Chapter X: Introduction (6)

But already in the beginning of time evil powers appear for the purpose of opposing and ruining the good influences from the world of gods upon mankind. Just as Heimdal, "the fast traveller," proceeds from house to house, forming new ties in society and giving instruction in what is good and useful, thus we soon find a messenger of evil wandering about between the houses in Midgard, practising the black art and stimulating the worst passions of the human soul. The messenger comes from the powers of frost, the enemies of creation. It is a giantess, the daughter of the giant _Hrimnir_ (Hyndlulj., 32), known among the gods as Gulveig and by other names (see Nos. 34, 35), but on her wanderings on earth called _Heidr_. "Heid they called her (Gulveig) when she came to the children of men, the crafty, prophesying vala, who practised sorcery (_vitti ganda_), practised the evil art, caused by witchcraft misfortunes, sickness, and death (_leikin_, see No. 67), and was always sought by bad women." Thus Voeluspa describes her. The important position Heid occupies in regard to the corruption of ancient man, and the consequences of her appearance for the gods, for man, and for nature (see below), have led Voeluspa's author, in spite of his general poverty of words, to describe her with a certain fulness, pointing out among other things that she was the cause of the first war in the world. That the time of her appearance was during the life of Borgar and his son shall be demonstrated below.

In connection with this moral corruption, and caused by the same powers hostile to the world, there occur in this epoch such disturbances in nature that the original home of man and culture--nay, all Midgard--is threatened with destruction on account of long, terrible winters. A series of connected myths tell of this. Ancient artists--forces at work in the growth of nature--personifications of the same kind as Rigveda's Ribhus, that had before worked in harmony with the gods, become, through the influence of Loke, foes of Asgard, their work becoming as harmful as it before was beneficent, and seek to destroy what Odin had created (see Nos. 111 and 112). Idun, with her life-renewing apples, is carried by Thjasse away from Asgard to the northernmost wilderness of the world, and is there concealed. Freyja, the goddess of fertility, is robbed and falls into the power of giants. Frey, the god of harvests, falls sick. The giant king Snow and his kinsmen _Thorri_ (Black Frost), _Joekull_ (the Glacier), &c., extend their sceptres over Scandia.

Already during Heimdal's reign, after his protege Borgar had grown up, something happens which forebodes these terrible times, but still has a happy issue.

28A.

HEIMDAL AND THE SUN-DIS (Dis-goddess).

In Saxo's time there was still extant a myth telling how Heimdal, as the ruler of the earliest generation, got himself a wife. The myth is found related as history in _Historia Danica_, pp. 335-337. Changed into a song of chivalry in middle age style, we find it on German soil in the poem concerning king Ruther.

Saxo relates that a certain king Alf undertook a perilous journey of courtship, and was accompanied by Borgar. Alf is the more noble of the two; Borgar attends him. This already points to the fact that the mythic figure which Saxo has changed into a historical king must be Heimdal, Borgar's co-father, his ruler and fosterer, otherwise Borgar himself would be the chief person in his country, and could not be regarded as subject to anyone else. Alf's identity with Heimdal is corroborated by "King Ruther," and to a degree also by the description Saxo makes of his appearance, a description based on a definite mythic prototype. Alf, says Saxo, had a fine exterior, and over his hair, though he was young, a so remarkably white splendour was diffused that rays of light seemed to issue from his silvery locks (_cujus etiam insignem candore caesariem tantus comae decor asperierat, ut argenteo crine nitere putaretur_). The Heimdal of the myth is a god of light, and is described by the colour applied to pure silver in the old Norse literature to distinguish it from that which is alloyed; he is _hviti ass_ (Gylfag., 27) and _hvitastr asa_ (Thrymskvida, 5); his teeth glitter like gold, and so does his horse. We should expect that the maid whom Alf, if he is Heimdal, desires to possess belongs like himself to the divinities of light. Saxo also says that her beauty could make one blind if she was seen without her veil, and her name Alfhild belongs, like Alfsol, Hild, Alfhild Solglands, Svanhild Guldfjaeder, to that class of names by which the sundises, mother and daughter, were transferred from mythology to history. She is watched by two dragons. Suitors who approach her in vain get their heads chopped off and set up on poles (thus also in "King Ruther"). Alf conquers the guarding dragons; but at the advice of her mother Alfhild takes flight, puts on a man's clothes and armour, and becomes a female warrior, fighting at the head of other Amazons. Alf and Borgar search for and find the troop of Amazons amid ice and snow. It is conquered and flies to "Finnia," Alf and Borgar pursue them thither. There is a new conflict. Borgar strikes the helmet from Alfhild's head. She has to confess herself conquered, and becomes Alf's wife.

In interpreting the mythic contents of this story we must remember that the lad who came with the sheaf of grain to Scandia needed the help of the sun for the seed which he brought with him to sprout, before it could give harvests to the inhabitants. But the saga also indicates that the sun-dis had veiled herself, and made herself as far as possible unapproachable, and that when Heimdal had forced himself into her presence she fled to northern ice-enveloped regions, where the god and his foster-son, sword in hand, had to fetch her, whereupon a happy marriage between him and the sun-dis secures good weather and rich harvests to the land over which he rules. At the first glance it might seem as if this myth had left no trace in our Icelandic records. This is, however, not the case. Its fundamental idea, that the sun at one time in the earliest ages went astray from southern regions to the farthest north and desired to remain there, but that it was brought back by the might of the gods who created the world, and through them received, in the same manner as Day and Night, its course defined and regularly established, we find in the Voeluspa strophe, examined with so great acumen by Julius Hoffory, which speaks of a bewilderment of this kind on the part of the sun, occurring before it yet "knew its proper sphere," and in the following strophe, which tells how the all-holy gods thereupon held solemn council and so ordained the activity of these beings, that time can be divided and years be recorded by their course. Nor is the marriage into which the sun-dis entered forgotten. Skaldskaparmal quotes a strophe from Skule Thorsteinson where Sol[12] is called _Glenr's_ wife. That he whom the skald characterises by this epithet is a god is a matter of course. _Glenr_ signifies "the shining one," and this epithet was badly chosen if it did not refer to "the most shining of the Asas," _hvitastr asa_--that is, Heimdal.

