Chapter V: The Ivalde Race (3)

Of this remarkable sword it is said that it was "rich in victory," that it hailed from the past, that "it was a good and excellent work of a smith," and that the golden hilt was the work of the "wonder-smith." On the blade was risted (engraved) "that ancient war" when "the billows of the raging sea washed over the race of giants," and on a plate made of the purest gold was written in runes "the name of him for whom this weapon was first made." The Christian poet found it most convenient for his purpose not to name this name for his readers or hearers. But all that is here stated is applicable to the mythological sword of victory. "The Wonder-smith" in the Old English tale is Volund (Weland). The coat of mail borne by Beowulf is "Welandes geweorc." "Deor the Scald's Complaint" sings of Weland, and King Alfred in his translation of Boethius speaks of "the wise Weland, the goldsmith, who, in ancient times, was the most celebrated." That the Weland sword was "the work of a giant" corresponds with the Volund myth (see below); and as we here learn that the blade was engraved with pictures representing the destructions of the ancient giant-artists in the waves of the sea (the blood of the primeval giant Ymer), then this illustrates a passage in Skirnersmal where it is likewise stated that the sword was risted with images and "that it fights of itself against the giant race" (Skirnersmal, 8, 23, 25; see No. 60). This expression is purposely ambiguous. One meaning is emphasised by Frey's words in Skirnersmal, that it fights of itself "if it is a wise man who owns it" (_ef sá er horscr er hefir_). The other meaning of the expression appears from the Beowulf poem. The sword itself fights against the giant race in the sense that the "wonder-smith" (Weland), by the aid of pictures on the blade of the sword itself, represented that battle which Odin and his brothers fought against the primeval giants, when the former drowned the latter in the blood of their progenitor, the giant Ymer.

Grendel is the son of the troll-woman living in the marsh, just as Hate is Angerboda's. The author identifies Grendel with Cain banished from the sight of his Creator, and makes giants, thurses, and "elves" the progeny of the banished one. Grendel's mother is a "she-wolf of the deep" and a mermaid (_merewif_). Angerboda is the mother of the wolf progeny in the Ironwood and "drives the ships into Ægir's jaws." What "Beowulf" tells about Grendel reminds us in some of the details so strongly of Völuspa's words concerning Hate that the question may be raised whether the English author did not have in mind a strophe resembling the one in Völuspa which treats of him. Völuspa's Hate _fyllisk fjörvi feigra manna_, "satiates himself with the vital force of men selected for death." Beowulf's Grendel sucks the blood of his chosen victims until life ebbs out of them. Völuspa's Hate _rydr ragna sjöt raudum dreyra_, "colours the princely abode with red blood from the wounds." Grendel steals into the royal castle and stains it with blood. The expression here reappears almost literally. Völuspa's _ragna sjöt_ and _dreyri_ correspond perfectly to "Beowulf's" _driht-sele_ and _dreor_.

In Vilkinasaga we read that Nagelring, the best sword in the world was concealed in a forest, and was there watched by a woman and a man. The man had the strength of twelve men, but the woman was still stronger. King Thidrek and his friend Hildebrand succeeded after a terrible combat in slaying the monster. The woman had to be slain thrice in order that she should not come to life again. This feature is also borrowed from the myth about Angerboda, the thrice slain.

_Historia Pontificum_ (from the middle of the twelfth century) informs us that Duke Wilhelm of Angoulême (second half of the tenth century) possessed an extraordinary sword made by Volund. But this was not the real sword of victory. From Jordane's history it was known in the middle age that this sword had fallen into Attila's hands, and the question was naturally asked what afterwards became of it. Sagas answered the question. The sword remained with the descendants of the Huns, the Hungarians. The mother of the Hungarian king Solomon gave it to one Otto of Bavaria. He lent it to the margrave of Lausitz, Dedi the younger. After the murder of Dedi it came into the hands of Emperor Henry IV., who gave it to his favourite, Leopold of Merseburg. By a fall from his horse Leopold was wounded by the point of the sword, and died from the wound. Even in later times the sword was believed to exist, and there were those who believed that the Duke of Alba bore it at his side.

105.

THE SVIPDAG EPITHET SKIRNER. THE VOLUND SWORD'S NAME GAMBANTEIN.

After Svipdag's marriage with Freyja the saga of his life may be divided into two parts--the time before his visit in Asgard as Freyja's happy husband and Frey's best friend, and the time of his absence from Asgard and his change and destruction.

