II.
CHIEF GODS AND MYTHS OF THE GODS
(THOR)
1. Worship
of Odin and Thor. — Attention has
already been
called in the general introduction to the fact that Thor was the
Norseman's real chief divinity from a very ancient time, and that his
name "the Thunderer" designates only a single side of the
God of Heaven; but he was later understood to be an independent,
personal being. Odin worship is far younger and made its way north
from a Germanic people dwelling farther south. In the consciousness
of the common people, conceptions of Thor as the supreme god were
never superseded; but Odin faith received full and pleasing
development in Norse-Icelandic poetry.
Thor
as Chief God. — Thor was at one time the chief divinity with
all the Gothic-Germanic peoples. Not only does the general occurrence
of the symbol of the hammer bear witness to this, but also the fact
that he is placed by the side of Jupiter, since Jupiter's day is
rendered by Thor's day. An old Low-German baptismal formula begins as
follows:
"Do
you renounce the devil —
and
all offerings to the devil —
and
all the works of the devil?"
"I
renounce all the devil's works and words,
Thunar
and Woden and Saxnot and all
the
Trolls
which are worshiped here."
Thor,
Odin, and "Saxnot" (the one armed with the sword) are
precisely the three chief gods who are most often named in Norse
sources, provided we can identify Saxnot with Frey. It is at the same
time not solely the significance of the name and the hammer-symbol,
or the testimony of rune stones, which tell us about the extent of
the worship of Thor. The same testimony recurs in names of persons
and places, in which we find Thor in overwhelming abundance, compared
with Odin and Frey. Where heathen temples are mentioned, statues of
the chief gods in them are sometimes named, and in that case Thor's
name ordinarily comes first, as in the baptismal formula above. Most
often a temple of Thor only is mentioned, or a representation of Thor
alone. The Yule-offering, the chief offering of our heathen
forefathers, was consecrated to Thor, and Thor's day appears as the
most important week-day in all legal questions; the court was opened
on a Thursday, and Thursday is the most common court day even now.
Norwegian-Icelandic poetry itself gives here and there unmistakable
evidence of Thor's prominent position.
2. Mithgarth's
Keeper. — The Volva's Prophecy in
its
description of Ragnarok in the verse cited calls Thor, as Mithgarth's
Keeper,1 "Veurr." Veurr,
related to the
Danish word vie, 'to consecrate,' and to Ve, 'sanctuary,' signifies
protector and consecrator, and Mithgarth is certainly the land of
human beings. Other poets call him Friend of Human Kind
or Defender of the Race, and he occupies a
similar position even
among the gods, who constantly seek protection through his strength
even if Odin or Frey is present. Therefore he is called Asa-bragr,
the most prominent of Aesir. Thor is consecrator and protector of all
human life; he thereby becomes the protecting divinity not merely of
the individual man, but also of the home and the state. He is the
great god of civilization, with the strongest and mightiest powers at
his command, the lightning — the hammer, i.e. the thunderbolt —
which crushes and splinters whatever offers resistance (desolate
nature in giant forms) but which also brings with it fruit-producing
rain.
3. Characteristics
of Thor. — People most often
picture Thor to
themselves as a strong middle-aged man, rarely a young man, but in
both cases he has a glowing red beard. lie is tremendously strong;
his flaming glance is enough to terrify any one, and he is dreadful
in his wrath, but under ordinary circumstances lie is gracious and
mild. When he, in his wagon drawn by he-goats, drives over the sky,
this is in flames and the mountains tremble or burst in the thunder's
crash. The modern Danish Torden, 'thunder,' means
'Thor-rumbling,' like the older Danish form; the Swedes say aska,
the word being a contraction of as-eka, 'driving of
As.'
To
Thor's name there are attached a number of myths or divine
traditions, and of these we shall now recount the most important.
4. The
God's Treasures. — Of the origin of the
god's treasures,
Snorri relates the following: Loki had once from malice cut off the
hair of Thor's wife Sif. When Thor became aware of
it, he
wanted to crush every hone in Loki's body; but the latter promised to
get golden hair from the dark elves for Sif in compensation. He
applied therefore to the dwarfs, who are called the sons of Ivaldi,
and they upon his demand made hair for Sif, the spear Gungnir
which Odin received, and the ship Skithblathnir
which could
sail over both sea and land hut could also be folded together and
carried in a pouch, in case one preferred. This good ship Frey
received. After that Loki wagered with a dwarf Brok,
staking
his head that the latter's brother Sindri could not
complete
three equally good treasures. Brok plied the bellows and Sindri
forged, and although Loki in the form of a gadfly three times stung
the one plying the bellows and forced him to stop a moment, Sindri
notwithstanding finished the three great pieces of work: the boar Gullinbursti,
the ring Draupnir,
and the hammer Mjolnir. Loki with his stings accomplished
only this, that the
hammer handle remained a little too short. The wager was to be
settled in Asgarth. Thor took the hammer, Odin the ring, and Frey the
boar, after which these three gods were to pronounce judgment. The
hammer decided the matter, and Loki was now to lose his head. He
ordered Brok to take it, but the neck must not be touched, since the
wager applied only to the head itself. In exasperation, the dwarf
then sewed Loki's wily mouth together.
5. The
Hammer is Recovered. — One of the oldest
Eddic Songs
relates how Thor lost his hammer and recovered it. Angry awoke
Ving-Thor and missed his hammer; his beard and hair shook; the son of
Jorth groped around, hut the hammer was lost and could not he found.
Loki, to whom the god of thunder describes his loss, borrows Frey's
feather garment and flies over to the king of the giants, Thrym.
The latter admits having concealed the hammer deep in the earth, and
he will not give it hack unless Freyja is brought to him as his
bride. Loki flew back and the demand of the king of the giants was
communicated to the goddess of love, but
THKRV.
12
Wroth
grew Freyja, and she fumed,
all
the Aesir's hall trembled therefrom,
there
bursts that great Brisinga chain 2;
Thou
knowst me to be most mad for men,
if
I drive with thee to Jotunheim."
The
Aesir and Asynjur, 'goddesses,' assembled for
deliberation at
the court to consider how the hammer could be regained. Heimdall
solves the problem: "Let us bind bridal linen about Thor and
give him the great Brisinga ornament to put on; keys shall rattle at
his girdle, women's garments fall about his knees, head and breast be
decked in woman's fashion." Thor must submit to the hard
necessity, for the giants will take possession of Asgarth if he does
not regain the hammer. Loki, Laufey's son, also dresses in women's
clothes, so as to follow Thor as his maid upon the strange bridal
journey.