The fundamental traits of "King Ruther" resemble Saxo's story. There, too, it is a king who undertakes a perilous journey of courtship and must fight several battles to win the wondrous fair maiden whose previous suitors had had to pay for their eagerness by having their heads chopped off and fastened on poles. The king is accompanied by Berter, identical with Berchtung-Borgar, but here, as always in the German story, described as the patriarch and adviser. A giant, Vidolt--Saxo's Vitolphus, Hyndluljod's _Vidolfr_--accompanies Ruther and Berter on the journey; and when Vitolphus in Saxo is mentioned under circumstances which show that he accompanied Borgar on a warlike expedition, and thereupon saved his son Halfdan's life, there is no room for doubt that Saxo's saga and "King Ruther" originally flowed from the same mythic source. It can also be demonstrated that the very name Ruther is one of those epithets which belong to Heimdal. The Norse _Hrutr_ is, according to the Younger Edda (i. 588, 589), a synonym of _Heimdali_, and _Heimdali_ is another form of _Heimdall_ (Isl., i. 231). As _Hrutr_ means a ram, and as _Heimdali_ is an epithet of a ram (see Younger Edda, i. 589), light is thrown upon the bold metaphors, according to which "head," "Heimdal's head," and "Heimdal's sword" are synonyms (Younger Edda, i. 100, 264; ii. 499). The ram's head carries and is the ram's sword. Of the age of this animal symbol we give an account in No. 82. There is reason for believing that Heimdal's helmet has been conceived as decorated with ram's horns.[13] A strophe quoted in the Younger Edda (i. 608) mentions Heimdal's helmet, and calls the sword the _fyllr_ of Heimdal's helmet, an ambiguous expression, which may be interpreted as that which fills Heimdal's helmet; that is to say, Heimdal's head, but also as that which has its place on the helmet. Compare the expression _fyllr hilmis stols_ as a metaphor for the power of the ruler.

[Footnote 12: Sol is feminine in the Teutonic tongues.--TR.]

[Footnote 13: That some one of the gods has worn a helmet with such a crown can be seen on one of the golden horns found near Gallehuus. There twice occurs a being wearing a helmet furnished with long, curved, sharp pointed horns. Near him a ram is drawn and in his hand he has something resembling a staff which ends in a circle, and possibly is intended to represent Heimdal's horn.]

28B.

LOKE CAUSES ENMITY BETWEEN THE GODS AND THE
ORIGINAL ARTISTS (THE CREATORS OF ALL THINGS
GROWING). THE CONSEQUENCE IS THE FIMBUL-WINTER
AND EMIGRATIONS.

The danger averted by Heimdal when he secured the sun-dis with bonds of love begins in the time of Borgar. The corruption of nature and of man go hand in hand. Borgar has to contend with robbers (_pugiles_ and _piratae_), and among them the prototype of pirates--that terrible character, remembered also in Icelandic poetry, called _Rodi_ (Saxo, _Hist._, 23, 345). The moderate laws given by Heimdal had to be made more severe by Borgar (_Hist._, 24, 25).

While the moral condition in Midgard grows worse, Loke carries out in Asgard a cunningly-conceived plan, which seems to be to the advantage of the gods, but is intended to bring about the ruin of both the gods and man. His purpose is to cause enmity between the original artists themselves and between them and the gods.

Among these artists the sons of Ivalde constitute a separate group. Originally they enjoyed the best relations to the gods, and gave them the best products of their wonderful art, for ornament and for use. Odin's spear _Gungnir_, the golden locks on Sif's head, and Frey's celebrated ship Skidbladner, which could hold all the warriors of Asgard and always had favourable wind, but which also could be folded as a napkin and be carried in one's pocket (Gylfaginning), had all come from the workshop of these artists.

Ivalda synir The sons of Ivalde
gengu i ardaga went in ancient times
Scidbladni at skapa, to make Skidbladner,
scipa bezt, among ships the best,
scirom Frey, for the shining Frey,
nytom Njardar bur. Njord's useful son.

(Grimnismal.)

Another group of original artists were Sindre and his kinsmen, who dwelt on Nida's plains in the happy domain of the lower world (Voelusp., Nos. 93, 94). According to the account given in Gylfaginning, ch. 37, Loke meets Sindre's brother Brok, and wagers his head that Sindre cannot make treasures as good as the above-named gifts from Ivalde's sons to the Asas. Sindre then made in his smithy the golden boar for Frey, the ring Draupner for Odin, from which eight gold rings of equal weight drop every ninth night, and the incomparable hammer Mjolner for Thor. When the treasures were finished, Loke cunningly gets the gods to assemble for the purpose of deciding whether or not he has forfeited his head. The gods cannot, of course, decide this without at the same time passing judgment on the gifts of Sindre and those of Ivalde's sons, and showing that one group of artists is inferior to the other. And this is done. Sindre's treasures are preferred, and thus the sons of Ivalde are declared to be inferior in comparison. But at the same time Sindre fails, through the decision of the gods, to get the prize agreed on. Both groups of artists are offended by the decision.

Gylfaginning does not inform us whether the sons of Ivalde accepted the decision with satisfaction or anger, or whether any noteworthy consequences followed or not. An entirely similar judgment is mentioned in Rigveda (see No. 111). The judgment there has the most important consequences: hatred toward the artists who were victorious, and toward the gods who were the judges, takes possession of the ancient artist who was defeated, and nature is afflicted with great suffering. That the Teutonic mythology has described similar results of the decision shall be demonstrated in this work.