To the former of these divisions belongs his journey, celebrated in song, to the abode of the giant Gymer, whither he proceeds to ask, on Frey's behalf, for the hand of Gerd, Gymer's and Aurboda's fair daughter. It has already been pointed out that after his marriage with Gunvara-Freyja, Erik-Svipdag appears in Saxo as Frotho-Frey's right hand, ready to help and a trusted man in all things. Among other things the task is also imposed on him to ask, on behalf of Frotho, for the hand of a young maid whose father in the mythology doubtless was a giant. He is described as a deceitful, treacherous being, hostile to the gods, as a person who had laid a plan with his daughter as a bait to deceive Frotho and win Gunvara for himself. The plan is frustrated by Svipdag (Ericus), Ull (Rollerus), and Thor (Bracus), the last of whom here appears in his usual _rôle_ as the conqueror of giants. At the very point when Frotho's intended father-in-law thinks he has won the game Thor rushes into his halls, and the schemer is compelled to save himself by flight (_Hist._, 221, &c.). In the excellent poem Skirnersmal, the Icelandic mythic fragments have preserved the memory of Frey's courtship to a giant-maid, daughter of Aurboda's terrible husband, the giant-chief Gymer. Here, as in Saxo, the Vana-god does not himself go to do the courting, but sends a messenger, who in the poem is named by the epithet _Skirner_. All that is there told about this Skirner finds its explanation in Svipdag's saga. The very epithet Skirnir, "the shining one," is justified by the fact that Solbjart-Orvandel, the star-hero, is his father. Skirner dwells in Asgard, but is not one of the ruling gods. The one of the gods with whom he is most intimately united is Frey. Thus his position in Asgard is the same as Svipdag's. Skirner's influence with Freyja's brother is so great that when neither Njord nor Skade can induce the son to reveal the cause of the sorrow which afflicts him, they hope that Skirner may be able to do so. Who, if not Svipdag, who tried to rescue Frey from the power of the giants, and who is his brother-in-law, and in Saxo his all in all, would be the one to possess such influence over him? Skirner also appeals to the fact that Frey and he have in days past had adventures together of such a kind that they ought to have faith in each other, and that Frey ought not to have any secret which he may not safely confide to so faithful a friend (str. 5). Skirner is wise and poetic, and has proverbs on his lips like Svipdag-Erik (cp. str. 13 in Skirnersmal with str. 47 in Fjölsvinnsmal). But the conclusive proof of their identity is the fact that Skirner, like Svipdag, had made a journey to the lower world, had been in Mimer's realm at the foot of Ygdrasil, and there had fetched a sword called Gambantein, which is the same sword as the one Frey lays in his hand when he is to go on his errand of courtship--the same sword as Frey afterwards parts with as the price paid to Gymer and Aurboda for the bride. When Gerd refuses to accept the courtship-presents that Skirner brings with him, he draws his sword, shows its blade to Gerd, threatens to send her with its edge to Nifelhel, the region below the Na-gates, the Hades-dwelling of Hrimner, Hrimgrimner, and of other giants of antiquity, the abode of the furies of physical sicknesses (see No. 60), and tells her how this terrible weapon originally came into his possession:

Til holtz ec gecc
oc til hrás vidar
gambantein at geta,
gambantein ec gat.

"I went to Holt
And to the juicy tree
Gambantein to get,
Gambantein I got."

The word _teinn_, a branch, a twig, has the meaning of sword in all the compounds where it occurs: _benteinn_, _bifteinn_, _eggteinar_, _hævateinn_ (_homateinn_), _hjörteinn_, _hræteinn_, _sárteinn_, _valteinn_. _Mistelteinn_ has also become the name of a sword (Younger Edda, i. 564; Fornald., i, 416, 515; ii. 371; cp. No. 101), and the same weapon as is here called _gambanteinn_ is called _hævateinn_, _homateinn_ (see further No. 116) in Fjölsvinnsmal.

In the mythology there is only one single place which is called Holt. It is _Mimis holt_, _Hoddmimis holt_, the subterranean grove, where the children who are to be the parents of the future race of man have their secure abode until the regeneration of the world (see Nos. 52, 53), living on the morning-dew which falls from the world-tree, _hrár vidr_, "the tree rich in sap" (see No. 89). Mimer-Nidhad also comes from Holt when he imprisons Volund (Volund., 14). It has already been proved above that, on his journey in the lower world, Svipdag also came to _Mimis holt_, and saw the citadel within which the _ásmegir_ have their asylum.

Saxo has known either the above-cited strophe or another resembling it, and when his Erik-Svipdag speaks of his journey in ambiguous words (_obscura umbage_), Saxo makes him say: _Ad trunca sylvarum robora penetravi ... ibi cuspis a robore regis excussa est_ (_Hist._, 206). With the expression _ad robora sylvarum penetravi_ we must compare _til holtz ec gecc_. The words _robur regis_ refer to the tree of the lower world king, Mimer _Mimameidr_, the world-tree. Erik-Svipdag's purpose with his journey to this tree is to secure a weapon. Saxo calls this weapon _cuspis_. Fjölsvinnsmal calls it, with a paraphrase, _broddr_. _Cuspis_ is a translation of _broddr_.

Thus there can be no doubt concerning the identity of Skirner with Svipdag.

106.

SVIPDAG'S LATER FORTUNES. HIS TRANSFORMATION AND DEATH.
FREYJA GOES IN SEARCH OF HIM. FREYJA'S EPITHET MARDÖLL. THE
SEA-KIDNEY, BRISINGAMEN. SVIPDAG'S EPITHET HERMÓDR.

When the war between the Asas and the Vans had broken out, Svipdag, as we have learned, espouses the cause of the Vans (see Nos. 33, 38), to whom he naturally belongs as the husband of the Vana-dis Freyja and Frey's most intimate friend. The happy issue of the war for the Vans gives Svipdag free hands in regard to Halfdan's hated son Hadding, the son of the woman for whose sake Svipdag's mother Groa was rejected. Meanwhile Svipdag offers Hadding reconciliation, peace, and a throne among the Teutons (see No. 38). When Hadding refuses to accept gifts of mercy from the slayer of his father, Svipdag persecutes him with irreconcilable hate. This hatred finally produces a turning-point in Svipdag's fortunes and darkens the career of the brilliant hero. After the Asas and Vans had become reconciled again, one of their first thoughts must have been to put an end to the feud between the Teutonic tribes, since a continuation of the latter was not in harmony with the peace restored among the gods (see No. 41), nevertheless the war was continued in Midgard (see No. 41), and the cause is Svipdag. He has become a rebel against both Asas and Vans, and herein we must look for the reason why, as we read in the Younger Edda, he disappeared from Asgard (Younger Edda, 114). But he disappears not only from the world of the gods, but finally also from the terrestrial seat of war, and that god or those gods who were to blame for this conceal his unhappy and humiliating fate from Freyja. It is at this time that the faithful and devoted Vana-dis goes forth to seek her lover in all worlds _med ukunnum thjódum_.

