Chapter XIII: Introduction (9)

The hero Vagn, whom "the Haddings so called," is Hadding's foster-father, Vagnhofde. As the word _hoefdi_ constitutes the second part of a mythic name, the compound form is a synonym of that name which forms the first part of the composition. Thus _Svarthoefdi_ is identical with _Svartr_, _Surtr_. In Hyndluljod, 33, all the mythical sorcerers (_seidberendr_) are said to be sprung from _Svarthoefdi_. In this connection we must first of all think of Fjalar, who is the greatest sorcerer in mythology. The story about Thor's, Thjalfe's, and Loke's visit to him is a chain of delusions of sight and hearing called forth by Fjalar, so that the Asa-god and his companions always mistake things for something else than they are. Fjalar is a son of _Surtr_ (see No. 89). Thus the greatest agent of sorcery is descended from _Surtr_, _Svartr_, and, as Hyndluljod states that all magicians of mythology have come of some _Svarthoefdi_, _Svartr_ and _Svarthoefdi_ must be identical. And so it is with Vagn and _Vagnhoefdi_; they are different names for the same person.

When the Anglo-Saxon rune-strophe says that Vang "made haste to follow" after Ing had gone across the sea, then this is to be compared with Saxo's statement (_Hist._, 45), where it is said that Hadding in a battle was in greatest peril of losing his life, but was saved by the sudden and miraculous landing of Vagnhofde, who came to the battle-field and placed himself at his side. The Scandian fylkings advanced against Hadding's; and Svipdag's son Asmund, who fought at the head of his men, forced his way forward against Hadding himself, with his shield thrown on his back, and with both his hands on the hilt of a sword which felled all before it. Then Hadding invoked the gods who were the friends of himself and his race (_Hadingo familiarium sibi numinum praesidia postulante subito Vagnophtus partibus ejus propugnaturus advehitur_), and then Vagnhofde is brought (_advehitur_) by some one of these gods to the battle-field and suddenly stands by Hadding's side, swinging a crooked sword[25] against Asmund, while Hadding hurls his spear against him. This statement in Saxo corresponds with and explains the old English strophe's reference to a quick journey which Vagn made to help _Heardingas_ against _Ing_, and it is also illustrated by a passage in Grimnismal, 49, which, in connection with Odin's appearance at Asmund's, tells that he once by the name Kjalar "drew _Kjalki_" (_mic heto Jalc at Asmundar, enn tha Kialar, er ec Kialka dro_). The word and name _Kjalki_, as also _Sledi_, is used as a paraphrase of the word and name _Vagn_.[26] Thus Odin has once "drawn Vagn" (waggon). The meaning of this is clear from what is stated above. Hadding calls on Odin, who is the friend of him and of his cause, and Odin, who on a former occasion has carried Hadding on Sleipner's back through the air, now brings, in the same or a similar manner, Vagnhofde to the battle-field, and places him near his foster-son. This episode is also interesting from the fact that we can draw from it the conclusion that the skalds who celebrated the first great war in their songs made the gods influence the fate of the battle, not directly but indirectly. Odin might himself have saved his favourite, and he might have slain Svipdag's son Asmund with his spear Gungner; but he does not do so; instead, he brings Vagnhofde to protect him. This is well calculated from an epic standpoint, while _dii ex machina_, when they appear in person on the battle-field with their superhuman strength, diminish the effect of the deeds of mortal heroes, and deprive every distress in which they have taken part of its more earnest significance. Homer never violated this rule without injury to the honour either of his gods or of his heroes.

[Footnote 25: The crooked sword, as it appears from several passages in the sagas, has long been regarded by our heathen ancestors as a foreign form of weapon, used by the giants, but not by the gods or by the heroes of Midgard.]

[Footnote 26: Compare Fornald., ii. 118, where the hero of the saga cries to _Gusi_, who comes running after him with "2 hreina ok _vagn_"--

_Skrid thu af kjalka,
Kyrr thu hreina,
seggr sidfoerull
seg hvattu heitir!_
]

40.

THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). HADDING'S DEFEAT.
LOKE IN THE COUNCIL AND ON THE BATTLE-FIELD.
HEIMDAL THE PROTECTOR OF HIS DESCENDANT HADDING.

The first great conflict in which the warriors of North and West Teutondom fight with the East Teutons ends with the complete victory of Groa's sons. Hadding's fylkings are so thoroughly beaten and defeated that he, after the end of the conflict, is nothing but a defenceless fugitive, wandering in deep forests with no other companion than Vagnhofde's daughter, who survived the battle and accompanies her beloved in his wanderings in the wildernesses. Saxo ascribes the victory won over Hadding to Loke. It follows of itself that, in a war whose deepest root must be sought in Loke's and Aurboda's intrigues, and in which the clans of gods on both sides take part, Loke should not be excluded by the skalds from influence upon the course of events. We have already seen that he sought to ruin Hadding while the latter was still a boy. He afterwards appears in various guises as evil counsellor, as an evil intriguer, and as a skilful arranger of the fylkings on the field of battle. His purpose is to frustrate every effort to bring about reconciliation, and by means of persuasion and falsehoods to increase the chances of enmity between Halfdan's descendants, in order that they may mutually destroy each other (see below). His activity among the heroes is the counterpart of his activity among the gods. The merry, sly, cynical, blameworthy, and profoundly evil Mefisto of the Teutonic mythology is bound to bring about the ruin of the Teutonic people like that of the gods of the Teutons.