Just as in the names _Alveig_ and _Almveig_, _Bil-roest_ and _Bifroest_, _Arinbjoern_ and _Grjotbjorn_, so also in the name _Ivaldi_ or _Ivaldr_, the latter part of the word forms the permanent part, corresponding to the Old English Valdere, the German Walther, the Latinised Waltharius.[14]

The former part of the word may change without any change as to the person indicated: _Ivaldi_, _Allvaldi_, _Oelvaldi_, _Audvaldi_, may be names of one and the same person. Of these variations _Ivaldi_ and _Allvaldi_ are in their sense most closely related, for the prefix I (_Id_) and _All_ may interchange in the language without the least change in the meaning. Compare _all-likr_, _ilikr_, and _idglikr_; _all-litill_ and _ilitill_; _all-nog_, _ignog_ and _idgnog_. On the other hand, the prefixes in _Oelvaldi_ and _Audvaldi_ produce different meanings of the compound word. But the records give most satisfactory evidence that _Oelvaldi_ and _Audvaldi_ nevertheless are the same person as _Allvaldi_ (Ivaldi). Thjasse's father is called in Harbardsljod (19) _Allvaldi_; in the Younger Edda (i. 214) _Oelvaldi_ and _Audvaldi_. He has three sons, Ide, Gang, also called Urner (the Grotte-song), and the just-named Thjasse, who are the famous ancient artists, "the sons of Ivalde" (_Ivalda synir_). We here point this out in passing. Complete statement and proof of this fact, so important from a mythological standpoint, will be given in Nos. 113, 114, 115.

Nor is it long before it becomes apparent what the consequences are of the decision pronounced by the Asas on Loke's advice upon the treasures presented to the gods. The sons of Ivalde regarded it as a mortal offence, born of the ingratitude of the gods. Loke, the originator of the scheme, is caught in the snares laid by Thjasse in a manner fully described in Thjodolf's poem "Haustlaung," and to regain his liberty he is obliged to assist him (Thjasse) in carrying Idun away from Asgard.

(_From an etching by Lorenz Froelich._)

Thjasse was known as the storm-giant who having been born in deformity was ever seeking golden apples from Idun to cure his ugliness. Upon one occasion assuming the form of an eagle he interrupted a feast of Odin, Honer and Loke and when the latter attempted to strike the voracious bird with a stake found himself fastened to both stake and eagle and was borne away shrieking for mercy. Thjasse promised to release Loke if he would bring to him Idun and her golden apples. Loke in fulfillment of his promise beguiled Idun out of Asgard whereupon Thjasse in the form of an eagle seized the goddess in his talons and bore her away to his castle, Thrymheim. He was soon afterwards killed by the gods, and Idun was released.]

Idun, who possesses "the Asas' remedy against old age," and keeps the apples which symbolise the ever-renewing and rejuvenating force of nature, is carried away by Thjasse to a part of the world inaccessible to the gods. The gods grow old, and winter extends its power more and more beyond the limits prescribed for it in creation. Thjasse, who before was the friend of the gods, is now their irreconcilable foe. He who was the promoter of growth and the benefactor of nature--for Sif's golden locks, and Skidbladner, belonging to the god of fertility, doubtless are symbols thereof--is changed into "the mightiest foe of earth," _dolg ballastan vallar_ (Haustl., 6), and has wholly assumed the nature of a giant.

At the same time, with the approach of the great winter, a terrible earthquake takes place, the effects of which are felt even in heaven. The myth in regard to this is explained in No. 81. In this explanation the reader will find that the great earthquake in primeval time is caused by Thjasse's kinswomen on his mother's side (the Grotte-song)--that is, by the giantesses Fenja and Menja, who turned the enormous world-mill, built on the foundations of the lower world, and working in the depths of the sea, the prototype of the mill of the Grotte-song composed in Christian times; that the world-mill has a _moendull_, the mill-handle, which sweeps the uttermost rim of the earth, with which handle not only the mill-stone but also the starry heavens are made to whirl round; and that when the mill was put in so violent a motion by the angry giantesses that it got out of order, then the starry constellations were also disturbed. The ancient terrible winter and the inclination of the axis of heaven have in the myth been connected, and these again with the close of the golden age. The mill had up to this time ground gold, happiness, peace, and good-will among men; henceforth it grinds salt and dust.

The winter must of course first of all affect those people who inhabited the extensive Svithiod north of the original country and over which another kinsman of Heimdal, the first of the race of Skilfings or Ynglings, ruled. This kinsman of Heimdal has an important part in the mythology, and thereof we shall give an account in Nos. 89, 91, 110, 113-115, and 123. It is there found that he is the same as Ivalde, who, with a giantess, begot the illegitimate children Ide, Urner, and Thjasse. Already before his sons he became the foe of the gods, and from Svithiod now proceeds, in connection with the spreading of the fimbul-winter, a migration southward, the work at the same time of the Skilfings and the primeval artists. The list of dwarfs in Voeluspa has preserved the record of this in the strophe about the artist migration from the rocks of the hall (_Salar steinar_) and from Svarin's mound situated in the north (the Voeluspa strophe quoted in the Younger Edda; cp. Saxo., _Hist._, 32, 33, and Helg. Hund., i. 31, ii. to str. 14). The attack is directed against _aurvanga sjoet_, the land of the clayey plains, and the assailants do not stop before they reach _Joeruvalla_ the Jara plains, which name is still applied to the south coast of Scandinavia (see No. 32). In the pedigree of these emigrants--

their er sottu
fra Salar steina (or Svarins haugi)
aurvanga sjot
til Joeruvalla--

occur the names _Alfr_ and _Yngvi_, who have Skilfing names; _Fjalarr_, who is Ivalde's ally and Odin's enemy (see No. 89); _Finnr_, which is one of the several names of Ivalde himself (see No. 123); _Frosti_, who symbolises cold; _Skirfir_, a name which points to the Skilfings; and _Virfir_, whom Saxo (_Hist. Dan._, 178, 179) speaks of as _Huyrvillus_, and the Icelandic records as _Virvill_ and _Vifill_ (Fornalders. ii. 8; Younger Edda, i. 548). In Fornalders. Vifill is an emigration leader who married to Loge's daughter _Eymyrja_ (a metaphor for fire--Younger Edda, ii. 570), betakes himself from the far North and takes possession of an island on the Swedish coast. That this island is Oland is clear from Saxo, 178, where Huyrvillus is called _Holandiae princeps_. At the same time a brother-in-law of Virfir takes possession of Bornholm, and Gotland is colonised by Thjelvar (_Thjalfi_ of the myth), who is the son of Thjasse's brother (see Nos. 113, 114, 115). _Virfir_ is allied with the sons of _Finnr_ (_Fyn_--Saxo, _Hist._, 178). The saga concerning the emigration of the Longobardians is also connected with the myth about Thjasse and his kinsmen (see Nos. 112-115).