21
Soon
were the goats driven homeward,
hurried
to the traces, they must run well;
mountains
burst, earth burned with fire,
Odin's
son drove into Jotunheim.
In
Jotunheim there is prepared a splendid bridal feast, but Thor is ill
adapted to the bride's part. At first his ability to eat and drink
awakens amazement, nay, almost terror, in Thrym; and when the
bridegroom lifts the veil to kiss his bride, he darts back
terror-stricken the length of the hall, for Freyja's eyes are sharp
and shine like fire. The artful bridesmaid meantime comforts him with
assurance that the goddess's appetite and piercing glances were due
only to her yearning for the bridegroom, since she had neither eaten
nor slept in eight days.
THRKV.
30
Then
quoth Thrym the giants' chief:
Bear
in the hammer to bless the bride!
Mjolnir
place on the maiden's knees,
bless
and join us by the hand of Varr.
Now
comes the hour of reparation and vengeance for Asgarth's mighty god:
31
Laughed
Hlorrithi's heart within his breast,
when
he, hard-hearted, the hammer perceived;
Thrym
he slew first, the giants' chief,
and
the giant's race all he crushed.
The
wretched sister of the giant had begged for a bridal gift; she
received a hammer-blow instead of golden rings. After this the
thunder-god returned to Asgarth with his recovered weapon.
The
same theme is treated in a jesting manner in the ancient Danish
ballad about Tor of Havsgaard. Tor of Haysgaard
rides over
green meadows and loses his golden hammer. Lokke Lojemand (jester)
puts on the feather cloak and seeks out the Tossegreve,
'foolish count,' who has hidden the hammer and will not give it back
unless he gets "Jomfru Fredensborg (Miss Peacecastle) with all
the goods she has." After this, Tor and Lokke, as in the Eddic
Song, must put on women's clothes and proceed to the Tossegreve's
land. Tor's appetite in the ancient ballad is quite astonishing —
he ate a whole ox and thirty hams; no wonder that he was thirsty
after that! But when the hammer was brought in, it was evident that
he could use it, and the Tossegreve with all his tribe were crushed.
The ballad ends thus:
Lokke
said this, crafty man,
he
did consider it well:
Now
we will fare to our own land,
as
the bride has become a widow.
6. Hymir's
Kettle. — Thor one time, relates the
Lay of Hymir,
had to go to the giant Hymir for a great kettle which was to be used
at a feast for the gods at the home of the sea-god Aegir. lie sets
out together with Tyr, and they reach the giant's dwelling. The
latter does not come home until towards night, and is much offended
both at his guests and at Thor's appetite. The following morning Thor
goes out with the giant to fish. The god demands bait of the
ferocious giant, who asks him to look out for it himself. Thor then
wrenches the head from one of the giant's black oxen, after which
they begin to row. Hymir is frightened at Thor's violent strokes and
objects to keeping on for fear of coming upon the Mithgarth serpent.
This, however, is exactly Thor's purpose, and while the giant is
attending to his affairs, Thor makes the "Earth-Encircler"
swallow the hook and draws his head up to the surface of the sea. At
the same moment when he wishes to crush his skull the terror-stricken
giant cuts the line and the monster sinks back safe upon the bottom
of the sea. This adventure has again and again inspired our
forefathers. One of the very oldest Scalds gives a graphic picture of
how the "Earth-Encircler," like a wildly floundering eel,
gazes defiantly from the depths below up at the "Cleaver of the
Giant's Skull," who is only waiting to give him the fatal blow
(cf. Fig. 19).
Fig.
19 – Thor's Fishing.
In
Snorri, Thor in his godlike strength breaks through the planks of the
boat until he gets a footing on the bottom of the sea. As the giant
has hindered him in his purpose, Thor hurls his hammer after the
serpent and chastises the giant with a frightful box on the ear,
after which he himself wades ashore. The poem on the other hand has
them both turn back together, just as they went out. Thor, however,
may not now obtain the kettle until he can further prove his strength
by crushing the giant's beaker. That does not break until the god
hurls it against the owner's own skull, after which he snatches the
kettle and carries it from the court, pursued by the giant's hosts,
which he crushes with his hammer.
7. Hrungnir.
— The myth of Thor and Hrungnir
has been
very widespread and popular, and the Scalds often alluded to it; but
in connected form it is preserved only in Snorri. Once when Thor was
in the East in order to crush the trolls, Odin seated himself upon
Sleipnir and rode to Jotunheim. Here he met the giant Hrungnir, who
boasted that his steed Gullfaxi was far better than
Odin's.
Odin rode back to Asgarth, but the giant followed him even into the
dwelling of the gods. Now drink was borne before him, but when his
boasting become too arrogant, the gods called upon Thor, who quickly
appeared and was on the point of crushing the giant. The latter
intimated that it was only a slight honor to slay a defenseless foe;
he must rather meet him in a duel at the frontier, where Hrungnir
would then appear with shield and grindstone. Such a challenge Thor
did not allow to be offered twice, and the giant went away satisfied.
As help for him the other giants built now a champion of clay, nine
rasts high, and three rasts broad between the shoulders. He was
called Mokkrkalfi, and he had a mare's heart in his
breast;
Hrungnir's heart was a three-cornered stone. At the appointed time
Thor made his appearance, attended by Thialfi. The
giant stood
with the shield before him and the grindstone in his hand. At the
same time Thialfi went forward and called to him that Thor was coming
from below, after which Hrungnir stepped upon his shield and grasped
the grindstone with both hands. Thor meanwhile went forward through
the air amidst lightning and crash of thunder. The grindstone and
hammer were hurled at the same time and met midway; Mjolnir holds its
course and crushes the giant, hut half of the stone strikes Thor in
the forehead so that he falls to the ground in such a way that the
giant's foot lies across his neck. Thialfi strove with the clay
giant, who trembled with fear and fell with little glory. Meanwhile
no one could lift the giant's leg away, until Thor's three-year-old
son Magni came up; he then received Gullfaxi as a
reward for
his strength, although Odin himself had meant to have that good
steed.
When
Thor came back to Thruthvang, the healing woman, Groa,
was
brought, who recited magic songs over him until the stone began to
sway in his forehead. Snorri adds that it did not, however, get
completely loose, for Thor told Groa that her husband, Orvandil,
was coming home presently. Thor had borne him on his back in a basket
over the poisonous streams on the return journey from Jotunheim. One
of his toes, however, was frozen off, and Thor had cast it up to
heaven and made it into a star. But Groa became so joyful at this
information that she forgot her witchcraft.
8. Geirroth.
— Loki had once been caught by the
giant Geirroth,
to whose court he had from curiosity betaken himself in Frigg's
falcon cloak. In order to get free he had to promise to bring Thor to
Geirroth without his hammer or his strength-belt. In this the artful
Loki was easily successful, but on the way Thor visited the giantess
Grith, Vithar's mother. She instructed him about Geirroth and lent
him at parting her strength-belt, her iron gloves, and her staff.
Thor came first to a brook in which one of the giant's daughters had
occasioned an inundation. He slew her and escaped to land by drawing
himself up into a mountain ash. In Geirroth's hall there was only one
chair, and it went up quickly as far as the ceiling when Thor seated
himself upon it. He then pressed against it with Grith's staff and
pushed with all his might, after which there was heard a great roar,
for the giant's daughters had been under the chair and lay there now
with broken backs. On the floor there was kindled a great fire,
beside which people took their seats. Geirroth then seized a glowing
iron wedge and cast it at Thor, who caught it with the borrowed
gloves, after which the giant hid himself in terror behind a mighty
iron pillar. Thor now hurled the wedge with such force that it
pierced through the pillar and Geirroth also, and went out through
the wall on the opposite side. The main source of this myth is the
obscure Scaldic lay Thorsdrapa, which is retold by
Snorri.
9. Thor's
Journey to Utgarth. — In Snorri is also
found the
late adventure of Thor's journey to Utgarth, which
probably is
the best known. This tale attained great celebrity after
Oehlenschlaeger made use of it as the basis for his poem, "Thor's
Journey to Jotunheim," 3 the introduction to
"Gods
of the North."4 Snorri's long account is a free
and
fanciful transformation of a whole series of Thor-myths now for the
most part lost.
a.
Thor gets Thialfi and Roskva from the peasant (Egil).
b.
The meeting with Skrymir (the gloves, lunch bag, Thor's
hammer-thrust.
c.
Utgarthaloki (the eating test and the race. Thor drinks from the sea,
lifts the Mithgarth serpent, and wrestles with Elli, i.e. Old Age).
d.
The optical illusion is removed and Thor wishes to take vengeance,
but without success.
10. Alvis.
— An entirely characteristic but not
very transparent
myth lies also at the basis of the Eddic Song of Alvis.
Alvis
is a dwarf who, without its being evident wherefore and from whom,
has received the promise of Thor's daughter. He now comes to take
her, but is addressed with scornful words by Thor. The dwarf does not
know him and asks him to mind his own business; only when he is
informed who Thor is does he become humble and tell his errand. Thor,
however, will not give him his daughter unless he can answer all
questions in accordance with his name, "The All-wise." Now
the interrogation begins, Thor asking the dwarf how different things, e.g.
the sun, moon, earth, are named by gods,
elves, dwarfs,
giants, and other mythical beings. The dwarf is remarkably well
informed but does not give heed to the time; he is overtaken by the
day and turned to stone before the beams of the rising sun.
11. Thor-Faith
long Prevalent. — When the vigorous
priest
Tangbrand preached Christianity in Iceland, he once fell into
conversation with a heathen woman, who said to him, "Have you
heard that Thor challenged Christ to a holm-going (duel fought on a
holmr, 'islet'), but Christ dared not contend with Thor?" This
tale is significant as to our fathers' first view of the new
doctrine, and it really proved that the old ideas were preserved
among the people long after the introduction of Christianity. It was
especially difficult to eradicate the faith in the protecting and
consecrating virtue of Thor and his hammer. The sign of the hammer
and the sign of the cross were confused, indeed were even placed side
by side as sacred symbols in Christian churches (Fig. 20). In Norway,
strange to say, the common people transferred not a few of Thor's
qualities to Saint Olaf. From the Norwegian peasant's King Olaf, with
flaming red beard and with ax in hand, the sorcerer's hitter foe, to
the red-bearded thunder-god with the hammer, who crushes the giants'
and mountain giants' skulls, is a leap not nearly so great as one at
the first glance might think. But with the Christian priests, Thor
and Odin naturally stood as the worst among all the evil beings of
the heathen days; for them Christ and Thor are as incompatible as
good and evil. It is this contrast which Oehlenschlaeger firings out
in the famous conclusion of the third act of "Hakon Jarl":
OLAF.
Heaven will strike thee with its flames!
HAKON.
Thor shall splinter the cross with his hammer!
Fig.
20 – Figure of Thor (?)
ODIN
1. Worship
of Odin. — Together with Tyr and Thor
as well as the
goddess Frija ('the beloved,' Mother Earth), Odin
is a common
Germanic divinity, and this can be proved also by philology. Tyr's
original significance as the ancient god of heaven is, in the North,
completely obscured; the sources relate nothing particular about him
beyond that which is stated in the foregoing. Odin's name signifies
"the one blowing," and the relation here is quite the same
as in the case of Thor; a single side of the god of heaven is thought
of as a person and an independent divinity. Odin's worship is, as we
have already remarked, somewhat young in the Northern lands; but
since it permeates all Norse-Icelandic poetry, we must now look a
little more closely at Odin's divinity and the myths which are
attached to him.
2. Odin's
Appearance and Surroundings. — Odin is
thought of as
an old, tall, one-eyed man with a long beard, broad hat, and an ample
blue or parti-colored cloak. On his arm he wears the ring Draupnir,
on his shoulders sit the ravens Huginn and Muninn, 'Thought' and
'Memory,' and at his feet lie the two wolves, Geri and Freki,
'Greedy' and 'Eager.' Ordinarily he is armed with the spear Gungnir,
and rides upon Sleipnir (he has many other horses; among them the
war-horse Blothoghofi), and he often travels as a wanderer around the
world with staff in hand.
Odin's
Names. — If we sum up all of Odin's names in poetry, we have
more than two hundred; the most of them signify one or another
characteristic of the god: All-father, the Blustering, the
Changeable, the Stormer, the Wanderer, the Traveler, the
Gray-bearded, the Bushy-browed, the Helmet-bearer, the Great Hat, Valfathir,
'Father of the Slain,' Herfathir,
'Father of
Armies,' King of Victory, King of Spears, the Terrifier, God of
Burdens, Fimbultyr ('Mighty God'), God of the Hanged, and Lord of
Spirits (i.e. ghosts). From these examples alone it will appear that
Norwegian-Icelandic poetry represents Odin as the world's chief
divinity. But the clearest picture of him is that of God of
Wisdom
and the Art of Poetry, and in theories about Valhalla, as God of War.
3. Odin,
God of Wisdom. — First of all Odin
acquired his wisdom
by personal investigation: he traveled through all countries and had
wide experience. But in other ways also he gained information, for
the ravens fly every morning out over all the world and bring tidings
back with them, and in heaven there is — besides his castle Valaskjalf
or Valhalla —
also a place Hlithskjalf, a
castle or simply a high seat, from which Odin can look out over the
whole world. We have already heard what sacrifice Odin was obliged to
make in order to increase his knowledge at the time when he had to
pledge one of his eyes to obtain a drink from Mimir's well of wisdom.
4. Vafthruthnir.
— In the Eddic Songs about Vafthruthnir,
Odin is described as the most prominent God of Wisdom. Odin is
speaking with Frigg; he has a desire to visit the wise giant
Vafthruthnir, to test his sagacity. Frigg advises him to remain at
home, but Odin answers:
VAFTHR.
3
I
have journeyed much, attempted much,
I
have tested oft the powers;
this
I wish to know how Vafthruthnir's
household
may be.
He
departs, accompanied by Frigg's best wishes, and comes to the giant's
hall, where, under the name of Wanderer, he challenges the latter to
a contest of wisdom. First of all Odin, standing, answers the giant's
question about the steeds of day and night, the boundary river Ifing
between the countries of gods and giants, and the plain Vigrith.
Then quoth Vafthruthnir:
VAFTHR.
19
Wise
now thou art, oh guest, pass to the giant's bench
and
let ns talk on the seat together!
Wager
our heads shall we two in the hall,
oh
guest, upon our wisdom.
After
that the song rehearses a number of the main points of the belief in
the gods in questions on Odin's part; hut the giant never hesitates
about an answer, until the god asks him, "What did Odin say in
Baldur's ear before he was borne upon the pyre?" Then
Vafthruthnir understands with whom he has engaged in contest.
55
No
man knows this, what thou in early days
didst
say in thy son's ear:
With
fated lips I uttered ancient lore —
and
of the downfall of the gods.
5. Grimnir.
— There was once a king by name Hrauthung,
who had two sons, Agnar and Geirroth,
of whom the first
was ten, the second eight winters old. These two rowed out with a
boat to fish, but the wind drove them off over the sea, and in the
darkness of the night they were stranded upon a foreign shore. Here a
man and woman met them and cared for them during the winter. The
peasant (the man) took charge of Geirroth and gave him good counsel,
while his wife preferred Agnar. In the spring they went away in a
boat, but the peasant whispered something first to his foster-son.
When the boys came to their father's anchoring ground, Geirroth
sprang quickly ashore, thrust the boat out again, and called out to
his brother, "To the Trolls with thee!" after which the
boat again drove out upon the sea, while Geirroth went up to the
royal castle and later became an illustrious prince. The
foster-parents were, however, not poor people, but Odin and Frigg.
Now, as they were sitting one time in Hlithskjalf, Odin taunted his
wife on account of Agnar and his fortune, to which she answered that
Geirroth was, to be sure, a king, but he was so niggardly about food
that he tormented his guests in case too many came. Odin declared
this to be untrue, as indeed it was, wagered upon his opinion, and
set out in order to inquire into the matter for himself. But Frigg
sent her maid to King Geirroth and warned him against a man versed in
magic who was to come to his court and who could be known by this,
that dogs did not dare to bite him. Soon afterward a man came in a
blue cloak, and called himself Grimnir, "The
Masked";
the dogs shrank back before him, wagging their tails, upon which the
king gave orders to seize him and place him between two pyres so as
to force him to say who lie was. There he sat eight nights. Then the
king's ten-year-old son Agnar had pity on him and brought him a
filled horn to drink. Grimnir drained it, while his cloak caught
fire, after which he began to speak. — Thus it is told in the prose
introduction to the Sayings of Grimnir. The poem itself contains a
number of disconnected names and myths, of which we shall quote a
single one.
6. Saga.
— Odin is enumerating the dwellings of
the gods. Here
he says among other things:
GRIMN,
7
Sokkvabekk
the fourth is called, and there do cool waves
go
rushing over;
there
Odin and Saga drink every day,
cheerful
from golden cups.
This
Saga has been understood as a kind of Muse of History, since the name
has been associated with the well-known words, "a saga."
Philologists, however, have pointed out that this conception cannot
be correct. Sokkvabekk
should really be rendered 'Sinking Bench,' and Saga is doubtless a
name for Frigg, according to which the myth is an allusion to the
sunset, a poetic expression for the sun-god's meeting with Frigg,
when the sun every day sinks below the horizon westward into the sea.
Frija,
Frea in the Norse
language, grew into Frigg, one of the few Germanic female divinities
that can be pointed out. Originally she was married to the god of
heaven TiwaR,
but when Odin supplanted him he came into possession of his maid and
his wife. Furthermore, in Norse mythology, she is readily confused
with Freyja,
for which reason it is difficult to determine which myth concerns the
one or the other. It is most likely that Freyja, 'the Ruling One,'
was only an epithet of the queen of heaven and was later made into a
new divine being. Of the other names of the queen of the gods can be
mentioned Jorth,
Fjorgyn, Hlothyn.
Friday means originally Frigg's day, just as the constellation Orion
was first called Frigg's, but later Freyja's, Spinning-wheel.
7. Gefjon.
— Probably Gefjon
also is originally from one of Frigg's names. In the Eddic Song Lokasenna
(the Loki Quarrel), Odin says that Gefjon knows the destiny of the
world as well as he himself. Far better known, however, is Snorri's
account of Gefjon
and Gylfi.
King Gylfi in Sweden gave her as much land as she could plow about in
one day with four oxen. She brought her four giant sons and
transformed them into plow oxen, but this team plowed so deep that
the land was loosened, whereupon the oxen drew it out westward into
the sea. It is now called Zealand, and the headlands correspond to
the inlets of the sea which remained behind in Sweden, where the land
had been.
8. The
Mead of the
Scalds. — The myth
about Odin acquiring the Mead
of the Scalds has,
briefly, the following content: Scaldship
(poetry) is represented as an inspiring drink; he who partakes of it
is a Scald. It was kept at the home of the giants, where Gunnloth
guarded it. Odin makes his way through all hindrances, gains
Gunnloth's affection, and gets permission to enjoy the drink. He then
carries it up to the upper world and gives it to men.
In
the oldest and purest form the myth appears in the Eddic poem,
Havamal: "The man must be gifted in speech who wishes to know
much and to attain anything in the world. This I (i.e.
Odin)
proved at the home of the giants; it was not by keeping silent that I
made progress in Suttung's hall. I allowed the auger's mouth to break
me a path between the gray stones. The giants were going both over
and under, so it was by no means without danger."
HAV.
105
Gunnloth
gave me on the golden seat
a
drink of the precious mead;
ill
return I later let her have
(for
her faithful heart)
for
her troubled mind.
106
Her
well-gained beauty have I much enjoyed,
little
is lacking to the wise;
since
Othrerir is now come up
to
verge of men's abode.
107
Doubt
is in me if I had come again
out
of the giant's court,
if
of Gunnloth I had had no joy,
that goodly maid who laid her arm about
me.
108
The
day thereafter the frost-giants went
(to
ask of Har's condition)
into
the hall of Har;
for
Bolverk they inquired if he to the gods had come or had Suttung him
destroyed?
109
A
ring-oath, Odin, I think, has sworn:
who
shall trust his good faith?
to
Suttung deceived he forbade the drink
and
he made Gunnloth weep.
Snorri's
account embraces the following essential points:
a.
After the truce between the Aesir and the Vanir, each of them spat
into a vessel, and from this fluid they made, as a token of peace,
the man Kvasir, who was very wise. Kvasir was slain
by two
giants, Fjalar and Galar, who
caught his blood in the
kettle Othrerir and two vessels. The blood they
mixed with
honey, and from this arose the mead of the Scalds.
b.
The two giants now invited another giant, Gilling,
and his
wife to come to them. Gilling was drowned while on a sailing party,
and when his wife grieved about it they slew her. The son, Suttung,
wanted to take vengeance for his parents, but agreed to accept the
mead of the Scalds as compensation, and set his daughter, Gunnloth,
to guard it within the mountain.
c.
When Odin set out to gain the mead he came first to a field where
nine slaves were mowing grass; these were Baugi's,
Suttung's
brother's men. Odin offered to whet their scythes, and the whetstone
was so excellent that they all wanted to buy it. The god then cast it
up into the air, but all were so eager to grasp it that they killed
each other in the attempt. After that Odin, who called himself Bolverk,
proposed to Baugi that he carry on
the work of the
slaves with this as reward, that he receive a draught of Suttung's
mead. To this Baugi agreed.
d.
When the time for work was at an end Suttung, however, refused to
fulfill his brother's promise, but Bolverk thus took advantage of the
fraud: he gave Baugi an auger and made him bore into the mountain
where the drink was hidden. It was not long before Baugi declared
that the hole was through; but when Bolverk blew, he got chips in his
face, and the crafty Baugi had to bore again until the chips flew
inward. Now Bolverk proceeded into the mountain in the form of a
serpent, won Gunnloth's love, and received the promise of a drink of
the mead for each of the three nights he was there. He drained then
in three draughts both the kettle and the vessels and flew in an
eagle's form toward Asgarth.
e.
Suttung discovered this and pursued him, likewise in eagle's form.
When they drew near to Asgarth the gods set out their vessel so that
Odin might spit out the mead into it, but the giant was close upon
him and some of the mead then went the wrong way; this, which the
gods did not collect, became the portion of the rhymsters and the
poor Scalds.
REMARK.
— Othrerir was perhaps at first the name for the mead of the Scalds
itself.
9. Runes.
— The old world "rún" signifies
mystery,
secrecy. It was not long before the runes themselves — at first
certain of them, later all of them — were interpreted as magic
signs, and faith in the mighty runes has long been maintained in
popular belief and in poetry (cf. old Danish ballads). No wonder,
then, that the discovery of runes was ascribed to Odin himself. This
is distinctly told in several Eddic songs, but the real meaning is
difficult to discover.
Odin
is then also the god of all sorcery, wherefore he is called galdrs
fathur, 'Father of Magic Song,' and by the later Christian
church
in the North was regarded as the worst of the evil beings whom the
heathen worshiped.
In
the "Heimskringla" an account is given of how Odin, as an
old one-eyed man, with his broad hat, came to King Olaf Tryggvason
when the latter was at a feast at court. He talked long and shrewdly
with the king and was surprisingly well acquainted with old
traditions, with which he entertained the king even after the latter
had gone to bed. At his departure he gave the steward fat
horse-shoulders to roast for the king. In due time, however, the old
man's deception was discovered.
10. Odin
as God of Battle. — "As god of war and
battle Odin
enters into the life of men. War is his work; he arouses it. He
incites kings and earls against each other. The warriors are driven
by a higher spirit. This he fosters by teaching his favorites new
means of conquering, and he himself mingles in the battle to help
them or bring them to himself (Harald Hildetann). All those who die
in arms belong to him. He gathers only nobles about him, so that
there can still be heroes when the last great battle is at hand."
Of
Valhalla, the Valkyrs and Einherjar an account has already been
given.
FREY
AND NJORTH
1. Worship
of Frey. — The third chief divinity
among the people
of the North, about whose worship we have definite information, is Frey,
who, however, cannot with certainty be
pointed out as a
general-Germanic divinity and whose nature and origin therefore are
difficult to determine. The name signifies The Ruling One.
The
corresponding feminine form is Freyja, 'The
Mistress,' whose
name heretofore was preserved in Danish in the word Husfrǿ, which
later through German influence became Husfru and
after that
was changed to Hustru, 'wife.' The general
mythological
details about Frey have been given above, where too his significance
as the supposed ancestor of the Swedish race of kings is indicated.
The Ynglings in Sweden descend, according to an old
Scaldic
lay, from Yngvi-Frey. Through this name we can perhaps trace a.
connection with Germany, since the Latin historian Tacitus in his Germania
names three chief Germanic races, of
which one was
the Ingvaeones. In any case Frey is originally a
variation of
the god of light and heaven. He himself is called The Shining One,
God of the World, and Chief of the Gods. He lives in Alfheim; his
boar is called Gullinbursti, 'golden bristles,' his
attendant Skirnir, 'Maker of Brightness,' and he is in
possession of
treasures which only the most prominent god can own.
According
to the Volva's Prophecy he contends in Ragnarok
with Surt.
There he is called Beli's Blond Destroyer. Beli
is
brother of the giantess Gerth and one of the finest
of the
Eddic poems, Skirnismal, ‘Skirnir's Journey,'6 deals
with Frey's love for Gerth.
2. Skirnir's
Journey. — Skirnir is Frey's
attendant but also
his friend from youth up. Wherefore he is quite accustomed to being
the god's confidant. One time something was troubling Frey, for he
seated himself apart without wishing to speak with any one. Skathi
then bade Skirnir ascertain what had awakened the strong god's wrath,
and Frey answered:
SKM.
6
In
Gymir's court I saw walking
a
maiden dear to me;
her
arms shone and from them too
the
air and all the sea.
7
A
maid dearer to me than maid to any man
youthful
in early days;
of
Aesir and of elves this no one wishes
that
we should be together.
In
the prose introduction to the poem it is related that Frey had seated
himself in Hlithskjalf and had looked out over all the world. He had
also cast eyes upon the fair Gerth, daughter of the giant Gymir.
Skirnir
offers now to ride to Jotunheim as a suitor for his friend, provided
the latter will lend him the steed which will bear him most safely
through the dark, flaming magic fires, and the sword which swings
itself against giants and trolls. This is done, and after a dangerous
and intricate ride the swift Skirnir stands in Gymir's hall in
conversation with Gerth. Without circumlocution he tells his errand;
first he promises her eleven golden apples, next, the ring Draupnir,
provided that she will give Frey her love. He is however refused on
both scores, for "gold is cheap in Gymir's court; I have the
disposition of my father's wealth." Then Skirnir resorts to
threats: he will strike her father down and slay her with the
rune-written sword; with the magic wand he will subdue her and send
her as booty to the cruel troll-people of the underworld.
SKM.
33
Wroth
with thee is Odin, wroth the most excellent of gods,
thee
shall Frey hate;
Most
evil maid! (thou) who hast attained
the
gods' ferocious wrath.
34
Hear
ye giants, hear, frost-giants,
ye,
Suttung's sons,
(ye
gods too)
how
I forbid, how I deny
to
the maid the joy of men
to
the maid the pleasure of men.
The
maid who can reject the bright, beaming god's affection shall be
punished by becoming Hrimgrimnir's bride down in the death-realm.
Thither shall she totter every day, broken in will and without
volition, partake of the most loathsome food and live her life under
the most gruesome conditions. Not until now does the stubborn maid
submit, terror-stricken.
38
Hail
(now rather), youth! and take the crystal cup
full
of ancient mead;
vet
I have ne'er believed that e'er I should
love
well a Vanir's son.
But
Skirnir wishes to have full information and Gerth answers then that
in nine nights, in the grove Barri, she will
celebrate her
bridal with Frey. Then Skirnir rides back to the latter and tells him
the result of his journey. The poem ends with Frey's declaration of
his inexpressible longing for the bride.
3. Frey-Njorth.
— It is well understood that
there is a
definite connection between Yngvi-Frey, Freyja, and Njorth, but the
original relation has not been successfully determined. Both Njorth
and Frey in Norse mythology are gods of fruitfulness and have about
the same characteristics. The most of these are found also in Freyja.
Tacitus mentions in connection with a North German tribe a female
divinity Nerthus, and with this name the Norse word Njorth
exactly agrees as a masculine form. Upon on island in the ocean was
her sacred grove, with a consecrated wagon which only the priest
might touch. In this wagon drawn by cows, the goddess in solemn
procession and amid the exultation of the people was led about on
festal days. Then peace and joy prevailed. Before the goddess was
taken back to the temple, the wagon, the garments, and the divinity
herself were washed in the sacred lake.
REMARK.
The tale about Hertha and her worship at Lejre
(in
Zealand) is only a late tradition which is founded on a perversion of
Tacitus' account, and does not belong among the heathen beliefs.
HEIMDALL
AND BALDUR
1. Heimdall
is a purely Norse divinity and must
according to his
name and peculiarities be, like Frey, a manifestation of the god of
heaven and light, perhaps more definitely the god of the morning red,
the day's gleam which shows itself at the horizon immediately before
the rising of the sun. The name means "he who lights the world."
His steed is called Gulltopp. An account has been given above of his
dwelling and employment. The Volva's Prophecy begins with the
following words:
VSP.
1
Hear
me all ye holy kindred,
greater
and smaller, Heimdall's sons!
That
men are here called Heimdall's sons is not necessarily an outcome of
an ancient conception of Heimdall as supreme god. This expression
comes rather from an Eddic song which is somewhat older than the
Volva's Prophecy, in which the god, under the name of Rig,
is
represented as the ancestor of the different classes of society.
2. Rig
is a Celtic word which means prince or
king. Long ago the
wise god, strong and active though advanced in years, wandered along
green paths until he came to the hut in which great grandfather and
grandmother, Ae and Edda,
dwelt. He took a situation
with them, gave them good advice, and partook of their heavy coarse
bread and soup. He remained there three nights and sought rest
between them. But nine months afterwards Edda bore a child, which was
baptized with water and received the name Thraell.
He had a
furrowed skin, long hands, an ugly face, thick fingers, long heels,
and a stooping back; but he became great and strong and capable for
work. Later he married Thir, "a thrall," and from the two
descended all the Thralls.
Rig
wandered farther along the road and came to a hall which grandfather
and grandmother, Afe and Amma,
owned:
RIGSTH.
15
The
couple sat there, were busy with their work;
the
man was hewing there wood for a weaver's beam;
his
beard was trimmed, a forelock on his brow,
shirt
was close fitting, a chest was in the floor.
16
The
woman sat there, turning her distaff,
stretched
out her arms, made ready the cloth;
a
coif was on her head, kerchief on her breast,
a
scarf was at her neck, clasps upon her shoulders.
Filled
dishes and cooked veal were set upon the table. Rig ate and remained
there three nights, and nine months later Amma bore a son, who was
baptized and called Karl.6
He tamed oxen, forged
tools, built houses, and tilled the ground. His wife was called Snor,
and their progeny was the race of free peasants.
Rig
continued his wandering until he reached the hall of father and
mother, with the door towards the south, a ring in the door-post, and
the floor covered.
RIGSTH.
27-8
The
householder sat twisting his bow-string,
Lending
the elm-bow, fitting the arrows,
But
the housewife was observing her arms,
stroking
her dress, drawing tight her sleeves,
her
cap set high, medallion on her breast,
had
long trained-dress and bluish sark.
The
mother laid a white-figured cloth upon the table and set on fine
wheat bread.
31
She
set dishes silver-plated on the table,
well
browned bacon, roasted fowl;
wine
was in the tankard, the cups were of line metal,
they
drank and talked, the day was nearly done.
But
afterwards mother bore a son who was swaddled in silk, baptized, and
named Jarl. "Light were his curls, bright his
cheeks,
sharp as a serpent's his shining eyes." Jarl from childhood had
practice in arms. Rig came to him, taught him runes, called him son,
and gave him great riches. Erna became his wife, and they had many
valiant sons, of whom the youngest was Kon ungi
('Kon the
Young,' hence Konungr, the word for "king"). He was
a glorious hero and vied with or surpassed Jarl both in arms and in
shrewdness. Finally he set out for adventure in order to gain
celebrity and a fair bride in Denmark. The poem consists here of
incomplete fragments only, yet we hear that
RIGSTH.
38
The
shaft he shook, he swung his shield,
his
steed he urged, he drew his sword;
strife
he did awake, the field he reddened,
warriors
he felled, gained land in war.
The
Lay of Rig contains undoubtedly a glorification of kingly power and
is supposed to have been composed in Norway in praise of an absolute
king (Harald Harfagri?7).
3. Baldur.
— The myth of Baldur, the most
disputed of all the
myths, is also distinctly Northern. Baldur is commonly understood to
have arisen, like Frey and Heiman, from an embodiment of an original
epithet of the old god of heaven. Bugge, on the contrary, maintains
that the theories about Baldur are formed from a combination of Irish
legends about Christ and misunderstood Greek and Roman tales. This
view, however, encounters great difficulties, and strong opposition
to it has arisen. (See Introduction.)
4. Two
Baldur Myths. — Besides allusions in
several Eddic
songs, we find the Baldur myth in various forms in Snorri and Saxo.
Both in Denmark and elsewhere in the North, place-names are found and
local traditions which are connected with Baldur. The plant-name
"Baldur's brow" also is an evidence of the faith in this
god.
The
substance of the myth is the same in Snorri's and Saxo's
representations: Baldur is a son of Odin and Frigg; he is slain by
Hoth but is avenged by his brother. Hoth signifies "combat"
and agrees closely with the form Hotherus in Saxo,
who,
however, calls the avenging brother Bous, the Vali
of
Icelandic sources. In Saxo the contest turns upon the princess Nanna,
King Gevar's daughter, who is loved by the Shielding8
Hother, while with the Icelanders she is the god Baldur's wife, and
Hoth is his blind brother. In Saxo there are preserved indistinct
traits of the Valkyrs (the three Forest Maids) and of the murderous
sword which is kept by the giant Miming. We must also remark that as
Baldur is everywhere a son of Odin, the information about him must at
all events be later than the rise of Odin faith and is therefore of
comparatively late development.
5. Baldur's
Dreams. — In addition to all we have
alluded to
concerning Baldur in the preceding section we will now recount a few
Icelandic myths about this god.
Since
evil dreams had given warning of danger to Baldur's life, Odin rode
upon Sleipnir down to Helheim to the burial place of a wise sibyl.
With powerful incantations he conjured up the dead and asked her for
news from the underworld; in return lie agreed to tell her about
earth and heaven. He wants to know why such festal preparations are
being made in the hall of Hel: the floor is spread with straw, the
benches strewn with rings, and the wagons filled with clear drinks
and covered with shields. The sibyl confirms his gloomy forebodings:
it is Baldur's coming that they await. — This is the chief content
of the Eddic Song of Vegtam9; but the conclusion
of the
poem is incomplete and unintelligible.
6.
Baldur's Funeral. — The .Aesir took Baldur's body and carried
it to the sea. Hringhorn was the name of Baldur's
ship, the
largest among all ships. The gods wished to push it out and make
Baldur's funeral-pyre upon it, but the ship could not be moved. They
then sent a messenger to Jotunheim for a sorceress who was named Hyrrokin.
She came riding upon a wolf and had
a viper for a
bridle. Four Berserks were to guard the wolves, but they could not
hold them until they had thrown them down. Hyrrokin went to the bow
of the ship and pushed it out with the first thrust, so that fire
went out from the rollers and the whole country trembled. At that
Thor became wroth, grasped the hammer, and wanted to crush her head,
but all the gods united in saving her by their intercession. Now
Baldur's body was borne out upon the ship. When his wife Nanna saw
this, her heart broke from grief and she was laid upon the pyre with
her husband. Thor next stepped forward and consecrated the pyre with
the hammer. A dwarf ran before his feet and Thor in his rage kicked
him into the fire, where he was burned. Many gods and giants were
present at the funeral. Odin laid the ring Draupnir on Baldur's
breast, and the god's horse was led out with all his trappings.
7. Hermoth's
Hel-Ride. — After Baldur's death,
Odin's son,
Hermoth the Swift, took it upon himself at Frigg's request to ride
down to Hel to beg release for Baldur. He saddled Sleipnir and rode
nine nights and days through dark and deep dales; he could not see a
hand before him, until he came to the river Gjoll
and out upon
Gjallar Bridge, which was covered with bright gold. Mothguth,
was the name of the maid who watched the bridge. She asks him for his
name and race and says that the day before there rode five companies
of dead men over the bridge, "but not less does the bridge
resound under you alone; you have not the color of dead men; why do
you ride hither upon the Hel-road?" Hermoth asks if she has seen
Baldur; she answers in the affirmative and shows him the way: "down
towards the north goes the Hel-road." Now Hermoth rides farther,
until he comes to Hel's grated gate. He dismounts from his horse,
girds him fast, mounts again, gives him the spurs, and the horse
leaps over without touching the gate at all. Then Hermoth rides on to
the hall and goes in. He sees his brother Baldur sitting in the high
seat, but remains there over night before he discharges his
commission. At his departure Baldur sends gifts to Odin. — How the
test of weeping failed has already been told.
8. The
Death-Realm. — The narrative about
Hermoth's Hel-ride
deviates widely from Snorri's descriptions in various places of the
realm of death and the goddess of death, but contains certainly an
older and more original conception. Hel means "the concealing
one." She is a queen and dwells in splendid halls which are
decorated like a royal castle on earth, for the floors are strewn and
the benches covered with carpets and expensive materials. Dead men
(but neither those dead of disease nor cowards) ride
to Hel in
warlike hosts and all equipped, and their king takes his place on the
high seat which is prepared for him. Conceptions of Hel as a place of
punishment are not at all definitely indicated in the oldest poetry,
yet on the contrary a Nifl-Hel is named "to which
men die
from Hel." The oldest belief seems to have comprehended three
worlds (although the Volva's Prophecy tells of nine): the land of the
Gods, the World of Men, and the Realm of the Dead (heaven, earth, and
the underworld, possibly with a hint at a place of punishment,
Nifl-hel). But when the Odin-cult and with that the belief in
Valhalla first made its way into the popular consciousness, men
thought that the brave went to Valfather, the cowardly, and those
dead of disease to Hel. Then Hel became Loki's daughter and her realm
a counterpart of Valhalla.
Hel,
according to Snorri's representation, gained sway over nine worlds in
Niflheim. Her kingdom is called Helheim, which is
reached by
the Hel-road, over the Gjallar Bridge, past the Hel-gate or death
boundary. The Hel-hound, Garm, runs out of the Gnipa-cave. The
death-goddess herself, horrible to behold, is upon her throne in the
hall Eljuthnir, her maid is Gang-lot,
her threshold is
called "falling deceit" and her couch is the "bed of
sickness." — The word Hel is even now preserved in the Danish
words ihjel, 'dead'; Helved,
'hell'; Helsot,
'fatal disease'; and Helhest, 'hell-steed.'
Likewise the
widespread superstition that the howling of dogs presages death is
probably a half-extinct reminder of the Hel-hound.
LOKI
1. Loki.
— We have now remaining one of the most
enigmatic
figures within the circle of Norse gods, the one who bears the name Asa-Loki,
although it is often recorded that
he originally
belonged to the race of giants. Many explanations have been given of
the meaning of the name, and just as many of the origin and meaning
of the god himself. It is most probable that Loki signifies "the
one closing, bringing to an end," and in order to understand his
nature we will begin with his own words in the old lay, The Loki
Quarrel:
LOK.
9
Dost
remember, Odin, when we in early days
did
mingle blood together?
Taste
ale you never would, you vowed,
unless
'twere borne to both.
Loki
is accordingly Odin's foster-brother and in the most intimate and
cordial relation to the chief divinity possible between two men. He
has also many of Odin's noble qualities, but his temper is such that
he is not capable of exercising them in the right way. He has sense
and understanding like Odin, but they express themselves in bitter
malice and fraudulent acts. He is as strong in merits as in faults,
but the latter gain more and more control. Odin's foster-brother,
Asa-Loki, must therefore become finally the worst enemy of gods and
men, who also at Ragnarok takes a commanding position among the evil
powers in the destruction. Hence he is endowed in the later
mythological poetry with one evil trait after another. With Angrbotha
he begets the frightful trio, and since he also occasions Baldur's
death, it is with a certain right that he has been called the "devil
of the North." — On the basis of his relation with the
storming heaven-god, Loki might properly be regarded also as the god
of fire, and for this a strong argument may be found in the
narratives about him. Fire is the benefactor of the human race, but
also its merciless enemy. Thus Loki becomes the opposite of Heimdall,
and with him he fights the last battle at the crisis of the gods,
just as he previously at Singasten had fought with him for Freyja's
necklace, Brisingamen.
2. Seizure
of Ithun. — One time the three Aesir,
Odin, Hoenir,
and Loki, traveled from home over fields and desolate lands where
they could find no food. First, down in a valley, they found a herd
of oxen, of which they killed one and sought to cook it over a fire;
but the flesh would not become tender, however much they cooked it.
This was caused by an eagle which was sitting in a tree above them,
and which said it must have its full share of the ox should the
cooking succeed. The gods promised this, but when the meat was cooked
the eagle took both thigh and shoulder for his part. In exasperation
at this, Loki thrust at him with a rod, but the rod remained fast in
his body and Loki was unable to loose his hold on the other end. The
eagle flew rapidly and high; Loki's limbs were almost torn from him
before lie yielded. It was the giant Thiazzi in eagle's form who had
borne him away. For his freedom he was now obliged to promise to
entice away Ithun with the Aesir's old-age remedy (the Apples), so
that the giant could seize her. At the time agreed upon Loki coaxed
Ithun out into the wood with her apples, in order that she might
compare them with some others that he claimed to have found. The
giant then came up in eagle's form and flew away with Ithun.
But
when Ithun was away the Aesir soon turned gray. Ithun was last seen
together with Loki, and the latter in order to save his life had to
confess everything and promise to restore the goddess to Asgarth. In
Freyna's falcon-cloak he flew rapidly to Jotunhehn, found Ithun at
home alone, transformed her into a nut, and flew away with her in his
claws. Shortly afterwards Thiazzi came back and missed Ithun. In
eagle's form he pursued the robber, who, however, escaped over
Asgarth's walls, behind which the gods had kindled a great fire. With
scorched wings, Thiazzi sank to the earth when he could not stop his
mad flight, and was slain by Thor.
3. Skathi
in Asgarth. — Thiazzi's daughter Skathi
now put on
full equipment and proceeded to Asgarth to take vengeance for her
father. Meanwhile, to reconcile her, the gods offered to allow her to
choose for herself a husband from their number; but she was to choose
according to the feet alone, for the body and head she was not
allowed to see. She chose then a man with very handsome feet, in the
belief that it was Baldur, but it proved to be Njorth. Their
experience has already been related. Skathi was even now not
satisfied and demanded that the gods should make her laugh. No one
was able to do this but Loki, at whose wanton jests she could not
keep serious. As additional penalty Odin (or Thor) took her father's
eyes and cast them upward to heaven, where they were transformed into
stars.
4. Loki
Scoffs at the Gods. — Loki's worst
offense was this,
that he caused Baldur's death; but as we have seen, he had time and
again defied the gods before. He offered them the greatest disdain at
the feast which the sea-giant Aegir instituted for the Aesir and for
which Thor had brought the great kettle from Hymir. All the gods and
goddesses were present with the exception of Thor, and Loki also took
part in the feast. Aegir's two servants received much praise for
their swiftness, but Loki was provoked at this and struck one of them
dead, after which he was driven out. Some time afterwards, however,
he returned to the hall and now began to scoff at the gods and
goddesses, the first with mockery and sarcasm, the latter with
venomous words in which he charged them with a lack of chastity. Some
sought to quiet him, others retorted, but all in vain. He stood there
in the midst of the hall as the Aesir's evil conscience. To be sure,
he exaggerated strongly; but there was a grain of truth in all he
said, and therefore they all sat there well-nigh distracted. At last
Sif, Thor's wife, became the object of his scoffing. Then they called
on Thor, and the strong god stood there in the hall brandishing his
strength-hammer; three times Loki ventured to defy Vingthor, but when
the latter the fourth time threatened him with death, he fled:
LOK.
64
I
spoke before Aesir, spoke before Aesir's sons,
that
which my mind did prompt me;
but
before thee alone, shall I go out
since
I know that thou dost strike.
Such
is the main content of the Edda-song of Loki's Quarrel (Lokasenna).
_________________________________________
1
Or Defender.
2
Necklace.
3
Tors Rejse til Jotunheim.
4
Nor dens Guder.
5
Indicated by the title For Skirnis often used.
6
Free man.
7
Harald Fairhair, king of Norway, 860-933.
8
Shieldings. Icel. skjoldungar, litt 'sons of Skjold,' came to mean
'princes,' 'kings.'' Heathen kings of Denmark were meant.
9
Vegtamskvitha.
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