In the later Icelandic traditions he reveals himself as the evil counsellor of princes in the forms of Blind ille, Blind boelvise (in Saxo Bolvisus); _Bikki_; in the German and Old English traditions as Sibich, Sifeca, Sifka. _Bikki_ is a name-form borrowed from Germany. The original Norse Loke-epithet is _Bekki_, which means "the foe," "the opponent". A closer examination shows that everywhere where this counsellor appears his enterprises have originally been connected with persons who belong to Borgar's race. He has wormed himself into the favour of both the contending parties--as Blind ille with King Hadding--whereof Hromund Greipson's saga has preserved a distorted record--as Bikke, Sibeke, with King Gudhorm (whose identity with Jormunrek shall be established below). As Blind boelvise he lies in waiting for and seeks to capture the young "Helge Hundingsbane," that is to say, Halfdan, Hadding's father (Helge Hund., ii.). Under his own name, Loke, he lies in waiting for and seeks to capture the young Hadding, Halfdan's son. As a cunning general and cowardly warrior he appears in the German saga-traditions, and there is every reason to assume that it is his activity in the first great war as the planner of Gudhorm's battle-line that in the Norse heathen records secured Loke the epithets _sagna hroerir_ and _sagna sviptir_, the leader of the warriors forward and the leader of the warriors back--epithets which otherwise would be both unfounded and incomprehensible, but they are found both in Thjodolf's poem Haustlaung, and in Eilif Gudrunson's Thorsdrapa. It is also a noticeable fact that while Loke in the first great battle which ends with Hadding's defeat determines the array of the victorious army--for only on this basis can the victory be attributed to him by Saxo--it is in the other great battle in which Hadding is victorious that Odin himself determines how the forces of his protege are to be arranged, namely, in that wedge-form which after that time and for many centuries following was the sacred and strictly preserved rule for the battle-array of Teutonic forces. Thus the ancient Teutonic saga has mentioned and compared with one another two different kinds of battle-arrays--the one invented by Loke and the other invented by Odin.

During his wanderings in the forests of the East Hadding has had wonderful adventures and passed through great trials. Saxo tells one of these adventures. He and Hardgrep, Vagnhofde's daughter, came late one evening to a dwelling where they got lodgings for the night. The husband was dead, but not yet buried. For the purpose of learning Hadding's destiny, Hardgrep engraved speech-runes (see No. 70) on a piece of wood, and asked Hadding to place it under the tongue of the dead one. The latter would in this wise recover the power of speech and prophecy. So it came to pass. But what the dead one sang in an awe-inspiring voice was a curse on Hardgrep, who had compelled him to return from life in the lower world to life on earth, and a prediction that an avenging Niflheim demon would inflict punishment on her for what she had done. A following night, when Hadding and Hardgrep had sought shelter in a bower of twigs and branches which they had gathered, there appeared a gigantic hand groping under the ceiling of the bower. The frightened Hadding waked Hardgrep. She then rose in all her giant strength, seized the mysterious hand, and bade Hadding cut it off with his sword. He attempted to do this, but from the wounds he inflicted on the ghost's hand there issued matter or venom more than blood, and the hand seized Hardgrep with its iron claws and tore her into pieces (Saxo, _Hist._, 36 ff.).

When Hadding in this manner had lost his companion, he considered himself abandoned by everybody; but the one-eyed old man had not forgotten his favourite. He sent him a faithful helper, by name _Liserus_ (Saxo, _Hist._, 40). Who was _Liserus_ in our mythology?

First, as to the name itself: in the very nature of the case it must be the Latinising of some one of the mythological names or epithets that Saxo found in the Norse records. But as no such root as _lis_ or _lis_ is to be found in the old Norse language, and as Saxo interchanges the vowels _i_ and _y_,[27] we must regard _Liserus_ as a Latinising of _Lysir_, "the shining one," "the one giving light," "the bright one." When Odin sent a helper thus described to Hadding, it must have been a person belonging to Odin's circle and subject to him. Such a person and described by a similar epithet is _hinn hviti ass, hvitastr asa_ (Heimdal). In Saxo's account, this shining messenger is particularly to oppose Loke (_Hist._, 40). And in the myth it is the keen-sighted and faithful Heimdal who always appears as the opposite of the cunning and faithless Loke. Loke has to contend with Heimdal when the former tries to get possession of Brisingamen, and in Ragnarok the two opponents kill each other. Hadding's shining protector thus has the same part to act in the heroic saga as the whitest of the Asas in the mythology. If we now add that Heimdal is Hadding's progenitor, and on account of blood kinship owes him special protection in a war in which all the gods have taken part either for or against Halfdan's and Alveig's son, then we are forced by every consideration to regard _Liserus_ and Heimdal as identical (see further, No. 82).

[Footnote 27: Compare the double forms _Trigo_, _Thrygir_; _Ivarus_, _Yvarus_; _Sibbo_, _Sybbo_; _Siritha_, _Syritha_; _Sivardus_, _Syvardus_; _Hibernia_, _Hybernia_; _Isora_, _Ysora_.]

41.

THE WORLD WAR (_continued_). HADDING'S JOURNEY TO
THE EAST. RECONCILIATION BETWEEN THE ASAS AND
VANS. "THE HUN WAR." HADDING RETURNS AND
CONQUERS. RECONCILIATION BETWEEN GROA'S DESCENDANTS
AND ALVEIG'S. LOKE'S PUNISHMENT.

Some time later there has been a change in Hadding's affairs. He is no longer the exile wandering about in the forests, but appears once more at the head of warlike hosts. But although he accomplishes various exploits, it still appears from Saxo's narrative that it takes a long time before he becomes strong enough to meet his enemies in a decisive battle with hope of success. In the meanwhile he has succeeded in accomplishing the revenge of his father and slaying Svipdag (Saxo _Hist._, 42)--this under circumstances which I shall explain below (No. 106). The proof that the hero-saga has left a long space of time between the great battle lost by Hadding and that in which he wins a decided victory is that he, before this conflict is fought out, has slain a young grandson (son's son) of Svipdag, that is, a son of Asmund, who was Svipdag's son (Saxo, _Hist._, 46). Hadding was a mere boy when Svipdag first tried to capture him. He is a man of years when he, through decided successes on the battle-field, acquires and secures control of a great part of the domain over which his father, the Teutonic patriarch, reigned. Hence he must have spent considerable time in the place of refuge which Odin opened for him, and under the protection of that subject of Odin, called by Saxo _Liserus_.