From all this it appears that a series of emigration and colonisation tales have their origin in the myth concerning the fimbul-winter caused by Thjasse and concerning the therewith connected attack by the Skilfings and Thjasse's kinsmen on South Scandinavia, that is, on the clayey plains near Jaravall, where the second son of Heimdal, Skjold-Borgar, rules. It is the remembrance of this migration from north to south which forms the basis of all the Teutonic middle-age migration sagas. The migration saga of the Goths, as Jordanes heard it, makes them emigrate from Scandinavia under the leadership of Berig. (_Ex hac igitur Scandza insula quasi officina gentium aut certe velut vagina nationum cum rege suo Berig Gothi quondam memorantur egressi--De Goth. Orig., c. 4. Meminisse debes, me de Scandzae insulae gremio Gothos dixisse egressos cum Berich suo rege_--c. 17.) The name Berig, also written Berich and Berigo, is the same as the German Berker, Berchtung, and indicates the same person as the Norse _Borgarr_. With Berig is connected the race of the Amalians; with Borgar the memory of Hamal (Amala), who is the foster-brother of Borgar's son (cp. No. 28 with Helge Hund., ii.). Thus the emigration of the Goths is in the myth a result of the fate experienced by Borgar and his people in their original country. And as the Swedes constituted the northernmost Teutonic branch, they were the ones who, on the approach of the fimbul-winter, were the first that were compelled to surrender their abodes and secure more southern habitations. This also appears from saga fragments which have been preserved; and here, but not in the circumstances themselves, lies the explanation of the statements, according to which the Swedes forced Scandinavian tribes dwelling farther south to emigrate. Jordanes (c. 3) claims that the Herulians were driven from their abode in Scandza by the Svithidians, and that the Danes are of Svithidian origin--in other words, that an older Teutonic population in Denmark was driven south, and that Denmark was repeopled by emigrants from Sweden. And in the Norse sagas themselves, the centre of gravity, as we have seen, is continually being moved farther to the south. Heimdal, under the name Scef-Skelfir, comes to the original inhabitants in Scania. Borgar, his son, becomes a ruler there, but founds, under the name Skjold, the royal dynasty of the Skjoldungs in Denmark. With Scef and Skjold the Wessex royal family of Saxon origin is in turn connected, and thus the royal dynasty of the Goths is again connected with the Skjold who emigrated from Scandza, and who is identical with Borgar. And finally there existed in Saxo's time mythic traditions or songs which related that all the present Germany came under the power of the Teutons who emigrated with Borgar; that, in other words, the emigration from the North carried with it the hegemony of Teutonic tribes over other tribes which before them inhabited Germany. Saxo says of Skjold-Borgar that _omnem Alamannorum gentem tributaria ditione perdomuit_; that is, "he made the whole race of Alamanni tributary." The name Alamanni is in this case not to be taken in an ethnographical but in a geographical sense. It means the people who were rulers in Germany before the immigration of Teutons from the North.

From this we see that migration traditions remembered by Teutons beneath Italian and Icelandic skies, on the islands of Great Britain and on the German continent, in spite of their wide diffusion and their separation in time, point to a single root: to the myth concerning the primeval artists and their conflict with the gods; to the robbing of Idun and the fimbul-winter which was the result.

The myth makes the gods themselves to be seized by terror at the fate of the world, and Mimer makes arrangements to save all that is best and purest on earth for an expected regeneration of the world. At the very beginning of the fimbul-winter Mimer opens in his subterranean grove of immortality an asylum, closed against all physical and spiritual evil, for the two children of men, Lif and Lifthrasir (Vafthr., 45), who are to be the parents of a new race of men (see Nos. 52, 53).

The war begun in Borgar's time for the possession of the ancient country continues under his son Halfdan, who reconquers it for a time, invades Svithiod, and repels Thjasse and his kinsmen (see Nos. 32, 33).

[Footnote 14: Elsewhere it shall be shown that the heroes mentioned in the middle age poetry under the names Valdere, Walther, Waltharius manufortis, and Valthere of Vaskasten are all variations of the name of the same mythic type changed into a human hero, and the same, too, as Ivalde of the Norse documents (see No. 123).]

29.

EVIDENCE THAT HALFDAN IS IDENTICAL WITH HELGE
HUNDINGSBANE.

The main outlines of Halfdan's saga reappears related as history, and more or less blended with foreign elements, in Saxo's accounts of the kings Gram, Halfdan Berggram, and Halfdan Borgarson (see No. 23). Contributions to the saga are found in Hyndluljod (str. 14, 15, 16) and in Skaldskaparmal (Younger Edda, i. 516 ff.), in what they tell about Halfdan Skjoldung and Halfdan the Old. The juvenile adventures of the hero have, with some modifications, furnished the materials for both the songs about Helge Hundingsbane, with which Saxo's story of Helgo Hundingicida (_Hist._, 80-110) and Volsungasaga's about Helge Sigmundson are to be compared. The Grotte-song also (str. 22) identifies Helge Hundingsbane with Halfdan.

For the history of the origin of the existing heroic poems from mythic sources, of their relation to these and to each other, it is important to get the original identity of the hero-myth, concerning Halfdan and the heroic poems concerning Helge Hundingsbane, fixed on a firm foundation. The following parallels suffice to show that this Helge is a later time's reproduction of the mythic Halfdan:

Halfdan-Gram, sent on a Helge Hundingsbane, sent
warlike expedition, meets on a warlike expedition,
Groa, who is mounted on meets Sigrun, who is mounted
horseback and accompanied on horseback and is accompanied
by other women on horseback by other women
(Saxo, 26, 27). on horseback (Helge Hund.,
i. 16; Volsungasaga, c. 9).

