Chapter XXVII: Afterword: To Brage’s Talk (2)

Odin had a son by name Skjold, from whom the Skjoldungs are descended. He had his throne and ruled in the lands that are now called Denmark, but were then called Gotland. Skjold had a son by name Fridleif, who ruled the lands after him. Fridleif’s son was Frode. He took the kingdom after his father, at the time when the Emperor Augustus established peace in all the earth and Christ was born. But Frode being the mightiest king in the northlands, this peace was attributed to him by all who spake the Danish tongue, and the Norsemen called it the peace of Frode. No man injured the other, even though he might meet, loose or in chains, his father’s or brother’s bane. There was no thief or robber, so that a gold ring would be a long time on Jalanger’s heath. King Frode sent messengers to Svithjod, to the king whose name was Fjolner, and bought there two maid-servants, whose names were Fenja and Menja. They were large and strong. About this time were found in Denmark two mill-stones, so large that no one had the strength to turn them. But the nature belonged to these mill-stones that they ground whatever was demanded of them by the miller. The name of this mill was Grotte. But the man to whom King Frode gave the mill was called Hengekjapt. King Frode had the maid-servants led to the mill, and requested them to grind for him gold and peace, and Frode’s happiness. Then he gave them no longer time to rest or sleep than while the cuckoo was silent or while they sang a song. It is said that they sang the song called the Grottesong, and before they ended it they ground out a host against Frode; so that on the same night there came the sea-king, whose name was Mysing, and slew Frode and took a large amount of booty. Therewith the Frode-peace ended. Mysing took with him Grotte, and also Fenja and Menja, and bade them grind salt, and in the middle of the night they asked Mysing whether he did not have salt enough. He bade them grind more. They ground only a short time longer before the ship sank. But in the ocean arose a whirlpool (Maelstrom, mill-stream) in the place where the sea runs into the mill-eye. Thus the sea became salt.

THE GROTTESONG.

Now are come
To the house of the king
The prescient two,
Fenja and Menja.
There must the mighty
Maidens toil
For King Frode,
Fridleif’s son.

Brought to the mill
Soon they were;
The gray stones
They had to turn.
Nor rest nor peace
He gave to them:
He would hear the maidens
Turn the mill.

They turned the mill,
The prattling stones
The mill ever rattling.
What a noise it made!
Lay the planks!
Lift the stones![98]
But he[99] bade the maids
Yet more to grind.

They sang and swung
The swift mill-stone,
So that Frode’s folk
Fell asleep.
Then, when she came
To the mill to grind,
With a hard heart
And with loud voice
Did Menja sing:

We grind for Frode
Wealth and happiness,
And gold abundant
On the mill of luck.
Dance on roses!
Sleep on down!
Wake when you please!
That is well ground.

Here shall no one
Hurt the other,
Nor in ambush lie,
Nor seek to kill;
Nor shall any one
With sharp sword hew,
Though bound he should find
His brother’s bane.

They stood in the hall,
Their hands were resting;
Then was it the first
Word that he spoke:
Sleep not longer
Than the cuckoo on the hall,
Or only while
A song I sing:

Frode! you were not
Wary enough,--
You friend of men,--
When maids you bought!
At their strength you looked,
And at their fair faces,
But you asked no questions
About their descent.

Hard was Hrungner
And his father;
Yet was Thjasse
Stronger than they,
And Ide and Orner,
Our friends, and
The mountain-giants’ brothers,
Who fostered us two.

Not would Grotte have come
From the mountain gray,
Nor this hard stone
Out from the earth;
The maids of the mountain-giants
Would not thus be grinding
If we two knew
Nothing of the mill.

Through winters nine
Our strength increased,
While below the sod
We played together.
Great deeds were the maids
Able to perform;
Mountains they
From their places moved.

The stone we rolled
From the giants’ dwelling,
So that all the earth
Did rock and quake.
So we hurled
The rattling stone,
The heavy block,
That men caught it.

In Svithjod’s land
Afterward we
Fire-wise women,
Fared to the battle,
Byrnies we burst,
Shields we cleaved,
Made our way
Through gray-clad hosts.

One chief we slew,
Another we aided,--
To Guthorm the Good
Help we gave.
Ere Knue had fallen
Nor rest we got.
Then bound we were
And taken prisoners.

Such were our deeds
In former days,
That we heroes brave
Were thought to be.
With spears sharp
Heroes we pierced,
So the gore did run
And our swords grew red.

Now we are come
To the house of the king,
No one us pities.
Bond-women are we.
Dirt eats our feet,
Our limbs are cold,
The peace-giver[100] we turn.
Hard it is at Frode’s.

The hands shall stop,
The stone shall stand;
Now have I ground
For my part enough.
Yet to the hands
No rest must be given,
’Till Frode thinks
Enough has been ground.

Now hold shall the hands
The lances hard,
The weapons bloody,--
Wake now, Frode!
Wake now, Frode!
If you would listen
To our songs,--
To sayings old.

Fire I see burn
East of the burg,--
The warnews are awake.
That is called warning.
A host hither
Hastily approaches
To burn the king’s
Lofty dwelling.

No longer you will sit
On the throne of Hleidra
And rule o’er red
Rings and the mill.
Now must we grind
With all our might,
No warmth will we get
From the blood of the slain.

Now my father’s daughter
Bravely turns the mill.
The death of many
Men she sees.
Now broke the large
Braces ’neath the mill,--
The iron-bound braces.
Let us yet grind!

