The Prose Edda

THE YOUNGER EDDA:

also called

SNORRE’S EDDA, OR THE PROSE EDDA.

An English Version of the Foreword;

The Fooling of Gylfe, The Afterword;

Brage’s Talk, The Afterword to Brage’s Talk,

and the Important Passages in the

Poetical Diction (Skaldskaparmal).

with an

Introduction, Notes, Vocabulary, and Index.

By RASMUS B. ANDERSON, LL.D.,

Formerly Professor of the Scandinavian Languages

in the University of Wisconsin,

Ex-U.S. Minister to Denmark,

Author of “America Not Discovered By Columbus,”

“Norse Mythology,” “Viking Tales Of The North,” etc.

Chicago

Scott, Foresman and Company

1901

Copyright, 1879,

By S. C. Griggs and Company.

Press of

The Henry O. Shepard Co.

Chicago.

To

HON. THOS. F. BAYARD,

Ambassador to the Court of St. James,

in Grateful Recollection

of Pleasant Official Relations.

PREFACE.

In the beginning, before the heaven and the earth and the sea were

created, the great abyss Ginungagap was without form and void, and the

spirit of Fimbultyr moved upon the face of the deep, until the ice-cold

rivers, the Elivogs, flowing from Niflheim, came in contact with the

dazzling flames from Muspelheim. This was before Chaos.

And Fimbultyr said: Let the melted drops of vapor quicken into life, and

the giant Ymer was born in the midst of Ginungagap. He was not a god,

but the father of all the race of evil giants. This was Chaos.

And Fimbultyr said: Let Ymer be slain and let order be established. And

straightway Odin and his brothers--the bright sons of Bure--gave Ymer a

mortal wound, and from his body made they the universe; from his flesh,

the earth; from his blood, the sea; from his bones, the rocks; from

his hair, the trees; from his skull, the vaulted heavens; from his

eye-brows, the bulwark called Midgard. And the gods formed man and woman

in their own image of two trees, and breathed into them the breath of

life. Ask and Embla became living souls, and they received a garden in

Midgard as a dwelling-place for themselves and their children until the

end of time. This was Cosmos.

The world’s last day approaches. All bonds and fetters that bound the

forces of heaven and earth together are severed, and the powers of good

and of evil are brought together in an internecine feud. Loke advances

with the Fenris-wolf and the Midgard-serpent, his own children, with

all the hosts of the giants, and with Surt, who flings fire and flame

over the world. Odin advances with all the asas and all the blessed

einherjes. They meet, contend, and fall. The wolf swallows Odin but

Vidar, the Silent, sets his foot upon the monster’s lower jaw, he

seizes the other with his hand, and thus rends him till he dies. Frey

encounters Surt, and terrible blows are given ere Frey falls. Heimdal

and Loke fight and kill each other, and so do Tyr and the dog Garm from

the Gnipa Cave. Asa-Thor fells the Midgard-serpent with his Mjolner, but

he retreats only nine paces when he himself falls dead, suffocated by

the serpent’s venom. Then smoke wreathes up around the ash Ygdrasil,

the high flames play against the heavens, the graves of the gods, of

the giants and of men are swallowed up by the sea, and the end has come.

This is Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods.

But the radiant dawn follows the night. The earth, completely green,

rises again from the sea, and where the mews have but just been rocking

on restless waves, rich fields unplowed and unsown, now wave their

golden harvests before the gentle breezes. The asas awake to a new life,

Balder is with them again. Then comes the mighty Fimbultyr, the god who

is from everlasting to everlasting; the god whom the Edda skald dared

not name. The god of gods comes to the asas. He comes to the great

judgment and gathers all the good into Gimle to dwell there forever, and

evermore delights enjoy; but the perjurers and murderers and adulterers

he sends to Nastrand, that terrible hall, to be torn by Nidhug until

they are purged from their wickedness. This is Regeneration.

These are the outlines of the Teutonic religion. Such were the doctrines

established by Odin among our ancestors. Thus do we find it recorded in

the Eddas of Iceland.

The present volume contains all of the Younger Edda that can possibly be

of any importance to English readers. In fact, it gives more than has

ever before been presented in any translation into English, German or

any of the modern Scandinavian tongues.

We would recommend our readers to omit the Forewords and Afterwords

until they have perused the Fooling of Gylfe and Brage’s Speech. The

Forewords and Afterwords, it will readily be seen, are written by a

later and less skillful hand, and we should be sorry to have anyone lay

the book aside and lose the pleasure of reading Snorre’s and Olaf’s

charming work, because he became disgusted with what seemed to him mere

silly twaddle. And yet these Forewords and Afterwords become interesting

enough when taken up in connection with a study of the historical

anthropomorphized Odin. With a view of giving a pretty complete outline

of the founder of the Teutonic race we have in our notes given all the

Heimskringla sketch of the Black Sea Odin. We have done this, not only

on account of the material it furnishes as the groundwork of a Teutonic

epic, which we trust the muses will ere long direct some one to write,

but also on account of the vivid picture it gives of Teutonic life as

shaped and controlled by the Odinic faith.

All the poems quoted in the Younger Edda have in this edition been

traced back to their sources in the Elder Edda and elsewhere.

Where the notes seem to the reader insufficient, we must refer him to

our Norse Mythology, where he will, we trust, find much of the

additional information he may desire.

Well aware that our work has many imperfections, and begging our readers

to deal generously with our shortcomings, we send the book out into the

world with the hope that it may aid some young son or daughter of Odin

to find his way to the fountains of Urd and Mimer and to Idun’s

rejuvenating apples. The son must not squander, but husband wisely, what

his father has accumulated. The race must cherish and hold fast and add

to the thought that the past has bequeathed to it. Thus does it grow

greater and richer with each new generation. The past is the mirror that

reflects the future.

R. B. ANDERSON.

University of Wisconsin,

Madison, Wis., _September, 1879_.

CONTENTS.

Preface 5

Introduction 15

Foreword 33

THE FOOLING OF GYLFE.

Gefjun’s Plowing 49

Gylfe’s Journey to Asgard 51

Of the Highest God 54

The Creation of the World 56

The Creation (continued) 64

The First Works of the Asas--The Golden Age 69

On the Wonderful Things in Heaven 72

The Asas 79

Loke and his Offspring 91

The Goddesses (Asynjes) 97

The Giantess Gerd and Skirner’s Journey 101

Life in Valhal 104

Odin’s Horse and Frey’s Ship 109

Thor’s Adventures 113

The Death of Balder 131

Ragnarok 140

Regeneration 147

Afterword to the Fooling of Gylfe 151

BRAGE’S TALK.

Æger’s Journey to Asgard 152

Idun and her Apples 155

How Njord got Skade to Wife 158

The Origin of Poetry 160

Afterword to Brage’s Talk 166

EXTRACTS FROM THE POETICAL DICTION.

Thor and Hrungner 169

Thor’s Journey to Geirrod’s 176

Idun 184

Æger’s Feast 187

Loke’s Wager with the Dwarfs 189

The Niflungs and Gjukungs 193

Menja and Fenja 206

The Grottesong 208

Rolf Krake 214

Hogne and Hild 218

NOTES.

Enea 221

Herikon 221

The Historical Odin 221

Fornjot and the Settlement of Norway 239

Notes to the Fooling of Gylfe 242

Note on the Niflungs and Gjukungs 266

Note on Menja and Fenja 267

Why the Sea is Salt 268

VOCABULARY 275

INDEX 291

* * * * *

THE YOUNGER EDDA.

* * * * *

INTRODUCTION.

The records of our Teutonic past have hitherto received but slight

attention from the English-speaking branch of the great world-ash

Ygdrasil. This indifference is the more deplorable, since a knowledge of

our heroic forefathers would naturally operate as a most powerful means

of keeping alive among us, and our posterity, that spirit of courage,

enterprise and independence for which the old Teutons were so

distinguished.

The religion of our ancestors forms an important chapter in the history

of the childhood of our race, and this fact has induced us to offer the

public an English translation of the Eddas. The purely mythological

portion of the Elder Edda was translated and published by A. S. Cottle,

in Bristol, in 1797, and the whole work was translated by Benjamin

Thorpe, and published in London in 1866. Both these works are now out of

print. Of the Younger Edda we have likewise had two translations into

English,--the first by Dasent in 1842, the second by Blackwell, in his

edition of Mallet’s Northern Antiquities, in 1847. The former has long

been out of print, the latter is a poor imitation of Dasent’s. Both of

them are very incomplete. These four books constitute all the Edda

literature we have had in the English language, excepting, of course,

single lays and chapters translated by Gray, Henderson, W. Taylor,

Herbert, Jamieson, Pigott, William and Mary Howitt, and others.

The Younger Edda (also called Snorre’s Edda, or the Prose Edda), of

which we now have the pleasure of presenting our readers an English

version, contains, as usually published in the original, the following

divisions:

1. The Foreword.

2. Gylfaginning (The Fooling of Gylfe).

3. The Afterword to Gylfaginning.

4. Brage’s Speech.

5. The Afterword.

6. Skaldskaparmal (a collection of poetic paraphrases, and denominations

in Skaldic language without paraphrases).

7. Hattatal (an enumeration of metres; a sort of Clavis Metrica).

In some editions there are also found six additional chapters on the

alphabet, grammar, figures of speech, etc.

There are three important parchment manuscripts of the Younger Edda,

viz:

1. _Codex Regius_, the so-called King’s Book. This was presented to the

Royal Library in Copenhagen, by Bishop Brynjulf Sveinsson, in the year

1640, where it is still kept.

2. _Codex Wormianus_. This is found in the University Library in

Copenhagen, in the Arne Magnæan collection. It takes its name from

Professor Ole Worm [died 1654], to whom it was presented by the learned

Arngrim Jonsson. Christian Worm, the grandson of Ole Worm, and Bishop of

Seeland [died 1737], afterward presented it to Arne Magnusson.

3. _Codex Upsaliensis_. This is preserved in the Upsala University

Library. Like the other two, it was found in Iceland, where it was given

to Jon Rugmann. Later it fell into the hands of Count Magnus Gabriel de

la Gardie, who in the year 1669 presented it to the Upsala University.

Besides these three chief documents, there exist four fragmentary

parchments, and a large number of paper manuscripts.

The first printed edition of the Younger Edda, in the original, is the

celebrated “Edda Islandorum,” published by Peter Johannes Resen, in

Copenhagen, in the year 1665. It contains a translation into Latin, made

partly by Resen himself, and partly also by Magnus Olafsson, Stephan

Olafsson and Thormod Torfason.

Not until eighty years later, that is in 1746, did the second edition of

the Younger Edda appear in Upsala under the auspices of Johannes

Goransson. This was printed from the Codex Upsaliensis.

In the present century we find a third edition by Rasmus Rask, published

in Stockholm in 1818. This is very complete and critical. The fourth

edition was issued by Sveinbjorn Egilsson, in Reykjavik, 1849; the fifth

by the Arne-Magnæan Commission in Copenhagen, 1852.[1] All these five

editions have long been out of print, and in place of them we have a

sixth edition by Thorleif Jonsson (Copenhagen, 1875), and a seventh by

Ernst Wilkin (Paderborn, 1877). Both of these, and especially the

latter, are thoroughly critical and reliable.

[Footnote 1: The third volume of this work has not yet appeared.]

Of translations, we must mention in addition to those into English by

Dasent and Blackwell, R. Nyerup’s translation into Danish (Copenhagen,

1808); Karl Simrock’s into German (Stuttgart and Tübingen, 1851); and

Fr. Bergmann’s into French (Paris, 1871). Among the chief authorities to

be consulted in the study of the Younger Edda may be named, in addition

to those already mentioned, Fr. Dietrich, Th. Mobius, Fr. Pfeiffer,

Ludw. Ettmuller, K. Hildebrand, Ludw. Uhland, P. E. Muller, Adolf

Holzmann, Sophus Bugge, P. A. Munch and Rudolph Keyser. For the material

in our introduction and notes, we are chiefly indebted to Simrock,

Wilkin and Keyser. While we have had no opportunity of making original

researches, the published works have been carefully studied, and all we

claim for our work is, that it shall contain the results of the latest

and most thorough investigations by scholars who live nearer the

fountains of Urd and Mimer than do we. Our translations are made from

Egilsson’s, Jonsson’s and Wilkins’ editions of the original. We have not

translated any of the Hattatal, and only the narrative part of

Skaldskaparmal, and yet our version contains more of the Younger Edda

than any English, German, French or Danish translation that has hitherto

been published. The parts omitted cannot possibly be of any interest to

any one who cannot read them in the original. All the paraphrases of the

asas and asynjes, of the world, the earth, the sea, the sun, the wind,

fire, summer, man, woman, gold, of war, arms, of a ship, emperor, king,

ruler, etc., are of interest only as they help to explain passages of

Old Norse poems. The same is true of the enumeration of metres, which

contains a number of epithets and metaphors used by the scalds,

illustrated by specimens of their poetry, and also by a poem of Snorre

Sturleson, written in one hundred different metres.

There has been a great deal of learned discussion in regard to the

authorship of the Younger Edda. Readers specially interested in this

knotty subject we must refer to Wilkins’ elaborate treatise,

Untersuchungen zur Snorra Edda (Paderborn, 1878), and to P. E. Muller’s,

Die Æchtheit der Asalehre (Copenhagen, 1811).

Two celebrated names that without doubt are intimately connected with

the work are Snorre Sturleson and Olaf Thordsson Hvitaskald. Both of

these are conspicuous, not only in the literary, but also in the

political history of Iceland.

[Footnote 2: Keyser.]

Snorre Sturleson[2] was born in Iceland in the year 1178. Three years

old, he came to the house of the distinguished chief, Jon Loptsson, at

Odde, a grandson of Sæmund the Wise, the reputed collector of the Elder

Edda, where he appears to have remained until Jon Loptsson’s death, in

the year 1197. Soon afterward Snorre married into a wealthy family, and

in a short time he became one of the most distinguished leaders in

Iceland, He was several times elected chief magistrate, and no man in

the land was his equal in riches and prominence. He and his two elder

brothers, Thord and Sighvat, who were but little inferior to him in

wealth and power, were at one time well-nigh supreme in Iceland, and

Snorre sometimes appeared at the Althing at Thingvols accompanied by

from eight hundred to nine hundred armed men.

Snorre and his brothers did not only have bitter feuds with other

families, but a deadly hatred also arose between themselves, making

their lives a perpetual warfare. Snorre was shrewd as a politician and

magistrate, and eminent as an orator and skald, but his passions were

mean, and many of his ways were crooked. He was both ambitious and

avaricious. He is said to have been the first Icelander who laid plans

to subjugate his fatherland to Norway, and in this connection is

supposed to have expected to become a jarl under the king of Norway.

In this effort he found himself outwitted by his brother’s son, Sturle

Thordsson, and thus he came into hostile relations with the latter. In

this feud Snorre was defeated, but when Sturle shortly after fell in a

battle against his foes, Snorre’s star of hope rose again, and he began

to occupy himself with far-reaching, ambitious plans. He had been for

the first time in Norway during the years 1218-1220, and had been well

received by King Hakon, and especially by Jarl Skule, who was then the

most influential man in the country. In the year 1237 Snorre visited

Norway again, and entered, as it is believed, into treasonable

conspiracies with Jarl Skule. In 1239 he left Norway against the wishes

of King Hakon, whom he owed obedience, and thereby incurred the king’s

greatest displeasure. When King Hakon, in 1240, had crushed Skule’s

rebellion and annihilated this dangerous opponent, it became Snorre’s

turn to feel the effects of the king’s wrath. At the instigation of King

Hakon, several chiefs of Iceland united themselves against Snorre and

murdered him at Reykholt, where ruins of his splendid mansion are still

to be seen. This event took place on the 22d of September, 1241, and

Snorre Sturleson was then sixty-three years old. Snorre was Iceland’s

most distinguished skald and sagaman. As a writer of history he deserves

to be compared with Herodotos or Thukydides. His Heimskringla, embracing

an elaborate history of the kings of Norway, is famous throughout the

civilized world, and Emerson calls it the Iliad and Odyssey of our race.

An English translation of this work was published by Samuel Laing, in

London, in 1844. Carlyle’s Early Kings of Norway (London, 1875) was

inspired by the Heimskringla.

Olaf Thordsson, surnamed Hvitaskald,[3] to distinguish him from his

contemporary, Olaf Svartaskald,[4] was a son of Snorre’s brother. Though

not as prominent and influential as his uncle, he took an active part in

all the troubles of his native island during the first half of the

thirteenth century. He visited Norway in 1236, whence he went to

Denmark, where he was a guest at the court of King Valdemar, and is said

to have enjoyed great esteem. In 1240 we find him again in Norway, where

he espoused the cause of King Hakon against Skule. On his return to

Iceland he served four years as chief magistrate of the island. His

death occurred in the year 1259, and he is numbered among the great

skalds of Iceland.

[Footnote 3: White Skald.]

[Footnote 4: Black Skald.]

Snorre Sturleson and Olaf Hvitaskald are the two names to whom the

authorship of the Younger Edda has generally been attributed, and the

work is by many, even to this day, called Snorra Edda--that is, Snorre’s

Edda. We do not propose to enter into any elaborate discussion of this

complicated subject, but we will state briefly the reasons given by

Keyser and others for believing that these men had a hand in preparing

the Prose Edda. In the first place, we find that the writer of the

grammatical and rhetorical part of the Younger Edda distinctly mentions

Snorre as author of Hattatal (the Clavis Metrica), and not only of the

poem itself, but also of the treatise in prose. In the second place, the

Arne Magnæan parchment manuscript, which dates back to the close of the

thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century, has the following

note prefaced to the Skaldskaparmal. “Here ends that part of the book

which Olaf Thordsson put together, and now begins Skaldskaparmal and the

Kenningar, according to that which has been found in the lays of the

chief skalds, and which Snorre afterward suffered to be brought

together.” In the third place, the Upsala manuscript of the Younger

Edda, which is known with certainty to have been written in the

beginning of the fourteenth century, contains this preface, written with

the same hand as the body of the work: “This book hight Edda. Snorre has

compiled it in the manner in which it is arranged: first, in regard to

the asas and Ymer, then Skaldskaparmal and the denominations of many

things, and finally that Hattatal, which Snorre composed about King

Hakon and Duke Skule.” In the fourth place, there is a passage in the

so-called Annales Breviores, supposed to have been written about the

year 1400. The passage relates to the year 1241, and reads thus: “Snorre

Sturleson died at Reykholt. He was a wise and very learned man, a great

chief and shrewd. He was the first man in this land who brought property

into the hands of the king (the king of Norway). He compiled Edda and

many other learned historical works and Icelandic sagas. He was murdered

at Reykholt by Jarl Gissur’s men.”

It seems, then, that there is no room for any doubt that these two men

have had a share in the authorship of the Younger Edda. How great a

share each has had is another and more difficult problem to solve.

Rudolf Keyser’s opinion is (and we know no higher authority on the

subject), that Snorre is the author, though not in so strict a sense as

we now use the word, of Gylfaginning, Brage’s Speech, Skaldskaparmal and

Hattatal. This part of the Younger Edda may thus be said to date back to

the year 1230, though the material out of which the mythological system

is constructed is of course much older. We find it in the ancient Vala’s

Prophecy, of the Elder Edda, a poem that breathes in every line the

purest asa-faith, and is, without the least doubt, much older than the

introduction of christianity in the north, or the discovery and

settlement of Iceland. It is not improbable that the religious system of

the Odinic religion had assumed a permanent prose form in the memories

of the people long before the time of Snorre, and that he merely was the

means of having it committed to writing almost without verbal change.

Olaf Thordsson is unmistakably the author of the grammatical and

rhetorical portion of the Younger Edda, and its date can therefore

safely be put at about 1250. The author of the treatise on the alphabet

is not known, but Professor Keyser thinks it must have been written, its

first chapter, about the year 1150, and its second chapter about the

year 1200. The forewords and afterwords are evidently also from another

pen. Their author is unknown, but they are thought to have been written

about the year 1300. To sum up, then, we arrive at this conclusion: The

mythological material of the Younger Edda is as old as the Teutonic

race. Parts of it are written by authors unknown to fame. A small

portion is the work of Olaf Thordsson. The most important portion is

written, or perhaps better, compiled, by Snorre Sturleson, and the whole

is finally edited and furnished with forewords and afterwords, early in

the fourteenth century,--according to Keyser, about 1320-1330.

About the name Edda there has also been much learned discussion. Some

have suggested that it may be a mutilated form of the word Odde, the

home of Sæmund the Wise, who was long supposed to be the compiler of the

Elder Edda. In this connection, it has been argued that possibly Sæmund

had begun the writing of the Younger Edda, too. Others derive the word

from _óðr_ (mind, soul), which in poetical usage also means song,

poetry. Others, again, connect Edda with the Sanscrit word Veda, which

is supposed to mean knowledge. Finally, others adopt the meaning which

the word has where it is actually used in the Elder Edda, and where it

means great-grandmother. Vigfusson adopts this definition, and it is

certainly both scientific and poetical. What can be more beautiful than

the idea that our great ancestress teaches her descendants the sacred

traditions, the concentrated wisdom, of the race? To sum up, then,

we say the Younger, or Prose, or Snorre’s Edda has been produced at

different times by various hands, and the object of its authors has been

to produce a manual for the skalds. In addition to the forewords and

afterwords, it contains two books, one greater (Gylfaginning) and one

lesser (Brage’s Speech), giving a tolerably full account of Norse

mythology. Then follows Skaldskaparmal, wherein is an analysis of the

various circumlocutions practiced by the skalds, all illustrated by

copious quotations from the poets. How much of these three parts is

written by Snorre is not certain, but on the other hand, there is no

doubt that he is the author of Hattatal (Clavis Metrica), which gives an

enumeration of metres. To these four treatises are added four chapters

on grammar and rhetoric. The writer of the oldest grammatical treatise

is thought to be one Thorodd Runemaster, who lived in the middle of the

twelfth century; and the third treatise is evidently written by Olaf

Thordsson Hvitaskald, the nephew of Snorre, a scholar who spent some

time at the court of the Danish king, Valdemar the Victorious.

The Younger Edda contains the systematized theogony and cosmogony of our

forefathers, while the Elder Edda presents the Odinic faith in a series

of lays or rhapsodies. The Elder Edda is poetry, while the Younger Edda

is mainly prose. The Younger Edda may in one sense be regarded as the

sequel or commentary of the Elder Edda. Both complement each other, and

both must be studied in connection with the sagas and all the Teutonic

traditions and folk-lore in order to get a comprehensive idea of the

asa-faith. The two Eddas constitute, as it were, the Odinic Bible. The

Elder Edda is the Old Testament, the Younger Edda the New. Like the Old

Testament, the Elder Edda is in poetry. It is prophetic and enigmatical.

Like the New Testament, the Younger Edda is in prose; it is lucid, and

gives a clue to the obscure passages in the Elder Edda. Nay, in many

respects do the two Eddas correspond with the two Testaments of the

Christian Bible.

It is a deplorable fact that the religion of our forefathers seems to be

but little cared for in this country. The mythologies of other nations

every student manifests an interest for. He reads with the greatest zeal

all the legends of Rome and Greece, of India and China. He is familiar

with every room in the labyrinth of Crete, while when he is introduced

to the shining halls of Valhal and Gladsheim he gropes his way like a

blind man. He does not know that Idun, with her beautiful apples, might,

if applied to, render even greater services than Ariadne with her

wonderful thread. When we inquire whom Tuesday and Wednesday and

Thursday and Friday are named after, and press questions in reference to

Tyr, Odin, Thor and Freyja, we get at best but a wise and knowing look.

Are we, then, as a nation, like the ancient Jews, and do we bend the

knee before the gods of foreign nations and forsake the altars of our

own gods? What if we then should suffer the fate of that unhappy

people--be scattered over all the world and lose our fatherland? In

these Eddas our fathers have bequeathed unto us all their profoundest,

all their sublimest, all their best thought. They are the concentrated

result of their greatest intellectual and spiritual effort, and it

behooves us to cherish this treasure and make it the fountain at which

the whole American branch of the Ygdrasil ash may imbibe a united

national sentiment. It is not enough to brush the dust off these gods

and goddesses of our ancestors and put them up on pedestals as ornaments

in our museums and libraries. These coins of the past are not to be laid

away in numismatic collections. The grandson must use what he has

inherited from his grandfather. If the coin is not intelligible, then it

will have to be sent to the mint and stamped anew, in order that it may

circulate freely. Our ancestral deities want a place in our hearts and

in our songs.

On the European continent and in England the zeal of the priests in

propagating Christianity was so great that they sought to root out every

trace of the asa-faith. They left but unintelligible fragments of the

heathen religious structure. Our gods and goddesses and heroes were

consigned to oblivion, and all knowledge of the Odinic religion and of

the Niblung-story would have been well nigh totally obliterated had not

a more lucky star hovered over the destinies of Iceland. In this

remotest corner of the world the ancestral spirit was preserved like the

glowing embers of Hekla beneath the snow and ice of the glacier. From

the farthest Thule the spirit of our fathers rises and shines like an

aurora over all Teutondom. It was in the year 860 that Iceland was

discovered. In 874 the Teutonic spirit fled thither for refuge from

tyranny. Here a government based on the principles of old Teutonic

liberty was established. From here went forth daring vikings, who

discovered Greenland and Vinland, and showed Columbus the way to

America. From here the courts of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, England and

Germany were supplied with skalds to sing their praises. Here was put in

writing the laws and sagas that give us a clue to the form of old

Teutonic institutions. Here was preserved the Old Norse language, and in

it a record of the customs, the institutions and the religion of our

fathers. Its literature does not belong to that island alone,--it

belongs to the whole Teutonic race! Iceland is for the Teutons what

Greece and Rome are for the south of Europe, and she accomplished her

mission with no less efficiency and success. Cato the Elder used to end

all his speeches with these words: _“Præterea censeo Carthaginem esse

delendam.”_ In these days, when so many worship at the shrine of

Romanism, we think it perfectly just to adopt Cato’s sentence in this

form: _Præterea censeo Romam esse delendam_.

FOREWORD.

1. In the beginning Almighty God created heaven and earth, and all

things that belong to them, and last he made two human beings, from whom

the races are descended (Adam and Eve), and their children multiplied

and spread over all the world. But in the course of time men became

unequal; some were good and right-believing, but many more turned them

after the lusts of the world and heeded not God’s laws; and for this

reason God drowned the world in the flood, and all that was quick in the

world, except those who were in the ark with Noah. After the flood of

Noah there lived eight men, who inhabited the world, and from them the

races are descended; and now, as before, they increased and filled the

world, and there were very many men who loved to covet wealth and power,

but turned away from obedience to God, and so much did they do this that

they would not name God. And who could then tell their sons of the

wonderful works of God? So it came to pass that they lost God’s name;

and in the wide world the man was not to be found who could tell of his

Maker. But, nevertheless, God gave them earthly-gifts, wealth and

happiness, that should be with them in the world; he also shared wisdom

among them, so that they understood all earthly things, and all kinds

that might be seen in the air and on the earth. This they thought upon,

and wondered at, how it could come to pass that the earth and the beasts

and the birds had the same nature in some things but still were unlike

in manners.

One evidence of this nature was that the earth might be dug into upon

high mountain-peaks and water would spring up there, and it was not

necessary to dig deeper for water there than in deep dales; thus, also,

in beasts and birds it is no farther to the blood in the head than in

the feet. Another proof of this nature is, that every year there grow on

the earth grass and flowers, and the same year it falls and withers;

thus, also, on beasts and birds do hair and feathers grow and fall off

each year. The third nature of the earth is, that when it is opened and

dug into, then grass grows on the mould which is uppermost on the earth.

Rocks and stones they explained to correspond to the teeth and bones of

living things. From these things they judged that the earth must be

quick and must have life in some way, and they knew that it was of a

wonderfully great age and of a mighty nature. It nourished all that was

quick and took to itself all that died. On this account they gave it a

name, and numbered their ancestors back to it This they also learned

from their old kinsmen, that when many hundred winters were numbered,

the course of the heavenly bodies was uneven; some had a longer course

than others. From such things they suspected that some one must be the

ruler of the heavenly bodies who could stay their course at his own

will, and he must be strong and mighty; and of him they thought that, if

he ruled the prime elements, he must also have been before the heavenly

bodies, and they saw that, if he ruled the course of the heavenly

bodies, he must rule the sunshine, and the dew of the heavens, and the

products of the earth that follow them; and thus, also, the winds of the

air and therewith the storms of the sea. They knew not where his realm

was, but they believed that he ruled over all things on the earth and in

the air, over the heavens and the heavenly bodies, the seas and the

weather. But in order that these things might be better told and

remembered, they gave him the same name with themselves, and this belief

has been changed in many ways, as the peoples have been separated and

the tongues have been divided.

2. In his old age Noah shared the world with his sons: for Ham he

intended the western region, for Japheth the northern region, but for

Shem the southern region, with those parts which will hereafter be

marked out in the division of the earth into three parts. In the time

that the sons of these men were in the world, then increased forthwith

the desire for riches and power, from the fact that they knew many

crafts that had not been discovered before, and each one was exalted

with his own handiwork; and so far did they carry their pride, that the

Africans, descended from Ham, harried in that part of the world which

the offspring of Shem, their kinsman, inhabited. And when they had

conquered them, the world seemed to them too small, and they smithied a

tower with tile and stone, which they meant should reach to heaven, on

the plain called Sennar. And when this building was so far advanced that

it extended above the air, and they were no less eager to continue the

work, and when God saw how their pride waxed high, then he sees that he

will have to strike it down in some way. And the same God, who is

almighty, and who might have struck down all their work in the twinkling

of an eye, and made themselves turn into dust, still preferred to

frustrate their purpose by making them realize their own littleness, in

that none of them should understand what the other talked; and thus no

one knew what the other commanded, and one broke what the other wished

to build up, until they came to strife among themselves, and therewith

was frustrated, in the beginning, their purpose of building a tower. And

he who was foremost, hight Zoroaster, he laughed before he wept when he

came into the world; but the master-smiths were seventy-two, and so many

tongues have spread over the world since the giants were dispersed over

the land, and the nations became numerous. In this same place was built

the most famous city, which took its name from the tower, and was called

Babylon. And when the confusion of tongues had taken place, then

increased the names of men and of other things, and this same Zoroaster

had many names; and although he understood that his pride was laid low

by the said building, still he worked his way unto worldly power, and

had himself chosen king over many peoples of the Assyrians. From him

arose the error of idolatry; and when he was worshiped he was called

Baal; we call him Bel; he also had many other names. But as the names

increased in number, so was truth lost; and from this first error every

following man worshiped his head-master, beasts or birds, the air and

the heavenly bodies, and various lifeless things, until the error at

length spread over the whole world; and so carefully did they lose the

truth that no one knew his maker, excepting those men alone who spoke

the Hebrew tongue,--that which flourished before the building of the

tower,--and still they did not lose the bodily endowments that were

given them, and therefore they judged of all things with earthly

understanding, for spiritual wisdom was not given unto them. They deemed

that all things were smithied of some one material.

3. The world was divided into three parts, one from the south, westward

to the Mediterranean Sea, which part was called Africa; but the southern

portion of this part is hot and scorched by the sun. The second part,

from the west and to the north and to the sea, is that called Europe, or

Enea. The northern portion of this is cold, so that grass grows not, nor

can anyone dwell there. From the north around the east region, and all

to the south, that is called Asia. In that part of the world is all

beauty and pomp, and wealth of the earth’s products, gold and precious

stones. There is also the mid-world, and as the earth there is fairer

and of a better quality than elsewhere, so are also the people there

most richly endowed with all gifts, with wisdom and strength, with

beauty and with all knowledge.

4. Near the middle of the world was built the house and inn, the most

famous that has been made, which was called Troy, in the land which we

call Turkey. This city was built much larger than others, with more

skill in many ways, at great expense, and with such means as were at

hand. There were twelve kingdoms and one over-king, and many lands and

nations belonged to each kingdom; there were in the city twelve chief

languages.[5] Their chiefs have surpassed all men who have been in the

world in all heroic things. No scholar who has ever told of these things

has ever disputed this fact, and for this reason, that all rulers of the

north region trace their ancestors back thither, and place in the number

of the gods all who were rulers of the city. Especially do they place

Priamos himself in the stead of Odin; nor must that be called wonderful,

for Priamos was sprung from Saturn, him whom the north region for a long

time believed to be God himself.

[Footnote 5: Dasent translates “hövuðtungur” (chief or head

tongues) with “lords,” which is certainly an error.]

5. This Saturn grew up in that island in Greece which hight Crete. He

was greater and stronger and fairer than other men. As in other natural

endowments, so he excelled all men in wisdom. He invented many crafts

which had not before been discovered. He was also so great in the art of

magic that he was certain about things that had not yet come to pass. He

found, too, that red thing in the earth from which he smelted gold, and

from such things he soon became very mighty. He also foretold harvests

and many other secret things, and for such, and many other deeds, he was

chosen chief of the island. And when he had ruled it a short time, then

there speedily enough became a great abundance of all things. No money

circulated excepting gold coins, so plentiful was this metal; and though

there was famine in other lands, the crops never failed in Crete, so

that people might seek there all the things which they needed to have.

And from this and many other secret gifts of power that he had, men

believed him to be God, and from him arose another error among the

Cretans and Macedonians like the one before mentioned among the

Assyrians and Chaldeans from Zoroaster. And when Saturn finds how great

strength the people think they have in him, he calls himself God, and

says that he rules heaven and earth and all things.

6. Once he went to Greece in a ship, for there was a king’s daughter on

whom he had set his heart. He won her love in this way, that one day

when she was out with her maid-servants, he took upon himself the

likeness of a bull, and lay before her in the wood, and so fair was he

that the hue of gold was on every hair; and when the king’s daughter saw

him she patted his lips. He sprang up and threw off the bull’s likeness

and took her into his arms and bore her to the ship and took her to

Crete. But his wife, Juno, found this out, so he turned her (the king’s

daughter) into the likeness of a heifer and sent her east to the arms of

the great river (that is, of the Nile, to the Nile country), and let the

thrall, who hight Argulos, take care of her. She was there twelve months

before he changed her shape again. Many things did he do like this,

or even more wonderful He had three sons: one hight Jupiter, another

Neptune, the third Pluto. They were all men of the greatest

accomplishments, and Jupiter was by far the greatest; he was a warrior

and won many kingdoms; he was also crafty like his father, and took upon

himself the likeness of many animals, and thus he accomplished many

things which are impossible for mankind; and on account of this, and

other things, he was held in awe by all nations. Therefore Jupiter is

put in the place of Thor, since all evil wights fear him.

7. Saturn had built in Crete seventy-two burgs, and when he thought

himself firmly established in his kingdom, he shared it with his sons,

whom he set up with himself as gods; and to Jupiter he gave the realm of

heaven; to Neptune, the realm of the earth, and to Pluto, hell; and this

last seemed to him the worst to manage, and therefore he gave to him his

dog, the one whom he called Cerberos, to guard hell. This Cerberos, the

Greeks say, Herakles dragged out of hell and upon earth. And although

Saturn had given the realm of heaven to Jupiter, the latter nevertheless

desired to possess the realm of the earth, and so he harried his

father’s kingdom, and it is said that he had him taken and emasculated,

and for such great achievements he declared himself to be god, and the

Macedonians say that he had the members taken and cast into the sea, and

therefore they believed for ages that therefrom had come a woman; her

they called Venus, and numbered among the gods, and she has in all ages

since been called goddess of love, for they believed she was able to

turn the hearts of all men and women to love. When Saturn was

emasculated by Jupiter, his son, he fled from the east out of Crete and

west into Italy. There dwelt at that time such people as did not work,

and lived on acorns and grass, and lay in caves or holes in the earth.

And when Saturn came there he changed his name and called himself Njord,

for the reason that he thought that Jupiter, his son, might afterward

seek him out. He was the first there to teach men to plow and plant

vineyards. There the soil was good and fresh, and it soon produced heavy

crops. He was made chief and thus he got possession of all the realms

there and built many burgs.

8. Jupiter, his son, had many sons, from whom races have descended; his

son was Dardanos, his son Herikon, his son Tros, his son Ilos, his son

Laomedon, the father of the chief king Priamos. Priamos had many sons;

one of them was Hektor, who was the most famous of all men in the world

for strength, and stature and accomplishments, and for all manly deeds

of a knightly kind; and it is found written that when the Greeks and all

the strength of the north and east regions fought with the Trojans, they

would never have become victors had not the Greeks invoked the gods; and

it is also stated that no human strength would conquer them unless they

were betrayed by their own men, which afterward was done. And from their

fame men that came after gave themselves titles, and especially was this

done by the Romans, who were the most famous in many things after their

days; and it is said that, when Rome was built, the Romans adapted their

customs and laws as nearly as possible to those of the Trojans, their

forefathers. And so much power accompanied these men for many ages

after, that when Pompey, a Roman chieftain, harried in the east region,

Odin fled out of Asia and hither to the north country, and then he gave

to himself and his men their names, and said that Priamos had hight Odin

and his queen Frigg, and from this the realm afterward took its name and

was called Frigia where the burg stood. And whether Odin said this of

himself out of pride, or that it was wrought by the changing of tongues;

nevertheless many wise men have regarded it a true saying, and for a

long time after every man who was a great chieftain followed his

example.

9. A king in Troy hight Munon or Mennon, his wife was a daughter of the

head-king Priamos and hight Troan; they had a son who hight Tror, him we

call Thor. He was fostered in Thrace by the duke, who is called Loricos.

But when he was ten winters old he took his father’s weapons. So fair of

face was he, when he stood by other men, as when ivory is set in oak;

his hair was fairer than gold. When he was twelve winters old he had

full strength; then he lifted from the ground ten bear skins all at

once, and then he slew Loricos, the duke, his foster-father and his

wife, Lora or Glora, and took possession of Thrace; this we call

Thrudheim. Then he visited many lands and knew the countries of the

world, and conquered single-handed all the berserks and all the giants,

and one very big dragon and many beasts. In the north region he found

that prophetess who hight Sibyl, whom we call Sif, and married her. None

can tell the genealogy of Sif; she was the fairest of all women, her

hair was like gold. Their son was Loride (Hloride), who was like his

father; his son was Henrede; his son Vingethor (Vingthor); his son

Vingener (Vingner); his son Moda (Mode); his son Magi (Magne); his son

Kesfet; his son Bedvig; his son Atra, whom we call Annan; his son

Itrman; his son Heremod (Hermod); his son Skjaldun, whom we call Skjold;

his son Bjaf, whom we call Bjar; his son Jat; his son Gudolf, his son

Fjarlaf, whom we call Fridleif; he had the son who is called Vodin, whom

we call Odin; he was a famous man for wisdom and all accomplishments.

His wife hight Frigida, whom we call Frigg.

10. Odin had the power of divination, and so had his wife, and from this

knowledge he found out that his name would be held high in the north

part of the world, and honored beyond that of all kings. For this reason

he was eager to begin his journey from Turkey, and he had with him very

many people, young and old, men and women, and he had with him many

costly things. But wherever they fared over the lands great fame was

spoken of them, and they were said to be more like gods than men. And

they stopped not on their journey before they came north into that land

which is now called Saxland; there Odin remained a long time, and

subjugated the country far and wide. There Odin established his three

sons as a defense of the land. One is named Veggdegg; he was a strong

king and ruled over East Saxland. His son was Vitrgils, and his sons

were Ritta, the father of Heingest (Hengist), and Sigar, the father of

Svebdegg, whom we call Svipdag. Another son of Odin hight Beldegg, whom

we call Balder; he possessed the land which now hight Vestfal; his son

was Brander, and his son Frjodigar, whom we call Froda (Frode). His son

was Freovit, his son Yvigg, his son Gevis, whom we call Gave. The third

son of Odin is named Sigge, his son Verer. These forefathers ruled the

land which is now called Frankland, and from them is come the race that

is called the Volsungs. From all of these many and great races are

descended.

11. Then Odin continued his journey northward and came into the country

which was called Reidgotaland, and in that land he conquered all that he

desired. He established there his son, who hight Skjold; his son hight

Fridleif; from him is descended the race which hight Skjoldungs; these

are the Dane kings, and that land hight now Jutland, which then was

called Reidgotaland.

12. Thereupon he fared north to what is now called Svithjod (Sweden),

there was the king who is called Gylfe. But when he heard of the coming

of those Asiamen, who were called asas, he went to meet them, and

offered Odin such things in his kingdom as he himself might desire. And

such good luck followed their path, that wherever they stopped in the

lands, there were bountiful crops and good peace; and all believed that

they were the cause thereof. The mighty men of the kingdom saw that they

were unlike other men whom they had seen, both in respect to beauty and

understanding. The land there seemed good to Odin, and he chose there

for himself a place for a burg, which is now called Sigtuna.[6] He there

established chiefs, like unto what had formerly existed in Troy; he

appointed twelve men in the burg to be judges of the law of the land,

and made all rights to correspond with what had before been in Troy, and

to what the Turks had been accustomed.

[Footnote 6: Near Upsala.]