The meeting takes place in The meeting takes place in
a forest (Saxo, 26). a forest (Vols., c. 9).

Halfdan-Gram is on the Helge is on the occasion
occasion completely wrapped disguised. He speaks fra
in the skin of a wild beast, so ulfidi "from a wolf guise"
that even his face is concealed (Helge Hund., i. 16), which
(Saxo, 26). expression finds its
interpretation
in Saxo, where Halfdan
appears wrapped in the
skin of a wild beast.

Conversation is begun between Conversation is begun between
Halfdan-Gram and Helge and Sigrun.
Groa. Halfdan pretends to be Helge pretends to be a person
a person who is his brother-at-arms who is his foster-brother
(Saxo, 27). (Helge Hund., ii. 6).

Groa asks Halfdan-Gram: Sigrun asks Helge:
Quis, rogo, vestrum Hverir lata fljota
dirigit agmen, fley vid backa,
quo duce signa hvar hermegir
bellica fertis? heima eigud?
(Saxo, 27.) (Helge Hund., ii. 5.)

Halfdan-Gram invites Groa Helge invites Sigrun to
to accompany him. At first accompany him. At first the
the invitation is refused invitation is rebuked (Helge
(Saxo, 27). Hund., i. 16, 17).

Groa's father had already Sigrun's father had already
given her hand to another promised her to another
(Saxo, 26). (Helge Hund., i. 18).

Halfdan-Gram explains Helge explains that this
that this rival ought not to rival should not cause them to
cause them to fear (Saxo, 28). fear (Helge Hund., i., ii.).

Halfdan-Gram makes war Helge makes war on Sigrun's
on Groa's father, on his rival, father, on his rival, and
and on the kinsmen of the latter on the kinsmen of the latter
(Saxo, 32). (Helge Hund., i., ii.).

Halfdan-Gram slays Groa's Helge kills Sigrun's father
father and betrothed, and and suitors, and many heroes
many heroes who belonged to who were the brothers or
his circle of kinsmen or were allies of his rival (Helge
subject to him (Saxo, 32). Hund., ii.).

Halfdan-Gram marries Groa Helge marries Sigrun (Helge
(Saxo, 33). Hund., i. 56).

Halfdan-Gram conquers a Helge conquers Ring's sons
king Ring (Saxo, 32). (Helge Hund., i. 52).

Borgar's son has defeated Helge has slain king Hunding,
and slain king Hunding and thus gotten the
(Saxo, 362; cp. Saxo, 337). name Hundingsbane (Helge
Hund., i. 10).

Halfdan-Gram has felled Helge's rival and the many
Svarin and many of his brothers. brothers of the latter dwell
Svarin was viceroy under around Svarin's grave-mound.
Groa's father (Saxo, 32). They are allies or subjects of
Sigrun's father.

Halfdan-Gram is slain by Helge is slain by Dag, who
Svipdag, who is armed with is armed with an Asgard
an Asgard weapon (Saxo, 34, weapon (Helge Hund., ii.).
to be compared with other
sources. See Nos. 33, 98, 101,
103).

Halfdan-Berggram's father Helge's father was slain by
is slain by his brother Frode, his brother Frode, who took
who took his kingdom (Saxo, his kingdom (Rolf Krake's
320). saga).

Halfdan Berggram and his Helge and his brother were
brother were in their childhood in their childhood protected
protected by Regno by Regin (Rolf Krake's saga).
(Saxo, 320).

Halfdan Berggram and his Helge and his brothers
brother burnt Frode to death burnt Frode to death in his
in his house (Saxo, 323). house (Rolf Krake's saga).

Halfdan Berggram as a Helge Hundingsbane as a
youth left the kingdom to his youth left the kingdom to his
brother and went warfaring brother and went warfaring
(Saxo, 320 ff). (Saxo, 80).

During Halfdan's absence During Helge Hundingsbane's
Denmark is attacked by an absence Denmark is attacked
enemy, who conquers his by an enemy, who conquers
brother in three battles and his brother in three
slays him in a fourth (Saxo, battles and slays him in a
325). fourth (Saxo, 82).

Halfdan, the descendant of Helge Hundingsbane became
Scef and Scyld, becomes the the father of Rolf
father of Rolf (Beowulf (Saxo, 83; compare Rolf
poem). Krake's saga).

Halfdan had a son with his Helge Hundingsbane had a
own sister Yrsa (Grotte-song, son with his own sister Ursa
22; mon Yrsu sonr vid Half-dana (Saxo, 82). The son was Rolf
hefna Froda; sa mun (compare Rolf Krake's saga).
hennar heitinn vertha boerr oc
brothir).

A glance at these parallels is sufficient to remove every doubt that the hero in the songs concerning Helge Hundingsbane is originally the same mythic person as is celebrated in the song or songs from which Saxo gathered his materials concerning the kings, Gram Skjoldson, Halfdan Berggram, and Halfdan Borgarson. It is the ancient myth in regard to Halfdan, the son of Skjold-Borgar, which myth, after the introduction of Christianity in Scandinavia, is divided into two branches, of which the one continues to be the saga of this patriarch, while the other utilises the history of his youth and transforms it into a new saga, that of Helge Hundingsbane. In Saxo's time, and long before him, this division into two branches had already taken place. How this younger branch, Helge Hundingsbane's saga, was afterwards partly appropriated by the all-absorbing Sigurdsaga and became connected with it in an external and purely genealogical manner, and partly did itself appropriate (as in Saxo) the old Danish local tradition about Rolf, the illegitimate son of Halfdan Skjoldung, and, in fact, foreign to his pedigree; how it got mixed with the saga about an evil Frode and his stepsons, a saga with which it formerly had no connection;--all these are questions which I shall discuss fully in a second part of this work, and in a separate treatise on the heroic sagas. For the present, my task is to show what influence this knowledge of Halfdan and Helge Hundingsbane's identity has upon the interpretation of the myth concerning the antiquity of the Teutons.

30.

