Chapter V: The Ivalde Race (2)

Freyja's surname _Hörn_ (also _Horn_) may possibly be explained by what Saxo relates about the giant's manner of treating her hair, which he pressed into one snarled, stiff, and hard mass. With the myth concerning Freyja's locks, we must compare that about Sif's hair. The hair of both these goddesses is subject to the violence of the hands of giants, and it may be presumed that both myths symbolised some feature of nature. Loke's act of violence on Sif's hair is made good by the skill and goodwill of the ancient artists Sindre and Brok (Younger Edda, i. 340). In regard to Freyja's locks, the skill of a "dwarf" may have been resorted to, since Saxo relates that an iron instrument was necessary to separate and comb out the horn-hard braids. In Völuspa's list of ancient artists there is a smith by name _Hornbori_, which possibly has some reference to this.

Reasons have already been given in No. 35 for the theory that it was Gulveig-Heid who betrayed Freyja and delivered her into the hands of the giants. When Saxo says that this treachery was committed by a woman, but also suggests the possibility that it was a man in the guise of a woman, then this too is explained by the mythology, in which Gulveig-Heid, like her fellow culprit, has an androgynous nature. Loke becomes "the possessor of the evil woman" (_kvidugr af konu illri_). In Fjölsvinnsmal we meet again with Gulveig-Heid, born again and called Aurboda, as one of Freyja's attendants, into whose graces she is nestled for a second time.

[4] In Saxo, as in other sources of about the same time, aspirated names do not usually occur with aspiration. I have already referred to the examples Handuuanus, Andvani, Helias, Elias, Hersbernus, Esbjörn, Hevindus, Eyvindr, Horvendillus, Orvandill, Hestia, Estland, Holandia, Oland.

101.

SVIPDAG IN SAXO'S ACCOUNT OF HOTHERUS.

From the parallel name Otharus, we must turn to the other parallel name Hotherus. It has already been shown that if the Svipdag synonym _Odr_ occurs in Saxo, it must have been Latinised into Otherus or Hotherus. The latter form is actually found, but under circumstances making an elaborate investigation necessary, for in what Saxo narrates concerning this Hotherus, he has to the best of his ability united sketches and episodes of two different mythic persons, and it is therefore necessary to separate these different elements borrowed from different sources. One of these mythic persons is _Hödr_ the Asa-god, and the other is _Odr_-Svipdag. The investigation will therefore at the same time contain a contribution to the researches concerning the original records of the myth of Balder.

Saxo's account of Hotherus (_Hist._, 110, &c.), is as follows:

Hotherus, son of Hothbrodus (Hödbrodd), was fostered in the home of Nanna's father, King Gevarus (Gevarr; see Nos. 90-92), and he grew up to be a stately youth, distinguished as a man of accomplishments among the contemporaries of his age. He could swim, was an excellent archer and boxer, and his skill on various musical instruments was so great that he had the human passions under his control, and could produce, at pleasure, gladness, sorrow, sympathy, or hate. Nanna, the daughter of Gevarus, fell in love with the highly gifted youth and he with her.

Meanwhile, fate brought it to come to pass that Balder, the son of the idol Odin, also fell in love with Nanna. He had once seen her bathing, and had been dazzled by the splendour of her limbs. In order to remove the most dangerous obstacle between himself and her, he resolved to slay Hotherus.

As Hotherus on a foggy day was hunting in the woods he got lost and came to a house, where there sat three wood-nymphs. They greeted him by name, and in answer to his question they said they were the maids who determine the events of the battle, and give defeat or success in war. Invisible they come to the battlefield, and secretly give help to those whom they wish to favour. From them Hotherus learned that Balder was in love with Nanna, but they advised him not to resort to weapons against him, for he was a demigod born of supernatural seed. When they had said this, they and the house in which Hotherus had found them disappeared, and to his joy he found himself standing on a field under the open sky.

When he arrived home, he mentioned to Gevarus what he had seen and heard, and at once demanded the hand of his daughter. Gevarus answered that it would have been a pleasure to him to see Hotherus and Nanna united, but Balder had already made a similar request, and he did not dare to draw the wrath of the latter down upon himself, since not even iron could harm the conjured body of the demigod.

But Gevarus said he knew of a sword with which Balder could be slain, but it lies locked up behind the strongest bars, and the place where it is found is scarcely accessible to mortals. The way thither--if we may use the expression where no road has been made--is filled with obstacles, and leads for the greater part through exceedingly cold regions. But behind a span of swift stags one ought to be able to get safe across the icy mountain ridges. He who keeps the sword is the forest-being Mimingus, who also has a wonderful wealth-producing arm-ring. If Hotherus gets there, he should place his tent in such a manner that its shadow does not fall into the cave where Mimingus dwells, for at the sight of this strange eclipse the latter would withdraw farther into the mountain. Observing these rules of caution, the sword and arm-ring might possibly be secured. The sword is of such a kind that victory never fails to attend it, and its value is quite inestimable.

Hotherus, who carefully followed the advice of Gevarus, succeeded in securing the sword and the ring, which Mimingus, surprised and bound by Hotherus, delivered as a ransom for his life.

When Gelder, the king of Saxony, learned that the treasure of Mimingus had been robbed, he resolved to make war against Hotherus. The foreknowing Gevarus saw this in advance, and advised Hotherus to receive the rain of javelins from the enemy patiently in the battle, and not to throw his own javelins before the enemy's supply of weapons was exhausted. Gelder was conquered, and had to pray for peace. Hotherus received him in the most friendly manner, and now he conquered him with his kindness as he had before done with his cunning as a warrior.