13. Thereupon he fared north until he reached the sea, which they

thought surrounded all lands, and there he established his son in the

kingdom, which is now called Norway; he is hight Saming, and the kings

of Norway count their ancestors back to him, and so do the jarls and

other mighty men, as it is stated in the Haleygjatal.[7] But Odin had

with him that son who is called Yngve, who was king in Sweden, and from

him is descended the families called Ynglings (Yngvelings). The asas

took to themselves wives there within the land. But some took wives for

their sons, and these families became so numerous that they spread over

Saxland, and thence over the whole north region, and the tongue of these

Asiamen became the native tongue of all these lands. And men think they

can understand from the way in which the names of their forefathers is

written, that these names have belonged to this tongue, and that the

asas have brought this tongue hither to the north, to Norway, to Sweden

and to Saxland. But in England are old names of places and towns which

can be seen to have been given in another tongue than this.

[Footnote 7: A heroic poem, giving the pedigree (tal) of Norse

kings.]

THE FOOLING OF GYLFE.

GEFJUN’S PLOWING.

1. King Gylfe ruled the lands that are now called Svithjod (Sweden). Of

him it is said that he gave to a wayfaring woman, as a reward for the

entertainment she had afforded him by her story-telling, a plow-land in

his realm, as large as four oxen could plow it in a day and a night But

this woman was of the asa-race; her name was Gefjun. She took from the

north, from Jotunheim, four oxen, which were the sons of a giant and

her, and set them before the plow. Then went the plow so hard and deep

that it tore up the land, and the oxen drew it westward into the sea,

until it stood still in a sound. There Gefjun set the land, gave it a

name and called it Seeland. And where the land had been taken away

became afterward a sea, which in Sweden is now called Logrinn (the Lake,

the Malar Lake in Sweden). And in the Malar Lake the bays correspond to

the capes in Seeland. Thus Brage, the old skald:

Gefjun glad

Drew from Gylfe

The excellent land,

Denmark’s increase,

So that it reeked

From the running beasts.

Four heads and eight eyes

Bore the oxen

As they went before the wide

Robbed land of the grassy isle.[8]

[Footnote 8: Heimskringla: Ynglinga Saga, ch. v.]

GYLFE’S JOURNEY TO ASGARD.

2. King Gylfe was a wise man and skilled in the black art. He wondered

much that the asa-folk was so mighty in knowledge, that all things went

after their will. He thought to himself whether this could come from

their own nature, or whether the cause must be sought for among the gods

whom they worshiped. He therefore undertook a journey to Asgard. He went

secretly, having assumed the likeness of an old man, and striving thus

to disguise himself. But the asas were wiser, for they see into the

future, and, foreseeing his journey before he came, they received him

with an eye-deceit. So when he came into the burg he saw there a hall so

high that he could hardly look over it. Its roof was thatched with

golden shields as with shingles. Thus says Thjodolf of Hvin, that Valhal

was thatched with shields:

Thinking thatchers

Thatched the roof;

The beams of the burg

Beamed with gold.[9]

[Footnote 9: Heimskringla: Harald Harfager’s Saga, ch. xix.]

In the door of the hall Gylfe saw a man who played with swords so

dexterously that seven were in the air at one time. That man asked him

what his name was. Gylfe answered that his name was Ganglere;[10] that

he had come a long way, and that he sought lodgings for the night. He

also asked who owned the burg. The other answered that it belonged to

their king: I will go with you to see him and then you may ask him for

his name yourself. Then the man turned and led the way into the hall.

Ganglere followed, and suddenly the doors closed behind him. There he

saw many rooms and a large number of people, of whom some were playing,

others were drinking, and some were fighting with weapons. He looked

around him, and much of what he saw seemed to him incredible. Then

quoth he:

Gates all,

Before in you go,

You must examine well;

For you cannot know

Where enemies sit

In the house before you.[11]

[Footnote 10: The walker.]

[Footnote 11: Elder Edda: Havamal.]

He saw three high-seats, one above the other, and in each sat a man. He

asked what the names of these chiefs were. He, who had conducted him in,

answered that the one who sat in the lowest high-seat was king, and

hight Har; the one next above him, Jafnhar; but the one who sat on the

highest throne, Thride. Har asked the comer what more his errand was,

and added that food and drink was there at his service, as for all in

Har’s hall. Ganglere answered that he first would like to ask whether

there was any wise man. Answered Har: You will not come out from here

hale unless you are wiser.

And stand now forth

While you ask;

He who answers shall sit.

OF THE HIGHEST GOD.

3. Ganglere then made the following question: Who is the highest and

oldest of all the gods? Made answer Har: Alfather he is called in our

tongue, but in Asgard of old he had twelve names. The first is Alfather,

the second is Herran or Herjan, the third Nikar or Hnikar, the fourth

Nikuz or Hnikud, the fifth Fjolner, the sixth Oske, the seventh Ome, the

eighth Biflide or Biflinde, the ninth Svidar, the tenth Svidrer, the

eleventh Vidrer, the twelfth Jalg or Jalk. Ganglere asks again: Where is

this god? What can he do? What mighty works has he accomplished?

Answered Har: He lives from everlasting to everlasting, rules over all

his realm, and governs all things, great and small. Then remarked

Jafnhar: He made heaven and earth, the air and all things in them.

Thride added: What is most important, he made man and gave him a spirit,

which shall live, and never perish, though the body may turn to dust or

burn to ashes. All who live a life of virtue shall dwell with him in

Gimle or Vingolf. The wicked, on the other hand, go to Hel, and from her

to Niflhel, that is, down into the ninth world. Then asked Ganglere:

What was he doing before heaven and earth were made? Har gave answer:

Then was he with the frost-giants.

THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.

4. Said Ganglere: How came the world into existence, or how did it rise?

What was before? Made answer to him Har: Thus is it said in the Vala’s

Prophecy:

It was Time’s morning,

When there nothing was;

Nor sand, nor sea,

Nor cooling billows.

Earth there was not,

Nor heaven above.

The Ginungagap was,

But grass nowhere.[12]

[Footnote 12: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 6.]

Jafnhar remarked: Many ages before the earth was made, Niflheim had

existed, in the midst of which is the well called Hvergelmer, whence

flow the following streams: Svol, Gunnthro, Form, Fimbul, Thul, Slid and

Hrid, Sylg and Ylg, Vid, Leipt and Gjoll, the last of which is nearest

the gate of Hel. Then added Thride: Still there was before a world to

the south which hight Muspelheim. It is light and hot, and so bright

and dazzling that no stranger, who is not a native there, can stand it.

Surt is the name of him who stands on its border guarding it. He has a

flaming sword in his hand, and at the end of the world he will come and

harry, conquer all the gods, and burn up the whole world with fire. Thus

it is said in the Vala’s Prophecy:

Surt from the south fares

With blazing flames;

From the sword shines

The sun of the war-god.

Rocks dash together

And witches collapse,

Men go the way to Hel

And the heavens are cleft.[13]

[Footnote 13: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 56.]

5. Said Ganglere: What took place before the races came into existence,

and men increased and multiplied? Replied Har, explaining, that as soon

as the streams, that are called the Elivogs, had come so far from their

source that the venomous yeast which flowed with them hardened, as does

dross that runs from the fire, then it turned into ice. And when this

ice stopped and flowed no more, then gathered over it the drizzling rain

that arose from the venom and froze into rime, and one layer of ice was

laid upon the other clear into Ginungagap. Then said Jafnhar: All that

part of Ginungagap that turns toward the north was filled with thick

and heavy ice and rime, and everywhere within were drizzling rains and

gusts. But the south part of Ginungagap was lighted up by the glowing

sparks that flew out of Muspelheim. Added Thride: As cold and all things

grim proceeded from Niflheim, so that which bordered on Muspelheim was

hot and bright, and Ginungagap was as warm and mild as windless air. And

when the heated blasts from Muspelheim met the rime, so that it melted

into drops, then, by the might of him who sent the heat, the drops

quickened into life and took the likeness of a man, who got the name

Ymer. But the Frost giants call him Aurgelmer. Thus it is said in the

short Prophecy of the Vala (the Lay of Hyndla):

All the valas are

From Vidolf descended;

All wizards are

Of Vilmeide’s race;

All enchanters

Are sons of Svarthofde;

All giants have

Come from Ymer.[14]

[Footnote 14: Elder Edda: Hyndla’a Lay, 34.]

And on this point, when Vafthrudner, the giant, was asked by Gangrad:

Whence came Aurgelmer

Originally to the sons

Of the giants?--thou wise giant![15]

he said

From the Elivogs

Sprang drops of venom,

And grew till a giant was made.

Thence our race

Are all descended,

Therefore are we all so fierce.[16]

[Footnote 15: Elder Edda: Vafthrudner’s Lay, 30.]

[Footnote 16: Elder Edda: Vafthrudner’s Lay, 31.]

Then asked Ganglere: How were the races developed from him? Or what was

done so that more men were made? Or do you believe him to be god of whom

you now spake? Made answer Har: By no means do we believe him to be god;

evil was he and all his offspring, them we call frost-giants. It is said

that when he slept he fell into a sweat, and then there grew under his

left arm a man and a woman, and one of his feet begat with the other a

son. From these come the races that are called frost-giants. The old

frost-giant we call Ymer.

6. Then said Ganglere: Where did Ymer dwell, and on what did he live?

Answered Har: The next thing was that when the rime melted into drops,

there was made thereof a cow, which hight Audhumbla. Four milk-streams

ran from her teats, and she fed Ymer. Thereupon asked Ganglere: On what

did the cow subsist? Answered Har: She licked the salt-stones that were

covered with rime, and the first day that she licked the stones there

came out of them in the evening a man’s hair, the second day a man’s

head, and the third day the whole man was there. This man’s name was

Bure; he was fair of face, great and mighty, and he begat a son whose

name was Bor. This Bor married a woman whose name was Bestla, the

daughter of the giant Bolthorn; they had three sons,--the one hight

Odin, the other Vile, and the third Ve. And it is my belief that this

Odin and his brothers are the rulers of heaven and earth. We think that

he must be so called. That is the name of the man whom we know to be the

greatest and most famous, and well may men call him by that name.

7. Ganglere asked: How could these keep peace with Ymer, or who was the

stronger? Then answered Har: The sons of Bor slew the giant Ymer, but

when he fell, there flowed so much blood from his wounds that they

drowned therein the whole race of frost giants; excepting one, who

escaped with his household. Him the giants call Bergelmer. He and his

wife went on board his ark and saved themselves in it. From them are

come new races of frost-giants, as is here said:

Countless winters

Ere the earth was made,

Was born Bergelmer.

This first I call to mind

How that crafty giant

Safe in his ark lay.[17]

[Footnote 17: Elder Edda: Vafthrudner’s Lay, 35.]

8. Then said Ganglere: What was done then by the sons of Bor, since you

believe that they were gods? Answered Har: About that there is not a

little to be said. They took the body of Ymer, carried it into the midst

of Ginungagap and made of him the earth. Of his blood they made the seas

and lakes; of his flesh the earth was made, but of his bones the rocks;

of his teeth and jaws, and of the bones that were broken, they made

stones and pebbles. Jafnhar remarked: Of the blood that flowed from the

wounds, and was free, they made the ocean; they fastened the earth

together and around it they laid this ocean in a ring without, and it

must seem to most men impossible to cross it. Thride added: They took

his skull and made thereof the sky, and raised it over the earth with

four sides. Under each corner they set a dwarf, and the four dwarfs were

called Austre (east), Vestre (West), Nordre (North), Sudre (South). Then

they took glowing sparks, that were loose and had been cast out from

Muspelheim, and placed them in the midst of the boundless heaven, both

above and below, to light up heaven and earth. They gave resting-places

to all fires, and set some in heaven; some were made to go free under

heaven, but they gave them a place and shaped their course. In old songs

it is said that from that time days and years were reckoned. Thus in the

Prophecy of the Vala:

The sun knew not

Where her hall she had;

The moon knew not

What might he had;

The stars knew not

Their resting-places.[18]

[Footnote 18: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 8. In Old Norse the

sun is feminine, and the moon masculine. See below, sections 11

and 12.]

Thus it was before these things were made. Then said Ganglere: Wonderful

tidings are these I now hear; a wondrous great building is this, and

deftly constructed. How was the earth fashioned? Made answer Har: The

earth is round, and without it round about lies the deep ocean, and

along the outer strand of that sea they gave lands for the giant races

to dwell in; and against the attack of restless giants they built a burg

within the sea and around the earth. For this purpose they used the

giant Ymer’s eyebrows, and they called the burg Midgard. They also took

his brains and cast them into the air, and made therefrom the clouds,

as is here said:

Of Ymer’s flesh

The earth was made,

And of his sweat the seas;

Rocks of his bones,

Trees of his hair,

And the sky of his skull;

But of his eyebrows

The blithe powers

Made Midgard for the sons of men.

Of his brains

All the melancholy

Clouds were made.[19]

[Footnote 19: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 40, 41. Comp.

Vafthrudner’s Lay, 21.]

THE CREATION--(CONTINUED.)

9. Then said Ganglere: Much had been done, it seemed to me, when heaven

and earth were made, when sun and moon were set in their places, and

when days were marked out; but whence came the people who inhabit the

world? Har answered as follows: As Bor’s sons went along the sea-strand,

they found two trees. These trees they took up and made men of them. The

first gave them spirit and life; the second endowed them with reason and

power of motion; and the third gave them form, speech, hearing and

eyesight. They gave them clothes and names; the man they called Ask, and

the woman Embla. From them all mankind is descended, and a

dwelling-place was given them under Midgard. In the next place, the sons

of Bor made for themselves in the middle of the world a burg, which is

called Asgard, and which we call Troy. There dwelt the gods and their

race, and thence were wrought many tidings and adventures, both on earth

and in the sky. In Asgard is a place called Hlidskjalf, and when Odin

seated himself there in the high-seat, he saw over the whole world, and

what every man was doing, and he knew all things that he saw. His wife

hight Frigg, and she was the daughter of Fjorgvin, and from their

offspring are descended the race that we call asas, who inhabited Asgard

the old and the realms that lie about it, and all that race are known to

be gods. And for this reason Odin is called Alfather, that he is the

father of all gods and men, and of all things that were made by him and

by his might. Jord (earth) was his daughter and his wife; with her he

begat his first son, and that is Asa-Thor. To him was given force and

strength, whereby he conquers all things quick.

10. Norfe, or Narfe, hight a giant, who dwelt in Jotunheim. He had a

daughter by name Night. She was swarthy and dark like the race she

belonged to. She was first married to a man who hight Naglfare. Their

son was Aud. Afterward she was married to Annar. Jord hight their

daughter. Her last husband was Delling (Daybreak), who was of asa-race.

Their son was Day, who was light and fair after his father. Then took

Alfather Night and her son Day, gave them two horses and two cars, and

set them up in heaven to drive around the earth, each in twelve hours by

turns. Night rides first on the horse which is called Hrimfaxe, and

every morning he bedews the earth with the foam from his bit. The horse

on which Day rides is called Skinfaxe, and with his mane he lights up

all the sky and the earth.

11. Then said Ganglere: How does he steer the course of the sun and the

moon? Answered Har: Mundilfare hight the man who had two children. They

were so fair and beautiful that he called his son Moon, and his

daughter, whom he gave in marriage to a man by name Glener, he called

Sun. But the gods became wroth at this arrogance, took both the brother

and the sister, set them up in heaven, and made Sun drive the horses

that draw the car of the sun, which the gods had made to light up the

world from sparks that flew out of Muspelheim. These horses hight Arvak

and Alsvid. Under their withers the gods placed two wind-bags to cool

them, but in some songs it is called ironcold (ísarnkol). Moon guides

the course of the moon, and rules its waxing and waning. He took from

the earth two children, who hight Bil and Hjuke, as they were going from

the well called Byrger, and were carrying on their shoulders the bucket

called Sager and the pole Simul. Their father’s name is Vidfin. These

children always accompany Moon, as can be seen from the earth.

12. Then said Ganglere: Swift fares Sun, almost as if she were afraid,

and she could make no more haste in her course if she feared her

destroyer. Then answered Har: Nor is it wonderful that she speeds with

all her might. Near is he who pursues her, and there is no escape for

her but to run before him. Then asked Ganglere: Who causes her this

toil? Answered Har: It is two wolves. The one hight Skol, he runs after

her; she fears him and he will one day overtake her. The other hight

Hate, Hrodvitner’s son; he bounds before her and wants to catch the

moon, and so he will at last.[20] Then asked Ganglere: Whose offspring

are these wolves? Said Har; A hag dwells east of Midgard, in the forest

called Jarnved (Ironwood), where reside the witches called Jarnvidjes.

The old hag gives birth to many giant sons, and all in wolf’s likeness.

Thence come these two wolves. It is said that of this wolf-race one is

the mightiest, and is called Moongarm. He is filled with the life-blood

of all dead men. He will devour the moon, and stain the heavens and all

the sky with blood. Thereby the sun will be darkened, the winds will

grow wild, and roar hither and thither, as it is said in the Prophecy of

the Vala:

In the east dwells the old hag,

In the Jarnved forest;

And brings forth there

Fenrer’s offspring.

There comes of them all

One the worst,

The moon’s devourer

In a troll’s disguise.

He is filled with the life-blood

Of men doomed to die;

The seats of the gods

He stains with red gore;

Sunshine grows black

The summer thereafter,

All weather gets fickle.

Know you yet or not?[21]

[Footnote 20: That wolves follow the sun and moon, is a

wide-spread popular superstition. In Sweden, a parhelion is

called Solvarg (sun-wolf).]

[Footnote 21: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 43, 44.]

13. Then asked Ganglere: What is the path from earth to heaven? Har

answered, laughing: Foolishly do you now ask. Have you not been told

that the gods made a bridge from earth to heaven, which is called

Bifrost? You must have seen it. It may be that you call it the rainbow.

It has three colors, is very strong, and is made with more craft and

skill than other structures. Still, however strong it is, it will break

when the sons of Muspel come to ride over it, and then they will have to

swim their horses over great rivers in order to get on. Then said

Ganglere: The gods did not, it seems to me, build that bridge honestly,

if it shall be able to break to pieces, since they could have done so,

had they desired. Then made answer Har: The gods are worthy of no blame

for this structure. Bifrost is indeed a good bridge, but there is no

thing in the world that is able to stand when the sons of Muspel come to

the fight.

THE FIRST WORKS OF THE ASAS. THE GOLDEN AGE.

14. Then said Ganglere: What did Alfather do when Asgard had been built?

Said Har: In the beginning he appointed rulers in a place in the middle

of the burg which is called Idavold, who were to judge with him the

disputes of men and decide the affairs of the burg. Their first work was

to erect a court, where there were seats for all the twelve, and,

besides, a high-seat for Alfather. That is the best and largest house

ever built on earth, and is within and without like solid gold. This

place is called Gladsheim. Then they built another hall as a home for

the goddesses, which also is a very beautiful mansion, and is called

Vingolf. Thereupon they built a forge; made hammer, tongs, anvil, and

with these all other tools. Afterward they worked in iron, stone and

wood, and especially in that metal which is called gold. All their

household wares were of gold. That age was called the golden age, until

it was lost by the coming of those women from Jotunheim. Then the gods

set themselves in their high-seats and held counsel. They remembered how

the dwarfs had quickened in the mould of the earth like maggots in

flesh. The dwarfs had first been created and had quickened in Ymer’s

flesh, and were then maggots; but now, by the decision of the gods, they

got the understanding and likeness of men, but still had to dwell in the

earth and in rocks. Modsogner was one dwarf and Durin another. So it is

said in the Vala’s Prophecy:

Then went all the gods,

The all-holy gods,

On their judgment seats,

And thereon took counsel

Who should the race

Of dwarfs create

From the bloody sea

And from Blain’s bones.

In the likeness of men

Made they many

Dwarfs in the earth,

As Durin said.

And these, says the Vala, are the names of the dwarfs:

Nye, Nide,

Nordre, Sudre,

Austre, Vestre,

Althjof, Dvalin,

Na, Nain,

Niping, Dain,

Bifur, Bafur,

Bombor, Nore,

Ore, Onar,

Oin, Mjodvitner,

Vig, Gandalf,

Vindalf, Thorin,

File, Kile,

Fundin, Vale,

Thro, Throin,

Thek, Lit, Vit,

Ny, Nyrad,

Rek, Radsvid.

But the following are also dwarfs and dwell in the rocks, while the

above-named dwell in the mould:

Draupner, Dolgthvare,

Hor, Hugstare,

Hledjolf, Gloin,

Dore, Ore,

Duf, Andvare,

Hepte, File,

Har, Siar.

But the following come from Svarin’s How to Aurvang on Joruvold, and

from them is sprung Lovar. Their names are:

Skirfer, Virfir,

Skafid, Ae,

Alf, Inge,

Eikinslgalde,

Fal, Froste,

Fid, Ginnar.[22]

[Footnote 22: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 12, 14-16, 18, 19.]

ON THE WONDERFUL THINGS IN HEAVEN.

15. Then said Ganglere: Where is the chief or most holy place of the

gods? Har answered: That is by the ash Ygdrasil. There the gods meet in

council every day. Said Ganglere: What is said about this place?

Answered Jafnhar: This ash is the best and greatest of all trees; its

branches spread over all the world, and reach up above heaven. Three

roots sustain the tree and stand wide apart; one root is with the asas

and another with the frost-giants, where Ginungagap formerly was; the

third reaches into Niflheim; under it is Hvergelmer, where Nidhug gnaws

the root from below. But under the second root, which extends to the

frost-giants, is the well of Mimer, wherein knowledge and wisdom are

concealed. The owner of the well hight Mimer. He is full of wisdom, for

he drinks from the well with the Gjallar-horn. Alfather once came there

and asked for a drink from the well, but he did not get it before he

left one of his eyes as a pledge. So it is said in the Vala’s Prophecy:

Well know I, Odin,

Where you hid your eye:

In the crystal-clear

Well of Mimer.

Mead drinks Mimer

Every morning

From Valfather’s pledge.

Know you yet or not?[23]

[Footnote 23: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 24.]

The third root of the ash is in heaven, and beneath it is the most

sacred fountain of Urd. Here the gods have their doomstead. The asas

ride hither every day over Bifrost, which is also called Asa-bridge. The

following are the names of the horses of the gods: Sleipner is the best

one; he belongs to Odin, and he has eight feet. The second is Glad, the

third Gyller, the fourth Gler, the fifth Skeidbrimer, the sixth

Silfertop, the seventh Siner, the eighth Gisl, the ninth Falhofner, the

tenth Gulltop, the eleventh Letfet. Balder’s horse was burned with him.

Thor goes on foot to the doomstead, and wades the following rivers:

Kormt and Ormt

And the two Kerlaugs;

These shall Thor wade

Every day

When he goes to judge

Near the Ygdrasil ash;

For the Asa-bridge

Burns all ablaze,--

The holy waters roar.[24]

[Footnote 24: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 29.]

Then asked Ganglere: Does fire burn over Bifrost? Har answered: The red

which you see in the rainbow is burning fire. The frost-giants and the

mountain-giants would go up to heaven if Bifrost were passable for all

who desired to go there. Many fair places there are in heaven, and they

are all protected by a divine defense. There stands a beautiful hall

near the fountain beneath the ash. Out of it come three maids, whose

names are Urd, Verdande and Skuld. These maids shape the lives of men,

and we call them norns. There are yet more norns, namely those who come

to every man when he is born, to shape his life, and these are known to

be of the race of gods; others, on the other hand, are of the race of

elves, and yet others are of the race of dwarfs. As is here said:

Far asunder, I think,

The norns are born,

They are not of the same race.

Some are of the asas,

Some are of the elves,

Some are daughters of Dvalin.[25]

[Footnote 25: Elder Edda: Fafner’s Lay, 13.]

Then said Ganglere: If the norns rule the fortunes of men, then they

deal them out exceedingly unevenly. Some live a good life and are rich;

some get neither wealth nor praise. Some have a long, others a short

life. Har answered: Good norns and of good descent shape good lives, and

when some men are weighed down with misfortune, the evil norns are the

cause of it.

16. Then said Ganglere: What other remarkable things are there to be

said about the ash? Har answered: Much is to be said about it. On one of

the boughs of the ash sits an eagle, who knows many things. Between his

eyes sits a hawk that is called Vedfolner. A squirrel, by name Ratatosk,

springs up and down the tree, and carries words of envy between the

eagle and Nidhug. Four stags leap about in the branches of the ash and

bite the leaves.[26] Their names are: Dain, Dvalin, Duney and Durathro.

In Hvergelmer with Nidhug are more serpents than tongue can tell. As is

here said:

The ash Ygdrasil

Bears distress

Greater than men know.

Stags bite it above,

At the side it rots,

Nidhug gnaws it below.

[Footnote 26: The Icelandic barr. See Vigfusson, _sub voce_.]

And so again it is said:

More serpents lie

’Neath the Ygdrasil ash

Than is thought of

By every foolish ape.

Goin and Moin

(They are sons of Grafvitner),

Grabak and Grafvollud,

Ofner and Svafner

Must for aye, methinks,

Gnaw the roots of that tree.[27]

[Footnote 27: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 35, 34.]

Again, it is said that the norns, that dwell in the fountain of Urd,

every day take water from the fountain and take the clay that lies

around the fountain and sprinkle therewith the ash, in order that its

branches may not wither or decay. This water is so holy that all things

that are put into the fountain become as white as the film of an

egg-shell As is here said:

An ash I know

Hight Ygdrasil;

A high, holy tree

With white clay sprinkled.

Thence come the dews

That fall in the dales.

Green forever it stands

Over Urd’s fountain.[28]

[Footnote 28: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 22.]

The dew which falls on the earth from this tree men call honey-fall, and

it is the food of bees. Two birds are fed in Urd’s fountain; they are

called swans, and they are the parents of the race of swans.

17. Then said Ganglere: Great tidings you are able to tell of the

heavens. Are there other remarkable places than the one by Urd’s

fountain? Answered Har: There are many magnificent dwellings. One is

there called Alfheim. There dwell the folk that are called light-elves;

but the dark-elves dwell down in the earth, and they are unlike the

light-elves in appearance, but much more so in deeds. The light-elves

are fairer than the sun to look upon, but the dark-elves are blacker

than pitch. Another place is called Breidablik, and no place is fairer.

There is also a mansion called Glitner, of which the walls and pillars

and posts are of red gold, and the roof is of silver. Furthermore, there

is a dwelling, by name Himinbjorg, which stands at the end of heaven,

where the Bifrost-bridge is united with heaven. And there is a great

dwelling called Valaskjalf, which belongs to Odin. The gods made it and

thatched it with, sheer silver. In this hall is the high-seat, which is

called Hlidskjalf, and when Alfather sits in this seat, he sees over all

the world. In the southern end of the world is the palace, which is the

fairest of all, and brighter than the sun; its name is Gimle. It shall

stand when both heaven and earth shall have passed away. In this hall

the good and the righteous shall dwell through all ages. Thus says the

Prophecy of the Vala:

A hall I know, standing

Than the sun fairer,

Than gold better,

Gimle by name.

There shall good

People dwell,

And forever

Delights enjoy.[29]

Then said Ganglere: Who guards this palace when Surt’s fire burns up

heaven and earth? Har answered: It is said that to the south and above

this heaven is another heaven, which is called Andlang. But there is a

third, which is above these, and is called Vidblain, and in this heaven

we believe this mansion (Gimle) to be situated; but we deem that the

light-elves alone dwell in it now.

[Footnote 29: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 70.]

THE ASAS.

18. Then said Ganglere: Whence comes the wind? It is so strong that it

moves great seas, and fans fires to flame, and yet, strong as it is,

it cannot be seen. Therefore it is wonderfully made. Then answered Har:

That I can tell you well. At the northern end of heaven sits a giant,

who hight Hrasvelg. He is clad in eagles’ plumes, and when he spreads

his wings for flight, the winds arise from under them. Thus is it here

said:

Hrasvelg hight he

Who sits at the end of heaven,

A giant in eagle’s disguise.

From his wings, they say,

The wind does come

Over all mankind.[30]

[Footnote 30: Elder Edda: Vafthrudner’s Lay, 37.]

19. Then said Ganglere: How comes it that summer is so hot, but the

winter so cold? Har answered: A wise man would not ask such a question,

for all are able to tell this; but if you alone have become so stupid

that you have not heard of it, then I would rather forgive you for

asking unwisely once than that you should go any longer in ignorance of

what you ought to know. Svasud is the name of him who is father of

summer, and he lives such a life of enjoyment, that everything that is

mild is from him called sweet (svasligt). But the father of winter has

two names, Vindlone and Vindsval. He is the son of Vasad, and all that

race are grim and of icy breath, and winter is like them.

20. Then asked Ganglere: Which are the asas, in whom men are bound to

believe? Har answered him: Twelve are the divine asas. Jafnhar said:

No less holy are the asynjes (goddesses), nor is their power less. Then

added Thride: Odin is the highest and oldest of the asas. He rules all

things, but the other gods, each according to his might, serve him as

children a father. Frigg is his wife, and she knows the fate of men,

although she tells not thereof, as it is related that Odin himself said

to Asa-Loke:

Mad are you, Loke!

And out of your senses;

Why do you not stop?

Fortunes all,

Methinks, Frigg knows,

Though she tells them not herself.[31]

[Footnote 31: Elder Edda. Loke’s Quarrel, 29, 47.]

Odin is called Alfather, for he is the father of all the gods; he is

also called Valfather, for all who fall in fight are his chosen sons.

For them he prepares Valhal and Vingolf, where they are called einherjes

(heroes). He is also called Hangagod, Haptagod, Farmagod; and he gave

himself still more names when he came to King Geirrod:

Grim is my name,

And Ganglare,

Herjan, Hjalmbore,

Thek, Thride,

Thud, Ud,

Helblinde, Har,

Sad, Svipal,

Sangetal,

Herteit, Hnikar,

Bileyg, Baleyg,

Bolverk, Fjolner,

Grimner, Glapsvid, Fjolsvid,

Sidhot, Sidskeg,

Sigfather, Hnikud,

Alfather, Atrid, Farmatyr,

Oske, Ome,

Jafnhar, Biflinde,

Gondler, Harbard,

Svidur, Svidrir,

Jalk, Kjalar, Vidur,

Thro, Yg, Thund,

Vak, Skilfing,

Vafud, Hroptatyr,

Gaut, Veratyr.[32]

[Footnote 32: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 46-50.]

Then said Ganglere: A very great number of names you have given him; and

this I know, forsooth, that he must be a very wise man who is able to

understand and decide what chances are the causes of all these names.

Har answered: Much knowledge is needed to explain it all rightly, but

still it is shortest to tell you that most of these names have been

given him for the reason that, as there are many tongues in the world,

so all peoples thought they ought to turn his name into their tongue, in

order that they might be able to worship him and pray to him each in its

own language. Other causes of these names must be sought in his

journeys, which are told of in old sagas; and you can lay no claim to

being called a wise man if you are not able to tell of these wonderful

adventures.

21. Then said Ganglere: What are the names of the other asas? What is

their occupation, and what works have they wrought? Har answered: Thor

is the foremost of them. He is called Asa-Thor, or Oku-Thor.[33] He is

the strongest of all gods and men, and rules over the realm which is

called Thrudvang. His hall is called Bilskirner. Therein are five

hundred and forty floors, and it is the largest house that men have

made. Thus it is said in Grimner’s Lay:

Five hundred floors

And forty more,

Methinks, has bowed Bilskirner.

Of houses all

That I know roofed

I know my son’s is the largest.[34]

[Footnote 33: Oku is derived from the Finnish thunder-god, Ukko.]

[Footnote 34: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 24.]

Thor has two goats, by name Tangnjost and Tangrisner, and a chariot,

wherein he drives. The goats draw the chariot; wherefore he is called

Oku-Thor.[35] He possesses three valuable treasures. One of them is the

hammer Mjolner, which the frost-giants and mountain-giants well know

when it is raised; and this is not to be wondered at, for with it he has

split many a skull of their fathers or friends. The second treasure he

possesses is Megingjarder (belt of strength); when he girds himself with

it his strength is doubled. His third treasure that is of so great value

is his iron gloves; these he cannot do without when he lays hold of the

hammer’s haft. No one is so wise that he can tell all his great works;

but I can tell you so many tidings of him that it will grow late before

all is told that I know.

[Footnote 35: The author of the Younger Edda is here mistaken. See

note on page 82 {Footnote 33}.]

22. Thereupon said Ganglere: I wish to ask tidings of more of the asas.

Har gave him answer: Odin’s second son is Balder, and of him good things

are to be told. He is the best, and all praise him. He is so fair of

face and so bright that rays of light issue from him; and there is a

plant so white that it is likened unto Balder’s brow, and it is the

whitest of all plants. From this you can judge of the beauty both of his

hair and of his body. He is the wisest, mildest and most eloquent of all

the asas; and such is his nature that none can alter the judgment he has

pronounced. He inhabits the place in heaven called Breidablik, and there

nothing unclean can enter. As is here said:

Breidablik it is called,

Where Balder has

Built for himself a hall

In the land

Where I know is found

The least of evil.[36]

[Footnote 36: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 12.]

23. The third asa is he who is called Njord. He dwells in Noatun, which

is in heaven. He rules the course of the wind and checks the fury of the

sea and of fire. He is invoked by seafarers and by fishermen. He is so

rich and wealthy that he can give broad lands and abundance to those who

call on him for them. He was fostered in Vanaheim, but the vans[37] gave

him as a hostage to the gods, and received in his stead as an

asa-hostage the god whose name is Honer. He established peace between

the gods and vans. Njord took to wife Skade, a daughter of the giant

Thjasse. She wished to live where her father had dwelt, that is, on the

mountains in Thrymheim; Njord, on the other hand, preferred to be near

the sea. They therefore agreed to pass nine nights in Thrymheim and

three in Noatun. But when Njord came back from the mountains to Noatun

he sang this:

[Footnote 37: Compare Vainamoinen, the son of Ukko, in the Finnish

epic Kalevala.]

Weary am I of the mountains,

Not long was I there,

Only nine nights.

The howl of the wolves

Methought sounded ill

To the song of the swans.

Skade then sang this:

Sleep I could not

On my sea-strand couch,

For the scream of the sea-fowl.

_There_ wakes me,

As he comes from the sea,

Every morning the mew.

Then went Skade up on the mountain, and dwelt in Thrymheim. She often

goes on skees (snow-shoes), with her bow, and shoots wild beasts. She is

called skee-goddess or skee-dis. Thus it is said:

Thrymheim it is called

Where Thjasse dwelt,

That mightiest giant.

But now dwells Skade,

Pure bride of the gods,

In her father’s old homestead.[38]

[Footnote 38: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 11.]

24. Njord, in Noatun, afterward begat two children: a son, by name Frey,

and a daughter, by name Freyja. They were fair of face, and mighty. Frey

is the most famous of the asas. He rules over rain and sunshine, and

over the fruits of the earth. It is good to call on him for harvests and

peace. He also sways the wealth of men. Freyja is the most famous of the

goddesses. She has in heaven a dwelling which is called Folkvang, and

when she rides to the battle, one half of the slain belong to her, and

the other half to Odin. As is here said:

Folkvang it is called,

And there rules Freyja.

For the seats in the hall

Half of the slain

She chooses each day;

The other half is Odin’s.[39]

[Footnote 39: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 14.]

Her hall is Sesrynmer, and it is large and beautiful. When she goes

abroad, she drives in a car drawn by two cats. She lends a favorable ear

to men who call upon her, and it is from her name the title has come

that women of birth and wealth are called frur.[40] She is fond of love

ditties, and it is good to call on her in love affairs.

[Footnote 40: Icel. _frú_ (Ger. _frau_; Dan. _frue_), pl. _frúr_,

means a lady. It is used of the wives of men of rank or title.

It is derived from Freyja.]

25. Then said Ganglere: Of great importance these asas seem to me to be,

and it is not wonderful that you have great power, since you have such

excellent knowledge of the gods, and know to which of them to address

your prayers on each occasion. But what other gods are there? Har

answered: There is yet an asa, whose name is Tyr. He is very daring and

stout-hearted. He sways victory in war, wherefore warriors should call

on him. There is a saw, that he who surpasses others in bravery, and

never yields, is Tyr-strong. He is also so wise, that it is said of

anyone who is specially intelligent, that he is Tyr-learned. A proof of

his daring is, that when the asas induced the wolf Fenrer to let himself

be bound with the chain Gleipner, he would not believe that they would

loose him again until Tyr put his hand in his mouth as a pledge. But

when the asas would not loose the Fenris-wolf, he bit Tyr’s hand off at

the place of the wolf’s joint (the wrist; Icel. _úlfliðr_[41]). From

that time Tyr is one-handed, and he is now called a peacemaker among

men.

[Footnote 41: This etymology is, however, erroneous, for the word

is derived from _oln_ or _öln_, and the true form of the word is

_ölnliðr_ = the ell-joint (wrist); thus we have _ölnboge_--the

elbow; _öln_ = _alin_ (Gr. ὠδίνη; Lat. _ulna_; cp. A.-S.

_el-boga_; Eng. _elbow_) is the arm from the elbow to the end of

the middle finger, hence an ell in long measure.]

26. Brage is the name of another of the asas. He is famous for his

wisdom, eloquence and flowing speech. He is a master-skald, and from him

song-craft is called brag (poetry), and such men or women as distinguish

themselves by their eloquence are called brag-men[42] and brag-women.

His wife is Idun. She keeps in a box those apples of which the gods eat

when they grow old, and then they become young again, and so it will be

until Ragnarok (the twilight of the gods). Then said Ganglere: Of great

importance to the gods it must be, it seems to me, that Idun preserves

these apples with care and honesty. Har answered, and laughed: They ran

a great risk on one occasion, whereof I might tell you more, but you

shall first hear the names of more asas.

[Footnote 42: Compare the Anglo-Saxon _brego_ = princeps, chief.]

27. Heimdal is the name of one. He is also called the white-asa. He is

great and holy; born of nine maidens, all of whom were sisters. He hight

also Hallinskide and Gullintanne, for his teeth were of gold. His horse

hight Gulltop (Gold-top). He dwells in a place called Himinbjorg, near

Bifrost. He is the ward of the gods, and sits at the end of heaven,

guarding the bridge against the mountain-giants. He needs less sleep

than a bird; sees an hundred miles around him, and as well by night as

by day. He hears the grass grow and the wool on the backs of the sheep,

and of course all things that sound louder than these. He has a trumpet

called the Gjallarhorn, and when he blows it it can be heard in all the

worlds. The head is called Heimdal’s sword. Thus it is here said:

Himinbjorg it is called,

Where Heimdal rules

Over his holy halls;

There drinks the ward of the gods

In his delightful dwelling

Glad the good mead.[43]

[Footnote 43: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 13.]

And again, in Heimdal’s Song, he says himself:

Son I am of maidens nine,

Born I am of sisters nine.

28. Hoder hight one of the asas, who is blind, but exceedingly strong;

and the gods would wish that this asa never needed to be named, for the

work of his hand will long be kept in memory both by gods and men.

29. Vidar is the name of the silent asa. He has a very thick shoe, and

he is the strongest next after Thor. From him the gods have much help in

all hard tasks.

30. Ale, or Vale, is the son of Odin and Rind. He is daring in combat,

and a good shot.

31. Uller is the name of one, who is a son of Sif, and a step-son of

Thor. He is so good an archer, and so fast on his skees, that no one can

contend with him. He is fair of face, and possesses every quality of a

warrior. Men should invoke him in single combat.

32. Forsete is a son of Balder and Nanna, Nep’s daughter. He has in

heaven the hall which hight Glitner. All who come to him with disputes

go away perfectly reconciled. No better tribunal is to be found among

gods and men. Thus it is here said:

Glitner hight the hall,

On gold pillars standing,

And roofed with silver.

There dwells Forsete

Throughout all time,

And settles all disputes.[44]

[Footnote 44: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 15.]

LOKE AND HIS OFFSPRING.

33. There is yet one who is numbered among the asas, but whom some call

the backbiter of the asas. He is the originator of deceit, and the

disgrace of all gods and men. His name is Loke, or Lopt. His father is

the giant Farbaute, but his mother’s name is Laufey, or Nal. His

brothers are Byleist and Helblinde. Loke is fair and beautiful of face,

but evil in disposition, and very fickle-minded. He surpasses other men

in the craft called cunning, and cheats in all things. He has often

brought the asas into great trouble, and often helped them out again,

with his cunning contrivances. His wife hight Sygin, and their son,

Nare, or Narfe.

34. Loke had yet more children. A giantess in Jotunheim, hight

Angerboda. With her he begat three children. The first was the

Fenris-wolf; the second, Jormungand, that is, the Midgard-serpent, and

the third, Hel. When the gods knew that these three children were being

fostered in Jotunheim, and were aware of the prophecies that much woe

and misfortune would thence come to them, and considering that much evil

might be looked for from them on their mother’s side, and still more on

their father’s, Alfather sent some of the gods to take the children and

bring them to him. When they came to him he threw the serpent into the

deep sea which surrounds all lands. There waxed the serpent so that he

lies in the midst of the ocean, surrounds all the earth, and bites his

own tail. Hel he cast into Niflheim, and gave her power over nine

worlds,[45] that she should appoint abodes to them that are sent to her,

namely, those who die from sickness or old age. She has there a great

mansion, and the walls around it are of strange height, and the gates

are huge. Eljudner is the name of her hall. Her table hight famine; her

knife, starvation. Her man-servant’s name is Ganglate; her

maid-servant’s, Ganglot.[46] Her threshold is called stumbling-block;

her bed, care; the precious hangings of her bed, gleaming bale. One-half

of her is blue, and the other half is of the hue of flesh; hence she is

easily known. Her looks are very stern and grim.