HALFDAN'S BIRTH AND THE END OF THE AGE OF PEACE.
THE FAMILY NAMES YLFING, HILDING, BUDLUNG.

The first strophes of the first song of Helge Hundingsbane distinguish themselves in tone and character and broad treatment from the continuation of the song, and have clearly belonged to a genuine old mythic poem about Halfdan, and without much change the compiler of the Helge Hundingsbane song has incorporated them into his poem. They describe Halfdan's ("Helge Hundingsbane's") birth. The real mythic names of his parents, Borgar and Drott, have been retained side by side with the names given by the compiler, Sigmund and Borghild.

Ar var alda; It was time's morning,
that er arar gullo, eagles screeched,
hnigo heilog votn holy waters fell
af himinfjollum; from the heavenly mountains.
tha hafthi Helga Then was the mighty
inn hugom stora Helge born
Borghildr borit by Borghild
i Bralundi. in Bralund.

Nott varth i boe, It was night,
nornir qvomo, norns came,
ther er authlingi they who did shape
aldr urn scopo; the fate of the nobleman;
thann batho fylci they proclaimed him
fraegstan vertha best among Budlungs,
oc buthlunga and most famed
beztan ticcia. among princes.

Snero ther af afli With all their might the threads
aurlaugthatto, of fate they twisted,
tha er Borgarr braut when Borgar settled
i Bralundi; in Bralund;
ther um greiddo of gold they made
gullin simo the warp of the web,
oc und manasal and fastened it directly
mithian festo. 'neath the halls of the moon.

ther austr oc vestr In the east and west
enda falo: they hid the ends:
thar atti lofdungr there between
land a milli; the chief should rule;
bra nipt Nera Nere's[15] kinswoman
a nordrevega northward sent
einni festi one thread and bade it
ey bath hon halda. hold for ever.

Eitt var at angri One cause there was
Ylfinga nith of alarm to the Yngling (Borgar),
oc theirre meyio and also for her
er nunuth faeddi; who bore the loved one.
hrafn gvath at hrafni Hungry cawed
--sat a ham meithi raven to raven
andvanr ato:-- in the high tree:
"Ec veit noccoth! "Hear what I know!

"Stendr i brynio "In coat of mail
burr Sigmundar, stands Sigmund's son,
doegrs eins gamall, one day old,
nu er dagr kominn; now the day is come;
hversir augo sharp eyes of the Hildings
sem hildingar, has he, and the wolves'
sa er varga vinr, friend he becomes,
vith scolom teitir." We shall thrive."

Drott thotti sa Drott, it is said, saw
dauglingr vera In him a dayling,[16]
quado meth gumnom saying, "Now are good seasons
god-ar kominn; come among men;"
sialfr gecc visi to the young lord
or vig thrimo from thunder-strife
ungum faera came the chief himself
itrlauc grami. with a glorious flower.

Halfdan's ("Helge Hundingsbane's") birth occurs, according to the contents of these strophes, when two epochs meet. His arrival announces the close of the peaceful epoch and the beginning of an age of strife, which ever since has reigned in the world. His significance in this respect is distinctly manifest in the poem. The raven, to whom the battle-field will soon be as a wellspread table, is yet suffering from hunger (_andvanr atu_); but from the high tree in which it sits, it has on the day after the birth of the child, presumably through the window, seen the newcomer, and discovered that he possessed "the sharp eyes of the Hildings," and with prophetic vision it has already seen him clad in coat of mail. It proclaims its discovery to another raven in the same tree, and foretells that theirs and the age of the wolves has come: "We shall thrive."

The parents of the child heard and understood what the raven said. Among the runes which Heimdal, Borgar's father, taught him, and which the son of the latter in time learned, are the knowledge of bird-speech (_Konr ungr kloek nam fugla_--Rigsthula, 43, 44). The raven's appearance in the song of Helge Hundingsbane is to be compared with its relative the crow in Rigsthula; the one foretells that the new-born one's path of life lies over battle-fields, the other urges the grown man to turn away from his peaceful amusements. Important in regard to a correct understanding of the song, and characteristic of the original relation of the strophes quoted to the myth concerning primeval time, is the circumstance that Halfdan's ("Helge Hundingsbane's") parents are not pleased with the prophecies of the raven; on the contrary they are filled with alarm. Former interpreters have been surprised at this. It has seemed to them that the prophecy of the lad's future heroic and blood-stained career ought, in harmony with the general spirit pervading the old Norse literature, to have awakened the parents' joy and pride. But the matter is explained by the mythic connection which makes Borgars' life constitute the transition period from a happy and peaceful golden age to an age of warfare. With all their love of strife and admiration for warlike deeds, the Teutons still were human, and shared with all other people the opinion that peace and harmony is something better and more desirable than war and bloodshed. Like their Aryan kinsmen, they dreamed of primeval _Saturnia regna_, and looked forward to a regeneration which is to restore the reign of peace. Borgar, in the myth, established the community, was the legislator and judge. He was the hero of peaceful deeds, who did not care to employ weapons except against wild beasts and robbers. But the myth had also equipped him with courage and strength, the necessary qualities for inspiring respect and interest, and had given him abundant opportunity for exhibiting these qualities in the promotion of culture and the maintenance of the sacredness of the law. Borgar was the Hercules of the northern myth, who fought with the gigantic beasts and robbers of the olden time. Saxo (_Hist._, 23) has preserved the traditions which tell how he at one time fought breast to breast with a giant bear, conquering him and bringing him fettered into his own camp.