Let us yet grind!
Yrsa’s son
Shall on Frode revenge
Halfdan’s death.
He shall Yrsa’s
Offspring be named,
And yet Yrsa’s brother.
Both of us know it.

The mill turned the maidens,--
Their might they tested;
Young they were,
And giantesses wild.
The braces trembled.
Then fell the mill,--
In twain was broken
The heavy stone.

All the old world
Shook and trembled,
But the giant’s maid
Speedily said:
We have turned the mill, Frode!
Now we may stop.
By the mill long enough
The maidens have stood.

[Footnote 98: These words are spoken by the maidens while they put
the mill together.]

[Footnote 99: Frode.]

[Footnote 100: The mill.]

ROLF KRAKE.

A king in Denmark hight Rolf Krake, and was the most famous of all kings of olden times; moreover, he was more mild, brave and condescending than all other men. A proof of his condescension, which is very often spoken of in olden stories, was the following: There was a poor little fellow by name Vog. He once came into King Rolf’s hall while the king was yet a young man, and of rather delicate growth. Then Vog went before him and looked up at him. Then said the king: What do you mean to say, my fellow, by looking so at me? Answered Vog: When I was at home I heard people say that King Rolf, at Hleidra, was the greatest man in the northlands, but now sits here in the high-seat a little crow (krake), and it they call their king. Then made answer the king: You, my fellow, have given me a name, and I shall henceforth be called Rolf Krake, but it is customary that a gift accompanies the name. Seeing that you have no gift that you can give me with the name, or that would be suitable to me, then he who has must give to the other. Then he took a gold ring off his hand and gave it to the churl. Then said Vog: You give as the best king of all, and therefore I now pledge myself to become the bane of him who becomes your bane. Said the king, laughing: A small thing makes Vog happy.

Another example is told of Rolf Krake’s bravery. In Upsala reigned a king by name Adils, whose wife was Yrsa, Rolf Krake’s mother. He was engaged in a war with Norway’s king, Ale. They fought a battle on the ice of the lake called Wenern. King Adils sent a message to Rolf Krake, his stepson, asking him to come and help him, and promising to furnish pay for his whole army during the campaign. Furthermore King Rolf himself should have any three treasures that he might choose in Sweden. But Rolf Krake could not go to his assistance, on account of the war which he was then waging against the Saxons. Still he sent twelve berserks to King Adils. Among them were Bodvar Bjarke, Hjalte the Valiant, Hvitserk the Keen, Vot, Vidsete, and the brothers Svipday and Beigud. In that war fell King Ale and a large part of his army. Then King Adils took from the dead King Ale the helmet called Hildesvin, and his horse called Rafn. Then the berserks each demanded three pounds of gold in pay for their service, and also asked for the treasures which they had chosen for Rolf Krake, and which they now desired to bring to him. These were the helmet Hildegolt; the byrnie Finnsleif, which no steel could scathe; and the gold ring called Sviagris, which had belonged to Adils’ forefathers. But the king refused to surrender any of these treasures, nor did he give the berserks any pay. The berserks then returned home, and were much dissatisfied. They reported all to King Rolf, who straightway busked himself to fare against Upsala; and when he came with his ships into the river Fyre, he rode against Upsala, and with him his twelve berserks, all peaceless. Yrsa, his mother, received him and took him to his lodgings, but not to the king’s hall. Large fires were kindled for them, and ale was brought them to drink. Then came King Adils’ men in and bore fuel onto the fireplace, and made a fire so great that it burnt the clothes of Rolf and his berserks, saying: Is it true that neither fire nor steel will put Rolf Krake and his berserks to flight? Then Rolf Krake and all his men sprang up, and he said:

Let us increase the blaze
In Adils’ chambers.

He took his shield and cast it into the fire, and sprang over the fire while the shield was burning, and cried:

From the fire flees not he
Who over it leaps.

The same did also his men, one after the other, and then they took those who had put fuel on the fire and cast them into it. Now Yrsa came and handed Rolf Krake a deer’s horn full of gold, and with it she gave him the ring Sviagris, and requested them to ride straightway to their army. They sprang upon their horses and rode away over the Fyrisvold. Then they saw that King Adils was riding after them with his whole army, all armed, and was going to slay them. Rolf Krake took gold out of the horn with his right hand, and scattered it over the whole way. But when the Swedes saw it they leaped out of their saddles, and each one took as much as he could. King Adils bade them ride, and he himself rode on with all his might. The name of his horse was Slungner, the fastest of all horses. When Rolf Krake saw that King Adils was riding near him, he took the ring Sviagris and threw it to him, asking him to take it as a gift. King Adils rode to the ring, picked it up with the end of his spear, and let it slide down to his hand. Then Rolf Krake turned round and saw that the other was stooping. Said he: Like a swine I have now bended the foremost of all Swedes. Thus they parted. Hence gold is called the seed of Krake or of Fyrisvold.

HOGNE AND HILD.