[Footnote 45: Possibly this ought to read the ninth world, which

would correspond with what we read on page 72, and in the Vala’s

Prophecy. See also notes. It may be a mistake of the transcriber.]

[Footnote 46: Both these words mean sloth.]

35. The wolf was fostered by the asas at home, and Tyr was the only one

who had the courage to go to him and give him food. When the gods saw

how much he grew every day, and all prophecies declared that he was

predestined to become fatal to them, they resolved to make a very strong

fetter, which they called Lading. They brought it to the wolf, and bade

him try his strength on the fetter. The wolf, who did not think it would

be too strong for him, let them do therewith as they pleased. But as

soon as he spurned against it the fetter burst asunder, and he was free

from Lading. Then the asas made another fetter, by one-half stronger,

and this they called Drome. They wanted the wolf to try this also,

saying to him that he would become very famous for his strength, if so

strong a chain was not able to hold him. The wolf thought that this

fetter was indeed very strong, but also that his strength had increased

since he broke Lading. He also took into consideration that it was

necessary to expose one’s self to some danger if he desired to become

famous; so he let them put the fetter on him. When the asas said they

were ready, the wolf shook himself, spurned against and dashed the

fetter on the ground, so that the broken pieces flew a long distance.

Thus he broke loose out of Drome. Since then it has been held as a

proverb, “to get loose out of Lading” or “to dash out of Drome,”

whenever anything is extraordinarily hard. The asas now began to fear

that they would not get the wolf bound. So Alfather sent the youth, who

is called Skirner, and is Frey’s messenger, to some dwarfs in

Svartalfaheim, and had them make the fetter which is called Gleipner. It

was made of six things: of the footfall of cats, of the beard of woman,

of the roots of the mountain, of the sinews of the bear, of the breath

of the fish, and of the spittle of the birds. If you have not known this

before, you can easily find out that it is true and that there is no lie

about it, since you must have observed that a woman has no beard, that a

cat’s footfall cannot be heard, and that mountains have no roots; and I

know, forsooth, that what I have told you is perfectly true, although

there are some things that you do not understand. Then said Ganglere:

This I must surely understand to be true. I can see these things which

you have taken as proof. But how was the fetter smithied? Answered Har:

That I can well explain to you. It was smooth and soft as a silken

string. How strong and trusty it was you shall now hear. When the fetter

was brought to the asas, they thanked the messenger for doing his errand

so well. Then they went out into the lake called Amsvartner, to the holm

(rocky island) called Lyngve, and called the wolf to go with them. They

showed him the silken band and bade him break it, saying that it was

somewhat stronger than its thinness would lead one to suppose. Then they

handed it from one to the other and tried its strength with their hands,

but it did not break. Still they said the wolf would be able to snap it.

The wolf answered: It seems to me that I will get no fame though I break

asunder so slender a thread as this is. But if it is made with craft and

guile, then, little though it may look, that band will never come on my

feet. Then said the asas that he would easily be able to break a slim

silken band, since he had already burst large iron fetters asunder. But

even if you are unable to break this band, you have nothing to fear from

the gods, for we will immediately loose you again. The wolf answered: If

you get me bound so fast that I am not able to loose myself again, you

will skulk away, and it will be long before I get any help from you,

wherefore I am loth to let this band be laid on me; but in order that

you may not accuse me of cowardice, let some one of you lay his hand in

my mouth as a pledge that this is done without deceit. The one asa

looked at the other, and thought there now was a choice of two evils,

and no one would offer his hand, before Tyr held out his right hand and

laid it in the wolf’s mouth. But when the wolf now began to spurn

against it the band grew stiffer, and the more he strained the tighter

it got. They all laughed except Tyr; he lost his hand. When the asas saw

that the wolf was sufficiently well bound, they took the chain which was

fixed to the fetter, and which was called Gelgja, and drew it through a

large rock which is called Gjol, and fastened this rock deep down in the

earth. Then they took a large stone, which is called Tvite, and drove it

still deeper into the ground, and used this stone for a fastening-pin.

The wolf opened his mouth terribly wide, raged and twisted himself with

all his might, and wanted to bite them; but they put a sword in his

mouth, in such a manner that the hilt stood in his lower jaw and the

point in the upper, that is his gag. He howls terribly, and the saliva

which runs from his mouth forms a river called Von. There he will lie

until Ragnarok. Then said Ganglere: Very bad are these children of Loke,

but they are strong and mighty. But why did not the asas kill the wolf

when they have evil to expect from him? Har answered: So great respect

have the gods for their holiness and peace-stead, that they would not

stain them with the blood of the wolf, though prophecies foretell that

he must become the bane of Odin.

THE GODDESSES (ASYNJES).

36. Ganglere asked: Which are the goddesses? Har answered: Frigg is the

first; she possesses the right lordly dwelling which is called Fensaler.

The second is Saga, who dwells in Sokvabek, and this is a large

dwelling. The third is Eir, who is the best leech. The fourth is Gefjun,

who is a may, and those who die maids become her hand-maidens. The fifth

is Fulla, who is also a may, she wears her hair flowing and has a golden

ribbon about her head; she carries Frigg’s chest, takes care of her

shoes and knows her secrets. The sixth is Freyja, who is ranked with

Frigg. She is wedded to the man whose name is Oder; their daughter’s

name is Hnos, and she is so fair that all things fair and precious are

called, from her name, Hnos. Oder went far away. Freyja weeps for him,

but her tears are red gold. Freyja has many names, and the reason

therefor is that she changed her name among the various nations to which

she came in search of Oder. She is called Mardol, Horn, Gefn, and Syr.

She has the necklace Brising, and she is called Vanadis. The seventh is

Sjofn, who is fond of turning men’s and women’s hearts to love, and it

is from her name that love is called Sjafne. The eighth is Lofn, who is

kind and good to those who call upon her, and she has permission from

Alfather or Frigg to bring together men and women, no matter what

difficulties may stand in the way; therefore “love” is so called from

her name, and also that which is much loved by men. The ninth is Var.

She hears the oaths and troths that men and women plight to each other.

Hence such vows are called vars, and she takes vengeance on those who

break their promises. The tenth is Vor, who is so wise and searching

that nothing can be concealed from her. It is a saying that a woman

becomes vor (ware) of what she becomes wise. The eleventh is Syn, who

guards the door of the hall, and closes it against those who are not to

enter. In trials she guards those suits in which anyone tries to make

use of falsehood. Hence is the saying that “syn is set against it,” when

anyone tries to deny ought. The twelfth is Hlin, who guards those men

whom Frigg wants to protect from any danger. Hence is the saying that he

hlins who is forewarned. The thirteenth is Snotra, who is wise and

courtly. After her, men and women who are wise are called Snotras. The

fourteenth is Gna, whom Frigg sends on her errands into various worlds.

She rides upon a horse called Hofvarpner, that runs through the air and

over the sea. Once, when she was riding, some vans saw her faring

through the air. Then said one of them:

What flies there?

What fares there?

What glides in the air?

She answered

I fly not,

Though I fare

And glide through the air

On Hofvarpner,

That Hamskerper,

Begat with Gardrofa.[47]

From Gna’s name it is said that anything that fares high in the air

gnas. Sol and Bil are numbered among the goddesses, but their nature has

already been described.[48]

[Footnote 47: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 36]

[Footnote 48: See page 66.]

37. There are still others who are to serve in Valhal, bear the drink

around, wait upon the table and pass the ale-horns. Thus they are named

in Grimner’s Lay:

Hrist and Mist

I want my horn to bring to me;

Skeggold and Skogul,

Hild and Thrud,

Hlok and Heifjoter,

Gol and Geirahod,

Randgrid and Radgrid,

And Reginleif;

These bear ale to the einherjes.[49]

[Footnote 49: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 36.]

These are called valkyries. Odin sends them to all battles, where they

choose those who are to be slain, and rule over the victory. Gud and

Rosta, and the youngest norn, Skuld, always ride to sway the battle and

choose the slain. Jord, the mother of Thor, and Rind, Vale’s mother, are

numbered among the goddesses.

THE GIANTESS GERD AND SKIRNER’S JOURNEY.[50]

38. Gymer hight a man whose wife was Orboda, of the race of the mountain

giants. Their daughter was Gerd, the fairest of all women. One day when

Frey had gone into Hlidskjalf, and was looking out upon all the worlds,

he saw toward the north a hamlet wherein was a large and beautiful

house. To this house went a woman, and when she raised her hands to open

the door, both the sky and the sea glistened therefrom, and she made all

the world bright. As a punishment for his audacity in seating himself in

that holy seat, Frey went away full of grief. When he came home, he

neither spake, slept, nor drank, and no one dared speak to him. Then

Njord sent for Skirner, Frey’s servant, bade him go to Frey and ask him

with whom he was so angry, since he would speak to nobody. Skirner said

that he would go, though he was loth to do so, as it was probable that

he would get evil words in reply. When he came to Frey and asked him why

he was so sad that he would not talk, Frey answered that he had seen a

beautiful woman, and for her sake he had become so filled with grief,

that he could not live any longer if he could not get her. And now you

must go, he added, and ask her hand for me and bring her home to me,

whether it be with or without the consent of her father. I will reward

you well for your trouble. Skirner answered saying that he would go on

this errand, but Frey must give him his sword, that was so excellent

that it wielded itself in fight. Frey made no objection to this and gave

him the sword. Skirner went on his journey, courted Gerd for him, and

got the promise of her that she nine nights thereafter should come to

Bar-Isle and there have her wedding with Frey. When Skirner came back

and gave an account of his journey, Frey said:

Long is one night,

Long are two nights,

How can I hold out three?

Oft to me one month

Seemed less

Than this half night of love.[51]

[Footnote 50: This is the Niblung story in a nut-shell.]

[Footnote 51: Elder Edda: Skirner’s Journey, 42.]

This is the reason why Frey was unarmed when he fought with Bele, and

slew him with a hart’s horn. Then said Ganglere: It is a great wonder

that such a lord as Frey would give away his sword, when he did not have

another as good. A great loss it was to him when he fought with Bele;

and this I know, forsooth, that he must have repented of that gift. Har

answered: Of no great account was his meeting with Bele. Frey could have

slain him with his hand. But the time will come when he will find

himself in a worse plight for not having his sword, and that will be

when the sons of Muspel sally forth to the fight.

LIFE IN VALHAL.

39. Then said Ganglere: You say that all men who since the beginning of

the world have fallen in battle have come to Odin in Valhal. What does

he have to give them to eat? It seems to me there must be a great throng

of people. Har answered: It is true, as you remark, that there is a

great throng; many more are yet to come there, and still they will be

thought too few when the wolf[52] comes. But however great may be the

throng in Valhal, they will get plenty of flesh of the boar Sahrimner.

He is boiled every day and is whole again in the evening. But as to the

question you just asked, it seems to me there are but few men so wise

that they are able to answer it correctly. The cook’s name is

Andhrimner, and the kettle is called Eldhrimner as is here said:

Andhrimner cooks

In Eldhrimner

Sahrimner.

’Tis the best of flesh.

There are few who know

What the einherjes eat.[53]

[Footnote 52: The Fenris-wolf in Ragnarok.]

[Footnote 53: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 18.]

Ganglere asked: Does Odin have the same kind of food as the einherjes?

Har answered: The food that is placed on his table he gives to his two

wolves, which hight Gere and Freke. He needs no food himself. Wine is to

him both food and drink, as is here said:

Gere and Freke

Sates the warfaring,

Famous father of hosts;

But on wine alone

Odin in arms renowned

Forever lives.[54]

[Footnote 54: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 19.]

Two ravens sit on Odin’s shoulders, and bring to his ears all that they

hear and see. Their names are Hugin and Munin. At dawn he sends them out

to fly over the whole world, and they come back at breakfast time. Thus

he gets information about many things, and hence he is called Rafnagud

(raven-god). As is here said:

Hugin and Munin

Fly every day

Over the great earth.

I fear for Hugin

That he may not return,

Yet more am I anxious for Munin.[55]

[Footnote 55: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 20.]

40. Then asked Ganglere: What do the einherjes have to drink that is

furnished them as bountifully as the food? Or do they drink water? Har

answered: That is a wonderful question. Do you suppose that Alfather

invites kings, jarls, or other great men, and gives them water to drink?

This I know, forsooth, that many a one comes to Valhal who would think

he was paying a big price for his water-drink, if there were no better

reception to be found there,--persons, namely, who have died from wounds

and pain. But I can tell you other tidings. A she-goat, by name Heidrun,

stands up in Valhal and bites the leaves off the branches of that famous

tree called Lerad. From her teats runs so much mead that she fills every

day a vessel in the hall from which the horns are filled, and which is

so large that all the einherjes get all the drink they want out of it.

Then said Ganglere: That is a most useful goat, and a right excellent

tree that must be that she feeds upon. Then said Har: Still more

remarkable is the hart Eikthyrner, which stands over Valhal and bites

the branches of the same tree. From his horns fall so many drops down

into Hvergelmer, that thence flow the rivers that are called Sid, Vid,

Sekin, Ekin, Svol, Gunthro, Fjorm, Fimbulthul, Gipul, Gopul, Gomul and

Geirvimul, all of which fall about the abodes of the asas. The following

are also named: Thyn, Vin, Thol, Bol, Grad, Gunthrain, Nyt, Not, Non,

Hron, Vina, Vegsvin, Thjodnuma.

41. Then said Ganglere: That was a wonderful tiding that you now told

me. A mighty house must Valhal be, and a great crowd there must often be

at the door. Then answered Har: Why do you not ask how many doors there

are in Valhal, and how large they are? When you find that out, you will

confess that it would rather be wonderful if everybody could not easily

go in and out. It is also a fact that it is no more difficult to find

room within than to get in. Of this you may hear what the Lay of Grimner

says:

Five hundred doors

And forty more,

I trow, there are in Valhal.

Eight hundred einherjes

Go at a time through one door

When they fare to fight with the wolf.[56]

[Footnote 56: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 23.]

42. Then said Ganglere: A mighty band of men there is in Valhal, and,

forsooth, I know that Odin is a very great chief, since he commands so

mighty a host. But what is the pastime of the einherjes when they do not

drink? Har answered: Every morning, when they have dressed themselves,

they take their weapons and go out into the court and fight and slay

each other. That is their play. Toward breakfast-time they ride home to

Valhal and sit down to drink. As is here said:

All the einherjes

In Odin’s court

Hew daily each other.

They choose the slain

And ride from the battle-field,

Then sit they in peace together.[57]

But true it is, as you said, that Odin is a great chief. There are many

proofs of that. Thus it is said in the very words of the asas

themselves:

The Ygdrasil ash

Is the foremost of trees,

But Skidbladner of ships,

Odin of asas,

Sleipner of steeds,

Bifrost of bridges,

Brage of Skalds,

Habrok of hows,

But Garm of dogs.[58]

[Footnote 57: Elder Edda: Vafthrudner’s Lay, 41.]

[Footnote 58: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 44.]

ODIN’S HORSE AND FREY’S SHIP.

43. Ganglere asked: Whose is that horse Sleipner, and what is there to

say about it? Har answered: You have no knowledge of Sleipner, nor do

you know the circumstances attending his birth; but it must seem to you

worth the telling. In the beginning, when the town of the gods was

building, when the gods had established Midgard and made Valhal, there

came a certain builder and offered to make them a burg, in three half

years, so excellent that it should be perfectly safe against the

mountain-giants and frost-giants, even though they should get within

Midgard. But he demanded as his reward, that he should have Freyja, and

he wanted the sun and moon besides. Then the asas came together and held

counsel, and the bargain was made with the builder that he should get

what he demanded if he could get the burg done in one winter; but if on

the first day of summer any part of the burg was unfinished, then the

contract should be void. It was also agreed that no man should help him

with the work. When they told him these terms, he requested that they

should allow him to have the help of his horse, called Svadilfare, and

at the suggestion of Loke this was granted him.

On the first day of winter he began to build the burg, but by night he

hauled stone for it with his horse. But it seemed a great wonder to the

asas what great rocks that horse drew, and the horse did one half more

of the mighty task than the builder. The bargain was firmly established

with witnesses and oaths, for the giant did not deem it safe to be among

the asas without truce if Thor should come home, who now was on a

journey to the east fighting trolls. Toward the end of winter the burg

was far built, and it was so high and strong that it could in nowise be

taken. When there were three days left before summer, the work was all

completed excepting the burg gate. Then went the gods to their

judgment-seats and held counsel, and asked each other who could have

advised to give Freyja in marriage in Jotunheim, or to plunge the air

and the heavens in darkness by taking away the sun and the moon and

giving them to the giant; and all agreed that this must have been

advised by him who gives the most bad counsels, namely, Loke, son of

Laufey, and they threatened him with a cruel death if he could not

contrive some way of preventing the builder from fulfilling his part of

the bargain, and they proceeded to lay hands on Loke. He in his fright

then promised with an oath that he should so manage that the builder

should lose his wages, let it cost him what it would. And the same

evening, when the builder drove out after stone with his horse

Svadilfare, a mare suddenly ran out of the woods to the horse and began

to neigh at him. The steed, knowing what sort of horse this was, grew

excited, burst the reins asunder and ran after the mare, but she ran

from him into the woods. The builder hurried after them with all his

might, and wanted to catch the steed, but these horses kept running all

night, and thus the time was lost, and at dawn the work had not made the

usual progress. When the builder saw that his work was not going to be

completed, he resumed his giant form. When the asas thus became sure

that it was really a mountain-giant that had come among them, they did

not heed their oaths, but called on Thor. He came straightway, swung his

hammer, Mjolner, and paid the workman his wages,--not with the sun and

moon, but rather by preventing him from dwelling in Jotunheim; and this

was easily done with the first blow of the hammer, which broke his skull

into small pieces and sent him down to Niflhel. But Loke had run such a

race with Svadilfare that he some time after bore a foal. It was gray,

and had eight feet, and this is the best horse among gods and men. Thus

it is said in the Vala’s Prophecy:

Then went the gods.

The most holy gods,

Onto their judgment-seats,

And counseled together

Who all the air

With guile had blended

Or to the giant race

Oder’s may had given.

Broken were oaths,

And words and promises,--

All mighty speech

That had passed between them.

Thor alone did this,

Swollen with anger.

Seldom sits he still

When such things he hears.[59]

44. Then asked Ganglere: What is there to be said of Skidbladner, which

you say is the best of ships? Is there no ship equally good, or equally

great? Made answer Har: Skidbladner is the best of ships, and is made

with the finest workmanship; but Naglfare, which is in Muspel, is the

largest. Some dwarfs, the sons of Ivalde, made Skidbladner and gave it

to Frey. It is so large that all the asas, with their weapons and

war-gear, can find room on board it, and as soon as the sails are

hoisted it has fair wind, no matter whither it is going. When it is not

wanted for a voyage, it is made of so many pieces and with so much

skill, that Frey can fold it together like a napkin and carry it in his

pocket.

[Footnote 59: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 29, 30.]

THOR’S ADVENTURES.

Then said Ganglere: A good ship is Skidbladner, but much black art must

have been resorted to ere it was so fashioned. Has Thor never come where

he has found anything so strong and mighty that it has been superior to

him either in strength or in the black art? Har answered: Few men, I

know, are able to tell thereof, but still he has often been in difficult

straits. But though there have been things so mighty and strong that

Thor has not been able to gain the victory, they are such as ought not

to be spoken of; for there are many proofs which all must accept that

Thor is the mightiest. Then said Ganglere: It seems to me that I have

now asked about something that no one can answer. Said Jafnhar: We have

heard tell of adventures that seem to us incredible, but here sits one

near who is able to tell true tidings thereof, and you may believe that

he will not lie for the first time now, who never told a lie before.

Then said Ganglere: I will stand here and listen, to see if any answer

is to be had to this question. But if you cannot answer my question I

declare you to be defeated. Then answered Thride: It is evident that he

now is bound to know, though it does not seem proper for us to speak

thereof. The beginning of this adventure is that Oku-Thor went on a

journey with his goats and chariot, and with him went the asa who is

called Loke. In the evening they came to a bonde[60] and got there

lodgings for the night. In the evening Thor took his goats and killed

them both, whereupon he had them flayed and borne into a kettle. When

the flesh was boiled, Thor and his companion sat down to supper. Thor

invited the bonde, his wife and their children, a son by name Thjalfe,

and a daughter by name Roskva, to eat with them. Then Thor laid the

goat-skins away from the fire-place, and requested the bonde and his

household to cast the bones onto the skins. Thjalfe, the bonde’s son,

had the thigh of one of the goats, which he broke asunder with his

knife, in order to get at the marrow, Thor remained there over night. In

the morning, just before daybreak, he arose, dressed himself, took the

hammer Mjolner, lifted it and hallowed the goat-skins. Then the goats

arose, but one of them limped on one of its hind legs. When Thor saw

this he said that either the bonde or one of his folk had not dealt

skillfully with the goat’s bones, for he noticed that the thigh was

broken. It is not necessary to dwell on this part of the story. All can

understand how frightened the bonde became when he saw that Thor let his

brows sink down over his eyes. When he saw his eyes he thought he must

fall down at the sight of them alone. Thor took hold of the handle of

his hammer so hard that his knuckles grew white. As might be expected,

the bonde and all his household cried aloud and sued for peace, offering

him as an atonement all that they possessed. When he saw their fear, his

wrath left him. He was appeased, and took as a ransom the bonders

children, Thjalfe and Roskva. They became his servants, and have always

accompanied him since that time.

[Footnote 60: Bonde = peasant.]

46. He left his goats there and went on his way east into Jotunheim,

clear to the sea, and then he went on across the deep ocean, and went

ashore on the other side, together with Loke and Thjalfe and Roskva.

When they had proceeded a short distance, there stood before them a

great wood, through which they kept going the whole day until dark.

Thjalfe, who was of all men the fleetest of foot, bore Thor’s bag, but

the wood was no good place for provisions. When it had become dark, they

sought a place for their night lodging, and found a very large hall. At

the end of it was a door as wide as the hall. Here they remained through

the night. About midnight there was a great earthquake; the ground

trembled beneath them, and the house shook. Then Thor stood up and

called his companions. They looked about them and found an adjoining

room to the right, in the midst of the hall, and there they went in.

Thor seated himself in the door; the others went farther in and were

very much frightened. Thor held his hammer by the handle, ready to

defend himself. Then they heard a great groaning and roaring. When it

began to dawn, Thor went out and saw a man lying not far from him in the

wood. He was very large, lay sleeping, and snored loudly. Then Thor

thought he had found out what noise it was that they had heard in the

night. He girded himself with his Megingjarder, whereby his asa-might

increased. Meanwhile the man woke, and immediately arose. It is said

that Thor this once forbore to strike him with the hammer, and asked him

for his name. He called himself Skrymer; but, said he, I do not need to

ask you what your name is,--I know that you are Asa-Thor. But what have

you done with my glove? He stretched out his hand and picked up his

glove. Then Thor saw that the glove was the hall in which he had spent

the night, and that the adjoining room was the thumb of the glove.

Skrymer asked whether they would accept of his company. Thor said yes.

Skrymer took and loosed his provision-sack and began to eat his

breakfast; but Thor and his fellows did the same in another place.

Skrymer proposed that they should lay their store of provisions

together, to which Thor consented. Then Skrymer bound all their

provisions into one bag, laid it on his back, and led the way all the

day, taking gigantic strides. Late in the evening he sought out a place

for their night quarters under a large oak. Then Skrymer said to Thor

that he wanted to lie down to sleep; they might take the provision-sack

and make ready their supper. Then Skrymer fell asleep and snored

tremendously. When Thor took the provision-sack and was to open it, then

happened what seems incredible, but still it must be told,--that he

could not get one knot loosened, nor could he stir a single end of the

strings so that it was looser than before. When he saw that all his

efforts were in vain he became wroth, seized his hammer Mjolner with

both his hands, stepped with one foot forward to where Skrymer was lying

and dashed the hammer at his head. Skrymer awoke and asked whether some

leaf had fallen upon his head; whether they had taken their supper, and

were ready to go to sleep. Thor answered that they were just going to

sleep. Then they went under another oak. But the truth must be told,

that there was no fearless sleeping. About midnight Thor heard that

Skrymer was snoring and sleeping so fast that it thundered in the wood.

He arose and went over to him, clutched the hammer tight and hard, and

gave him a blow in the middle of the crown, so that he knew that the

head of the hammer sank deep into his head. But just then Skrymer awoke

and asked: What is that? Did an acorn fall onto my head? How is it with

you, Thor? Thor hastened back, answered that he had just waked up, and

said that it was midnight and still time to sleep. Then Thor made up his

mind that if he could get a chance to give him the third blow, he should

never see him again, and he now lay watching for Skrymer to sleep fast.

Shortly before daybreak he heard that Skrymer had fallen asleep. So he

arose and ran over to him. He clutched the hammer with all his might and

dashed it at his temples, which he saw uppermost. The hammer sank up to

the handle. Skrymer sat up, stroked his temples, and said: Are there any

birds sitting in the tree above me? Methought, as I awoke, that some

moss from the branches fell on my head. What! are you awake, Thor? It is

now time to get up and dress; but you have not far left to the burg that

is called Utgard. I have heard that you have been whispering among

yourselves that I am not small of stature, but you will see greater men

when you come to Utgard. Now I will give you wholesome advice. Do not

brag too much of yourselves, for Utgard-Loke’s thanes will not brook the

boasting of such insignificant little fellows as you are; otherwise turn

back, and that is, in fact, the best thing for you to do. But if you are

bound to continue your journey, then keep straight on eastward; my way

lies to the north, to those mountains that you there see. Skrymer then

took the provision-sack and threw it on his back, and, leaving them,

turned into the wood, and it has not been learned whether the asas

wished to meet him again in health.

47. Thor and his companions went their way and continued their journey

until noon. Then they saw a burg standing on a plain, and it was so high

that they had to bend their necks clear back before they could look over

it. They drew nearer and came to the burg-gate, which was closed. Thor

finding himself unable to open it, and being anxious to get within the

burg, they crept between the bars and so came in. They discovered a

large hall and went to it. Finding the door open they entered, and saw

there many men, the most of whom were immensely large, sitting on two

benches. Thereupon they approached the king, Utgard-Loke, and greeted

him. He scarcely deigned to look at them, smiled scornfully and showed

his teeth, saying: It is late to ask for tidings of a long journey, but

if I am not mistaken this stripling is Oku-Thor, is it not? It may be,

however, that you are really bigger than you look For what feats are you

and your companions prepared? No one can stay with us here, unless he is

skilled in some craft or accomplishment beyond the most of men. Then

answered he who came in last, namely Loke: I know the feat of which I am

prepared to give proof, that there is no one present who can eat his

food faster than I. Then said Utgard-Loke: That is a feat, indeed,

if you can keep your word, and you shall try it immediately. He then

summoned from the bench a man by name Loge, and requested him to come

out on the floor and try his strength against Loke. They took a trough

full of meat and set it on the floor, whereupon Loke seated himself at

one end and Loge at the other. Both ate as fast as they could, and met

at the middle of the trough. Loke had eaten all the flesh off from the

bones, but Loge had consumed both the flesh and the bones, and the

trough too. All agreed that Loke had lost the wager. Then Utgard-Loke

asked what game that young man knew? Thjalfe answered that he would try

to run a race with anyone that Utgard-Loke might designate. Utgard-Loke

said this was a good feat, and added that it was to be hoped that he

excelled in swiftness if he expected to win in this game, but he would

soon have the matter decided. He arose and went out. There was an

excellent race-course along the flat plain. Utgard-Loke then summoned a

young man, whose name was Huge, and bade him run a race with Thjalfe.

Then they took the first heat, and Huge was so much ahead that when he

turned at the goal he met Thjalfe. Said Utgard-Loke: You must lay

yourself more forward, Thjalfe, if you want to win the race; but this I

confess, that there has never before come anyone hither who was swifter

of foot than you. Then they took a second heat, and when Huge came to

the goal and turned, there was a long bolt-shot to Thjalfe. Then said

Utgard-Loke: Thjalfe seems to me to run well; still I scarcely think he

will win the race, but this will be proven when they run the third heat.

Then they took one more heat. Huge ran to the goal and turned back, but

Thjalfe had not yet gotten to the middle of the course. Then all said

that this game had been tried sufficiently. Utgard-Loke now asked Thor

what feats there were that he would be willing to exhibit before them,

corresponding to the tales that men tell of his great works. Thor

replied that he preferred to compete with someone in drinking.

Utgard-Loke said there would be no objection to this. He went into the

hall, called his cup-bearer, and requested him to take the sconce-horn

that his thanes were wont to drink from. The cup-bearer immediately

brought forward the horn and handed it to Thor. Said Utgard-Loke: From

this horn it is thought to be well drunk if it is emptied in one

draught, some men empty it in two draughts, but there is no drinker so

wretched that he cannot exhaust it in three. Thor looked at the horn and

did not think it was very large, though it seemed pretty long, but he

was very thirsty. He put it to his lips and swallowed with all his

might, thinking that he should not have to bend over the horn a second

time. But when his breath gave out, and he looked into the horn to see

how it had gone with his drinking, it seemed to him difficult to

determine whether there was less in it than before. Then said

Utgard-Loke: That is well drunk, still it is not very much. I could

never have believed it, if anyone had told me, that Asa-Thor could not

drink more, but I know you will be able to empty it in a second draught.

Thor did not answer, but set the horn to his lips, thinking that he

would now take a larger draught. He drank as long as he could and drank

deep, as he was wont, but still he could not make the tip of the horn

come up as much as he would like. And when he set the horn away and

looked into it, it seemed to him that he had drunk less than the first

time; but the horn could now be borne without spilling. Then said

Utgard-Loke: How now, Thor! Are you not leaving more for the third

draught than befits your skill? It seems to me that if you are to empty

the horn with the third draught, then this will be the greatest. You

will not be deemed so great a man here among us as the asas call you, if

you do not distinguish yourself more in other feats than you seem to me

to have done in this. Then Thor became wroth, set the horn to his mouth

and drank with all his might and kept on as long as he could, and when

he looked into it its contents had indeed visibly diminished, but he

gave back the horn and would not drink any more. Said Utgard-Loke: It is

clear that your might is not so great as we thought. Would you like to

try other games? It is evident that you gained nothing by the first.

Answered Thor: I should like to try other games, but I should be

surprised if such a drink at home among the asas would be called small.

What game will you now offer me? Answered Utgard-Loke: Young lads here

think it nothing but play to lift my cat up from the ground, and I

should never have dared to offer such a thing to Asa-Thor had I not

already seen that you are much less of a man than I thought. Then there

sprang forth on the floor a gray cat, and it was rather large. Thor went

over to it, put his hand under the middle of its body and tried to lift

it up, but the cat bent its back in the same degree as Thor raised his

hands; and when he had stretched them up as far as he was able the cat

lifted one foot, and Thor did not carry the game any further. Then said

Utgard-Loke: This game ended as I expected. The cat is rather large, and

Thor is small, and little compared with the great men that are here with

us. Said Thor: Little as you call me, let anyone who likes come hither

and wrestle with me, for now I am wroth. Answered Utgard-Loke, looking

about him on the benches: I do not see anyone here who would not think

it a trifle to wrestle with you. And again he said: Let me see first!

Call hither that old woman, Elle, my foster-mother, and let Thor wrestle

with her if he wants to. She has thrown to the ground men who have

seemed to me no less strong than Thor. Then there came into the hall an

old woman. Utgard-Loke bade her take a wrestle with Asa-Thor. The tale

is not long. The result of the grapple was, that the more Thor tightened

his grasp, the firmer she stood. Then the woman began to bestir herself,

and Thor lost his footing. They had some very hard tussles, and before

long Thor was brought down on one knee. Then Utgard-Loke stepped

forward, bade them cease the wrestling, and added that Thor did not need

to challenge anybody else to wrestle with him in his hall, besides it

was now getting late. He showed Thor and his companions to seats, and

they spent the night there enjoying the best of hospitality.

48. At daybreak the next day Thor and his companions arose, dressed

themselves and were ready to depart. Then came Utgard-Loke and had the

table spread for them, and there was no lack of feasting both in food

and in drink. When they had breakfasted, they immediately departed from

the burg. Utgard-Loke went with them out of the burg, but at parting he

spoke to Thor and asked him how he thought his journey had turned out,

or whether he had ever met a mightier man than himself. Thor answered

that he could not deny that he had been greatly disgraced in this

meeting; and this I know, he added, that you will call me a man of

little account, whereat I am much mortified. Then said Utgard-Loke: Now

I will tell you the truth, since you have come out of the burg, that if

I live, and may have my way, you shall never enter it again; and this I

know, forsooth, that you should never have come into it had I before

known that you were so strong, and that you had come so near bringing us

into great misfortune. Know, then, that I have deceived you with

illusions. When I first found you in the woods I came to meet you, and

when you were to loose the provision-sack I had bound it with iron

threads, but you did not find where it was to be untied. In the next

place, you struck me three times with the hammer. The first blow was the

least, and still it was so severe that it would have been my death if it

had hit me. You saw near my burg a mountain cloven at the top into three

square dales, of which one was the deepest,--these were the dints made

by your hammer. The mountain I brought before the blows without your

seeing it. In like manner I deceived you in your contests with my

courtiers. In regard to the first, in which Loke took part, the facts

were as follows: He was very hungry and ate fast; but he whose name was

Loge was wildfire, and he burned the trough no less rapidly than the

meat. When Thjalfe ran a race with him whose name was Huge, that was my

thought, and it was impossible for him to keep pace with its swiftness.

When you drank from the horn, and thought that it diminished so little,

then, by my troth, it was a great wonder, which I never could have

deemed possible.. One end of the horn stood in the sea, but that you did

not see. When you come to the sea-shore you will discover how much the

sea has sunk by your drinking; that is now called the ebb. Furthermore

he said: Nor did it seem less wonderful to me that you lifted up the

cat; and, to tell you the truth, all who saw it were frightened when

they saw that you raised one of its feet from the ground, for it was not

such a cat as you thought. It was in reality the Midgard-serpent, which

surrounds all lands. It was scarcely long enough to touch the earth with

its tail and head, and you raised it so high that your hand nearly

reached to heaven. It was also a most astonishing feat when you wrestled

with Elle, for none has ever been, and none shall ever be, that Elle

(eld, old age) will not get the better of him, though he gets to be old

enough to abide her coming. And now the truth is that we must part; and

it will be better for us both that you do not visit me again. I will

again defend my burg with similar or other delusions, so that you will

get no power over me. When Thor heard this tale he seized his hammer and

lifted it into the air, but when he was about to strike he saw

Utgard-Loke nowhere; and when he turned back to the burg and was going

to dash that to pieces, he saw a beautiful and large plain, but no burg.

So he turned and went his way back to Thrudvang. But it is truthfully

asserted that he then resolved in his own mind to seek that meeting with

the Midgard-serpent, which afterward took place. And now I think that no

one can tell you truer tidings of this journey of Thor.

49. Then said Ganglere: A most powerful man is Utgard-Loke, though he

deals much with delusions and sorcery. His power is also proven by the

fact that he had thanes who were so mighty. But has not Thor avenged

himself for this? Made answer Har: It is not unknown, though no wise men

tell thereof, how Thor made amends for the journey that has now been

spoken of. He did not remain long at home, before he busked himself so

suddenly for a new journey, that he took neither chariot, nor goats nor

any companions with him. He went out of Midgard in the guise of a young

man, and came in the evening to a giant by name Hymer.[61] Thor tarried

there as a guest through the night. In the morning Hymer arose, dressed

himself, and busked himself to row out upon the sea to fish. Thor also

sprang up, got ready in a hurry and asked Hymer whether he might row out

with him. Hymer answered that he would get but little help from Thor, as

he was so small and young; and he added, you will get cold if I row as

far out and remain as long as I am wont. Thor said that he might row as

far from shore as he pleased, for all that, and it was yet to be seen

who would be the first to ask to row back to land. And Thor grew so

wroth at the giant that he came near letting the hammer ring on his head

straightway, but he restrained himself, for he intended to try his

strength elsewhere. He asked Hymer what they were to have for bait, but

Hymer replied that he would have to find his own bait. Then Thor turned

away to where he saw a herd of oxen, that belonged to Hymer. He took the

largest ox, which was called Himinbrjot, twisted his head off and

brought it down to the sea-strand. Hymer had then shoved the boat off.

Thor went on board and seated himself in the stern; he took two oars and

rowed so that Hymer had to confess that the boat sped fast from his

rowing. Hymer plied the oars in the bow, and thus the rowing soon ended.

Then said Hymer that they had come to the place where he was wont to sit

and catch flat-fish, but Thor said he would like to row much farther

out, and so they made another swift pull. Then said Hymer that they had

come so far out that it was dangerous to stay there, for the

Midgard-serpent. Thor said he wished to row a while longer, and so he

did; but Hymer was by no means in a happy mood. Thor took in the oars,

got ready a very strong line, and the hook was neither less nor weaker.

When he had put on the ox-head for bait, he cast it overboard and it

sank to the bottom. It must be admitted that Thor now beguiled the

Midgard-serpent not a whit less than Utgard-Loke mocked him when he was

to lift the serpent with his hand. The Midgard-serpent took the ox-head

into his mouth, whereby the hook entered his palate, but when the

serpent perceived this he tugged so hard that both Thor’s hands were

dashed against the gunwale. Now Thor became angry, assumed his asa-might

and spurned so hard that both his feet went through the boat and he

stood on the bottom of the sea. He pulled the serpent up to the gunwale;

and in truth no one has ever seen a more terrible sight than when Thor

whet his eyes on the serpent, and the latter stared at him and spouted

venom. It is said that the giant Hymer changed hue and grew pale from

fear when he saw the serpent and beheld the water flowing into the boat;

but just at the moment when Thor grasped the hammer and lifted it in the

air, the giant fumbled for his fishing-knife and cut off Thor’s line at

the gunwale, whereby the serpent sank back into the sea. Thor threw the

hammer after it, and it is even said that he struck off his head at the

bottom, but I think the truth is that the Midgard-serpent still lives

and lies in the ocean. Thor clenched his fist and gave the giant a box

on the ear so that he fell backward into the sea, and he saw his heels

last, but Thor waded ashore.

[Footnote 61: Called Ymer in the Younger Edda, but the Elder Edda

calls him Hymer.]

THE DEATH OF BALDER.

50. Then asked Ganglere: Have there happened any other remarkable things

among the asas? A great deed it was, forsooth, that Thor wrought on this

journey. Har answered: Yes, indeed, there are tidings to be told that

seemed of far greater importance to the asas. The beginning of this tale

is, that Balder dreamed dreams great and dangerous to his life. When he

told these dreams to the asas they took counsel together, and it was

decided that they should seek peace for Balder against all kinds of

harm. So Frigg exacted an oath from fire, water, iron and all kinds of

metal, stones, earth, trees, sicknesses, beasts, birds and creeping

things, that they should not hurt Balder. When this was done and made

known, it became the pastime of Balder and the asas that he should stand

up at their meetings while some of them should shoot at him, others

should hew at him, while others should throw stones at him; but no

matter what they did, no harm came to him, and this seemed to all a

great honor. When Loke, Laufey’s son, saw this, it displeased him very

much that Balder was not scathed. So he went to Frigg, in Fensal, having

taken on himself the likeness of a woman. Frigg asked this woman whether

she knew what the asas were doing at their meeting. She answered that

all were shooting at Balder, but that he was not scathed thereby. Then

said Frigg: Neither weapon nor tree can hurt Balder, I have taken an

oath from them all. Then asked the woman: Have all things taken an oath

to spare Balder? Frigg answered: West of Valhal there grows a little

shrub that is called the mistletoe, that seemed to me too young to exact

an oath from. Then the woman suddenly disappeared. Loke went and pulled

up the mistletoe and proceeded to the meeting. Hoder stood far to one

side in the ring of men, because he was blind. Loke addressed himself to

him, and asked: Why do you not shoot at Balder? He answered: Because I

do not see where he is, and furthermore I have no weapons. Then said

Loke: Do like the others and show honor to Balder; I will show you where

he stands; shoot at him with this wand. Hoder took the mistletoe and

shot at Balder under the guidance of Loke. The dart pierced him and he

fell dead to the ground. This is the greatest misfortune that has ever

happened to gods and men. When Balder had fallen, the asas were struck

speechless with horror, and their hands failed them to lay hold of the

corpse. One looked at the other, and all were of one mind toward him who

had done the deed, but being assembled in a holy peace-stead, no one

could take vengeance. When the asas at length tried to speak, the

wailing so choked their voices that one could not describe to the other

his sorrow. Odin took this misfortune most to heart, since he best

comprehended how great a loss and injury the fall of Balder was to the

asas. When the gods came to their senses, Frigg spoke and asked who

there might be among the asas who desired to win all her love and good

will by riding the way to Hel and trying to find Balder, and offering

Hel a ransom if she would allow Balder to return home again to Asgard.

But he is called Hermod, the Nimble, Odin’s swain, who undertook this

journey. Odin’s steed, Sleipner, was led forth. Hermod mounted him and

galloped away.

51. The asas took the corpse of Balder and brought it to the sea-shore.

Hringhorn was the name of Balder’s ship, and it was the largest of all

ships. The gods wanted to launch it and make Balder’s bale-fire thereon,

but they could not move it. Then they sent to Jotunheim after the

giantess whose name is Hyrrokken. She came riding on a wolf, and had

twisted serpents for reins. When she alighted, Odin appointed four

berserks to take care of her steed, but they were unable to hold him

except by throwing him down on the ground. Hyrrokken went to the prow

and launched the ship with one single push, but the motion was so

violent that fire sprang from the underlaid rollers and all the earth

shook. Then Thor became wroth, grasped his hammer, and would forthwith

have crushed her skull, had not all the gods asked peace for her.

