Thus we understand why the dead descended to Hades and still inhabited the grave-mounds. One died "to Hel" and "to the grave" at the same time. That of which earthly man consisted, in addition to his corporal garb, was not the simple being, "the soul," which cannot be divided, but there was a combination of factors, which in death could be separated, and of which those remaining on earth, while they had long been the covering of a personal kernel (ódr), could themselves in a new combination form another ego of the person who had descended to Hades.
But that too consisted of several factors,litr,ódr, andönd, and they were not inseparably united. We have already seen that the sinner, sentenced to torture, dies a second death in the lower world before he passes through the Na-gates, the death from Hel to Nifelhel, so that he becomes anár, a corpse in a still deeper sense than that whichnárhas in a physical sense. The second death, like the first (physical), must consist in the separation of one or more of the factors from the being that dies. And in the second death, that which separates itself from the damned one and changes his remains into a lower-worldnár, must be those factors that have no blame in connection with his sins, and consequently should not suffer his punishment, and which in their origin are too noble tobecome the objects of the practice of demons in the art of torturing. The venom drink which the damned person has to empty deprives him of that image of the gods in which he was made, and of the spirit which was the noble gift of the Asa-father. Changed into amonster, he goes to his destiny fraught with misfortunes.
The idea of a regeneration was not foreign to the faith of the Teutonic heathens. To judge from the very few statements we have on this point, it would seem that it was only the very best and the very worst who were thought to be born anew in the present world. Gulveig was born again several times by the force of her own evil will. But it is only ideal persons of whom it is said that they are born again—e.g., Helge Hjorvardson, Helge Hundingsbane, and Olaf Geirstadaralf, of whom the last was believed to have risen again in Saint Olaf. With the exception of Gulveig, the statements in regard to the others from Christian times are an echo from the heathen Teutonic doctrine which it would be most interesting to become better acquainted with—also from the standpoint of comparative Aryan mythology, since this same doctrine appears in a highly-developed form in the Asiatic-Aryan group of myths.
96.
SVIPDAG AND GROA.
Groa's son Svipdag is mentioned by this name in two Old Norse songs, Grogalder and Fjölsvinnsmal, which as Bugge has shown, are mutually connected, and describe episodes from the same chain of events.
The contents of Grogalder are as follows:
Groa is dead when the event described in the song takes place. Svipdag is still quite young. Before her death she has told him that he is to go to her grave and call her if he needs her help. The grave is a grave-chamber made of large flat stones raised over a stone floor, and forming when seen from the outside a mound which is furnished with a door (str. 1, 15).
Svipdag's father has married a second time. The stepmother commands her stepson to go abroad and findMenglödum, "those fond of ornaments." From Fjölsvinnsmal we learn that one of those called by this name is a young maid who becomes Svipdag's wife. Her real name is not given: she is continually designated asMenglöd, Menglad, one of "those fond of ornaments," whom Svipdag has been commanded to find.
This task seems to Svipdag to exceed his powers. It must have been one of great adventures and great dangers, for he now considers it the proper time to ask his deceased mother for help. He has become suspicious of his stepmother's intentions; he considers herlævis(cunning), and her proposition is "a cruel play which she has put before him" (str. 3).
He goes to Groa's grave-chamber, probably in the night (verda auflgari allir a nottum dauthir—Helge Hund., ii. 51), bids her wake, and reminds her of her promise. That of Groa which had become dust (er til moldar er komin), and that of her which had left this world of man and gone to the lower world (er ór ljódheimum lidin), become again united under the influence of maternal love and of the son's prayer, and Svipdag hears out of the grave-chamber his mother's voice asking him why he has come. He speaks of the errand on which he has been sent by his stepmother (str. 3, 4).
The voice from the grave declares that long journeys lie before Svipdag if he is to reach the goal indicated. It does not, however, advise him to disobey the command of his stepmother, but assures him that if he will but patiently look for a good outcome of the matter, then the norn will guide the events into their right course (str. 4).
The son then requests his mother to sing protecting incantations over him. She is celebrated in mythology as one mighty in incantations of the good kind. It was Groa that sang healing incantations over Thor when with a wounded forehead he returned from the conflict with the giant Hrungner (Gylfag.).
Groa hears his prayer, and sings from the grave an incantation of protection against the dangers which her prophetic vision has discovered on those journeys that now lie before Svipdag: first, the incantation that can inspire the despondent youth who lacks confidence in himself with courage and reliance in his own powers. It is, Groa says, the same incantation as another mother before her sang over a son whose strength had not yet been developed, and who had a similar perilous task to perform. It is an incantation, says Groa, which Rind, Vale's mother, sang overRánr. This synonym of Vale is of saga-historical interest. Saxo calls ValeBous, the Latinised form for Beowulf, and Beowulf's grave-mound, according to the Old English poem which bears his name, is situated onHrones næss,Ránr'sness. Here too a connection between Vale and the nameRánris indicated.
Groa's second incantation contains a prayer that when her son, joyless, travels his paths and sees scorn and evil before his eyes, he may always be protected by Urd'slokur(an ambiguous expression, which may on the one hand refer to the bonds and locks of the goddess of fate, on the other hand to Groa's own phrophetic magic song:lokurmeans both songs of a certain kind and locks and prisons).
On his journey Svipdag is to cross rivers, which with swelling floods threaten his life; but Groa's third incantation commands these rivers to flow down to Hel and to fall for her son. The rivers which have their course to Hel (falla til Heljar hedan—Grimnersmal, 28) are subterranean rivers rising on the Hvergelmer mountain (59, 93).
Groa's fourth and fifth incantations indicate that Svipdag is to encounter enemies and be put in chains. Her songs are then to operate in such a manner that the hearts of the foes are softened into reconciliation, and that the chains fall from the limbs of her son. For this purpose she gives him that power which is called "Leifnir'sfires" (see No. 38), which loosens fetters from enchanted limbs (str. 9, 10).
Groa's sixth incantation is to save Svipdag from perishing in a gale on the sea. In the great world-mill (ludr) which produces the maelstrom, ocean currents, ebb and flood tide (see Nos. 79-82), calm and war are to "gang thegither" in harmony, be at Svipdag's service and prepare him a safe voyage.
The seventh incantation that comes from the grave-chamber speaks of a journey which Svipdag is to make over a mountain where terrible cold reigns. The song is to save him from becoming a victim of the frost there.
The last two incantations, the eighth and the ninth, show what was already suggested by the third, namely, that Svipdag's adventurous journeys are to be crowned with a visit in the lower world. He is to meet Natá Niflvegi, "on the Nifel-way," "in Nifel-land." The wordnifldoes not occur in the Old Norse literature except in reference to the northern part of the Teutonic Hades, the forecourt to the worlds of torture there.NiflhelandNiflheimare, as we know, the names of that forecourt.Niflfarinnis the designation, as heretofore mentioned, of a deceased whose soul has descended to Nifelhel;Niflgódris a nithing, one deserving to be damned to thetortures of the lower world. Groa's eighth incantation is to protect her son against the perilous consequences of encountering a "dead woman" (daud kona) on his journey through Nifelhel. The ninth incantation shows that Svipdag, on having traversed the way to the northern part of the lower world, crosses the Hvergelmer mountain and comes to the realm of Mimer; for he is to meet and talk with "the weapon-honoured giant," Mimer himself, under circumstances which demand "tongue and brains" on the part of Groa's son:
ef thú vid inn náddgöfgaordum skiptir jötun:máls ok mannvitssé ther á Mimis hjartagnóga of getit.
