself is said to be the father of Ide, Aurnir, and Thjasse.
(3) Ajo's and Ibor's mother is calledGambarainOrigo Longobardorumand in Paulus Diaconus. Aggo's and Ebbo's mother is calledGambarucin Saxo. In Ibor-Ebbo and Ajo-Aggo we have re-discovered Egil and Volund. The Teutonic stem of which the Latinised Gambara was formed is in all probabilitygambr,gammr, a synonym ofgripr(Younger Edda, ii. 572), the GermanGreif. According to the Younger Edda (i. 314), Thjasse's mother is the giantessGreip, daughter ofGeirrödr. The formsgrip, neuter, andgreip, feminine, are synonyms in the Old Norse language, and they surely grew out of the same root. While Gambara thus is Volund's mother, Thjasse's mother bears a name to which Gambara alludes.
(4) The variationAudvaldimeans "the one presiding over riches," and the epithet finds its explanation in the Younger Edda's account of the gold treasure left by Thjasse's father, and of its division among his sons (p. 214.) It is there stated that Thjasse's father wasmjök gullaudigr. Ivalde's sons, who gave the gods golden treasures, were likewise rich in gold, and in Volundarkvida Volund speaks of his and his kinsmen's golden wealth in their common home.
(5) Of the manner in which Thjasse and his brothers divided the golden treasure the Younger Edda contains,in the above passage, the following statement: "When Olvalde died and his sons were to divide the inheritance, they agreed in the division to measure the gold by taking their mouths full of gold an equal number of times. Hence gold is called in poetry the words or speech of these giants."
It is both possible and assumable that in the mythology the brothers divided the gold in silence and in harmony. But that it should have been done in the manner here related may be doubted. There is reason to suspect that the story of the division of the gold in the manner above described was invented in Christian times in order to furnish an explanation of the phrasethingskil thjazain Bjarkamal, ofIdja glysmálin the same source, and ofidja ord, quoted inMalskrudsfrædi. More than one pseudo-mythic story, created in the same manner and stamped by the same taste, is to be found in the Younger Edda. It should not be forgotten that all these phrases have one thing in common, and that is, a public deliberation, a judicial act.Málandorddo not necessarily imply such an allusion, for in addition to the legal meaning, they have the more common one of speech and verbal statements in general; but to get at their actual significance in the paraphrases quoted we must compare them withthingskil, since in these paraphrases all the expressions,thingskil,glysmál, andord, must be founded on one and the same mythic event. Withthingskilis meant that which can be produced before a court by the defendant in a dispute to clear up his case; and as gold ornaments are called Thjasse'sthingskilin Bjarkamal, it should followthat some judicial act was mentioned in the mythology, in which gold treasures made or possessed by Thjasse were produced to clear up a dispute which, in some way or other, touched him. From the same point of view Ide'sglysmáland Ide'sordare to be interpreted. Ide'sglysmálare Ide's "glittering pleadings;" hisordare the evidence or explanation presented in court by the ornaments made by or belonging to him. Now, we know from the mythology a court act in which precious works of the smiths, "glittering pleadings," were produced in reference to the decision of a case. The case or dispute was the one caused by Loke, and the question was whether he had forfeited his head to Sindre or not. As we know, the decision of the dispute depended on a comparison between Brok's and Sindre's works on the one hand, and those of the Ivalde sons on the other. Brok had appeared before the high tribunal, and was able to plead his and his brother's cause. Ivalde's sons, on the other hand, were not present, but the works done by them had to speak in their behalf, or rather for themselves. From this we have, as it seems to me, a simple and striking explanation of the paraphrasesthjaza thingskil,Idja glysmál,Idja ord. Their works of art were the glittering but mute pleadings which were presented, on their part, for the decision of the case. That gold carried in the mouth and never laid before the tribunal should be calledthingskilI regard as highly improbable. From heathen poems we cannot produce a single positive proof that a paraphrase of so distorted and inadequate a character was ever used.