Balder’s corpse was borne out on the ship; and when his wife, Nanna,

daughter of Nep, saw this, her heart was broken with grief and she died.

She was borne to the funeral-pile and cast on the fire. Thor stood by

and hallowed the pile with Mjolner. Before his feet ran a dwarf, whose

name is Lit. Him Thor kicked with his foot and dashed him into the fire,

and he, too, was burned. But this funeral-pile was attended by many

kinds of folk. First of all came Odin, accompanied by Frigg and the

valkyries and his ravens. Frey came riding in his chariot drawn by the

boar called Gullinburste or Slidrugtanne. Heimdal rode his steed

Gulltop, and Freyja drove her cats. There was a large number of

frost-giants and mountain-giants. Odin laid on the funeral-pile his gold

ring, Draupner, which had the property of producing, every ninth night,

eight gold rings of equal weight. Balder’s horse, fully caparisoned, was

led to his master’s pile.

52. But of Hermod it is to be told that he rode nine nights through deep

and dark valleys, and did not see light until he came to the

Gjallar-river and rode on the Gjallar-bridge, which is thatched with

shining gold. Modgud is the name of the may who guards the bridge. She

asked him for his name, and of what kin he was, saying that the day

before there rode five fylkes (kingdoms, bands) of dead men over the

bridge; but she added, it does not shake less under you alone, and you

do not have the hue of dead men. Why do you ride the way to Hel? He

answered: I am to ride to Hel to find Balder. Have you seen him pass

this way? She answered that Balder had ridden over the Gjallar-bridge;

adding: But downward and northward lies the way to Hel. Then Hermod rode

on till he came to Hel’s gate. He alighted from his horse, drew the

girths tighter, remounted him, clapped the spurs into him, and the horse

leaped over the gate with so much force that he never touched it.

Thereupon Hermod proceeded to the hall and alighted from his steed. He

went in, and saw there sitting on the foremost seat his brother Balder.

He tarried there over night. In the morning he asked Hel whether Balder

might ride home with him, and told how great weeping there was among the

asas. But Hel replied that it should now be tried whether Balder was so

much beloved as was said. If all things, said she, both quick and dead,

will weep for him, then he shall go back to the asas, but if anything

refuses to shed tears, then he shall remain with Hel. Hermod arose, and

Balder accompanied him out of the hall. He took the ring Draupner and

sent it as a keepsake to Odin. Nanna sent Frigg a kerchief and other

gifts, and to Fulla she sent a ring. Thereupon Hermod rode back and came

to Asgard, where he reported the tidings he had seen and heard.

53. Then the asas sent messengers over all the world, praying that

Balder might be wept out of Hel’s power. All things did so,--men and

beasts, the earth, stones, trees and all metals, just as you must have

seen that these things weep when they come out of frost and into heat.

When the messengers returned home and had done their errand well, they

found a certain cave wherein sat a giantess (gygr = ogress) whose name

was Thok. They requested her to weep Balder from Hel; but she answered:

Thok will weep

With dry tears

For Balder’s burial;

Neither in life nor in death

Gave he me gladness.

Let Hel keep what she has!

It is generally believed that this Thok was Loke, Laufey’s son, who has

wrought most evil among the asas.

54. Then said Ganglere: A very great wrong did Loke perpetrate; first of

all in causing Balder’s death, and next in standing in the way of his

being loosed from Hel. Did he get no punishment for this misdeed? Har

answered: Yes, he was repaid for this in a way that he will long

remember. The gods became exceedingly wroth, as might be expected. So he

ran away and hid himself in a rock. Here he built a house with four

doors, so that he might keep an outlook on all sides. Oftentimes in the

daytime he took on him the likeness of a salmon and concealed himself in

Frananger Force. Then he thought to himself what stratagems the asas

might have recourse to in order to catch him. Now, as he was sitting in

his house, he took flax and yarn and worked them into meshes, in the

manner that nets have since been made; but a fire was burning before

him. Then he saw that the asas were not far distant. Odin had seen from

Hlidskjalf where Loke kept himself. Loke immediately sprang up, cast the

net on the fire and leaped into the river. When the asas came to the

house, he entered first who was wisest of them all, and whose name was

Kvaser; and when he saw in the fire the ashes of the net that had been

burned, he understood that this must be a contrivance for catching fish,

and this he told to the asas. Thereupon they took flax and made

themselves a net after the pattern of that which they saw in the ashes

and which Loke had made. When the net was made, the asas went to the

river and cast it into the force. Thor held one end of the net, and all

the other asas laid hold on the other, thus jointly drawing it along the

stream. Loke went before it and laid himself down between two stones,

so that they drew the net over him, although they perceived that some

living thing touched the meshes. They went up to the force again and

cast out the net a second time. This time they hung a great weight to

it, making it so heavy that nothing could possibly pass under it. Loke

swam before the net, but when he saw that he was near the sea he sprang

over the top of the net and hastened back to the force. When the asas

saw whither he went they proceeded up to the force, dividing themselves

into two bands, but Thor waded in the middle of the stream, and so they

dragged the net along to the sea. Loke saw that he now had only two

chances of escape,--either to risk his life and swim out to sea, or to

leap again over the net. He chose the latter, and made a tremendous leap

over the top line of the net. Thor grasped after him and caught him, but

he slipped in his hand so that Thor did not get a firm hold before he

got to the tail, and this is the reason why the salmon has so slim a

tail. Now Loke was taken without truce and was brought to a cave. The

gods took three rocks and set them up on edge, and bored a hole through

each rock. Then they took Loke’s sons, Vale and Nare or Narfe. Vale they

changed into the likeness of a wolf, whereupon he tore his brother Narfe

to pieces, with whose intestines the asas bound Loke over the three

rocks. One stood under his shoulders, another under his loins, and the

third under his hams, and the fetters became iron. Skade took a serpent

and fastened up over him, so that the venom should drop from the serpent

into his face. But Sigyn, his wife, stands by him, and holds a dish

under the venom-drops. Whenever the dish becomes full, she goes and

pours away the venom, and meanwhile the venom drops onto Loke’s face.

Then he twists his body so violently that the whole earth shakes, and

this you call earthquakes. There he will lie bound until Ragnarok.

RAGNAROK.

55. Then said Ganglere: What tidings are to be told of Ragnarok? Of this

I have never heard before. Har answered: Great things are to be said

thereof. First, there is a winter called the Fimbul-winter, when snow

drives from all quarters, the frosts are so severe, the winds so keen

and piercing, that there is no joy in the sun. There are three such

winters in succession, without any intervening summer. But before these

there are three other winters, during which great wars rage over all the

world. Brothers slay each other for the sake of gain, and no one spares

his father or mother in that manslaughter and adultery. Thus says the

Vala’s Prophecy:

Brothers will fight together

And become each other’s bane;

Sisters’ children

Their sib shall spoil.[62]

Hard is the world,

Sensual sins grow huge.

There are ax-ages, sword-ages--

Shields are cleft in twain,--

There are wind-ages, wolf-ages,

Ere the world falls dead.[63]

[Footnote 62: Commit adultery.]

[Footnote 63: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 48, 49.]

Then happens what will seem a great miracle, that the wolf[64] devours

the sun, and this will seem a great loss. The other wolf will devour the

moon, and this too will cause great mischief. The stars shall be Hurled

from heaven. Then it shall come to pass that the earth and the mountains

will shake so violently that trees will be torn up by the roots, the

mountains will topple down, and all bonds and fetters will be broken and

snapped. The Fenris-wolf gets loose. The sea rushes over the earth, for

the Midgard-serpent writhes in giant rage and seeks to gain the land.

The ship that is called Naglfar also becomes loose. It is made of the

nails of dead men; wherefore it is worth warning that, when a man dies

with unpared nails, he supplies a large amount of materials for the

building of this ship, which both gods and men wish may be finished as

late as possible. But in this flood Naglfar gets afloat. The giant Hrym

is its steersman. The Fenris-wolf advances with wide open mouth; the

upper jaw reaches to heaven and the lower jaw is on the earth. He would

open it still wider had he room. Fire flashes from his eyes and

nostrils. The Midgard-serpent vomits forth venom, defiling all the air

and the sea; he is very terrible, and places himself by the side of the

wolf. In the midst of this clash and din the heavens are rent in twain,

and the sons of Muspel come riding through the opening. Surt rides

first, and before him and after him flames burning fire. He has a very

good sword, which shines brighter than the sun. As they ride over

Bifrost it breaks to pieces, as has before been stated. The sons of

Muspel direct their course to the plain which is called Vigrid. Thither

repair also the Fenris-wolf and the Midgard-serpent. To this place have

also come Loke and Hrym, and with him all the frost-giants. In Loke’s

company are all the friends of Hel. The sons of Muspel have there

effulgent bands alone by themselves. The plain Vigrid is one hundred

miles (rasts) on each side.

[Footnote 64: Fenris-wolf.]

56. While these things are happening, Heimdal stands up, blows with all

his might in the Gjallar-horn and awakens all the gods, who thereupon

hold counsel. Odin rides to Mimer’s well to ask advice of Mimer for

himself and his folk. Then quivers the ash Ygdrasil, and all things in

heaven and earth fear and tremble. The asas and the einherjes arm

themselves and speed forth to the battle-field. Odin rides first; with

his golden helmet, resplendent byrnie, and his spear Gungner, he

advances against the Fenris-wolf. Thor stands by his side, but can give

him no assistance, for he has his hands full in his struggle with the

Midgard-serpent. Frey encounters Surt, and heavy blows are exchanged ere

Frey falls. The cause of his death is that he has not that good sword

which he gave to Skirner. Even the dog Garm, that was bound before the

Gnipa-cave, gets loose. He is the greatest plague. He contends with Tyr,

and they kill each other. Thor gets great renown by slaying the

Midgard-serpent, but retreats only nine paces when he falls to the earth

dead, poisoned by the venom that the serpent blows on him. The wolf

swallows Odin, and thus causes his death; but Vidar immediately turns

and rushes at the wolf, placing one foot on his nether jaw. On this foot

he has the shoe for which materials have been gathering through all

ages, namely, the strips of leather which men cut off for the toes and

heels of shoes; wherefore he who wishes to render assistance to the asas

must cast these strips away. With one hand Vidar seizes the upper jaw of

the wolf, and thus rends asunder his mouth. Thus the wolf perishes. Loke

fights with Heimdal, and they kill each other. Thereupon Surt flings

fire over the earth and burns up all the world. Thus it is said in the

Vala’s Prophecy:

Loud blows Heimdal

His uplifted horn.

Odin speaks

With Mimer’s head.

The straight-standing ash

Ygdrasil quivers,

The old tree groans,

And the giant gets loose.

How fare the asas?

How fare the elves?

All Jotunheim roars.

The asas hold counsel;

Before their stone-doors

Groan the dwarfs,

The guides of the wedge-rock.

Know you now more or not?

From the east drives Hrym,

Bears his shield before him.

Jormungand welters

In giant rage

And smites the waves.

The eagle screams,

And with pale beak tears corpses,

Naglfar gets loose.

A ship comes from the east,

The hosts of Muspel

Come o’er the main,

And Loke is steersman.

All the fell powers

Are with the wolf;

Along with them

Is Byleist’s brother.[65]

From the south comes Surt

With blazing fire-brand,--

The sun of the war-god

Shines from his sword.

Mountains dash together,

Giant maids are frightened,

Heroes go the way to Hel,

And heaven is rent in twain.

Then comes to Hlin

Another woe,

When Odin goes

With the wolf to fight,

And Bele’s bright slayer[66]

To contend with Surt.

There will fall

Frigg’s beloved.

Odin’s son goes

To fight with the wolf,

And Vidar goes on his way

To the wild beast.[67]

With his hand he thrusts

His sword to the heart

Of the giant’s child,

And avenges his father.

Then goes the famous

Son[68] of Hlodyn

To fight with the serpent.

Though about to die,

He fears not the contest;

All men

Abandon their homesteads

When the warder of Midgard

In wrath slays the serpent.

The sun grows dark,

The earth sinks into the sea,

The bright stars

From heaven vanish;

Fire rages,

Heat blazes,

And high flames play

’Gainst heaven itself.[69]

[Footnote 65: Loke.]

[Footnote 66: Frey.]

[Footnote 67: The Fenris-wolf.]

[Footnote 68: Thor.]

[Footnote 69: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 50-52, 54-57, 59,

60, 62, 63.]

And again it is said as follows:

Vigrid is the name of the plain

Where in fight shall meet

Surt and the gentle god.

A hundred miles

It is every way.

This field is marked out for them.[70]

[Footnote 70: Elder Edda: Vafthrudner’s Lay, 18.]

REGENERATION.

57. Then asked Ganglere: What happens when heaven and earth and all the

world are consumed in flames, and when all the gods and all the

einherjes and all men are dead? You have already said that all men shall

live in some world through all ages. Har answered: There are many good

and many bad abodes. Best it is to be in Gimle, in heaven. Plenty is

there of good drink for those who deem this a joy in the hall called

Brimer. That is also in heaven. There is also an excellent hall which

stands on the Nida mountains. It is built of red gold, and is called

Sindre. In this hall good and well-minded men shall dwell. Nastrand is a

large and terrible hall, and its doors open to the north. It is built of

serpents wattled together, and all the heads of the serpents turn into

the hall and vomit forth venom that flows in streams along the hall, and

in these streams wade perjurers and murderers. So it is here said:

A hall I know standing

Far from the sun

On the strand of dead bodies.

Drops of venom

Fall through the loop-holes.

Of serpents’ backs

The hall is made.

There shall wade

Through heavy streams

Perjurers

And murderers.

But in Hvergelmer it is worst.

There tortures Nidhug

The bodies of the dead.[71]

[Footnote 71: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 40, 41.]

58. Then said Ganglere: Do any gods live then? Is there any earth or

heaven? Har answered: The earth rises again from the sea, and is green

and fair. The fields unsown produce their harvests. Vidar and Vale live.

Neither the sea nor Surfs fire has harmed them, and they dwell on the

plains of Ida, where Asgard was before. Thither come also the sons of

Thor, Mode and Magne, and they have Mjolner. Then come Balder and Hoder

from Hel. They all sit together and talk about the things that happened

aforetime,--about the Midgard-serpent and the Fenris-wolf. They find in

the grass those golden tables which the asas once had. Thus it is said:

Vidar and Vale

Dwell in the house of the gods,

When quenched is the fire of Surt.

Mode and Magne

Vingner’s Mjolner shall have

When the fight is ended.[72]

[Footnote 72: Elder Edda: Vafthrudner’s Lay, 51.]

In a place called Hodmimer’s-holt[73] are concealed two persons during

Surt’s fire, called Lif and Lifthraser. They feed on the morning dew.

From these so numerous a race is descended that they fill the whole

world with people, as is here said:

Lif and Lifthraser

Will lie hid

In Hodmimer’s-holt.

The morning dew

They have for food.

From them are the races descended.[74]

[Footnote 73: Holt = grove.]

[Footnote 74: Elder Edda: Vafthrudner’s Lay, 45.]

But what will seem wonderful to you is that the sun has brought forth a

daughter not less fair than herself, and she rides in the heavenly

course of her mother, as is here said:

A daughter

Is born of the sun

Ere Fenrer takes her.

In her mother’s course

When the gods are dead

This maid shall ride.[75]

[Footnote 75: Elder Edda: Vafthrudner’s Lay, 47.]

And if you now can ask more questions, said Har to Ganglere, I know not

whence that power came to you. I have never heard any one tell further

the fate of the world. Make now the best use you can of what has been

told you.

59. Then Ganglere heard a terrible noise on all sides, and when he

looked about him he stood out-doors on a level plain. He saw neither

hall nor burg. He went his way and came back to his kingdom, and told

the tidings which he had seen and heard, and ever since those tidings

have been handed down from man to man.

AFTERWORD

TO THE FOOLING OF GYLFE.

The asas now sat down to talk, and held their counsel, and remembered

all the tales that were told to Gylfe. They gave the very same names

that had been named before to the men and places that were there. This

they did for the reason that, when a long time has elapsed, men should

not doubt that those asas of whom these tales were now told and those to

whom the same names were given were all identical. There was one who is

called Thor, and he is Asa-Thor, the old. He is Oku-Thor, and to him are

ascribed the great deeds done by Hektor in Troy. But men think that the

Turks have told of Ulysses, and have called him Loke, for the Turks were

his greatest enemies.

BRAGE’S TALK.

ÆGER’S JOURNEY TO ASGARD.

1. A man by name Æger, or Hler, who dwelt on the island called Hler’s

Isle, was well skilled in the black art. He made a journey to Asgard.

But the asas knew of his coming and gave him a friendly reception; but

they also made use of many sorts of delusions. In the evening, when the

feast began, Odin had swords brought into the hall, and they were so

bright that it glistened from them so that there was no need of any

other light while they sat drinking. Then went the asas to their feast,

and the twelve asas who were appointed judges seated themselves in their

high-seats. These are their names: Thor, Njord, Frey, Tyr, Heimdal,

Brage, Vidar, Vale, Uller, Honer, Forsete, Loke. The asynjes (goddesses)

also were with them: Frigg, Freyja, Gefjun, Idun, Gerd, Sigyn, Fulla,

Nanna. Æger thought all that he saw looked very grand. The panels of the

walls were all covered with beautiful shields. The mead was very strong,

and they drank deep. Next to Æger sat Brage, and they talked much

together over their drink. Brage spoke to Æger of many things that had

happened to the asas.

IDUN AND HER APPLES.

2. Brage began his tale by telling how three asas, Odin, Loke and Honer,

went on a journey over mountains and heaths, where they could get

nothing to eat. But when they came down into a valley they saw a herd of

cattle. From this herd they took an ox and went to work to boil it. When

they deemed that it must be boiled enough they uncovered the broth, but

it was not yet done. After a little while they lifted the cover off

again, but it was not yet boiled. They talked among themselves about how

this could happen. Then they heard a voice in the oak above them, and he

who sat there said that he was the cause that the broth did not get

boiled. They looked up and saw an eagle, and it was not a small one.

Then said the eagle: If you will give me my fill of the ox, then the

broth will be boiled. They agreed to this. So he flew down from the

tree, seated himself beside the boiling broth, and immediately snatched

up first the two thighs of the ox and then both the shoulders. This made

Loke wroth: he grasped a large pole, raised it with all his might and

dashed it at the body of the eagle. The eagle shook himself after the

blow and flew up. One end of the pole fastened itself to the body of the

eagle, and the other end stuck to Loke’s hands. The eagle flew just high

enough so that Loke’s feet were dragged over stones and rocks and trees,

and it seemed to him that his arms would be torn from his

shoulder-blades. He calls and prays the eagle most earnestly for peace,

but the latter declares that Loke shall never get free unless he will

pledge himself to bring Idun and her apples out of Asgard. When Loke had

promised this, he was set free and went to his companions again; and no

more is related of this journey, except that they returned home. But at

the time agreed upon, Loke coaxed Idun out of Asgard into a forest,

saying that he had found apples that she would think very nice, and he

requested her to take with her her own apples in order to compare them.

Then came the giant Thjasse in the guise of an eagle, seized Idun and

flew away with her to his home in Thrymheim. The asas were ill at ease

on account of the disappearance of Idun,--they became gray-haired and

old. They met in council and asked each other who last had seen Idun.

The last that had been seen of her was that she had gone out of Asgard

in company with Loke. Then Loke was seized and brought into the council,

and he was threatened with death or torture. But he became frightened,

and promised to bring Idun back from Jotunheim if Freyja would lend him

the falcon-guise that she had. He got the falcon-guise, flew north into

Jotunheim, and came one day to the giant Thjasse. The giant had rowed

out to sea, and Idun was at home alone. Loke turned her into the

likeness of a nut, held her in his claws and flew with all his might.

But when Thjasse returned home and missed Idun, he took on his

eagle-guise, flew after Loke, gaining on the latter with his eagle

wings. When the asas saw the falcon coming flying with the nut, and how

the eagle flew, they went to the walls of Asgard and brought with them

bundles of plane-shavings. When the falcon flew within the burg, he let

himself drop down beside the burg-wall. Then the asas kindled a fire in

the shavings; and the eagle, being unable to stop himself when he missed

the falcon, caught fire in his feathers, so that he could not fly any

farther. The asas were on hand and slew the giant Thjasse within the

gates of Asgard, and that slaughter is most famous.

HOW NJORD GOT SKADE TO WIFE.

Skade, the daughter of the giant Thjasse, donned her helmet, and byrnie,

and all her war-gear, and betook herself to Asgard to avenge her

father’s death. The asas offered her ransom and atonement; and it was

agreed to, in the first place, that she should choose herself a husband

among the asas, but she was to make her choice by the feet, which was

all she was to see of their persons. She saw one man’s feet that were

wonderfully beautiful, and exclaimed: This one I choose! On Balder there

are few blemishes. But it was Njord, from Noatun. In the second place,

it was stipulated that the asas were to do what she did not deem them

capable of, and that was to make her laugh. Then Loke tied one end of a

string fast to the beard of a goat and the other around his own body,

and one pulled this way and the other that, and both of them shrieked

out loud. Then Loke let himself fall on Skade’s knees, and this made her

laugh. It is said that Odin did even more than was asked, in that he

took Thjasse’s eyes and cast them up into heaven, and made two stars of

them. Then said Æger: This Thjasse seems to me to have been considerable

of a man; of what kin was he? Brage answered: His father’s name was

Olvalde, and if I told you of him, you would deem it very remarkable.

He was very rich in gold, and when he died and his sons were to divide

their heritage, they had this way of measuring the gold, that each

should take his mouthful of gold, and they should all take the same

number of mouthfuls. One of them was Thjasse, another Ide, and the third

Gang. But we now have it as a saw among us, that we call gold the

mouth-number of these giants. In runes and songs we wrap the gold up by

calling it the measure, or word, or tale, of these giants. Then said

Æger: It seems to me that it will be well hidden in the runes.

THE ORIGIN OF POETRY.

3. And again said Æger: Whence originated the art that is called

skaldship? Made answer Brage: The beginning of this was, that the gods

had a war with the people that are called vans. They agreed to hold a

meeting for the purpose of making peace, and settled their dispute in

this wise, that they both went to a jar and spit into it. But at parting

the gods, being unwilling to let this mark of peace perish, shaped it

into a man whose name was Kvaser, and who was so wise that no one could

ask him any question that he could not answer. He traveled much about in

the world to teach men wisdom. Once he came to the home of the dwarfs

Fjalar and Galar. They called him aside, saying they wished to speak

with him alone, slew him and let his blood run into two jars called Son

and Bodn, and into a kettle called Odrarer. They mixed honey with the

blood, and thus was produced such mead that whoever drinks from it

becomes a skald and sage. The dwarfs told the asas that Kvaser had

choked in his wisdom, because no one was so wise that he could ask him

enough about learning.

4. Then the dwarfs invited to themselves the giant whose name is

Gilling, and his wife; and when he came they asked him to row out to sea

with them. When they had gotten a short distance from shore, the dwarfs

rowed onto a blind rock and capsized the boat. Gilling, who was unable

to swim, was drowned, but the dwarfs righted the boat again and rowed

ashore. When they told of this mishap to his wife she took it much to

heart, and began to cry aloud. Then Fjalar asked her whether it would

not lighten her sorrow if she could look out upon the sea where her

husband had perished, and she said it would. He then said to his brother

Galar that he should go up over the doorway, and as she passed out he

should let a mill-stone drop onto her head, for he said he was tired of

her bawling, Galar did so. When the giant Suttung, the son of Gilling,

found this out he came and seized the dwarfs, took them out to sea and

left them on a rocky island, which was flooded at high tide. They prayed

Suttung to spare their lives, and offered him in atonement for their

father’s blood the precious mead, which he accepted. Suttung brought the

mead home with him, and hid it in a place called Hnitbjorg. He set his

daughter Gunlad to guard it. For these reasons we call songship Kvaser’s

blood; the drink of the dwarfs; the dwarfs’ fill; some kind of liquor of

Odrarer, or Bodn or Son; the ship of the dwarfs (because this mead

ransomed their lives from the rocky isle); the mead of Suttung, or the

liquor of Hnitbjorg.

5. Then remarked Æger: It seems dark to me to call songship by these

names; but how came the asas by Suttung’s mead? Answered Brage: The saga

about this is, that Odin set out from home and came to a place where

nine thralls were mowing hay. He asked them whether they would like to

have him whet their scythes. To this they said yes. Then he took a

whet-stone from his belt and whetted the scythes. They thought their

scythes were much improved, and asked whether the whet-stone was for

sale. He answered that he who would buy it must pay a fair price for it.

All said they were willing to give the sum demanded, and each wanted

Odin to sell it to him. But he threw the whet-stone up in the air, and

when all wished to catch it they scrambled about it in such a manner

that each brought his scythe onto the other’s neck. Odin sought lodgings

for the night at the house of the giant Bauge, who was a brother of

Suttung. Bauge complained of what had happened to his household, saying

that his nine thralls had slain each other, and that he did not know

where he should get other workmen. Odin called himself Bolverk. He

offered to undertake the work of the nine men for Bauge, but asked in

payment therefor a drink of Suttung’s mead. Bauge answered that he had

no control over the mead, saying that Suttung was bound to keep that for

himself alone. But he agreed to go with Bolverk and try whether they

could get the mead. During the summer Bolverk did the work of the nine

men for Bauge, but when winter came he asked for his pay. Then they both

went to Suttung. Bauge explained to Suttung his bargain with Bolverk,

but Suttung stoutly refused to give even a drop of the mead. Bolverk

then proposed to Bauge that they should try whether they could not get

at the mead by the aid of some trick, and Bauge agreed to this. Then

Bolverk drew forth the auger which is called Rate, and requested Bauge

to bore a hole through the rock, if the auger was sharp enough. He did

so. Then said Bauge that there was a hole through the rock; but Bolverk

blowed into the hole that the auger had made, and the chips flew back

into his face. Thus he saw that Bauge intended to deceive him, and

commanded him to bore through. Bauge bored again, and when Bolverk blew

a second time the chips flew inward. Now Bolverk changed himself into

the likeness of a serpent and crept into the auger-hole. Bauge thrust

after him with the auger, but missed him. Bolverk went to where Gunlad

was, and shared her couch for three nights. She then promised to give

him three draughts from the mead. With the first draught he emptied

Odrarer, in the second Bodn, and in the third Son, and thus he had all

the mead. Then he took on the guise of an eagle, and flew off as fast as

he could. When Suttung saw the flight of the eagle, he also took on the

shape of an eagle and flew after him. When the asas saw Odin coming,

they set their jars out in the yard. When Odin reached Asgard, he spewed

the mead up into the jars. He was, however, so near being caught by

Suttung, that he sent some of the mead after him backward, and as no

care was taken of this, anybody that wished might have it. This we call

the share of poetasters. But Suttung’s mead Odin gave to the asas and to

those men who are able to make verses. Hence we call songship Odin’s

prey, Odin’s find, Odin’s drink, Odin’s gift, and the drink of the asas.

6. Then said Æger: In how many ways do you vary the poetical

expressions, or how many kinds of poetry are there? Answered Brage:

There are two kinds, and all poetry falls into one or the other of these

classes. Æger asks: Which two? Brage answers: Diction and meter. What

diction is used in poetry? There are three sorts of poetic diction.

Which? One is to name everything by its own name; another is to name it

with a pronoun, but the third sort of diction is called _kenning_ (a

poetical periphrasis or descriptive name); and this sort is so managed

that when we name Odin, or Thor or Tyr, or any other of the asas or

elves, we add to their name a reference to some other asa, or we make

mention of some of his works. Then the appellation belongs to him who

corresponds to the whole phrase, and not to him who was actually named.

Thus we speak of Odin as Sigtyr, Hangatyr or Farmatyr, and such names we

call simple appellatives. In the same manner he is called Reidartyr.

AFTERWORD

TO BRAGE’S TALK.

Now it is to be said to young skalds who are desirous of acquiring the

diction of poetry, or of increasing their store of words with old names,

or, on the other hand, are eager to understand what is obscurely sung,

that they must master this book for their instruction and pastime. These

sagas are not to be so forgotten or disproved as to take away from

poetry old periphrases which great skalds have been pleased with. But

christian men should not believe in heathen gods, nor in the truth of

these sagas, otherwise than is explained in the beginning of this book,

where the events are explained which led men away from the true faith,

and where it, in the next place, is told of the Turks how the men from

Asia, who are called asas, falsified the tales of the things that

happened in Troy, in order that the people should believe them to be

gods.

King Priam in Troy was a great chief over all the Turkish host, and his

sons were the most distinguished men in his whole army. That excellent

hall, which the asas called Brime’s Hall, or beer-hall, was King Priam’s

palace. As for the long tale that they tell of Ragnarok, that is the

wars of the Trojans. When it is said that Oku-Thor angled with an

ox-head and drew on board the Midgard-serpent, but that the serpent kept

his life and sank back into the sea, then this is another version of the

story that Hektor slew Volukrontes, a famous hero, in the presence of

Achilleus, and so drew the latter onto him with the head of the slain,

which they likened unto the head of an ox, which Oku-Thor had torn off.

When Achilleus was drawn into this danger, on account of his daring,

it was the salvation of his life that he fled from the fatal blows of

Hektor, although he was wounded. It is also said that Hektor waged the

war so mightily, and that his rage was so great when he caught sight of

Achilleus, that nothing was so strong that it could stand before him.

When he missed Achilleus, who had fled, he soothed his wrath by slaying

the champion called Roddros. But the asas say that when Oku-Thor missed

the serpent, he slew the giant Hymer. In Ragnarok the Midgard serpent

came suddenly upon Thor and blew venom onto him, and thus struck him

dead. But the asas could not make up their minds to say that this had

been the fate of Oku-Thor, that anyone stood over him dead, though this

had so happened. They rushed headlong over old sagas more than was true

when they said that the Midgard-serpent there got his death; and they

added this to the story, that Achilleus reaped the fame of Hektor’s

death, though he lay dead on the same battle-field on that account. This

was the work of Elenus and Alexander, and Elenus the asas call Ale. They

say that he avenged his brother, and that he lived when all the gods

were dead, and after the fire was quenched that burned up Asgard and all

the possessions of the gods. Pyrrhos they compared with the Fenris-wolf.

He slew Odin, and Pyrrhos might be called a wolf according to their

belief, for he did not spare the peace-steads, when he slew the king in

the temple before the altar of Thor. The burning of Troy they call the

flame of Surt. Mode and Magne, the sons of Oku-Thor, came to crave the

land of Ale or Vidar. He is Æneas. He came away from Troy, and wrought

thereupon great works. It is said that the sons of Hektor came to

Frigialand and established themselves in that kingdom, but banished

Elenus.

EXTRACTS FROM

THE POETICAL DICTION.

(SKALDSKAPARMAL.)[76]

[Footnote 76: This part of the Younger Edda corresponds to the

Latin Ars Poetica, and contains the rules and laws of ancient

poetry.]

THOR AND HRUNGNER.

Brage told Æger that Thor had gone eastward to crush trolls. Odin rode

on his horse Sleipner to Jotunheim, and came to the giant whose name is

Hrungner. Then asked Hrungner what man that was who with a golden helmet

rode both through the air and over the sea, and added that he had a

remarkably good horse. Odin said that he would wager his head that so

good a horse could not be found in Jotunheim. Hrungner admitted that it

was indeed an excellent horse, but he had one, called Goldfax, that

could take much longer paces; and in his wrath he immediately sprang

upon his horse and galloped after Odin, intending to pay him for his

insolence. Odin rode so fast that he was a good distance ahead, but

Hrungner had worked himself into such a giant rage that, before he was

aware of it, he had come within the gates of Asgard. When he came to the

hall door, the asas invited him to drink with them. He entered the hall

and requested a drink. They then took the bowls that Thor was accustomed

to drink from, and Hrungner emptied them all. When he became drunk, he

gave the freest vent to his loud boastings. He said he was going to take

Valhal and move it to Jotunheim, demolish Asgard and kill all the gods

except Freyja and Sif, whom he was going to take home with him. When

Freyja went forward to refill the bowls for him, he boasted that he was

going to drink up all the ale of the asas. But when the asas grew weary

of his arrogance, they named Thor’s name. At once Thor was in the hall,

swung his hammer in the air, and, being exceedingly wroth, asked who was

to blame that dog-wise giants were permitted to drink there, who had

given Hrungner permission to be in Valhal, and why Freyja should pour

ale for him as she did in the feasts of the asas. Then answered

Hrungner, looking with anything but friendly eyes at Thor, and said that

Odin had invited him to drink, and that he was there under his

protection. Thor replied that he should come to rue that invitation

before he came out. Hrungner again answered that it would be but little

credit to Asa-Thor to kill him, unarmed as he was. It would be a greater

proof of his valor if he dared fight a duel with him at the boundaries

of his territory, at Grjottungard. It was very foolish of me, he said,

that I left my shield and my flint-stone at home; had I my weapons here,

you and I would try a holmgang (duel on a rocky island); but as this is

not the case, I declare you a coward if you kill me unarmed. Thor was by

no means the man to refuse to fight a duel when he was challenged, an

honor which never had been shown him before. Then Hrungner went his way,

and hastened with all his might back to Jotunheim. His journey became

famous among the giants, and the proposed meeting with Thor was much

talked of. They regarded it very important who should gain the victory,

and they feared the worst from Thor if Hrungner should be defeated, for

he was the strongest among them. Thereupon the giants made at

Grjottungard a man of clay, who was nine rasts tall and three rasts

broad under the arms, but being unable to find a heart large enough to

be suitable for him, they took the heart from a mare, but even this

fluttered and trembled when Thor came. Hrungner had, as is well known,

a heart of stone, sharp and three-sided; just as the rune has since been

risted that is called Hrungner’s heart. Even his head was of stone. His

shield was of stone, and was broad and thick, and he was holding this

shield before him as he stood at Grjottungard waiting for Thor. His

weapon was a flint-stone, which he swung over his shoulders, and

altogether he presented a most formidable aspect. On one side of him

stood the giant of clay, who was named Mokkerkalfe. He was so

exceedingly terrified, that it is said that he wet himself when he saw

Thor. Thor proceeded to the duel, and Thjalfe was with him. Thjalfe ran

forward to where Hrungner was standing, and said to him: You stand illy

guarded, giant; you hold the shield before you, but Thor has seen you;

he goes down into the earth and will attack you from below. Then

Hrungner thrust the shield under his feet and stood on it, but the

flint-stone he seized with both his hands. The next that he saw were

flashes of lightning, and he heard loud crashings; and then he saw Thor

in his asa-might advancing with impetuous speed, swinging his hammer and

hurling it from afar at Hrungner. Hrungner seized the flint-stone with

both his hands and threw it against the hammer. They met in the air, and

the flint-stone broke. One part fell to the earth, and from it have come

the flint-mountains; the other part hit Thor’s head with such force that

he fell forward to the ground. But the hammer Mjolner hit Hrungner right

in the head, and crushed his skull in small pieces. He himself fell

forward over Thor, so that his foot lay upon Thor’s neck. Meanwhile

Thjalfe attacked Mokkerkalfe, who fell with but little honor. Then

Thjalfe went to Thor and was to take Hrungner’s foot off from him, but

he had not the strength to do it. When the asas learned that Thor had

fallen, they all came to take the giant’s foot off, but none of them was

able to move it. Then came Magne, the son of Thor and Jarnsaxa. He was

only three nights of age. He threw Hrungner’s foot off Thor, and said It

was a great mishap, father, that I came so late. I think I could have

slain this giant with my fist, had I met him. Then Thor arose, greeted

his son lovingly, saying that he would become great and powerful; and,

added he, I will give you the horse Goldfax, that belonged to Hrungner.

Odin said that Thor did wrong in giving so fine a horse to the son of a

giantess, instead of to his father. Thor went home to Thrudvang, but the

flint-stone still stuck fast in his head. Then came the vala whose name

is Groa, the wife of Orvandel the Bold. She sang her magic songs over

Thor until the flint-stone became loose. But when Thor perceived this,

and was just expecting that the flint-stone would disappear, he desired

to reward Groa for her healing, and make her heart glad. So he related

to her how he had waded from the north over the Elivogs rivers, and had

borne in a basket on his back Orvandel from Jotunheim; and in evidence

of this he told her how that one toe of his had protruded from the

basket and had frozen, wherefore Thor had broken it off and had cast it

up into the sky, and made of it the star which is called Orvandel’s toe.

Finally he added that it would not be long before Orvandel would come

home. But Groa became so glad that she forgot her magic songs, and so

the flint-stone became no looser than it was, and it sticks fast in

Thor’s head yet. For this reason it is forbidden to throw a flint-stone

across the floor, for then the stone in Thor’s head is moved. Out of

this saga Thjodolf of Hvin has made a song:

We have ample evidence

Of the giant-terrifier’s[77] journey

To Grjottungard, to the giant Hrungner,

In the midst of encircling flames.

The courage waxed high in Meile’s brother;[78]

The moon-way trembled

When Jord’s son[79] went

To the steel-gloved contest.

The heavens stood all in flames

For Uller’s step-father,[80]

And the earth rocked.

Svolne’s[81] widow[82] burst asunder

When the span of goats

Drew the sublime chariot

And its divine master

To the meeting with Hrungner.

Balder’s brother[83] did not tremble

Before the greedy fiend of men;

Mountains quaked and rocks broke;

The heavens were wrapped in flames.

Much did the giant

Get frightened, I learn,

When his bane man he saw

Ready to slay him.

Swiftly the gray shield flew

’Neath the heels of the giant.

So the gods willed it,

So willed it the valkyries.

Hrungner the giant,

Eager for slaughter,

Needed not long to wait for blows

From the valiant friend of the hammer.

The slayer[84] of Bele’s evil race

Made fall the bear of the loud-roaring mountain;[85]

On his shield

Bite the dust

Must the giant

Before the sharp-edged hammer,

When the giant-crusher

Stood against the mighty Hrungner,

And the flint-stone

(So hard to break)

Of the friend of the troll-women

Into the skull did whiz

Of Jord’s son,[86]

And this flinty piece

Fast did stick

In Eindride’s[87] blood;

Until Orvandel’s wife,

Magic songs singing,

From the head of Thor

Removed the giant’s

Excellent flint-stone.

All do I know

About that shield-journey.

A shield adorned

With hues most splendid

I received from Thorleif.

[Footnote 77: Thor’s.]

[Footnote 78: Thor.]

[Footnote 79: Jord’s (= earth’s) son = Thor.]

[Footnote 80: Thor.]

[Footnote 81: Odin’s.]

[Footnote 82: The earth.]

[Footnote 83: Thor.]

[Footnote 84: Thor.]

[Footnote 85: The giant Hrungner.]

[Footnote 86: Thor.]

[Footnote 87: Thor’s.]

THOR’S JOURNEY TO GEIRROD’S.

Then said Æger: Much of a man, it seems to me, was that Hrungner. Has

Thor accomplished any other great deeds in his intercourse with trolls

(giants)? Then answered Brage: It is worth giving a full account of how

Thor made a journey to Geirrodsgard. He had with him neither the hammer

Mjolner, nor his belt of strength, Megingjard, nor his steel gloves; and

that was Loke’s fault,--he was with him. For it had happened to Loke,

when he once flew out to amuse himself in Frigg’s falcon-guise, that he,

out of curiosity, flew into Geirrodsgard, where he saw a large hall. He

sat down and looked in through the window, but Geirrod discovered him,

and ordered the bird to be caught and brought to him. The servant had

hard work to climb up the wall of the hall, so high was it. It amused

Loke that it gave the servant so much trouble to get at him, and he

thought it would be time enough to fly away when he had gotten over the

worst. When the latter now caught at him, Loke spread his wings and

spurned with his feet, but these were fast, and so Loke was caught and

brought to the giant. When the latter saw his eyes he suspected that it

was a man. He put questions to him and bade him answer, but Loke refused

to speak. Then Geirrod locked him down in a chest, and starved him for

three months; and when Geirrod finally took him up again, and asked him

to speak, Loke confessed who he was, and to save his life he swore an

oath to Geirrod that he would get Thor to come to Geirrodsgard without

his hammer or his belt of strength.

On his way Thor visited the giantess whose name is Grid. She was the

mother of Vidar the Silent. She told Thor the truth concerning Geirrod,

that he was a dog-wise and dangerous giant; and she lent him her own

belt of strength and steel gloves, and her staff, which is called

Gridarvol. Then went Thor to the river which is called Vimer, and which

is the largest of all rivers. He buckled on the belt of strength and

stemmed the wild torrent with Gridarvol, but Loke held himself fast in

Megingjard. When Thor had come into the middle of the stream, the river

waxed so greatly that the waves dashed over his shoulders. Then quoth

Thor:

Wax not Vimer,

Since I intend to wade

To the gards of giants.

Know, if you wax,

Then waxes my asa-might

As high, as the heavens.

Then Thor looked up and saw in a cleft Gjalp, the daughter of Geirrod,

standing on both sides of the stream, and causing its growth. Then took

he up out of the river a huge stone and threw at her, saying: At its

source the stream must be stemmed.[88] He was not wont to miss his mark.