In the poem Fjölsvinnsmal, which I am now to discuss, we read with regard to Svipdag's adventures in the lower world that on his journey in Mimer's domain he had occasion to see theásmegir'scitadel and the splendid things within its walls (str. 33; cp. No. 53).
97.
SVIPDAG OUTSIDE OF THE GATES OF ASGARD. MENGLAD'S IDENTITY WITH FREYJA.
In the first stanzas of Fjölsvinnsmal we see Svipdag making his way to a citadel which is furnished withforgördum—that is to say, ramparts in front of the gate in the wall which surrounds the place. On one of these ramparts stands a watchman who calls himselfFjölsvinnr, which is an epithet of Odin (Grimnersmal, 47).
The first strophe of the poem calls Svipdagthursa thjódar sjólr(sjóli), "the leader of the Thurs people." The reason why he could be designated thus has already been given (see Nos. 24, 33): During the conflicts between the powers of winter and the sons of Ivalde, and the race connected with them, on the one side, and the Teutonic patriarch Halfdan, favoured by the Asa-gods, on the other side, Svipdag opposed the latter and finally defeated him (see No. 93).
From the manner in which Fjölsvin receives the traveller it appears that a "leader of the Thurs people" need not look for a welcome outside of such a citadel as this. Fjölsvin calls him aflagd, avargr, and advises him to go back by "moist ways," for within this wall such a being can never come. Meanwhile these severe words do not on this occasion appear to be spoken in absolute earnest, for the watchman at the same time encourages conversation, by asking Svipdag what his errand is. The latter corrects the watchman for his rough manner of receiving him, and explains that he is not able to return, for the burgh he sees is a beautiful sight, and there he would be able to pass a happy life.
When the watchman now asks him about his parents and family he answers in riddles. Himself "the leader of the Thurs people," the former ally of the powers of frost, he calls Windcold, his father he calls Springcold, and his grandfather Verycold (Fjölkaldr). This answer gives the key to the character of the whole following conversation, in which Svipdag is the questioner, whose interrogations the watchman answers in such a mannerthat he gives persons and things names which seldom are their usual ones, but which refer to their qualities.
What castle is this, then, before which Svipdag stopped, and within whose walls he is soon to find Menglad, whom he seeks?
A correct answer to this question is of the greatest importance to a proper understanding of the events of mythology and their connection. Strange to say, it has hitherto been assumed that the castle is the citadel of a giant, a resort of thurses, and that Menglad is a giantess.
Svipdag has before him a scene that enchants his gaze and fills him with a longing to remain there for ever. It is a pleasure to the eyes, he says, which no one willingly renounces who once has seen a thing so charming. Several "halls," that is to say, large residences or palaces, with their "open courts," are situated on these grounds. The halls glitter with gold, which casts a reflection over the plains in front of them (gardar gloa mer thykkja af gullna sali—str. 5). One of the palaces, a most magnificent one (an audrann), is surrounded by "wise Vaferflame," and Fjölsvin says of it that from time immemorial there has been a report among men in regard to this dwelling. He calls itHýrr, "the gladdening one," "the laughing one," "the soul-stirring one." Within the castle wall there rises a hill or rock, which the author of the song conceived as decorated with flowers or in some other ravishing way, for he calls ita joyous rock. There the fair Menglad is seen sitting like an image (thruma), surrounded by lovely dises. Svipdag here sees the world-tree,invisible on earth, spreading its branches loaded with fruits (aldin) over all lands. In the tree sits the cockVidofnir, whose whole plumage glitters like gold (str. 19, 22, 23, 31, 32, 35, 49).
The whole place is surrounded by a wall, "so solid that it shall stand as long as the world" (str. 12). It is built of Lerbrimer's (Ymer's) limbs, and is calledGastrofnir, "the same one as refuses admittance to uninvited guests." In the wall is inserted the gate skilfully made by Solblinde's sons, the one which I have already mentioned in No. 36. Svipdag, who had been in the lower world and had there seen the halls of the gods and the well-fortified castle of theásmegir(see No. 53), admires the wall and the gate, and remarks that no more dangerous contrivances (for uninvited guests) than these were seen among the gods (str. 9-12).
The gate is guarded by two "garms," wolf-dogs. Fjölsvin explains that their names areGifrandGeri, that they are to live and perform their duty as watch-dogs to the end of the world (unz rjúfask regin), and that they are the watchers of watchers, whose number is eleven (vardir ellifu, er their varda—str. 14).
Just as the mythic personality that Svipdag met outside of the castle is named by the Odin-epithetFjölsvidr, so we here find one of the watching dogs called after one of Odin's wolf-dogs,Geri(Grimnersmal, 19). Their duty of watching, which does not cease before Ragnarok, they perform in connection with eleven mythic persons dwelling within the citadel, who are themselves calledvardir, an epithet for world-protecting divinities. Heimdal isvördr goda, Balder isvördr Hálfdanar jarda. The number of the Asas is eleven after Balder descended to the lower world. Hyndluljod says:Voru ellifu æsir taldir, Balldr er hne vid banathufu.
These wolf-dogs are foes of giants and trolls. If avættrcame there he would not be able to get past them (str. 16—ok kemt thá vættr, ef thá kom). The troll-beings that are calledgifrandkveldridur(Völuspa, 50; Helge Hjorv., 15), and that fly about in the air withlim(bundles of sticks) in their hands, have been made to fall by these dogs. They have madegifr-liminto a "land-wreck" (er gjordu gífrlim reka fyrir löndin—str. 13). As one of the dogs is himself calledGifr, his ability, like that of those chased by him, to fly in the air seems to be indicated. The old tradition about Odin, who with his dogs flies through the air above the earth, has its root in the myth concerning the duty devolving upon the Asa-father, in his capacity of lord of the heavens, to keep space free fromgifr,kveddridur,tunridur, who "leika á lopti," do their mischief in the air (cp. Havamál, 155).
The hall in which Menglad lives, and that part of the wall-surrounded domain which belongs to her, seems to be situated directly in front of the gate, for Svipdag, standing before it, asks who is the ruler of the domain which he sees before him, and Fjölsvin answers that it is Menglad who there holds sway, owns the land, and is mistress of the treasure-chambers.
The poem tells us in the most unmistakable manner that Menglad is an asynje, and that one of the verynoblest ones. "What are the names," asks Svipdag, "of the young women who sit so pleasantly together at Menglad's feet?" Fjölsvin answers by naming nine, among whom are the goddess of healing,Eir(Prose Edda, i. 114), and the disesHlif, "the protectress,"Björt, "the shining,"Blid, "the blithe," andFrid, "the fair." Their place at Menglad's feet indicates that they are subordinate to her and belong to her attendants. Nevertheless they are, Fjölsvin assures us, higher beings, who have sanctuaries and altars (str. 40), and have both power and inclination quickly to help men who offer sacrifices to them. Nay, "no so severe evil can happen to the sons of men that these maids are not able to help them out of their distress." It follows with certainty that their mistress Menglad, "the one fond of ornaments," must be one of the highest and most worshipped goddesses in the mythology. And to none of the asynjes is the epithet "fond of ornaments" (Menglad) more applicable than to the fair owner of the first among female ornaments, Brisingamen—to Freyja, whose daughtersHnossandGersamiare called by names that mean "ornaments," and of whose fondness for beautiful jewels even Christian saga authors speak. To the court of no other goddess are such dises asBjört,Blid, andFridso well suited as to hers. And all that Fjölsvinnsmal tells about Menglad is in harmony with this.