Saxo gives us two accounts of Svipdag's death--the one clearly converted into history, the other corresponding faithfully with the mythology. The former reports that Hadding conquered and slew Svipdag in a naval battle (_Hist._, 42). The latter gives us the following account (_Hist._, 48):

While Hadding lived in exile in a northern wilderness, after his great defeat in conflict with the Swedes, it happened, on a sunny, warm day, that he went to the sea to bathe. While he was washing himself in the cold water he saw an animal of a most peculiar kind (_bellua inauditi generis_), and came into combat with it. Hadding slew it with quick blows and dragged it on shore. But while he rejoiced over this deed a woman put herself in his way and sang a song, in which she let him know that the deed he had now perpetrated should bring fearful consequences until he succeeded in reconciling the divine wrath which this murder had called down upon his head. All the forces of nature, wind and wave, heaven and earth, were to be his enemies unless he could propitiate the angry gods, for the being whose life he had taken was a celestial being concealed in the guise of an animal, one of the super-terrestrial:

Quippe unum e superis alieno corpore tectum
Sacrilegæ necuere manus: sic numinis almi
Interfector ades.

It appears, however, from the continuation of the narrative, that Hadding was unwilling to repent what he had done, although he was told that the one he had slain was a supernatural being, and that he long refused to propitiate those gods whose sorrow and wrath he had awakened by the murder. Not until the predictions of the woman were confirmed by terrible visitations does Hadding make up his mind to reconcile the powers in question. And this he does by instituting the sacrificial feast, which is called Frey's offering, and thenceforth was celebrated in honour of Frey (_Fro deo rem divinam furvis hostiis fecit_).

Hadding's refusal to repent what he had done, and the defiance he showed the divine powers, whom he had insulted by the murder he had committed, can only be explained by the fact that these powers were the Vana-gods who long gave succour to his enemies (see No. 39), and that the supernatural being itself, which, concealed in the guise of an animal, was slain by him, was some one whose defeat gave him pleasure, and whose death he considered himself bound and entitled to cause. This explanation is fully corroborated by the fact that when he learns that Odin and the Asas, whose favourite he was, no longer hold their protecting hands over him, and that the propitiation advised by the prophetess becomes a necessity to him, he institutes the great annual offering to Frey, Svipdag's brother-in-law. That this god especially must be propitiated can, again, have no other reason than the fact that Frey was a nearer kinsman than any of the Asa-gods to the supernatural being, from whose slayer he (Frey) demanded a ransom. And as Saxo has already informed us that Svipdag perished in a naval engagement with Hadding, all points to the conclusion that in the celestial person who was concealed in the guise of an animal and was slain in the water we must discover Svipdag Freyja's husband.

Saxo does not tell us what animal guise it was. It must certainly have been a purely fabulous kind, since Saxo designates it as _bellua inauditi generis_. An Anglo-Saxon record, which is to be cited below, designates it as _uyrm_ and _draca_. That Svipdag, sentenced to wear this guise, kept himself in the water near the shore of a sea, follows from the fact that Hadding meets and kills him in the sea where he goes to bathe. Freyja, who sought her lost lover everywhere, also went in search for him to the realms of _Ægir_ and _Rán_. There are reasons for assuming that she found him again, and, in spite of his transformation and the repulsive exterior he thereby got, she remained with him and sought to soothe his misery with her faithful love. One of Freyja's surnames shows that she at one time dwelt in the bosom of the sea. The name is _Mardöll_. Another proof of this is the fragment preserved to our time of the myth concerning the conflict between Heimdal and Loke in regard to Brisingamen. This neck- and breast-ornament, celebrated in song both among the Teutonic tribes of England and those of Scandinavia, one of the most splendid works of the ancient artists, belonged to Freyja (Thrymskvida, Younger Edda). She wore it when she was seeking Svipdag and found him beneath the waves of the sea; and the splendour which her Brisingamen diffused from the deep over the surface of the sea is the epic interpretation of the name _Mardöll_ from _marr_, "sea," and _döll_, feminine of _dallr_ (old English _deall_), "glittering" (compare the names Heimdallr and Delling). _Mardöll_ thus means "the one diffusing a glimmering in the sea." The fact that Brisingamen, together with its possessor, actually was for a time in Æger's realm is proved by its epithet _fagrt hafnýra_, "the fair kidney of the sea," which occurs in a strophe of Ulf Uggeson (Younger Edda, 268). There was also a skerry, _Vágasker, Singasteinn_, on which Brisingamen lay and glittered, when Loke, clad in the guise of a seal tried to steal it. But before he accomplished his purpose, there crept upon the skerry another seal, in whose looks--persons in disguise were not able to change their eyes--the evil and cunning descendant of Farbaute must quickly have recognised his old opponent Heimdal. A conflict arose in regard to the possession of the ornament, and the brave son of the nine mothers became the victor and preserved the treasure for Asgard.

To the Svipdag synonyms _Ódr_ (Hotharus), _Óttar_ (Otharus), _Eirekr_ (Ericus), and _Skirnir_, we must finally add one more, which is, perhaps, of Anglo-Saxon origin: _Hermodr_, _Heremod_.

From the Norse mythic records we learn the following in regard to Hermod:

(_a_) He dwelt in Asgard, but did not belong to the number of ruling gods. He is called Odin's _sveinn_ (Younger Edda, 174), and he was the Asa-father's favourite, and received from him helmet and cuirass (Hyndluljod, 2).

(_b_) He is called _enn hvati_ (Younger Edda, 174), the rapid. When Frigg asks if anyone desires to earn her favour and gratitude by riding to the realm of death and offering Hel a ransom for Balder, Hermod offers to take upon himself this task. He gets Odin's horse Sleipner to ride, proceeds on his way to Hel, comes safely to that citadel in the lower world, where Balder and Nanna abide the regeneration of the earth, spurs Sleipner over the castle wall, and returns to Asgard with Hel's answer, and with the ring Draupner, and with presents from Nanna to Frigg and Fulla (Younger Edda, 180).