At the same time he reached the river bank and got hold of a shrub, and

so he got out of the river. Hence comes the adage that _a shrub saved

Thor_.[89] When Thor came to Geirrod, he and his companion were shown to

the guest-room, where lodgings were given them, but there was but one

seat, and on that Thor sat down. Then he became aware that the seat was

raised under him toward the roof. He put the Gridarvol against the

rafters, and pressed himself down against the seat. Then was heard a

great crash, which was followed by a loud screaming. Under the seat were

Geirrod’s daughters, Gjalp and Greip, and he had broken the backs of

both of them. Then quoth Thor:

Once I employed

My asa-might

In the gards of the giants.

When Gjalp and Greip,

Geirrod’s daughters,

Wanted to lift me to heaven.

[Footnote 88: Icelandic proverb.]

[Footnote 89: Icelandic proverb.]

Then Geirrod had Thor invited into the hall to the games. Large fires

burned along the whole length of the hall. When Thor came into the hall,

and stood opposite Geirrod, the latter seized with a pair of tongs a

red-hot iron wedge and threw it at Thor. But he caught it with his steel

gloves, and lifted it up in the air. Geirrod sprang behind an iron post

to guard himself. But Thor threw the wedge with so great force that it

struck through the post, through Geirrod, through the wall, and then

went out and into the ground. From this saga, Eilif, son of Gudrun, made

the following song, called Thor’s Drapa:

The Midgard-serpent’s father exhorted

Thor, the victor of giants,

To set out from home.

A great liar was Loke.

Not quite confident,

The companion of the war-god

Declared green paths to lie

To the gard of Geirrod.

Thor did not long let Loke

Invite him to the arduous journey.

They were eager to crush

Thorn’s descendants.

When he, who is wont to swing Megingjard,

Once set out from Odin’s home

To visit Ymer’s children in Gandvik,

The giantess Gjalp,

Perjured Geirrod’s daughter,

Sooner got ready magic to use

Than the god of war and Loke.

A song I recite.

Those gods noxious to the giants

Planted their feet

In Endil’s land,

And the men wont to battle

Went forth.

The message of death

Came of the moon-devourer’s women,

When the cunning and wrathful

Conqueror of Loke

Challenged to a contest

The giantess.

And the troll-woman’s disgracer

Waded across the roaring stream,--

Rolling full of drenched snow over its banks.

He who puts giants to flight

Rapidly advanced

O’er the broad watery way,

Where the noisy stream’s

Venom belched forth.

Thor and his companions

Put before him the staff;

Thereon he rested

Whilst over they waded:

Nor sleep did the stones,--

The sonorous staff striking the rapid wave

Made the river-bed ring,--

The mountain-torrent rang with stones.

The wearer of Megingjard

Saw the flood fall

On his hard-waxed shoulders:

He could do no better.

The destroyer of troll-children

Let his neck-strength

Wax heaven high,

Till the mighty stream should diminish.

But the warriors,

The oath-bound protectors of Asgard,--

The experienced vikings,--

Waded fast and the stream sped on.

Thou god of the bow!

The billows

Blown by the mountain-storm

Powerfully rushed

Over Thor’s shoulders.

Thjalfe and his companion,

With their heads above water,

Got over the river,--

To Thor’s belt they clung.

Their strength was tested,--

Geirrod’s daughters made hard the stream

For the iron rod.

Angry fared Thor with the Gridarvol.

Nor did courage fail

Those foes of the giant

In the seething vortex.

Those sworn companions

Regarded a brave heart

Better than gold.

Neither Thor’s nor Thjalfe’s heart

From fear did tremble.

And the war companions--

Weapons despising--

’Mong the giants made havoc,

Until, O woman!

The giant destroyers

The conflict of helmets

With the warlike race

Did commence.

The giants of Iva’s[90] capes

Made a rush with Geirrod;

The foes of the cold Svithiod

Took to flight.

Geirrod’s giants

Had to succumb

When the lightning wielder’s[91] kinsmen

Closely pursued them.

Wailing was ’mongst the cave-dwellers

When the giants,

With warlike spirit endowed,

Went forward.

There was war.

The slayer of troll-women,

By foes surrounded,

The giant’s hard head hit.

With violent pressure

Were pressed the vast eyes

Of Gjalp and Greip

Against the high roof.

The fire-chariot’s driver

The old backs broke

Of both these maids

For the cave-woman.

The man of the rocky way

But scanty knowledge got;

Nor able were the giants

To enjoy perfect gladness.

Thou man of the bow-string!

The dwarf’s kinsman

An iron beam, in the forge heated,

Threw against Odin’s dear son.

But the battle-hastener,

Freyja’s old friend,

With swift hands caught

In the air the beam

As it flew from the hands

Of the father of Greip,--

His breast with anger swollen

Against Thruda’s[92] father.

Geirrod’s hall trembled

When he struck,

With his broad head,

’Gainst the old column of the house-wall.

Uller’s splendid flatterer

Swung the iron beam

Straight ’gainst the head

Of the knavish giant.

The crusher of the hall-wont troll-women

A splendid victory won

Over Glam’s descendants;

With gory hammer fared Thor.

Gridarvol-staff,

Which made disaster

’Mong Geirrod’s companion,

Was not used ’gainst that giant himself.

The much worshiped thunderer,

With all his might, slew

The dwellers in Alfheim

With that little willow-twig,

And no shield

Was able to resist

The strong age-diminisher

Of the mountain-king.

[Footnote 90: A river in Jotunheim.]

[Footnote 91: Thor’s kinsmen = the asas.]

[Footnote 92: Thruda was a daughter of Thor and Sif.]

IDUN.

How shall Idun be named? She is called the wife of Brage, the keeper of

the apples; but the apples are called the medicine to bar old age

(ellilyf, elixir vitæ). She is also called the booty of the giant

Thjasse, according to what has before been said concerning how he took

her away from the asas. From this saga Thjodolf, of Hvin, composed the

following song in his Haustlong:

How shall the tongue

Pay an ample reward

For the sonorous shield

Which I received from Thorleif,

Foremost ’mong soldiers?

On the splendidly made shield

I see the unsafe journey

Of three gods and Thjasse.

Idun’s robber flew long ago

The asas to meet

In the giant’s old eagle-guise.

The eagle perched

Where the asas bore

Their food to be cooked.

Ye women! The mountain-giant

Was not wont to be timid.

Suspected of malice

Was the giant toward the gods.

Who causes this?

Said the chief of the gods.

The wise-worded giant-eagle

From the old tree began to speak.

The friend of Honer

Was not friendly to him.

The mountain-wolf from Honer

Asked for his fill

From the holy table:

It fell to Honer to blow the fire.

The giant, eager to kill,

Glided down

Where the unsuspecting gods,

Odin, Loke and Honer, were sitting.

The fair lord of the earth

Bade Farbaute’s son

Quickly to share

The ox with the giant;

But the cunning foe of the asas

Thereupon laid

The four parts of the ox

Upon the broad table.

And the huge father of Morn[93]

Afterward greedily ate

The ox at the tree-root.

That was long ago,

Until the profound

Loke the hard rod laid

’Twixt the shoulders

Of the giant Thjasse.

Then clung with his hands

The husband of Sigyn

To Skade’s foster-son,

In the presence of all the gods.

The pole stuck fast

To Jotunheim’s strong fascinator,

But the hands of Honer’s dear friend

Stuck to the other end.

Flew then with the wise god

The voracious bird of prey

Far away; so the wolf’s father

To pieces must be torn.

Odin’s friend got exhausted.

Heavy grew Lopt.

Odin’s companion

Must sue for peace.

Hymer’s kinsman demanded

That the leader of hosts

The sorrow-healing maid,

Who the asas’ youth-preserving apples keeps,

Should bring to him.

Brisingamen’s thief

Afterward brought Idun

To the gard of the giant.

Sorry were not the giants

After this had taken place,

Since from the south

Idun had come to the giants.

All the race

Of Yngve-Frey, at the Thing,

Grew old and gray,--

Ugly-looking were the gods.

Until the gods found the blood-dog,

Idun’s decoying thrall,

And bound the maid’s deceiver,

You shall, cunning Loke,

Spake Thor, die;

Unless back you lead,

With your tricks, that

Good joy-increasing maid.

Heard have I that thereupon

The friend of Honer flew

In the guise of a falcon

(He often deceived the asas with his cunning);

And the strong fraudulent giant,

The father of Morn,

With the wings of the eagle

Sped after the hawk’s child.

The holy gods soon built a fire--

They shaved off kindlings--

And the giant was scorched.

This is said in memory

Of the dwarf’s heel-bridge.[94]

A shield adorned with splendid lines

From Thorleif I received.

[Footnote 93: A troll-woman.]

[Footnote 94: Shield.]

ÆGER’S FEAST.

How shall gold be named? It may be called fire; the needles of Glaser;

Sif’s hair; Fulla’s head-gear; Freyja’s tears; the chatter, talk or word

of the giants; Draupner’s drop; Draupner’s rain or shower; Freyja’s

eyes; the otter-ransom, or stroke-ransom, of the asas; the seed of

Fyrisvold; Holge’s how-roof; the fire of all waters and of the hand;

or the stone, rock or gleam of the hand.

Why is gold called Æger’s fire? The saga relating to this is, as has

before been told, that Æger made a visit to Asgard, but when he was

ready to return home he invited Odin and all the asas to come and pay

him a visit after the lapse of three months. On this journey went Odin,

Njord, Frey, Tyr, Brage, Vidar, Loke; and also the asynjes, Frigg,

Freyja, Gefjun, Skade, Idun, Sif. Thor was not there, for he had gone

eastward to fight trolls. When the gods had taken their seats, Æger let

his servants bring in on the hall floor bright gold, which shone and

lighted up the whole hall like fire, just as the swords in Valhal are

used instead of fire. Then Loke bandied hasty words with all the gods,

and slew Æger’s thrall who was called Fimafeng. The name of his other

thrall is Elder. The name of Æger’s wife is Ran, and they have nine

daughters, as has before been written. At this feast all things passed

around spontaneously, both food and ale and all the utensils needed for

the feasting. Then the asas became aware that Ran had a net in which she

caught all men who perish at sea. Then the saga goes on telling how it

happens that gold is called the fire, or light or brightness of Æger, of

Ran, or of Æger’s daughters; and from these periphrases it is allowed to

call gold the fire of the sea, or of any of the periphrases of the sea,

since Æger and Ran are found in periphrases of the sea; and thus gold is

now called the fire of waters, of rivers, or of all the periphrases of

rivers. But these names have fared like other periphrases. The younger

skald has composed poetry after the pattern of the old skalds, imitating

their songs; but afterward they have expanded the metaphors whenever

they thought they could improve upon what was sung before; and thus the

water is the sea, the river is the lakes, the brook is the river. Hence

all the figures that are expanded more than what has before been found

are called new tropes, and all seem good that contain likelihood and are

natural. Thus sang the skald Brage:

From the king I received

The fire of the brook.

This the king gave to me

And a head with song.

Why is gold called the needles or leaves of Glaser? In Asgard, before

the doors of Valhal, stands a grove which is called Glaser, and all its

leaves are of red gold, as is here sung:

Glaser stands

With golden leaves

Before Sigtyr’s halls.

This is the fairest forest among gods and men.

LOKE’S WAGER WITH THE DWARFS.

Why is gold called Sif’s hair? Loke Laufey’s son had once craftily cut

all the hair off Sif; but when Thor found it out he seized Loke, and

would have broken every bone in him, had he not pledged himself with an

oath to get the swarthy elves to make for Sif a hair of gold that should

grow like other hair. Then went Loke to the dwarfs that are called

Ivald’s sons, and they made the hair and Skidbladner, and the spear that

Odin owned and is called Gungner. Thereupon Loke wagered his head with

the dwarf, who hight Brok, that his brother Sindre would not be able to

make three other treasures equally as good as these were. But when they

came to the smithy, Sindre laid a pig-skin in the furnace and requested

Brok to blow the bellows, and not to stop blowing before he (Sindre) had

taken out of the furnace what he had put into it. As soon, however, as

Sindre had gone out of the smithy and Brok was blowing, a fly lighted on

his hand and stung him; but he kept on blowing as before until the smith

had taken the work out of the furnace. That was now a boar, and its

bristles were of gold. Thereupon he laid gold in the furnace, and

requested Brok to blow, and not to stop plying the bellows before he

came back. He went out; but then came the fly and lighted on his neck

and stung him still worse; but he continued to work the bellows until

the smith took out of the furnace the gold ring called Draupner. Then

Sindre placed iron in the furnace, and requested Brok to work the

bellows, adding that otherwise all would be worthless. Now the fly

lighted between his eyes and stung his eye-lids, and as the blood ran

down into his eyes so that he could not see, he let go of the bellows

just for a moment and drove the fly away with his hands. Then the smith

came back and said that all that lay in the furnace came near being

entirely spoiled. Thereupon he took a hammer out of the furnace. All

these treasures he then placed in the hands of his brother Brok, and

bade him go with Loke to Asgard to fetch the wager. When Loke and Brok

brought forth the treasures, the gods seated themselves upon their

doom-steads. It was agreed to abide by the decision which should be

pronounced by Odin, Thor and Frey. Loke gave to Odin the spear Gungner,

to Thor the hair, which Sif was to have, and to Frey, Skidbladner; and

he described the qualities of all these treasures, stating that the

spear never would miss its mark, that the hair would grow as soon as it

was placed on Sif s head, and that Skidbladner would always have fair

wind as soon as the sails were hoisted, no matter where its owner

desired to go; besides, the ship could be folded together like a napkin

and be carried in his pocket if he desired. Then Brok produced his

treasures. He gave to Odin the ring, saying that every ninth night eight

other rings as heavy as it would drop from it; to Frey he gave the boar,

stating that it would run through the air and over seas, by night or by

day, faster than any horse; and never could it become so dark in the

night, or in the worlds of darkness, but that it would be light where

this boar was present, so bright shone his bristles. Then he gave to

Thor the hammer, and said that he might strike with it as hard as he

pleased; no matter what was before him, the hammer would take no scathe,

and wherever he might throw it he would never lose it; it would never

fly so far that it did not return to his hand; and if he desired, it

would become so small that he might conceal it in his bosom; but it had

one fault, which was, that the handle was rather short. The decision of

the gods was, that the hammer was the best of all these treasures and

the greatest protection against the frost-giants, and they declared that

the dwarf had fairly won the wager. Then Loke offered to ransom his

head. The dwarf answered saying there was no hope for him on that score.

Take me, then! said Loke; but when the dwarf was to seize him Loke was

far away, for he had the shoes with which he could run through the air

and over the sea. Then the dwarf requested Thor to seize him, and he did

so. Now the dwarf wanted to cut the head off Loke, but Loke said that

the head was his, but not the neck. Then the dwarf took thread and a

knife and wanted to pierce holes in Loke’s lips, so as to sew his mouth

together, but the knife would not cut. Then said he, it would be better

if he had his brother’s awl, and as soon as he named it the awl was

there and it pierced Loke’s lips. Now Brok sewed Loke’s mouth together,

and broke off the thread at the end of the sewing. The thread with which

the mouth of Loke was sewed together is called Vartare (a strap).

THE NIFLUNGS AND GJUKUNGS.

The following is the reason why gold is called otter-ransom: It is

related that three asas went abroad to learn to know the whole world,

Odin, Honer and Loke. They came to a river, and walked along the

river-bank to a force, and near the force was an otter. The otter had

caught a salmon in the force, and sat eating it with his eyes closed.

Loke picked up a stone, threw it at the otter and hit him in the head.

Loke bragged of his chase, for he had secured an otter and a salmon with

one throw. They took the salmon and the otter with them, and came to a

byre, where they entered. But the name of the bonde who lived there was

Hreidmar. He was a mighty man, and thoroughly skilled in the black art.

The asas asked for night-lodgings, stating that they had plenty of food,

and showed the bonde their game. But when Hreidmar saw the otter he

called his sons, Fafner and Regin, and said that Otter, their brother,

was slain, and also told who had done it. Then the father and the sons

attacked the asas, seized them and bound them, and then said, in

reference to the otter, that he was Hreidmar’s son. The asas offered,

as a ransom for their lives, as much money as Hreidmar himself might

demand, and this was agreed to, and confirmed with an oath. Then the

otter was flayed. Hreidmar took the otter-belg and said to them that

they should fill the belg with red gold, and then cover it with the same

metal, and when this was done they should be set free. Thereupon Odin

sent Loke to the home of the swarthy elves, and he came to the dwarf

whose name is Andvare, and who lived as a fish, in the water. Loke

caught him in his hands, and demanded of him, as a ransom for his life,

all the gold that he had in his rock. And when they entered the rock,

the dwarf produced all the gold that he owned, and that was a very large

amount. Then the dwarf concealed in his hand a small gold ring. Loke saw

this, and requested him to hand forth the ring. The dwarf begged him not

to take the ring away from him, for with this ring he could increase his

wealth again if he kept it. Loke said the dwarf should not keep as much

as a penny, took the ring from him and went out. But the dwarf said that

that ring should be the bane of every one who possessed it. Loke replied

that he was glad of this, and said that all should be fulfilled

according to his prophecy: he would take care to bring the curse to the

ears of him who was to receive it. He went to Hreidmar and showed Odin

the gold; but when the latter saw the ring, it seemed to him a fair one,

and he took it and put it aside, giving Hreidmar the rest of the gold.

They filled the otter-belg as full as it would hold, and raised it up

when it was full. Then came Odin, and was to cover the belg with gold;

and when this was done, he requested Hreidmar to come and see whether

the belg was sufficiently covered. But Hreidmar looked at it, examined

it closely, and saw a mouth-hair, and demanded that it should be

covered, too, otherwise the agreement would be broken. Then Odin brought

forth the ring and covered with it the mouth-hair, saying that now they

had paid the otter-ransom. But when Odin had taken his spear, and Loke

his shoes, so that they had nothing more to fear, Loke said that the

curse that Andvare had pronounced should be fulfilled, and that the ring

and that gold should be the bane of its possessor; and this curse was

afterward fulfilled. This explains why gold is called the otter-ransom,

or forced payment of the asas, or strife-metal.

What more is there to be told of this gold? Hreidmar accepted the gold

as a ransom for his son, but Fafner and Regin demanded their share of it

as a ransom for their brother. Hreidmar was, however, unwilling to give

them as much as a penny of it. Then the brothers made an agreement to

kill their father for the sake of the gold. When this was done, Regin

demanded that Fafner should give him one half of it. Fafner answered

that there was but little hope that he would share the gold with his

brother, since he had himself slain his father to obtain it; and he

commanded Regin to get him gone, for else the same thing would happen to

him as had happened to Hreidmar. Fafner had taken the sword hight

Hrotte, and the helmet which had belonged to his father, and the latter

he had placed on his head. This was called the Æger’s helmet, and it was

a terror to all living to behold it. Regin had the sword called Refil.

With it he fled. But Fafner went to Gnita-heath (the glittering heath),

where he made himself a bed, took on him the likeness of a serpent

(dragon), and lay brooding over the gold.

Regin then went to Thjode, to king Hjalprek, and became his smith. There

he undertook the fostering of Sigurd (Sigfrid), the son of Sigmund, the

son of Volsung and the son of Hjordis, the daughter of Eylime. Sigurd

was the mightiest of all the kings of hosts, in respect to both family

and power and mind. Regin explained to him where Fafner was lying on the

gold, and egged him on to try to get possession thereof. Then Regin made

the sword which is hight Gram (wrath), and which was so sharp that when

Sigurd held it in the flowing stream it cut asunder a tuft of wool which

the current carried down against the sword’s edge. In the next place,

Sigurd cut with his sword Regin’s anvil in twain. Thereupon Sigurd and

Regin repaired to Gnita-heath. Here Sigurd dug a ditch in Fafner’s path

and sat down in it; so when Fafner crept to the water and came directly

over this ditch, Sigurd pierced him with the sword, and this thrust

caused his death. Then Regin came and declared that Sigurd had slain his

brother, and demanded of him as a ransom that he should cut out Fafner’s

heart and roast it on the fire; but Regin kneeled down, drank Fafner’s

blood, and laid himself down to sleep. While Sigurd was roasting the

heart, and thought that it must be done, he touched it with his finger

to see how tender it was; but the fat oozed out of the heart and onto

his finger and burnt it, so that he thrust his finger into his mouth.

The heart-blood came in contact with his tongue, which made him

comprehend the speech of birds, and he understood what the eagles said

that were sitting in the trees. One of the birds said:

There sits Sigurd,

Stained with blood.

On the fire is roasting

Fafner’s heart.

Wise seemed to me

The ring-destroyer,

If he the shining

Heart would eat.

Another eagle sang:

There lies Regin,

Contemplating

How to deceive the man

Who trusts him;

Thinks in his wrath

Of false accusations.

The evil smith plots

Revenge ’gainst the brother.[95]

[Footnote 95: Elder Edda: the Lay of Fafner, 32, 33.]

Then Sigurd went to Regin and slew him, and thereupon he mounted his

horse hight Grane, and rode until he came to Fafner’s bed, took out all

the gold, packed it in two bags and laid it on Grane’s back, then got on

himself and rode away. Now is told the saga according to which gold is

called Fafner’s bed or lair, the metal of Gnita-heath, or Grane’s

burden.

Then Sigurd rode on until he found a house on the mountain. In it slept

a woman clad in helmet and coat-of-mail. He drew his sword and cut the

coat-of-mail off from her. Then she awaked and called herself Hild. Her

name was Brynhild, and she was a valkyrie. Thence Sigurd rode on and

came to the king whose name was Gjuke. His wife was called Grimhild, and

their children were Gunnar, Hogne, Gudrun, Gudny; Gothorm was Gjuke’s

step-son. Here Sigurd remained a long time. Then he got the hand of

Gudrun, Gjuke’s daughter, and Gunnar and Hogne entered into a sworn

brotherhood with Sigurd. Afterward Sigurd and the sons of Gjuke went to

Atle, Budle’s son, to ask for his sister, Brynhild, for Gunnar’s wife.

She sat on Hindfell, and her hall was surrounded by the bickering flame

called the Vafurloge, and she had made a solemn promise not to wed any

other man than him who dared to ride through the bickering flame. Then

Sigurd and the Gjukungs (they are also called Niflungs) rode upon the

mountain, and there Gunnar was to ride through the Vafurloge. He had the

horse that was called Gote, but this horse did not dare to run into the

flame. So Sigurd and Gunnar changed form and weapons, for Grane would

not take a step under any other man than Sigurd. Then Sigurd mounted

Grane and rode through the bickering flame. That same evening he held a

wedding with Brynhild; but when they went to bed he drew his sword Gram

from the sheath and placed it between them. In the morning when he had

arisen, and had donned his clothes, he gave to Brynhild, as a bridal

gift, the gold ring that Loke had taken from Andvare, and he received

another ring as a memento from her. Then Sigurd mounted his horse and

rode to his companions. He and Gunnar exchanged forms again and went

back to Gjuke with Brynhild. Sigurd had two children with Gudrun. Their

names were Sigmund and Swanhild.

Once it happened that Brynhild and Gudrun went to the water to wash

their hair. When they came to the river Brynhild waded from the river

bank into the stream, and said that she could not bear to have that

water in her hair that ran from Gudrun’s hair, for she had a more

high-minded husband. Then Gudrun followed her into the stream, and said

that she was entitled to wash her hair farther up the stream than

Brynhild, for the reason that she had the husband who was bolder than

Gunnar, or any other man in the world; for it was he who slew Fafner and

Regin, and inherited the wealth of both. Then answered Brynhild: A

greater deed it was that Gunnar rode through the Vafurloge, which Sigurd

did not dare to do. Then laughed Gudrun and said: Do you think it was

Gunnar who rode through the bickering flame? Then I think you shared the

bed with him who gave me this gold ring. The gold ring which you have on

your finger, and which you received as a bridal-gift, is called

Andvaranaut (Andvare’s Gift), and I do not think Gunnar got it on

Gnita-heath. Then Brynhild became silent and went home. Thereupon she

egged Gunnar and Hogne to kill Sigurd; but being sworn brothers of

Sigurd, they egged Guthorm, their brother, to slay Sigurd. Guthorm

pierced him with his sword while he was sleeping; but as soon as Sigurd

was wounded he threw his sword, Gram, after Guthorm, so that it cut him

in twain through the middle. There Sigurd fell, and his son, three

winters old, by name Sigmund, whom they also killed. Then Brynhild

pierced herself with the sword and was cremated with Sigurd. But Gunnar

and Hogne inherited Fafner’s gold and the Gift of Andvare, and now ruled

the lands.

King Atle, Budle’s son, Brynhild’s brother, then got in marriage Gudrun,

who had been Sigurd’s wife, and they had children. King Atle invited

Gunnar and Hogne to visit him, and they accepted his invitation. But

before they started on their journey they concealed Fafner’s hoard in

the Rhine, and that gold has never since been found. King Atle had

gathered together an army and fought a battle with Gunnar and Hogne, and

they were captured. Atle had the heart cut out of Hogne alive. This was

his death. Gunnar he threw into a den of snakes, but a harp was secretly

brought to him, and he played the harp with his toes (for his hands were

fettered), so that all the snakes fell asleep excepting the adder, which

rushed at him and bit him in the breast, and then thrust its head into

the wound and clung to his liver until he died. Gunnar and Hogne are

called Niflungs (Niblungs) and Gjukungs. Hence gold is called the

Niflung treasure or inheritance. A little later Gudrun slew her two sons

and made from their skulls goblets trimmed with gold, and thereupon the

funeral ceremonies took place. At the feast, Gudrun poured for King Atle

in these goblets mead that was mixed with the blood of the youths. Their

hearts she roasted and gave to the king to eat. When this was done she

told him all about it, with many unkind words. There was no lack of

strong mead, so that the most of the people sitting there fell asleep.

On that night she went to the king when he had fallen asleep, and had

with her her son Hogne. They slew him, and thus he ended his life. Then

they set fire to the hall, and with it all the people who were in it

were burned. Then she went to the sea and sprang into the water to drown

herself; but she was carried across the fjord, and came to the land

which belonged to King Jonaker. When he saw her he took her home and

made her his wife. They had three children, whose names were Sorle,

Hamder and Erp. They all had hair as black as ravens, like Gunnar and

Hogne and the other Niflungs.

There was fostered Swanhild, the daughter of Sigurd, and she was the

fairest of all women. That Jormunrek, the rich, found out. He sent his

son, Randver, to ask for her hand for him; and when he came to Jonaker,

Swanhild was delivered to him, so that he might bring her to King

Jormunrek. Then said Bikke that it would be more fitting that Randver

should marry Swanhild, he being young and she too, but Jormunrek being

old. This plan pleased the two young people well. Soon afterward Bikke

informed the king of it, and so King Jormunrek seized his son and had

him brought to the gallows. Then Randver took his hawk, plucked the

feathers off him, and requested that it should be sent to his father,

whereupon he was hanged. But when King Jormunrek saw the hawk, it came

to his mind that as the hawk was flightless and featherless, so his

kingdom was without preservation; for he was old and sonless. Then King

Jormunrek riding out of the woods from the chase with his courtiers,

while Queen Swanhild sat dressing her hair, had the courtiers ride onto

her, and she was trampled to death beneath the feet of the horses. When

Gudrun heard of this, she begged her sons to avenge Swanhild. While they

were busking themselves for the journey, she brought them byrnies and

helmets, so strong that iron could not scathe them. She laid the plan

for them, that when they came to King Jormunrek, they should attack him

in the night whilst he was sleeping. Sorle and Hamder should cut off his

hands and feet, and Erp his head. On the way they asked Erp what

assistance they were to get from him, when they came to King Jormunrek.

He answered them that he would give them such assistance as the hand

gives the foot. They said that the feet got no support from the hands

whatsoever. They were angry at their mother, because she had forced them

to undertake this journey with harsh words, and hence they were going to

do that which would displease her most. So they killed Erp, for she

loved him the most. A little later, while Sorle was walking, he slipped

with one foot, and in falling supported himself with his hands. Then

said he: Now the hands helped the foot; better were it now if Erp were

living. When they came to Jormunrek, the king, in the night, while he

was sleeping, they cut off both his hands and his feet. Then he awaked,

called his men and bade them arise. Said Hamder then: The head would now

have been off had Erp lived. The courtiers got up, attacked them, but

could not overcome them with weapons. Then Jormunrek cried to them that

they should stone them to death. This was done, Sorle and Hamder fell,

and thus perished the last descendants of Gjuke.

After King Sigurd lived a daughter hight Aslaug, who was fostered at

Heimer’s in Hlymdaler. From her mighty races are descended. It is said

that Sigmund, the son of Volsung, was so powerful, that he drank venom

and received no harm therefrom. But Sinfjotle, his son, and Sigurd, were

so hard-skinned that no venom coming onto them could harm them.

Therefore the skald Brage has sung as follows:

When the tortuous serpent,

Full of the drink of the Volsungs,[96]

Hung in coils

On the bait of the giant-slayer,[97]

Upon these sagas very many skalds have made lays, and from them they

have taken various themes. Brage the Old made the following song about

the fall of Sorle and Hamder in the drapa, which he composed about

Ragnar Lodbrok:

Jormunrek once,

In an evil dream, waked

In that sword-contest

Against the blood-stained kings.

A clashing of arms was heard

In the house of Randver’s father,

When the raven-blue brothers of Erp

The insult avenged.

Sword-dew flowed

Off the bed on the floor.

Bloody hands and feet of the king

One saw cut off.

On his head fell Jormunrek,

Frothing in blood.

On the shield

This is painted.

The king saw

Men so stand

That a ring they made

’Round his house.

Sorle and Hamder

Were both at once,

With slippery stones,

Struck to the ground.

King Jormunrek

Ordered Gjuke’s descendants

Violently to be stoned

When they came to take the life

Of Swanhild’s husband.

All sought to pay

Jonaker’s sons

With blows and wounds.

This fall of men

And sagas many

On the fair shield I see.

Ragnar gave me the shield.

[Footnote 96: The drink of the Volsungs = venom; the tortuous

venom-serpent = the Midgard-serpent.]

[Footnote 97: Thor.]

MENJA AND FENJA.

Why is gold called Frode’s meal? The saga giving rise to this is the

following:

Odin had a son by name Skjold, from whom the Skjoldungs are descended.

He had his throne and ruled in the lands that are now called Denmark,

but were then called Gotland. Skjold had a son by name Fridleif, who

ruled the lands after him. Fridleif’s son was Frode. He took the kingdom

after his father, at the time when the Emperor Augustus established

peace in all the earth and Christ was born. But Frode being the

mightiest king in the northlands, this peace was attributed to him by

all who spake the Danish tongue, and the Norsemen called it the peace of

Frode. No man injured the other, even though he might meet, loose or in

chains, his father’s or brother’s bane. There was no thief or robber,

so that a gold ring would be a long time on Jalanger’s heath. King Frode

sent messengers to Svithjod, to the king whose name was Fjolner, and

bought there two maid-servants, whose names were Fenja and Menja. They

were large and strong. About this time were found in Denmark two

mill-stones, so large that no one had the strength to turn them. But the

nature belonged to these mill-stones that they ground whatever was

demanded of them by the miller. The name of this mill was Grotte. But

the man to whom King Frode gave the mill was called Hengekjapt. King

Frode had the maid-servants led to the mill, and requested them to grind

for him gold and peace, and Frode’s happiness. Then he gave them no

longer time to rest or sleep than while the cuckoo was silent or while

they sang a song. It is said that they sang the song called the

Grottesong, and before they ended it they ground out a host against

Frode; so that on the same night there came the sea-king, whose name was

Mysing, and slew Frode and took a large amount of booty. Therewith the

Frode-peace ended. Mysing took with him Grotte, and also Fenja and

Menja, and bade them grind salt, and in the middle of the night they

asked Mysing whether he did not have salt enough. He bade them grind

more. They ground only a short time longer before the ship sank. But in

the ocean arose a whirlpool (Maelstrom, mill-stream) in the place where

the sea runs into the mill-eye. Thus the sea became salt.

THE GROTTESONG.

Now are come

To the house of the king

The prescient two,

Fenja and Menja.

There must the mighty

Maidens toil

For King Frode,

Fridleif’s son.

Brought to the mill

Soon they were;

The gray stones

They had to turn.

Nor rest nor peace

He gave to them:

He would hear the maidens

Turn the mill.

They turned the mill,

The prattling stones

The mill ever rattling.

What a noise it made!

Lay the planks!

Lift the stones![98]

But he[99] bade the maids

Yet more to grind.

They sang and swung

The swift mill-stone,

So that Frode’s folk

Fell asleep.

Then, when she came

To the mill to grind,

With a hard heart

And with loud voice

Did Menja sing:

We grind for Frode

Wealth and happiness,

And gold abundant

On the mill of luck.

Dance on roses!

Sleep on down!

Wake when you please!

That is well ground.

Here shall no one

Hurt the other,

Nor in ambush lie,

Nor seek to kill;

Nor shall any one

With sharp sword hew,

Though bound he should find

His brother’s bane.

They stood in the hall,

Their hands were resting;

Then was it the first

Word that he spoke:

Sleep not longer

Than the cuckoo on the hall,

Or only while

A song I sing:

Frode! you were not

Wary enough,--

You friend of men,--

When maids you bought!

At their strength you looked,

And at their fair faces,

But you asked no questions

About their descent.

Hard was Hrungner

And his father;

Yet was Thjasse

Stronger than they,

And Ide and Orner,

Our friends, and

The mountain-giants’ brothers,

Who fostered us two.

Not would Grotte have come

From the mountain gray,

Nor this hard stone

Out from the earth;

The maids of the mountain-giants

Would not thus be grinding

If we two knew

Nothing of the mill.

Through winters nine

Our strength increased,

While below the sod

We played together.

Great deeds were the maids

Able to perform;

Mountains they

From their places moved.

The stone we rolled

From the giants’ dwelling,

So that all the earth

Did rock and quake.

So we hurled

The rattling stone,

The heavy block,

That men caught it.

In Svithjod’s land

Afterward we

Fire-wise women,

Fared to the battle,

Byrnies we burst,

Shields we cleaved,

Made our way

Through gray-clad hosts.

One chief we slew,

Another we aided,--

To Guthorm the Good

Help we gave.

Ere Knue had fallen

Nor rest we got.

Then bound we were

And taken prisoners.

Such were our deeds

In former days,

That we heroes brave

Were thought to be.

With spears sharp

Heroes we pierced,

So the gore did run

And our swords grew red.

Now we are come

To the house of the king,

No one us pities.

Bond-women are we.

Dirt eats our feet,

Our limbs are cold,

The peace-giver[100] we turn.

Hard it is at Frode’s.

The hands shall stop,

The stone shall stand;

Now have I ground

For my part enough.

Yet to the hands

No rest must be given,

’Till Frode thinks

Enough has been ground.

Now hold shall the hands

The lances hard,

The weapons bloody,--

Wake now, Frode!

Wake now, Frode!

If you would listen

To our songs,--

To sayings old.

Fire I see burn

East of the burg,--

The warnews are awake.

That is called warning.

A host hither

Hastily approaches

To burn the king’s

Lofty dwelling.

No longer you will sit

On the throne of Hleidra

And rule o’er red

Rings and the mill.

Now must we grind

With all our might,

No warmth will we get

From the blood of the slain.

Now my father’s daughter

Bravely turns the mill.

The death of many

Men she sees.

Now broke the large

Braces ’neath the mill,--

The iron-bound braces.

Let us yet grind!

Let us yet grind!

Yrsa’s son

Shall on Frode revenge

Halfdan’s death.

He shall Yrsa’s

Offspring be named,

And yet Yrsa’s brother.

Both of us know it.

The mill turned the maidens,--

Their might they tested;

Young they were,

And giantesses wild.

The braces trembled.

Then fell the mill,--

In twain was broken

The heavy stone.

All the old world

Shook and trembled,

But the giant’s maid

Speedily said:

We have turned the mill, Frode!

Now we may stop.

By the mill long enough

The maidens have stood.

[Footnote 98: These words are spoken by the maidens while they put

the mill together.]

[Footnote 99: Frode.]

[Footnote 100: The mill.]

ROLF KRAKE.

A king in Denmark hight Rolf Krake, and was the most famous of all kings

of olden times; moreover, he was more mild, brave and condescending than

all other men. A proof of his condescension, which is very often spoken

of in olden stories, was the following: There was a poor little fellow

by name Vog. He once came into King Rolf’s hall while the king was yet a

young man, and of rather delicate growth. Then Vog went before him and

looked up at him. Then said the king: What do you mean to say, my

fellow, by looking so at me? Answered Vog: When I was at home I heard

people say that King Rolf, at Hleidra, was the greatest man in the

northlands, but now sits here in the high-seat a little crow (krake),

and it they call their king. Then made answer the king: You, my fellow,

have given me a name, and I shall henceforth be called Rolf Krake, but

it is customary that a gift accompanies the name. Seeing that you have

no gift that you can give me with the name, or that would be suitable to

me, then he who has must give to the other. Then he took a gold ring off

his hand and gave it to the churl. Then said Vog: You give as the best

king of all, and therefore I now pledge myself to become the bane of him

who becomes your bane. Said the king, laughing: A small thing makes Vog

happy.

Another example is told of Rolf Krake’s bravery. In Upsala reigned a

king by name Adils, whose wife was Yrsa, Rolf Krake’s mother. He was

engaged in a war with Norway’s king, Ale. They fought a battle on the

ice of the lake called Wenern. King Adils sent a message to Rolf Krake,

his stepson, asking him to come and help him, and promising to furnish

pay for his whole army during the campaign. Furthermore King Rolf

himself should have any three treasures that he might choose in Sweden.

But Rolf Krake could not go to his assistance, on account of the war

which he was then waging against the Saxons. Still he sent twelve

berserks to King Adils. Among them were Bodvar Bjarke, Hjalte the

Valiant, Hvitserk the Keen, Vot, Vidsete, and the brothers Svipday and

Beigud. In that war fell King Ale and a large part of his army. Then

King Adils took from the dead King Ale the helmet called Hildesvin, and

his horse called Rafn. Then the berserks each demanded three pounds of

gold in pay for their service, and also asked for the treasures which

they had chosen for Rolf Krake, and which they now desired to bring to

him. These were the helmet Hildegolt; the byrnie Finnsleif, which no

steel could scathe; and the gold ring called Sviagris, which had

belonged to Adils’ forefathers. But the king refused to surrender any of

these treasures, nor did he give the berserks any pay. The berserks then

returned home, and were much dissatisfied. They reported all to King

Rolf, who straightway busked himself to fare against Upsala; and when he

came with his ships into the river Fyre, he rode against Upsala, and

with him his twelve berserks, all peaceless. Yrsa, his mother, received

him and took him to his lodgings, but not to the king’s hall. Large

fires were kindled for them, and ale was brought them to drink. Then

came King Adils’ men in and bore fuel onto the fireplace, and made a

fire so great that it burnt the clothes of Rolf and his berserks,

saying: Is it true that neither fire nor steel will put Rolf Krake and

his berserks to flight? Then Rolf Krake and all his men sprang up, and

he said:

Let us increase the blaze

In Adils’ chambers.

He took his shield and cast it into the fire, and sprang over the fire

while the shield was burning, and cried:

From the fire flees not he

Who over it leaps.

The same did also his men, one after the other, and then they took those

who had put fuel on the fire and cast them into it. Now Yrsa came and

handed Rolf Krake a deer’s horn full of gold, and with it she gave him

the ring Sviagris, and requested them to ride straightway to their army.

They sprang upon their horses and rode away over the Fyrisvold. Then

they saw that King Adils was riding after them with his whole army, all

armed, and was going to slay them. Rolf Krake took gold out of the horn

with his right hand, and scattered it over the whole way. But when the

Swedes saw it they leaped out of their saddles, and each one took as

much as he could. King Adils bade them ride, and he himself rode on with

all his might. The name of his horse was Slungner, the fastest of all

horses. When Rolf Krake saw that King Adils was riding near him, he took

the ring Sviagris and threw it to him, asking him to take it as a gift.

King Adils rode to the ring, picked it up with the end of his spear, and

let it slide down to his hand. Then Rolf Krake turned round and saw that

the other was stooping. Said he: Like a swine I have now bended the

foremost of all Swedes. Thus they parted. Hence gold is called the seed

of Krake or of Fyrisvold.

HOGNE AND HILD.

A king by name Hogne had a daughter by name Hild. Her a king, by name

Hedin, son of Hjarrande, made a prisoner of war, while King Hogne had

fared to the trysting of the kings. But when he learned that there had

been harrying in his kingdom, and that his daughter had been taken away,

he rode with his army in search of Hedin, and learned that he had sailed

northward along the coast. When King Hogne came to Norway, he found out

that Hedin had sailed westward into the sea. Then Hogne sailed after him

to the Orkneys. And when he came to the island called Ha, then Hedin was

there before him with his host. Then Hild went to meet her father, and

offered him as a reconciliation from Hedin a necklace; but if he was not

willing to accept this, she said that Hedin was prepared for a battle,

and Hogne might expect no clemency from him. Hogne answered his daughter

harshly. When she returned to Hedin, she told him that Hogne would not

be reconciled, and bade him busk himself for the battle. And so both

parties did; they landed on the island and marshaled their hosts. Then

Hedin called to Hogne, his father-in-law, offering him a reconciliation

and much gold as a ransom. Hogne answered: Too late do you offer to make

peace with me, for now I have drawn the sword Dainsleif, which was

smithied by the dwarfs, and must be the death of a man whenever it is

drawn; its blows never miss the mark, and the wounds made by it never

heal. Said Hedin: You boast the sword, but not the victory. That I call

a good sword that is always faithful to its master. Then they began the

battle which is called the Hjadninga-vig (the slaying of the

Hedin_ians_); they fought the whole day, and in the evening the kings

fared back to their ships. But in the night Hild went to the

battlefield, and waked up with sorcery all the dead that had fallen. The

next day the kings went to the battlefield and fought, and so did also

all they who had fallen the day before. Thus the battle continued from

day to day; and all they who fell, and all the swords that lay on the

field of battle, and all the shields, became stone. But as soon as day

dawned all the dead arose again and fought, and all the weapons became

new again, and in songs it is said that the Hjadnings will so continue

until Ragnarok.