Freyja was the goddess of love, of matrimony, and of fertility, and for this reason she was regarded as the divine ruler and helper, to whom loving maids, wives who are to bear children, and sick women were to addressthemselves with prayers and offerings. Figuratively this is expressed in Fjölsvinnsmal with the words that every sick woman who walks up the mountain on which Menglad sits regains her health. "That mountain has long been the joy of the sick and wounded" (str. 36). The great tree whose foliage spreads over Menglad's palace bears the fruits that helpkélisjúkar konur, so thatutar hverva that thær innar skyli(str. 22). In the midst of the fair dises who attend Menglad the poem also mentionsAurboda, the giantess, who afterwards becomes the mother-in-law of Freyja's brother, and whose appearance in Asgard as a maid-servant of Freyja, and as one of those that bring fruits from the world-tree tokélisjúkar konur, has already been mentioned in No. 35. If we now add that Menglad, though a mighty goddess, is married to Svipdag, who is not one of the gods, and that Freyja, despite her high rank among the goddesses, does not have a god for her husband, but, as Gylfaginning expresses it,giptist theim manni er Ódr heitir, and, finally that Menglad's father is characterised by a name which refers to Freyja's father, Njord,[3]then these circumstances alone, without the additional and decisive proofs which are to be presented as this investigation progresses, are sufficient to form a solid basis for the identity of Mengladand Freyja, and as a necessary consequence for the identity of Svipdag andÓdr, also calledÓttarr.
The glorious castle to which Svipdag travelled "up" is therefore Asgard, as is plain from its very description—with its gold-glittering palace, with its wall standing until Ragnarok, with its artistic gate, with its eleven watchers, with its Fjölsvin-Odin, with its asynjeEir, with its benevolent and lovely dises worshipped by men, with its two wolf-dogs who are to keep watch so long as the world stands, and which clear the air oftunridur, with its shady arbour formed by the overhanging branches of the world-tree, and with its gold-feathered cockVidofnir(Völuspa'sGullinkambi).
Svipdag comes as a stranger to Asgard's gate, and what he there sees he has never before seen. His conversation with Fjölsvin is a series of curious questions in regard to the strange things that he now witnesses for the first time. His designation asthursa thjodar sjólrindicates not only that he is a stranger in Asgard, but also that he has been the foe of the Asgards. That he under such circumstances was able to secure admittance to the only way that leads to Asgard, the bridge Bifrost; that he was allowed unhindered to travel up this bridge and approach the gate unpunished, and without encountering any other annoyances than a few repelling words from Fjölsvin, who soon changes his tone and gives him such information as he desires—all this presupposes that the mythology must have had strong and satisfactory reasons for permitting a thing so unusual to take place. In several passages in Grogalder and in Fjölsvinnsmal it ishinted that the powers of fate had selected Svipdag to perform extraordinary things and gain an end the attaining of which seemed impossible. That the norns have some special purpose with him, and that Urd is to protect him and direct his course with invisible bonds, however erratic it may seem, all this gleams forth from the words of his mother Groa in the grave-chamber. And when Svipdag finally sees Menglad hasten to throw herself into his arms, he says himself that it is Urd's irresistible decree that has shaped things thus:Urdar ordi kvedr engi madr. But Urd's resolve alone cannot be a sufficient reason in the epic for Svipdag's adoption in Asgard, and for his gaining, though he is not of Asa-birth, the extraordinary honour and good luck of becoming the husband of the fairest of the asynjes and of one of the foremost of the goddesses. Urd must have arranged the chain of events in such a manner that Mengladdesiresto possess him, that Svipdag has deserved her love, and that the Asa-gods deem it best for themselves to secure this opponent of theirs by bonds of kinship.
98.
SVIPDAG BRINGS TO ASGARD THE SWORD OF REVENGE FORGED BY VOLUND.
The most important question put to Fjölsvin by Svipdag is, of course, the one whether a stranger can enter. Fjölsvin's answer is to the effect that this is, and remains, impossible, unless the stranger brings with him a certainsword. The wall repels an uninvited comer; the gate holds him fast if he ventures to lay hands on it; of the two wolf-dogs one is always watching while the other sleeps, and no one can pass them without permission.
To this assurance on the part of Fjölsvin are added a series of questions and answers, which the author of the poem has planned with uncommon acumen. Svipdag asks if it is not, after all, possible to get past the watching dogs. There must be something in the world delicate enough to satisfy their appetite and thus turn away their attention. Fjölsvin admits that there are two delicacies that might produce this effect, but they are pieces of flesh that lie in the limbs of the cock Vidofner (str. 17, 18). He who can procure these can steal past the dogs. But the cock Vidofner sits high in the top of the world-tree and seems to be inaccessible. Is there, then, asks Svipdag, any weapon that can bring him down dead? Yes, says Fjölsvin, there is such a weapon. It was made outside of Na-gate (nagrindr). The smith was oneLoptr. He was robbed (rúinn) of this weapon so dangerous to the gold-glittering cock, and now it is in the possession ofSinmara, who has laid it in a chest of tough iron beneath ninenjard-locks (str. 25, 26).
It must have been most difficult and dangerous to go to the place whereSinmarahas her abode and try to secure the weapon so well kept. Svipdag asks if anyone who is willing to attempt it has any hope of returning. Fjölsvin answers that in Vidofner's ankle-bones (völum) lies a bright, hook-shaped bone. If one can secure this, bring it toLudr(the place of the lower-world mill),and give it toSinmara, then she can be induced to part with the weapon in question (str. 27-30).
It appears from this that the condition on which Svipdag can get into the castle where Menglad dwells is that he shall be in possession of a weapon which was smithied by an enemy of the gods, here calledLoptr, and thus to be compared with Loke, who actually bears this epithet. If he does not possess this weapon, which doubtless is fraught with danger to the gods, and is the only one that can kill the gold-glittering cock of the world-tree, then the gate of the citadel is not opened to him, and the watching wolf-dogs will not let him pass through it.
But Fjölsvin also indicates that under ordinary circumstances, and for one who is not particularly chosen for this purpose by Fate, it is utterly impossible to secure possession of the sword in question. Before Sinmara can be induced to lend it, it is necessary to bring Vidofner dead down from the branches of the world-tree. But to kill the cock that very weapon is needed which Sinmara cannot otherwise be induced to part with.
Meanwhile the continuation of the poem shows that what was impossible for everybody else has already been accomplished by Svipdag. When he stands at the gate of the castle in conversation with Fjölsvin he has the sword by his side, and knows perfectly well that the gate is to be opened so soon as it pleases him to put an end to the talk with Fjölsvin and pronounce his own name. The very moment he does this the gate swings on its hinges, the mighty wolf-dogs welcome (fagna) him, and Menglad, informed by Fjölsvin of his arrival,hastens eagerly to meet him (str. 42, &c.). Fjölsvinnsmal, so far as acumen in plot and in execution is concerned, is the finest old poem that has been handed down to our time, but it would be reduced to the most absurd nonsense if the sword were not in Svipdag's possession, as the gate is never to be opened to anyone else than to him who brings to Menglad's castle the sword in question.