As is well known, the family names Ylfings, Hildings, Budlungs, &c., have in the poems of the Christian skalds lost their specific application to certain families, and are applied to royal and princely warriors in general. This is in perfect analogy with the Christian Icelandic poetry, according to which it is proper to take the name of any viking, giant, or dwarf, and apply it to any special viking, giant, or dwarf, a poetic principle which scholars even of our time claim can also be applied in the interpretation of the heathen poems. In regard to the old Norse poets this method is, however, as impossible as it would be in Greek poetry to call Odysseus a Peleid, or Achilleus a Laertiatid, or Prometheus Hephaestos, or Hephaestos Daedalos. The poems concerning Helge Hundingsbane are compiled in Christian times from old songs about Borgar's son Halfdan, and we find that the patronymic appellations Ylfing, Hilding, Budlung, and Lofdung are copiously strewn on "Helge Hundingsbane." But, so far as the above-quoted strophes are concerned, it can be shown that the appellations Ylfing, Hilding, and Budlung are in fact old usage and have a mythic foundation. The German poem "Wolfdieterich und Sabin" calls Berchtung (Borgar) Potelung--that is, Budlung; the poem "Wolfdieterich" makes Berchtung the progenitor of the Hildings, and adds: "From the same race the Ylfings have come to us"--_von dem selbe geslehte sint uns die wilfinge kumen_ (v. 223).

Saxo mentions the Hilding Hildeger as Halfdan's half-brother, and the traditions on which the saga of Asmund Kaempebane is based has done the same (compare No. 43). The agreement in this point between German, Danish, and Icelandic statements points to an older source common to them all, and furnishes an additional proof that the German Berchtung occupied in the mythic genaelogies precisely the same place as the Norse Borgar.

That Thor is one of Halfdan's fathers, just as Heimdal is one of Borgar's, has already been pointed out above (see No. 25). To a divine common fatherhood point the words: "Drott it is said, saw in him (the lad just born) a dayling (son of a god of light), a son divine." Who the divine partner-father is, is indicated by the fact that a storm has broken out the night when Drott's son is born. There is a thunder-strife _vig thrimo_, the eagles screech, and holy waters fall from the heavenly mountains (from the clouds). The god of thunder is present, and casts his shadow over the house where the child is born.

[Footnote 15: Urd, the chief goddess of fate. See the treatise "Mythen om Under-jorden."]

[Footnote 16: _Dayling_ = bright son of day or light.]

31.

HALFDAN'S CHARACTER. THE WEAPON-MYTH.

The myths and heroic poems are not wanting in ideal heroes, who are models of goodness of heart, justice, and the most sensitive nobleness. Such are, for example, the Asa-god Balder, his counter part among heroes, Helge Hjorvardson, Beowulf, and, to a certain degree also, Sigurd Fafnesbane. Halfdan did not belong to this group. His part in the myth is to be the personal representative of the strife-age that came with him, of an age when the inhabitants of the earth are visited by the great winter and by dire misfortunes, when the demoralisation of the world has begun along with disturbances in nature and when the words already are applicable, "_hart er i heimi_" (hard is the world). Halfdan is guilty of the abduction of a woman--the old custom of taking a maid from her father by violence or cunning is illustrated in his saga. It follows, however, that the myth at the same time embellished him with qualities which made him a worthy Teutonic patriarch, and attractive to the hearers of the songs concerning him. These qualities are, besides the necessary strength and courage, the above-mentioned knowledge of runes, wherein he even surpasses his father (Rigsth.), great skaldic gifts (Saxo, _Hist._, 325), a liberality which makes him love to strew gold about him (Helge Hund., i. 9), and an extraordinary, fascinating physical beauty--which is emphasised by Saxo (_Hist._, 30), and which is also evident from the fact that the Teutonic myth makes him, as the Greek myth makes Achilleus, on one occasion don a woman's attire, and resemble a valkyrie in this guise (Helge Hund., ii.). No doubt the myth also described him as the model of a faithful foster-brother in his relations to the silent Hamal, who externally was so like him that the one could easily be taken for the other (cp. Helge Hund., ii. 1, 6). In all cases it is certain that the myth made the foster-brotherhood between Halfdan and Hamal the basis of the unfailing fidelity with which Hamal's descendants, the Amalians, cling to the son of Halfdan's favourite Hadding, and support his cause even amid the most difficult circumstances (see Nos. 42, 43). The abduction of a woman by Halfdan is founded in the physical interpretation of the myth, and can thus be justified. The wife he takes by force is the goddess of vegetation, Groa, and he does it because her husband Orvandel has made a compact with the powers of frost (see Nos. 33, 38, 108, 109).

There are indications that our ancestors believed the sword to be a later invention than the other kinds of weapons, and that it was from the beginning under a curse. The first and most important of all sword-smiths was, according to the myth, Thjasse,[17] who accordingly is called _fadir moerna_, the father of the swords (Haustlaung, Younger Edda, 306). The best sword made by him is intended to make way for the destruction of the gods (see Nos. 33, 98, 101, 103). After various fortunes it comes into the possession of Frey, but is of no service to Asgard. It is given to the parents of the giantess Gerd, and in Ragnarok it causes the death of Frey.

Halfdan had two swords, which his mother's father, for whom they were made, had buried in the earth, and his mother long kept the place of concealment secret from him. The first time he uses one of them he slays in a duel his noble half-brother Hildeger, fighting on the side of the Skilfings, without knowing who he is (cp. Saxo, _Hist._, 351, 355, 356, with Asmund Kaempebane's saga). Cursed swords are several times mentioned in the sagas.

Halfdan's weapon, which he wields successfully in advantageous exploits, is in fact, the club (Saxo, _Hist._, 26, 31, 323, 353). That the Teutonic patriarch's favourite weapon is the club, not the sword; that the latter, later, in his hand, sheds the blood of a kinsman; and that he himself finally is slain by the sword forged by Thjasse, and that, too, in conflict with a son (the stepson Svipdag--see below), I regard as worthy of notice from the standpoint of the views cherished during some of the centuries of the Teutonic heathendom in regard to the various age and sacredness of the different kinds of weapons. That the sword also at length was looked upon as sacred is plain from the fact that it was adopted and used by the Asa-gods. In Ragnarok, Vidar is to avenge his father with a _hjoerr_ and pierce Fafner's heart (_Voeluspa_). _Hjoerr_ may, it is true, also mean a missile, but still it is probable that it, in Vidar's hand, means a sword. The oldest and most sacred weapons were the spear, the hammer, the club, and the axe. The spear which, in the days of Tacitus, and much later, was the chief weapon both for foot-soldiers and cavalry in the Teutonic armies, is wielded by the Asa-father himself, whose Gungner was forged for him by Ivalde's sons before the dreadful enmity between the gods and them had begun.