A king by name Hogne had a daughter by name Hild. Her a king, by name Hedin, son of Hjarrande, made a prisoner of war, while King Hogne had fared to the trysting of the kings. But when he learned that there had been harrying in his kingdom, and that his daughter had been taken away, he rode with his army in search of Hedin, and learned that he had sailed northward along the coast. When King Hogne came to Norway, he found out that Hedin had sailed westward into the sea. Then Hogne sailed after him to the Orkneys. And when he came to the island called Ha, then Hedin was there before him with his host. Then Hild went to meet her father, and offered him as a reconciliation from Hedin a necklace; but if he was not willing to accept this, she said that Hedin was prepared for a battle, and Hogne might expect no clemency from him. Hogne answered his daughter harshly. When she returned to Hedin, she told him that Hogne would not be reconciled, and bade him busk himself for the battle. And so both parties did; they landed on the island and marshaled their hosts. Then Hedin called to Hogne, his father-in-law, offering him a reconciliation and much gold as a ransom. Hogne answered: Too late do you offer to make peace with me, for now I have drawn the sword Dainsleif, which was smithied by the dwarfs, and must be the death of a man whenever it is drawn; its blows never miss the mark, and the wounds made by it never heal. Said Hedin: You boast the sword, but not the victory. That I call a good sword that is always faithful to its master. Then they began the battle which is called the Hjadninga-vig (the slaying of the Hedin_ians_); they fought the whole day, and in the evening the kings fared back to their ships. But in the night Hild went to the battlefield, and waked up with sorcery all the dead that had fallen. The next day the kings went to the battlefield and fought, and so did also all they who had fallen the day before. Thus the battle continued from day to day; and all they who fell, and all the swords that lay on the field of battle, and all the shields, became stone. But as soon as day dawned all the dead arose again and fought, and all the weapons became new again, and in songs it is said that the Hjadnings will so continue until Ragnarok.

NOTES.

ENEA.

The Enea mentioned in the Foreword to Gylfe’s Fooling refers to the settlement of western Europe, where Æneas is said to have founded a city on the Tiber. Bergmann, however, in his Fascination de Gulfi, page 28, refers it to the Thracian town Ainos.

HERIKON.

Herikon is undoubtedly a mutilated form for Erichthonios. The genealogy here given corresponds with the one given in the Iliad, Book 20, 215.

THE HISTORICAL ODIN.

The historical or anthropomorphized Odin, described in the Foreword to the Fooling of Gylfe, becomes interesting when we compare it with Snorre’s account of that hero in Heimskringla, and then compare both accounts with the Roman traditions about Æneas. Of course the whole story is only a myth; but we should remember that in the minds and hearts of our ancestors it served every purpose of genuine history. Our fathers accepted it in as good faith as any Christian ever believed in the gospel of Christ, and so it had a similar influence in moulding the social, religious, political and literary life of our ancestors. We become interested in this legend as much as if it were genuine history, on account of the influence it wielded upon the minds and hearts of a race destined to act so great a part in the social, religious and political drama of Europe. We look into this and other ancestral myths, and see mirrored in them all that we afterward find to be reliable history of the old Teutons. In the same manner we are interested in the story told about Romulus and Remus, about Mars and the wolf. This Roman myth is equally prophetic in reference to the future career of Rome. The warlike Mars, the rapacity of the wolf, and the fratricide Romulus, form a mirror in which we see reflected the whole historical development of the Romans; so that the story of Romulus is a vest-pocket edition of the history of Rome.

There are many points of resemblance between this old story of Odin and the account that Virgil gives us of Æneas, the founder of the Latin race; and it is believed that, while Virgil imitated Homer, he based his poem upon a legend current among his countrymen. The Greeks in Virgil’s poem are Pompey and the Romans in our Teutonic story. The Trojans correspond to Mithridates and his allies. Æneas and Odin are identical. Just as Odin, a heroic defender of Mithridates, after traversing various unknown countries, finally reaches the north of Europe, organizes the various Teutonic kingdoms, settles his sons upon the thrones of Germany, England, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and instructs his people to gather strength and courage, so as eventually to take revenge on the cursed Romans; so Æneas, one of the most valiant defenders of Troy, after many adventures in various lands, at length settles in Italy, and becomes the founder of a race that in course of time is to wreak vengeance upon the Greeks. The prophecy contained in the Roman legend was fulfilled by Metellus and Mummius, in the years 147 and 146 before Christ, when the Romans became the conquerors of Greece. The prophecy contained in our Teutonic legend foreshadowed with no less unrelenting necessity the downfall of proud Rome, when the Teutonic commander Odoacer, in the year 476 after Christ, dethroned, not Romulus, brother of Remus, but Romulus Augustulus, son of Orestes. Thus history repeats itself. Roman history begins and ends with Romulus; and we fancy we can see some connection between Od-in and Od-oacer. “As the twig is bent the tree is inclined.”

It might be interesting to institute a similar comparison between our Teutonic race-founder Odin and Ulysses, king of Ithaca, but the reader will have to do this for himself.

In one respect our heroes differ. The fall of Troy and the wanderings of Ulysses became the theme of two great epic poems among the Greeks. The wanderings and adventures of Æneas, son of Anchises, were fashioned into a lordly epic by Virgil for the Romans. But the much-traveled man, the ἀνὴρ πολύτροπος, the weapons and the hero, Odin, who, driven by the norns, first came to Teutondom and to the Baltic shores, has not yet been sung. This wonderful expedition of our race-founder, which, by giving a historic cause to all the later hostilities and conflicts between the Teutons and the Romans, might, as suggested by Gibbon, supply the noble ground-work of an epic poem as thrilling as the Æneid of Virgil, has not yet been woven into a song for our race, and we give our readers this full account of Odin from the Heimskringla in connection with the Foreword to Gylfe’s Fooling, with the hope that among our readers there may be found some descendant of Odin, whose skaldic wings are but just fledged for the flights he hopes to take, who will take a draught, first from Mimer’s gushing fountain, then from Suttung’s mead, brought by Odin to Asgard, and consecrate himself and his talents to this legend with all the ardor of his soul. For, as William Morris so beautifully says of the Volsung Saga, this is the great story of the Teutonic race, and should be to us what the tale of Troy was to the Greeks, and what the tale of Æneas was to the Romans, to all our race first and afterward, when the evolution of the world has made the Teutonic race nothing more than a name of what it has been; a story, too, then, should it be to the races that come after us, no less than the Iliad, and the Odyssey and the Æneid have been to us.[101] We sincerely trust that we shall see Odin wrought into a Teutonic epic, that will present in grand outline the contrast between the Roman and the Teuton. And now we are prepared to give the Heimskringla account of the historical Odin. We have adopted Samuel Laing’s translation, with a few verbal alterations where such seemed necessary.

[Footnote 101: Quoted from memory.]

It is said that the earth’s circle (Heimskringla), which the human race inhabits, is torn across into many bights, so that great seas run into the land from the out-ocean. Thus it is known that a great sea goes into Njorvasound,[102] and up to the land of Jerusalem. From the same sea a long sea-bight stretches toward the northeast, and is called the Black Sea, and divides the three parts of the earth; of which the eastern part is called Asia, and the western is called by some Europe, by some Enea.[103] Northward of the Black Sea lies Svithjod the Great,[104] or the Cold. The Great Svithjod is reckoned by some not less than the Saracens’ land,[105] others compare it to the Great Blueland.[106] The northern part of Svithjod lies uninhabited on account of frost and cold, as likewise the southern parts of Blueland are waste from the burning sun. In Svithjod are many great domains, and many wonderful races of men, and many kinds of languages. There are giants,[107] and there are dwarfs,[108] and there are also blue men.[109] There are wild beasts and dreadfully large dragons. On the north side of the mountains, which lie outside of all inhabited lands, runs a river through Svithjod, which is properly called by the name of Tanais,[110] but was formerly called Tanaquisl or Vanaquisl, and which falls into the ocean at the Black Sea. The country of the people on the Vanaquisl was called Vanaland or Vanaheim, and the river separates the three parts of the world, of which the easternmost is called Asia and the westernmost Europe.

[Footnote 102: Njorvasound, the Straits of Gibraltar; so called
from the first Norseman who sailed through them. His name was
Njorve. See Ann. for nordisk Oldkyndighed, Vol. I, p. 58.]

[Footnote 103: See note, page 221.]

[Transcriber’s Note:
The reference is to the first “Note”, on Enea.]

[Footnote 104: Svithjod the Great, or the Cold, is the ancient
Sarmatia and Scythia Magna, and formed the great part of the
present European Russia. In the mythological sagas it is also
called Godheim; that is, the home of Odin and the other gods.
Svithjod the Less is Sweden proper, and is called Mannheim; that
is, the home of the kings, the descendants of the gods.]

[Footnote 105: The Saracens’ land (Serkland) means North Africa
and Spain, and the Saracen countries in Asia; that is, Persia,
Assyria, etc.]

[Footnote 106: Blueland, the country of the blacks in Africa, the
country south of Serkland, the modern Ethiopia.]

[Footnote 107: Tartareans.]

[Footnote 108: Kalmuks.]

[Footnote 109: Mongolians.]

[Footnote 110: The Tanais is the present Don river, which empties
into the Sea of Asov.]

The country east of the Tanaquisl in Asia was called Asaland or Asaheim, and the chief city in that land was called Asgard.[111] In that city was a chief called Odin, and it was a great place for sacrifice. It was the custom there that twelve temple-priests[112] should both direct the sacrifices and also judge the people. They were called priests or masters, and all the people served and obeyed them. Odin was a great and very far-traveled warrior, who conquered many kingdoms, and so successful was he that in every battle the victory was on his side. It was the belief of his people that victory belonged to him in every battle. It was his custom when he sent his men into battle, or on any expedition, that he first laid his hand upon their heads, and called down a blessing upon them; and then they believed their undertaking would be successful. His people also were accustomed, whenever they fell into danger by land or sea, to call upon his name; and they thought that always they got comfort and aid by it, for where he was they thought help was near. Often he went away so long that he passed many seasons on his journeys.

[Footnote 111: Asgard is supposed, by those who look for
historical fact in mythological tales, to be the present Assor;
others, that it is Chasgar in the Caucasian ridge, called by
Strabo Aspargum the Asburg, or castle of the asas. We still have
in the Norse tongue the word Aas, meaning a ridge of high land.
The word asas is not derived from Asia, as Snorre supposed. It is
the O.H. Ger. _ans_; Anglo-Sax. _os_ = a hero. The word also
means a pillar; and in this latter sense the gods are the pillars
of the universe. Connected with the word is undoubtedly Aas, a
mountain-ridge, as supporter of the skies; and this reminds us of
_Atlas_, as bearer of the world.]

[Footnote 112: The temple-priests performed the functions of
priest and judge, and their office continued hereditary throughout
the heathen period of Norse history.]

Odin had two brothers, the one hight Ve, the other Vile,[113] and they governed the kingdom when he was absent. It happened once when Odin had gone to a great distance, and had been so long away that the people of Asia doubted if he would ever return home, that his two brothers took it upon themselves to divide his estate; but both of them took his wife Frigg to themselves. Odin soon after returned home, and took his wife back.

[Footnote 113: See Norse Mythology, page 174.]

Odin went out with a great army against the Vanaland people; but they were well prepared, and defended their land, so that victory was changeable, and they ravaged the lands of each other and did great damage. They tired of this at last, and, on both sides appointing a meeting for establishing peace, made a truce and exchanged hostages. The Vanaland people sent their best men,--Njord the Rich and his son Frey; the people of Asaland sent a man hight Hœner,[114] as he was a stout and very handsome man, and with him they sent a man of great understanding, called Mimer; and on the other side the Vanaland people sent the wisest man in their community, who was called Quaser. Now when Hœner came to Vanaheim he was immediately made a chief, and Mimer came to him with good counsel on all occasions. But when Hœner stood in the Things, or other meetings, if Mimer was not near him, and any difficult matter was laid before him, he always answered in one way: Now let others give their advice; so that the Vanaland people got a suspicion that the Asaland people had deceived them in the exchange of men. They took Mimer, therefore, and beheaded him, and sent his head to the Asaland people. Odin took the head, smeared it with herbs, so that it should not rot, and sang incantations over it. Thereby he gave it the power that it spoke to him, and discovered to him many secrets.[115] Odin placed Njord and Frey as priests of the sacrifices, and they became deities of the Asaland people. Njord’s daughter, Freyja, was priestess of the sacrifices, and first taught the Asaland people the magic art, as it was in use and fashion among the Vanaland people. While Njord was with the Vanaland people he had taken his own sister in marriage, for that was allowed by their law; and their children were Frey and Freyja. But among the Asaland people it was forbidden to come together in so near relationship.[116]

[Footnote 114: See Brage’s Talk, p. 160; and Norse Mythology,
pp. 247 and 342.]

[Footnote 115: In the Vala’s Prophecy of the Elder Edda it is
said that Odin talks with the head of Mimer before the coming of
Ragnarok. See Norse Mythology, p. 421.]

[Footnote 116: This shows that the vans must have belonged to the
mythological system of some older race that, like the ancient
Romans (Liber and Libera), recognized the propriety of marriage
between brothers and sisters, at least among their gods. Such
marriages were not allowed among our Odinic ancestors. Hence we
see that when Njord, Frey and Freyja were admitted to Asgard, they
entered into new marriage relations. Njord married Skade, Frey
married Gerd, and Freyja married Oder. Our ancestors were never
savages!]

There goes a great mountain barrier from northeast to southwest, which divides the Great Svithjod from other kingdoms. South of this mountain ridge is not far to Turkland, where Odin had great possessions.[117] But Odin, having foreknowledge and magic-sight, knew that his posterity would come to settle and dwell in the northern half of the world. In those times the Roman chiefs went wide around the world, subduing to themselves all people; and on this account many chiefs fled from their domains.[118] Odin set his brothers Vile and Ve over Asgard, and he himself, with all the gods and a great many other people, wandered out, first westward to Gardarike (Russia), and then south to Saxland (Germany). He had many sons, and after having subdued an extensive kingdom in Saxland he set his sons to defend the country. He himself went northward to the sea, and took up his abode in an island which is called Odinse (see note below), in Funen. Then he sent Gefjun across the sound to the north to discover new countries, and she came to King Gylfe, who gave her a ploughland. Then she went to Jotunheim and bore four sons to a giant, and transformed them into a yoke of oxen, and yoked them to a plough and broke out the land into the ocean, right opposite to Odinse, which was called Seeland, where she afterward settled and dwelt.[119] Skjold, a son of Odin, married her, and they dwelt at Leidre.[120] Where the ploughed land was, is a lake or sea called Laage.[121] In the Swedish land the fjords of Laage correspond to the nesses of Seeland. Brage the old sings thus of it:

Gefjun glad
Drew from Gylfe
The excellent land,
Denmark’s increase,
So that it reeked
From the running beasts.
Four heads and eight eyes
Bore the oxen,
As they went before the wide
Robbed land of the grassy isle.[122]

[Footnote 117: Turkland was usually supposed to mean Moldau and
Wallachia. Some, who regard the great mountain barrier as being
the Ural Mountains, think Turkland is Turkistan in Asia. Asia
Minor is also frequently styled Turkland.]

[Footnote 118: Ancient Norse writers connect this event with
Mithridates and Pompey the Great. They tell how Odin was a heroic
prince who, with his twelve peers or apostles, dwelt in the Black
Sea region. He became straightened for room, and so led the asas
out of Asia into eastern Europe. Then they go on to tell how the
Roman empire had arrived at its highest point of power, and saw
all the then known world--the orbis terrarum--subject to its laws,
when an unforeseen event raised up enemies against it from the
very heart of the forests of Scythia, and on the banks of the Don
river. The leader was Mithridates the Great, against whom the
Romans waged three wars, and the Romans looked upon him as the
most formidable enemy the empire had ever had to contend with.
Cicero delivered his famous oration, Pro lege Manilia, and
succeeded in getting Pompey appointed commander of the third war
against Mithridates. The latter, by flying, had drawn Pompey after
him into the wilds of Scythia. Here the king of Pontus sought
refuge and new means of vengeance. He hoped to arm against the
ambition of Rome all his neighboring nations whose liberties she
threatened. He was successful at first, but all those Scythian
peoples, ill-united as allies, ill-armed as soldiers, and still
worse disciplined, were at length forced to yield to the genius of
the great general Pompey. And here traditions tell us that Odin
and the other asas were among the allies of Mithridates. Odin had
been one of the gallant defenders of Troy, and at the same time,
with Æneas and Anchises, he had taken flight out of the burning
and falling city. Now he was obliged to withdraw a second time by
flight, but this time it was not from the Greeks, but from the
Romans, whom he had offended by assisting Mithridates. He was now
compelled to go and seek, in lands unknown to his enemies, that
safety which he could no longer find in the Scythian forests. He
then proceeded to the north of Europe, and laid the foundations of
the Teutonic nations. As fast as he subdued the countries in the
west and north of Europe he gave them to one or another of his
sons to govern. Thus it comes to pass that so many sovereign
families throughout Teutondom are said to be descended from Odin.
Hengist and Horsa, the chiefs of those Saxons who conquered
Britain in the fifth century, counted Odin in the number of their
ancestors. The traditions go on to tell how he conquered Denmark,
founded Odinse (Odinsve = Odin’s Sanctuary; comp. _ve_ with the
German _Wei_ in _Weinacht_), and gave the kingdom to his son
Skjold (shield); how he conquered Sweden, founded the Sigtuna
temple, and gave the country to his son Yngve; how finally Norway
had to submit to him, and be ruled by a third son of Odin, Saming.

It has been seriously contended,--and it would form an important
element in an epic based on the historical Odin,--that a desire of
being revenged on the Romans was one of the ruling principles of
Odin’s whole conduct. Driven by those foes of universal liberty
from his former home in the east, his resentment was the more
violent, since the Teutons thought it a sacred duty to revenge all
injuries, especially those offered to kinsmen or country. Odin had
no other view in traversing so many distant lands, and in
establishing with so much zeal his doctrines of valor, than to
arouse all Teutonic nations, and unite them against so formidable
and odious a race as the Romans. And we, who live in the light of
the nineteenth century, and with the records before us, can read
the history of the convulsions of Europe during the decline of the
Roman empire; we can understand how that leaven, which Odin left
in the bosoms of the believers in the asa-faith, first fermented a
long time in secret; but we can also see how in the fullness of
time, the signal given, the descendants of Odin fell like a swarm
of locusts upon this unhappy empire, and, after giving it many
terrible shocks, eventually overturned it, thus completely
avenging the insult offered so many centuries before by Pompey to
their founder Odin. We can understand how it became possible for
“those vast multitudes, which the populous north poured from her
frozen loins, to pass the Rhine and the Danube, and come like a
deluge on the south, and spread beneath Gibraltar and the Libyan
sands;” how it were possible, we say, for them so largely to
remodel and invigorate a considerable part of Europe, nay, how
they could succeed in overrunning and overturning “the rich but
rotten, the mighty but marrowless, the disciplined but diseased,
Roman empire; that gigantic and heartless and merciless usurpation
of soulless materialism and abject superstition of universal
despotism, of systemized and relentless plunder, and of depravity
deep as hell.” In connection with this subject we would refer our
readers to Mallet’s Northern Antiquities, pp. 79-83, where
substantially the same account is given; to Norse Mythology, pp.
232-236; to George Stephen’s Runic Monuments, Vol. I; and to
Charles Kingsley’s The Roman and the Teuton.]

[Footnote 119: Compare this version of the myth with the one given
in the first chapter of The Fooling of Gylfe. Many explain the
myth to mean the breaking through of the Baltic between Sweden and
Denmark.]

[Footnote 120: Leidre or Leire, at the end of Isefjord, in the
county of Lithraborg, is considered the oldest royal seat in
Denmark.]

[Footnote 121: Laage is a general name for lakes and rivers. It
here stands for Lake Malar, in Sweden.]

[Footnote 122: The grassy isle is Seeland.]

Now when Odin heard that things were in a prosperous condition in the land to the east beside Gylfe, he went thither, and Gylfe made a peace with him, for Gylfe thought he had no strength to oppose the people of Asaland. Odin and Gylfe had many tricks and enchantments against each other; but the Asaland people had always the superiority. Odin took up his residence at the Malar lake, at the place now called Sigtun.[123] There he erected a large temple, where there were sacrifices according to the customs of the Asaland people. He appropriated to himself the whole of that district of country, and called it Sigtun. To the temple gods he gave also domains. Njord dwelt in Noatun, Frey in Upsal, Heimdal in Himinbjorg, Thor in Thrudvang, Balder in Breidablik;[124] to all of them he gave good domains.

[Footnote 123: Sigtun. _Sige_, Ger. Sieg, (comp. Sigfrid,) means
victory, and is one of Odin’s names; _tun_ means an inclosure, and
is the same word as our modern English _town_. Thus Sigtun would,
in modern English, be called Odinstown; like our Johnstown,
Williamstown, etc.]

[Footnote 124: Noatun, Thrudvang, Breidablik and Himinbjorg are
purely mythological names, and for their significance the reader
is referred to The Fooling of Gylfe. Snorre follows the lay of
Grimner in the Elder Edda.]

When Odin of Asaland came to the north, and the gods with him, he began to exercise and to teach others the arts which the people long afterward have practiced. Odin was the cleverest of all, and from him all others learned their magic arts; and he knew them first, and knew many more than other people. But now, to tell why he is held in such high respect, we must mention various causes that contributed to it. When sitting among his friends his countenance was so beautiful and friendly, that the spirits of all were exhilarated by it; but when he was in war, he appeared fierce and dreadful. This arose from his being able to change his color and form in any way he liked. Another cause was, that he conversed so cleverly and smoothly, that all who heard were persuaded. He spoke everything in rhyme, such as is now composed, and which we call skald-craft. He and his temple gods were called song-smiths, for from them came that art of song into the northern countries. Odin could make his enemies in battle blind or deaf, or terror-struck, and their weapons so blunt that they could no more cut than a willow-twig; on the other hand, his men rushed forward without armor, were as mad as dogs or wolves, bit their shields, and were strong as bears or wild bulls, and killed people at a blow, and neither fire nor iron told upon them. These were called berserks.[125]

[Footnote 125: Berserk. The etymology of this word has been much
contested. Some, upon the authority of Snorre in the above quoted
passage, derive it from berr (_bare_) and serkr (comp. _sark_,
Scotch for shirt); but this etymology is inadmissible, because
serkr is a substantive, not an adjective. Others derive it from
berr (Germ. _Bär_ = _ursus_), which is greatly to be preferred,
for in olden ages athletes and champions used to wear hides of
bears, wolves and reindeer (as skins of lions in the south), hence
the names Bjalfe, Bjarnhedinn, Ulfhedinn (hedinn, _pellis_),--
“pellibus aut parvis rhenonum tegimentis utuntur.” Cæsar, Bell.
Gall. VI, 22. Even the old poets understood the name so, as may be
seen in the poem of Hornklofi (beginning of the 10th century),
a dialogue between a valkyrie and a raven, where the valkyrie says
at berserkja reiðu vil ek þik spyrja, to which the raven replies,
Ulfhednar heita, _they are called wolf coats_. In battle the
berserks were subject to fits of frenzy, called _berserksgangr_
(_furor bersercicus_), when they howled like wild beasts, foamed at
the mouth, and gnawed the iron rim of their shields. During these
fits they were, according to a popular belief, proof against steel
and fire, and made great havoc in the ranks of the enemy. But when
the fever abated they were weak and tame. Vigfusson Cleasby’s
Icelandic-English Dictionary, _sub voce_.]

Odin could transform his shape; his body would lie as if dead or asleep, but then he would be in the shape of a fish, or worm, or bird, or beast, and be off in a twinkling to distant lands upon his own or other peoples’ business. With words alone he could quench fire, still the ocean in tempest, and turn the wind to any quarter he pleased. Odin had a ship, which he called Skidbladner,[126] in which he sailed over wide seas, and which he could roll up like a cloth. Odin carried with him Mimer’s head, which told him all the news of other countries. Sometimes even he called the dead out of the earth, or set himself beside the burial-mounds; whence he was called the ghost-sovereign, and the lord of the mounds. He had two ravens,[127] to whom he had taught the speech of man; and they flew far and wide through the land, and brought him the news. In all such things he was preëminently wise. He taught all these arts in runes and songs, which are called incantations, and therefore the Asaland people are called incantation-smiths. Odin also understood the art in which the greatest power is lodged, and which he himself practiced, namely, what is called magic. By means of this he could know beforehand the predestined fate[128] of men, or their not yet completed lot, and also bring on the death, ill-luck or bad health of people, or take away the strength or wit from one person and give it to another. But after such witchcraft followed such weakness and anxiety, that it was not thought respectable for men to practice it; and therefore the priestesses were brought up in this art. Odin knew definitely where all missing cattle were concealed under the earth, and understood the songs by which the earth, the hills, the stones and mounds were opened to him; and he bound those who dwell in them by the power of his word, and went in and took what he pleased. From these arts he became very celebrated. His enemies dreaded him; his friends put their trust in him, and relied on his power and on himself. He taught the most of his arts to his priests of the sacrifices, and they came nearest to himself in all wisdom and witch-knowledge. Many others, however, occupied themselves much with it; and from that time witchcraft spread far and wide, and continued long. People sacrificed to Odin, and the twelve chiefs of Asaland,--called them their gods, and believed in them long after. From Odin’s name came the name Audun, which people gave to his sons; and from Thor’s name came Thorer, also Thorarinn; and it was also sometimes augmented by other additions, as Steinthor, Hafthor, and many kinds of alterations.

[Footnote 126: In the mythology this ship belongs to Frey, having
been made for him by the dwarfs.]

[Footnote 127: Hugin and Munin.]

[Footnote 128: The old Norse word is órlög, which is plural, (from
ör = Ger. _ur_, and lög, _laws_,) and means the primal law, fate,
weird, doom; the Greek μοῖρα. The idea of predestination was a
salient feature in the Odinic religion. The word örlog, O.H.G.
_urlac_, M.H.G. _urlone_, Dutch _orlog_, had special reference to
a man’s fate in war. Hence Orlogschiffe in German means a naval
fleet. The Danish orlog means warfare at sea.]

Odin established the same law in his land that had been before in Asaland. Thus he established by law that all dead men should be burned, and their property laid with them upon the pile, and the ashes be cast into the sea or buried in the earth. Thus, said he, everyone will come to Valhal with the riches he had with him upon the pile; and he would also enjoy whatever he himself had buried in the earth. For men of consequence a mound should be raised to their memory, and for all other warriors who had been distinguished for manhood, a standing stone; which custom remained long after Odin’s time. Toward winter there should be a blood-sacrifice for a good year, and in the middle of winter for a good crop; and the third sacrifice should be in summer, for victory in battle. Over all Svithjod[129] the people paid Odin a scatt, or tax,--so much on each head; but he had to defend the country from enemy or disturbance, and pay the expense of the sacrifice-feasts toward winter for a good year.

[Footnote 129: Svithjod, which here means Sweden, is derived from
Odin’s name, Svidr and thjod = folk, people. Svithjod thus means
Odin’s people, and the country takes its name from the people.]

Njord took a wife hight Skade; but she would not live with him, but married afterward Odin, and had many sons by him, of whom one was called Saming, and of this Eyvind Skaldespiller sings thus:

To Asason[130] Queen Skade bore
Saming, who dyed his shield in gore,--
The giant queen of rock and snow
Who loves to dwell on earth below,
The iron pine-tree’s daughter she,
Sprung from the rocks that rib the sea,
To Odin bore full many a son,--
Heroes of many a battle won.

[Footnote 130: Odin.]

To Saming Jarl Hakon the Great reckoned up his pedigree.[131] This Svithjod (Sweden) they call Mannheim, but the great Svithjod they call Godheim, and of Godheim great wonders and novelties were related.

[Footnote 131: Norway was given to Saming by Odin.]

Odin died in his bed in Sweden; and when he was near his death he made himself be marked with the point of a spear,[132] and said he was going to Godheim, and would give a welcome there to all his friends, and all brave warriors should be dedicated to him; and the Swedes believed that he was gone to the ancient Asgard, and would live there eternally. Then began the belief in Odin, and the calling upon him. The Swedes believed that he often showed himself to them before any great battle. To some he gave victory, others he invited to himself; and they reckoned both of these to be well off in their fate. Odin was burnt, and at his pile there was great splendor. It was their faith that the higher the smoke arose in the air, the higher would he be raised whose pile it was; and the richer he would be the more property that was consumed with him.

[Footnote 132: He gave himself nine wounds in the form of the head
of a spear, or Thor’s hammer; that is, he marked himself with the
sign of the _cross_, an ancient heathen custom.]

Njord of Noatun was then the sole sovereign of the Swedes; and he continued the sacrifices, and was called the drot, or sovereign, by the Swedes, and he received scatt and gifts from them. In his days were peace and plenty, and such good years in all respects that the Swedes believed Njord ruled over the growth of seasons and the prosperity of the people. In his time all the diars, or gods, died, and blood-sacrifices were made for them. Njord died on a bed of sickness, and before he died made himself be marked for Odin with the spear-point. The Swedes burned him, and all wept over his grave-mound.

Frey took the kingdom after Njord, and was called drot by the Swedes, and they paid taxes to him. He was like his father, fortunate in friends and in good seasons. Frey built a great temple at Upsala, made it his chief seat, and gave it all his taxes, his land and goods. Then began the Upsala domains, which have remained ever since. Then began in his day the Frode-peace; and then there were good seasons in all the land, which the Swedes ascribed to Frey, so that he was more worshiped than the other gods, as the people became much richer in his days by reason of the peace and good seasons. His wife was called Gerd, daughter of Gymer, and their son was called Fjolner. Frey was called by another name, Yngve; and this name Yngve was considered long after in his race as a name of honor, so that his descendants have since been called Ynglings (_i.e._ Yngve-lings). Frey fell into a sickness, and as his illness took the upper hand, his men took the plan of letting few approach him. In the meantime they raised a great mound, in which they placed a door with three holes in it. Now when Frey died they bore him secretly into the mound, but told the Swedes he was alive, and they kept watch over him for three years. They brought all the taxes into the mound, and through the one hole they put in the gold, through the other the silver, and through the third the copper money that was paid. Peace and good seasons continued.

Freyja alone remained of the gods, and she became on this account so celebrated that all women of distinction were called by her name, whence they now have the title Frue (Germ. _Frau_), so that every woman is called frue (that is, mistress) over her property, and the wife is called the house-frue. Freyja continued the blood-sacrifices. Freyja had also many other names. Her husband was called Oder, and her daughters Hnos and Gersame. They were so very beautiful that afterward the most precious jewels were called by their names.

When it became known to the Swedes that Frey was dead, and yet peace and good seasons continued, they believed that it must be so as long as Frey remained in Sweden, and therefore they would not burn his remains, but called him the god of this world, and afterward offered continually blood-sacrifices to him, principally for peace and good seasons.[133]

[Footnote 133: Here ends Snorre’s account of the asas in
Heimskringla. The reader will, of course, compare the account here
given of Odin, Njord, Frey, Freyja, etc., with the purely
mythological description of them in the Younger Edda, and with
that in Norse Mythology. Upon the whole, Snorre has striven to
accommodate his sketch to the Eddas, while he has had to clothe
mythical beings with the characteristics of human kings. Like
Saxo-Grammaticus, Snorre has striven to show that the deities,
which we now recognize as personified forces and phenomena of
nature, were extraordinary and enterprising persons, who formerly
ruled in the North, and inaugurated the customs, government and
religion of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, England, and the
other Teutonic lands.]

FORNJOT AND THE SETTLEMENT OF NORWAY.