So far as the sword is concerned we have now learned:
That it was made by an artist who must have been a foe of the gods, for Fjölsvin designates him by the Loke-epithetLoptr;
That the place where the artist dwelt when he made the weapon was situatedfyr nágrindr nedan;
That while he dwelt there, and after he had finished the sword, he was robbed of it (Loptr rúinn fyr nágrindr nedan);
That he or they who robbed him of it must have been closely related to Nat and the night dises, for the sword was thereafter in the keeping of the night-beingSinmara;
That she regarded it as exceedingly precious, and also dangerous if it came into improper hands, since she keeps it in a "tough iron chest" beneath nine magical locks;
That the eleven guards that dwell in the same castle with Menglad regard it as of the greatest importance to get the sword within their castle wall;
That it has qualities like no other weapon in the world: this sword, and it alone, can kill the golden cock on the world-tree—a quality which seems to indicate that it threatens the existence of the world and the gods.
It is evident that the artist who made this incomparable and terrible weapon was one of the most celebrated smiths in mythology. The question now is, whether the information given us by Fjölsvinnsmal in regard to him is sufficient to enable us to determine with certainty who he is.
The poem does not name him by any of his names, but calls him by the Loke-epithetLoptr, "the airy." Among the ancient smiths mentioned in our mythic fragments there is one who refers to himself with the epithetByrr, "Wind," suggesting to us the same person—this one is Volund. After he in his sleep had been made prisoner by Mimer-Nidadrand his Njarians (see No. 87), he says when he awakes:
Hverir 'ro iofrartheir er a laugdobesti Byr símaoc mic bundo?
"Who are the mighty, who with bonds (besti, dative ofböstr) bound the wind (laugdo sima a Byr) and fettered me?" The expression implies that it is as easy to bind the wind as Volund. He was also able to secure his liberty again in spite of all precautions.
According to the Norse version of the Volund saga, one of the precautions resorted to is to sever the sinews of his knees (str. 17 and the prose). It isNidadr'squeen who causes this cruel treatment. In Fjölsvinnsmal the nameless mythic personality who deprived the "airy one" of his weapon has left it to be kept by a feminine person,Sinmara. The name is composed ofsin, whichmeans "sinew," andmara, which means "the one that maims." (Marais related to the verbmerja, "to maim"—see Vigfusson's Dict.) ThusSinmarameans "the one who maims by doing violence to the sinews." The one designated by this epithet in Fjölsvinnsmal has therefore acted the same part as Mimer-Nidadr'squeen in the Volundarkvida.
Mimer-Nidadr, who imprisons Volund and robs him of his sword and the incomparable arm-ring, is the father of Nat and her sisters (see No. 85). He who robs "the airy one" of his treasures must also have been intimately related to the dises of night, else he would not have selected as keeper of the weapon Sinmara, whose quality as a being of night is manifested by the meaningincubus nocturneswhich is the nameMaraacquired. In Fjölsvinnsmal (str. 29) Sinmara is calledhin fölva gygr, "the ashes-coloured giantess"—a designation pointing in the same direction.
She is also calledEir aurglasis(str. 28), an expression which, as I believe, has been correctly interpreted as "the dis of the shining arm-ring" (cp. Bugge Edda, p. 348). In Volundarkvida the daughter of Mimer-Nidadrreceives Volund's incomparable arm-ring to wear.
According to Fjölsvinnsmal "the airy one" makes his weaponfyr nágrindr nedan. The meaning of this expression has already been discussed in No. 60. The smith has his abode in the frost-cold and foggy Nifelheim, while he is at work on the sword. Nifelheim, the landfyr nágrindr nedan, as we already know, is the northern subterranean border-land of Mimer's domain. The tworealms are separated by Mount Hvergelmer, on which the Na-gates are set, and where the world-mill, calledEylúdrandLúdrhave their foundation-structure (see Nos. 59, 60, 79, 80). In its vicinity below the southern slope of the Hvergelmer mountain Nat has her hall (Nos. 84, 93). According to Fjölsvinnsmal Sinmara also dwells here. For Fjölsvin says that if Svipdag is to borrow the sword which she keeps, he must carry the above-mentioned hooked bone "toLúdrand give it to Sinmara" (ljósan ljá skaltu i Lúdr bera Sinmöra at selja—str. 30). Lúdr, the subterranean world-mill, which stands on the Nida mountain above Nat's hall, has given its name to the region where it stands. In Volundarkvida Mimer-Nidadrsuddenly appears with his wife and daughter and armed Njarians in the remote cold Wolfdales, where Volund thinks himself secure, and no one knows whence these foes of his come. The explanation is that the "Wolfdales" of the heroic saga were in the mythology situated in Nifelheim, the border-land of Mimer's realm. Like "the airy one," Volund made his swordfyr nágrindr nedan; the latter, like the former, was robbed of the weapon as soon as it was finished by a lower-world ruler, whose kinswomen are dises of the night; and in the saga of the one, as of the other, one of these night dises has caused a maiming by injuring the sinews.
Thus we can also understand why Svipdag must traverse Nifelheim, "meet Nat on Nifelway," visit the world-mill, wade across Hel-rivers, and encounter Mimer himself, "the weapon-honoured." If Svipdag wants the sword made byLoptr, he must risk these adventures,since the sword is kept in the lower world by a kinswoman of Mimer.
The heroic saga about Volund is therefore identical with the myth concerning the maker of the sword which opens Asgard for Svipdag. The former, produced in Christian times, is only a new version of the latter. Volund is a foe of the gods, an elf-prince who was deeply insulted by beings more powerful than himself (No. 87). "The airy one" must likewise be a foe of the gods, since the weapon he has made is dangerous to the golden cock of the world-tree, and is bought by "the eleven wards" with the opening of Asgard's gate and the giving of Menglad as wife to Svipdag. Its danger to Asgard must also be suggested by Fjölsvin's statement, that the splendid hall, calledHýrr, "the gladdener," "the soul-stirring," that hall which is situated within the castle wall, which is encircled by vaferflames, and which from time out of mind has been celebrated among men—that this hall has already long trembledá brodds oddi, "on the point of the sword" (str. 32). No other weapon can here be meant than one which was fraught with the greatest danger to the safety of the gods, and which filled them with anxiety; and unless we wish to deny that there is sense and connection in the poem, this sword can be no other than that which Svipdag now has with him, and which, having been brought to Asgard, relieves the gods of their anxiety. And to repeat the points of similarity, Volund, like "Loptr," makes his weapon in the northern border-land of Mimer's domain; and when the sword is finished he is surprised by subterranean powers. In Loptr's saga,as in Volund's, a magnificent arm-ring is mentioned, and in both a dis of night received this ring to wear. In Loptr's saga, as in Volund's, a night-dis is mentioned who injures sinews. And Volund himself calls himselfByrr, "the wind," which is a synonym ofLoptr.
Thus Svipdag has made a journey to the lower world to get possession of the sword of Volund, and he has been successful.
99.
SVIPDAG'S FATHER ORVANDEL, THE STAR-HERO. EXPLANATION OF HIS EPITHET SÓLBJARTR.