The hammer is Thor's most sacred weapon. Before Sindre forged one for him of iron (Gylfaginning), he wielded a hammer of stone. This is evident from the very name _hamarr_, a rock, a stone. The club is, as we have seen, the weapon of the Teutonic patriarch, and is wielded side by side with Thor's hammer in the conflict with the powers of frost. The battle-axe belonged to Njord. This is evident from the metaphors found in the Younger Edda, p. 346, and in Islend. Saga, 9. The mythological kernel in the former metaphor is _Njoerdrklauf Herjan's hurdir_, _i.e._, "_Njord_ cleaved Odin's gates" (when the Vans conquered Asgard); in the other the battle-axe is called _Gaut's megin-hurdar galli_, _i.e._, "the destroyer of Odin's great gate." The bow is a weapon employed by the Asa-gods _Hoedr_ and _Ullr_, but Balder is slain by a shot from the bow, and the chief archer of the myth is, as we shall see, not an Asa-god, but a brother of Thjasse. (Further discussion of the weapon-myth will be found in No. 39.)

[Footnote 17: Proofs of Thjasse's original identity with Volund are given in Nos. 113-115.]

32.

HALFDAN'S CONFLICTS INTERPRETED AS MYTHS OF
NATURE. THE WAR WITH THE HEROES FROM SVARIN'S
MOUND. HALFDAN'S MARRIAGE WITH DISES
OF VEGETATION.

In regard to the significance of the conflicts awaiting Halfdan, and occupying his whole life, when interpreted as myths of nature, we must remember that he inherits from his father the duty of stopping the progress southward of the giant-world's wintry agents, the kinsmen of Thjasse, and of the Skilfing (Yngling) tribes dwelling in the north. The migration sagas have, as we have seen, shown that Borgar and his people had to leave the original country and move south to Denmark, Saxland, and to those regions on the other side of the Baltic in which the Goths settled. For a time the original country is possessed by the conquerors who according to Voeluspa, "from Svarin's Mound attacked and took (_sotti_) the clayey plains as far as Jaravall." But Halfdan represses them. That the words quoted from Voeluspa really refer to the same mythic persons with whom Halfdan afterwards fights is proved by the fact that Svarin and Svarin's Mound are never named in our documents except in connection with Halfdan's saga. In Saxo it is Halfdan-Gram who slays Svarin and his numerous brothers; in the saga of "Helge Hundingsbane" it is again Halfdan, under the name Helge, who attacks tribes dwelling around Svarin's Mound, and conquers them. To this may be added, that the compiler of the first song about Helge Hundingsbane borrowed from the saga-original, on which the song is based, names which point to the Voeluspa strophe concerning the attack on the south Scandinavian plains. In the category of names, or the genealogy of the aggressors, occur, as has been shown already, the Skilfing names Alf and Yngve. Thus also in the Helge-song's list of persons with whom the conflict is waged in the vicinity of Svarin's Mound. In the Voe1uspa's list Moinn is mentioned among the aggressors (in the variation in the Prose Edda); in the Helge-song, strophe 46, it is said that Helge-Halfdan fought _a Moinsheimom_ against his brave foes, whom he afterwards slew in the battle around Svarin's Mound. In the Voeluspa's list is named among the aggressors one _Haugspori_, "the one spying from the mound"; in the Helge-song is mentioned _Sporvitnir_, who from Svarin's Mound watches the forces of Helge-Halfdan advancing. I have already (No. 28B), pointed out several other names which occur in the Voeluspa list, and whose connection with the myth concerning the artists, frost-giants, and Skilfings of antiquity and their attack on the original country, can be shown.

The physical significance of Halfdan's conflicts and adventures is apparent also from the names of the women, whom the saga makes him marry. Groa (grow), whom he robs and keeps for some time, is, as her very name indicates, a goddess of vegetation. Signe-Alveig, whom he afterwards marries, is the same. Her name signifies "the nourishing drink." According to Saxo she is the daughter of Sumblus, Latin for _Sumbl_, which means feast, ale, mead, and is a synonym for _Oelvaldi_, _Oelmodr_, names which belonged to the father of the Ivalde sons (see No. 123).

According to a well-supported statement in Forspjallsljod (see No. 123), Ivalde was the father of two groups of children. The mother of one of these groups is a giantess (see Nos. 113, 114, 115). With her he has three sons, viz., the three famous artists of antiquity--Ide, Gang-Urnir, and Thjasse. The mother of the other group is a goddess of light (see No. 123). With her he has daughters, who are goddesses of growth, among them Idun and Signe-Alveig. That Idun is the daughter of Ivalde is clear from Forspjallsljod (6), _alfa aettar Ithunni heto Ivallds ellri yngsta barna_.

Of the names of their father _Sumbl_, _Oelvaldi_, _Oelmodr_, it may be said that, as nature-symbols, "oel" (ale) and "mjoed" (mead), are in the Teutonic mythology identical with _soma_ and _somamadhu_ in Rigveda and _haoma_ in Avesta, that is, they are the strength-developing, nourishing saps in nature. Mimer's subterranean well, from which the world-tree draws its nourishment, is a mead-fountain. In the poem "Haustlaung" Idun is called _Oelgefn_; in the same poem Groa is called _Oelgefion_. Both appellations refer to goddesses who give the drink of growth and regeneration to nature and to the gods. Thus we here have a family, the names and epithets of whose members characterise them as forces, active in the service of nature and of the god of harvests. Their names and epithets also point to the family bond which unites them. We have the group of names, _Idvaldi_, _Idi_, _Idunn_, and the group, _Oelvaldi_ (_Oelmodr_), _Oelgefn_, and _Oelgefion_, both indicating members of the same family. Further on (see Nos. 113, 114, 115), proof shall be presented that Groa's first husband, Orvandel the brave, is one of Thjasse's brothers, and thus that Groa, too, was closely connected with this family.