From this it appears that Hermod has a position in Asgard resembling Skirner's: that he, like Skirner, is employed by the gods as a messenger when important or venturesome errands are to be undertaken; and that he, like Skirner, then gets that steed to ride, which is able to leap over vaferflames and castle-walls. We should also bear in mind that Skirner-Svipdag had made celebrated journeys in the same world to which Hermod is now sent to find Balder. As we know, Svipdag had before his arrival in Asgard travelled all over the lower world, and had there fetched the sword of victory. After his adoption in Asgard, he is sent by the gods to the lower world to get the chain Gleipner.

(_c_) In historical times Hermod dwells in Valhal, and is one of the chief einherjes there. When Hakon the Good was on the way to the hall of the Asa-father, the latter sent Brage and Hermod to meet him:

Hermódr ok Bragi
kvad Hroptatýr
gangit i gegn grami
thvi at konungr ferr
sá er kappi thykkir,
til hallar hinnig (Hakonarmal).

This is all there is in the Norse sources about Hermod.

Further information concerning him is found in the Beowulf poem, which in two passages (str. 1747, &c., and 3419, &c.) compares him with its own unselfish and blameless hero, Beowulf, in order to make it clear that the latter was in moral respects superior to the famous hero of antiquity. Beowulf was related by marriage to the royal dynasty then reigning in his land, and was reared in the king's halls as an older brother of his sons. The comparisons make these circumstances, common to Beowulf and Hermod, the starting-point, and show that while Beowulf became the most faithful guardian of his young foster-brothers, and in all things maintained their rights, Hermod conducted himself in a wholly different manner. Of Hermod the poem tells us:

(_a_) He was reared at the court of a Danish king (str. 1818, &c., 3421, &c.).

(_b_) He set out on long journeys, and became the most celebrated traveller that man ever heard of (_se wæs wreccena wide mærost ofer wer-theóde_--str. 1800-1802).

(_c_) He performed great exploits (str. 1804).

(_d_) He was endowed with powers beyond all other men (str. 3438-39).

(_e_) God gave him a higher position of power than that accorded to mortals (str. 3436, &c.).

(_f_) But although he was reared at the court of the Danish king, this did not turn out to the advantage of the Skjoldungs, but was a damage to them (str. 3422, &c.), for there grew a bloodthirsty heart in his breast.

(_g_) When the Danish king died (the poem does not say how) he left young sons.

(_h_) Hermod, betrayed by evil passions that got the better of him, was the cause of the ruin of the Skjoldungs, and of a terrible plague among the Danes, whose fallen warriors for his sake covered the battlefields. His table-companions at the Danish court he consigned to death in a fit of anger (str. 3426, &c.).

(_i_) The war continues a very long time (str. 1815, &c., str. 3447).

(_k_) At last there came a change, which was unfavourable to Hermod, whose superiority in martial power decreased (str. 1806).

(_l_) Then he quite unexpectedly disappeared (str. 3432) from the sight of men.

(_m_) This happened against his will. He had suddenly been banished and delivered to the world of giants, where "waves of sorrow" long oppressed him (str. 1809, &c.).

(_n_) He had become changed to a dragon (_wyrm_, _draca_).

(_o_) The dragon dwelt near a rocky island in the sea _under harne stan_ (beneath a grey rock).

(_p_) There he slew a hero of the Volsung race (in the Beowulf poem Sigemund--str. 1747, &c.).

All these points harmonise completely with Svipdag's saga, as we have found it in other sources. Svipdag is the stepson of Halfdan the Skjoldung, and has been reared in his halls, and dwells there until his mother Groa is turned out and returns to Orvandel. He sets out like Hermod on long journeys, and is doubtless the most famous traveller mentioned in the mythology; witness his journey across the Elivagar, and his visit to Jotunheim while seeking Frey and Freyja; his journey across the frosty mountains, and his descent to the lower world, where he traverses Nifelheim, sees the Eylud mill, comes into Mimer's realm, procures the sword of victory, and sees the glorious castle of the _ásmegir_; witness his journey over Bifrost to Asgard, and his warlike expedition to the remote East (see also Younger Edda, i. 108, where Skirner is sent to _Svartalfaheim_ to fetch the chain Glitner). He is, like Hermod, endowed with extraordinary strength, partly on account of his own inherited character, partly on account of the songs of incantation sung over him by Groa, on account of the nourishment of wisdom obtained from his stepmother and finally on account of the possession of the indomitable sword of victory. By being adopted in Asgard as Freyja's husband, he is, like Hermod, elevated to a position of power greater than that which mortals may expect. But all this does not turn out to be a blessing to the Skjoldungs, but is a misfortune to them. The hatred he had cherished toward the Skjoldung Halfdan is transferred to the son of the latter, Hadding, and he persecutes him and all those who are faithful to Hadding, makes war against him, and is unwilling to end the long war, although the gods demand it. Then he suddenly disappears, the divine wrath having clothed him with the guise of a strange animal, and relegated him to the world of water-giants, where he is slain by Hadding (who in the Norse heroic saga becomes a Volsung, after Halfdan, under the name Helge Hundingsbane, was made a son of the Volsung Sigmund).

Hermod is killed on a rocky island _under harne stan_. Svipdag is killed in the water, probably in the vicinity of the _Vágasker_ and the _Singasteinn_, where the Brisingamen ornament of his faithful Mardol is discovered by Loke and Heimdal.

Freyja's love and sorrow may in the mythology have caused the gods to look upon Svipdag's last sad fate and death as a propitiation of his faults. The tears which the Vana-dis wept over her lover were transformed, according to the mythology, into gold, and this gold, the gold of a woman's faithfulness, may have been regarded as a sufficient compensation for the sins of her dear one, and doubtless opened to Svipdag the same Asgard-gate which he had seen opened to him during his life. This explains that Hermod is in Asgard in the historical time, and that, according to a revelation to the Swedes in the ninth century, the ancient King Erik was unanimously elevated by the gods as a member of their council.