In the time intervening important events have taken place in the world of the gods. The two clans of gods, the Asas and Vans, have become reconciled. Odin's exile lasted, according to Saxo, only ten years, and there is no reason for doubting the mythical correctness of this statement. The reconciliation must have been demanded by the dangers which their enmity caused to the administration of the world. The giants, whose purpose it is to destroy the world of man, became once more dangerous to the earth on account of the war among the gods. During this time they made a desperate effort to conquer Asgard occupied by the Vans. The memory of this expedition was preserved during the Christian centuries in the traditions concerning the great Hun war. Saxo (_Hist._, 231 ff.) refers this to _Frotho_ III.'s reign. What he relates about this _Frotho_, son of _Fridlevus_ (Njord), is for the greatest part a historicised version of the myth about the Vana-god Frey (see No. 102); and every doubt that his account of the war of the "Huns" against Frotho has its foundation in mythology, and belongs to the chain of events here discussed, vanishes when we learn that the attack of the Huns against Frotho-Frey's power happened at a time when an old prophet, by name _Uggerus_, "whose age was unknown, but exceeded every measure of human life," lived in exile, and belonged to the number of Frotho's enemies. _Uggerus_ is a Latinised form of Odin's name _Yggr_, and is the same mythic character as Saxo before introduced on the scene as "the old one-eyed man," Hadding's protector. Although he had been Frotho's enemy, the aged _Yggr_ comes to him and informs him what the "Huns" are plotting, and thus Frotho is enabled to resist their assault.[28]

When Odin, out of consideration for the common welfare of mankind and the gods, renders the Vans, who had banished him, this service, and as the latter are in the greatest need of the assistance of the mighty Asa-father and his powerful sons in the conflict with the giant world, then these facts explain sufficiently the reconciliation between the Asas and the Vans. This reconciliation was also in order on account of the bonds of kinship between them. The chief hero of the Asas, Thor, was the stepfather of Ull, the chief warrior of the Vans (Younger Edda, i. 252). The record of a friendly settlement between Thor and Ull is preserved in a paraphrase, by which Thor is described in Thorsdrapa as "_gulli Ullar_," he who with persuasive words makes Ull friendly. Odin was invited to occupy again the high-seat in Asgard, with all the prerogatives of a paterfamilias and ruler (Saxo, _Hist._, 44). But the dispute which caused the conflict between him and the Vans was at the same time manifestly settled to the advantage of the Vans. They do not assume in common the responsibility for the murder of Gulveig Angerboda. She is banished to the Ironwood, but remains there unharmed until Ragnarok, and when the destruction of the world approaches, then Njord shall leave the Asas threatened with the ruin they have themselves caused and return to the "wise Vans" (_i aldar rauc hann mun aptr coma heim med visom vaunom_--Vafthr., 39).

The "Hun war" has supplied the answer to a question, which those believing in the myths naturally would ask themselves. That question was: How did it happen that Midgard was not in historical times exposed to such attacks from the dwellers in Jotunheim as occurred in antiquity, and at that time threatened Asgard itself with destruction? The "Hun war" was in the myth characterized by the countless lives lost by the enemy. This we learn from Saxo. The sea, he says, was so filled with the bodies of the slain that boats could hardly be rowed through the waves. In the rivers their bodies formed bridges, and on land a person could make a three days' journey on horseback without seeing anything but dead bodies of the slain (_Hist._, 234, 240). And so the answer to the question was, that the "Hun war" of antiquity had so weakened the giants in number and strength that they could not become so dangerous as they had been to Asgard and Midgard formerly, that is, before the time immediately preceding Ragnarok, when a new fimbul-winter is to set in, and when the giant world shall rise again in all its ancient might. From the time of the "Hun war" and until then, Thor's hammer is able to keep the growth of the giants' race within certain limits, wherefore Thor in Harbardsljod explains his attack on giants and giantesses with _micil mundi ett iotna, ef allir lifdi, vetr mundi manna undir Mithgarthi_.

Hadding's rising star of success must be put in connection with the reconciliation between the Asas and Vans. The reconciled gods must lay aside that seed of new feuds between them which is contained in the war between Hadding, the favourite of the Asas, and Gudhorm, the favourite of the Vans. The great defeat once suffered by Hadding must be balanced by a corresponding victory, and then the contending kinsmen must be reconciled. And this happens. Hadding wins a great battle and enters upon a secure reign in his part of Teutondom. Then are tied new bonds of kinship and friendship between the hostile races, so that the Teutonic dynasties of chiefs may trace their descent both from Yngve (Svipdag) and from Borgar's son Halfdan. Hadding and a surviving grandson of Svipdag are united in so tender a devotion to one another that the latter, upon an unfounded report of the former's death, is unable to survive him and takes his own life. And when Hadding learns this, he does not care to live any longer either, but meets death voluntarily (Saxo, _Hist._, 59, 60).

After the reconciliation between the Asas and Vans they succeed in capturing Loke. Saxo relates this in connection with Odin's return from Asgard, and here calls Loke _Mitothin_. In regard to this name, we may, without entering upon difficult conjectures concerning the first part of the word, be sure that it, too, is taken by Saxo from the heathen records in which he has found his account of the first great war, and that it, in accordance with the rule for forming such epithets, must refer to a mythic person who has had a certain relation with Odin, and at the same time been his antithesis. According to Saxo, _Mitothin_ is a thoroughly evil being, who, like Aurboda, strove to disseminate the practice of witchcraft in the world and to displace Odin. He was compelled to take flight and to conceal himself from the gods. He is captured and slain, but from his dead body arises a pest, so that he does no less harm after than before his death. It therefore became necessary to open his grave, cut his head off, and pierce his breast with a sharp stick (_Hist._, 43).

These statements in regard to _Mitothin's_ death seem at first glance not to correspond very well with the mythic accounts of Loke's exit, and thus give room for doubt as to his identity with the latter. It is also clear that Saxo's narrative has been influenced by the mediaeval stories about vampires and evil ghosts, and about the manner of preventing these from doing harm to the living. Nevertheless, all that he here tells, the beheading included, is founded on the mythic accounts of Loke. The place where Loke is fettered is situated in the extreme part of the hell of the wicked dead (see No. 78). The fact that he is relegated to the realm of the dead, and is there chained in a subterranean cavern until Ragnarok, when all the dead in the lower world shall return, has been a sufficient reason for Saxo to represent him as dead and buried. That he after death causes a pest corresponds with Saxo's account of _Ugarthilocus_, who has his prison in a cave under a rock situated in a sea, over which darkness broods for ever (the island _Lyngvi_ in Amsvartner's sea, where Loke's prison is--see No. 78). The hardy sea-captain, Thorkil, seeks and finds him in his cave of torture, pulls a hair from the beard on his chin, and brings it with him to Denmark. When this hair afterwards is exposed and exhibited, the awful exhalation from it causes the death of several persons standing near (_Hist._, 432, 433). When a hair from the beard of the tortured Loke ("a hair from the evil one") could produce this effect, then his whole body removed to the kingdom of death must work even greater mischief, until measures were taken to prevent it. In this connection it is to be remembered that Loke, according to the Icelandic records, is the father of the feminine demon of epidemics and diseases, of her who rules in Niflheim, the home of the spirits of disease (see No. 60), and that it is Loke's daughter who rides the three-footed steed, which appears when an epidemic breaks out (see No. 67). Thus Loke is, according to the Icelandic mythic fragments, the cause of epidemics. Lakasenna also states that he lies with a pierced body, although the weapon there is a sword, or possibly a spear (_pic a hiorvi scola binda god_--Lakas., 49). That Mitothin takes flight and conceals himself from the gods corresponds with the myth about Loke. But that which finally and conclusively confirms the identity of Loke and Mitothin is that the latter, though a thoroughly evil being and hostile to the gods, is said to have risen through the enjoyment of divine favour (_caelesti beneficio vegetatus_). Among male beings of his character this applies to Loke alone.

In regard to the statement that Loke after his removal to the kingdom of death had his head separated from his body, Saxo here relates, though in his own peculiar manner, what the myth contained about Loke's ruin, which was a logical consequence of his acts and happened long after his removal to the realm of death. Loke is slain in Ragnarok, to which he, freed from his cave of torture in the kingdom of death, proceeds at the head of the hosts of "the sons of destruction." In the midst of the conflict he seeks or is sought by his constant foe, Heimdal. The shining god, the protector of Asgard, the original patriarch and benefactor of man, contends here for the last time with the Satan of the Teutonic mythology, and Heimdal and Loke mutually slay each other (_Loki a orustu vid Heimdall, ok verdr hvarr annars bani_--Younger Edda, 192). In this duel we learn that Heimdal, who fells his foe, was himself pierced or "struck through" to death by a head (_sva er sagt, at hann var lostinn manns hoefdi i goegnum_--Younger Edda, 264; _hann var lostinn i hel med manns hoefdi_--Younger Edda, 100, ed. Res). When Heimdal and Loke mutually cause each other's death, this must mean that Loke's head is that with which Heimdal is pierced after the latter has cut it off with his sword and become the bane (death) of his foe. Light is thrown on this episode by what Saxo tells about Loke's head. While the demon in chains awaits Ragnarok, his hair and beard grow in such a manner that "they in size and stiffness resemble horn-spears" (_Ugarthilocus ... cujus olentes pili tam magnitudine quam rigore corneas aequaverant hastas_--_Hist._, 431, 432). And thus it is explained how the myth could make his head act the part of a weapon. That amputated limbs continue to live and fight is a peculiarity mentioned in other mythic sagas, and should not surprise us in regard to Loke, the dragon-demon, the father of the Midgard-serpent (see further, No. 82).

[Footnote 28: _Deseruit eum_ (Hun) _quoque Uggerus vates, vir aetatis incognitae et supra humanum terminum prolixae; qui Frothonem transfugae titulo petens quidquid ab Hunis parabatur edocuit_ (_Hist._, 238).]

42.

HALFDAN AND HAMAL FOSTER-BROTHERS. THE AMALIANS
FIGHT IN BEHALF OF HALFDAN'S SON HADDING.
HAMAL AND THE WEDGE-FORMED BATTLE-ARRAY. THE
ORIGINAL MODEL OF THE BRAVALLA BATTLE.

The mythic progenitor of the Amalians, _Hamall_, has already been mentioned above as the foster-brother of the Teutonic patriarch, Halfdan (Helge Hundingsbane). According to Norse tradition, Hamal's father, _Hagall_, had been Halfdan's foster-father (Helge Hund., ii.), and thus the devoted friend of Borgar. There being so close a relation between the progenitors of these great hero-families of Teutonic mythology, it is highly improbable that the Amalians did not also act an important part in the first great world war, since all the Teutonic tribes, and consequently surely their first families of mythic origin, took part in it. In the ancient records of the North, we discover a trace which indicates that the Amalians actually did fight on that side where we should expect to find them, that is, on Hadding's, and that Hamal himself was the field-commander of his foster-brother. The trace is found in the phrase _fylkja Hamalt_, occurring in several places (Sig. Faf., ii. 23; Har. Hardr., ch. 2; Fornalds. Saga, ii. 40; Fornm., xi. 304). The phrase can only be explained in one way, "arranged the battle-array as _Hamall_ first did it." To Hamal has also been ascribed the origin of the custom of fastening the shields close together along the ship's railing, which appears from the following lines in Harald Hardrade's Saga, 63:

Hamalt syndiz mer hoemlur
hildings vinir skilda.

We also learn in our Norse records that _fylkja Hamalt_, "to draw up in line of battle as Hamal did," means the same as _svinfylkja_, that is, to arrange the battalions in the form of a wedge.[29] Now Saxo relates (_Hist._, 52) that Hadding's army was the first to draw the forces up in this manner, and that an old man (Odin) whom he has taken on board on a sea-journey had taught and advised him to do this.[30] Several centuries later Odin, according to Saxo, taught this art to Harald Hildetand. But the mythology has not made Odin teach it twice. The repetition has its reason in the fact that Harald Hildetand, in one of the records accessible to Saxo, was a son of Halfdan Borgarson (_Hist._, 361; according to other records a son of Borgar himself--_Hist._, 337), and consequently a son of Hadding's father, the consequence of which is that features of Hadding's saga have been incorporated into the saga produced in a later time concerning the saga-hero Harald Hildetand. Thereby the Bravalla battle has obtained so universal and gigantic a character.

It has been turned into an arbitrarily written version of the battle which ended in Hadding's defeat. Swedes, Goths, Norsemen, Curians, and Esthonians here fight on that side which, in the original model of the battle, was represented by the hosts of Svipdag and Gudhorm; Danes (few in number, according to Saxo), Saxons (according to Saxo, the main part of the army), Livonians, and Slavs fight on the other side. The fleets and armies are immense on both sides. Shield-maids (amazons) occupy the position which in the original was held by the giantesses Hardgrep, Fenja, and Menja. In the saga description produced in Christian times the Bravalla battle is a ghost of the myth concerning the first great war. Therefore the names of several of the heroes who take part in the battle are an echo from the myth concerning the Teutonic patriarchs and the great war. There appear _Borgar_ and _Behrgar_ the wise (Borgar), _Haddir_ (Hadding), _Ruthar_ (_Hrutr_-Heimdal, see No. 28_a_), _Od_ (_Odr_, a surname of Freyja's, husband, Svipdag, see Nos. 96-98, 100, 101), _Brahi_ (_Brache_, _Asa-Bragr_, see No. 102), _Gram_ (Halfdan), and _Ingi_ (Yngve), all of which names we recognise from the patriarch saga, but which, in the manner in which they are presented in the new saga, show how arbitrarily the mythic records were treated at that time.

The myth has rightly described the wedge-shaped arrangement of the troops as an ancient custom among the Teutons. Tacitus (_Germ._, 6) says that the Teutons arranged their forces in the form of a wedge (_acies per cuneos componitur_), and Caesar suggests the same (_De Bell. Gall._, i. 52: _Germani celeriter ex consuetudine sua phalange facta_...). Thus our knowledge of this custom as Teutonic extends back to the time before the birth of Christ. Possibly it was then already centuries old. The Aryan-Asiatic kinsmen of the Teutons had knowledge of it, and the Hindooic law-book, called Manus', ascribes to it divine sanctity and divine origin. On the geographical line which unites Teutondom with Asia it was also in vogue. According to AElianus (_De instr. ac._, 18), the wedge-shaped array of battle was known to the Scythians and Thracians.

The statement that Harald Hildetand, son of Halfdan Borgarson, learned this arrangement of the forces from Odin many centuries after he had taught the art to Hadding, does not disprove, but on the contrary confirms, the theory that Hadding, son of Halfdan Borgarson, was not only the first but also the only one who received this instruction from the Asa-father. And as we now have side by side the two statements, that Odin gave Hadding this means of victory, and that Hamal was the first one who arranged his forces in the shape of a wedge, then it is all the more necessary to assume that these statements belong together, and that Hamal was Hadding's general, especially as we have already seen that Hadding's and Hamal's families were united by the sacred ties which connect foster-father with foster-son and foster-brother with foster-brother.

[Footnote 29: Compare the passage, _Eirikr konungr fylkti sva lidi sinu, at rani (the swine-snout) var a framan a fylkinganni, ok lukt allt utan med skjaldbjorg_, (Fornm., xi. 304), with the passage quoted in this connection: _hildingr fylkti Hamalt lidi miklu_.]

[Footnote 30: The saga of Sigurd Fafnersbane, which absorbed materials from all older sagas, has also incorporated this episode. On a sea-journey Sigurd takes on board a man who calls himself _Hnikarr_ (a name of Odin). He advises him to "_fylkja Hamalt_" (Sig. Fafn., ii. 16-23).]

43.

EVIDENCE THAT DIETERICH "OF BERN" IS HADDING. THE
DIETERICH SAGA THUS HAS ITS ORIGIN IN THE MYTH
CONCERNING THE WAR BETWEEN MANNUS-HALFDAN'S
SONS.

The appearance of Hamal and the Amalians on Hadding's side in the great world war becomes a certainty from the fact that we discover among the descendants of the continental Teutons a great cycle of sagas, all of whose events are more or less intimately connected with the mythic kernel: that Amalian heroes with unflinching fidelity supported a prince who already in the tender years of his youth had been deprived of his share of his father's kingdom, and was obliged to take flight from the persecution of a kinsman and his assistants to the far East, where he remained a long time, until after various fortunes of war he was able to return, conquer, and take possession of his paternal inheritance. And for this he was indebted to the assistance of the brave Amalians. These are the chief points in the saga cycle about Dieterich of Bern (_thjodrekr_, _Thidrek_, _Theodericus_), and the fortunes of the young prince are, as we have thus seen, substantially the same as Hadding's.

When we compare sagas preserved by the descendants of the Teutons of the Continent with sagas handed down to us from Scandinavian sources, we must constantly bear in mind that the great revolution which the victory of Christianity over Odinism produced in the Teutonic world of thought, inasmuch as it tore down the ancient mythical structure and applied the fragments that were fit for use as material for a new saga structure--that this revolution required a period of more than eight hundred years before it had conquered the last fastnesses of the Odinic doctrine. On the one side of the slowly advancing borders between the two religions there developed and continued a changing and transformation of the old sagas, the main purpose of which was to obliterate all that contained too much flavour of heathendom and was incompatible with Christianity; while, on the other side of the borders of faith, the old mythic songs, but little affected by the tooth of time, still continued to live in their original form. Thus one might, to choose the nearest example at hand, sing on the northern side of this faith-border, where heathendom still prevailed, about how Hadding, when the persecutions of Svipdag and his half-brother Gudhorm compelled him to fly to the far East, there was protected by Odin, and how he through him received the assistance of _Hrutr-Heimdall_; while the Christians, on the south side of this border, sang of how Dieterich, persecuted by a brother and the protectors of the latter, was forced to take flight to the far East, and how he was there received by a mighty king, who, as he could no longer be Odin, must be the mightiest king in the East ever heard of--that is, Attila--and how Attila gave him as protector a certain Ruediger, whose very name contains an echo of Ruther (Heimdal), who could not, however, be the white Asa-god, Odin's faithful servant, but must be changed into a faithful vassal and "markgrave" under Attila. The Saxons were converted to Christianity by fire and sword in the latter part of the eighth century. In the deep forests of Sweden heathendom did not yield completely to Christianity before the twelfth century. In the time of Saxo's father there were still heathen communities in Smaland on the Danish border. It follows that Saxo must have received the songs concerning the ancient Teutonic heroes in a far more original form than that in which the same songs could be found in Germany.

Hadding means "the hairy one," "the fair-haired;" Dieterich (_thjodrekr_) means "the ruler of the people," "the great ruler." Both epithets belong to one and the same saga character. Hadding is the epithet which belongs to him as a youth, before he possessed a kingdom; Dieterich is the epithet which represents him as the king of many Teutonic tribes. The Vilkinsaga says of him that he had an abundant and beautiful growth of hair, but that he never got a beard. This is sufficient to explain the name Hadding, by which he was presumably celebrated in song among all Teutonic tribes; for we have already seen that Hadding is known in Anglo-Saxon poetry as Hearding, and, as we shall see, the continental Teutons knew him not only as Dieterich, but also as Hartung. It is also possible that the name "the hairy" has in the myth had the same purport as the epithet "the fair-haired" has in the Norse account of Harald, Norway's first ruler, and that Hadding of the myth was the prototype of Harald, when the latter made the vow to let his hair grow until he was king of all Norway (Harald Harfager's Saga, 4). The custom of not cutting hair or beard before an exploit resolved upon was carried out was an ancient one among the Teutons, and so common and so sacred that it must have had foothold and prototype in the hero-saga. Tacitus mentions it (_Germania_, 31); so does Paulus Diaconus (_Hist._, iii. 7) and Gregorius of Tours (v. 15).

Although it had nearly ceased to be heard in the German saga cycle, still the name Hartung has there left traces of its existence. "Anhang des Heldenbuchs" mentions King Hartung _aus Reuessenlant_; that is to say, a King Hartung who came from some land in the East. The poem "Rosengarten" (variant D; cp. W. Grimm, _D. Heldensage_, 139, 253) also mentions Hartunc, king _von Riuzen_. A comparison of the different versions of "Rosengarten" with the poem "Dieterichs Flucht" shows that the name Hartung _von Riuzen_ in the course of time becomes Hartnit _von Riuzen_ and Hertnit _von Riuzen_, by which form of the name the hero reappears in Vilkinasaga as a king in Russia. If we unite the scattered features contained in these sources about Hartung we get the following main outlines of his saga:

(_a_) Hartung is a king and dwells in an eastern country (all the records).

(_b_) He is not, however, an independent ruler there, at least not in the beginning, but is subject to Attila (who in the Dieterich's saga has supplanted Odin as chief ruler in the East). He is Attila's man ("Dieterichs Flucht").

(_c_) A Swedish king has robbed him of his land and driven him into exile.

(_d_) The Swedish king is of the race of elves, and the chief of the same race as the celebrated Velint--that is to say, Volund (Wayland)--belonged to (Vilkinasaga). As shall be shown later (see Nos. 108, 109), Svipdag, the banisher of Hadding, belongs to the same race. He is Volund's nephew (brother's son).

(_e_) Hartung recovers, after the death of the Swedish conqueror, his own kingdom, and also conquers that of the Swedish king (Vilkinasaga).

All these features are found in the saga of Hadding. Thus the original identity of Hadding and Hartung is beyond doubt. We also find that Hartung, like Dieterich, is banished from his country; that he fled, like him, to the East; that he got, like him, Attila the king of the East as his protector; that he thereupon returned, conquered his enemies, and recovered his kingdom. Hadding's, Hartung's and Dieterich's sagas are, therefore, one and the same in root and in general outline. Below it shall also be shown that the most remarkable details are common to them all.

I have above (No. 42) given reasons why Hamal (Amala), the foster-brother of Halfdan Borgarson, was Hadding's assistant and general in the war against his foes. The hero, who in the German saga has the same place under Dieterich, is the aged "master" Hildebrand, Dieterich's faithful companion, teacher, and commander of his troops. Can it be demonstrated that what the German saga tells about Hildebrand reveals threads that connect him with the saga of the original patriarchs, and that not only his position as Dieterich's aged friend and general, but also his genealogy, refer to this saga? And can a satisfactory explanation be given of the reason why Hildebrand obtained in the German Dieterich saga the same place as Hamal had in the old myth?

Hildebrand is, as his very name shows, a Hilding,[31] like Hildeger who appears in the patriarch saga (Saxo, _Hist._, 356-359). Hildeger was, according to the tradition in Saxo, the half-brother of Halfdan Borgarson. They had the same mother _Drot_, but not the same father; Hildeger counted himself a Swede on his father's side; Halfdan, Borgar's son, considered himself as belonging to the South Scandinavians and Danes, and hence the dying Hildeger sings to Halfdan (_Hist._, 357):

Danica te tellus, me Sveticus edidit orbis.
Drot tibi maternum, quondam distenderat uber;
Hac genitrici tibi pariter collacteus exto.[32]

In the German tradition Hildebrand is the son of Herbrand. The Old High German fragment of the song, about Hildebrand's meeting with his son Hadubrand, calls him _Heribrantes sunu_. Herbrand again is, according to the poem "Wolfdieterich," Berchtung's son (concerning Berchtung, see No. 6). In a Norse tradition preserved by Saxo we find a Hilding (Hildeger) who is Borgar's stepson; in the German tradition we find a Hilding (Herbrand) who is Borgar-Berchtung's son. This already shows that the German saga about Hildebrand was originally connected with the patriarch saga about Borgar, Halfdan, and Halfdan's sons, and that the Hildings from the beginning were akin to the Teutonic patriarchs. Borgar's transformation from stepfather to the father of a Hilding shall be explained below.

Hildeger's saga and Hildebrand's are also related in subject matter. The fortunes of both the kinsmen are at the same time like each other and the antithesis of each other. Hildeger's character is profoundly tragic; Hildebrand is happy and secure. Hildeger complains in his death-song in Saxo (cp. Asmund Kaempebane's saga) that he has fought with and slain his own beloved son. In the Old High German song-fragment Hildebrand seeks, after his return from the East, his son Hadubrand, who believed that his father was dead and calls Hildebrand a deceiver, who has taken the dead man's name, and forces him to fight a duel. The fragment ends before we learn the issue of the duel; but Vilkinasaga and a ballad about Hildebrand have preserved the tradition in regard to it. When the old "master" has demonstrated that his Hadubrand is not yet equal to him in arms, father and son ride side by side in peace and happiness to their home. Both the conflicts between father and son, within the Hilding family, are pendants and each other's antithesis. Hildeger, who passionately loves war and combat, inflicts in his eagerness for strife a deep wound in his own heart when he kills his own son. Hildebrand acts wisely, prudently, and seeks to ward off and allay the son's love of combat before the duel begins, and he is able to end it by pressing his young opponent to his paternal bosom. On the other hand, Hildeger's conduct toward his half-brother Halfdan, the ideal of a noble and generous enemy, and his last words to his brother, who, ignorant of the kinship, has given him the fatal wound, and whose mantle the dying one wishes to wrap himself in (Asmund Kaempebane's saga), is one of the touching scenes in the grand poems about our earliest ancestors. It seems to have proclaimed that blood revenge was inadmissible, when a kinsman, without being aware of the kinship, slays a kinsman, and when the latter before he died declared his devotion to his slayer. At all events we rediscover the aged Hildebrand as the teacher and protector of the son of the same Halfdan who slew Hildeger, and not a word is said about blood revenge between Halfdan's and Hildeger's descendants.

The kinship pointed out between the Teutonic patriarchs and the Hildings has not, however, excluded a relation of subordination of the latter to the former. In "Wolfdieterich" Hildebrand's father receives land and fief from Dieterich's grandfather and carries his banner in war. Hildebrand himself performs toward Dieterich those duties which are due from a foster-father, which, as a rule, show a relation of subordination to the real father of the foster-son. Among the kindred families to which Dieterich and Hildebrand belong there was the same difference of rank as between those to which Hadding and Hamal belong. Hamal's father Hagal was Halfdan's foster-father, and, to judge from this, occupied the position of a subordinate friend toward Halfdan's father Borgar. Thus Halfdan and Hamal were foster-brothers, and from this it follows that Hamal, if he survived Halfdan, was bound to assume a foster-father's duties towards the latter's son Hadding, who was not yet of age. Hamal's relation to Hadding is therefore entirely analagous to Hildebrand's relation to Dieterich.

The pith of that army which attached itself to Dieterich are Amelungs, Amalians (see "Biterolf"); that is to say, members of Hamal's race. The oldest and most important hero, the pith of the pith, is old master Hildebrand himself, Dieterich's foster-father and general. Persons who in the German poems have names which refer to their Amalian birth are by Hildebrand treated as members of a clan are treated by a clan-chief. Thus Hildebrand brings from Sweden a princess, Amalgart, and gives her as wife to a son of Amelolt serving among Dieterich's Amelungs, and to Amelolt Hildebrand has already given his sister for a wife.

The question as to whether we find threads which connect the Hildebrand of the German poem with the saga of the mythic patriarchs, and especially with the Hamal (Amala) who appears in this saga, has now been answered. Master Hildebrand has in the German saga-cycle received the position and the tasks which originally belonged to Hamal, the progenitor of the Amalians.

The relation between the kindred families--the patriarch family, the Hilding family, and the Amal family--has certainly been just as distinctly pointed out in the German saga-cycle as in the Norse before the German met with a crisis, which to some extent confused the old connection. This crisis came when Hadding-_thjodrekr_ of the ancient myth was confounded with the historical king of the East Goths, Theoderich. The East Goth Theoderich counted himself as belonging to the Amal family, which had grown out of the soil of the myth. He was, according to Jordanes (_De Goth. Orig._, 14), a son of Thiudemer, who traced his ancestry to Amal (Hamal), son of Augis (Hagal).[33] The result of the confusion was:

(_a_) That Hadding-_thjodrekr_ became the son of Thiudemer, and that his descent from the Teuton patriarchs was cut off.

(_b_) That Hadding-_thjodrekr_ himself became a descendant of Hamal, whereby the distinction between this race of rulers--the line of Teutonic patriarchs begun with Ruther Heimdal--together with the Amal family, friendly but subject to the Hadding family, and the Hilding family was partly obscured and partly abolished. Dieterich himself became an "Amelung" like several of his heroes.

(_c_) That when Hamal thus was changed from an elder contemporary of Hadding-_thjodrekr_ into his earliest progenitor, separated from him by several generations of time, he could no longer serve as Dieterich's foster-father and general; but this vocation had to be transferred to master Hildebrand, who also in the myth must have been closely connected with Hadding, and, together with Hamal, one of his chief and constant helpers.

(_d_) That Borgar-Berchtung, who in the myth is the grandfather of Hadding-_thjodrekr_, must, as he was not an Amal, resign this dignity and confine himself to being the progenitor of the Hildings. As we have seen, he is in Saxo the progenitor of the Hilding Hildeger.

Another result of Hadding-_thjodrekr's_ confusion with the historical Theoderich was that Dieterich's kingdom, and the scene of various of his exploits, was transferred to Italy: to Verona (Bern), Ravenna (Raben), &c. Still the strong stream of the ancient myths became master of the confused historical increments, so that the Dieterich of the saga has but little in common with the historical Theoderich.

After the dissemination of Christianity, the hero saga of the Teutonic myths was cut off from its roots in the mythology, and hence this confusion was natural and necessary. Popular tradition, in which traces were found of the historical Theoderich-Dieterich, was no longer able to distinguish the one Dieterich from the other. A writer acquainted with the chronicle of Jordanes took the last step and made Theoderich's father Thiudemer the father of the mythic Hadding-_thjodrekr_.

Nor did the similarity of names alone encourage this blending of the persons. There was also another reason. The historical Theoderich had fought against Odoacer. The mythic Hadding-_thjodrekr_ had warred with Svipdag, the husband of Freyja, who also bore the name _Odr_ and _Ottar_ (see Nos. 96-100). The latter name-form corresponds to the English and German _Otter_, the Old High German _Otar_, a name which suggested the historical _Otacher_ (Odoacer). The Dieterich and Otacher of historical traditions became identified with _thjodrekr_ and _Ottar_ of mythical traditions.

As the Hadding-_thjodrekr_ of mythology was in his tender youth exposed to the persecutions of Ottar, and had to take flight from them to the far East, so the Dieterich of the historical saga also had to suffer persecutions in his tender youth from Otacher, and take flight, accompanied by his faithful Amalians, to a kingdom in the East. Accordingly, Hadubrand says of his father Hildebrand, that, when he betook himself to the East with Dieterich, _floh her Otachres nid_, "he fled from Otacher's hate." Therefore, Otacher soon disappears from the German saga-cycle, for Svipdag-Ottar perishes and disappears in the myth, long before Hadding's victory and restoration to his father's power (see No. 106).

Odin and Heimdal, who then, according to the myth, dwelt in the East and there became the protectors of Hadding, must, as heathen deities, be removed from the Christian saga, and be replaced as best they could by others. The famous ruler in the East, Attila, was better suited than anyone else to take Odin's place, though Attila was dead before Theoderich was born. Ruther-Heimdal was, as we have already seen, changed into Ruediger.

The myth made Hadding dwell in the East for many years (see above). The ten-year rule of the Vans in Asgard must end, and many other events must occur before the epic connection of the myths permitted Hadding to return as a victor. As a result of this, the saga of "Dieterich of Bern" also lets him remain a long time with Attila. An old English song preserved in the Exeter manuscript, makes _Theodric_ remain _thrittig wintra_ in exile at Maeringaburg. The song about Hildebrand and Hadubrand make him remain in exile _sumaro enti wintro sehstic_, and Vilkinasaga makes him sojourn in the East thirty-two years.

Maeringaburg of the Anglo-Saxon poem is the refuge which Odin opened for his favourite, and where the former dwelt during his exile in the East. Maeringaburg means a citadel inhabited by noble, honoured, and splendid persons: compare the Old Norse _maeringr_. But the original meaning of _maerr_, Old German _mara_, is "glittering," "shining," "pure," and it is possible that, before _maeringr_ received its general signification of a famous, honoured, noble man, it was used in the more special sense of a man descended from "the shining one," that is to say, from Heimdal through Borgar. However this may be, these "maeringar" have, in the Anglo-Saxon version of the Hadding saga, had their antitheses in the "baningar," that is, the men of Loke-Bicke (Bekki). This appears from the expression _Bekka veold Baningum_, in Codex Exoniensis. The Banings are no more than the Maerings, an historical name. The interpretation of the word is to be sought in the Anglo-Saxon _bana_, the English _bane_. The Banings means "the destroyers," "the corrupters," a suitable appellation of those who follow the source of pest, the all-corrupting Loke. In the German poems, Maeringaburg is changed to Meran, and Borgar-Berchtung (Hadding's grandfather in the myth) is Duke of Meran. It is his fathers who have gone to the gods that Hadding finds again with Odin and Heimdal in the East.

Despite the confusion of the historical Theoderich with the mythic Hadding-_thjodrekr_, a tradition has been handed down within the German saga-cycle to the effect that "Dieterich of Bern" belonged to a genealogy which Christianity had anathematised. Two of the German Dieterich poems, "Nibelunge Noth" and "Klage," refrain from mentioning the ancestors of their hero. Wilhelm Grimm suspects that the reason for this is that the authors of these poems knew something about Dieterich's descent, which they could not relate without wounding Christian ears; and he reminds us that, when the Vilkinasaga Thidrek (Dieterich) teases Hoegne (Hagen) by calling him the son of an elf, Hoegne answers that Thidrek has a still worse descent, as he is the son of the devil himself. The matter, which in Grimm's eyes is mystical, is explained by the fact that Hadding-_thjodrekr's_ father in the myth, Halfdan Borgarson, was supposed to be descended from Thor, and in his capacity of a Teutonic patriarch he had received divine worship (see Nos. 23 and 30). _Anhang des Heldenbuchs_ says that Dieterich was the son of a "boeser geyst."

It has already been stated (No. 38) that Hadding from Odin received a drink which exercised a wonderful influence upon his physical nature. It made him _recreatum vegetiori corporis firmitate_, and, thanks to it and to the incantation sung over him by Odin, he was able to free himself from the chains afterwards put on him by Loke. It has also been pointed out that this drink contained something called Leifner's or Leifin's flames. There is every reason for assuming that these "flames" had the effect of enabling the person who had partaken of the potion of Leifner's flames to free himself from his chains with his own breath. Groa (Groagalder, 10) gives her son Svipdag "Leifner's fires" in order that if he is chained, his enchanted limbs may be liberated (_ek laet ther Leifnis elda fyr kvedinn legg_). The record of the giving of this gift to Hadding meets us in the German saga, in the form that Dieterich was able with his breath to burn the fetters laid upon him (see "Laurin"), nay, when he became angry, he could breathe fire and make the cuirass of his opponent red-hot. The tradition that Hadding by eating, on the advice of Odin, the heart of a wild beast (Saxo says of a lion) gained extraordinary strength, is also preserved in the form, that when Dieterich was in distress, God sent him _eines loewen krafft von herczenlichen zoren_ ("Ecken Ausfarth").