(6) Saxo relates that the same Fridlevus-Njord whofought with Anund-Volund and Avo-Egil wooed Anund's daughter and was refused, but was married to her after Anund's death. Thus it would seem that Njord married a daughter of Volund. In the mythology he marries Thjasse's daughter Skade. Thus Volund and Thjasse act the same part as father-in-law of Njord.
(7) Saxo further relates that Freyja-Syritha's father was married to thesororof Svipdag-Otharus.Sorormeans sister, but also foster-sister and playmate. If the word is to be taken in its strictest sense, Njord marries a daughter of Volund's brother; if in its modified sense, Volund's daughter.
(8) In a third passage (Hist., 50, 53), Skade's father appears under the name Haquinus. The same name belongs to a champion (Hist., 323) who assists Svipdag-Ericus in his combat with the Asa-god Thor and his favourite Halfdan, and is the cause that Thor's and Halfdan's weapons prove themselves worthless against the Volund sword wielded by Svipdag-Ericus. There is, therefore, every reason for regarding Haquinus as one of Saxo's epithets for Volund. The nameHákon, of which Haquinus has been supposed to be the Latinised form, never occurs in the Norse mythic records, but Haquinus is in this case to be explained as a Latinisation with the aspirate usual in Saxo of the Old German Aki, the Middle German Ecke, which occurs in the compositions Eckenbrecht, Eckehard, and Eckesachs. In "Rosengarten," Eckenbrecht is a celebrated weapon-smith. In Vilkinasaga, Eckehard is, like Volund, a smith who works for Mimer; and Eckesachs is a sword made by the threedwarfs, of which in part the same story is told as of Volund's sword of victory. Thus while Haquinus and what is narrated of Haquinus refers to the smith Volund, a person who in Saxo is called Haquinus assumes the place which belongs to Thjasse in his capacity of Skade's father.
(9) In Lokasenna (17), Loke reproaches Idun that she has embraced the slayer of her own brother:
thic queth ec allra quennavergjarnasta vera,sitztu arma thinalagdir itrthvegnaum thinn brothurbana.
Idun is a daughter of Ivalde (Forspjallsljod), and hence a sister or half-sister of the famous smiths, Ivalde's sons. From the passage it thus appears that one of Ivalde's sons was slain, and Loke insists that Idun had given herself to the man who was the cause of his death.
There is not the slightest reason to doubt that in this instance, as in so many other cases, Loke boasts of the evil deeds he has committed, and of the successes he has had among the asynjes, according to his own assurances. With the reproaches cast on Idun we should compare what he affirms in regard to Freyja, in regard to Tyr's wife, in regard to Skade and Sif, in reference to all of whom he claims that they have secretly been his mistresses. Against Idun he could more easily and more truthfully bring this charge, for the reason that she was at one time wholly in his power, namely, when he stole into Thjasse's halls and carried her away thence to Asgard (Younger Edda, i.210-214). Under such circumstances, that slayer of Idun's brother, whom she is charged with embracing, can be none other than Loke himself. As a further allusion to this, the author of the poem makes Loke speak of a circumstance connected with the adventure—namely, that Idun, to sweeten the pleasure of the critical hour, washed her arms shining white—a circumstance of which none other than herself and her secret lover could know. Thus Loke is the cause of the slaying of one of the famous artists, Ivalde's sons. The murders of which Loke boasts in the poem are two only, that of Balder and that of Thjasse. He says that he advised the killing of Balder, and that he was the first and foremost in the killing of Thjasse (fyrstr oc ofstr). Balder was not Idun's brother. So far as we can make out from the mythic records extant, the Ivalde son slain must have been identical with Thjasse, the son of Alvalde. There is no other choice.
(10) It has already been shown above that Volund and the swan-maid who came to him in the Wolfdales were either brother and sister or half-brother and half-sister. From what has been stated above, it follows that Thjasse and Idun were related to each other in the same manner.
(11) Thjasse's house is calledBrunn-akr(Younger Edda, i. 312). In Volundarkvida (9) Volund is calledBrunni.