Finally, it should be pointed out that the Svipdag synonym _Odr_ has the same meaning as _môd_ in Heremôd, and as _ferhd_ in Svidferhd, the epithet with which Hermod is designated in the Beowulf strophe 1820. _Odr_ means "the one endowed with spirit," _Heremôd_ "the one endowed with martial spirit," _Svidferhd_, "the one endowed with mighty spirit."

Heimdal's and Loke's conflict in regard to Brisingamen has undoubtedly been an episode in the mythic account of Svipdag's last fortunes and Freyja's abode with him in the sea. There are many reasons for this assumption. We should bear in mind that Svipdag's closing career constituted a part of the great epic of the first world war, and that both Heimdal and Loke take part in this war, the former on Hadding's, the latter on Gudhorm-Jormunrek's and Svipdag's side (see Nos. 38, 39, 40). It should further be remembered that, according to Saxo, at the time when he slays the monster, Hadding is wandering about as an exile in the wildernesses, and that it is about this time that Odin gives him a companion and protector in Liserus-Heimdal (see No. 40). The unnamed woman, who after the murder had taken place puts herself in Hadding's way, informs him whom he has slain, and calls the wrath of the gods and the elements down upon him, must be Freyja herself, since she witnessed the deed and knew who was concealed in the guise of the dragon. So long as the latter lived Brisingamen surely had a faithful watcher, for it is the nature of a dragon to brood over the treasures he finds. After being slain and dragged on shore by Hadding, his "bed," the gold, lies exposed to view on Vagasker, and the glimmer of Brisingamen reaches Loke's eyes. While the woman, in despair on account of Svipdag's death, stands before Hadding and speaks to him, the ornament has no guardian, and Loke finds the occasion convenient for stealing it. But Heimdal, Hadding's protector, who in the mythology always keeps his eye on the acts of Loke and on his kinsmen hostile to the gods, is also present, and he too has seen Brisingamen. Loke has assumed the guise of a seal, while the ornament lies on a rock in the sea, _Vágasker_, and it can cause no suspicion that a seal tries to find a resting-place there. Heimdal assumes the same guise, the seals fight on the rock, and Loke must retire with his errand unperformed. The rock is also called Singastein (Younger Edda, i. 264, 268), a name in which I see the Anglo-Saxon _Sincastân_, "the ornament rock." An echo of the combat about Brisingamen reappears in the Beowulf poem, where Heimdal (not Hamdir) appears under the name Hâma, and where it is said that "Hâma has brought to the weapon-glittering citadel (Asgard) _Brosingamene_," which was "the best ornament under heaven;" whereupon it is said that Hâma fell "into Eormenric's snares," with which we should compare Saxo's account of the snares laid by Loke, Jormenrek's adviser, for Liserus-Heimdal and Hadding.[8]

107.

REMINISCENCES OF THE SVIPDAG-MYTH.

The mythic story about Svipdag and Freyja has been handed down in popular tales and songs, even to our time, of course in an ever varying and corrupted form. Among the popular tales there is one about _Mærthöll_, put in writing by Konrad Maurer, and published in _Modern Icelandic Popular Tales_.

The wondrous fair heroine in this tale bears Freyja's well-known surname, Mardol, but little changed. And as she, like Freyja, weeps tears that change into gold, it is plain that she is originally identical with the Vana-dis, a fact which Maurer also points out.

Like Freyja, she is destined by the norn to be the wife of a princely youth. But when he courted her, difficulties arose which remind us of what Saxo relates about Otharus and Syritha.

As Saxo represents her, Syritha is bound as it were by an enchantment, not daring to look up at her lover or to answer his declarations of love. She flies over the mountains _more pristino_, "in the manner usual in antiquity," consequently in all probability in the guise of a bird. In the Icelandic popular tale Marthol shudders at the approaching wedding night, since she is then destined to be changed into a sparrow. She is about to renounce the embrace of her lover, so that he may not know anything about the enchantment in which she is fettered.

In Saxo the spell resting on Syritha is broken when the candle of the wedding night burns her hand. In the popular tale Marthol is to wear the sparrow guise for ever if it is not burnt on the wedding night or on one of the two following nights.

Both in Saxo and in the popular tale another maiden takes Mardol's place in the bridal bed on the wedding night. But the spell is broken by fire, after which both the lovers actually get each other.

The original identity of the mythological Freyja-Mardol, Saxo's Syritha, and the _Mærthöll_ of the Icelandic popular tale is therefore evident.

In Danish and Swedish versions of a ballad (in Syv, Nyerup, Arwidsson, Geijer and Afzelius, Grundtvig, Dybeck, Hofberg; compare Bugge's Edda, p. 352, &c.) a young Sveidal (Svedal, Svendal, Svedendal, Silfverdal) is celebrated, who is none other than Svipdag of the mythology. Svend Grundtvig and Bugge have called attention to the conspicuous similarity between this ballad on the one hand, and Grogalder and Fjölsvinnsmal on the other. From the various versions of the ballad it is necessary to mention here only those features which best preserve the most striking resemblance to the mythic prototype. Sveidal is commanded by his stepmother to find a maiden "whose sad heart had long been longing." He then goes first to the grave of his deceased mother to get advice from her. The mother speaks to him from the grave and promises him a horse, which can bear him over sea and land, and a sword hardened in the blood of a dragon and resembling fire. The narrow limits of the ballad forbade telling how Sveidal came into possession of the treasures promised by the mother or giving an account of the exploits he performed with the sword. This plays no part in the ballad; it is only indicated that events not recorded took place before Sveidal finds the longing maid. Riding through forests and over seas, he comes to the country where she has her castle. Outside of this he meets a shepherd, with whom he enters into conversation. The shepherd informs him that within is found a young maiden who has long been longing for a young man by name Sveidal, and that none other than he can enter there, for the timbers of the castle are of iron, its gilt gate of steel, and within the gate a lion and a white bear keep watch. Sveidal approaches the gate; the locks fall away spontaneously; and when he enters the open court the wild beasts crouch at his feet, a linden-tree with golden leaves bends to the ground before him, and the young maiden whom he seeks welcomes him as her husband.

