The Younger Edda Part 15

When Odin of Asaland came to the north, and the G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds 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 s.h.i.+elds, 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 pa.s.sage, derive it from berr (_bare_) and serkr (comp. _sark_, Scotch for s.h.i.+rt); but this etymology is inadmissible, because serkr is a substantive, not an adjective. Others derive it from berr (Germ. _Bar_ = _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." Caesar, 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 reiu vil ek ik 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 s.h.i.+elds. 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 s.h.i.+p, 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 preeminently 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 G.o.ds, 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 Th.o.r.er, 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 s.h.i.+p belongs to Frey, having been made for him by the dwarfs.]

[Footnote 127: Hugin and Munin.]

[Footnote 128: The old Norse word is orlog, which is plural, (from or = Ger. _ur_, and log, _laws_,) and means the primal law, fate, weird, doom; the Greek ???a. The idea of predestination was a salient feature in the Odinic religion. The word orlog, 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 s.h.i.+eld 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 G.o.dheim, and of G.o.dheim 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 G.o.dheim, 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 G.o.ds, 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 wors.h.i.+ped than the other G.o.ds, 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 G.o.ds, and she became on this account so celebrated that all women of distinction were called by her name, whence they now have the t.i.tle 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 G.o.d of this world, and afterward offered continually blood-sacrifices to him, princ.i.p.ally 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.

In the asa-faith we find various foreign elements introduced. Thus, for example, the vans did not originally belong to the Odinic system. As the Teutons came in contact with other races, the religious ideas of the latter were frequently adopted in some modified form. Especially do Finnish elements enter into the asa-system. The Finnish G.o.d of thunder was Ukko. He is supposed to have been confounded with our Thor, whence the latter got the name oku-Thor (Ukko-Thor). The vans may be connected with the Finnish Wainamoinen, and in the same manner a number of Celtic elements have been mixed with Teutonic mythology. And this is not all.

There must have flourished a religious system in the North before the arrival of Odin and his apostles. This was probably either Tshudic or Celtic, or a mixture of the two. The asa-doctrine superseded it, but there still remain traces in some of the oldest records of the North.

Thus we have in the prehistoric sagas of Iceland an account of the finding of Norway, wherein it is related that Fornjot,[134] in Jotland, which is also called Finland or Quenland, east of the Gulf of Bothnia, had three sons: Hler, also called aeger, Loge and Kare.[135] Of Loge it is related that he was of giant descent, and, being very tall of stature, he was called Haloge, that is High Loge; and after him the northern part of Norway is called Halogaland (now Helgeland). He was married to Glod (a red-hot coal), and had with her two daughters, Eysa and Eimyrja; both words meaning glowing embers. Haloge had two jarls, Vifil (the one taking a vif = wife) and Vesete (the one who sits at the ve = the sanctuary, that is, the dweller by the hearth, the first sanctuary), who courted his daughters; the former addressing himself to Eimyrja, the latter to Eysa, but the king refusing to give his consent, they carried them away secretly. Vesete settled in Borgundarholm (Bornholm), and had a son, Bue (one who settles on a farm); Vifil sailed further east and settled on the island Vifilsey, on the coast of Sweden, and had a son, Viking (the pirate).

[Footnote 134: The word fornjot can be explained in two ways: either as for-njot = the first enjoyer, possessor; or as forn-jot, the ancient giant. He would then correspond to Ymer.]

[Footnote 135: Notice this trinity: Hler is the sea (comp. the Welsh word _llyr_ = sea); Loge is fire (comp. the Welsh _llwg_), he reminds us both by his name and his nature of Loke; Kare is the wind.]

The third son, Kare, had a numerous offspring. He had one son by name Jokul (iceberg), another Froste (frost), and Froste's son was named Sna (snow). He had a third son, by name Thorri (bare frost), after whom the mid-winter month, Thorra-month, was called; and his daughters hight Fonn (packed snow), Drifa (snow-drift), and Mjoll (meal, fine snow). All these correspond well to Kare's name, which, as stated, means wind.

Thorri had two sons, Nor and Gor, and a daughter, Goe. The story goes on to tell how Goe, the sister, was lost, and how the brothers went to search for her, until they finally found him who had robbed her. He was Hrolf, from the mountain, a son of the giant Svade, and a grandson of Asa-Thor. They settled their trouble, and thereupon Hrolf married Goe, and Nor married Hrolf's sister, settled in the land and called it after his own name, Norvegr, that is, Norway. By this story we are reminded of Kadmos, who went to seek his lost sister Europa. In the Younger Edda the winds are called the sons of Fornjot, the sea is called the son of Fornjot, and the brother of the fire and of the winds, and Fornjot is named among the old giants. This makes it clear that Fornjot and his offspring are not historical persons, but cosmological impersonations.

And additional proof of this is found by an examination of the beginning of the Saga of Thorstein, Viking's Son. (See Viking Tales of the North, pp. 1 and 2).

THE FOOLING OF GYLFE.