Hotherus also had a friend in Helgo, the king of Halogaland. The chieftain of the Finns and of the Bjarmians, Cuso (Guse), was the father of Thora, whose hand Helgo sought through messengers. But Helgo had so ugly a blemish on his mouth that he was ashamed to converse, not only with strangers, but also with his own household and friends. Cuso had already refused his offer of marriage, but as he now addressed himself to Hotherus asking for assistance, the latter was able to secure a hearing from the Finnish chieftain, so that Helgo secured the wife he so greatly desired.

While this happened in Halogaland, Balder had invaded the territory of Gevarus with an armed force, to demand Nanna's hand. Gevarus referred him to his daughter, who was herself permitted to determine her fate. Nanna answered that she was of too humble birth to be the wife of a husband of divine descent. Gevarus informed Hotherus of what had happened, and the latter took counsel with Helgo as to what was now to be done. After having considered various things, they finally resolved on making war.

And it was a war in which one should think men fought with gods. For Odin, Thor, and the hosts sanctified by the gods fought on Balder's side. Thor had a heavy club, with which he smashed shields and coats-of-mail, and slew all before him. Hotherus would have seen his retreating army defeated had he not himself succeeded in checking Thor's progress. Clad in an impenetrable coat-of-mail, he went against Thor, and with a blow of his sword he severed the handle from Thor's club and made it unfit for use. Then the gods fled. Thereupon the warriors of Hotherus rushed upon Balder's fleet and destroyed and sank it. In the same war Gelder fell and his body was laid in his ship on a pile of his fallen warriors and burned, but his ashes were afterwards deposited with great solemnity in a magnificent grave-mound by Hotherus who then returned to Gevarus, celebrated his wedding with Nanna, and made great presents to Helgo and Thora.

But Balder had no peace. Another war was declared, and this time Balder was the victor. The defeated Hotherus took refuge with Gevarus. In this war a water-famine occurred in Balder's army, but the latter dug deep wells and opened new fountains for his thirsty men. Meanwhile Balder was afflicted in his dreams by ghosts which had assumed Nanna's form. His love and longing so consumed him that he at last was unable to walk, but had to ride in a chariot on his journeys.

Hotherus had fled to Sweden, where he retained the royal authority; but Balder took possession of Seeland, and soon acquired the devotion of the Danes, for he was regarded as having martial merits, and was a man of great dignity. Hotherus again declared war against Balder, but was defeated in Jutland, and was obliged to return to Sweden alone and abandoned. Despondent on account of his defeats, weary of life and the light of day, he went into the wilderness and traversed most desolate forests, where the fall of mortal feet is seldom heard. Then he came to a cave in which sat three strange women. From such women he had once received the impenetrable coat-of-mail, and he recognised them as those very persons. They asked him why he had come to these regions, and he told them how unsuccessful he had been in his last battle. He reproached them, saying that they had deceived him, for they had promised him victory, but he had a totally different fate. The women responded that he nevertheless had done his enemies great harm, and assured him that victory would yet perch on his banners if he should succeed in finding the wonderful nourishment which was invented for the increasing of Balder's strength. This was sufficient to encourage him to make another war, although there were those among his friends who dissuaded him therefrom. From different sides men were gathered, and a bloody battle was fought, which was not decided at the fall of night. The uneasiness of Hotherus hindered him from sleeping, and he went out in the darkness of the night to reconnoitre the condition and position of the enemy. When he had reached the camp of the enemy he perceived that three dises, who were wont to prepare Balder's mysterious food, had just left. He followed their footprints in the bedewed grass and reached their abode. Asked by them who he was, he said he was a player on the cithern. One of them then handed him a cithern, and he played for them magnificently. They had three serpents, with whose venom Balder's food was mixed. They were now engaged in preparing this food. One of them had the goodness to offer Hotherus some of the food; but the eldest said: "It would be treason to Balder to increase the strength of his foe." The stranger said that he was one of the men of Hotherus, and not Hotherus himself. He was then permitted to taste the food.[5] The women also presented him with a beautiful girdle of victory.

On his way home Hotherus met his foe and thrust a weapon into his side, so that he fell half-dead to the ground. This produced joy in the camp of Hotherus, but sorrow in the Danish camp. Balder, who knew that he was going to die, but was unwilling to abide death in his tent, renewed the battle the following day, and had himself carried on a stretcher into the thickest of the fight. The following night Proserpina (the goddess of death) came to him and announced to him that he should be her guest the next day. He died from his wound at the time predicted, and was buried in a mound with royal splendour. Hotherus took the sceptre in Denmark after Balder.

Meanwhile it had happened that King Gevarus had been attacked and burned in his house by a jarl under him, by name Gunno. Hotherus avenged the death of Gevarus, and burnt Gunno alive on a funeral pyre as a punishment for his crime.

Rinda and Odin had a son by name Bous. The latter, to avenge the death of his brother Balder, attacked Hotherus, who fell in the conflict. But Bous himself was severely wounded and died the following day from his wounds. Hotherus was followed on the Danish throne by his son Röricus.

In the examination of this narrative in Saxo there is no hope of arriving at absolutely positive results unless the student lays aside all current presuppositions and, in fact, all notions concerning the origin and age of the Balder-myth, concerning a special Danish myth in opposition to a special Norse-Icelandic, &c. If the latter conjecture based on Saxo is correct, then this is to appear as a result of the investigation; but the conjecture is not to be used as a presupposition.

That which first strikes the reader is that the story is not homogeneous. It is composed of elements that could not be blended into one harmonious whole. It suffers from intrinsic contradictions. The origin of these contradictions must first of all be explained.