One of the versions makes him spur his horse over the castle wall; another speaks of seven young men guarding the wall, who show him the way to the castle, and who in reality are "god's angels under the heaven, the blue."

The horse who bears his rider over the salt sea is a reminiscence of Sleipner, which Svipdag rode on more than one occasion; and when it is stated that Sveidal on this horse galloped over the castle wall, this reminds us of Skirner-Svipdag when he leaps over the fence around Gymer's abode, and of Hermod-Svipdag when he spurs Sleipner over the wall to Balder's lower-world castle. The shepherds, who are "god's angels," refers to the watchmen mentioned in Fjölsvinnsmal, who are gods; the wild beasts in the open court to the two wolf-dogs who guard Asgard's gate; the shepherd whom Sveidal meets outside of the wall to Fjölsvin; the linden-tree with the golden leaves to _Mimameidr_ and to the golden grove growing in Asgard. One of the versions makes two years pass while Sveidal seeks the one he is destined to marry.

In Germany, too, we have fragments preserved of the myth about Svipdag and Freyja. These remnants are, we admit, parts of a structure built, so to speak, in the style of the monks, but they nevertheless show in the most positive manner that they are borrowed from the fallen and crumbled arcades of the heathen mythology. We rediscover in them the old medieval poem about "Christ's unsewed grey coat."

The hero of the poem is Svipdag, here called by his father's name Orendel, Orentel--that is, Orvandel. The father himself, who is said to be a king in Trier, has received another name, which already in the most ancient heathen times was a synonym of Orvandel, and which I shall consider below. This in connection with the circumstance that the younger Orentel's (Svipdag's) patron saint is called "the holy Wieland," and thus he has the name of a person who, in the mythology, as shall be shown below, was Svipdag's uncle (father's brother) and helper, and whose sword is Svipdag's protection and pledge of victory, proves that at least in solitary instances not only the events of the myth but also its names and family relations have been preserved in a most remarkable and faithful manner through centuries in the minds of the German people.

In the very nature of things it cannot in the monkish poem be the task of the young Svipdag-Orentel to go in search of the heathen goddess Freyja and rescue her from the power of the giants. In her stead appears a "Frau Breyde," who is the fairest of all women, and the only one worthy to be the young Orentel's wife. In the heathen poem the goddess of fate Urd, in the German medieval poem God Himself, resolves that Orentel is to have the fairest woman as his bride. In the heathen poem Freyja is in the power of giants, and concealed somewhere in Jotunheim at the time when Svipdag is commanded to find her, and it is of the greatest moment for the preservation of the world that the goddess of love and fertility should be freed from the hands of the powers of frost. In the German poem, written under the influence of the efforts of the Christian world to reconquer the Holy Land, Frau Breyde is a princess who is for the time being in Jerusalem, surrounded and watched by giants, heathens, and knights templar, the last of whom, at the time when the poem received its present form, were looked upon as worshippers of the devil, and as persons to be shunned by the faithful. To Svipdag's task of liberating the goddess of love corresponds, in the monkish poem, Orentel's task of liberating Frau Breyde from her surrounding of giants, heathens, and knights templar, and restoring to Christendom the holy grave in Jerusalem. Orentel proceeds thither with a fleet. But although the journey accordingly is southward, the mythic saga, which makes Svipdag journey across the frost-cold Elivagar, asserts itself; and as his fleet could not well be hindered by pieces of ice on the coast of the Holy Land, it is made to stick fast in "dense water," and remain there for three years, until, on the supplication of the Virgin Mary, it is liberated therefrom by a storm. The Virgin Mary's prayers have assumed the same place in the Christian poems as Groa's incantations in the heathen. The fleet, made free from the "dense water," sails to a land which is governed by one Belian, who is conquered by Orentel in a naval engagement. This Belian is the mythological _Beli_, one of those "howlers" who surrounded Frey and Freyja during their sojourn in Jotunheim and threatened Svipdag's life. In the Christian poem Bele was made a king in Great Babylonia, doubtless for the reason that his name suggested the biblical "Bel in Babel." Saxo also speaks of a naval battle in which Svipdag-Ericus conquers the mythic person, doubtless a storm-giant, who by means of witchcraft prepares the ruin of sailors approaching the land where Frotho and Gunvara are concealed. After various other adventures Orentel arrives in the Holy Land, and the angel Gabriel shows him the way to Frau Breyde, just as "the seven angels of God" in one of the Scandinavian ballads guide Sveidal to the castle where his chosen bride abides. Lady Breyde is found to be surrounded by none but foes of Christianity--knights templar, heathens, and giants--who, like Gunvara's giant surroundings in Saxo, spend their time in fighting, but still wait upon their fair lady as their princess. The giants and knights templar strive to take Orentel's life, and, like Svipdag, he must constantly be prepared to defend it. One of the giants slain by Orentel is a "banner-bearer." One of the giants, who in the mythology tries to take Svipdag's life, is Grep, who, according to Saxo, meets him in derision with a banner on the top of whose staff is fixed the head of an ox.

Meanwhile Lady Breyde is attentive to Orentel. As Menglad receives Svipdag, so Lady Breyde receives Orentel with a kiss and a greeting, knowing that he is destined to be her husband.