The conversation between Fjölsvin and Svipdag ends when the latter gives his name, and requests the former to ask Menglad if she wishes to possess his love. Menglad then hastens to meet him, but before she shows what she feels for him, he must confirm with his own name and that of his father's that he really is the one he pretends to be—the one she has long been longing for. The young hero then says:Svipdagr ek heitir, Sólbjartr hét minn fadir(str. 47).
When Fjölsvin asked Svipdag what the name of his father was, he answered: Springcold,Várkaldr(str. 6); and I have already stated the reason why he was so called. Now he gives another name of his father—Sólbjartr—which also is a mere epithet, but still, as Svipdag must here speak plainly, it has to be such a name as can refer to his father in a distinct and definite manner.
Svipdag's mother, Groa, was married toÖrvandill hinnfrækni(Younger Edda, 276-278). The epithetSólbjartr, "he who has a brightness like that of the sun," if it really refers to Orvandel, must be justified and explained by something that the mythology had to report of him. Of Orvandel, we know from the Younger Edda that he and Groa had at least for a time been good friends of Thor; that on one of his expeditions in Jotunheim, north of the Elivagar rivers, the latter had met Orvandel and had carried him in his provision-basket across the water to his home; that Orvandel there froze his toe; that Thor broke this off, and, in honour of Orvandel, threw it up into the heavens, where it became that star which is calledOrvandel's toe. Of ancient Teutonic star-names but very few have been handed down to our time, and it is natural that those now extant must be those of constellations or separate stars, which attracted attention on account of their appearance, or particularly on account of the strength of their light. One of them was "Orvandel's toe." By the name Orvandel (Earendel) a star was also known among the Teutons in Great Britain. After being converted to Christianity they regarded theEarendelstar as a symbol of Christ. The Church had already sanctified such a view by applying to Christ the second epistle of Peter i. 19: "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts." The morning star became, as we read in a Latin hymn, "typus Christi."
But it would be a too hasty conclusion to assume that Orvandel's star and the morning star were identical inheathen times. All that we can assert with certainty is that the former must have been one of the brightest, for the very nameEarendelgradually became in the Old English an abstract word meaning "splendour."
Codex Exoniensis has preserved a hymn to Christ, the introductory stanzas of which appear to be borrowed from the memory of the heathen hymn to Orvandel, and to have been adapted to Christ with a slight change:
Eala Earendelengla beorhtast,ofer Middangeardmonnum sendedand sodiästasunnan leoma,tohrt ofer tunglasthu tida gehvaneof sylfum thesymle inlihtes.
O Orvandel,brightest shining of angels,thou who over Midgardart sent to men,thou truebeam of the sunshining abovethe lights of heaven,thou who alwaysof thyselfgivest light.
From this Old English song it appears as if the Orvandel epithetSólbjartrwas in vogue among the Saxon tribes in England. We there find an apparent interpretation of the epithet in the phrases adapted to Earendel, "brightest (beorhtast) of angels" and "true beam of the sun." That Svipdag's name was well known in England, and that a Saxon royal dynasty counted him among their mythical forefathers, can be demonstrated by the genealogy of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. That Svipdag with sufficient distinctness might characterise his father asSólbjartris accordingly explained by the fact that Orvandel is a star-hero, and that the star bearing his namewas one of the "brightest" in the heavens, and in brilliancy was like "a beam from the sun."
100.
SVIPDAG RESCUED FREYJA FROM THE HANDS OF THE GIANTS. SAXO ON OTHARUS AND SYRITHA. SVIPDAG IDENTICAL WITH OTHARUS.
When Menglad requests Svipdag to name his race and his name, she does so because she wantsjartegn(legal evidence; compare the expressionmed vitnum ok jartegnum) that he is the one as whose wife she had been designated by the norns (ef ek var ther kván of kvedin—str. 46), and that her eyes had not deceived her. She also wishes to know something about his past life that may confirm that he is Svipdag. When Svipdag had given as ajartegnhis own name and an epithet of his father, he makes only a brief statement in regard to his past life, but to Menglad it is an entirely sufficient proof of his identity with her intended husband. He says that the winds drove him on cold paths from his father's house to frosty regions of the world (str. 47). That word used by him, "drove" (reka), implies that he did not spontaneously leave his home, a fact which we also learn in Grogalder. On the command of his stepmother, and contrary to his own will, he departs to find Menglads, "the women fond of ornaments." His answer further shows that after he had left his father's house he had made journeys in frost-cold regions of the world. Such regions are Jotunheim andNifelheim, which was in fact regarded as a subterranean part of Jotunheim (see Nos. 59, 63).
Menglad has eagerly longed for the day when Svipdag should come. Her mood, when Svipdag sees her within the castle wall sitting on "the joyous mount" surrounded by asynjes and dises, is described in the poem by the verbthruma, "to be sunk into a lethargic, dreamy condition." When Fjölsvin approaches her and bids her "look at a stranger who may be Svipdag" (str. 43), she awakes in great agony, and for a moment she can scarcely control herself. When she is persuaded that she has not been deceived either by Fjölsvin's words or by her own eyes, she at once seals the arrival of the youth with a kiss. The words which the poem makes her lips utter testify, like her conduct, that it is not the first time she and Svipdag have met, but that it is a "meeting again," and that she long ere this knew that she possessed Svipdag's love. She speaks not only of her own longing for him, but also of his longing and love for her (str. 48-50), and is happy that "he has come again to her halls" (at thu est aptr komin, mögr, til minna sala—str. 49). This "again" (back), which indicates a previous meeting between Menglad and Svipdag, is found in all the manuscripts of Fjölsvinnsmal, and that it has not been added by any "betterer" trying to mend the metres of the text is demonstrated by the fact that the metre would be improved by the absence of the wordaptr.
Meanwhile it appears with certainty from Fjölsvinnsmal that Svipdag never before had seen the castle within whose walls Menglad hasríki, eign ok audsölum(str. 7,8). He stands before its gate as a wondering stranger, and puts question after question to Fjölsvin in regard to the remarkable sights before his eyes. It follows that Menglad did not have her halls within this citadel, but dwelt somewhere else, at the time when she on a previous occasion met Svipdag and became assured that he loved her.
In this other place she must have resided when Svipdag's stepmother commanded him to findMenglödum, that is to say, Menglad, but also some one else to whom the epithet "ornament-glad" might apply. This is confirmed by the fact that this other person to whom Grogalder's words refer is not at all mentioned in Fjölsvinnsmal. It is manifest that many things had happened, and that Svipdag had encountered many adventures, between the episode described in Grogalder, when he had just been commanded by his stepmother to find "those loving ornaments," and the episode in Fjölsvinnsmal, when he seeks Menglad again in Asgard itself.