The most persistent contradiction concerns the sword of victory of which Hotherus secured possession.[6] We are assured that it is of immense value (_ingens præmium_), and is attended with the success of victory (_belli fortuna comitaretur_), and Hotherus is, in fact, able with the help of this sword to accomplish a great exploit: put Thor and other gods to flight. But then Hotherus is conquered again and again by Balder, and finally also defeated by Bous and slain, in spite of the fact that Gevarus had assured him that this sword should always be victorious. To be sure, Hotherus succeeds after several defeats in giving Balder his death-wound, but this is not done in a battle, and can hardly be counted as a victory; and Hotherus is not able to commit this secret murder by aid of this sword alone, but is obliged to own a belt of victory and to eat a wonderful food, which gives Balder his strength, before he can accomplish this deed.

There must be some reason why Saxo fell into this contradiction, which is so striking, and is maintained throughout the narrative. If Hotherus-_Hödr_ in the mythology possessed a sword which always gives victory and is able to conquer the gods themselves, then the mythology can _not_ have contained anything about defeats suffered by him after he got possession of this sword, nor can he then have fallen in conflict with Odin's and Rind's son. The only way in which this could happen would be that Hotherus-_Hödr_, after getting possession of the sword of victory, and after once having used it to advantage, in some manner was robbed of it again. But Saxo has read nothing of the sort in his sources, otherwise he would have mentioned it, if for no other reason than for the purpose of giving a cause for the defeat suffered by his hero, and it is doubtless his opinion that the sword with which Balder is mortally wounded is the same as the one Hotherus took from Mimingus. Hence, either _Hödr_ has neither suffered the defeats mentioned by Saxo nor fallen by the sword of the brother-avenging son of Odin and Rind, or he has never possessed the sword of victory here mentioned. It is not necessary to point out in which of these alternatives we have the mythological fact. _Hödr_ has never possessed the irresistible sword.

But Saxo has not himself invented the episode concerning the sword of victory, nor has he introduced this episode in his narrative about Hotherus without thinking he had good reason therefor.

It follows with certainty that the episode belongs to the saga of another hero, and that things were found in that saga which made it possible for Saxo to confound him with _Hödr_.

The question then arises who this hero was. The first thread the investigation finds, and has to follow, is the name itself, Hotherus, within which Latin form Oder can lie concealed as well as _Hödr_.

In the mythology _Odr_, like _Hödr_, was an inhabitant of Asgard, but nevertheless, like _Hödr_, he has had hostile relations to Asgard, and in this connection he has fought with Thor (see No. 103). The similarity of the names and the similarity of the mythological situation are sufficient to explain the confusion on the part of Saxo. But there are several other reasons, of which I will give one. The weapon with which Hoder slew Balder in the mythology was a young twig, _Mistelteinn_. The sword of victory made by Volund, with hostile intentions against the gods, could, for the very reason that it was dangerous to Asgard, be compared by skalds with the mistletoe, and be so called in a poetic-rhetorical figure. The fact is, that both in Skirnersmal and in Fjölsvinnsmal the Volund sword is designated as a _teinn_; that the _mistletoe_ is included in the list of sword-names in the Younger Edda; and that in the later Icelandic saga-literature _mistelteinn_ is a sword which is owned in succession by Saming, _Thráinn_, and Romund Greipson; and finally, that all that is there said about this sword _mistelteinn_ is a faithful echo of the sword of victory made by Volund, though the facts are more or less confused. Thus we find, for example, that it is _Máni Karl_ who informs Romund where the sword is to be sought, while in Saxo it is the moon-god Gevar, Nanna's father, who tells Hotherus where it lies hid. That the god _Máni_ and Gevar are identical has already been proved (see Nos. 90, 91, 92). Already before Saxo's time the _mistelteinn_ and the sword of victory of the mythology had been confounded with each other, and Hoder's and Oder's weapons had received the same name. This was another reason for Saxo to confound Hoder and Oder and unite them in Hotherus. And when he found in some of his sources that a sword _mistelteinn_ was used by Oder, and in others that a _mistelteinn_ was wielded by Hoder, it was natural that he as a historian should prefer the sword to the fabulous mistletoe (see more below).

The circumstance that two mythical persons are united into one in Hotherus has given Saxo free choice of making his Hotherus the son of the father of the one or of the other. In the mythology Hoder is the son of Odin; Oder-Svipdag is the son of Orvandel. Saxo has made him a son of Hoddbrodd, who is identical with Orvandel. It has already been demonstrated (see No. 29) that Helge Hundingsbane is a copy of the Teutonic patriarch Halfdan. The series of parallels by which this demonstration was made clear at the same time makes it manifest that Helge's rival Hoddbrodd is Halfdan's rival Orvandel. The same place as is occupied in the Halfdan myth by Orvandel, Hoddbrodd occupies in the songs concerning Helge Hundingsbane. What we had a right to expect, namely, that Saxo, when he did not make Hotherus the son of Hoder's father, should make him a son of Oder's, has actually been done, whence there can be no doubt that Hoder and Oder were united into one in Saxo's Hotherus.