When Orentel has conquered the giants he celebrates a sort of wedding with Lady Breyde, but between them lies a two-edged sword, and they sleep as brother and sister by each other's side. A wedding of a similar kind was mentioned in the mythology in regard to Svipdag and Menglad before they met in Asgard and were finally united. The chaste chivalry with which Freyja is met in the mythology by her rescuer is emphasised by Saxo both in his account of Ericus-Svipdag and Gunvara and in his story about Otharus and Syritha. He makes Ericus say of Gunvara to Frotha: _Intacta illi pudicitia manet_ (_Hist._, 126). And of Otharus he declares: _Neque puellam stupro violare sustinuit, nec splendido loco natam obscuro concubitus genere macularet_ (_Hist._, 331). The first wedding of Orentel and Breyde is therefore as if it had not been, and the German narrative makes Orentel, after completing other warlike adventures, sue for the hand of Breyde for the second time. In the mythology the second and real wedding between Svipdag and Freyja must certainly have taken place, inasmuch as he became reunited with her in Asgard.

The sword which plays so conspicuous a part in Svipdag's fortunes has not been forgotten in the German medieval tale. It is mentioned as being concealed deep down in the earth, and as a sword that is always attended by victory.

On one occasion Lady Breyde appears, weapon in hand, and fights by the side of Orentel, under circumstances which remind us of the above-cited story from Saxo (see No. 102), when Ericus-Svipdag, Gunvara-Freyja, and Rollerus-Ull are in the abode of a treacherous giant, who tries to persuade Svipdag to deliver Gunvara to him, and when Bracus-Thor breaks into the giant abode, and either slays the inmates or puts them to flight. Gunvara then fights by the side of Ericus-Svipdag, _muliebri corpore virilem animum æquans_ (_Hist._, 222).

In the German Orentel saga appears a "fisherman," who is called master Yse. Orentel has at one time been wrecked, and comes floating on a plank to his island, where Yse picks him up. Yse is not a common fisherman. He has a castle with seven towers, and eight hundred fishermen serve under him. There is good reason for assuming that this mighty chieftain of fishermen originally was the Asa-god Thor, who in the northern ocean once had the Midgard-serpent on his hook, and that the episode of the picking up of the wrecked Orentel by Yse has its root in a tradition concerning the mythical adventure, when the real Orvandel, Svipdag's father, feeble and cold, was met by Thor and carried by him across the Elivagar. In the mythology, as shall be shown hereafter, Orvendel the brave was Thor's "sworn" man, and fought with him against giants before the hostility sprang up between Ivalde's sons and the Asa-gods. In the Orentel saga Yse also regards Orentel as his "thrall." The latter emancipates himself from his thraldom with gold. Perhaps this ransom is a reference to the gold which Freyja's tears gave as a ransom for Svipdag.

Orentel's father is called Eigel, king in Trier. In Vilkinasaga we find the archer Egil, Volund's brother, mentioned by the name-variation Eigill. The German Orentel's patron saint is Wieland, that is, Volund. Thus in the Orentel saga as in the Volundarkvida and in Vilkinasaga we find both these names Egil and Volund combined, and we have all the more reason for regarding King Eigel in Trier as identical with the mythological Egil, since the latter, like Orvandel, is a famous archer. Below, I shall demonstrate that the archer Orvandel and the archer Egil actually were identical in the mythology.

But first it may be in order to point out the following circumstances. Tacitus tells us in his _Germania_ (3): "Some people think, however, that Ulysses, too, on his long adventurous journeys was carried into this ocean (the Germanic), and visited the countries of Germany, and that he founded and gave name to Asciburgium, which is situated on the Rhine, and is still an inhabited city; nay, an altar consecrated to Ulysses, with the name of his father Laertes added, is said to have been found there." To determine the precise location of this Asciburgium is not possible. Ptolemy (ii. 11, 28), and after him Marcianus Heracleota (_Peripl._, 2, 36), inform us that an Askiburgon was situated on the Rhine, south of and above the delta of the river. _Tabula Peutingeriana_ locates Asceburgia between Gelduba (Gelb) and Vetera (Xanten). But from the history of Tacitus it appears (iv. 33) that Asciburgium was situated between Neuss and Mainz (Mayence). Read the passage: _Aliis a Novæsio, aliis a Mogontiaco universas copias advenisse credentibus_.

The passage refers to the Roman troops sent to Asciburgium and there attacked--those troops which expected to be relieved from the nearest Roman quarters in the north or south. Its location should accordingly be looked for either on or near that part of the Rhine, which on the east bordered the old archbishopric Trier.

Thus the German Orentel saga locates King Eigel's realm and Orentel's native country in the same regions, where, according to Tacitus' reporter, Ulysses was said to have settled for some time and to have founded a citadel. As is well known, the Romans believed they found traces of the wandering Ulysses in well-nigh all lands, and it was only necessary to hear a strange people mention a far-travelled mythic hero, and he was at once identified either as Ulysses or Hercules. The Teutonic mythology had a hero _à la_ Ulysses in the younger Orentel, Odr-Svipdag-Heremod, whom the Beowulf poem calls "incomparably the most celebrated traveller among mankind" (_wreccena wide mærost ofer wer-theóde_). Mannhardt has already pointed out an episode (Orentel's shipwreck and arrival in Yse's land) which calls to mind the shipwreck of Odysseus and his arrival in the land of the Pheaces. Within the limits which the Svipdag-myth, according to my own investigations, proves itself to have had, other and more conspicuous features common to both, but certainly not borrowed from either, can be pointed out, for instance Svipdag's and Odysseus' descent to the lower world, and the combat in the guise of seals between Heimdal and Loke, which reminds us of the conflict of Menelaos clad in seal-skin with the seal-watcher Proteus (_Odyss._, iv., 404, &c.). Just as there are words in the Aryan languages that in their very form point to a common origin, but not to a borrowing, so there are also myths in the Aryan religions which in their very form reveal their growth from an ancient common Aryan root, but produce no suspicion of their being borrowed. Among these are to be classed those features of the Odysseus and Svipdag myths which resemble each other.