(12) Idun has the epithetSnót(Younger Edda, 306), "the wise one," "the intelligent one." Volund's swan-maid has the epithetAlvitr, "the much-knowing one," "the very intelligent one" (Volundarkvida, 1).Volund has the epithetÁsólfr(Hyndluljod; cp. No. 109). Thjasse has the epithetFjallgylder(Younger Edda, 308), which is a paraphrase ofÁsólfr(áss = fjöll,olfr = gyldir).
(13) One of Volund's brothers, namely Orvandel-Egil, had the epithet "Wild boar" (Ibor, Ebur). One of Thjasse's brothers is calledUrnir,Aurnir. This name means "wild boar." Compare the Swedish and Norwegian peasant wordorne, and the Icelandic wordruni(a boar), in which the letters are transposed.
(14) At least one of Alvalde's sons was a star-hero, viz., Thjasse, whose eyes Odin and Thor fastened on the heavens (Harbardsljod, 18; Younger Edda, i. 318, 214). At least one of Ivalde's sons was a star-hero, viz., Orvandel-Egil (Younger Edda, i. 276, &c.). No star-hero is mentioned who is not called a son of Alvalde or is a son of Ivalde, and not a single name of a star or of a group of stars can with certainty be pointed out which does not refer to Alvalde's or Ivalde's sons. From the Norse sources we have the namesÖrvandilstá thjaza augu LokabrennaandReid Rögnis. Lokabrenna, the Icelandic name of Sirius, can only refer to thebrenna(fire) caused by Loke when Thjasse fell into the vaferflames kindled around Asgard. InReid Rögnis, Rogner's car, Rogner is, as shall be shown below, the epithet of a mythic person, in whom we rediscover both Volund and Thjasse. In Old English writings the Milky Way is called Vætlingastræt, Watlingestræt. The Watlings or Vætlings can only be explained as a patronymic meaning Vate's sons. Vate is one of the names of the father of Volund and hisbrothers (see No. 110). Another old English name of star-group is Eburthrung, Eburthring. Here Egil's surname Ebur, "wild boar," reappears. The name Ide, borne by a brother of Thjasse, also seems to have designated a star-hero in England.
At least two of these figures and names are very old and of ancient Aryan origin. I do not know the reasons why Vigfusson assumes that Orvandel is identical with Orion, but the assumption is corroborated by mythological facts. Orion is the most celebrated archer and hunter of Greek mythology, just as Orvandel is that of the Teutonic. Like Orvandel-Egil, he has two brothers of whom the one Lykos (wolf) has a Telchin name, and doubtless was originally identical with the Telchin Lykos, who, like Volund, is a great artist and is also endowed with powers to influence the weather. Orion could, so it is said, walk on the sea as well as on the land. Orvandel-Egil has skees, with which he travels on the sea as well as on the snow-fields, whence small ships are calledEgil's andrar, Egil's skees (Kormak, 5). Orion wooes a daughter of Oinopion. The first part of the word isoinos(wine); and as Oinopion is the son of Bacchus, there is no room for doubt that he originally had a place in the Aryan myth in regard to the mead. Orvandel-Egil woos a daughter of Sumbl (Olvalde), the king of the Finns, who in the Teutonic mythology is Oinopion's counterpart. Orion is described as a giant, a tall and exceedingly handsome man, and is said to be a brother of the Titans. His first wife, the beautiful Sida, he soon lost by death; just as Orvandel lost Groa. Sida,Sidawith its Dorian variationRhoa,Roa, means fruit. The name Groa refers, like Sida, Rhoa, to vegetation, growth. After Sida's decease, Orion woos Oinopion's daughter just as Orvandel-Egil woos the daughter of the Finnish king Sumbl after Groa's death. He has a third erotic alliance with Eos. According to one record he is said to have been killed because, in his love of the chase, he had said that he would exterminate all game on earth. This statement may have its origin in the myth preserved by the Teutons about Volund's and Orvandel-Egil's effort to destroy all life on the earth by the aid of the powers of frost. Hesiod says that the Pleiades (which set when Orion rises above the horizon) save themselves from Orion in the stream of the ocean. The above-mentioned Old English name of a constellation Eburthrung may refer to the Pleiades, since the partthrung,drying, refers to a dense cluster of stars. The first part of the word, Ebur, as already stated, is a surname of Orvandel-Egil. It should be added that the points of similarity between the Orion and Orvandel myths are of such a nature that they exclude all idea of being borrowed one from the other. Like the most of the Greek myths in the form in which they have been handed down to us, the Orion myth is without any organic connection with any epic whole. The Orvandel myth, on the other hand, dovetails itself as a part into a mythological epic which, in grand and original outlines, represents the struggle between gods, patriarchs, ancient artists, and frost-giants for the control of the world.
The name Thjasse,thjazi, in an older and uncorrupted formthizi, I regard to be most ancient like the personthat bears it. According to my opinion, Thjasse is identical with the star-hero mentioned in Rigveda,Tishya, theTistryaof the Iranians, who in Rigveda (x. 64, 8) is worshipped together with an archer, who presumably was his brother. The German middle-age poetry has preserved the name Thjasse in the formDesen(which is related tothjaziasDelvenis tothialfi). In "Dieterichs Flucht" Desen is a king, whose daughter marries Dieterich-Hadding's father. In the Norse sources a sister of Thjasse (Alveig-Signe, daughter of Sumbl, the king of the Finns) marries Hadding's father, Halfdan. Common to the German and Norse traditions is, therefore, that Hadding's father marries a near kinswoman of Thjasse.
(15) In the poem Haustlaung Thjasse's adventure is mentioned, when he captured Loke with the magic rail. Here we get remarkable, hitherto misunderstood, facts in regard to Thjasse's personality.
That they have been misunderstood is not owing to lack of attention or acumen on the part of the interpreters. On the contrary, acumen has been lavished thereon.[10]In some cases the scholars have resorted to text-changes in order to make the contents intelligible, and this was necessary on account of the form in which our mythology hitherto has been presented, and that for good reasons, since important studies of another kind, especially of accurate editions of the Teutonic mythological texts, have claimed the time of scholars and compelled them to neglect the study of the epic connection of the myths and of their exceedingly rich and abundant synonymics. As amatter of course, an examination of the synonymics and of the epic connection could not fail to shed another light than that which could be gained without this study upon a number of passages in the old mythological poems, and upon the paraphrases based on the myths and occurring in the historical songs.
In Haustlaung Thjasse is calledfadir mörna, "the father of the swords." Without the least reason it has been doubted that a mythic person, that is so frequently called a giant, and whose connection with the giant world and whose giant nature are so distinctly held forth in our mythic sources, could be an artist and a maker of swords. Consequently the text has been changed tofadir mornarorfadir morna, the father of consumption or of the strength-consuming diseases, or of the feminine thurses representing these diseases. But so far as our mythic records give us any information, Thjasse had no other daughter than Skade, described as a proud, bold, powerful maid, devoted to achievements, who was elevated to the rank of an asynje, became the wife of the god of wealth, the tender stepmother of the lord of harvests (Skirnersmal), Frigg'selja, and in this capacity the progenitress of northern rulers, who boasted their descent from her. That Thjasse had more daughters is indeed possible, but they are not mentioned, and it must remain a conjecture on which nothing can be built; and even if such were the case, it must be admitted that as Skade was the foremost and most celebrated among them, she is the first one to be thought of when there is mention of a daughter or of daughters of Thjasse. But that Skade should be spokenof as amorn, a consumption-witch, and that Hakon Jarl should be regarded as descended from a demon of consumption, and be celebrated in song as the scion of such a person, I do not deem possible. The text, as we have it, tells us that Thjasse was the father of swords (mörnir= sword; see Younger Edda, i. 567; ii. 560, 620). We must confine ourselves to this reading and remember that this is not the only passage which we have hitherto met with where his name is put in connection with works of a smith. Such a passage we have already met with inthjaza thingskil.
(16) In the same poem, Haustlaung, Thjasse is calledhapta snytrir, "the one who decorated the gods," furnished them with treasures. This epithet, too, appeared unintelligible, so long as none of the artists of antiquity was recognised in Thjasse; hence text-changes were also resorted to in this case in order to make sense out of the passage.
The situation described is as follows: Odin andHænir, accompanied by Loke are out on a journey. They have traversed mountains and wildernesses (Bragarædur, 2), and are now in a region which, to judge from the context, is situated within Thjasse's domain, Thrymheim. The latter, who ismargspakrandlómhugadr(Haustl., 3, 12), has planned an ambush for Loke in the very place which they have now reached: a valley (Bragarædur, 2) overgrown with oak-trees (Haustl., 6), and the more inviting as a place of refreshment and rest, inasmuch as the Asas are hungry after their long journey (Bragarædur, 21), and see a herd of "yoke-bears" pasturing in the grassnear by. Thjasse has calculated on this and makes one of the bears act the part of a decoy (tálhreinn= a decoy reindeer—Haustlaung, 3; see Vigfusson's Dict., 626), which permits itself to be caught by the travellers. That the animal belongs to Thjasse's herds follows from the fact that it (str. 6) is said to belong to the "dis of the bow-string," Skade, his daughter. The animal is slaughtered and a fire is kindled, over which it is to be roasted. Near the place selected for the eating of the meal there lies, as it were accidentally, a rail or stake. It resembles a common rail, but is in fact one of Thjasse's smith-works, having magic qualities. When the animal is to be carved, it appears that the "decoy reindeer was quite hard between the bones for the gods to cut" (tálhreinn var medal beina tormidladr tífum—str. 3). At the same time the Asas had seen a great eagle flying toward them (str. 2), and alighting near the place where they prepared their feast (str. 3). From the context it follows that they took it for granted that the eagle guise concealed Thjasse, the ruler of the region. The animal being found to be so hard to carve, the Asas at once guess that Thjasse, skilled in magic arts, is the cause, and they immediately turn to him with a question, which at the same time tells him that they know who he is:
Hvat, quotho, hapta snytrirhjálmfaldinn, thvi valda?
"They (the gods) said (quotho): Why cause this (hvat thvi valda) thou ornament-giver of the gods (hjálmfaldinn hapta snytrir), concealed in a guise (eagleguise)?" He at once answers that he desires his share of the sacred meal of the gods, and to this Odin gives his consent. Nothing indicates that Odin sees a foe in Thjasse. There is then no difficulty in regard to the roast; and when it is ready and divided into four parts Thjasse flies down, but, to plague Loke, he takes so much that the latter, angry, and doubtless also depending on Odin's protection if needed, seizes the rail lying near at hand and strikes the eagle a blow across the back. But Loke could not let go his hold of the rail; his hand stuck fast to one end while the other end clung to the eagle, and Thjasse flew with him and did not let go of him before he had forced him to swear an oath that he would bring Idun into Thjasse's hands.
So long as it was impossible to assume that Thjasse had been the friend of the gods before this event happened, and in the capacity of ancient artist had given them valuable products of his skill, and thus become ahapta snytrir, it was also impossible to see in him, though he was concealed in the guise of an eagle, thehjálmfaldinnhere in question, sincehjálmfaldinnmanifestly is in apposition tohapta snytrir, "the decorator of the gods." (The common meaning ofhjálmr, as is well known, is a covering, a garb, or whichhjálmrin the sense of a helmet is a specification.) It therefore became necessary to assume that Odin was meant byhjálmfaldinnandhapta snytrir. This led to the changing ofquothotoquad, and to the insertion in the manuscripts of amunnot found there, and to the exclusion of athvifound there. The result was, moreover, that no notice was taken of the use made of theexpressionshjálmfaldinnandsnytririn a poem closely related to Haustlaung, and evidently referring to its description of Thjasse. This poem is Einar Skalaglam's "Vellekla," which celebrates Hakon Jarl, the Great. Hakon Jarl regarded himself as descended from Thjasse through the latter's daughter, Skade (Háleygjatal), and on this account Vellekla contains a number of allusions to the mythic progenitor. The task (from a poetic and rhetorical point of view) which Einar has undertaken is in fact that of taking, so far as possible, the kernel of those paraphrases with which he celebrates Hakon Jarl (see below) from the myth concerning Thjasse, and the task is performed with force and acumen. In the execution of his poem Einar has had before him that part of Thjodulf's Haustlaung which concerned Thjasse. In str. 6 he calls Thjasse's descendantthjódar snytrir, taking his cue from Haustlaung, which calls Thjassehapta snytrir. In str. 8 he gives Hakon the epithethjálmi faldinn, having reference to Haustlaung, which makes Thjasse appearhjálm faldinn. In str. 10 Hakon is agard-Rögnir, just as Thjasse is aving-Rögnirin Haustlaung. In str. 11 Hakon is amidjungr, just as Thjasse is amidjungrin Haustlaung. In str. 16 an allusion is made in the phrasevildi Yggsnidr fridar bildjato Haustlaung'smálunautr hváts mátti fridar bidja. In str. 21 Hakon is calledhlym-Narfi, just as Thjasse in Haustlaung is calledgrjót Nidadr(NarfiandNidadrare epithets of Mimer; see Nos. 85, 87). In str. 22 Hakon is calledfangsæll, and Thjasse has the same epithet in Haustlaung. Some of the paraphrases in Vellekla, to which the myth about Thjassefurnishes the kernel, I shall discuss below. There can, therefore, be no doubt whatever that Einar in Haustlaung'shjálmfaldinnandhapta snytrirsaw epithets of Thjasse, and we arrive at the same result if we interpret the text in its original reading and make no emendations.
Thus we have already found three paraphrases which inform us that Thjasse was an ancient artist, one of the great smiths of mythology: (1)thiaza thingskil, golden treasures produced as evidence in court owned or made by Thjasse; (2)hapta snytrir, he who gave ornaments to the gods; (3)fadir mörna, the father of the swords.
Thjasse's claim to become a table-companion of the gods and to eat with them,af helgu skutli, points in all probability to an ancient mythological fact of which we find a counterpart in the Iranian records. This fact is that, as a compensation for the services he had rendered the gods, Thjasse was anxious to be elevated to their rank and to receive sacrifices from their worshippers. This demand from the Teutonic star-hero Thjasse is also made by the Iranian star-hero Tistrya, Rigveda's Tishya. Tistrya complains in Avesta that he has not sufficient strength to oppose the foe of growth, Apaosha, since men do not worship him, Tistrya, do not offer sacrifices to him. If they did so, it is said, then he would be strong enough to conquer. Tishya-Tistrya does not appear to have obtained complete rank as a god; but still he is worshipped in Rigveda, though very seldom, and in cases of severe dry weather the Iranians were commanded to offer sacrifices to him.
(17) In Haustlaung Thjasse is calledving-Rögnirvagna, "the Rogner of the winged cars," andfjardarblads leik-Regin, "the Regin of the motion of the feather-leaf (the wing)." In the mythology Thjasse, like Volund, wears an eagle guise. In an eagle guise Volund flies away from his prison at Mimer-Nidadr's. When Thjasse, through Loke's deceit, is robbed of Idun, he hastens in wild despair, with the aid of his eagle guise, after the robber, gets his wings burned in the vaferflames kindled around Asgard, falls pierced by the javelins of the gods, and is slain by Thor. The original meaning ofReginis maker, creator, arranger, worker. The meaning has been preserved through the ages, so that the wordregin, though applied to all the creative powers (Völsupa), still retained even in Christian times the signification of artist, smith, and reappears in the heroic traditions in the name of the smithReginn. When, therefore, Thjasse is called "the Regin of the motion of the feather-leaf," there is no reason to doubt that the phrase alludes not only to the fact that he possessed a feather guise, but also to the idea that he was its "smith;" the less so as we have already seen him characterised as an ancient artist in the phrasesthiaza thingskil,hapta snytrir, andfadir mörna. Thus we here have a fourth proof of the same kind. The phrase "the Rognir of the winged cars" connects him not only with a single vehicle, but with several. "Wing-car" is a paraphrase for a guise furnished with wings, and enabling its owner to fly through the air. The expression "wing-car" may be applied to several of the strange means used by the powers for locomotion through the air and over the sea, as, for instance, the carsof Thor and Frey, Balder's ship Ringhorn, Frey's ship Skidbladner, and the feather garbs of the swan-maids. The mythology which knew from whose hands Skidbladner proceeded certainly also had something to say of the masters who produced Ringhorn and the above-mentioned cars and feather garbs. That they were made by ancient artists and not by the highest gods is an idea of ancient Aryan birth. In Rigveda it was the Ribhus, the counterparts of the Ivalde sons, who smithied the wonderful car-ship of the Asvinians and Indra's horses.
The appellationsRögnirandReginalso occur outside of Haustlaung in connection with each other, and this even as late as in theSkida-Rima, composed between 1400 and 1450, where Regin is represented as a smith (Rögnir kallar Regin til sín: rammliga skaltu smida—str. 102). In Forspjallsljod (10) we read:Galdr gólo, gaundom ritho Rögnir ok Regin at ranni heimis—"Rogner and Regin sang magic songs at the edge of the earth and constructed magic implements." They who do this are artists, smiths. In strophe 8 they are calledviggiar, andviggiis a synonym ofsmidr(Younger Edda, i. 587). While they do this Idun is absent from Asgard (Forspjallsljod, str. 6), and a terrible cold threatens to destroy the earth. The words in Völuspa, with which the terrible fimbul-winter of antiquity is characterised,loptr lævi blandinn, are adopted by Forspjallsljod (str. 6—lopti med lævi), thus showing that the same mythic event is there described. The existence of the order of the world is threatened, the earth and the source of light are attacked by evil influences, the life of nature is dying, from thenorth (east), from the Elivagar rivers come piercing, rime-cold arrows of frost, which kill men and destroy the vegetation of the earth. The southern source of the lower world, whose function it is to furnish warming saps to the world-tree, was not able to prevent the devastations of the frost. "It was so ordained," it is said in Forspjallsljod, str. 2, "that Urd'sOdrærir(Urd's fountain) did not have sufficient power to supply protection against the terrible cold."[11]The destruction is caused by Rogner and Regin. Their magic songs are heard even in Asgard. Odin listens in Lidskjalf and perceives that the song comes from the uttermost end of the world. The gods are seized by the thought that the end of the world is approaching, and send their messengers to the lower world in order to obtain there from the wise norn a solution of the problem of the world and to get the impending fate of the world proclaimed.
In the dictionaries and in the mythological text-booksRögniris said to be one of Odin's epithets. In his excellent commentary on Vellekla, Freudenthal has expressed a doubt as to the correctness of this view. I have myself made a list of all the passages in the Old Norse literature where the name occurs, and I have thereby reached the conclusion that the statement in the dictionaries and in the text-books has no other foundation than the name-list inEddubrottand the above-citedSkidarima, composed in the fifteenth century. The conceptions of the latter in regard to heathen mythology are of such a nature that it shouldnever in earnest be regarded as an authority anent this question. In the Old Norse records there cannot be found a single passage whereRögniris used as an epithet of Odin. It is everywhere used in reference to a mythic being who was a smith and a singer of magic songs, and regularly, and without exception, refers to Thjasse. While Thjodolf designates Thjasse as the Rogner of the wing-cars, his descendant Hakon Jarl gets the same epithet in Einar Skalaglam's paraphrases. He ishjörs brak-Rögnir, "the Rogner of the sword-din," andGeirrásargard-Rögnir, "the Rogner of the wall of the sword-flight (the shield)." The Thjasse descendant, Sigurd Hladejarl, is, in harmony herewith, calledfens furs Rögnir.Thrym-Rögnir(Eg., 58) alludes to Thjasse as ruler in Thrymheim. A parallel phrase tothrym-Rögniristhrym-Regin(Younger Edda, i. 436). Thus, while Thjasse is characterised asRögnir, Saxo has preserved the fact that Volund's brother, Orvandel-Egil, bore the epithet Regin. Saxo Latinises Regin into Regnerus, and gives this name to Ericus-Svipdag's father (Hist., 192). The epithetRögnirconfines itself exclusively to a certain group—to Thjasse and his supposed descendants. Among them it is, as it were, an inheritance.
The paraphrases in Vellekla are of great mythological importance. While other mythic records relate that Thjasse carried away Idun, the goddess of vegetation, the goddess who controls the regenerating forces in nature, and that he thus assisted in bringing about the great winter of antiquity, we learn from Vellekla that it was he who directly, and by separate magic acts, produced this winter,and that he, accordingly, acted the same part in this respect as Rogner and Regin do in Forspjallsljod.
Thus, for example, the poem on Hakon Jarl, when the latter fought against the sons of Gunhild, says:Hjörs brak-Rögnir skók bogna hagl or Hlakkar seglum, "the Rogner of the sword-din shook the hail of the bows from the sails of the valkyrie." The mythic kernel of the paraphrase is:Rögnir skók hagl ur seglum, "Rogner shook hails from the sails." The idea is still to be found in the sagas that men endowed with magic powers could produce a hailstorm by shaking napkins or bags, filling the air with ashes, or by untying knots. And in Christian records it is particularly stated of Hakon Jarl that he held in honour two mythic beings—Thorgerd and Irpa—who, when requested, could produce storms, rain, and hail. No doubt this tradition is connected with Hakon's supposed descent from Thjasse, the cause of hailstorms and of the fimbul-winter. By making Rogner the "Rogner of the sword-din," and the hail sent by him "the hail of the bows," and the sails or napkins shook by him "the sails of the valkyrie"—that is to say, the shields—the skald makes the mythological kernel pointed out develop into figures applicable to the warrior to the battle.
In other paraphrases Vellekla says that the descendant of Thjasse, Hakon, made "the death-cold sword-storm grow against the life of udal men in Odin's storm," and that he was "an elf of the earth of the wood-land" coming from the north, who, with "murder-frost," received the warriors of the south (Emperor Otto's army) at Dannevirke. Upon the whole Vellekla chooses the figures usedin describing the achievements of Hakon from the domain of cold and storm, and there can be no doubt that it does so in imitation of the Thjasse-myth.
In another poem to Hakon Jarl, of which poem there is only a fragment extant, the skald Einar speaks of Hakon's generosity, and says:Verk Rögnis mer hogna, "Rogner's works please me." We know that Hakon Jarl once gave Einar two gilt silver goblets, to which belonged two scales in the form of statuettes, the one of gold, the other of silver, which scales were thought to possess magic qualities, and that Hakon on another occasion gave him an exceedingly precious engraved shield, inlaid between the engraved parts with gold and studded with precious stones. It was customary for the skalds to make songs on such gifts. It follows, therefore, that the "works of Rogner," with which Einar says he was pleased, are the presents which Hakon, the supposed descendant of Rogner-Thjasse, gave him; and I find this interpretation the more necessary for the reason that we have already found several unanimous evidences of Thjasse's position in the mythology as an artist of the olden time.
Forspjallsljod's Rogner "sings magic songs" and "concocts witchcraft" in order to encourage and strengthen by these means of magic the attack of the powers of frost on the world protected by the gods. Haustlaung calls Thjasseramman reimud Jötunheima, "the powerfulreimudof Jotunheim." The wordreimudoccurs nowhere else. It is thought to be connected withreimtandreimleikar, words which in the writings of Christian times refer to ghosts, supernatural phenomena, andreimudr.Jötunheimahas therefore been interpreted as "the one who made Jotunheim the scene of his magic arts and ghost-like appearances." From what has been stated above, it is manifest that this interpretation is correct.