CHAPTER I.

This story about the ploughing of Gylfe reminds us of the legend told in the first book of Virgil's aeneid, about the founding of Carthage by Dido, who bought from the Libyan king as much ground as she could cover with a bull's hide. Elsewhere it is related that she cut the bull's hide into narrow strips and encircled therewith all the ground upon which Carthage was afterward built. Thus Dido deceived the Libyan king nearly as effectually as Gefjun deluded King Gylfe. The story is also told by Snorre in Heimskringla, see p. 231.

The pa.s.sage in verse, which has given translators so much trouble in a transposed form, would read as follows: Gefjun glad drew that excellent land (djuprodul = the deep sun = gold; ola = udal = property; djuprodul ola = the golden property), Denmark's increase (Seeland), so that it reeked (steamed) from the running oxen. The oxen bore four heads and eight eyes, as they went before the wide piece of robbed land of the isle so rich in gra.s.s.

Gefjun is usually interpreted as a G.o.ddess of agriculture, and her name is by some derived from ??; and _fjon_, that is, _terrae separatio_; others compare it with the Anglo-Saxon _geofon_ = the sea. The etymology remains very uncertain.

CHAPTER II.

It is to the delusion or eye-deceit mentioned in this chapter that Snorre Sturla.s.son refers in his Heimskringla, in Chapter VI of Ynglinga Saga.

Thjodolf of Hvin was a celebrated skald at the court of Harald Fairhair.

Thinking thatchers, etc. Literally transposed, this pa.s.sage would read: Reflecting men let s.h.i.+elds (literally Svafner's, that is Odin's roof-trees,) glisten on the back. They were smitten with stones. To let s.h.i.+elds glisten on the back, is said of men who throw their s.h.i.+elds on their backs to protect themselves against those who pursue the flying host.

Har means the High One, Jafnhar the Equally High One, and Thride the Third One. By these three may be meant the three chief G.o.ds of the North: Odin, Thor and Frey; or they may be simply an expression of the Eddic trinity. This trinity is represented in a number of ways: by Odin, Vile and Ve in the creation of the world, and by Odin, Hner and Loder in the creation of Ask and Embla, the first human pair. The number three figures extensively in all mythological systems. In the pre-chaotic state we have Muspelheim, Niflheim and Ginungagap. Fornjot had three sons: Hler, Loge and Kare. There are three norns: Urd, Verdande and Skuld. There are three fountains: Hvergelmer, Urd's and Mimer's; etc.

(See Norse Mythology, pp. 183, 195, 196.)

Har being Odin, Har's Hall will be Valhal. You will not come out from this hall unless you are wiser. In the lay of Vafthrudner, of the Elder Edda, we have a similar challenge, where Vafthrudner says to Odin:

Out will you not come From our halls Unless I find you to be wiser (than I am).

CHAPTER III.

This chapter gives twelve names of Odin. In the Eddas and in the skaldic lays he has in all nearly two hundred names. His most common name is Odin (in Anglo-Saxon and in Old High German _Wodan_), and this is thought by many to be of the same origin as our word _G.o.d_. The other Old Norse word for G.o.d, _tivi_, is identical in root with Lat. _divus_; Sansk. _dwas_; Gr. ???? (?e??); and this is again connected with _Tyr_, the Tivisco in the Germania of Tacitus. (See Max Muller's Lectures on the Science of Language, 2d series, p. 425). Paulus Diakonus states that Wodan, or Gwodan, was wors.h.i.+ped by all branches of the Teutons. Odin has also been sought and found in the Scythian _Zalmoxis_, in the Indian _Buddha_, in the Celtic Budd, and in the Mexican Votan. Zalmoxis, derived from the Gr. ?a???, helmet, reminds us of Odin as the helmet-bearer (Grimm, Gesch. der Deutschen Sprache). According to Humboldt, a race in Guatemala, Mexico, claim to be descended from Votan (Vues des Cordilleres, 1817, I, 208). This suggests the question whether Odin's name may not have been brought to America by the Norse discoverers in the 10th and 11th centuries, and adopted by some of the native races. In the Lay of Grimner (Elder Edda) the following names of Odin are enumerated:

Grim is my name And Ganglere, Herjan and Helmet-bearer, Thekk and Thride, Thud and Ud, Helblinde and Har,

Sad and Svipal, And Sanngetal, Herteit and Hnikar, Bileyg and Baleyg, Bolverk, Fjolner, Grim and Grimner, Glapsvid and Fjolsvid,

Sidhot, Sidskeg, Sigfather, Hnikud, Alfather, Valfather, Atrid and Farmatyr.

With one name Was I never named When I fared 'mong the peoples.

Grimner they called me Here at Geirrod's, But Jalk at Asmund's, And Kjalar the time When sleds (kjalka) I drew, And Thror at the Thing, Vidur on the battle-field, Oske and Ome, Jafnhar and Biflinde, Gondler and Harbard 'mong the G.o.ds.