It has already been demonstrated above, that _Germania's_ Mannus is identical with Halfdan of the Norse sources, and that Yngve-Svipdag has his counterpart in Ingævo (see No. 24). That informer of Tacitus who was able to interpret Teutonic songs about Mannus and his sons, the three original race heroes of the Teutons, must also in those very songs have heard accounts of Orvandel's and Svipdag's exploits and adventures, since Orvandel and Svipdag play a most decisive part in the fortunes of Mannus-Halfdan. If the myth about Svipdag was composed in a later time, then Mannus-Halfdan's saga must have undergone a change equal to a complete transformation after the day of Tacitus, and for such an assumption there is not the slightest reason. Orvandel is not a mythic character of later make. As already pointed out, and as shall be demonstrated below, he has ancient Aryan ancestry. The centuries between Tacitus and Paulus Diaconus are unfortunately almost wholly lacking in evidence concerning the condition of the Teutonic myths and sagas; but where, as in Jordanes, proofs still gleam forth from the prevailing darkness, we find mention of _Arpantala_, _Amala_, _Fridigernus_, _Vidigoia_ (Jord., v.). Jordanes says that in the most ancient times they were celebrated in song and described as heroes who scarcely had their equals (_quales vix heroas fuisse miranda jactat antiquitas_). Previous investigators have already recognized in Arpantala Orvandel, in Amala Hamal, in Vidigoia Wittiche, Wieland's son (Vidga Volundson), who in the mythology are cousins of Svipdag (see No. 108). Fridigernus, _Fridgjarn_, means "he who strives to get the beautiful one," an epithet to which Svipdag has the first claim among ancient Teutonic heroes, as Freyja herself has the first claim to the name _Frid_ (beautiful). In Fjölsvinnsmal it belongs to a dis, who sits at Freyja's feet, and belongs to her royal household. This is in analogy with the fact that the name _Hlin_ belongs at the same time to Frigg herself (Völuspa), and to a goddess belonging to her royal household (Younger Edda, i. 196).

What Tacitus tells about the stone found at Asciburgium, with the names of Ulysses and Laertes inscribed thereon, can of course be nothing but a conjecture, based on the idea that the famous Teutonic traveller was identical with Odysseus. Doubtless this idea has been strengthened by the similarity between the names _Odr_, Goth., _Vods_, and Odysseus, and by the fact that the name Laertes (acc. Laerten) has sounds in common with the name of Svipdag's father. If, as Tacitus seems to indicate, Asciburgium was named after its founder, we would find in _Asc-_ an epithet of Orvandel's son, common in the first century after Christ and later. In that case it lies nearest at hand to think of _aiska_ (Fick. iii. 5), the English "ask," the Anglo-Saxon _ascian_, the Swedish _äska_, "to seek," "search for," "to try to secure," which easily adapted itself to Svipdag, who goes on long and perilous journeys to look for Freyja and the sword of victory. I call attention to these possibilities because they appear to suggest an ancient connection, but not for the purpose of building hypotheses thereon. Under all circumstances it is of interest to note that the Christian medieval Orentel saga locates the Teutonic migration hero's home to the same part of Germany where Tacitus in his time assumed that he had founded a citadel. The tradition, as heard by Tacitus, did not however make the regions about the Rhine the native land of the celebrated traveller. He came thither, it is said in _Germania_, from the North after having navigated in the Northern Ocean. And this corresponds with the mythology, which makes Svipdag an Inguæon, and Svion, a member of the race of the Skilfing-Ynglings, makes him in the beginning fight on the side of the powers of frost against Halfdan, and afterwards lead not only the north Teutonic (Inguæonian) but also the west Teutonic tribes (the Hermiones) against the east Teutonic war forces of Hadding (see Nos. 38-40).

Memories of the Svipdag-myth have also been preserved in the story about Hamlet, Saxo's Amlethus (Snæbjorn's _Amlodi_), son of Horvendillus (Orvandel). In the medieval story Hamlet's father, like Svipdag's father in the mythology, was slain by the same man, who marries the wife of the slain man, and, like Svipdag in the myth, Hamlet of the medieval saga becomes the avenger of his father Horvendillus and the slayer of his stepfather. On more than one occasion the idea occurs in the Norse sagas that a lad whose stepfather has slain his father broods over his duty of avenging the latter, and then plays insane or half idiot to avoid the suspicion that he may become dangerous to the murderer. Svipdag, Orvandel's son, is reared in his stepfather's house amid all the circumstances that might justify or explain such a hypocrisy. Therefore he has as a lad received the epithet _Amlodi_, the meaning of which is "insane," and the myth having at the same time described him as highly-gifted, clever, and sharp-witted, we have in the words which the mythology has attributed to his lips the key to the ambiguous words which make the cleverness, which is veiled under a stupid exterior, gleam forth. These features of the mythic account of Svipdag have been transferred to the middle-age saga anent Hamlet--a saga which already in Saxo's time had been developed into an independent narrative. I shall return to this theme in a treatise on the heroic sagas. Other reminiscences of the Svipdag-myth reappear in Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian ballads. The Danish ballads, which, with surprising fidelity, have preserved certain fundamental traits and details of the Svipdag-myth even down to our days, I have already discussed. The Norwegian ballad about "Hermod the Young" (_Landstad Norske Folkeviser_, p. 28), and its Swedish version, "Bergtrollet," which corresponds still more faithfully with the myth (Arvidson, i. 123), have this peculiar interest in reference to mythological synonymics and the connection of the mythic fragments preserved, that Svipdag appears in the former as in the Beowulf poem and in the Younger Edda under the name Hermod, and that both versions have for their theme a story, which Saxo tells about his Otharus when he describes the flight of the latter through Jotunheim with the rediscovered Syritha. It has already been stated above (No. 100) that after Otharus had found Syritha and slain a giant in whose power she was, he was separated from her on their way home, but found her once more and liberated her from a captivity into which she had fallen in the abode of a giantess. This is the episode which forms the theme of the ballad about "Hermod the Young," and of the Swedish version of it. Brought together, the two ballads give us the following contents: