Chapter V: The Ivalde Race (7)

All the warriors accompanying Thor were eager to fight Ymer's descendants, as we have seen in the second strophe. But the last lines of strophe 4 represent one in particular as longing to contend with one of the warlike and terrible giantesses of giant-land. This champion is not mentioned by name, but he is characterised as _bragdmildr_, "quick to conceive and quick to move;" as _brædivændr_, "he who is wont to offer food to eat;" and as _bölkveitir_ or _bölkvetir Loka_, "he who compensated Loke's evil deed." The characterisations fit Orvandel-Egil, the nimble archer and skee-runner, who, at his chalet, receives Thor as his guest, when the latter is on his way to Jotunheim, and who gave Thor Thjalfe and Roskva as a compensation, when Loke had deceitfully induced Thjalfe to break a bone belonging to one of Thor's slaughtered goats for the purpose of getting at the marrow. If Thorsdrapa had added that the champion thus designated also was the best archer of mythology, there could be no doubt that Egil was meant. This addition is made further on in the poem, and of itself confirms the fact that Egil took part in the expedition.

_Strophe 5_, compared with strophes 6 and 7, informs us that Thor, with his troop of champions, in the course of his march came into one of the wild mountain-regions of Jotunheim. The weather is bad and hail-showers fall. And here Thor finds out that Loke has deceived him in the most insolent manner. By his directions Thor has led his forces to the place where they now are, and here rushes forth from between the mountains a river into which great streams, swelling with hail-showers, roll down from the mountains with seething ice-water. To find in such a river a ford by which his companions can cross was for Thor a difficult matter.

_Strophe 6._ Meanwhile the men from Ide's chalet had confidently descended into the river. A comparison with strophes 7 and 8 shows that they cautiously kept near Thor, and waded a little farther up the river than he. They used their spears as staffs, which they put down into the stony bottom of the river. The din of the spears, when their metallic points came in contact with the stones of the bottom blended with the noise of the eddies roaring around the rocks of the river (_Knátti hreggi höggvinn hlymthel vid möl glymja, enn fjalla fellihryn thaut med Fedju stedja_).

_Strophe 7._ In the meantime the river constantly rises and increases in violence, and its ocean-like billows are already breaking against Thor's powerful shoulders. If this is to continue, Thor will have to resort to the power inherent in him of rising equally with the increase of the waves.

NOTE.--But the warriors from Ide's sæter, who do not possess this power, what are they to do? The plan laid between Loke and the witches of Jotunheim is manifestly to drown them. And the succeeding strophes show that they are in the most imminent danger.

_Strophes 8_ and _9_. These bold warriors waded with firm steps; but the billowing masses of water increased in swiftness every moment. While Thor's powerful hands hold fast to the staff of safety, the current is altogether too strong for the spears, which the Gandvik champions have to support themselves on. On the mountains stood giantesses increasing the strength of the current. Then it happened that "the god of the bow, driven by the violence of the billows, rushed upon Thor's shoulders (_kykva naudar áss, blasinn hrönnjardar skafls hvetvidri, thurdi haudrs runn of herdi_), while Thjalfe with his comrades came, as if they had been automatically lifted up, and seized hold of the belt of the celestial prince" (Thor) (_unnz thjálfi med ýta sinni kom sjálflopta á himinsjóla skaunar-seil_).

NOTE.--Thus the plan laid by Loke and the giantesses to drown the men hostile to the giants, the men dwelling on the south coast of the Elivagar, came near succeeding. They were saved by their prudence in wading higher up the stream than Thor, so that, if they lost their foothold, they could be hurled by the eddies against him. One of the Gandvik champions, and, as the continuation of the poems shows, the foremost one among them, here characterised as "the god of the bow," is tossed by a storm-billow against Thor's shoulders, and there saves himself. Thjalfe and the whole remaining host of the warriors of Ide's sæter have at the same time been carried by the waves down against _Hlodyn's_ powerful son, and save themselves by seizing hold of his belt of strength. With "the god of the bow" on his shoulders, and with a whole host of warriors clinging to his waist, Thor continues his wading across the stream.

In strophe 8, the Gandvik champions are designated by two paraphrases. We have already seen them described as "Gang's warrior-vans" and as "Varg's land-defenders." Here they are called "the clever warriors of the viking-sæter" (_víkinga setrs snotrir gunnar runnar_) and "Odin's land-defenders, bound by oaths" (_Gauta eidsvara fridar_). That Ide's sæter is called "the vikings' sæter" is explained by the fact that it is situated near Gand_vik_, and that these _bayings_ had the Elivagar as the scene of their conflicts with the powers of frost. That they are Odin's land-defenders, bound by oaths, means that they are mythical beings, who in rank are lower than the Asas, and are pledged by oaths to serve Odin and defend his territory against the giants. Their sæter (chalet) near Gandvik is therefore an outpost against the powers of frost. It follows that Ide, Gang, and Thjasse originally are _numina_, though of a lower, serving rank; that their relation to the higher world of gods was of such a character that they could not by their very nature be regarded as foes of the giants, but are bound to the cause of the gods by oaths; but on the other hand they could not be full-blooded giants of the race produced from Ymer's feet (see No. 86). Their original home is not Jotunheim itself, but a land bordering on the home of the giants, and this mytho-geographical locality must correspond with their mytho-genealogical position. The last strophe in Thorsdrapa calls the giants slain by the Gandvik champions "Alfheim's calves," Alfheim's cattle to be slaughtered, and this seems to indicate that these champions belong to the third and lowest of those clans into which the divinities of the Teutonic mythology are divided, that is, the elves.

The Gandvik champion who rescues himself on Thor's shoulders, while the rest of them hold fast to his girdle, is a celebrated archer, and so well known to the hearers of Thorsdrapa, that it was not necessary to mention him by name in order to make it clear who he was. In fact, the epithet applied to him, "the god of the bow" (_áss kykva naudar_, and in strophe 18, _tvívidar Týr_), is quite sufficient to designate him as the foremost archer of mythology, that is, Orvandel-Egil, who is here carried on Thor's shoulders through the raging waves, just as on another occasion he was carried by Thor in his basket across the Elivagar. Already in strophe 4 he is referred to as the hero nimble in thought and body, who is known for his hospitality, and who made compensation for Loke's evil deed. The foremost one next after him among the Gandvik champions is Thjalfe, Egil's foster-son. The others are designated as Thjalfe's _ýta sinni_, his body of men.

Thus we find that the two foremost among "Gang's warrior-vans," who with Thor marched forth from "Ide's sæter," before Rogner (Thjasse) became Loke's ally, are Volund's and Slagfin's brother Egil and Egil's foster-son Thjalfe. We find that Egil and Thjalfe belong to the inhabitants of Ide's sæter, where Thor on this occasion had stopped, and where he had left his chariot and goats, for now, as on other occasions, he goes on foot to Jotunheim. And as in other sources Egil is mentioned as the one who on such occasions gives lodgings to Thor and his goats, and as Thorsdrapa also indicates that he is the hospitable host who had received Thor in his house, and had paid him a ransom for the damage caused by Loke to one of his goats, then this must be a most satisfactory proof that Ide's sæter is the same place as the _Geirvadils_ setr inhabited by Egil and his brothers, and that Orvandel-Egil is identical either with Ide or Gang, from which it follows, again, that Alvalde's (Olvalde's) sons, Ide, Gang, and Thjasse, are identical with Ivalde's sons, Slagfin, Egil, and Volund.

That Egil is identical with Gang and not with Ide is apparent from a comparison with the Grotte-song. There Olvalde's sons are called _Idi_, _Aurnir_, and _Thjazi_, while in the Younger Edda they are called _Idi_, _Gángr_, and _Thjazi_. Thus Aurnir is identical with _Gángr_, and as _Aurnir_ means "wild boar," and as "wild boar" (Ebur, Ibor, Ebbo) is an epithet of Egil, Orvandel-Egil must be identical with Gang.

In regard to the rest of Thorsdrapa I may be brief, since it is of less interest to the subject under discussion.

_Strophe 10._ In spite of the perilous adventure described above, the hearts of Thjalfe and the Gandvik champions were no more terrified than Thor's. Here they are designated as _eids fiardar_, "the men pledged by oath," with which is to be compared _eidsvara fridar_ in strophe 8.

_Strophes 11, 12_, show that Thor landed safely with his burden. Scarcely had he and his companions got a firm foothold on the other strand before Geirrod's giant-clan, "the world-tree-destroying folk of the sea-belt," came to the spot, and a conflict arose, in which the attacks of the giants were firmly repulsed, and the latter were finally forced to retreat.

_Strophe 13._ After the victory Thor's terrible hosts pressed farther into Jotunheim to open Geirrod's hall, and they arrived there amid the din and noise of cave-dwellers.

The following strophes mention that Thor broke the backs of Geirrod's daughters, and pressed with his warriors into Geirrod's hall, where he was received with a piece of red-hot iron hurled by the latter, which, hurled back by Thor, caused the death of the giant-chief. Thor had given the glowing javelin such a force that some one who stood near him, probably Egil, "drank so that he reeled in the air-current of the piece of iron the air-drink of Hrimner's daughter" (_svalg hrapmunum á siu lopti Hrimnis drósar lyptisylg_). Hrimner's daughter is Gulveig-Heid (Hyndluljod, 32), and her "air-drink" is the fire, over which the gods held her lifted on their spears (Völuspa, 21).

As we see from the context, Geirrod's halls were filled with the men who had fled from the battle near the river, and within the mountain there arose another conflict, which is described in the last three strophes of the poem. Geirrod's hall shook with the din of battle. Thor swung his bloody hammer. "The staff of safety," "the help-tree of the way," the staff on which Thor supported himself in crossing the river, fell into Egil's hands (_kom at tvívidar Tývi brautar lids tollr_), who did not here have room to use his bow, but who, with this "convenient tree jerked (or broken) from the forest," gave death-blows to "the calves of Alfheim." The arrows from his quiver could not be used in this crowded place against the men of the mountain-chief.

The fact that the giants in Thorsdrapa use the sling is of interest to the question concerning the position of the various weapons of mythology. Geirrod is called _vegtaugar thrjótr_, "the industrious applier of the sling" (str. 17), and _álmtaugar Ægir_, "the _Ægir_ of the sling made of elm-bast."

In the last strophe Egil is said to be _helblótinn_ and _hneitir_, _undirfjálfs bliku_, expressions to which I shall recur further on.

Like the relation between Volund and his swan-maids in Volundarkvida, the relation between Rogner-Thjasse and Idun in Forspjallsljod is not that of the robber to his unwilling victim, but one of mutual harmony. This is confirmed by a poem which I shall analyse when the investigation reaches a point that demands it, and according to which Idun was from her childhood tied by bonds of love and by oath to the highly-gifted but unhappy son of Ivalde, to the great artist who, by his irreconcilable thirst for revenge, became the Lucifer of Teutonic mythology, while Loke is its Mefisto. I presume that the means of rejuvenation, the divine remedy against age (_ellilyf ása_--Haustlaung), which Idun alone in Asgard knows and possesses, was a product of Thjasse-Volund's art. The middle age also remembered Volund (Wieland) as a physician, and this trait seems to be from the oldest time, for in Rigveda, too, the counterparts of the Ivalde sons, that is, the Ribhus, at the request of the gods, invent means of rejuvenation. It may be presumed that the mythology described his exterior personality in a clear manner. From his mother he must have inherited his giant strength, which, according to the Grotte-song, surpassed Hrungner's and that of the father of the latter (_Hard var Hrungnir ok hans fadir, thó var Thjazi theim auflgari_--str. 9). With his strength beauty was doubtless united. Otherwise, Volundarkvida's author would scarcely have said that his swan-maid laid her arms around Anund's (Volund's) "white" neck. That his eyes were conceived as glittering may be concluded from the fact that they distinguish him on the starry canopy as a star-hero, and that in Volundarkvida Nidhad's queen speaks of the threatening glow in the gaze of the fettered artist (_amon ero augu ormi theim enom frána_--str. 17).

Ivalde's sons--Thjasse-Volund, Aurnir-Egil, and Ide-Slagfin--are, as we have seen, bastards of an elf and a giantess (Greip, Gambara). Ivalde's daughters, on the other hand (see No. 113), have as mother a sun-dis, daughter of the ruler of the atmosphere, Nokver. In other sources the statement in Forspjallsljod (6) is confirmed, that Ivalde had two groups of children, and that she who "among the races of elves was called Idun" belonged to one of them. Thus, while Idun and her sisters are half-sisters to Ivalde's sons, these are in turn half-brothers to pure giants, sons of Greip, and these giants are, according to the Grotte-song (str. 9), the fathers of Fenja and Menja. The relationship of the Ivalde sons to the gods on the one hand and to the giants on the other may be illustrated by the following scheme:

Ivalde begets (1) (2) with the giantess Greip bears with a giant
with a sun-dis Greip-- ------------------------
--------- ------- | |
| | giant giant
Idun and her sisters. Thjasse-Volund and | |
his brothers. Fenja. Menja.

115.

REVIEW OF THE PROOFS OF VOLUND'S IDENTITY WITH THJASSE.

The circumstances which first drew my attention to the necessity of investigating whether Thjasse and Volund were not different names of the same mythic personality, which the mythology particularly called Thjasse, and which the heroic saga springing from the mythology in Christian times particularly called Volund, were the following: (1) In the study of Saxo I found in no less than three passages that Njord, under different historical masks, marries a daughter of Volund, while in the mythology he marries a daughter of Thjasse. (2) In investigating the statements anent Volund's father in Volundarkvida's text and prose appendix I found that these led to the result that Volund was a son of Sumbl, the Finn king--that is to say, of Olvalde, Thjasse's father. (3) My researches in regard to the myth about the mead produced the result that Svigder-Olvalde perished by the treachery of a dwarf outside of a mountain, where one of the smith-races of the mythology, Suttung's sons, had their abode. In Vilkinasaga's account of the death of Volund's father I discovered the main outlines of the same mythic episode.

The correspondence of so different sources in so unexpected a matter was altogether too remarkable to permit it to be overlooked in my mythological researches. The fact that the name-variation itself, Alvalde (for Olvalde), as Thjasse's father is called in Harbardsljod, was in meaning and form a complete synonym of Ivalde I had already observed, but without attaching any importance thereto.

The next step was to examine whether a similar proof of the identity of Thjasse's and Volund's mother was to be found. In one Norse mythological source Thjasse's mother is called Greip. Volund's and Egil's (Ayo's and Ibor's, Aggo's and Ebbo's) mother is in Paulus Diaconus and in Origo Longobardorum called Gambara, in Saxo Gambaruc. The Norse stem in the Latinised name Gambara is _Gammr_, which is a synonym of Greip, the name of Thjasse's mother. Thus I found a reference to the identity of Thjasse's mother and Volund's mother.

From the parents I went to the brothers. One of Volund's brothers bore the epithet Aurnir, "wild boar." Aurnir's wife is remembered in the Christian traditions as one who forebodes the future. Ebur's wife is a mythological seeress. One of Thjasse's brothers, Ide, is the only one in the mythology whose name points to an original connection with Ivalde (Idvalde), Volund's father, and with Idun, Volund's half-sister. Volund himself bears the epithet Brunne, and Thjasse's home is Brunnsacre. One of Thjasse's sons is slain at the instigation of Loke, and Loke, who in Lokasenna takes pleasure in stating this, boasts in the same poem that he has caused the slaying of Thjasse.

In regard to bonds of relationship in general, I found that on the one side Volund, like Thjasse, was regarded as a giant, and had relations among the giants, among whom Vidolf is mentioned both as Volund's and Thjasse's relative, and that on the other hand Volund is called an elf-prince, and that Thjasse's father belonged to the clan of elves, and that Thjasse's daughter is characterised, like Volund and his nearest relatives, as a skee-runner and hunter, and in this respect has the same epithet as Volund's nephew Ull. I found, furthermore, that so far as tradition has preserved the memory of star-heroes, every mythic person who belonged to their number was called a son of Ivalde or a son of Olvalde. Orvandel-Egil is a star-hero and a son of Ivalde. The Watlings, after whom the Milky Way is named, are descendants of Vate-Vade, Volund's father. Thjasse is a star-hero and the son of Olvalde. Ide, too, Thjasse's brother, "the torch-bearer," may have been a star-hero, and, as we shall show later, the memory of Volund's brother Slagfin was partly connected with the Milky Way and partly with the spots on the moon; while, according to another tradition, it is Volund's father whose image is seen in these spots (see Nos. 121, 123).

I found that Rogner is a Thjasse-epithet, and that all that is stated of Rogner is also told of Volund. Rogner was, like the latter, first the friend of the gods and then their foe. He was a "swan-gladdener," and Volund the lover of a swan-maid. Like Volund he fought against Njord. Like Volund he proceeded to the northernmost edge of the world, and there he worked with magic implements through the powers of frost for the destruction of the gods and of the world. And from some one he has taken the same ransom as Volund did, when the latter killed Nidhad's young sons and made goblets of their skulls.

I found that while Olvalde's sons, Ide, Aurner (Gang), and Thjasse, still were friends of the gods, they had their abode on the south coast of the Elivagar, where Ivalde had his home, called after him _Geirvadils setr_, and where his son Orvandel-Egil afterwards dwelt; that Thor on his way to Jotunheim visits Ide's _setr_, and that he is a guest in Egil's dwelling; that the mythological warriors who dwell around Ide's _setr_ are called "warrior-vans," and that these "Gang's warrior-vans" have these very persons, Egil and his foster-son Thjalfe, as their leaders when they accompany Thor to fight the giants, wherefore the _setr_ of the Olvalde sons Ide and Gang must be identical with that of the Ivalde sons, and Ide, Gang, and Thjasse identical with Slagfin, Egil, and Volund.

On these foundations the identity of Olvalde's sons with Ivalde's sons is sufficiently supported, even though our mythic records had preserved no evidence that Thjasse, like Volund, was the most celebrated artist of mythology. But such evidence is not wanting. As the real meaning of _Regin_ is "shaper," "workman," and as this has been retained as a smith-name in Christian times, there is every reason to assume that Thjasse, who is called _fjadrar-blads leik-Regin_ and _vingvagna Rögnir_, did himself make, like Volund, the eagle guise which he, like Volund, wears. The son of Ivalde, Volund, made the most precious treasures for the gods while he still was their friend, and the Olvalde son Thjasse is called _hapta snytrir_, "the decorator of the gods," doubtless for the reason that he had smithied treasures for the gods during a time when he was their friend and Thor's _ofrúni_ (Thor's confidential friend). Volund is the most famous and, so far as we can see, also the first sword-smith, which seems to appear from the fact that his father Ivalde, though a valiant champion, does not use the sword but the spear as a weapon, and is therefore called _Geirvandill_. Thjasse was the first sword-smith, otherwise he would not have been called _fadir mörna_, "the father of the swords." Splendid implements are called _verk Rögnis_ and _Thjaza thingskil_, _Idja glýsmál_, _Idja ord_--expressions which do not find their adequate explanation in the Younger Edda's account of the division of Olvalde's estate, but in the myth about the judgment which the gods once proclaimed in the contest concerning the skill of Sindre and the sons of Ivalde, when the treasures of the latter presented in court had to plead their own cause.

116.

A LOOK AT THE MYTH CONCERNING THJASSE-VOLUND. HIS EPITHET
HLEBARDR. HIS WORST DEED OF REVENGE.

What our mythic records tell us about the sons of Olvalde and the sons of Ivalde is under such circumstances to be regarded as fragments which come to us from one and the same original myth. When combined, the fragments are found to dovetail together and form one whole. Volundarkvida (28) indicates that something terrible, something that in the highest degree aroused his indignation and awakened his deep and satanic thirst for revenge, had happened to Volund ere he, accompanied by his brothers, betook himself to the wintry wilderness, where he smithied the sword of revenge and the gand rings; and the poem makes Volund add that this injustice remained to be avenged when he left the Wolf-dales. It lies in the nature of the case that the saga about Volund did not end where the fragment of the Volundarkvida which we possess is interrupted. The balance of the saga must have related what Volund did to accomplish the revenge which he still had to take, and how the effort to take vengeance resulted. The continuation probably also had something to say about that swan-maid, that dis of vegetation, who by the name Hervor Alvitr spends nine years with Volund in the Wolfdales, and then, seized by longing, departs with the other swan-maids, but of whose faithful love Volund is perfectly convinced (Volundarkvida, 10). While Volund is Nidhad's prisoner, the hope he has built on the sword of revenge and victory smithied by him seems to be frustrated. The sword is in the power of Mimer-Nidhad, the friend of the gods. But the hope of the plan of revenge must have awakened again when Svipdag, Volund's nephew, succeeded in coming up from the lower world with the weapon in his possession. The conflict between the powers of frost and the kinsmen of Ivalde, who had deserted the gods, on the one side, and the gods and their favourite Halfdan, the Teutonic patriarch, on the other side, was kindled anew (see No. 33). Halfdan is repulsed, and finally falls in the war in which Volund got satisfaction by the fact that his sword conquered Thor's Mjolner and made Thor retreat. But once more the hope based on the sword of revenge is frustrated, this time by the possessor of the sword itself, Volund's young kinsman, who--victor in the war, but conquered by the love he cherished for Freyja, rescued by him--becomes the husband of the fair asynje and gives the sword of Volund to Frey, the god of the harvests. That, in spite of this crossing of his plan of revenge, Volund still did not give it up may be taken for granted. He is described not only as the most revengeful, but also as the most persistent and patient person (see "Doer the Scald's Complaint"), when patience could promote his plans. To make war on the gods with the aid of the giants, when the sword of victory had fallen into the hands of the latter, could not give him the least hope of success. After the mythology has given Volund satisfaction for the despicable judgment passed on the products of his skill, it unites the chain of events in such a manner that the same weapon which refuted the judgment and was to cause the ruin of the gods became their palladium against its own maker. What was Volund able to do afterwards, and what did he do? The answer to this question is given in the myth about Thjasse. With Idun--the Hervor Alvitr of the heroic poem--he confined himself in a mountain, whose halls he presumably decorated with all the wonders which the sagas of the middle ages, describing splendid mountain-halls and parks within the mountains, inherited from the mythology. The mountain must have been situated in a region difficult of access to the gods--according to Bragarædur in Jotunheim. At all events, Thjasse is there secure against every effort to disturb him, forcibly, in his retreat. The means against the depredations of time and years which Idun possesses have their virtue only when in her care. Without this means, even the gods of Asgard are subject to the influence of time, and are to grow old and die. And in the sense of a myth symbolising nature, the same means must have had its share in the rejuvenation of creation through the saps rising every year in trees and herbs. The destruction of the world--the approach of which Volund wished to precipitate with his sword of revenge--must come slowly, but surely, if Idun remains away from Asgard. This plan is frustrated by the gods through Loke, as an instrument compelled by necessity--compelled by necessity (Haustlaung, str. 11), although he delighted in the mischief of deceiving even his allies. Near Thjasse's mountain-halls is a body of water, on which he occasionally rows out to fish (Bragarædur.) Once, when he rows out for this purpose, perhaps accompanied by Skade, Idun is at home alone. Loke, who seems to have studied his customs, flies in a borrowed feather guise into the mountain and steals Idun, who, changed into a nut, is carried in his claws through space to Asgard. But the robbing of Idun was not enough for Loke. He enticed Thjasse to pursue. In his inconsiderate zeal, the latter dons his eagle guise and hastens after the robber into Asgard's vaferflames, where he falls by the javelins of the gods and by Thor's hammer. Sindre's work, the one surpassed by Volund, causes his death, and is avenged. I have already pointed out that this event explains Loke's words to Idun in Lokasenna, where he speaks of the murder of one of the Ivalde sons, and insists that she, Idun, embraced the one who caused his death.

The fate of the great artist and his tragical death help to throw light on the character of Loke and on the part he played in the mythology. Ivalde's sons are, in the beginning, the zealous friends of the gods, and the decorators and protectors of their creation. They smithy ornaments, which are the symbols of vegetation; and at their outpost by the Elivagar they defend the domain of vegetation against Jotunheim's powers of frost. As I have already stated, they are, like the Ribhus, at the same time heroes, promoters of growth, and artists of antiquity. The mythology had also manifestly endowed the sons of Ivalde with pleasing qualities--profound knowledge of the mysteries of nature, intelligence, strength, beauty, and with faithfulness toward their beloved. We find that, in time of adversity, the brothers were firmly united, and that their swan-maids love them in joy and in distress. For the powers of evil it was, therefore, of the greatest moment to bring about strife between the gods and these their "sworn men." Loke, who is a _gedreynir_ (Thorsdrapa), "a searcher of the qualities of the soul," a "tempter of the character," has discovered in the great artist of antiquity the false but hitherto unawakened qualities of his character--his ambition and irreconcilable thirst for revenge. These qualities, particularly the latter, burst forth fully developed suddenly after the injustice which, at Loke's instigation, the gods have done to the sons of Ivalde. The thirst for revenge breaks out in Thjasse-Volund in a despicable misdeed. There is reason for assuming that the terrible vengeance which, according to the heroic saga, he took against Nidhad, and which had its counterpart in the mythology itself, was not the worst crime which the epic of the Teutonic mythology had to blame him for. Harbardsljod (20) alludes to another and worse one. Speaking of Thjasse (str. 19), _Hárbardr-Loke_[12] there boasts that--

hardan jotun
ec hugda Hlebard vera,
gaf han mer gambantein,
en ec velta hann or viti.

Harbard-Loke here speaks of a giant who, in his mind, was a valiant one, but whose "senses he stole," that is, whom he "cunningly deprived of thought and reflection." There are two circumstances to which these words might apply. The one concerns the giant-builder who built the Asgard-wall, and, angry on account of the trick by which Loke cheated him out of the compensation agreed on, rushed against the gods and was slain by Thor. The other concerns Thjasse, who, seeing his beloved carried away by Loke and his plan about to be frustrated, recklessly rushed into his certain ruin. The real name of the giant alluded to is not given, but it is indicated by the epithet _Hlébardr_, which, according to the Younger Edda, (ii. 484), is a synonym of _Vargr_ and _Gyldir_. It has already been shown above that _Vargr_ in Thorsdrapa and _Fjallgyldir_ in Haustlaung are epithets of Thjasse. Loke says that this same giant, whose sense he cunningly robbed, had previously given him a _gambanteinn_. This word means a weapon made by Volund. His sword of revenge and victory is called _gambanteinn_ in Skirnersmal. But _gambanteinn_ is, at the same time, a synonym of _mistelteinn_, hence, in an Icelandic saga from the Christian time, Volund's sword of victory also reappears by the name _mistelteinn_ (see No. 60). Thus the giant Hlebard gave Loke a weapon, which, according to its designation, is either Volund's sword of victory or the mistletoe. It cannot be the sword of victory. We know the hands to which this sword has gone and is to go: Volund's, Mimer-Nidhad's, the night-dis Sinmara's, Svipdag's, Frey's, Aurboda's and Eggther's, and finally Fjalar's and Surt's. The weapon which Thjasse's namesake Hlebard gives Loke must, accordingly, have been the mistletoe. In this connection we must bear in mind what is said of the mistletoe. Unfortunately, the few words of Völuspa are the only entirely reliable record we have on this subject; but certain features of Gylfaginning's account (Younger Edda, i. 172-174) may be mythologically correct. "Slender and fair"--not dangerous and fair to behold--grew, according to Völuspa, the mistletoe, "higher than the fields" (as a parasite on the trees); but from the shrub which seemed innocent became "a dangerous arrow of pain," which _Hödr_ hurled. According to a poetic fragment united with Vegtamskvida ("Balder's draumar"), and according to Gylfaginning, the gods had previously exacted an oath from all things not to harm Balder; but, according to Gylfaginning, they had omitted to exact an oath from one thing, namely, the mistletoe. By cunning Loke found this out. He went and pulled up the mistletoe, which he was afterwards able to put into Hoder's hand, while, according to Gylfaginning, the gods were amusing themselves by seeing how every weapon aimed at Balder hit him without harming him. But that Loke should hand Hoder this shrub in the form in which it had grown on the tree, and that Hoder should use it in this form to shoot Balder, is as improbable as that Hoder was blind.[13] We must take Völuspa's words to mean that the shrub became an arrow, and we must conceive that this arrow looked like every other arrow, and for this reason did not awaken suspicion. Otherwise the suspicion would at once have been awakened, for they who had exacted the oath of things, and Frigg who had sent the messengers to exact the oaths, knew that the mistletoe was the only thing in the whole world that had not been sworn. The heathen songs nowhere betray such inconsistencies and such thoughtlessness as abound in the accounts of the Younger Edda. The former are always well conceived, at times incisive, but they always reveal a keen sense of everything that may give even to the miraculous the appearance of reality and logic. The mistletoe was made into an arrow by some one who knew how to turn it into a "dangerous arrow of pain" in an infallible manner. The unhappy shot depended on the magic qualities that were given to the mistletoe by the hands that changed it into an arrow. The event becomes comprehensible, and the statements found in the various sources dovetail together and bear the test of sound criticism, if Loke, availing himself of the only thing which had not been bound by oath not to harm Balder, goes with this shrub, which of itself was innocent and hardly fit for an arrow, to the artist who hated the gods, to the artist who had smithied the sword of revenge, and if the latter, with his magic skill as a smith, makes out of the _mistelteinn_ a new _gambanteinn_ dangerous to the gods, and gives the weapon to Loke in order that he might accomplish his evil purpose therewith. As Hlebard is a Thjasse-synonym, as this Thjasse-synonym is connected with the weapon-name _gambanteinn_, which indicates a Thjasse-work, and as Loke has treated Thjasse as he says he has treated Hlebard--by a cunning act he robbed him of his senses--then all accessible facts go to establish the theory that by Hlebard is meant the celebrated ancient artist deceived by Loke. And as Hlebard has given him a weapon which is designated by the name of the sword of revenge, but which is not the sword of revenge, while the latter, on the other hand and for corresponding reasons, also gets the name _mistelteinn_, then all the facts go to show that the weapon which Hlebard gave to Loke was the mistletoe fraught with woes and changed to an arrow. If Gylfaginning's unreliable account, based on fragmentary and partly misunderstood mythic records presented in a disjointed manner, had not been found, and if we had been referred exclusively to the few but reliable statements which are to be found in regard to the matter in the poetic songs, then a correct picture of this episode, though not so complete as to details, would have been the result of a compilation of the statements extant. The result would then have been: (1) Balder was slain by an arrow shot by Hoder (Völuspa, Vegtamskvida); (2) Hoder was not the real slayer, but Loke (Lokasenna, 28); (3) the material of which the arrow was made was a tender or slender (_mjór_) mistletoe (Völuspa); (4) previously all things had sworn not to harm Balder ("Balder's draumar"), but the mistletoe must, for some reason or other, have been overlooked by the messengers sent out to exact the oaths, since Balder was mortally wounded by it; (5) since it was Loke who arranged (_réd_) matters so that this happened, it must have been he who had charge of the mistletoe for the carrying out of his evil purpose; (6) the mistletoe fell into the hands of a giant-smith hostile to the gods, and mentioned under circumstances that refer to Thjasse (Harbardsljod); (7) by his skill as a smith he gave such qualities to the mistletoe as to change it into "a dangerous arrow of pain," and then gave the arrow to Loke (Harbardsljod); (8) from Loke's hands it passed into Hoder's, and was shot by the latter (Lokasenna, Völuspa).

It is dangerous to employ nature-symbolism as a means of mythological investigation. It is unserviceable for that purpose, so long as it cannot be subjected to the rules of severe methodics. On the other hand, it is admissible and justifiable to consider from a natural symbolic standpoint the results gained in a mythological investigation by the methodological system. If, as already indicated, Hlebard is identical with Thjasse-Volund, then he who was the cause of the fimbul-winter and sent the powers of frost out upon the earth, also had his hand in the death of the sun-god Balder and in his descent to the lower world. There is logic in this. And there is logic in the very fact that the weapon with which the sun-god is slain is made from the mistletoe, which blossoms and produces fruit in the winter, and is a plant which rather shuns than seeks the light of the sun. When we remember how the popular traditions have explained the appearance and qualities of various animals and plants by connecting them with the figures of mythology or of legendary lore, then I suppose it is possible that the popular fancy saw in the mistletoe's dread of light the effect of grief and shame at having been an instrument in evil hands for evil purposes. Various things indicate that the mistletoe originally was a sacred plant, not only among the Celts, but also among the Teutons. The Hindooic Aryans also knew sacred parasitical plants.

The word _gamban_ which forms a part of _gambanteinn_ means "compensation," "ransom," when used as a noun, and otherwise "retaliating." In the Anglo-Saxon poetry occurs (see Grein's Dictionary) the phrase _gamban gyldan_, "to compensate," "to pay dues." In the Norse sources _gamban_ occurs only in the compounds _gambanteinn_ (Skirnersmal, 33; Harbardsljod, 20), _gambanreidi_ (Skirnersmal, 33), and _gambansumbl_ (Lokasenna, 8). In the song of Skirner, the latter threatens Gerd, who refused Frey's offer of marriage, that she shall be struck by _gambanreidi goda_, the avenging wrath of the gods. In Lokasenna, Loke comes unbidden into the banquet of the gods in Ægir's hall to mix bitterness with their gladness, and he demands either a place at the banquet table or to be turned out of doors. Brage answers that the gods never will grant him a seat at a banquet, "since they well know for whom among beings they are to prepare _gambansumbl_," a banquet of revenge or a drink of revenge. This he manifestly mentions as a threat, referring to the fate which soon afterwards happens to Loke, when he is captured and bound, and when a venom-spitting serpent is fastened above his mouth. For the common assumption that _gamban_ means something "grand," "magnificent," "divine," there is not a single shadow of reason. _Gambanteinn_ is accordingly "the twig of revenge," and thus we have the mythological reason why Thjasse-Volund's sword of revenge and the mistletoe arrow were so called. With them he desires to avenge the insult to which he refers in Volundarkvida, 28: _Nu hefi ec hefnt harma minna allra nema einna ivithgjarnra._

[12] Holtzmann and Bergmann have long since pointed out that Harbard is identical with Loke. The idea that Harbard, who in every trait is Loke in Lokasenna, and, like him, appears as a mocker of the gods and boasts of his evil deeds and of his success with the fair sex, should be Odin, is one of the proofs showing how an unmethodical symbolic interpretation could go astray. In the second part of this work I shall fully discuss Harbardsljod. Proofs are to be found from the last days of heathendom in Iceland that it was then well known that the Harbard who is mentioned in this poem was a foe of the gods.

[13] When I come to consider the Balder-myth in the second part of this work, I shall point out the source from which the author of Gylfaginning, misunderstandingly, has drawn the conclusion that the man of exploits, the warrior, the archer, and the hunter Hoder was blind. The misunderstanding gave welcome support to the symbolic interpretation, which, in the blind Hoder, found among other things a symbol of night (but night has "many eyes").

117.

THE GUARD AT HVERGELMER AND THE ELIVAGAR.

It has already been shown (see Nos. 59, 93) that the Elivagar have their source in the subterranean fountain Hvergelmer, situated on a mountain, which separates the subterranean region of bliss (Hel) from Nifelhel. Here, near the source of the Elivagar, stands the great world-mill, which revolves the starry heavens, causes the ebb and flood of the ocean and regulates its currents, and grinds the bodies of the primeval giants into layers of mould on the rocky substrata (see Nos. 79, 80). From Hvergelmer, the mother of all waters, the northern root of the world-tree draws saps, which rise into its topmost branches, evaporate into _Eikthyrnir_ above Asgard, and flow thence as vafer-laden clouds (see No. 36), which emit fructifying showers upon Midgard, and through the earth they return to their original source, the fountain Hvergelmer. The Hvergelmer mountain (the Nida-mountains, _Nidafjöll_) cannot have been left without care and protection, as it is of so vast importance in the economy of the world, and this the less since it at the same time forms the boundary between the lower world's realm of bliss and Nifelhel, the subterranean Jotunheim, whose frost-thurses sustain the same relation to the inhabitants on the evergreen fields of bliss as the powers of frost in the upper Jotunheim sustain to the gods of Asgard and to the inhabitants of Midgard. There is no reason for assuming that the guard of brave sworn warriors of the Asgard gods, those warriors whom we have already seen in array near the Elivagar, should have only a part of this body of water to keep watch over. The clan of the elves, under their chiefs, the three sons of Ivalde, even though direct evidence were wanting, must be regarded as having watched over the Elivagar along their whole extent, even to their source, and as having had the same important duty in reference to the giants of the lower world as in reference to those of the upper. As its name indicates, Nifelheim is shrouded in darkness and mist, against which the peaks of the Hvergelmer mountain form the natural rampart as a protection to the smiling fields of bliss. But gales and storms might lift themselves above these peaks and enshroud even Mimer's and Urd's realms in mist. The elves are endowed with power to hinder this. The last strophe in Thorsdrapa, so interesting from a mythological standpoint, confirms this view. Egil is there called _hneitir undir-fjálfs bliku_, and is said to be _helblótinn_. _Blika_ is a name for clouds while they are still near the horizon and appear as pale vapours, which to those skilled in regard to the weather forbode an approaching storm (compare Vigfusson's Dict., 69). _Undir-fjálfr_ is thought by Egilson to mean subterranean mountains, by Vigfusson "the deep," _abyssus_. _Hneitir undir-fjalfs bliku_ is "he who conquers (or resolves, scatters) the clouds rising, storm-foreboding, from the abyss (or over the lower-world mountain)." As Egil can be thus characterised, it is easy to explain why he is called "_helblótinn_," "he who receives sacrifices in the subterranean realm of bliss." He guards the Teutonic elysian fields against the powers of frost and the mists of Nifelheim, and therefore receives tokens of gratitude from their pious inhabitants.

The vocation of the sons of Ivalde, as the keepers of the Hvergelmer fountain and of the Elivagar, has its counterpart in the vocation which, in the Iranian mythology, is attributed to Thjasse's prototype, the star-hero Tistrya (Tishya). The fountain Hvergelmer, the source of the ocean and of all waters, has in the Iranian mythology its counterpart in the immense body of water Vourukasha. Just as the Teutonic world-tree grows from its northern root out of Hvergelmer, the Iranian world-tree Gaokerena grows out of Vourukasha (Bundehesh, 18). Vourukasha is guarded by Tistrya, assisted by two heroes belonging to the class of mythological beings that are called Yazatas (Izads; in the Veda literature Yajata), "they who deserve offerings," and in the Iranian mythology they form the third rank of divine beings, and thus correspond to the elves of the Teutonic mythology. Assisted by these two heroes and by the "fevers of the just," Tistrya defends Vourukasha, and occasionally fights against the demon Apaosha, who desires to destroy the world (Bundehesh, 7). Tistrya, as such, appears in three forms: as a youth with bright and glistening eyes, as a wild boar, and as a horse. Can it be an accident that these forms have their counterparts in the Teutonic mythology in the fact that one of Thjasse's brothers (Egil-Orvandel-Ebur) has the epithet "wild boar," and that, as shall be shown below, his other brother (Slagfin) bears the epithet Hengest, and that Thjasse-Volund himself, who for years was possessor of, and presumably invented, the "remedy against aging," which Idun, his beloved, has charge of--that Thjasse-Volund himself was regarded as a youth with a "white neck" (Volundarkvida, 2) and with glittering eyes (Volundarkvida, 17), which after his death were placed in the heavens as stars?

118.

SLAGFIN. HIS IDENTITY WITH GJUKE. SLAGFIN, EGIL, AND VOLUND ARE
NIFLUNGS.

I now come to the third Ivalde son, Slagfin. The name Slagfin (_Slagfidr_) occurs nowhere else than in Volundarkvida, and in the prose introduction to the same. All that we learn of him is that, like Egil, he accompanied his brother Volund to the Wolfdales; that, like them, he runs on skees and is a hunter; and that, when the swan-maids, in the ninth year of their abode in the Wolfdales, are overcome by longing and return to the south, he goes away to find his beloved, just as Egil goes to find his. We learn, furthermore, that Slagfin's swan-maid is a sister of Volund's and a kinswoman of Egil's, and that she, accordingly, is Slagfin's sister (half-sister). She is called _Hladgudr Svanhvit_, likewise a name which occurs nowhere else. Her (and accordingly also that of Volund's swan-maid) mother is called Swan-feather, _Svanfjödr_ (Slagfin's beloved is _Svanfjadrar drós_--str. 2). The name Svan-feather reminds us of the Svanhild Gold-feather mentioned in Fornm., ii. 7, wife of one Finalf. If Svanfeather is identical with Svanhild Goldfeather, then Finalf must originally be identical with Ivalde, who also is an elf and bears the name _Finnakonungr_, _Sumblus Phinnorum rex_. But this then simply confirms what we already know, namely, that the Ivalde sons and two of the swan-maids are brothers and sisters. It, however, gives us no clue by which we can trace Slagfin in other sources, and rediscover him bearing other names, and restore the myth concerning him which seems to be lost. That he, however, played an important part in the mythology may be assumed already from the fact that his brothers hold places so central in the great epic of the mythology. It is, therefore, highly probable that he is mentioned in our mythic fragments, though concealed under some other name. One of these names, viz., Ide, we have already found (see No. 114); and thereby we have learned that he, with his brother Egil, had a citadel near the Elivagar, and guarded their coasts against the powers of frost. But of his fate in general we are ignorant. No extensive researches are required, however, before we find circumstances which, compared with each other, give us the result that Slagfin is Gjuke, and therewith the way is open for a nearer acquaintance with his position in the heroic saga, and before that in the mythology. His identity with Gjuke is manifest from the following circumstances:

The Gjukungs, famous in the heroic saga, are, according to the saga itself, the first ones who bear this name. Their father is Gjuke, from whom this patronymic is derived. Through their father they belong to a race that is called Hniflungs, Niflungs, Nebelungs. The Gjukungs form a branch of the Niflung race, hence all Gjukungs are Niflungs, but not all Niflungs Gjukungs. The Younger Edda says correctly, _Af Niflunga ætt var Gjuki_ (Younger Edda, i. 522), and Atlakvida (17) shows that the Gjukungs constitute only a part of the Niflungs. The identity of the Gjukungs in this relative sense with the Niflungs is known and pointed out in Atlamal (47, 52, 88), in Brot Sigurdarkvida (16), in Atlakvida (11, 17, 27), and in "Drap Niflunga."

Who the Niflung race are in the widest sense of the word, or what known heroes the race embraced besides Gjuke and his sons--to this question the saga of Helge Hundingsbane (i. 48) gives important information, inasmuch as the passage informs us that the hostile race which Helge Hundingsbane--that is to say, Halfdan Borgarson (see No. 29)--combats are the Niflungs. Foremost among the Niflungs Hodbrod is mentioned in this poem, whose betrothed Helge (Halfdan Borgarson) gets into his power. It has already been shown that, in this heroic poem, Hodbrod is the copy of the mythological Orvandel-Egil (see Nos. 29, 32, 101). It follows that Volund, Orvandel-Egil, and Slagfin are Niflungs, and that Gjuke either is identical with one of them or that he at all events is descended from the same progenitor as they.

The great treasure of works smithied from gold and other precious things which the Gjukungs owned, according to the heroic traditions, are designated in the different sources in the same manner as inherited. In Atlakvida (11) the Gjukung treasure is called _arf Niflunga_; so also in Atlakvida (27). In Gudrunarkvida (ii. 25) the queen of the deceased Gjuke promises her and Gjuke's daughter, Gudrun, that she is to have the control of all the treasures "after (_at_) her dead father (_fjöld allz fjar at thin faudur daudan_)," and we are told that those treasures, together with the halls in which they were kept and the precious carpets, are an inheritance after (_at_) _Hlaudver_, "the fallen prince" (_hringa rauda Hlaudves sali, arsal allan at jofur fallin_). From Volundarkvida we gather that Volund's and Slagfin's swan-maids are daughters of Hlaudver and sisters of their lovers. Thus Hlaudver is identical with Ivalde, Volund's, Egil's, and Slagfin's father (see No. 123). Ivalde's splendidly decorated halls, together with at least one son's share of his golden treasures, have thus passed as an inheritance to Gjuke, and from Gjuke to his sons, the Gjukungs. While the first song about Helge Hundingsbane tells us that Volund, Egil, and Slagfin were, like Gjuke, Niflungs, we here learn that Gjuke was the heir of Volund's, Egil's, and Slagfin's father. And while Thorsdrapa, compared with other sources, has already informed us that Ide-Slagfin and Gang-Egil inhabited that citadel near the Elivagar which is called "Ide's chalet" and Geirvadel's (Geirvandel's) chalet, and while Geirvandel is demonstrably an epithet of Ivalde,[14] and as Ivalde's citadel accordingly passed into the possession of Slagfin and Egil, we here find that Ivalde's citadel was inherited by Gjuke. Finally, we must compare herewith Bragarædur (ch. 2), where it is said that Ivalde (there called Olvalde) was survived by his sons, who harmoniously divided his great treasures. Thus Gjuke is one of the sons of Ivalde, and inherited halls and treasures after Ivalde; and as he can be neither Volund nor Egil, whose fates we already know, he must be Slagfin--a result confirmed by the evidence which we shall gradually present below.

[14] In Saxo Gervandillus (_Geirvandill_) is the father of Horvandillus (_Örvandill_). Orvandel has been proved to be identical with Egil. And as Egil is the son of Ivalde, Geirvandel is identical with Ivalde.

119.

THE NIFLUNG HOARD IS THE TREASURE LEFT BY VOLUND AND HIS
BROTHERS.