Where can he have met her before? Was there any time when Freyja did not dwell in Asgard? Völuspa answers this question, as we know, in the affirmative. The event threatening to the gods and to the existence of the world once happened that the goddess of fertility and love came into the power of the giants. Then all the high-holy powers assembled to consider "who had mixed the air with corruption and given Od's maid to the race of giants." But none of our Icelandic mythic records mentions how and by whom Freyja was liberated from the hands of the powers of frost. Under the nameSvipdag our hero is mentioned only in Grogalder and Fjölsvinnsmal; all we learn of him under the nameÓdrandÓttarris that he was Freyja's lover and husband (Völuspa, Hyndluljod); that he went far, far away; that Freyja then wept for him, that her tears became gold, that she sought him among unknown peoples, and that she in her search assumed many names:Mardöll,Hörn,Gefn,Syr(Younger Edda, 114). To get further contributions to the Svipdag myth we must turn to Saxo, where the name Svipdag should be found as Svipdagerus,Óttaras Otharus or Hotharus, andÓdras Otherus or Hotherus.[4]
There cannot be the least doubt that Saxo's Otharus is a figure borrowed from the mythology and from the heroic sagas therewith connected, since in the first eight books of hisHistorynot a single person can be shown who is not originally found in the mythology. But the mythic records that have come down to our time know only oneOttarr, and he is the one who wins Freyja's heart. This alone makes it the duty of the mythologist to follow this hint here given and see whether that which Saxo relates about his Otharus confirms his identity with Svipdag-Ottar.
The Danish king Syvaldus had, says Saxo, an uncommonly beautiful daughter, Syritha, who fell into the hands of a giant. The way this happened was as follows: A woman who had a secret understanding withthe giant succeeded in nestling herself in Syritha's confidence, in being adopted as her maidservant, and in enticing her to a place where the giant lay in ambush. The latter hastened away with Syritha and concealed her in a wild mountain district. When Otharus learned this he started out in search of the young maiden. He visited every recess in the mountains, found the maiden and slew the giant. Syritha was in a strange condition when Otharus liberated her. The giant had twisted and pressed her locks together so that they formed on her head one hard mass which hardly could be combed out except with the aid of an iron tool. Her eyes stared in an apathetic manner, and she never raised them to look at her liberator. It was Otharus' determination to bring a pure virgin back to her kinsmen. But the coldness and indifference she seemed to manifest toward him was more than he could endure, and so he abandoned her on the way. While she now wandered alone through the wilderness she came to the abode of a giantess. The latter made the maiden tend her goats. Still, Otharus must have regretted that he abandoned Syritha, for he went in search of her and liberated her a second time. The mythic poem from which Saxo borrowed his story must have contained a song, reproduced by him in Latin paraphrases, and in which Otharus explained to Syritha his love, and requested her, "whom he had suffered so much in seeking and finding," to give him a look from her eyes as a token that under his protection she was willing to be brought back to her father and mother. But her eyes continually stared on the ground, and apparently she remained ascold and indifferent as before. Otharus then abandoned her for the second time. From the thread of the story it appears that they were then not far from that border which separates Jotunheim from the other realms of the world. Otharus crossed that water, which in the old records is probably called the Elivagar rivers, on the opposite side of which was his father's home. Of Syritha Saxo, on the other hand, says cautiously and obscurely that "she in a manner that sometimes happened in antiquity hastened far away down the rocks"—more pristino decursis late scopulis(Hist., 333)—an expression which leads us to suppose that in the mythic account she had flown away in the guise of a bird. Meanwhile fate brought her to the home of Otharus' parents. Here she represented herself to be a poor traveller, born of parents who had nothing. But her refined manners contradicted her statement, and the mother of Otharus received her as a noble guest. Otharus himself had already come home. She thought she could remain unknown to him by never raising the veil with which she covered her face. But Otharus well knew who she was. To find out whether she really had so little feeling for him as her manners seemed to indicate, a pretended wedding between Otharus and a young maiden was arranged, whose name and position Saxo does not mention. When Otharus went to the bridal bed, Syritha was probably near him as bridesmaid, and carried the candle. The light or the flame burnt down, so that the fire came in contact with her hand, but she felt no pain, for there was in her heart a still more burning pain. When Otharus then requestedher to take care of her hand, she finally raised her gaze from the ground, and their eyes met. Therewith the spell resting on Syritha was broken: it was plain that they loved each other and the pretended wedding was changed into a real one between Syritha and Otharus. When her father learned this he became exceedingly wroth; but after his daughter had made a full explanation to him, his anger was transformed into kindness and graciousness, and he himself thereupon married a sister of Otharus.
In regard to the person who enticed Syritha into the snare laid by the giant, Saxo is not quite certain that it was a woman. Others think, he says, that it was a man in the guise of a woman.
It has long since attracted the attention of mythologists that in this narrative there are found two names, Otharus and Syritha, which seem to refer to the myth concerning Freyja. Otharus is no doubt a Latinised form of Ottar, and, as is well known, the only one who had this name in the mythology is, as stated, Freyja's lover and husband. Syritha, on the other hand, may be a Latinised form of Freyja's epithet Syr, in which Saxo presumably supposed he had found an abbreviated form of Syri (Siri, Sigrid). In Saxo's narrative Syritha is abducted by a giant (gigas), with the aid of an ally whom he had procured among Freyja's attendants. In the mythology Freyja is abducted by a giant, and, as it appears from Völuspa's words, likewise by the aid of some ally who was in Freyja's service, for it is there said that the gods hold council as to who it could have beenwho "gave," delivered Freyja to the race of the giants (hverr hefdi ætt jötuns Óds mey gefna). In Saxo Otharus is of lower descent than Syritha. Saxo has not made him a son of a king, but a youth of humble birth as compared with his bride; and his courage to look up to Syritha, Saxo remarks, can only be explained by the great deeds he had performed or by his reliance on his agreeable manners and his eloquence (sive gestarum rerum magnitudine sive comitatis et facundiæ fiducia accensus). In the mythologyÓdrwas of lower birth than Freyja: he did not by birth belong to the number of higher gods; and Svipdag had, as we know, never seen Asgard before he arrived there under the circumstances described in Fjölsvinnsmal. That the most beautiful of all the goddesses, and the one second in rank to Frigg alone, she who is particularly desired by all powers, the sister of the harvest god Frey, the daughter of Njord, the god of wealth, she who with Odin shares the privilege of choosing heroes on the battlefield—that she does not become the wife of an Asa-god, but "is married to the man calledOdr," would long since have been selected by the mythologist as a question both interesting and worthy of investigation had they cared to devote any attention to epic coherence and to premises anddénouementin the mythology in connection with the speculations on the signification of the myths as symbols of nature or on their ethical meaning. The view would then certainly have been reached that thisOdrin the epic of the mythology must have been the author of exploits which balanced his humbler descent, and the mythologists would thushave been driven to direct the investigation first of all to the question whether Freyja, who we know was for some time in the power of the giants, but was rescued therefrom, did not find as her liberator this veryOdr, who afterwards became her husband, and whetherOdrdid not by this very act gain her love and become entitled to obtain her hand. The adventure which Saxo relates actually dovetails itself into and fills a gap in that chain of events which are the result of the analysis of Grogalder and Fjölsvinnsmal. We understand that the young Svipdag is alarmed, and considers the task imposed on him by the stepmother to find Menglad far too great for his strength, if it is necessary to seek Menglad in Jotunheim and rescue her thence. We understand why on his arrival at Asgard he is so kindly received, after he has gone through the formality of giving his name, when we know that he comes not only as the feared possessor of the Volund sword, but also as the one who has restored to Asgard the most lovely and most beautiful asynje. We can then understand why the gate, which holds fast every uninvited guest, opens as of itself for him, and why the savage wolf-dogs lick him. That his words:thadan(from his paternal home)rákumk vinda kalda vegu, are to Menglad a sufficient answer to her question in regard to his previous journeys can be understood if Svipdag has, as Ottar, searched through the frost-cold Jotunheim's eastern mountain districts to find Menglad; and we can then see that Menglad in Fjölsvinnsmal can speak of her meeting with Svipdag at the gate of Asgard as a "meeting again," although Svipdagnever before had been in Asgard. And that Menglad receives him as a husband to whom she is already married, with whom she is now to be "united for ever" (Fjölsvinnsmal, 58), is likewise explained by the improvised wedding which Otharus celebrated with Syritha before she returns to her father.
The identity of Otharus with theOttarr-Odr-Svipdagrof the mythology further appears from the fact that Saxo gives him as father an Ebbo, which a comparative investigation proves to be identical with Svipdag's father Orvandel. Of the name Ebbo and the person to whom it belongs I shall have something to say in Nos. 108 and 109. Here it must be remarked that if Otharus is identical with Svipdag, then his father Ebbo, like Svipdag's father, should appear in the history of the mythic patriarch Halfdan and be the enemy of the latter (see Nos. 24, 33). Such is also the case. Saxo produces Ebbo on the scene as an enemy of Halfdan Berggram (Hist., 329, 330). A woman, Groa, is the cause of the enmity between Halfdan and Orvandel. A woman, Sygrutha, is the cause of the enmity between Halfdan and Ebbo. In the one passage Halfdan robs Orvandel of his betrothed Groa; in the other passage Halfdan robs Ebbo of his bride Sygrutha. In a third passage in hisHistory(p. 138) Saxo has recorded the tradition that Horvendillus (Orvandel) is slain by a rival, who takes his wife, there called Gerutha. Halfdan kills Ebbo. Thus it is plain that the same story is told about Svipdag's father Orvandel and about Ebbo the father of Otharus and that Groa, Sygrutha, and Gerutha are different versions of the same dis of vegetation.
According to Saxo, Syritha's father was afterwards married to a sister of Otharus. In the mythology Freyja's father Njord marries Skade, who is the foster-sister andsystrunga(sister's child) of Ottar-Svipdag (see Nos. 108, 113, 114, 115).
Freyja's surnameHörn(alsoHorn) may possibly be explained by what Saxo relates about the giant's manner of treating her hair, which he pressed into one snarled, stiff, and hard mass. With the myth concerning Freyja's locks, we must compare that about Sif's hair. The hair of both these goddesses is subject to the violence of the hands of giants, and it may be presumed that both myths symbolised some feature of nature. Loke's act of violence on Sif's hair is made good by the skill and goodwill of the ancient artists Sindre and Brok (Younger Edda, i. 340). In regard to Freyja's locks, the skill of a "dwarf" may have been resorted to, since Saxo relates that an iron instrument was necessary to separate and comb out the horn-hard braids. In Völuspa's list of ancient artists there is a smith by nameHornbori, which possibly has some reference to this.
Reasons have already been given in No. 35 for the theory that it was Gulveig-Heid who betrayed Freyja and delivered her into the hands of the giants. When Saxo says that this treachery was committed by a woman, but also suggests the possibility that it was a man in the guise of a woman, then this too is explained by the mythology, in which Gulveig-Heid, like her fellow culprit, has an androgynous nature. Loke becomes "the possessor of the evil woman" (kvidugr af konu illri). InFjölsvinnsmal we meet again with Gulveig-Heid, born again and called Aurboda, as one of Freyja's attendants, into whose graces she is nestled for a second time.
101.
SVIPDAG IN SAXO'S ACCOUNT OF HOTHERUS.
From the parallel name Otharus, we must turn to the other parallel name Hotherus. It has already been shown that if the Svipdag synonymOdroccurs in Saxo, it must have been Latinised into Otherus or Hotherus. The latter form is actually found, but under circumstances making an elaborate investigation necessary, for in what Saxo narrates concerning this Hotherus, he has to the best of his ability united sketches and episodes of two different mythic persons, and it is therefore necessary to separate these different elements borrowed from different sources. One of these mythic persons isHödrthe Asa-god, and the other isOdr-Svipdag. The investigation will therefore at the same time contain a contribution to the researches concerning the original records of the myth of Balder.
Saxo's account of Hotherus (Hist., 110, &c.), is as follows:
Hotherus, son of Hothbrodus (Hödbrodd), was fostered in the home of Nanna's father, King Gevarus (Gevarr; see Nos. 90-92), and he grew up to be a stately youth, distinguished as a man of accomplishments among the contemporaries of his age. He could swim, was an excellent archer and boxer, and his skill on various musicalinstruments was so great that he had the human passions under his control, and could produce, at pleasure, gladness, sorrow, sympathy, or hate. Nanna, the daughter of Gevarus, fell in love with the highly gifted youth and he with her.
Meanwhile, fate brought it to come to pass that Balder, the son of the idol Odin, also fell in love with Nanna. He had once seen her bathing, and had been dazzled by the splendour of her limbs. In order to remove the most dangerous obstacle between himself and her, he resolved to slay Hotherus.
As Hotherus on a foggy day was hunting in the woods he got lost and came to a house, where there sat three wood-nymphs. They greeted him by name, and in answer to his question they said they were the maids who determine the events of the battle, and give defeat or success in war. Invisible they come to the battlefield, and secretly give help to those whom they wish to favour. From them Hotherus learned that Balder was in love with Nanna, but they advised him not to resort to weapons against him, for he was a demigod born of supernatural seed. When they had said this, they and the house in which Hotherus had found them disappeared, and to his joy he found himself standing on a field under the open sky.
When he arrived home, he mentioned to Gevarus what he had seen and heard, and at once demanded the hand of his daughter. Gevarus answered that it would have been a pleasure to him to see Hotherus and Nanna united, but Balder had already made a similar request, and hedid not dare to draw the wrath of the latter down upon himself, since not even iron could harm the conjured body of the demigod.
But Gevarus said he knew of a sword with which Balder could be slain, but it lies locked up behind the strongest bars, and the place where it is found is scarcely accessible to mortals. The way thither—if we may use the expression where no road has been made—is filled with obstacles, and leads for the greater part through exceedingly cold regions. But behind a span of swift stags one ought to be able to get safe across the icy mountain ridges. He who keeps the sword is the forest-being Mimingus, who also has a wonderful wealth-producing arm-ring. If Hotherus gets there, he should place his tent in such a manner that its shadow does not fall into the cave where Mimingus dwells, for at the sight of this strange eclipse the latter would withdraw farther into the mountain. Observing these rules of caution, the sword and arm-ring might possibly be secured. The sword is of such a kind that victory never fails to attend it, and its value is quite inestimable.
Hotherus, who carefully followed the advice of Gevarus, succeeded in securing the sword and the ring, which Mimingus, surprised and bound by Hotherus, delivered as a ransom for his life.
When Gelder, the king of Saxony, learned that the treasure of Mimingus had been robbed, he resolved to make war against Hotherus. The foreknowing Gevarus saw this in advance, and advised Hotherus to receive the rain of javelins from the enemy patiently in the battle,and not to throw his own javelins before the enemy's supply of weapons was exhausted. Gelder was conquered, and had to pray for peace. Hotherus received him in the most friendly manner, and now he conquered him with his kindness as he had before done with his cunning as a warrior.
Hotherus also had a friend in Helgo, the king of Halogaland. The chieftain of the Finns and of the Bjarmians, Cuso (Guse), was the father of Thora, whose hand Helgo sought through messengers. But Helgo had so ugly a blemish on his mouth that he was ashamed to converse, not only with strangers, but also with his own household and friends. Cuso had already refused his offer of marriage, but as he now addressed himself to Hotherus asking for assistance, the latter was able to secure a hearing from the Finnish chieftain, so that Helgo secured the wife he so greatly desired.
While this happened in Halogaland, Balder had invaded the territory of Gevarus with an armed force, to demand Nanna's hand. Gevarus referred him to his daughter, who was herself permitted to determine her fate. Nanna answered that she was of too humble birth to be the wife of a husband of divine descent. Gevarus informed Hotherus of what had happened, and the latter took counsel with Helgo as to what was now to be done. After having considered various things, they finally resolved on making war.
And it was a war in which one should think men fought with gods. For Odin, Thor, and the hosts sanctified by the gods fought on Balder's side. Thor had aheavy club, with which he smashed shields and coats-of-mail, and slew all before him. Hotherus would have seen his retreating army defeated had he not himself succeeded in checking Thor's progress. Clad in an impenetrable coat-of-mail, he went against Thor, and with a blow of his sword he severed the handle from Thor's club and made it unfit for use. Then the gods fled. Thereupon the warriors of Hotherus rushed upon Balder's fleet and destroyed and sank it. In the same war Gelder fell and his body was laid in his ship on a pile of his fallen warriors and burned, but his ashes were afterwards deposited with great solemnity in a magnificent grave-mound by Hotherus who then returned to Gevarus, celebrated his wedding with Nanna, and made great presents to Helgo and Thora.
But Balder had no peace. Another war was declared, and this time Balder was the victor. The defeated Hotherus took refuge with Gevarus. In this war a water-famine occurred in Balder's army, but the latter dug deep wells and opened new fountains for his thirsty men. Meanwhile Balder was afflicted in his dreams by ghosts which had assumed Nanna's form. His love and longing so consumed him that he at last was unable to walk, but had to ride in a chariot on his journeys.
Hotherus had fled to Sweden, where he retained the royal authority; but Balder took possession of Seeland, and soon acquired the devotion of the Danes, for he was regarded as having martial merits, and was a man of great dignity. Hotherus again declared war against Balder, but was defeated in Jutland, and was obliged to returnto Sweden alone and abandoned. Despondent on account of his defeats, weary of life and the light of day, he went into the wilderness and traversed most desolate forests, where the fall of mortal feet is seldom heard. Then he came to a cave in which sat three strange women. From such women he had once received the impenetrable coat-of-mail, and he recognised them as those very persons. They asked him why he had come to these regions, and he told them how unsuccessful he had been in his last battle. He reproached them, saying that they had deceived him, for they had promised him victory, but he had a totally different fate. The women responded that he nevertheless had done his enemies great harm, and assured him that victory would yet perch on his banners if he should succeed in finding the wonderful nourishment which was invented for the increasing of Balder's strength. This was sufficient to encourage him to make another war, although there were those among his friends who dissuaded him therefrom. From different sides men were gathered, and a bloody battle was fought, which was not decided at the fall of night. The uneasiness of Hotherus hindered him from sleeping, and he went out in the darkness of the night to reconnoitre the condition and position of the enemy. When he had reached the camp of the enemy he perceived that three dises, who were wont to prepare Balder's mysterious food, had just left. He followed their footprints in the bedewed grass and reached their abode. Asked by them who he was, he said he was a player on the cithern. One of them then handed him a cithern, and he played for themmagnificently. They had three serpents, with whose venom Balder's food was mixed. They were now engaged in preparing this food. One of them had the goodness to offer Hotherus some of the food; but the eldest said: "It would be treason to Balder to increase the strength of his foe." The stranger said that he was one of the men of Hotherus, and not Hotherus himself. He was then permitted to taste the food.[5]The women also presented him with a beautiful girdle of victory.
On his way home Hotherus met his foe and thrust a weapon into his side, so that he fell half-dead to the ground. This produced joy in the camp of Hotherus, but sorrow in the Danish camp. Balder, who knew that he was going to die, but was unwilling to abide death in his tent, renewed the battle the following day, and had himself carried on a stretcher into the thickest of the fight. The following night Proserpina (the goddess of death) came to him and announced to him that he should be her guest the next day. He died from his wound at the time predicted, and was buried in a mound with royal splendour. Hotherus took the sceptre in Denmark after Balder.
Meanwhile it had happened that King Gevarus had been attacked and burned in his house by a jarl under him, by name Gunno. Hotherus avenged the death of Gevarus, and burnt Gunno alive on a funeral pyre as a punishment for his crime.
Rinda and Odin had a son by name Bous. The latter,to avenge the death of his brother Balder, attacked Hotherus, who fell in the conflict. But Bous himself was severely wounded and died the following day from his wounds. Hotherus was followed on the Danish throne by his son Röricus.
In the examination of this narrative in Saxo there is no hope of arriving at absolutely positive results unless the student lays aside all current presuppositions and, in fact, all notions concerning the origin and age of the Balder-myth, concerning a special Danish myth in opposition to a special Norse-Icelandic, &c. If the latter conjecture based on Saxo is correct, then this is to appear as a result of the investigation; but the conjecture is not to be used as a presupposition.
That which first strikes the reader is that the story is not homogeneous. It is composed of elements that could not be blended into one harmonious whole. It suffers from intrinsic contradictions. The origin of these contradictions must first of all be explained.
The most persistent contradiction concerns the sword of victory of which Hotherus secured possession.[6]We are assured that it is of immense value (ingens præmium), and is attended with the success of victory (belli fortuna comitaretur), and Hotherus is, in fact, able with the help of this sword to accomplish a great exploit: put Thor and other gods to flight. But then Hotherus is conquered again and again by Balder, and finally also defeated by Bous and slain, in spite of the fact that Gevarus had assuredhim that this sword should always be victorious. To be sure, Hotherus succeeds after several defeats in giving Balder his death-wound, but this is not done in a battle, and can hardly be counted as a victory; and Hotherus is not able to commit this secret murder by aid of this sword alone, but is obliged to own a belt of victory and to eat a wonderful food, which gives Balder his strength, before he can accomplish this deed.
There must be some reason why Saxo fell into this contradiction, which is so striking, and is maintained throughout the narrative. If Hotherus-Hödrin the mythology possessed a sword which always gives victory and is able to conquer the gods themselves, then the mythology cannothave contained anything about defeats suffered by him after he got possession of this sword, nor can he then have fallen in conflict with Odin's and Rind's son. The only way in which this could happen would be that Hotherus-Hödr, after getting possession of the sword of victory, and after once having used it to advantage, in some manner was robbed of it again. But Saxo has read nothing of the sort in his sources, otherwise he would have mentioned it, if for no other reason than for the purpose of giving a cause for the defeat suffered by his hero, and it is doubtless his opinion that the sword with which Balder is mortally wounded is the same as the one Hotherus took from Mimingus. Hence, eitherHödrhas neither suffered the defeats mentioned by Saxo nor fallen by the sword of the brother-avenging son of Odin and Rind, or he has never possessed the sword of victory here mentioned. It is not necessary topoint out in which of these alternatives we have the mythological fact.Hödrhas never possessed the irresistible sword.
But Saxo has not himself invented the episode concerning the sword of victory, nor has he introduced this episode in his narrative about Hotherus without thinking he had good reason therefor.