With this point perfectly established, it is possible to analyse Saxo's narrative point by point, resolve it into its constituent parts, and refer them to the one of the two myths concerning Hoder and Oder to which they belong.[7] It has already been noted that Saxo was unable to unite organically with his narration of Hoder's adventure the episode concerning the sword of victory taken from Mimingus. The introduction of this episode has made the story of Hotherus a chain of contradictions. On the other hand, the same episode naturally adapts itself to the Svipdag-Oder story, which we already know. We have seen that Svipdag descends to the lower world and there gets into possession of the Volund sword. Hence it is Svipdag-Oder, not Hoder, who is instructed by the moon-god Gevar as to where the sword is to be found. It is he who crosses the frost-mountains, penetrates into the _specus_ guarded by Mimingus, and there captures the Volund sword and the Volund ring. It is Svipdag, not Hoder, who, thanks to this sword, is able as _thursar thjódar sjóli_ to conquer the otherwise indomitable Halfdan--nay, even more, compel Halfdan's co-father and protector, the Asa-god Thor, to yield.

Thus Saxo's accounts about Otharus and Hotherus fill two important gaps in the records preserved to our time in the Icelandic sources concerning the Svipdag-myth. To this is also to be added what Saxo tells us about Svipdag under this very name (see Nos. 24, 33): that he carries on an implacable war with Halfdan after the latter had first secured and then rejected Groa; that after various fortunes of war he conquers him and gives him a mortal wound; that he takes Halfdan's and Groa's son Gudhorm into his good graces and gives him a kingdom, but that he pursues and wars against Halfdan's and Alveig-Signe's son Hadding, and finally falls by his hand.

Hotherus-Svipdag's perilous journey across the frosty mountains, mentioned by Saxo, is predicted by Groa in her seventh incantation of protection over her son:

thann gel ek thér in sjaunda,
ef thik sækja kemr
frost á fjalli há
hávetrar kuldi
megit thinu holdi fara,
ok haldisk æ lik at lidum.

[5] According to Gheysmer's synopsis. Saxo himself says nothing of the kind. The present reading of the passage in Saxo is distinctly mutilated.

[6] This Bugge, too, has observed, and he rightly assumes that the episode concerning the sword has been interpolated from some other source.

[7] This analysis will be given in the second part of this work in the treatise on the Balder-myth.

102.

SVIPDAG'S SYNONYM EIREKR. ERICUS DISERTUS IN SAXO.

We have not yet exhausted Saxo's contributions to the myth concerning Svipdag. In two other passages in his _Historia Danica_ Svipdag reappears, namely, in the accounts of the reigns of Frode III. and of Halfdan Berggram, in both under the name Ericus (_Eirekr_), a name applied to Svipdag in the mythology also (see No. 108).

The first reference showing that Svipdag and Erik are identical appears in the following analogies:

Halfdan (Gram), who kills a Swedish king, is attacked in war by Svipdag.

Halfdan (Berggram), who kills a Swedish king, is attacked in war by Erik.

Svipdag is the son of the slain Swedish king's daughter.

Erik is the son of the slain Swedish king's daughter.

Saxo's account of King Frode is for the greater part the myth about Frey told as history. We might then expect to find that Svipdag, who becomes Frey's brother-in-law, should appear in some _rôle_ in Frode's history. The question, then, is whether any brother-in-law of Frode plays a part therein. This is actually the case. Frode's brother-in-law is a young hero who is his general and factotum, and is called Ericus, with the surname _Disertus_, the eloquent. The Ericus who appears as Halfdan's enemy accordingly resembles Svipdag, Halfdan's enemy, in the fact that he is a son of the daughter of the Swedish king slain by Halfdan. The Ericus who is Frode-Frey's general, again, resembles Svipdag in the fact that he marries Frode-Frey's sister. This is another indication that Erik and Svipdag were identical in Saxo's mythic sources.

Let us now pursue these indications and see whether they are confirmed by the stories which Saxo tells of Halfdan's enemy Erik and Frode-Frey's brother-in-law, Erik the eloquent.

Saxo first brings us to the paternal home of Erik the eloquent. In the beginning of the narrative Erik's mother is already dead and his father is married a second time (_Hist._, 192). Compare with this the beginning of Svipdag's history, where his mother, according to Grogalder, is dead, and his father is married again.

The stepmother has a son, by name Rollerus, whose position in the myth I shall consider hereafter. Erik and Roller leave their paternal home to find Frode-Frey and his sister Gunvara, a maiden of the most extraordinary beauty. Before they proceed on this adventurous journey Erik's stepmother, Roller's mother, has given them a wisdom-inspiring food to eat, in which one of the constituent parts was the fat of three serpents. Of this food the cunning Erik knew how to secure the better part, really intended for Roller. But the half-brothers were faithful friends.

From Saxo's narrative it appears that Erik had no desire at all to make this journey. It was Roller who first made the promise to go in search for Frode and his sister, and it was doubtless Erik's stepmother who brought about that Erik should assist his brother in the accomplishment of the task. Erik himself regarded the resolve taken by Roller as surpassing his strength (_Hist._, 193).

This corresponds with what Grogalder tells us about Svipdag's disinclination to perform the task imposed on him by his stepmother. This also gives us the key to Grogalder's words, that Svipdag was commanded to go and find not only "the one fond of ornaments," but "_those_ fond of ornaments" (_koma móti Menglödum_). The plural indicates that there is more than one "fond of ornaments" to be sought. It is necessary to bring back to Asgard not only Freyja, but also Frey her brother, the god of the harvests, for whom the ancient artists made ornaments, and who as a symbol of nature is the one under whose supremacy the forces of vegetation in nature decorate the meadows with grass and the fields with grain. He, too, with his sister, was in the power of the giant-world in the great fimbul-winter (see below).

The food to which serpents must contribute one of the constituent parts reappears in Saxo's account of Hotherus (_Hist._, 123; No. 101), and is there described with about the same words. In both passages three serpents are required for the purpose. That Balder should be nourished with this sort of food is highly improbable. The serpent food in the stories about Hotherus and Ericus has been borrowed from the Svipdag-myth.

The land in which Frode and his beautiful sister live is difficult of access, and magic powers have hitherto made futile every effort to get there. The attendants of the brother and sister there are described as the most savage, the most impudent, and the most disagreeable that can be conceived. They are beings of the most disgusting kind, whose manners are as unrestrained as their words. To get to this country it is necessary to cross an ocean, where storms, conjured up by witchcraft, threaten every sailor with destruction.

Groa has predicted this journey, and has sung a magic song of protection over her son against the dangers which he is to meet on the magic sea:

thann gel ek thér inn sétta
ef thú á sjó kemr
meira en menn viti:
logn ok lögr
gangi thér i lúdr saman
ok ljái thér æ friddrjúgrar farar.

When Erik and Roller, defying the storms, had crossed this sea and conquered the magic power which hindered the approach to the country, they entered a harbour, near which Frode and Gunvara are to be sought. On the strand they meet people who belong to the attendants of the brother and sister. Among them are three brothers, all named Grep, and of whom one is Gunvara's pressing and persistent suitor. This Grep, who is a poet and orator of the sort to be found in that land, at once enters into a discussion with Erik. At the end of the discussion Grep retires defeated and angry. Then Erik and Roller proceed up to the abode where they are to find those whom they seek. Frode and Gunvara are met amid attendants who treat them as princely persons, and look upon them as their court-circle. But the royal household is of a very strange kind, and receives visitors with great hooting, barking of dogs, and insulting manners. Frode occupies the high-seat in the hall, where a great fire is burning as a protection against the bitter cold. It is manifest from Saxo's description that Frode and Gunvara, possibly by virtue of the sorcery of the giants, are in a spiritual condition in which they have almost forgotten the past, but without being happy in their present circumstances. Frode feels unhappy and degraded. Gunvara loathes her suitor Grep. The days here spent by Erik and Roller, before they get an opportunity to take flight with Gunvara, form a series of drinking-bouts, vulgar songs, assaults, fights, and murders. The jealous Grep tries to assassinate Erik, but in this attempt he is slain by Roller's sword. Frode cannot be persuaded to accompany Erik, Roller, and Gunvara on this flight. He feels that his life is stained with a spot that cannot be removed, and he is unwilling to appear with it among other men. In the mythology it is left to Njord himself to liberate his son. In another passage (_Hist._, 266, 267) Saxo says that King Fridlevus (Njord) liberated a princely youth who had been robbed by a giant. In the mythology this youth can hardly be anyone else than the young Frey, the son of the liberator. Erik afterwards marries Gunvara.

Among the poetical paraphrases from heathen times are found some which refer to Frey's and Freyja's captivity among the giants. In a song of the skald Kormak the mead of poetry is called _jastrin fontanna Sýrar Greppa_, "the seething flood of the sea ranks (of the skerry) of Syr (of Freyja) of the Greps." This paraphrase evidently owes its existence to an association of ideas based on the same myth as Saxo has told in his way. _Sýr_, as we know, is one of Freyja's surnames, and as to its meaning, one which she must have acquired during her sojourn in Jotunheim, for it is scarcely applicable to her outside of Jotunheim. _Greppr_, the poet there, as we have already seen, is Freyja's suitor. He has had brothers also called _Greppr_, whence the plural expression _Sýrs Greppa_ ("Syr's Greps"), wherein Freyja's surname is joined with more than one Grep, receives its mythological explanation. The giant abode where Frode and Gunvara sojourn, is according to Saxo, situated not far from the harbour where Erik and Roller entered (_portum a quo Frotho non longe deversabatur_--_Hist._, 198). The expression "the Greps of Syr's skerries" thus agrees with Saxo.

A northern land uninhabited by man is by Eyvind Skaldaspiller called _utröst Belja dolgs_, "the most remotely situated abode of Bele's enemy (Frey)." This paraphrase is also explained by the myth concerning Frey's and Freyja's visit in Jotunheim. _Beli_ is a giant-name, and means "the howler." Erik and Roller, according to Saxo, are received with a horrible howl by the giants who attend Frey. "They produced horrible sounds like those of howling animals" (_ululantium more horrisonas dedere voces_). To the myth about how Frey fell into the power of the giants I shall come later (see Nos. 109, 111, 112).

Erik is in Saxo called _disertus_, the eloquent. The Svipdag epithet _Ódr_ originally had a meaning very near to this. The impersonal _ódr_ means partly the reflecting element in man, partly song and poetry, the ability of expressing one's self skilfully and of joining the words in an agreeable and persuasive manner (cp. the Gothic _weit-wodan_, to convince). Erik demonstrates the propriety of his name. Saxo makes him speak in proverbs and sentences, certainly for the reason that his Northern source has put them on the lips of the young hero. The same quality characterises Svipdag. In Grogalder his mother sings over him: "Eloquence and social talents be abundantly bestowed upon you;" and the description of him in Fjölsvinnsmal places before our eyes a nimble and vivacious youth who well understands the watchman's veiled words, and on whose lips the speech develops into proverbs which fasten themselves on the mind. Compare _augna gamans_, &c. (str. 5), and the often quoted _Urdar ordi kvedr engi madr_ (str. 47).

Toward Gunvara Erik observes the same chaste and chivalrous conduct as Otharus toward Syritha (_intacta illi pudicitia manet_--p. 216). As to birth, he occupies the same subordinate position to her as _Ódr_ to Freyja, Otharus to Syritha, Svipdag to Menglad.

The adventures related in the mythology from Svipdag's journey, when he went in search of Freyja-Menglad, are by Saxo so divided between Ericus Disertus and Otharus that of the former is told the most of what happened to Svipdag during his visit in the giant abode, of the latter the most of what happened to him on his way thence to his home.

Concerning Erik's family relations, Saxo gives some facts which, from a mythological point of view, are of great value. It has already been stated that Erik's mother, like Svipdag's, is dead, and that his father, like Svipdag's, is married a second time where his saga begins. The father begets with his second wife a son, whom Saxo calls Rollerus. When Erik's father also is dead, Roller's mother, according to Saxo, marries again, and this time a powerful champion called Brac (_Hist._, 217), who in the continuation of the story (p. 217, &c.) proves himself to be _Asa-Brage_, the god Thor (cp. No. 105), to whom she brings her son Roller. In our mythological records we learn that Thor's wife was Sif, the goddess of vegetation, and that Sif had been married and had had a son, by name _Ullr_, before she became the wife of the Asa-god, and that she brought with her to Asgard this son, who became adopted among the gods. Thus the mythic records and Saxo correspond in these points, and it follows that Rollerus is the same as Uller, whom Saxo elsewhere (_Hist._, 130, 131; cp. No. 36) mentions as Ollerus. The forms Ollerus and Rollerus are to each other as _Olfr_ to _Hrólfr_. _Hrólfr_ is a contraction of _Hród-úlfr_; Rollerus indicates a contraction of _Hród-Ullr_, _Hríd-Ullr_. The latter form occurs in the paraphrase _Hrídullr hrotta_, "the sword's storm-Ull," a designation of a warrior (Grett., 20, 1). It has already been pointed out that in the great war between Odin's clan and the Vans, Ull, although Thor's stepson, takes the side of the Vans and identifies his cause with that of Frey and Svipdag. Saxo also describes the half-brothers as faithfully united, and, in regard to Roller's reliable fraternity, makes Erik utter a sentence which very nearly corresponds to the Danish:

"End svige de Sorne
og ikke de Baarne"

(_Hist._, 207--_optima est affinium opera opis indigo_). Saxo's account of Erik and Roller thus gives us the key to the mythological statements, not otherwise intelligible, that though Ull has in Thor a friendly stepfather (cp. the expression _gulli Ullar_--Younger Edda, i. 302), and in Odin a clan-chief who distinguishes him (cp. _Ullar hylli_, &c.--Grimnersmal, 42), nevertheless he contends in this feud on the same side as Erik-Svipdag, with whom he once set out to rescue Frey from the power of the giants. The mythology was not willing to sever those bonds of fidelity which youthful adventurers shared in common had established between Frey, Ull, and Svipdag. Both the last two therefore associate themselves with Frey when the war breaks out between the Asas and Vans.

It follows that Sif was the second wife of Orvandel the brave before she became Thor's and that Ull is Orvandel's son. The intimate relation between Orvandel on the one side and Thor on the other has already been shown above. When Orvandel was out on adventures in Jotunheim his first wife Groa visited Thor's halls as his guest, where the dis of vegetation might have a safe place of refuge during her husband's absence. This feature preserved in the Younger Edda is of great mythological importance, and, as I shall show further on, of ancient Aryan origin. Orvandel, the great archer and star-hero, reappears in Rigveda and also in the Greek mythology--in the latter under the name Orion, as Vigfusson has already assumed. The correctness of the assumption is corroborated by reasons, which I shall present later on.

103.

THE SVIPDAG SYNONYM EIRIKR (_continued_).

We now pass to that Erik whom Saxo mentions in his narrative concerning Halfdan-Berggram, and who, like Svipdag, is the son of a Swedish king's daughter. This king had been slain by Halfdan. Just as Svipdag undertakes an irreconcilable war of revenge against Halfdan-Gram, so does Erik against Halfdan-Berggram. In one of their battles Halfdan was obliged to take flight, despite his superhuman strength and martial luck. More than this, he has by his side the "champion Thoro," and Saxo himself informs us that the latter is no less a personage than the Asa-god Thor, but he too must yield to Erik. Thor's Mjolner and Halfdan's club availed nothing against Erik. In conflict with him their weapons seemed edgeless (_Hist._, 323, 324).

Thus not only Halfdan, but even Thor himself, Odin's mighty son, he who alone outweighs in strength all the other descendants and clansmen of Odin, was obliged to retreat before a mythical hero; and that his lightning hammer, at other times irresistible, Sindre's wonderful work, is powerless in this conflict, must in the mythology have had particular reasons. The mythology has scarcely permitted its favourite, "Hlodyn's celebrated son," to be subjected to such a humiliation more than once, and this fact must have had such a motive, that the event might be regarded as a solitary exception. It must therefore be borne in mind that, in his narrative concerning Hotherus, Saxo states, that after the latter had acquired the sword of victory guarded by Mimingus, he meets the Asa-god Thor in a battle and forces him to yield, after the former has severed the hammer from its handle with a blow of the sword (_Hist._, 118; see No. 101). It has already been shown that _Ódr_-Svipdag, not _Hödr_, is the Hotherus who captured the sword of victory and accomplished this deed (see No. 101). Erik accordingly has, in common with Svipdag, not only those features that he is the daughter-son of a Swedish king whom Halfdan had slain, and that he persists in making war on the latter, but also that he accomplished the unique deed of putting Thor to flight.

Thus the hammer Mjolner is found to have been a weapon which, in spite of its extraordinary qualities, is inferior to the sword of victory forged by Volund (see Nos. 87, 98). Accordingly the mythology has contained two famous judgments on products of the ancient artists. The first judgment is passed by the Asa-gods in solemn consultation, and in reference to this very hammer, Mjolner, explains that Sindre's products are superior to those of Ivalde's sons. The other judgment is passed on the field of battle, and confirms the former judgment of the gods. Mjolner proves itself useless in conflict with the sword of victory. If now the Volund of the heroic traditions were one of the Ivalde sons who fails to get the prize in the mythology, then an epic connection could be found between the former and the latter judgment: the insulted Ivalde son has then avenged himself on the gods and re-established his reputation injured by them. I shall recur to the question whether Volund was a son of Ivalde or not.

The wars between Erik and Halfdan were, according to Saxo, carried on with changing fortunes. In one of these conflicts, which must have taken place before Erik secured the irresistible sword, Halfdan is victorious and takes Erik prisoner; but the heart of the victor is turned into reconciliation toward the inexorable foe, and he offers Erik his life and friendship if the latter will serve his cause. But when Erik refuses the offered conciliation, Halfdan binds him fast to a tree in order to make him the prey of the wild beasts of the forest and abandons him to his fate. Halfdan's desire to become reconciled with Erik, and also the circumstance that he binds him, is predicted, in Grogalder (strs. 9, 10), by Svipdag's mother among the fortunes that await her son:

thann gel ek thér inn fjórda
ef thik fjándr standa
görvir á galgvegi:
hugr theim hverfi
til handa ther mætti,
ok snuisk theim til sátta sefi.

thann gel ek pér inn fimta
ef thér fjöturr verdr
borinn at boglimum:
Leifnis elda læt ek thér
fyr legg of kvedinn,
ok stökkr thá láss af limum,
en af fótum fjöturr.

The Svipdag synonyms so far met with are: Ódr (Hotherus), Óttarr (Otharus), and Eirekr (Ericus).

(_From an etching by Lorenz Frölich._)

In pursuance of a promise made by Loke to secure his release, he beguiled Idun out of Asgard and into the power of giant Thjasse. Idun was keeper of the apples upon which the gods fed to renew their youth and her disappearance from Asgard was, therefore, followed by rapid ageing, into decrepitude, of the gods. They discovered that Loke was the scoundrel who had caused Idun's betrayal and threatened him with death if he failed to bring her back. Accordingly Loke borrowed Freyja's falcon plumage and flew to Jotunheim--home of the giants. Thjasse was at sea fishing, so Loke quickly found Idun, whom he transformed into a nut and hastened with her to Asgard. Thjasse soon learned what had happened and on eagle wings he pursued the fleeing Loke but his coming was seen by Heimdal, warder of Asgard's gate, and by his orders a fire was quickly made on the walls, which scorched Thjasse's wings as he flew over and he fell into the power of the gods who promptly slew him.

See pages 899, 959, 909, 960.]

It is remarkable, but, as we shall find later, easy to explain that this saga-hero, whom the mythology made Freyja's husband, and whose career was adorned with such strange adventures, was not before the ninth century, and that in Sweden, accorded the same rank as the Asa-gods, and this in spite of the fact that he was adopted in Asgard, and despite the fact that his half-brother Ull was clothed with the same dignity as that of the Asa-gods. There is no trace to show that he who is Freyja's husband and Frey's brother-in-law was generally honoured with a divine title, with a temple, and with sacrifices. He remained to the devotees of the mythology what he was--a brilliant hero, but nothing more; and while the saga on the remote antiquity of the Teutons made him a ruler of North Teutonic tribes, whose leader he is in the war against Halfdan and Hadding (see Nos. 33, 38), he was honoured as one of the oldest kings of the Scandinavian peoples, but was not worshipped as a god. As an ancient king he has received his place in the middle-age chronicles and genealogies of rulers now under the name Svipdag, now under the name Erik. But, at the same time, his position in the epic was such that, if the Teutonic Olympus was ever to be increased with a divinity of Asa-rank, no one would have a greater right than he to be clothed with this dignity. From this point of view light is shed on a passage in ch. 26 of _Vita Ansgarii_. It is there related, that before Ansgarius arrived in Birka, where his impending arrival was not unknown, there came thither a man (doubtless a heathen priest or skald) who insisted that he had a mission from the gods to the king and the people. According to the man's statement, the gods had held a meeting, at which he himself had been present, and in which they unanimously had resolved to adopt in their council that King Erik who in antiquity had ruled over the Swedes, so that he henceforth should be one of the gods (_Ericum, quondam regem vestrum, nos unanimes in collegium nostrum ascisimus, ut sit unus de numero deorum_); this was done because they had perceived that the Swedes were about to increase the number of their present gods by adopting a stranger (Christ) whose doctrine could not be reconciled with theirs, and who accordingly did not deserve to be worshipped. If the Swedes wished to add another god to the old ones, under whose protection the country had so long enjoyed happiness, peace, and plenty, they ought to accord to Erik, and not to the strange god, that honour which belongs to the divinities of the land. What the man who came to Birka with this mission reported was made public, and created much stir and agitation. When Ansgarius landed, a temple had already been built to Erik, in which supplications and sacrifices were offered to him. This event took place at a time foreboding a crisis for the ancient Odinic religion. Its last bulwarks on the Teutonic continent had recently been levelled with the ground by Charlemagne's victory over the Saxons. The report of the cruelties practised by the advocates of the doctrine, which invaded the country from the south and the west for the purpose of breaking the faith of the Saxon Odin worshippers towards their religion, had certainly found its way to Scandinavia, and doubtless had its influence in encouraging that mighty effort made by the northern peoples in the ninth century to visit and conquer on their own territory their Teutonic kinsmen who had been converted to Christianity. It is of no slight mythological interest to learn that zealous men among the Swedes hoped to be able to inspire the old doctrine with new life by adopting among the gods Freyja's husband, the most brilliant of the ancient mythic heroes and the one most celebrated by the skalds. I do not deem it impossible that this very attempt made Erik's name hated among some of the Christians, and was the reason why "Old Erik" became a name of the devil. _Vita Ansgarii_ says that it was the devil's own work that Erik was adopted among the gods.

The Svipdag synonym Erik reappears in the Christian saga about Erik Vidforle (the far-travelled), who succeeded in finding and entering _Odainsakr_ (see No. 44). This is a reminiscence of Svipdag's visit in Mimer's realm. The surname _Vidförli_ has become connected with two names of Svipdag: we have _Eirikr hinn vidförli_ and _Ódr_ (_Oddr_) _hinn vidförli_ in the later Icelandic sagas.

104.

THE LATER FORTUNES OF THE VOLUND SWORD.

I have now given a review of the manner in which I have found the fragments of the myth concerning Svipdag up to the point where he obtains Freyja as his wife. The fragments dove-tail into each other and form a consecutive whole. Now, a few words in regard to the part afterwards played by the Volund sword, secured by Svipdag in the lower world, in the mythology, and in the saga. The sword, as we have seen, is the prize for which Asgard opens its gate and receives Svipdag as Freyja's husband. We subsequently find it in Frey's possession. Once more the sword becomes the price of a bride, and passes into the hands of the giant Gymer and his wife. It has already been demonstrated that Gymer's wife is the same Angerboda who, in historical times and until Ragnarok, dwells in the Ironwood (see No. 35). Her shepherd, who in the woods watches her monster flocks, also keeps the sword until the fire-giant Fjalar shall appear in his abode in the guise of the red cock and bring it to his own father Surt, in whose hand it shall cause Frey's death, and contribute to the destruction of the world of gods.

A historian, Priscus, who was Attila's contemporary, relates that the Hun king got possession of a divine sword that a shepherd had dug out of the ground and presented to him as a gift. The king of the Huns, it is added, rejoiced in the find; for, as the possessor of the sword that had belonged to the god "Mars," he considered himself as armed with authority to undertake and carry on successfully any war he pleased (see Jordanes, who quotes Priscus).

On the Teutonic peoples the report of this pretended event must have made a mighty impression. It may be that the story was invented for this purpose; for their myths told of a sword of victory which was owned by that god who, since the death of Balder, and since Tyr became one-handed, was, together with Thor, looked upon as the bravest of the warlike gods, which sword had been carried away from Asgard to the unknown wildernesses of the East, where it had been buried, not to be produced again before the approach of Ragnarok, when it was to be exhumed and delivered by a shepherd to a foe of mankind. Already, before this time, the Teutons had connected the appearance of the Huns with this myth. According to Jordanes, they believed that evil troll-women, whom the Gothic king Filimer had banished from his people, had taken refuge in the wildernesses of the East, and there given birth to children with forest giants ("satyres"), which children became the progenitors of the Huns. This is to say, in other words, that they believed the Huns were descended from Angerboda's progeny in the Ironwood, which, in the fulness of time, were to break into Midgard with the monster Hate as their leader. The sword which the god Frey had possessed, and which was concealed in the Ironwood, becomes in Jordanes a sword which the god "Mars" had owned, and which, thereafter, had been concealed in the earth. Out of Angerboda's shepherd, who again brings the sword into daylight and gives it to the world-hostile Fjalar, becomes a shepherd who exhumes the sword and gives it to Attila, the foe of the Teutonic race.

The memory of the sword survived the victory of Christianity, and was handed down through the centuries in many variations. That Surt at the end of the world was to possess the sword of course fell away, and instead now one and then another was selected as the hero who was to find and take it; that it was watched by a woman and by a man (in the mythology Angerboda and Eggther); and that the woman was an even more disgusting being than the man, were features that the saga retained both on the Continent and in England.

The Beowulf poem makes a monster, by name Grendel ("the destroyer"), dwell with his mother under a marsh in a forest, which, though referred to Denmark and to the vicinity of the splendid castle of a Danish king, is described in a manner which makes it highly probable that the prototype used by the Christian poet was a heathen skald's description of the Ironwood. There is, says he, the mysterious land in which the wolf conceals himself, full of narrow valleys, precipices, and abysses, full of dark and deep forests, marshes shrouded in gloom, lakes shaded with trees, nesses lashed by the sea, mountain torrents and bogs, which in the night shine as of fire, and shelter demoniac beings and dragons in their turbid waves. The hunted game prefers being torn into pieces by dogs to seeking its refuge on this unholy ground, from which raging storms chase black clouds until the heavens are darkened and the rain pours down in torrents. The English poet may honestly have located the mythological Ironwood in Denmark. The same old border-land, which to this very day is called "Dänische wold," was still in the thirteenth century called by the Danes Jarnwith, the Ironwood. From his abode in this wilderness Grendel makes nightly excursions to the Danish royal castle, breaks in there, kills sleeping champions with his iron hands, sucks out their blood, and carries their corpses to the enchanted marsh in order to eat them there. The hero, Beowulf, who has heard of this, proceeds to Denmark, penetrates into the awful forest, dives, armed with Denmark's best sword, down into the magic marsh to Grendel's and his mother's hall, and kills them after a conflict in which the above-mentioned sword was found useless. But down there he finds another which Grendel and his mother kept concealed, gets possession of it, and conquers with its aid.