NOTES.

ENEA.

The Enea mentioned in the Foreword to Gylfe’s Fooling refers to the

settlement of western Europe, where Æneas is said to have founded a city

on the Tiber. Bergmann, however, in his Fascination de Gulfi, page 28,

refers it to the Thracian town Ainos.

HERIKON.

Herikon is undoubtedly a mutilated form for Erichthonios. The genealogy

here given corresponds with the one given in the Iliad, Book 20, 215.

THE HISTORICAL ODIN.

The historical or anthropomorphized Odin, described in the Foreword to

the Fooling of Gylfe, becomes interesting when we compare it with

Snorre’s account of that hero in Heimskringla, and then compare both

accounts with the Roman traditions about Æneas. Of course the whole

story is only a myth; but we should remember that in the minds and

hearts of our ancestors it served every purpose of genuine history. Our

fathers accepted it in as good faith as any Christian ever believed in

the gospel of Christ, and so it had a similar influence in moulding the

social, religious, political and literary life of our ancestors. We

become interested in this legend as much as if it were genuine history,

on account of the influence it wielded upon the minds and hearts of a

race destined to act so great a part in the social, religious and

political drama of Europe. We look into this and other ancestral myths,

and see mirrored in them all that we afterward find to be reliable

history of the old Teutons. In the same manner we are interested in the

story told about Romulus and Remus, about Mars and the wolf. This Roman

myth is equally prophetic in reference to the future career of Rome. The

warlike Mars, the rapacity of the wolf, and the fratricide Romulus, form

a mirror in which we see reflected the whole historical development of

the Romans; so that the story of Romulus is a vest-pocket edition of the

history of Rome.

There are many points of resemblance between this old story of Odin and

the account that Virgil gives us of Æneas, the founder of the Latin

race; and it is believed that, while Virgil imitated Homer, he based his

poem upon a legend current among his countrymen. The Greeks in Virgil’s

poem are Pompey and the Romans in our Teutonic story. The Trojans

correspond to Mithridates and his allies. Æneas and Odin are identical.

Just as Odin, a heroic defender of Mithridates, after traversing various

unknown countries, finally reaches the north of Europe, organizes the

various Teutonic kingdoms, settles his sons upon the thrones of Germany,

England, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and instructs his people to gather

strength and courage, so as eventually to take revenge on the cursed

Romans; so Æneas, one of the most valiant defenders of Troy, after many

adventures in various lands, at length settles in Italy, and becomes the

founder of a race that in course of time is to wreak vengeance upon the

Greeks. The prophecy contained in the Roman legend was fulfilled by

Metellus and Mummius, in the years 147 and 146 before Christ, when the

Romans became the conquerors of Greece. The prophecy contained in our

Teutonic legend foreshadowed with no less unrelenting necessity the

downfall of proud Rome, when the Teutonic commander Odoacer, in the year

476 after Christ, dethroned, not Romulus, brother of Remus, but Romulus

Augustulus, son of Orestes. Thus history repeats itself. Roman history

begins and ends with Romulus; and we fancy we can see some connection

between Od-in and Od-oacer. “As the twig is bent the tree is inclined.”

It might be interesting to institute a similar comparison between our

Teutonic race-founder Odin and Ulysses, king of Ithaca, but the reader

will have to do this for himself.

In one respect our heroes differ. The fall of Troy and the wanderings of

Ulysses became the theme of two great epic poems among the Greeks. The

wanderings and adventures of Æneas, son of Anchises, were fashioned into

a lordly epic by Virgil for the Romans. But the much-traveled man, the

ἀνὴρ πολύτροπος, the weapons and the hero, Odin, who, driven by the

norns, first came to Teutondom and to the Baltic shores, has not yet

been sung. This wonderful expedition of our race-founder, which, by

giving a historic cause to all the later hostilities and conflicts

between the Teutons and the Romans, might, as suggested by Gibbon,

supply the noble ground-work of an epic poem as thrilling as the Æneid

of Virgil, has not yet been woven into a song for our race, and we give

our readers this full account of Odin from the Heimskringla in

connection with the Foreword to Gylfe’s Fooling, with the hope that

among our readers there may be found some descendant of Odin, whose

skaldic wings are but just fledged for the flights he hopes to take,

who will take a draught, first from Mimer’s gushing fountain, then from

Suttung’s mead, brought by Odin to Asgard, and consecrate himself and

his talents to this legend with all the ardor of his soul. For, as

William Morris so beautifully says of the Volsung Saga, this is the

great story of the Teutonic race, and should be to us what the tale of

Troy was to the Greeks, and what the tale of Æneas was to the Romans,

to all our race first and afterward, when the evolution of the world has

made the Teutonic race nothing more than a name of what it has been; a

story, too, then, should it be to the races that come after us, no less

than the Iliad, and the Odyssey and the Æneid have been to us.[101] We

sincerely trust that we shall see Odin wrought into a Teutonic epic,

that will present in grand outline the contrast between the Roman and

the Teuton. And now we are prepared to give the Heimskringla account of

the historical Odin. We have adopted Samuel Laing’s translation, with a

few verbal alterations where such seemed necessary.

[Footnote 101: Quoted from memory.]

It is said that the earth’s circle (Heimskringla), which the human race

inhabits, is torn across into many bights, so that great seas run into

the land from the out-ocean. Thus it is known that a great sea goes into

Njorvasound,[102] and up to the land of Jerusalem. From the same sea a

long sea-bight stretches toward the northeast, and is called the Black

Sea, and divides the three parts of the earth; of which the eastern part

is called Asia, and the western is called by some Europe, by some

Enea.[103] Northward of the Black Sea lies Svithjod the Great,[104] or

the Cold. The Great Svithjod is reckoned by some not less than the

Saracens’ land,[105] others compare it to the Great Blueland.[106] The

northern part of Svithjod lies uninhabited on account of frost and cold,

as likewise the southern parts of Blueland are waste from the burning

sun. In Svithjod are many great domains, and many wonderful races of

men, and many kinds of languages. There are giants,[107] and there are

dwarfs,[108] and there are also blue men.[109] There are wild beasts and

dreadfully large dragons. On the north side of the mountains, which lie

outside of all inhabited lands, runs a river through Svithjod, which is

properly called by the name of Tanais,[110] but was formerly called

Tanaquisl or Vanaquisl, and which falls into the ocean at the Black Sea.

The country of the people on the Vanaquisl was called Vanaland or

Vanaheim, and the river separates the three parts of the world, of which

the easternmost is called Asia and the westernmost Europe.

[Footnote 102: Njorvasound, the Straits of Gibraltar; so called

from the first Norseman who sailed through them. His name was

Njorve. See Ann. for nordisk Oldkyndighed, Vol. I, p. 58.]

[Footnote 103: See note, page 221.]

[Transcriber’s Note:

The reference is to the first “Note”, on Enea.]

[Footnote 104: Svithjod the Great, or the Cold, is the ancient

Sarmatia and Scythia Magna, and formed the great part of the

present European Russia. In the mythological sagas it is also

called Godheim; that is, the home of Odin and the other gods.

Svithjod the Less is Sweden proper, and is called Mannheim; that

is, the home of the kings, the descendants of the gods.]

[Footnote 105: The Saracens’ land (Serkland) means North Africa

and Spain, and the Saracen countries in Asia; that is, Persia,

Assyria, etc.]

[Footnote 106: Blueland, the country of the blacks in Africa, the

country south of Serkland, the modern Ethiopia.]

[Footnote 107: Tartareans.]

[Footnote 108: Kalmuks.]

[Footnote 109: Mongolians.]

[Footnote 110: The Tanais is the present Don river, which empties

into the Sea of Asov.]

The country east of the Tanaquisl in Asia was called Asaland or Asaheim,

and the chief city in that land was called Asgard.[111] In that city was

a chief called Odin, and it was a great place for sacrifice. It was the

custom there that twelve temple-priests[112] should both direct the

sacrifices and also judge the people. They were called priests or

masters, and all the people served and obeyed them. Odin was a great and

very far-traveled warrior, who conquered many kingdoms, and so

successful was he that in every battle the victory was on his side.

It was the belief of his people that victory belonged to him in every

battle. It was his custom when he sent his men into battle, or on any

expedition, that he first laid his hand upon their heads, and called

down a blessing upon them; and then they believed their undertaking

would be successful. His people also were accustomed, whenever they fell

into danger by land or sea, to call upon his name; and they thought that

always they got comfort and aid by it, for where he was they thought

help was near. Often he went away so long that he passed many seasons on

his journeys.

[Footnote 111: Asgard is supposed, by those who look for

historical fact in mythological tales, to be the present Assor;

others, that it is Chasgar in the Caucasian ridge, called by

Strabo Aspargum the Asburg, or castle of the asas. We still have

in the Norse tongue the word Aas, meaning a ridge of high land.

The word asas is not derived from Asia, as Snorre supposed. It is

the O.H. Ger. _ans_; Anglo-Sax. _os_ = a hero. The word also

means a pillar; and in this latter sense the gods are the pillars

of the universe. Connected with the word is undoubtedly Aas, a

mountain-ridge, as supporter of the skies; and this reminds us of

_Atlas_, as bearer of the world.]

[Footnote 112: The temple-priests performed the functions of

priest and judge, and their office continued hereditary throughout

the heathen period of Norse history.]

Odin had two brothers, the one hight Ve, the other Vile,[113] and they

governed the kingdom when he was absent. It happened once when Odin had

gone to a great distance, and had been so long away that the people of

Asia doubted if he would ever return home, that his two brothers took it

upon themselves to divide his estate; but both of them took his wife

Frigg to themselves. Odin soon after returned home, and took his wife

back.

[Footnote 113: See Norse Mythology, page 174.]

Odin went out with a great army against the Vanaland people; but they

were well prepared, and defended their land, so that victory was

changeable, and they ravaged the lands of each other and did great

damage. They tired of this at last, and, on both sides appointing a

meeting for establishing peace, made a truce and exchanged hostages. The

Vanaland people sent their best men,--Njord the Rich and his son Frey;

the people of Asaland sent a man hight Hœner,[114] as he was a stout and

very handsome man, and with him they sent a man of great understanding,

called Mimer; and on the other side the Vanaland people sent the wisest

man in their community, who was called Quaser. Now when Hœner came to

Vanaheim he was immediately made a chief, and Mimer came to him with

good counsel on all occasions. But when Hœner stood in the Things, or

other meetings, if Mimer was not near him, and any difficult matter was

laid before him, he always answered in one way: Now let others give

their advice; so that the Vanaland people got a suspicion that the

Asaland people had deceived them in the exchange of men. They took

Mimer, therefore, and beheaded him, and sent his head to the Asaland

people. Odin took the head, smeared it with herbs, so that it should not

rot, and sang incantations over it. Thereby he gave it the power that it

spoke to him, and discovered to him many secrets.[115] Odin placed Njord

and Frey as priests of the sacrifices, and they became deities of the

Asaland people. Njord’s daughter, Freyja, was priestess of the

sacrifices, and first taught the Asaland people the magic art, as it was

in use and fashion among the Vanaland people. While Njord was with the

Vanaland people he had taken his own sister in marriage, for that was

allowed by their law; and their children were Frey and Freyja. But among

the Asaland people it was forbidden to come together in so near

relationship.[116]

[Footnote 114: See Brage’s Talk, p. 160; and Norse Mythology,

pp. 247 and 342.]

[Footnote 115: In the Vala’s Prophecy of the Elder Edda it is

said that Odin talks with the head of Mimer before the coming of

Ragnarok. See Norse Mythology, p. 421.]

[Footnote 116: This shows that the vans must have belonged to the

mythological system of some older race that, like the ancient

Romans (Liber and Libera), recognized the propriety of marriage

between brothers and sisters, at least among their gods. Such

marriages were not allowed among our Odinic ancestors. Hence we

see that when Njord, Frey and Freyja were admitted to Asgard, they

entered into new marriage relations. Njord married Skade, Frey

married Gerd, and Freyja married Oder. Our ancestors were never

savages!]

There goes a great mountain barrier from northeast to southwest, which

divides the Great Svithjod from other kingdoms. South of this mountain

ridge is not far to Turkland, where Odin had great possessions.[117] But

Odin, having foreknowledge and magic-sight, knew that his posterity

would come to settle and dwell in the northern half of the world. In

those times the Roman chiefs went wide around the world, subduing to

themselves all people; and on this account many chiefs fled from their

domains.[118] Odin set his brothers Vile and Ve over Asgard, and he

himself, with all the gods and a great many other people, wandered out,

first westward to Gardarike (Russia), and then south to Saxland

(Germany). He had many sons, and after having subdued an extensive

kingdom in Saxland he set his sons to defend the country. He himself

went northward to the sea, and took up his abode in an island which is

called Odinse (see note below), in Funen. Then he sent Gefjun across the

sound to the north to discover new countries, and she came to King

Gylfe, who gave her a ploughland. Then she went to Jotunheim and bore

four sons to a giant, and transformed them into a yoke of oxen, and

yoked them to a plough and broke out the land into the ocean, right

opposite to Odinse, which was called Seeland, where she afterward

settled and dwelt.[119] Skjold, a son of Odin, married her, and they

dwelt at Leidre.[120] Where the ploughed land was, is a lake or sea

called Laage.[121] In the Swedish land the fjords of Laage correspond to

the nesses of Seeland. Brage the old sings thus of it:

Gefjun glad

Drew from Gylfe

The excellent land,

Denmark’s increase,

So that it reeked

From the running beasts.

Four heads and eight eyes

Bore the oxen,

As they went before the wide

Robbed land of the grassy isle.[122]

[Footnote 117: Turkland was usually supposed to mean Moldau and

Wallachia. Some, who regard the great mountain barrier as being

the Ural Mountains, think Turkland is Turkistan in Asia. Asia

Minor is also frequently styled Turkland.]

[Footnote 118: Ancient Norse writers connect this event with

Mithridates and Pompey the Great. They tell how Odin was a heroic

prince who, with his twelve peers or apostles, dwelt in the Black

Sea region. He became straightened for room, and so led the asas

out of Asia into eastern Europe. Then they go on to tell how the

Roman empire had arrived at its highest point of power, and saw

all the then known world--the orbis terrarum--subject to its laws,

when an unforeseen event raised up enemies against it from the

very heart of the forests of Scythia, and on the banks of the Don

river. The leader was Mithridates the Great, against whom the

Romans waged three wars, and the Romans looked upon him as the

most formidable enemy the empire had ever had to contend with.

Cicero delivered his famous oration, Pro lege Manilia, and

succeeded in getting Pompey appointed commander of the third war

against Mithridates. The latter, by flying, had drawn Pompey after

him into the wilds of Scythia. Here the king of Pontus sought

refuge and new means of vengeance. He hoped to arm against the

ambition of Rome all his neighboring nations whose liberties she

threatened. He was successful at first, but all those Scythian

peoples, ill-united as allies, ill-armed as soldiers, and still

worse disciplined, were at length forced to yield to the genius of

the great general Pompey. And here traditions tell us that Odin

and the other asas were among the allies of Mithridates. Odin had

been one of the gallant defenders of Troy, and at the same time,

with Æneas and Anchises, he had taken flight out of the burning

and falling city. Now he was obliged to withdraw a second time by

flight, but this time it was not from the Greeks, but from the

Romans, whom he had offended by assisting Mithridates. He was now

compelled to go and seek, in lands unknown to his enemies, that

safety which he could no longer find in the Scythian forests. He

then proceeded to the north of Europe, and laid the foundations of

the Teutonic nations. As fast as he subdued the countries in the

west and north of Europe he gave them to one or another of his

sons to govern. Thus it comes to pass that so many sovereign

families throughout Teutondom are said to be descended from Odin.

Hengist and Horsa, the chiefs of those Saxons who conquered

Britain in the fifth century, counted Odin in the number of their

ancestors. The traditions go on to tell how he conquered Denmark,

founded Odinse (Odinsve = Odin’s Sanctuary; comp. _ve_ with the

German _Wei_ in _Weinacht_), and gave the kingdom to his son

Skjold (shield); how he conquered Sweden, founded the Sigtuna

temple, and gave the country to his son Yngve; how finally Norway

had to submit to him, and be ruled by a third son of Odin, Saming.

It has been seriously contended,--and it would form an important

element in an epic based on the historical Odin,--that a desire of

being revenged on the Romans was one of the ruling principles of

Odin’s whole conduct. Driven by those foes of universal liberty

from his former home in the east, his resentment was the more

violent, since the Teutons thought it a sacred duty to revenge all

injuries, especially those offered to kinsmen or country. Odin had

no other view in traversing so many distant lands, and in

establishing with so much zeal his doctrines of valor, than to

arouse all Teutonic nations, and unite them against so formidable

and odious a race as the Romans. And we, who live in the light of

the nineteenth century, and with the records before us, can read

the history of the convulsions of Europe during the decline of the

Roman empire; we can understand how that leaven, which Odin left

in the bosoms of the believers in the asa-faith, first fermented a

long time in secret; but we can also see how in the fullness of

time, the signal given, the descendants of Odin fell like a swarm

of locusts upon this unhappy empire, and, after giving it many

terrible shocks, eventually overturned it, thus completely

avenging the insult offered so many centuries before by Pompey to

their founder Odin. We can understand how it became possible for

“those vast multitudes, which the populous north poured from her

frozen loins, to pass the Rhine and the Danube, and come like a

deluge on the south, and spread beneath Gibraltar and the Libyan

sands;” how it were possible, we say, for them so largely to

remodel and invigorate a considerable part of Europe, nay, how

they could succeed in overrunning and overturning “the rich but

rotten, the mighty but marrowless, the disciplined but diseased,

Roman empire; that gigantic and heartless and merciless usurpation

of soulless materialism and abject superstition of universal

despotism, of systemized and relentless plunder, and of depravity

deep as hell.” In connection with this subject we would refer our

readers to Mallet’s Northern Antiquities, pp. 79-83, where

substantially the same account is given; to Norse Mythology, pp.

232-236; to George Stephen’s Runic Monuments, Vol. I; and to

Charles Kingsley’s The Roman and the Teuton.]

[Footnote 119: Compare this version of the myth with the one given

in the first chapter of The Fooling of Gylfe. Many explain the

myth to mean the breaking through of the Baltic between Sweden and

Denmark.]

[Footnote 120: Leidre or Leire, at the end of Isefjord, in the

county of Lithraborg, is considered the oldest royal seat in

Denmark.]

[Footnote 121: Laage is a general name for lakes and rivers. It

here stands for Lake Malar, in Sweden.]

[Footnote 122: The grassy isle is Seeland.]

Now when Odin heard that things were in a prosperous condition in the

land to the east beside Gylfe, he went thither, and Gylfe made a peace

with him, for Gylfe thought he had no strength to oppose the people of

Asaland. Odin and Gylfe had many tricks and enchantments against each

other; but the Asaland people had always the superiority. Odin took up

his residence at the Malar lake, at the place now called Sigtun.[123]

There he erected a large temple, where there were sacrifices according

to the customs of the Asaland people. He appropriated to himself the

whole of that district of country, and called it Sigtun. To the temple

gods he gave also domains. Njord dwelt in Noatun, Frey in Upsal, Heimdal

in Himinbjorg, Thor in Thrudvang, Balder in Breidablik;[124] to all of

them he gave good domains.

[Footnote 123: Sigtun. _Sige_, Ger. Sieg, (comp. Sigfrid,) means

victory, and is one of Odin’s names; _tun_ means an inclosure, and

is the same word as our modern English _town_. Thus Sigtun would,

in modern English, be called Odinstown; like our Johnstown,

Williamstown, etc.]

[Footnote 124: Noatun, Thrudvang, Breidablik and Himinbjorg are

purely mythological names, and for their significance the reader

is referred to The Fooling of Gylfe. Snorre follows the lay of

Grimner in the Elder Edda.]

When Odin of Asaland came to the north, and the gods with him, he began

to exercise and to teach others the arts which the people long afterward

have practiced. Odin was the cleverest of all, and from him all others

learned their magic arts; and he knew them first, and knew many more

than other people. But now, to tell why he is held in such high respect,

we must mention various causes that contributed to it. When sitting

among his friends his countenance was so beautiful and friendly, that

the spirits of all were exhilarated by it; but when he was in war, he

appeared fierce and dreadful. This arose from his being able to change

his color and form in any way he liked. Another cause was, that he

conversed so cleverly and smoothly, that all who heard were persuaded.

He spoke everything in rhyme, such as is now composed, and which we call

skald-craft. He and his temple gods were called song-smiths, for from

them came that art of song into the northern countries. Odin could make

his enemies in battle blind or deaf, or terror-struck, and their weapons

so blunt that they could no more cut than a willow-twig; on the other

hand, his men rushed forward without armor, were as mad as dogs or

wolves, bit their shields, and were strong as bears or wild bulls, and

killed people at a blow, and neither fire nor iron told upon them. These

were called berserks.[125]

[Footnote 125: Berserk. The etymology of this word has been much

contested. Some, upon the authority of Snorre in the above quoted

passage, derive it from berr (_bare_) and serkr (comp. _sark_,

Scotch for shirt); but this etymology is inadmissible, because

serkr is a substantive, not an adjective. Others derive it from

berr (Germ. _Bär_ = _ursus_), which is greatly to be preferred,

for in olden ages athletes and champions used to wear hides of

bears, wolves and reindeer (as skins of lions in the south), hence

the names Bjalfe, Bjarnhedinn, Ulfhedinn (hedinn, _pellis_),--

“pellibus aut parvis rhenonum tegimentis utuntur.” Cæsar, Bell.

Gall. VI, 22. Even the old poets understood the name so, as may be

seen in the poem of Hornklofi (beginning of the 10th century),

a dialogue between a valkyrie and a raven, where the valkyrie says

at berserkja reiðu vil ek þik spyrja, to which the raven replies,

Ulfhednar heita, _they are called wolf coats_. In battle the

berserks were subject to fits of frenzy, called _berserksgangr_

(_furor bersercicus_), when they howled like wild beasts, foamed at

the mouth, and gnawed the iron rim of their shields. During these

fits they were, according to a popular belief, proof against steel

and fire, and made great havoc in the ranks of the enemy. But when

the fever abated they were weak and tame. Vigfusson Cleasby’s

Icelandic-English Dictionary, _sub voce_.]

Odin could transform his shape; his body would lie as if dead or asleep,

but then he would be in the shape of a fish, or worm, or bird, or beast,

and be off in a twinkling to distant lands upon his own or other

peoples’ business. With words alone he could quench fire, still the

ocean in tempest, and turn the wind to any quarter he pleased. Odin had

a ship, which he called Skidbladner,[126] in which he sailed over wide

seas, and which he could roll up like a cloth. Odin carried with him

Mimer’s head, which told him all the news of other countries. Sometimes

even he called the dead out of the earth, or set himself beside the

burial-mounds; whence he was called the ghost-sovereign, and the lord of

the mounds. He had two ravens,[127] to whom he had taught the speech of

man; and they flew far and wide through the land, and brought him the

news. In all such things he was preëminently wise. He taught all these

arts in runes and songs, which are called incantations, and therefore

the Asaland people are called incantation-smiths. Odin also understood

the art in which the greatest power is lodged, and which he himself

practiced, namely, what is called magic. By means of this he could know

beforehand the predestined fate[128] of men, or their not yet completed

lot, and also bring on the death, ill-luck or bad health of people, or

take away the strength or wit from one person and give it to another.

But after such witchcraft followed such weakness and anxiety, that it

was not thought respectable for men to practice it; and therefore the

priestesses were brought up in this art. Odin knew definitely where all

missing cattle were concealed under the earth, and understood the songs

by which the earth, the hills, the stones and mounds were opened to him;

and he bound those who dwell in them by the power of his word, and went

in and took what he pleased. From these arts he became very celebrated.

His enemies dreaded him; his friends put their trust in him, and relied

on his power and on himself. He taught the most of his arts to his

priests of the sacrifices, and they came nearest to himself in all

wisdom and witch-knowledge. Many others, however, occupied themselves

much with it; and from that time witchcraft spread far and wide, and

continued long. People sacrificed to Odin, and the twelve chiefs of

Asaland,--called them their gods, and believed in them long after. From

Odin’s name came the name Audun, which people gave to his sons; and from

Thor’s name came Thorer, also Thorarinn; and it was also sometimes

augmented by other additions, as Steinthor, Hafthor, and many kinds of

alterations.

[Footnote 126: In the mythology this ship belongs to Frey, having

been made for him by the dwarfs.]

[Footnote 127: Hugin and Munin.]

[Footnote 128: The old Norse word is órlög, which is plural, (from

ör = Ger. _ur_, and lög, _laws_,) and means the primal law, fate,

weird, doom; the Greek μοῖρα. The idea of predestination was a

salient feature in the Odinic religion. The word örlog, O.H.G.

_urlac_, M.H.G. _urlone_, Dutch _orlog_, had special reference to

a man’s fate in war. Hence Orlogschiffe in German means a naval

fleet. The Danish orlog means warfare at sea.]

Odin established the same law in his land that had been before in

Asaland. Thus he established by law that all dead men should be burned,

and their property laid with them upon the pile, and the ashes be cast

into the sea or buried in the earth. Thus, said he, everyone will come

to Valhal with the riches he had with him upon the pile; and he would

also enjoy whatever he himself had buried in the earth. For men of

consequence a mound should be raised to their memory, and for all other

warriors who had been distinguished for manhood, a standing stone; which

custom remained long after Odin’s time. Toward winter there should be a

blood-sacrifice for a good year, and in the middle of winter for a good

crop; and the third sacrifice should be in summer, for victory in

battle. Over all Svithjod[129] the people paid Odin a scatt, or tax,--so

much on each head; but he had to defend the country from enemy or

disturbance, and pay the expense of the sacrifice-feasts toward winter

for a good year.

[Footnote 129: Svithjod, which here means Sweden, is derived from

Odin’s name, Svidr and thjod = folk, people. Svithjod thus means

Odin’s people, and the country takes its name from the people.]

Njord took a wife hight Skade; but she would not live with him, but

married afterward Odin, and had many sons by him, of whom one was called

Saming, and of this Eyvind Skaldespiller sings thus:

To Asason[130] Queen Skade bore

Saming, who dyed his shield in gore,--

The giant queen of rock and snow

Who loves to dwell on earth below,

The iron pine-tree’s daughter she,

Sprung from the rocks that rib the sea,

To Odin bore full many a son,--

Heroes of many a battle won.

[Footnote 130: Odin.]

To Saming Jarl Hakon the Great reckoned up his pedigree.[131] This

Svithjod (Sweden) they call Mannheim, but the great Svithjod they call

Godheim, and of Godheim great wonders and novelties were related.

[Footnote 131: Norway was given to Saming by Odin.]

Odin died in his bed in Sweden; and when he was near his death he made

himself be marked with the point of a spear,[132] and said he was going

to Godheim, and would give a welcome there to all his friends, and all

brave warriors should be dedicated to him; and the Swedes believed that

he was gone to the ancient Asgard, and would live there eternally. Then

began the belief in Odin, and the calling upon him. The Swedes believed

that he often showed himself to them before any great battle. To some he

gave victory, others he invited to himself; and they reckoned both of

these to be well off in their fate. Odin was burnt, and at his pile

there was great splendor. It was their faith that the higher the smoke

arose in the air, the higher would he be raised whose pile it was; and

the richer he would be the more property that was consumed with him.

[Footnote 132: He gave himself nine wounds in the form of the head

of a spear, or Thor’s hammer; that is, he marked himself with the

sign of the _cross_, an ancient heathen custom.]

Njord of Noatun was then the sole sovereign of the Swedes; and he

continued the sacrifices, and was called the drot, or sovereign, by the

Swedes, and he received scatt and gifts from them. In his days were

peace and plenty, and such good years in all respects that the Swedes

believed Njord ruled over the growth of seasons and the prosperity of

the people. In his time all the diars, or gods, died, and

blood-sacrifices were made for them. Njord died on a bed of sickness,

and before he died made himself be marked for Odin with the spear-point.

The Swedes burned him, and all wept over his grave-mound.

Frey took the kingdom after Njord, and was called drot by the Swedes,

and they paid taxes to him. He was like his father, fortunate in friends

and in good seasons. Frey built a great temple at Upsala, made it his

chief seat, and gave it all his taxes, his land and goods. Then began

the Upsala domains, which have remained ever since. Then began in his

day the Frode-peace; and then there were good seasons in all the land,

which the Swedes ascribed to Frey, so that he was more worshiped than

the other gods, as the people became much richer in his days by reason

of the peace and good seasons. His wife was called Gerd, daughter of

Gymer, and their son was called Fjolner. Frey was called by another

name, Yngve; and this name Yngve was considered long after in his race

as a name of honor, so that his descendants have since been called

Ynglings (_i.e._ Yngve-lings). Frey fell into a sickness, and as his

illness took the upper hand, his men took the plan of letting few

approach him. In the meantime they raised a great mound, in which they

placed a door with three holes in it. Now when Frey died they bore him

secretly into the mound, but told the Swedes he was alive, and they kept

watch over him for three years. They brought all the taxes into the

mound, and through the one hole they put in the gold, through the other

the silver, and through the third the copper money that was paid. Peace

and good seasons continued.

Freyja alone remained of the gods, and she became on this account so

celebrated that all women of distinction were called by her name, whence

they now have the title Frue (Germ. _Frau_), so that every woman is

called frue (that is, mistress) over her property, and the wife is

called the house-frue. Freyja continued the blood-sacrifices. Freyja had

also many other names. Her husband was called Oder, and her daughters

Hnos and Gersame. They were so very beautiful that afterward the most

precious jewels were called by their names.

When it became known to the Swedes that Frey was dead, and yet peace and

good seasons continued, they believed that it must be so as long as Frey

remained in Sweden, and therefore they would not burn his remains, but

called him the god of this world, and afterward offered continually

blood-sacrifices to him, principally for peace and good seasons.[133]

[Footnote 133: Here ends Snorre’s account of the asas in

Heimskringla. The reader will, of course, compare the account here

given of Odin, Njord, Frey, Freyja, etc., with the purely

mythological description of them in the Younger Edda, and with

that in Norse Mythology. Upon the whole, Snorre has striven to

accommodate his sketch to the Eddas, while he has had to clothe

mythical beings with the characteristics of human kings. Like

Saxo-Grammaticus, Snorre has striven to show that the deities,

which we now recognize as personified forces and phenomena of

nature, were extraordinary and enterprising persons, who formerly

ruled in the North, and inaugurated the customs, government and

religion of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, England, and the

other Teutonic lands.]

FORNJOT AND THE SETTLEMENT OF NORWAY.

In the asa-faith we find various foreign elements introduced. Thus, for

example, the vans did not originally belong to the Odinic system. As the

Teutons came in contact with other races, the religious ideas of the

latter were frequently adopted in some modified form. Especially do

Finnish elements enter into the asa-system. The Finnish god of thunder

was Ukko. He is supposed to have been confounded with our Thor, whence

the latter got the name Öku-Thor (Ukko-Thor). The vans may be connected

with the Finnish Wainamoinen, and in the same manner a number of Celtic

elements have been mixed with Teutonic mythology. And this is not all.

There must have flourished a religious system in the North before the

arrival of Odin and his apostles. This was probably either Tshudic or

Celtic, or a mixture of the two. The asa-doctrine superseded it, but

there still remain traces in some of the oldest records of the North.

Thus we have in the prehistoric sagas of Iceland an account of the

finding of Norway, wherein it is related that Fornjot,[134] in Jotland,

which is also called Finland or Quenland, east of the Gulf of Bothnia,

had three sons: Hler, also called Æger, Loge and Kare.[135] Of Loge it

is related that he was of giant descent, and, being very tall of

stature, he was called Haloge, that is High Loge; and after him the

northern part of Norway is called Halogaland (now Helgeland). He was

married to Glod (a red-hot coal), and had with her two daughters, Eysa

and Eimyrja; both words meaning glowing embers. Haloge had two jarls,

Vifil (the one taking a vif = wife) and Vesete (the one who sits at the

ve = the sanctuary, that is, the dweller by the hearth, the first

sanctuary), who courted his daughters; the former addressing himself to

Eimyrja, the latter to Eysa, but the king refusing to give his consent,

they carried them away secretly. Vesete settled in Borgundarholm

(Bornholm), and had a son, Bue (one who settles on a farm); Vifil sailed

further east and settled on the island Vifilsey, on the coast of Sweden,

and had a son, Viking (the pirate).

[Footnote 134: The word fornjot can be explained in two ways:

either as for-njot = the first enjoyer, possessor; or as forn-jot,

the ancient giant. He would then correspond to Ymer.]

[Footnote 135: Notice this trinity: Hler is the sea (comp. the

Welsh word _llyr_ = sea); Loge is fire (comp. the Welsh _llwg_),

he reminds us both by his name and his nature of Loke; Kare is the

wind.]

The third son, Kare, had a numerous offspring. He had one son by name

Jokul (iceberg), another Froste (frost), and Froste’s son was named Sna

(snow). He had a third son, by name Thorri (bare frost), after whom the

mid-winter month, Thorra-month, was called; and his daughters hight Fonn

(packed snow), Drifa (snow-drift), and Mjoll (meal, fine snow). All

these correspond well to Kare’s name, which, as stated, means wind.

Thorri had two sons, Nor and Gor, and a daughter, Goe. The story goes on

to tell how Goe, the sister, was lost, and how the brothers went to

search for her, until they finally found him who had robbed her. He was

Hrolf, from the mountain, a son of the giant Svade, and a grandson of

Asa-Thor. They settled their trouble, and thereupon Hrolf married Goe,

and Nor married Hrolf’s sister, settled in the land and called it after

his own name, Norvegr, that is, Norway. By this story we are reminded of

Kadmos, who went to seek his lost sister Europa. In the Younger Edda the

winds are called the sons of Fornjot, the sea is called the son of

Fornjot, and the brother of the fire and of the winds, and Fornjot is

named among the old giants. This makes it clear that Fornjot and his

offspring are not historical persons, but cosmological impersonations.

And additional proof of this is found by an examination of the beginning

of the Saga of Thorstein, Viking’s Son. (See Viking Tales of the North,

pp. 1 and 2).

THE FOOLING OF GYLFE.

This story about the ploughing of Gylfe reminds us of the legend told in

the first book of Virgil’s Æneid, about the founding of Carthage by

Dido, who bought from the Libyan king as much ground as she could cover

with a bull’s hide. Elsewhere it is related that she cut the bull’s hide

into narrow strips and encircled therewith all the ground upon which

Carthage was afterward built. Thus Dido deceived the Libyan king nearly

as effectually as Gefjun deluded King Gylfe. The story is also told by

Snorre in Heimskringla, see p. 231.

The passage in verse, which has given translators so much trouble in a

transposed form, would read as follows: Gefjun glad drew that excellent

land (djúpródul = the deep sun = gold; öðla = udal = property; djúpródul

öðla = the golden property), Denmark’s increase (Seeland), so that it

reeked (steamed) from the running oxen. The oxen bore four heads and

eight eyes, as they went before the wide piece of robbed land of the

isle so rich in grass.

Gefjun is usually interpreted as a goddess of agriculture, and her name

is by some derived from γῆ; and _fjon_, that is, _terræ separatio_;

others compare it with the Anglo-Saxon _geofon_ = the sea. The etymology

remains very uncertain.

It is to the delusion or eye-deceit mentioned in this chapter that

Snorre Sturlasson refers in his Heimskringla, in Chapter VI of Ynglinga

Saga.

Thjodolf of Hvin was a celebrated skald at the court of Harald Fairhair.

Thinking thatchers, etc. Literally transposed, this passage would read:

Reflecting men let shields (literally Svafner’s, that is Odin’s

roof-trees,) glisten on the back. They were smitten with stones. To let

shields glisten on the back, is said of men who throw their shields on

their backs to protect themselves against those who pursue the flying

host.

Har means the High One, Jafnhar the Equally High One, and Thride the

Third One. By these three may be meant the three chief gods of the

North: Odin, Thor and Frey; or they may be simply an expression of the

Eddic trinity. This trinity is represented in a number of ways: by Odin,

Vile and Ve in the creation of the world, and by Odin, Hœner and Loder

in the creation of Ask and Embla, the first human pair. The number three

figures extensively in all mythological systems. In the pre-chaotic

state we have Muspelheim, Niflheim and Ginungagap. Fornjot had three

sons: Hler, Loge and Kare. There are three norns: Urd, Verdande and

Skuld. There are three fountains: Hvergelmer, Urd’s and Mimer’s; etc.

(See Norse Mythology, pp. 183, 195, 196.)

Har being Odin, Har’s Hall will be Valhal. You will not come out from

this hall unless you are wiser. In the lay of Vafthrudner, of the Elder

Edda, we have a similar challenge, where Vafthrudner says to Odin:

Out will you not come

From our halls

Unless I find you to be wiser (than I am).

This chapter gives twelve names of Odin. In the Eddas and in the skaldic

lays he has in all nearly two hundred names. His most common name is

Odin (in Anglo-Saxon and in Old High German _Wodan_), and this is

thought by many to be of the same origin as our word _god_. The other

Old Norse word for god, _tivi_, is identical in root with Lat. _divus_;

Sansk. _dwas_; Gr. Διός (Ζεύς); and this is again connected with _Tyr_,

the Tivisco in the Germania of Tacitus. (See Max Müller’s Lectures on

the Science of Language, 2d series, p. 425). Paulus Diakonus states that

Wodan, or Gwodan, was worshiped by all branches of the Teutons. Odin has

also been sought and found in the Scythian _Zalmoxis_, in the Indian

_Buddha_, in the Celtic Budd, and in the Mexican Votan. Zalmoxis,

derived from the Gr. Ζαλμός, helmet, reminds us of Odin as the

helmet-bearer (Grimm, Gesch. der Deutschen Sprache). According to

Humboldt, a race in Guatemala, Mexico, claim to be descended from

Votan (Vues des Cordillères, 1817, I, 208). This suggests the question

whether Odin’s name may not have been brought to America by the Norse

discoverers in the 10th and 11th centuries, and adopted by some of the

native races. In the Lay of Grimner (Elder Edda) the following names of

Odin are enumerated:

Grim is my name

And Ganglere,

Herjan and Helmet-bearer,

Thekk and Thride,

Thud and Ud,

Helblinde and Har,

Sad and Svipal,

And Sanngetal,

Herteit and Hnikar,

Bileyg and Baleyg,

Bolverk, Fjolner,

Grim and Grimner,

Glapsvid and Fjolsvid,

Sidhot, Sidskeg,

Sigfather, Hnikud,

Alfather, Valfather,

Atrid and Farmatyr.

With one name

Was I never named

When I fared ’mong the peoples.

Grimner they called me

Here at Geirrod’s,

But Jalk at Asmund’s,

And Kjalar the time

When sleds (kjalka) I drew,

And Thror at the Thing,

Vidur on the battle-field,

Oske and Ome,

Jafnhar and Biflinde,

Gondler and Harbard ’mong the gods.

Svidur and Svidre

Hight I at Sokmimer’s,

And fooled the ancient giant

When I alone Midvitne’s,

The mighty son’s,

Bane had become.

Odin I now am called,

Ygg was my name before,

Before that I hight Thund,

Yak and Skilfing,

Vafud and Hroptatyr,

Got and Jalk ’mong the gods,

Ofner and Svafner.

All these names, I trow,

Have to me alone been given.

What the etymology of all these names is, it is not easy to tell. The

most of them are clearly Norse words, and express the various activities

of their owner. It is worthy of notice that it is added when and where

Odin bore this or that name (his name was Grim at Geirrod’s, Jalk at

Asmund’s, etc.), and that the words sometimes indicate a progressive

development, as Thund, then Ygg, and then Odin. First he was a mere

sound in the air (Thund), then he took to thinking (Ygg), and at last he

became the inspiring soul of the universe. Although we are unable to

define all these names, they certainly each have a distinct meaning, and

our ancestors certainly understood them perfectly. Har = the High One;

Jafn-har = the Equally High One; Thride = the Third (Ζεὺς ἄλλος and

Τρίτος); Alfather probably contracted from _Alda_father = the Father of

the Ages and the Creations; Veratyr = the Lord of Beings; Rögner = the

Ruler (from regin); Got (Gautr, from _gjóta_, to cast) = the Creator,

Lat. Instillator; Mjotud = the Creator, the word being allied to

Anglo-Saxon _meotod_, _metod_, Germ. _Messer_, and means originally

cutter; but to cut and to make are synonymous. Such names as these have

reference to Odin’s divinity as creator, arranger and ruler of gods and

men. Svid and Fjolsvid = the swift, the wise; Ganglere, Gangrad and

Vegtam = the wanderer, the waywont; Vidrer = the weather-ruler, together

with serpent-names like Ofner, Svafner, etc., refer to Odin’s knowledge,

his journeys, the various shapes he assumes. Permeating all nature, he

appears in all its forms. Names like Sidhot = the slouchy hat; Sidskeg =

the long-beard; Baleyg = the burning-eye; Grimner = the masked; Jalk

(Jack) = the youth, etc., express the various forms in which he was

thought to appear,--to his slouchy hat, his long beard, or his age, etc.

Such names as Sanngetal = the true investigator; Farmatyr = the

cargo-god, etc., refer to his various occupations as inventor,

discoverer of runes, protector of trade and commerce, etc. Finally, all

such names as Herfather = father of hosts; Herjan = the devastator;

Sigfather = the father of victory; Sigtyr = god of victory; Skilfing =

producing trembling; Hnikar = the breaker, etc., represent Odin as the

god of war and victory. Oske = wish, is thus called because he gratifies

our desires. Gimle, as will be seen later, is the abode of the blessed

after Ragnarok. Vingolf (Vin and golf) means _friends’ floor_, and is

the hall of the goddesses. Hel is the goddess of death, and from her

name our word _hell_ is derived.

Our ancestors divided the universe into nine worlds: the uppermost was

Muspelheim (the world of light); the lowest was Niflheim (the world of

darkness). Compare the Greek word νεφέλη = mist. (See Norse Mythology,

p. 187.)

GINUNGAGAP. Ginn means wide, large, far-reaching, perhaps also void

(compare the Anglo-Saxon _gin_ = gaping, open, spacious; ginian = to

gap; and ginnung = a yawning). Ginungagap thus means the yawning gap or

abyss, and represents empty space. The poets use ginnung in the sense of

a fish and of a hawk, and in geographical saga-fragments it is used as

the name of the Polar Sea.

HVERGELMER. This word is usually explained as a transposition for

Hvergemler, which would then be derived from Hver and gamall (old) = the

old kettle; but Petersen shows that gelmir must be taken from galm,

which is still found in the Jutland dialect, and means a gale (compare

Golmstead = a windy place, and _golme_ = to roar, blow). Gelmer is then

the one producing galm, and Hvergelmer thus means the roaring kettle.

The twelve rivers proceeding from Hvergelmer are called the Elivogs

(Élivágar) in the next chapter. Éli-vágar means, according to Vigfusson,

ice-waves. The most of the names occur in the long list of river names

given in the Lay of Grimner, of the Elder Edda. Svol = the cool;

Gunnthro = the battle-trough. Slid is also mentioned in the Vala’s

Prophecy, where it is represented as being full of mud and swords. Sylg

(from _svelgja_ = to swallow) = the devourer; Ylg (from _yla_ = to roar)

= the roaring one; Leipt = the glowing, is also mentioned in the Lay of

Helge Hunding’s Bane, where it is stated that they swore by it (compare

Styx); Gjoll (from _gjalla_ = to glisten and clang) = the shining,

clanging one. The meaning of the other words is not clear, but they

doubtless all, like those explained, express cold, violent motion, etc.

The most noteworthy of these rivers are Leipt and Gjoll. In the Lay of

Grimner they are said to flow nearest to the abode of man, and fall

thence into Hel’s realm. Over Gjoll was the bridge which Hermod, after

the death of Balder, crossed on his way to Hel. It is said to be

thatched with shining gold, and a maid by name Modgud watches it. In the

song of Sturle Thordson, on the death of Skule Jarl, it is said that

“the king’s kinsman went over the Gjoll-bridge.” The farther part of the

horizon, which often appears like a broad bright stream, may have

suggested this river.

SURT means the swarthy or black one. Many have regarded him as the

unknown (dark) god, but this is probably an error. But there was some

one in Muspelheim who sent the heat, and gave life to the frozen drops

of rime. The latter, and not Surt, who is a giant, is the eternal god,

the mighty one, whom the skald in the Lay of Hyndla dare not name. It is

interesting to notice that our ancestors divided the evolution of the

world into three distinct periods: (1) a pre-chaotic condition

(Niflheim, Muspelheim and Ginungagap); (2) a chaotic condition (Ymer and

the cow Audhumbla); (3) and finally the three gods, Odin (spirit), Vile

(will) and Ve (sanctity), transformed chaos into cosmos. And away back

in this pre-chaotic state of the world we find this mighty being who

sends the heat. It is not definitely stated, but it can be inferred from

other passages, that just as the good principle existed from everlasting

in Muspelheim, so the evil principle existed co-eternally with it in

Hvergelmer in Niflheim. Hvergelmer is the source out of which all matter

first proceeded, and the dragon or devil Nidhug, who dwells in

Hvergelmer, is, in our opinion, the evil principle who is from eternity.

The good principle shall continue forever, but the evil shall cease to

exist after Ragnarok.

YMER is the noisy one, and his name is derived from _ymja_ = to howl

(compare also the Finnish deity Jumo, after whom the town Umea takes its

name, like Odinse).

AURGELMER, THRUDGELMER and BERGELMER express the gradual development

from aur (clay) to thrud (that which is compressed), and finally to berg

(rock).

VIDOLF, VILMEIDE and SVARTHOFDE are mentioned nowhere else in the

mythology.

BURE and BORE mean the bearing and the born; that is, father and son.

BOLTHORN means the miserable one, from bol = evil; and Bestla may mean

that which is best. The idea then is that Bor united himself with that

which was best of the miserable material at hand.

That the flood caused by the slaying of Ymer reminds us of Noah and his

ark, and of the Greek flood, needs only to be suggested.

ASK means an ash-tree, and EMBLA an elm-tree.

While the etymology of the names in the myths are very obscure, the

myths themselves are clear enough. Similar myths abound in Greek

mythology. The story about Bil and Hjuke is our old English rhyme about

Jack and Gill, who went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.

In reference to the golden age, see Norse Mythology, pp. 182 and 197.

In the appendix to the German so-called Hero-Book we are told that the

dwarfs were first created to cultivate the desert lands and the

mountains; thereupon the giants, to subdue the wild beasts; and finally

the heroes, to assist the dwarfs against the treacherous giants. While

the giants are always hostile to the gods, the dwarfs are usually

friendly to them.

DWARFS. Both giants and dwarfs shun the light. If surprised by the

breaking forth of day, they become changed to stone. In one of the poems

of the Elder Edda (the Alvismál), Thor amuses the dwarf Alvis with

various questions till daylight, and then cooly says to him: With great

artifices, I tell you, you have been deceived; you are surprised here,

dwarf, by daylight! The sun now shines in the hall. In the Helgakvida

Atle says to the giantess Hrimgerd: It is now day, Hrimgerd! But Atle

has detained you, to your life’s perdition. It will appear a laughable

harbor-mark, where you stand as a stone-image.

In the German tales the dwarfs are described as deformed and diminutive,

coarsely clad and of dusky hue: “a little black man,” “a little gray

man.” They are sometimes of the height of a child of four years,

sometimes as two spans high, a thumb high (hence, Tom Thumb). The old

Danish ballad of Eline of Villenwood mentions a troll not bigger than an

ant. Dvergmál (the speech of the dwarfs) is the Old Norse expression for

the echo in the mountains.

In the later popular belief, the dwarfs are generally called the

subterraneans, the brown men in the moor, etc. They make themselves

invisible by a hat or hood. The women spin and weave, the men are

smiths. In Norway rock-crystal is called dwarf-stone. Certain stones are

in Denmark called dwarf-hammers. They borrow things and seek advice from

people, and beg aid for their wives when in labor, all which services

they reward. But they also lame cattle, are thievish, and will carry off

damsels. There have been instances of dwarf females having married and

had children with men. (Thorpe’s Northern Mythology.)

WAR. It was the first warfare in the world, says the Elder Edda, when

they pierced Gullveig (gold-thirst) through with a spear, and burned her

in Odin’s hall. Thrice they burned her, thrice she was born anew: again

and again, but still she lives. When she comes to a house they call her

Heide (the bright, the welcome), and regard her as a propitious vala or

prophetess. She can tame wolves, understands witchcraft, and delights

wicked women. Hereupon the gods consulted together whether they should

punish this misdeed, or accept a blood-fine, when Odin cast forth a

spear among mankind, and now began war and slaughter in the world. The

defenses of the burgh of the asas was broken down. The vans anticipated

war, and hastened over the field. The valkyries came from afar, ready to

ride to the gods’ people: Skuld with the shield, Skogul, Gunn, Hild,

Gondul and Geirr Skogul. (Quoted by Thorpe.)

In reference to Ygdrasil, we refer our readers to Norse Mythology, pp.

205-211, and to Thomas Carlyle’s Heroes and Hero-worship.

A connection between the norns Urd, Verdande and Skuld and the weird

sisters in Shakspeare’s _Macbeth_ has long since been recognized; but

new light has recently been thrown upon the subject by the philosopher

Karl Blind, who has contributed valuable articles on the subject in the

German periodical “Die Gegenwart” and in the “London Academy.” We take

the liberty of reproducing here an abstract of his article in the

“Academy”:

* * * * * *

The fact itself of these Witches being simply transfigurations, or

later disguises, of the Teutonic Norns is fully established--as may

be seen from Grimm or Simrock. In delineating these hags, Shakspeare

has practically drawn upon old Germanic sources, perhaps upon

current folk-lore of his time.

It has always struck me as noteworthy that in the greater part of

the scene between the Weird Sisters, Macbeth and Banquo, and

wherever the Witches come in, Shakspeare uses the staff-rime in a

remarkable manner. Not only does this add powerfully to the archaic

impressiveness and awe, but it also seems to bring the form and

figure of the Sisters of Fate more closely within the circle of the

Teutonic idea. I have pointed out this striking use of the

alliterative system in _Macbeth_ in an article on “An old German

Poem and a Vedic Hymn,” which appeared in _Fraser_ in June, 1877,

and in which the derivation of the Weird Sisters from the Germanic

Norns is mentioned.

The very first scene in the first act of _Macbeth_ opens strongly

with the staff-rime:

_1st Witch_. When shall we three meet again--

In thunder, lightning or in rain?

_2d Witch_. When the hurly-burly’s done,

When the battle’s lost and won.

_3d Witch_. That will be ere set of sun.

_1st Witch_. Where the place?

_2d Witch_. Upon the heath.

_3d Witch_. There to meet with Macbeth.

_1st Witch_. I come, Graymalkin!

_All_. Paddock calls. Anon.

Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

Hover through the fog and filthy air.

Not less marked is the adoption of the fullest staff-rime--together

(as above) with the end-rime--in the third scene, when the Weird

Sisters speak. Again, there is the staff-rime when Banquo addresses

them. Again, the strongest alliteration, combined with the end-rime,

runs all through the Witches’ spell-song in Act iv, scene 1. This

feature in Shakspeare appears to me to merit closer investigation;

all the more so because a less regular alliteration, but still a

marked one, is found in not a few passages of a number of his plays.

Only one further instance of the systematic employment of

alliteration may here be noted in passing. It is in Ariel’s songs in

the _Tempest_, Act i, scene 2. Schlegel and Tieck evidently did not

observe this alliterative peculiarity. Their otherwise excellent

translation does not render it, except so far as the obvious

similarity of certain English and German words involuntarily made

them do so. But in the notes to their version of _Macbeth_ the

character of the Weird Sisters is also misunderstood, though

Warburton is referred to, who had already suggested their

derivations from the Valkyrs or Norns.

It is an error to say that the Witches in _Macbeth_ “are never

called witches” (compare Act i, scene 3: “‘Give me!’ quoth I.

‘A-roint thee, _witch_!’ the rump-fed ronyon cries”). However, their

designation as Weird Sisters fully settles the case of their

Germanic origin.

This name “Weird” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Norn Wyrd (Sax.

_Wurth_; O.H. Ger. _Wurd_; Norse, _Urd_), who represents the Past,

as her very name shows. Wurd is _die Gewordene_--the “Has Been,” or

rather the “Has Become,” if one could say so in English.

* * * * * *

In Shakspeare the Witches are three in number--even as in Norse,

German, as well as in Keltic and other mythologies. Urd, properly

speaking, is the Past. Skuld is the Future, or “That Which shall

Be.” Verdandi, usually translated as the Present, has an even deeper

meaning. Her name is not to be derived from _vera_ (to be), but from

_verda_ (Ger. _werden_). This verb, which has a mixed meaning of “to

be,” “to become,” or to “grow,” has been lost in English. Verdandi

is, therefore, not merely a representative of present Being, but of

the process of Growing, or of Evolution--which gives her figure a

profounder aspect. Indeed, there is generally more significance in

mythological tales than those imagine who look upon them chiefly as

a barren play of fancy.

Incidentally it may be remarked that, though Shakspeare’s Weird

Sisters are three in number--corresponding to Urd, Verdandi and

Skuld--German and Northern mythology and folk-lore occasionally

speak of twelve or seven of them. In the German tale of

_Dornröschen_, or the Sleeping Beauty, there are twelve good fays;

and a thirteenth, who works the evil spell. Once, in German

folk-lore, we meet with but two Sisters of Fate--one of them called

_Kann_, the other _Muss_. Perhaps these are representatives of man’s

measure of free will (that which he “can”), and of that which is his

inevitable fate--or, that which he “must” do.

Though the word “Norn” has been lost in England and Germany, it is

possibly preserved in a German folk-lore ditty, which speaks of

three Sisters of Fate as “Nuns.” Altogether, German folk-lore is

still full of rimes about three Weird Sisters. They are sometimes

called Wild Women, or Wise Women, or the Measurers

(_Metten_)--namely, of Fate; or, euphemistically, like the

Eumenides, the Advisers of Welfare (_Heil-Räthinnen_), reminding us

of the counsels given to Macbeth in the apparition scene; or the

Quick Judges (_Gach-Schepfen_). Even as in the Edda, these German

fays weave and twist threads or ropes, and attach them to distant

parts, thus fixing the weft of Fate. One of these fays is sometimes

called Held, and described as black, or as half dark half

white--like Hel, the Mistress of the Nether World. That German fay

is also called Rachel, clearly a contraction of Rach-Hel, i.e. the

Avengeress Hel.

Now, in _Macbeth_ also the Weird Sisters are described as “black.”

The coming up of Hekate with them in the cave-scene might not

unfitly be looked upon as a parallel with the German Held, or

Rach-Hel, and the Norse Hel; these Teutonic deities being originally

Goddesses of Nocturnal Darkness, and of the Nether World, even as

Hekate.

In German folk-lore, three Sisters of Fate bear the names of Wilbet,

Worbet and Ainbet. Etymologically these names seem to refer to the

well-disposed nature of a fay representing the Past; to the warring

or worrying troubles of the Present; and to the terrors (_Ain_ =

_Agin_) of the Future. All over southern Germany, from Austria to

Alsace and Rhenish Hesse, the three fays are known under various

names besides Wilbet, Worbet, and Ainbet--for instance, as Mechtild,

Ottilia, and Gertraud; as Irmina, Adela, and Chlothildis, and so

forth. The fay in the middle of this trio is always a good fay,

a white fay--but blind. Her treasure (the very names of Ottilia and

Adela point to a treasure) is continually being taken from her by

the third fay, a dark and evil one, as well as by the first. This

myth has been interpreted as meaning that the Present, being blinded

as to its own existence, is continually being encroached upon,

robbed as it were, by the dark Future and the Past. Of this

particular trait there is no vestige in Shakspeare’s Weird Sisters.

They, like the Norns, “go hand in hand.” But there is another point

which claims attention Shakspeare’s Witches are bearded. (“You

should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you

are so.” Act i, scene 3.)

It need scarcely be brought to recollection that a commingling of

the female and male character occurs in the divine and semi-divine

figures of various mythological systems--including the Bearded

Venus. Of decisive importance is, however, the fact of a bearded

Weird Sister having apparently been believed in by our heathen

German forefathers.

Near Wessobrunn, in Upper Bavaria, where the semi-heathen fragment

of a cosmogonic lay, known as “Wessobrunn Prayer,” was discovered,

there has also been found, of late, a rudely-sculptured three-headed

image. It is looked upon as an ancient effigy of the German Norns.

The Cloister of the three Holy Bournes, or Fountains, which stands

close by the place of discovery, is supposed to have been set up on

ground that had once served for pagan worship. Probably the later

monkish establishment of the Three Holy Bournes had taken the place

of a similarly named heathen sanctuary where the three Sisters of

Fate were once adored. Indeed, the name of all the corresponding

fays in yet current German folk-lore is connected with holy wells.

This quite fits in with the three Eddic Bournes near the great Tree

of Existence, at one of which--apparently at the oldest, which is

the very Source of Being--the Norns live, “the maidens that over the

Sea of Age travel in deep foreknowledge,” and of whom it is said

that:

They laid the lots, they ruled the life

To the sons of men, their fate foretelling.

Now, curiously enough, the central head of the slab found near

Wessobrunn, in the neighborhood of the Cloister of the Three Holy

Bournes, is _bearded_. This has puzzled our archæologists. Some of

them fancied that what appears to be a beard might after all be the

hair of one of the fays or Norns, tied round the chin. By the light

of the description of the Weird Sisters in Shakspeare’s _Macbeth_

we, however, see at once the true connection.

In every respect, therefore, his “Witches” are an echo from the

ancient Germanic creed--an echo, moreover, coming to us in the

oldest Teutonic verse-form; that is, in the staff-rime.

KARL BLIND.

ELVES. The elves of later times seem a sort of middle thing between the

light and dark elves. They are fair and lively, but also bad and

mischievous. In some parts of Norway the peasants describe them as

diminutive naked boys with hats on. Traces of their dance are sometimes

to be seen on the wet grass, especially on the banks of rivers. Their

exhalation is injurious, and is called _alfgust_ or _elfblæst_, causing

a swelling, which is easily contracted by too nearly approaching places

where they have spat, etc. They have a predilection for certain spots,

but particularly for large trees, which on that account the owners do

not venture to meddle with, but look on them as something sacred, on

which the weal or woe of the place depends. Certain diseases among their

cattle are attributed to the elves, and are, therefore, called elf-fire

or elf-shot. The dark elves are often confounded with the dwarfs, with

whom they, indeed, seem identical, although they are distinguished in

Odin’s Raven’s Song. The Norwegians also make a distinction between

dwarfs and elves, believing the former to live solitary and in quiet,

while the latter love music and dancing. (Faye, p. 48; quoted by

Thorpe.)

The fairies of Scotland are precisely identical with the above. They are

described as a diminutive race of beings of a mixed or rather dubious

nature, capricious in their dispositions and mischievous in their

resentment. They inhabit the interior of green hills, chiefly those of a

conical form, in Gaelic termed _Sighan_, on which they lead their dances

by moonlight; impressing upon the surface the marks of circles, which

sometimes appear yellow and blasted, sometimes of a deep green hue, and

within which it is dangerous to sleep, or to be found after sunset.

Cattle which are suddenly seized with the cramp, or some similar

disorder, are said to be _elf-shot_. (Scott’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish

Border; quoted by Thorpe.)

Of the Swedish elves, Arndt gives the following sketch: Of giants, of

dwarfs, of the alp, of dragons, that keep watch over treasures, they

have the usual stories; nor are the kindly elves forgotten. How often

has my postillion, when he observed a circular mark in the dewy grass,

exclaimed: See! there the elves have been dancing. These elf-dances play

a great part in the spinning-room. To those who at midnight happen to

enter one of these circles, the elves become visible, and may then play

all kinds of pranks with them; though in general they are little, merry,

harmless beings, both male and female. They often sit in small stones,

that are hollowed out in circular form, and which are called elf-querns

or mill-stones. Their voice is said to be soft like the air. If a loud

cry is heard in the forest, it is that of the Skogsrå (spirit of the

wood), which should be answered only by a _He!_ when it can do no harm.

(Reise durch Sweden; quoted by Thorpe.)

The elf-shot was known in England in very remote times, as appears from

the Anglo-Saxon incantation, printed by Grimm in his Deutsche

Mythologie, and in the appendix to Kemble’s Saxons in England: Gif hit

wœre esa gescot oððe hit wœre ylfa gescot; that is, if it were an

asa-shot or an elf-shot. On this subject Grimm says: It is a very old

belief that dangerous arrows were shot by the elves from the air. The

thunder-bolt is also called elf-shot, and in Scotland a hard, sharp,

wedge-shaped stone is known by the name of elf-arrow, elf-flint,

elf-bolt, which, it is supposed, has been sent by the spirits. (Quoted

by Thorpe.)

Our ancestors divided the universe into nine worlds, and these again

into three groups:

1. Over the earth. Muspelheim, Ljosalfaheim and Asaheim.

2. On the earth. Jotunheim, Midgard and Vanheim.

3. Below the earth. Svartalfaheim, Niflheim and Niflhel.

The gods had twelve abodes:

1. THRUDHEIM. The abode of Thor. His realm is Thrudvang, and his palace

is Bilskirner.

2. YDALER. Uller’s abode.

3. VALASKJALF. Odin’s hall.

4. SOKVABEK. The abode of Saga.

5. GLADSHEIM, where there are twelve seats for the gods, besides the

throne occupied by Alfather.

6. THRYMHEIM. Skade’s abode.

7. BREIDABLIK. Balder’s abode.

8. HIMMINBJORG. Heimdal’s abode.

9. FOLKVANG. Freyja’s abode.

10. GLITNER. Forsete’s abode.

11. NOATUN. Njord’s abode.

12. LANDVIDE. Vidar’s abode.

According to the Lay of Grimner, the gods had twelve horses, but the

owner of each horse is not given:

(1) Sleipner (Odin’s), (2) Goldtop (Heimdal’s), (3) Glad, (4) Gyller,

(5) Gler, (6) Skeidbrimer, (7) Silvertop, (8) Siner, (9) Gisl, (10)

Falhofner, (11) Lightfoot, (12) Blodughofdi (Frey’s).

The owners of nine of them are not given, and, moreover, it is stated

that Thor had no horse, but always either went on foot or drove his

goats.

The favorite numbers are three, nine and twelve. Monotheism was

recognized in the unknown god, who is from everlasting to everlasting.

A number of trinities were established, and the nine worlds were

classified into three groups. The week had nine days, and originally

there were probably but nine gods, that is, before the vans were united

with the asas. The number nine occurs where Heimdal is said to have nine

mothers, Menglad is said to have nine maid-servants, Æger had nine

daughters, etc. When the vans were united with the asas, the number rose

to twelve:

(1) Odin, (2) Thor, (3) Tyr, (4) Balder, (5) Hoder, (6) Heimdal, (7)

Hermod, (8) Njord, (9) Frey, (10) Uller, (11) Vidar, (12) Forsete.

If we add to this list Brage, Vale and Loke, we get fifteen; but the

Eddas everywhere declare that there are twelve gods, who were entitled

to divine worship.

The number of the goddesses is usually given as twenty-six.

Loke and his offspring are so fully treated in our Norse Mythology, that

we content ourselves by referring our readers to that work.

Freyja’s ornament Brising. In the saga of Olaf Tryggvason, there is a

rather awkward story of the manner in which Freyja became possessed of

her ornament. Freyja, it is told, was a mistress of Odin. Not far from

the palace dwelt four dwarfs, whose names were Alfrig, Dvalin, Berling

and Grer; they were skillful smiths. Looking one day into their stony

dwelling, Freyja saw them at work on a beautiful golden necklace, or

collar, which she offered to buy, but which they refused to part with,

except on conditions quite incompatible with the fidelity she owed to

Odin, but to which she, nevertheless, was tempted to accede. Thus the

ornament became hers. By some means this transaction came to the

knowledge of Loke, who told it to Odin. Odin commanded him to get

possession of the ornament. This was no easy task, for no one could

enter Freyja’s bower without her consent. He went away whimpering, but

most were glad on seeing him in such tribulation. When he came to the

locked bower, he could nowhere find an entrance, and, it being cold

weather, he began to shiver. He then transformed himself into a fly and

tried every opening, but in vain; there was nowhere air enough to make

him to get through [Loke (fire) requires air]. At length he found a hole

in the roof, but not bigger than the prick of a needle. Through this he

slipt. On his entrance he looked around to see if anyone were awake, but

all were buried in sleep. He peeped in at Freyja’s bed, and saw that she

had the ornament round her neck, but that the lock was on the side she

lay on. He then transformed himself to a flea, placed himself on

Freyja’s cheek, and stung her so that she awoke, but only turned herself

round and slept again. He then laid aside his assumed form, cautiously

took the ornament, unlocked the bower, and took his prize to Odin. In

the morning, on waking, Freyja seeing the door open, without having been

forced, and that her ornament was gone, instantly understood the whole

affair. Having dressed herself, she repaired to Odin’s hall, and

upbraided him with having stolen her ornament, and insisted on its

restoration, which she finally obtained. (Quoted by Thorpe.)

Mention is also made of the Brósinga-men in the Beowulf (verse 2394).

Here it is represented as belonging to Hermanric, but the legend

concerning it has never been found.

This myth about Frey and Gerd is the subject of one of the most

fascinating poems in the Elder Edda, the Journey of Skirner. It is, as

Auber Forestier, in Echoes from Mistland, says, the germ of the Niblung

story. Frey is Sigurd or Sigfrid, and Gerd is Brynhild. The myth is also

found in another poem of the Elder Edda, the Lay of Fjolsvin, in which

the god himself--there called Svipday (the hastener of the

day)--undertakes the journey to arouse from the winter sleep the cold

giant nature of the maiden Menglad (the sun-radiant daughter), who is

identical with Freyja (the goddess of spring, promise, or of love

between man and woman, and who can easily be compared with Gerd). Before

the bonds which enchain the maiden can in either case be broken, Bele

(the giant of spring storms, corresponding to the dragon Fafner in the

Niblung story,) must be conquered, and Wafurloge (the wall of bickering

flames that surrounded the castle) must be penetrated. The fanes

symbolize the funeral pyre, for whoever enters the nether world must

scorn the fear of death. (Auber Forestier’s Echoes from Mistland;

Introduction, xliii, xliv.) We also find this story repeated again and

again, in numberless variations, in Teutonic folk-lore; for instance,

in The Maiden on the Glass Mountain, where the glass mountain takes the

place of the bickering flame.

The tree Lerad (furnishing protection) must be regarded as a branch of

Ygdrasil.

In Heimskringla Skidbladner is called Odin’s ship. This is correct. All

that belonged to the gods was his also.

For a thorough analysis of Thor as a spring god, as the god who dwells

in the clouds, as the god of thunder and lightning, as the god of

agriculture, in short, as the god of culture, we can do no better than

to refer our readers to Der Mythus von Thor, nach Nordischen Quellen,

von Ludwig Uhland, Stuttgart, 1836; and to Handbuch der Deutschen

Mythologie, mit Einschluss der Nordischen, von Karl Simrock, Vierte

Auflage, Bonn, 1874.

The death of Balder is justly regarded as the most beautiful myth in

Teutonic mythology. It is connected with the Lay of Vegtam in the Elder

Edda. Like so many other myths (Frey and Gerd, The Robbing of Idun,

etc.) the myth symbolizes originally the end of summer and return of

spring. Thus Balder dies every year and goes to Hel. But in the

following spring he returns to the asas, and gladdens all things living

and dead with his pure shining light. Gradually, however, the myth was

changed from a symbol of the departing and returning summer, and applied

to the departing and returning of the world year, and thus the death of

Balder prepares the way for Ragnarok and Regeneration. Balder goes to

Hel and does not return to this world. Thokk refuses to weep for him.

His return is promised after Ragnarok. The next spring does not bring

him back, but the rejuvenated earth. Thus the death of Balder becomes

the central thought in the drama of the fate of the gods and of the

world. It is inseparably connected with the punishment of Loke and the

twilight of the gods. The winter following the death of Balder is not an

ordinary winter, but the Fimbul-winter, which is followed by no summer,

but by the destruction of the world. The central idea in the Odinic

religion, the destruction and regeneration of the world, has taken this

beautiful sun-myth of Balder into its service. Balder is then no more

merely the pure holy light of heaven; he symbolizes at the same time the

purity and innocence of the gods; he is changed from a physical to an

ethical myth. He impersonated all that was good and holy in the life of

the gods; and so it came to pass that when the golden age had ceased,

when thirst for gold (Gulveig), when sin and crime had come into the

world, he was too good to live in it. As in Genesis fratricide (Cain and

Abel) followed upon the eating of the forbidden fruit, and the loss of

paradise; so, when the golden age (paradise) had ended among the asas,

Loke (the serpent) brought fratricide (Hoder and Balder) among the gods;

themselves and our ancestors regarded fratricide as the lowest depth of

moral depravity. After the death of Balder

Brothers slay brothers,

Sisters’ children

Shed each other’s blood,

Hard grows the world,

Sensual sin waxes huge.

There are sword-ages, ax-ages--

Shields are cleft in twain,--

Storm-ages, murder-ages,--

Till the world falls dead,

And men no longer spare

Or pity one another.

Upon the whole we may say that a sun-myth first represents the death of

the day at sunset, when the sky is radiant as if dyed in blood. In the

flushing morn light wins its victory again. Then this same myth becomes

transferred to the death and birth of summer. Once more it is lifted

into a higher sphere, while still holding on to its physical

interpretation, and is applied to the world year. Finally, it is clothed

with ethical attributes, becomes thoroughly anthropomorphized, and

typifies the good and the evil, the virtues and vices (light and

darkness), in the character and life of gods and of men. Thus we get

four stages in the development of the myth.

RAGNAROK. The word is found written in two ways, Ragnarok and ragnarökr.

Ragna is genitive plural, from the word regin (god), and means of the

gods. Rok means reason, ground, origin, a wonder, sign, marvel. It is

allied to the O.H.G. _rahha_ = sentence, judgment. Ragnarök would then

mean _the history of the gods_, and applied to the dissolution of the

world, might be translated _the last judgment_, _doomsday_, _weird of

gods and the world_. Rokr means _twilight_, and Ragnarokr, as the

Younger Edda has it, thus means _the twilight of the gods_, and the

latter is adopted by nearly all modern writers, although Gudbr.

Vigfusson declares that Ragnarok (doomsday) is no doubt the correct

form. And this is also to be said in favor of doomsday, that Ragnarok

does not involve only the _twilight_, but the whole _night_ of the gods

and the world.

THE NIFLUNGS AND GJUKUNGS.

This chapter of _Skaldskaparmal_ contains much valuable material for a

correct understanding of the Nibelungen-Lied, especially as to the

origin of the Niblung hoard, and the true character of Brynhild. The

material given here, and in the Icelandic Volsunga Saga, has been used

by Wm. Morris in his Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs.

In the Nibelungen-Lied, as transposed by Auber Forestier, in Echoes from

Mist-Land, we have a perfect gem of literature from the middle high

German period, but its author had lost sight of the divine and mythical

origin of the material that he wove into his poem. It is only by

combining the German Nibelungen-Lied with the mythical materials found

in Norseland that our national Teutonic epic can be restored to us.

Wagner has done this for us in his famous drama; Jordan has done it in

his Sigfrid’s saga; Morris has done it in the work mentioned above; but

will not Auber Forestier gather up all the scattered fragments relating

to Sigurd and Brynhild, and weave them together into a prose narrative,

that shall delight the young and the old of this great land?

We are glad to welcome at this time a new book in the field of Niblung

literature. We refer to Geibel’s Brunhild, translated, with introduction

and notes, by Prof. G. Theo. Dippold, and recently published in Boston.

MENJA AND FENJA.

This is usually called the peace of Frode, which corresponds to the

golden age in the life of the asas. Avarice is the root of crime, and

all other evils. Avarice is at the bottom of all the endless woes of the

Niblung story. The myth explaining why the sea is salt is told in a

variety of forms in different countries. In Germany there are several

folk-lore stories and traditions in regard to it. In Norway, where

folk-lore tales are so abundant, we find the myth about Menja and Fenja

recurring in the following form:

WHY THE SEA IS SALT.

Long, long ago there were two brothers, the one was rich and the other

was poor. On Christmas eve the poor one had not a morsel of bread or

meat in his house, and so he went to his brother and asked him for

mercy’s sake to give him something for Christmas. It was not the first

time the brother had had to give him, and he was not very much pleased

to see him this time either.

“If you will do what I ask of you, I will give you a whole ham of pork,”

said he.

The poor man promised immediately, and was very thankful besides.

“There you have it, now go to hell,” said the rich one, and threw the

ham at him.

“What I have promised, I suppose, I must keep,” said the other. He took

the ham and started. He walked and walked the whole day, and at twilight

he came to a place where everything looked so bright and splendid.

“This must be the place,” thought the man with the ham.

Out in the wood-shed stood an old man with a long white beard, cutting

wood for Christmas.

“Good evening,” said the man with the ham.

“Good evening, sir. Where are you going so late?” said the man.

“I am on my way to hell, if I am on the right road,” said the poor man.

“Yes, you have taken the right road; it is here,” said the old man. “Now

when you get in, they will all want to buy your ham, for pork is rare

food in hell; but you must not sell it, unless you get the hand-mill

that stands back of the door for it. When you come out again I will show

you how to regulate it. You will find it useful in more than one

respect.”

The man with the ham thanked the old man for this valuable information,

and rapped at the devil’s door.

When he came in it happened as the old man had said. All the devils,

both the large ones and the small ones, crowded around him like ants

around a worm, and the one bid higher than the other for the ham.

“It is true my wife and I were to have it for our Christmas dinner, but,

seeing that you are so eager for it, I suppose I will have to let you

have it,” said the man. “But if I am to sell it, I want that hand-mill

that stands behind the door there for it.”

The devil did not like to spare it, and kept dickering and bantering

with the man, but he insisted, and so the devil had to give him the

hand-mill. When the man came out in the yard he asked the old

wood-chopper how he should regulate the mill; and when he had learned

how to do it, he said “thank you,” and made for home as fast as he

could. But still he did not reach home before twelve o’clock in the

night Christmas eve.

“Why, where in the world have you been?” said the woman. “Here I have

been sitting hour after hour waiting and waiting, and I haven’t as much

as two sticks to put on the fire so as to cook the Christmas porridge.”

“Oh, I could not come any sooner. I had several errands to do, and I had

a long way to go too. But now I will show you,” said the man. He set the

mill on the table, and had it first grind light, then a table-cloth,

then food and ale and all sorts of good things for Christmas, and as he

commanded the mill ground. The woman expressed her great astonishment

again and again, and wanted to know where her husband had gotten the

mill, but this he would not tell.

“It makes no difference where I have gotten it; you see the mill is a

good one, and that the water does not freeze,” said the man.

Then he ground food and drink, and all good things, for the whole

Christmas week, and on the third day he invited his friends: he was

going to have a party. When the rich brother saw all the nice and good

things at the party, he became very wroth, for he could not bear to see

his brother have anything.

“Christmas eve he was so needy that he came to me and asked me for

mercy’s sake to give him a little food, and now he gives a feast as

though he were both count and king,” said he to the others.

“But where in hell have you gotten all your riches from?” said he to his

brother.

“Behind the door,” answered he who owned the mill. He did not care to

give any definite account, but later in the evening, when he began to

get a little tipsy, he could not help himself and brought out the mill.

“There you see the one that has given me all the riches,” said he, and

then he let the mill grind both one thing and another. When the brother

saw this he was bound to have the mill, and after a long bantering about

it, he finally was to have it; but he was to pay three hundred dollars

for it, and his brother was to keep it until harvest.

“When I keep it until then, I shall have ground food enough to last many

years,” thought he.

Of course the mill got no chance to grow rusty during the next six

months, and when harvest-time came, the rich brother got it; but the

other man had taken good care not to show him how to regulate it. It was

in the evening that the rich man brought the mill home, and in the

morning he bade his wife go and spread the hay after the mowers,--he

would get dinner ready, he said. Toward dinner he put the mill on the

table.

“Grind fish and gruel: Grind both well and fast!” said the man, and the

mill began to grind fish and gruel. It first filled all the dishes and

tubs full, and after that it covered the whole floor with fish and

gruel. The man kept puttering and tinkering, and tried to get the mill

to stop; but no matter how he turned it and fingered at it, the mill

kept on, and before long the gruel got so deep in the room that the man

was on the point of drowning. Then he opened the door to the

sitting-room, but before long that room was filled too, and the man had

all he could do to get hold of the door-latch down in this flood of

gruel. When he got the door open he did not remain long in the room. He

ran out as fast as he could, and there was a perfect flood of fish gruel

behind, deluging the yard and his fields.

The wife, who was in the meadow making hay, began to think that it took

a long time to get dinner ready. “Even if husband does not call us, we

will have to go anyway. I suppose he does not know much about making

gruel; I will have to go and help him,” said the woman to the mowers.

They went homeward, but on coming up the hill they met the flood of fish

and gruel and bread, the one mixed up with the other, and the man came

running ahead of the flood.

“Would that each one of you had an hundred stomachs, but have a care

that you do not drown in the gruel flood,” cried the husband. He ran by

them as though the devil had been after him, and hastened down to his

brother. He begged him in the name of everything sacred to come and take

the mill away immediately.

“If it grinds another hour the whole settlement will perish in fish and

gruel,” said he.

But the brother would not take it unless he got three hundred dollars,

and this money had to be paid to him.

Now the poor brother had both money and the mill, and so it did not take

long before he got himself a farm, and a much nicer one than his

brother’s. With his mill he ground out so much gold that he covered his

house all over with sheets of gold. The house stood down by the

sea-shore, and it glistened far out upon the sea. All who sailed past

had to go ashore and visit the rich man in the golden house, and all

wanted to see the wonderful mill, for its fame spread far and wide, and

there was none who had not heard speak of it.

After a long time there came a sea-captain who wished to see the mill.

He asked whether it could grind salt.

“Yes, it can grind salt,” said he who owned the mill; and when the

captain heard this, he was bound to have it, let it cost what it will.

For if he had that, thought he, he would not have to sail far off over

dangerous waters after cargoes of salt. At first the man did not wish to

sell it, but the captain teased and begged and finally the man sold it,

and got many thousand dollars for it. When the captain had gotten the

mill on his back, he did not stay there long, for he was afraid the man

might reconsider the bargain and back out again. He had no time to ask

how to regulate it; he went to his ship as fast as he could, and when he

had gotten some distance out upon the sea, he got his mill out.

“Grind salt both fast and well,” said the captain. The mill began to

grind salt, and that with all its might. When the captain had gotten the

ship full he wanted to stop the mill; but no matter how he worked, and

no matter how he handled it, the mill kept grinding as fast as ever, and

the heap of salt kept growing larger and larger, and at last the ship

sank. The mill stands on the bottom of the sea grinding this very day,

and so it comes that the sea is salt.

VOCABULARY.

ADILS. A king who reigned in Upsala.

AE. A dwarf.

ÆGER. The god presiding over the stormy sea.

ALF. A dwarf.

ALFATHER. A name of Odin.

ALFHEIM. The home of the elves.

ALFRIG. A dwarf.

ALSVID. One of the horses of the sun.

ALTHJOF. A dwarf.

ALVIS. A dwarf.

AMSVARTNER. The name of the lake in which the island was situated where

the wolf Fenrer was chained.

ANDHRIMNER. The cook in Valhal.

ANDLANG. The second heaven.

ANDVARE. A dwarf.

ANDVARE-NAUT. The ring in the Niblung story.

ANGERBODA. A giantess; mother of the Fenris-wolf.

ANNAR. Husband of Night and father of Jord.

ARVAK. The name of one of the horses of the sun.

ASAHEIM. The home of the asas.

ASALAND. The land of the asas.

ASAS. The Teutonic gods.

ASA-THOR. A common name for Thor.

ASGARD. The residence of the gods.

ASK. The name of the first man created by Odin, Honer and Loder.

ASLAUG. Daughter of Sigurd and Brynhild.

ASMUND. A man visited by Odin.

ASYNJES. The Teutonic goddesses.

ATLE. Gudrun’s husband after the death of Sigurd.

ATRID. A name of Odin.

AUD. The son of Night and Naglfare.

AUDHUMBLA. The cow that nourished the giant Ymer.

AUDUN. A name derived from Odin.

AURGELMER. A giant; grandfather of Bergelmer; the same as Ymer.

AURVANG. A dwarf.

AUSTRE. A dwarf.

BAFUR. A dwarf.

BALDER. Son of Odin and Frigg, slain by Hoder.

BALEYG. A name of Odin.

BAR-ISLE. A cool grove in which Gerd agreed with Skirner to meet Frey.

BAUGE. A brother of Suttung. Odin worked for him one summer, in order to

get his help in obtaining Suttung’s mead of poetry.

BEIGUD. One of Rolf Krake’s berserks.

BELE. A giant, brother of Gerd, slain by Frey.

BERGELMER. A giant; son of Thrudgelmer and grandson of Aurgelmer.

BERLING. A dwarf.

BESTLA. Wife of Bure and mother of Odin.

BIFLIDE. A name of Odin.

BIFLINDE. A name of Odin.

BIFROST. The rainbow.

BIFUR. A dwarf.

BIKKE. A minister of Jormunrek; causes Randver to be hanged, and

Svanhild trodden to death by horses.

BIL. One of the children that accompany Moon.

BILEYG. A name of Odin.

BILSKIRNER. Thor’s abode.

BLAIN. A dwarf.

BLODUGHOFDE. Frey’s horse.

BODN. One of the three jars in which the poetic mead is kept.

BODVAR BJARKE. One of Rolf Krake’s berserks.

BOL. One of the rivers flowing out of Hvergelmer.

BOLTHORN. A giant; father of Bestla, mother of Odin.

BOLVERK. A name of Odin.

BOMBUR. A dwarf.

BOR. Son of Bure; father of Odin.

BRAGE. A son of Odin; the best of skalds.

BREIDABLIK. The abode of Balder.

BRIMER. One of the heavenly halls after Ragnarok.

BRISING. Freyja’s necklace.

BROK. A dwarf.

BRYNHILD. One of the chief heroines in the Niblung story.

BUDLE. Father of Atle and Brynhild.

BUE. A son of Vesete, who settled in Borgundarholm.

BURE. Grandfather of Odin.

BYLEIST. A brother of Loke.

BYRGER. A well from which Bil and Hjuke were going when they were taken

by Moon.

DAIN. A dwarf.

DAIN. One of the stags that bite the leaves of Ygdrasil.

DAINSLEIF. Hogne’s sword.

DAY. Son of Delling.

DAYBREAK. The father of Day.

DELLING. Daybreak.

DOLGTHVARE. A dwarf.

DORE. A dwarf.

DRAUPNER. Odin’s ring.

DROME. One of the fetters with which the Fenris-wolf was chained.

DUF. A dwarf.

DUNEY. One of the stags that bite the leaves of Ygdrasil.

DURATHRO. One of the stags that bite the leaves of Ygdrasil.

DURIN. A dwarf.

DVALIN. One of the stags that bite the leaves of Ygdrasil.

DVALIN. A dwarf.

EIKINSKJALDE. A dwarf.

EIKTHYRNER. A hart that stands over Odin’s hall.

EILIF. Son of Gudrun; a skald.

EIMYRJA. One of the daughters of Haloge and Glod.

EINDRIDE. A name of Thor.

EIR. An attendant of Menglod, and the best of all in the healing art.

EKIN. One of the rivers flowing from Hvergelmer.

ELDER. A servant of Æger.

ELDHRIMNER. The kettle in which the boar Sahrimner is cooked in Valhal.

ELIVOGS. The ice-cold streams that flow out of Niflheim.

ELJUDNER. Hel’s hall.

ELLE. An old woman (old age) with whom Thor wrestled in Jotunheim.

EMBLA. The first woman created by Odin, Honer and Loder.

ENDIL. The name of a giant.

ERP. A son of Jonaker, murdered by Sorle and Hamder.

EYLIME. The father of Hjordis, mother of Volsung.

EYSA. One of the daughters of Haloge and Glod.

FAFNER. Son of Hreidmar, killed by Sigurd.

FAL. A dwarf.

FALHOFNER. One of the horses of the gods.

FARBAUTE. The father of Loke.

FARMAGOD. One of the names of Odin.

FARMATYR. One of the names of Odin.

FENJA. A female slave who ground at Frode’s mill.

FENRIS-WOLF. The monster wolf, son of Loke.

FENSALER. The abode of Frigg.

FID. A dwarf.

FILE. A dwarf.

FIMAFENG. Æger’s servant.

FIMBUL. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

FIMBULTHUL. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

FIMBUL-TYR. The unknown god.

FIMBUL-WINTER. The great and awful winter of three years duration

preceding Ragnarok.

FINNSLEIF. A byrnie belonging to King Adils, of Upsala.

FJALAR. A dwarf.

FJOLNER. A name of Odin.

FJOLSVID. A name of Odin.

FJORGVIN. The mother of Frigg and of Thor.

FJORM. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

FOLKVANG. Freyja’s abode.

FORM. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

FORNJOT. The ancient giant; the father of Æger.

FORSETE. The peace-maker; son of Balder and Nanna.

FRANANGER FORCE. The waterfall into which Loke cast himself in the

likeness of a salmon.

FREKE. One of Odin’s wolves.

FREY. Son of Njord and husband of Skade.

FREYJA. The daughter of Njord and sister of Frey.

FRIDLEIF. A son of Skjold.

FRIGG. Wife of Odin and mother of the gods.

FRODE. Grandson of Skjold.

FROSTE. A dwarf.

FULLA. Frigg’s attendant.

FUNDIN. A dwarf.

FYRE. A river in Sweden.

GAGNRAD. A name of Odin.

GALAR. A dwarf.

GANDOLF. A dwarf.

GANG. A giant.

GANGLARE. A name of Odin.

GANGLATE. Hel’s man-servant.

GANGLERE. A name of Odin.

GANGLOT. Hel’s maid-servant.

GANGRAD. A name of Odin.

GARDROFA. A horse.

GARM. A dog that barks at Ragnarok.

GAUT. A name of Odin.

GEFJUN. A goddess; she is present at Æger’s feast.

GEFN. One of the names of Freyja.

GEIRAHOD. A valkyrie.

GEIRROD. A giant visited by Thor.

GEIR SKOGUL. A valkyrie.

GEIRVIMUL. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

GELGJA. The fetter with which the Fenris-wolf was chained.

GERD. A beautiful giantess, daughter of Gymer.

GERE. One of Odin’s wolves.

GERSAME. One of the daughters of Freyja.

GILLING. Father of Suttung, who possessed the poetic mead.

GIMLE. The abode of the righteous after Ragnarok.

GINNAR. A dwarf.

GINUNGAGAP. The premundane abyss.

GIPUL. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

GISL. One of the horses of the gods.

GJALLAR-BRIDGE. The bridge across the river Gjol, near Helheim.

GJALLAR-HORN. Heimdal’s horn.

GJALLAR-RIVER. The river near Helheim.

GJALP. One of the daughters of Geirrod.

GJUKE. A king in Germany, visited by Sigurd.

GLADSHEIM. Odin’s dwelling.

GLAM. The name of a giant.

GLAPSVID. A name of Odin.

GLASER. A grove in Asgard.

GLEIPNER. The last fetter with which the wolf Fenrer was bound.

GLENER. The husband of Sol (sun).

GLER. One of the horses of the gods.

GLITNER. Forsete’s hall.

GLOIN. A dwarf.

GNA. Frigg’s messenger.

GNIPA-CAVE. The cave before which the dog Garm barks.

GNITA-HEATH. Fafner’s abode, where he kept the treasure of the Niblungs.

GOIN. A serpent under Ygdrasil.

GOL. A valkyrie.

GOLDFAX. The giant Hrungner’s horse.

GOMUL. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

GONDLER. One of the names of Odin.

GONDUL. A valkyrie.

GOPUL. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

GOT. A name of Odin.

GOTE. Gunnar’s horse.

GOTHORM. A son of Gjuke; murders Sigurd, and is slain by him.

GRABAK. One of the serpents under Ygdrasil.

GRAD. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

GRAFVITNER. A serpent under Ygdrasil.

GRAFVOLLUD. A serpent under Ygdrasil.

GRAM. Sigurd’s sword.

GRANE. Sigurd’s horse.

GREIP. One of the daughters of Geirrod.

GRID. A giantess visited by Thor.

GRIDARVOL. Grid’s staff.

GRIM. A name of Odin.

GRIMHILD. Gjuke’s queen.

GRIMNER. One of the names of Odin.

GRJOTTUNGARD. The place where Thor fought with Hrungner.

GROA. A giantess, mother of Orvandel.

GROTTE. The name of King Frode’s mill.

GUD. A valkyrie.

GUDNY. One of the children of Gjuke.

GUDRUN. The famous daughter of Gjuke.

GULLINBURSTE. The name of Frey’s boar.

GULLINTANNE. A name of Heimdal.

GULLTOP. Heimdal’s horse.

GULLVEIG. A personification of gold; she is pierced and burnt.

GUNGNER. Odin’s spear.

GUNLAT. The daughter of the giant Suttung.

GUNN. A valkyrie.

GUNNAR. The famous son of Gjuke.

GUNTHRAIN. One of the rivers flowing from Hvergelmer.

GWODAN. An old name for Odin.

GYLFE. A king of Svithjod, who visited Asgard under the name of

Ganglere.

GYLLER. One of the horses of the gods.

GYMER. Another name of the ocean divinity Æger.

HABROK. A celebrated hero.

HALLINSKIDE. Another name of Heimdal.

HALOGE. A giant, son of Fornjot; also called Loge.

HAMDER. Son of Jonaker and Gudrun, incited by his mother to avenge his

sister’s death.

HAMSKERPER. A horse; the sire of Hofvarpner, which was Gna’s horse.

HANGAGOD. A name of Odin.

HANGATYR. A name of Odin.

HAPTAGOD. A name of Odin.

HAR. The High One; applied to Odin.

HARBARD. A name assumed by Odin.

HATE. The wolf bounding before the sun, and will at last catch the moon.

HEIDE. Another name for Gullveig.

HEIDRUN. A goat that stands over Valhal.

HEIMDAL. The god of the rainbow.

HEIMER. Brynhild’s foster-father.

HEL. The goddess of death; daughter of Loke.

HELBLINDE. A name of Odin.

HELMET-BEARER. A name of Odin.

HENGEKJAPT. The man to whom King Frode gave his mill.

HEPTE. A dwarf.

HERAN. A name of Odin.

HERFATHER. A name of Odin.

HERJAN. A name of Odin.

HERMOD. The god who rode on Sleipner to Hel, to get Balder back.

HERTEIT. A name of Odin.

HILD. A valkyrie.

HILDESVIN. A helmet, which King Adils took from King Ale.

HIMINBJORG. Heimdal’s dwelling.

HINDFELL. The place where Brynhild sat in her hall, surrounded by the

Vafurloge.

HJALMBORE. A name of Odin.

HJALPREK. A king in Denmark; collects a fleet for Sigurd.

HJATLE THE VALIANT. One of Rolf Krake’s berserks.

HJORDIS. Married to Sigmund, and mother of Sigurd.

HJUKE. One of the children that accompany Moon.

HLEDJOLF. A dwarf.

HLER. Another name of Æger.

HLIDSKJALF. The seat of Odin, whence he looked out over all the world.

HLIN. One of the attendants of Frigg; Frigg herself is sometimes called

by this name.

HLODYN. Thor’s mother.

HLOK. A valkyrie.

HLORIDE. A name of Thor.

HNIKER. A name of Odin.

HNIKUD. A name of Odin.

HNITBJORG. The place where Suttung hid the poetic mead.

HNOS. Freyja’s daughter.

HODER. The slayer of Balder; he is blind.

HODMIMER’S-HOLT. The grove where the two human beings, Lif and

Lifthraser, were preserved during Ragnarok.

HOFVARPNER. Gna’s horse.

HOGNE. A son of Gjuke.

HONER. One of the three creating gods; with Odin and Loder he creates

Ask and Embla.

HOR. A dwarf.

HORN. A name of Freyja.

HRASVELG. A giant in an eagle’s plumage, who produces the wind.

HREIDMAR. The father of Regin and Fafner.

HRIB. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

HRIMFAXE. The horse of Night.

HRINGHORN. The ship upon which Balder’s body was burned.

HRIST. A valkyrie.

HRODVITNER. A wolf; father of the wolf Hate.

HRON. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

HROPTATYR. A name of Odin.

HROTTE. Fafner’s sword.

HRUNGNER. A giant; Thor slew him.

HRYM. A giant, who steers the ship Naglfar at Ragnarok.

HVERGELMER. The fountain in the middle of Niflheim.

HUGE. A person (Thought) who ran a race with Thjalfe, in Jotunheim.

HUGIST. One of Odin’s ravens.

HUGSTORE. A dwarf.

HYMER. A giant with whom Thor went fishing when he caught the

Midgard-serpent.

HYNDLA. A vala visited by Freyja.

HYRROKEN. A giantess who launched the ship on which Balder was burned.

IDA. A plain where the gods first assemble, and where they assemble

again after Ragnarok.

IDAVOLD. The same.

IDE. A giant, son of Olvalde.

IDUN. Wife of Brage; she kept the rejuvenating apples.

IRONWOOD. The abode of giantesses called Jarnveds.

IVA. A river in Jotunheim.

IVALD. The father of the dwarfs that made Sif’s hair, the ship

Skidbladner, and Odin’s spear Gungner.

JAFNHAR. A name of Odin.

JALG. A name of Odin.

JALK. A name of Odin.

JARNSAXA. One of Heimdal’s nine giant mothers.

JARNVED. The same as Ironwood.

JARNVIDJES. The giantesses dwelling in Ironwood.

JORD. Wife of Odin, mother of Thor.

JORMUNGAND. The Midgard-serpent.

JORMUNREK. King of Goths, marries Svanhild.

JORUVOLD. The country where Aurvang is situated. Thence come several

dwarfs.

JOTUNHEIM. The home of the giants.

KERLAUGS. The rivers that Thor every day must cross.

KILE. A dwarf.

KJALER. A name of Odin.

KORMT. A river which Thor every day must cross.

KVASER. The hostage given by the vans to the asas; his blood, when

slain, was the poetical meed kept by Suttung.

LADING. One of the fetters with which the Fenris-wolf was bound.

LANDVIDE. Vidar’s abode.

LAUFEY. Loke’s mother.

LEIPT. One of the rivers flowing out of Hvergelmer.

LERAD. A tree near Valhal.

LETFET. One of the horses of the gods.

LIF. } The two persons preserved in Hodmimer’s-holt during

LIFTHRASER.} Ragnarok.

LIT. A dwarf.

LJOSALFAHEIM. The home of the light elves.

LODER. One of the three gods who created Ask and Embla.

LOFN. One of the asynjes.

LOGE. A giant who tried his strength at eating with Loke in Jotunheim.

LOKE. The giant-god of the Norse mythology.

LOPT. Another name for Loke.

LOVAR. A dwarf.

LYNGVE. The island where the Fenris-wolf was chained.

MAGNE. A son of Thor.

MANNHEIM. The home of man; our earth.

MARDOL. One of the names of Freyja.

MEGINGJARDER. Thor’s belt.

MEILE. A son of Odin.

MENGLAD. Svipdag’s betrothed.

MENJA. A female slave who ground at Frode’s mill.

MIDGARD. The name of the earth in the mythology.

MIDVITNE. A giant.

MIMER. The name of the wise giant; keeper of the holy well.

MIST. A valkyrie.

MJODVITNER. A dwarf.

MJOLNER. Thorn’s hammer.

MJOTUD. A name of Odin.

MODE. One of Thor’s sons.

MODGUD. The may who guards the Gjallar-bridge.

MODSOGNER. A dwarf.

MOIN. A serpent under Ygdrasil.

MOKKERKALFE. A clay giant in the myth of Thor and Hrungner.

MOON, brother of Sun. Both children of Mundilfare.

MOONGARM. A wolf of Loke’s offspring; he devours the moon.

MORN. A troll-woman.

MUNDILFARE. Father of the sun and moon.

MUNIN. One of Odin’s ravens.

MUSPEL. The name of an abode of fire.

MUSPELHEIM. The world of blazing light before the creation.

NA. A dwarf.

NAGLFAR. A mythical ship made of nail-parings; it appears in Ragnarok.

NAIN. A dwarf.

NAL. Mother of Loke.

NANNA. Daughter of Nep; mother of Forsete, and wife of Balder.

NARE. Sod of Loke; also called Narfe.

NARFE. _See_ Nare.

NASTRAND. A place of punishment for the wicked after Ragnarok.

NEP. Father of Nanna.

NIBLUNGS. Identical with Gjukungs.

NIDA MOUNTAINS. A place where there is, after Ragnarok, a golden hall

for the race of Sindre (the dwarfs).

NIDE. A dwarf.

NIDHUG. A serpent in the nether world.

NIFLHEIM. The world of mist before the creation.

NIFLUNGS. Identical with Niblungs.

NIGHT. Daughter of Norfe.

NIKAR. A name of Odin.

NIKUZ. A name of Odin.

NIPING. A dwarf.

NJORD. A van; husband of Skade, and father of Frey and Freyja.

NOATUN. Njord’s dwelling.

NON. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

NOR. The man after whom Norway was supposed to have been named.

NORDRE. A dwarf.

NORFE. A giant, father of Night.

NORNS. The weird sisters.

NOT. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

NY. A dwarf.

NYE. A dwarf.

NYRAD. A dwarf.

ODER. Freyja’s husband.

ODIN. Son of Bor and Bestla; the chief of Teutonic gods.

ODRARER. One of the vessels in which the poetic mead was kept.

OFNER. A serpent under Ygdrasil.

OIN. A dwarf.

OKU-THOR. A name of Thor.

OLVALDE. A giant; father of Thjasse, Ide and Gang.

OME. A name of Odin.

ONAR. A dwarf.

ORBODA. Wife of the giant Gymer.

ORE. A dwarf.

ORMT. One of the rivers that Thor has to cross.

ORNER. The name of a giant.

ORVANDEL. The husband of Groa, the vala who sang magic songs over Thor

after he had fought with Hrungner.

OSKE. A name of Odin.

OTTER. A son of Hreidmar; in the form of an otter he was killed by Loke.

QUASER. _See_ Kvaser.

RADGRID. A valkyrie.

RADSVID. A dwarf.

RAFNAGUD. A name of Odin.

RAGNAROK. The last day; the dissolution of the gods and the world; the

twilight of the gods.

RAN. The goddess of the sea; wife of Æger.

RANDGRID. A valkyrie.

RANDVER. A son of Jormunrek.

RATATOSK. A squirrel in Ygdrasil.

RATE. An auger used by Odin in obtaining the poetic mead.

REGIN. Son of Hreidmar.

REGINLEIF. A valkyrie.

REIDARTYR. A name of Odin.

REK. A dwarf.

RIND. Mother of Vale.

ROGNER. A name of Odin.

ROSKVA. Thor’s maiden follower.

SAHRIMNER. The boar on which the gods and heroes in Valhal live.

SAD. A name of Odin.

SAGA. The goddess of history.

SAGER. The bucket carried by Bil and Hjuke.

SANGETAL. A name of Odin.

SEKIN. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

SESSRYMNER. Freyja’s palace.

SIAR. A dwarf.

SID. A stream flowing from Hvergelmer.

SIDHOT. A name of Odin.

SIDSKEG. A name of Odin.

SIF. Thor’s wife.

SIGFATHER. A name of Odin.

SIGFRID. The hero in the Niblung story; the same as Sigurd.

SIGMUND. Son of Volsung. Also son of Sigurd and Gudrun.

SINDRE. A dwarf.

SIGTYR. A name of Odin.

SIGYN. Loke’s wife.

SIGURD. The hero in the Niblung story; identical with Sigfrid.

SILVERTOP. One of the horses of the gods.

SIMUL. The pole on which Bil and Hjuke carried the bucket.

SINFJOTLE. Son of Sigmund.

SINER. One of the horses of the gods.

SJOFN. One of the asynjes.

SKADE. A giantess; daughter of Thjasse and wife of Njord.

SKEGGOLD. A valkyrie.

SKEIDBRIMER. One of the horses of the gods.

SKIDBLADNER. Frey’s ship.

SKIFID. A dwarf.

SKIFIR. A dwarf.

SKILFING. A name of Odin.

SKINFAXE. The horse of Day.

SKIRNER. Frey’s messenger.

SKOGUL. A valkyrie.

SKOL. The wolf that pursues the sun.

SKRYMER. The name assumed by Utgard-Loke; a giant.

SKULD. The norn of the future.

SLEIPNER. Odin’s eight-footed steed.

SLID. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

SLIDRUGTANNE. Frey’s boar.

SNOTRA. One of the asynjes.

SOKMIMER. A giant slain by Odin.

SOKVABEK. A mansion, where Odin and Saga quaff from golden beakers.

SOL. Daughter of Mundilfare.

SON. One of the vessels containing the poetic mead.

SORLE. Son of Jonaker and Gudrun; avenges the death of Svanhild.

SUDRE. A dwarf.

SUN. Identical with Sol.

SURT. Guards Muspelheim. A fire-giant in Ragnarok.

SUTTUNG. The giant possessing the poetic mead.

SVADE. A giant.

SVADILFARE. A horse, the sire of Sleipner.

SVAFNER. A serpent under Ygdrasil.

SVANHILD. Daughter of Sigurd and Gudrun.

SVARIN. A dwarf.

SVARTALFAHEIM. The home of the swarthy elves.

SVARTHOFDE. The ancestor of all enchanters.

SVASUD. The name of a giant; father of summer.

SVIAGRIS. A ring demanded by the berserks for Rolf Krake.

SVID. A name of Odin.

SVIDAR. A name of Odin.

SVIDR. A name of Odin.

SVIDRE. A name of Odin.

SVIDRIR. A name of Odin.

SVIDUR. A name of Odin.

SVIPDAG. The betrothed of Menglad.

SVIPOL. A name of Odin.

SVOL. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

SVOLNE. A name of Odin.

SYLG. A stream flowing from Hvergelmer.

SYN. A minor goddess.

SYR. A name of Freyja.

TANGNJOST. } Thor’s goats.

TANGRISNER. }

THEK. A dwarf; also a name of Odin.

THJALFE. The name of Thor’s man-servant.

THJASSE. A giant; the father of Njord’s wife, Skade.

THJODNUMA. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

THOK. Loke in the disguise of a woman.

THOL. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

THOR. Son of Odin and Fjorgyn. The god of thunder.

THORIN. A dwarf.

THORN. A giant.

THRIDE. A name of Odin.

THRO. A dwarf; also a name of Odin.

THROIN. A dwarf.

THROR. A name of Odin.

THRUD. A valkyrie.

THUD. A name of Odin.

THUL. A stream flowing from Hvergelmer.

THUND. A name of Odin.

THVITE. A stone used in chaining the Fenris-wolf.

THYN. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

TYR. The one-armed god of war.

UD. A name of Odin.

UKKO. The god of thunder in Tshudic mythology.

UKKO-THOR. A name for Thor.

ULLER. Son of Sif and step-son of Thor.

URD. The norn of the past.

UTGARD. The abode of the giant Utgard-Loke.

UTGARD-LOKE. A giant visited by Thor; identical with Skrymer.

VAFTHRUDNER. A giant visited by Odin.

VAFUD. A name of Odin.

VAFURLOGE. The bickering flame surrounding Brynhild on Hindfell.

VAK. A name of Odin.

VALASKJALF. One of Odin’s dwellings.

VALE. Brother of Balder; kills Hoder.

VALFATHER. A name of Odin.

VALHAL. The hall to which Odin invites those slain in battle.

VANADIS. A name of Freyja.

VANAHEIM. The home of the vans.

VAR. The goddess of betrothals and marriages.

VARTARE. The thread with which the mouth of Loke was sewed together.

VASAD. The grandfather of Winter.

VE. A brother of Odin. (Odin, Vile and Ve).

VEDFOLNER. A hawk in Ygdrasil.

VEGSVIN. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

VEGTAM. A name of Odin.

VERATYR. A name of Odin.

VERDANDE. The norn of the present.

VESTRE. A dwarf.

VID. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

VIDAR. Son of Odin and the giantess Grid.

VIDBLAIN. The third heaven.

VIDFIN. The father of Bil and Hjuke.

VIDOLF. The ancestor of the valas.

VIDRER. A name of Odin.

VIDUR. A name of Odin.

VIG. A dwarf.

VIGRID. The field of battle where the gods and the hosts of Surt meet in

Ragnarok.

VILE. Brother of Odin and Ve.

VILMEIDE. The ancestor of all wizards.

VIMER. A river that Thor crosses.

VIN. A river that flows from Hvergelmer.

VINA. A river that flows from Hvergelmer.

VINDALF. A dwarf.

VINDLONG. One of the names of the father of winter.

VINDSVAL. One of the names of the father of winter.

VINGNER. A name of Thor.

VINGOLF. The palace of the asynjes.

VINGTHOR. A name of Thor.

VIRFIR. A dwarf.

VIT. A dwarf.

VOLSUNGS. The descendants of Volsung.

VON. A river formed by the saliva running from the mouth of the chained

Fenris-wolf.

VOR. One of the asynjes.

WODAN. A name of Odin.

YDALER. Uller’s dwelling.

YG. A name of Odin.

YGDRASIL. The world-embracing ash-tree.

YLG. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

YMER. The huge giant out of whose body the world was created.

INDEX.

[Transcriber’s Note:

Page references in the 5-10 range do not correspond reliably to actual

citations; pages 5 and 6 do not exist at all. It is possible that the

Preface was rewritten and repaginated between 1879 (the original date

of the book) and 1901 (the date of the printing used as the basis for

this e-text).]

A

Abel, 265.

Academy (London), 252.

Achilleus, 167, 168.

Adam, 33.

Adela, 255.

Adils, 215, 217.

Ae, 71.

Æger, 153, 154, 159, 160, 162, 164, 169, 176-189, 196, 240, 260.

Æneas, 168, 221-224, 229, 242.

Africa and Africans, 36, 38, 225.

Ainbet, 255.

Ainos, 221.

Aldafather, 246.

Ale, 89, 168, 215.

Alf, 71.

Alfather, 65, 69, 72, 77, 80, 81, 92, 94, 98, 106, 245, 246, 259.

Alfheim, 77, 183.

Alfrig, 261.

Alsace, 255.

Alsvid, 66.

Althjof, 70.

Alvis, 251.

America, 30, 244.

Amsvartner, 94.

Anchises, 223, 229.

Andhrimner, 104.

Andlang, 78.

Andvare, 71, 194, 195, 199-201.

Andvarenaut, 200.

Angerboda, 91.

Anglo-Saxon, 258.

Annan, 45.

Annar, 65.

Argulos, 41.

Ariadne, 29.

Ariel, 253.

Ark, 33.

Arndt, 257, 258.

Arvak, 66.

Asaheim, 226, 259.

Asaland, 226, 234.

Asas, 79-90.

Asa-Thor, 241.

Asburg, 226.

Asgard, 6, 7, 51, 54, 64, 65, 69, 133, 136, 148, 153, 156-158, 164,

168-176, 181, 189, 191, 224, 226, 228, 230, 237.

Asia, 38, 43, 166, 225-229.

Asiamen, 46, 48.

Ask, 5, 64, 243, 250.

Aslaug, 204.

Asmund, 245, 246.

Aspargum, 226.

Asov, 225.

Assor, 229.

Asynjes, 97-100.

Assyrians, 37, 40, 225.

Atlas, 226.

Atle, 198-202, 251.

Atra, 45.

Atrid, 81, 245.

Aud, 65.

Audhumbla, 59, 246.

Audun, 235.

Aurgelmer, 58, 250.

Aurvang, 71.

Austre, 61, 70.

Austria, 255.

B

Baal, 37.

Babylon, 39.

Bafur, 70.

Balder, 6, 7, 8, 46, 83, 84, 89, 131-136, 148, 158, 175, 232, 249, 259,

260, 264, 265.

Baleyg, 81, 245, 247.

Baltic, 223, 231.

Banquo, 253.

Bar, 61, 64, 250.

Bar-Isle, 102.

Bauge, 162, 163.

Bavaria, 256.

Bedvig, 45.

Beigud, 215.

Bel, 37.

Beldegg, 46.

Bele, 102, 103, 145, 175, 262.

Beowulf, 262.

Bergelmer, 60, 250.

Bergmann, Fr., 18, 221.

Berling, 261.

Bestla, 60, 250.

Biflide, 54.

Biflinde, 54, 81, 245.

Bifrost, 68, 73, 74, 77, 88, 108, 142.

Bifur, 70.

Bikke, 202, 203.

Bil, 66, 99, 250.

Bileyg, 81, 245.

Bilskirner, 82, 259.

Bjaf, 45.

Bjalfe, 233.

Bjar, 45.

Bjarnhedinn, 233.

Black Sea, 225, 229.

Blackwell, W. L., 15, 18.

Blain, 70.

Blind, Karl, 252-256.

Blodughofde, 260.

Blueland, 225, 226.

Bodn, 160-165.

Bodvar Bjarke, 215.

Bol, 106.

Bolthorn, 60, 250.

Bolverk, 81, 162, 163, 245.

Bombur, 70.

Bor, 50, 61, 64, 250.

Borgundarholm, 240.

Bornholm, 240.

Bothnia, 240.

Brage, 6, 9, 16, 25, 50, 87, 108, 153, 154, 159, 160, 164, 166, 169,

184, 187, 189, 205, 231, 260.

Brander, 46.

Breidablik, 77, 84, 232, 259.

Brimer, 147, 166.

Brising, 97, 186, 261, 262.

Britain, 230.

Brok, 190-192.

Brynhild, 198-201, 262, 267.

Budd, 244.

Buddha, 244.

Budle, 198, 201.

Bue, 240.

Bugge, Sophus, 18.

Bure, 5, 60, 250.

Byleist, 91, 144.

Byrger, 66.

C

Cæsar, 233.

Cain, 265.

Carlyle, Sir Thomas, 22, 252.

Carthage, 31, 242.

Cato, the Elder, 31.

Caucasian, 226.

Celtic, 239, 240, 244.

Cerberos, 41.

Chaldeans, 40.

Chasgar, 226.

China, 28.

Chlotildis, 255.

Christ, 201, 221, 223.

Cicero, 229.

Columbus, 30.

Cottle, A. S., 15.

Crete, 28, 39-42.

D

Dain, 70, 75.

Dainsleif, 219.

Dane, 46.

Danube, 230.

Dardanos, 42.

Dasent, G. W., 15, 16, 18.

Day, 65, 66.

Daybreak, 65.

Delling, 65.

Denmark, 50, 206, 207, 214, 222, 230, 231, 239, 242, 251.

Dido, 242.

Dietrich, Fr., 18.

Dippold, G. Theo., 267.

Dolgthvare, 71.

Don, 225, 229.

Dore, 71.

Dornröschen, 254.

Draupner, 71, 134, 136, 187.

Drome, 93.

Duf, 71.

Duney, 75.

Durathro, 75.

Durin, 70.

Dvalin, 70, 74, 75, 261.

E

Egilsson, S., 18, 19.

Eikenskjalde, 71.

Eikthyrner, 106.

Eilif, 179.

Eimyrja, 240.

Eindride, 175.

Eir, 97.

Ekin, 106.

Elder, 188.

Eldhrimner, 104.

Elenus, 168.

Eline, 251.

Elivogs, 5, 57, 59, 173, 248.

Eljudner, 92.

Elle, 124, 127.

Embla, 5, 64, 243, 250.

Emerson, R. W., 22.

Endil, 180.

Enea, 38, 221, 225.

England, 30, 48, 222, 232, 239, 250, 258.

Erichthonios, 221.

Erp, 202-205.

Ethiopia, 225.

Ettmüller, Ludw., 18.

Europe, 38, 221-230, 241, 254.

Eve, 33.

Eylime, 196.

Eysa, 240.

Eyvind Skaldespiller, 236.

F

Fafner, 193-201, 263.

Fal, 71.

Falhofner, 73, 260.

Farbaute, 91, 185.

Farmagod, 81, 247.

Farmatyr, 81, 165, 245.

Faye, A., 257.

Fenja, 206-208, 267.

Fenris-wolf, 8, 87, 91-96, 104, 141, 142, 148, 149, 168.

Fensaler, 97, 132.

Fid, 71.

File, 71.

Fimafeng, 188.

Fimbul, 56.

Fimbulthul, 106.

Fimbul-tyr, 5, 6, 8.

Fimbul-winter, 7, 140, 264.

Finnish, 239, 240, 241, 250.

Finnsleif, 215.

Fjalar, 160, 161.

Fjarlaf, 45.

Fjolner, 54, 81, 207, 238, 245.

Fjolsvid, 81, 245, 246.

Fjorgvin, 65.

Fjorm, 106.

Folkvang, 86, 259.

Forestier, Auber, 262, 263, 266, 267.

Form, 56, 241.

Fornjot, 239-243.

Forsete, 89, 90, 153, 259, 260.

Frananger Force, 137.

Frankland, 46.

Fraser’s Magazine, 253.

Freke, 105.

Freovit, 46.

Frey, 6, 7, 8, 85, 86, 94, 101-103, 109-112, 134, 142, 143, 153, 187,

191, 192, 227, 228, 237-239, 243, 260, 262, 264.

Freyja, 6, 7, 29, 85, 86, 97, 110, 134, 153, 157, 170, 183, 187, 228,

232, 239, 259, 261, 262.

Fridleif, 45, 46, 206, 218.

Frigialand, 168.

Frigg, 6, 7, 43, 45, 65, 80, 94, 97, 98, 131-136, 145, 153, 176, 187,

227.

Frigia, 43.

Frigida, 45.

Frjodiger, 46.

Frode, 41, 206-213, 238, 267.

Froste, 71, 240, 241.

Fulla, 97, 136, 153, 187.

Fundin, 71.

Funen, 231.

Fyre, 216.

Fyrisvold, 187, 217.

G

Gaelic, 257.

Gagnrad, 247.

Galar, 160, 161.

Gandolf, 70.

Gandvik, 179.

Gang, 159.

Ganglare, 81.

Ganglate, 92.

Ganglere, 245, 246, 247.

Ganglot, 92.

Gangrad, 58.

Gardarike, 230.

Gardie, de la, 17.

Gardrofa, 99.

Garm, 8, 108, 143.

Gaut, 81.

Gave, 46.

Gefjun, 49, 50, 97, 153, 187, 231, 242.

Gefn, 97.

Gegenwart, Die, 252.

Geibel, Em., 267.

Geir, 46.

Geirabod, 99.

Geirrod, 81, 176-183, 245, 246.

Geir Skogul, 252.

Geirvimul, 106.

Gelgja, 96.

Gelmer, 248.

Gerd, 101-113, 153, 228, 238, 262, 265.

Gere, 105, 261.

Germania (of Tacitus), 244.

Germany, 30, 222, 230, 239, 250-256.

Gersame, 238.

Gertraud, 255.

Gibraltar, 225, 230.

Gill, 250.

Gilling, 161.

Gimle, 9, 54, 77, 78, 147, 247.

Ginnar, 71.

Ginungagap, 5, 56, 57, 58, 61, 72, 243, 247-249.

Gipul, 106.

Gisl, 73, 260.

Gissur, Jarl, 24.

Gjallar-bridge, 135, 249.

Gjallarhorn, 72, 88, 142.

Gjallar-river, 135.

Gjalp, 178, 179, 180, 182.

Gjoll, 56, 96, 248.

Gjuke, 199, 204, 206, 266.

Gjukungs, 193-201.

Glad, 73, 260.

Gladsheim, 28, 69, 259.

Glam, 183.

Glapsvid, 81, 245.

Glaser, 187, 199.

Gleipner, 87, 94.

Glener, 66.

Gler, 73, 260.

Glitner, 77, 89, 90, 259.

Glod, 240.

Gloin, 71.

Glora, 44.

Gna, 98, 99.

Gnipa-cave, 8, 143.

Gnita-heath, 196-200.

God, 33-40, 54.

Godheim, 225, 236.

Goe, 241.

Goin, 75.

Gol, 99.

Golden Age, 69-71.

Goldfax, 169, 176.

Gomul, 106.

Gondler, 81, 245.

Gondul, 252.

Gopul, 106.

Gor, 241.

Got, 246.

Gote, 199.

Gothorm, 198-211.

Gotland, 206.

Goransson, J., 18.

Grabak, 76.

Grad, 106.

Grafvitner, 75.

Grafvollud, 76.

Gram, 199, 200.

Grane, 198.

Grave, 199.

Gray, 16.

Greece and Greeks, 28, 31, 39-43, 222-229, 250.

Greenland, 30.

Greip, 178-183.

Grid, 177.

Gridarvol, 177, 181.

Grim, 81, 245, 246.

Grimhild, 198.

Grimm (Brothers), 244, 253, 258.

Grimner, 81, 244, 245, 247, 248.

Grjottungard, 171, 174.

Groa, 173, 174.

Grotte, 207, 210.

Grottesong, 207, 208.

Guatemala, 88, 244.

Gud, 100.

Gudny, 198.

Gudolf, 45.

Gudrun, 179-203.

Gullinburste, 134.

Gullintanne, 88.

Gulltop, 73, 88, 134, 259.

Gullveig, 252, 265.

Gungner, 142, 189-192.

Gunlad, 160-165.

Gunn, 252.

Gunnar, 198-203.

Gunnthro, 56, 248.

Gunthrain, 106.

Gwodan, 244.

Gylfe, 9, 16, 46, 49, 50, 51, 52, 151, 221, 224, 231, 232, 242.

Gyller, 73, 260.

Gymer, 101, 103, 238.

H

Ha, 218.

Habrok, 108.

Hafthor, 235.

Hakon, 21-24, 236.

Haleygjatal, 47.

Halfdan, 213.

Hallinskide, 88.

Haloge, 240.

Halogeland, 240.

Ham, 35, 36.

Hamder, 202, 206.

Hamskerper, 99.

Hangagod, 81.

Hangatyr, 165.

Haptagod, 81.

Har, 71, 81, 243-246.

Harald Harfager, 51, 243.

Harbard, 245.

Hate, 67.

Haustlong, 184.

Hebrew, 37.

Hedin, 218, 219.

Hedinians, 219.

Heide, 252.

Heidrun, 106.

Heimdal, 6, 8, 88, 89, 134, 142, 143, 153, 232, 259, 260.

Heimer, 204.

Heimskringla, 10, 22, 50, 57, 221, 224, 239, 242, 243, 263.

Hekate, 255.

Hektor, 43, 151, 167, 168.

Hel, 6, 7, 55, 56, 57, 91-96, 133, 135-137, 142, 144, 148, 248, 255,

264.

Helblinde, 81, 91, 245.

Held, 255.

Helge Hundings-Bane, 248.

Helgeland, 240.

Helmet-bearer, 245.

Henderson, 16.

Hendride, 44.

Hengekjapt, 207.

Hengist, 46, 229.

Hepte, 71.

Herakles, 41.

Heran, 54.

Herbert, 16.

Herfather, 247.

Herfjoter, 99.

Herikon, 43, 221.

Herjan, 54, 81, 245, 247.

Hermanric, 262.

Hermod, 45, 133, 135, 136, 249, 260.

Hero-book, 250.

Herodotos, 22.

Herteit, 81, 245.

Hesse (Rhenish), 255.

Hild, 99, 198, 218, 219, 252.

Hildebrand, Karl, 18.

Hildesvin, 215.

Himminbjorg, 77, 88, 89, 232, 259.

Hindfell, 199.

Hjaddingavig, 219.

Hjalmbore, 81.

Hjalprek, 196.

Hjalte the Valiant, 215.

Hjarrande, 218.

Hjordis, 196.

Hjuke, 66, 250.

Hledjolf, 71.

Hleidre, 212, 214.

Hler, 153, 240, 243.

Hlidskjalf, 64, 77, 101, 137.

Hlin, 98, 145.

Hlodyn, 145.

Hlok, 99.

Hloride, 44.

Hlymdaler, 204.

Hnikar, 54, 81, 245, 247.

Hnikud, 54, 81, 245.

Hnitbjorg, 161, 162.

Hnos, 97, 238.

Hoder, 7, 89, 132, 148, 260, 265.

Hodmimer’s-holt, 149.

Hofvarpner, 99.

Hogne, 198-218.

Holge, 187.

Holzmann, A., 18.

Homer, 222.

Honer, 84, 153, 155, 157, 184-186, 193, 227, 243.

Hor, 71.

Horn, 97.

Hornklofe, 233.

Horsa, 229.

Howitts, the, 16.

Hrasvelg, 79.

Hreidmar, 193-196.

Hrid, 56.

Hrimfaxe, 65.

Hrimgerd, 251.

Hringhorn, 133.

Hrist, 99.

Hrodvitner, 67.

Hrolf, 241.

Hron, 106.

Hroptatyr, 81, 246.

Hrotte, 196.

Hrungner, 7, 169-176, 210.

Hrym, 141-144.

Hvergelmer, 56, 72, 75, 106, 148, 243, 248, 249.

Hvitserk, 215.

Huge, 121, 126.

Hugin, 105.

Hugstare, 71.

Humboldt, 244.

Hymer, 128-133, 167, 186.

Hyndla, 249.

Hyrrokken, 133, 134.

I

Iceland, 240.

Ida, 148.

Idavold, 69.

Ide, 159.

Idun, 6, 7, 10, 28, 87, 88, 153, 155, 157, 184-187, 264.

Iliad, 22, 221, 224.

Ilos, 43.

India, 28, 244.

Irmina, 255.

Ironwood, 57.

Isefjord, 231.

Italy, 42, 222.

Ithaca, 223.

Itrman, 45.

Iva, 182.

Ivalde, 112, 189.

J

Jack, 247, 250.

Jafnhar, 81, 243, 245, 246.

Jalanger, 207.

Jalg, 54.

Jalk, 54, 81, 245-247.

Jamieson, 16.

Japhet, 35.

Jarnsaxa, 173.

Jarnved, 67.

Jarnvidjes, 67.

Jat, 45.

Jerusalem, 225.

Jews, 29.

Johnstown, 232.

Jokul, 240.

Jonaker, 202, 206.

Jonsson (Arngrim), 17.

Jonsson (Th.), 18, 19.

Jord, 65, 100, 174, 175.

Jormungand, 91-96, 144.

Jormunrek, 202-206.

Joruvold, 71.

Jotland, 240.

Jotunheim, 49, 65, 69, 91, 110, 111, 115, 133, 144, 157, 169, 176, 185,

187, 231, 259.

Juno, 40, 250.

Jupiter, 41, 42.

Jutland, 46, 247.

K

Kadmos, 241.

Kalevala, 84.

Kalmuks, 225.

Kann, 254.

Kare, 240-243.

Kemble, 258.

Kerlangs, 73.