Myths of the Norsemen Part 26

Anglo-Saxon Poetry (Coneybeare's tr.).

There are countless other tales of swan maidens or Valkyrs, who are said to have consorted with mortals; but the most popular of all is that of Brunhild, the wife of Sigurd, a descendant of Sigmund and the most renowned of Northern heroes.

William Morris, in "The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon,"

gives a fascinating version of another of these Norse legends. The story is amongst the most charming of the collection in "The Earthly Paradise."

Brunhild

The story of Brunhild is to be found in many forms. Some versions describe the heroine as the daughter of a king taken by Odin to serve in his Valkyr band, others as chief of the Valkyrs and daughter of Odin himself. In Richard Wagner's story, "The Ring of the Nibelung,"

the great musician presents a particularly attractive, albeit a more modern conception of the chief Battle-Maiden, and her disobedience to the command of Odin when sent to summon the youthful Siegmund from the side of his beloved Sieglinde to the Halls of the Blessed.

CHAPTER XIX: HEL

Loki's Offspring

Hel, G.o.ddess of death, was the daughter of Loki, G.o.d of evil, and of the giantess Angurboda, the portender of ill. She came into the world in a dark cave in Jotun-heim together with the serpent Iormungandr and the terrible Fenris wolf, the trio being considered as the emblems of pain, sin, and death.

"Now Loki comes, cause of all ill!

Men and aesir curse him still.

Long shall the G.o.ds deplore, Even till Time be o'er, His base fraud on Asgard's hill.

While, deep in Jotunheim, most fell, Are Fenrir, Serpent, and Dread Hel, Pain, Sin, and Death, his children three, Brought up and cherished; thro' them he Tormentor of the world shall be."

Valhalla (J. C. Jones).

In due time Odin became aware of the terrible brood which Loki was cheris.h.i.+ng, and resolved, as we have already seen, to banish them from the face of the earth. The serpent was therefore cast into the sea, where his writhing was supposed to cause the most terrible tempests; the wolf Fenris was secured in chains, thanks to the dauntless Tyr; and Hel or Hela, the G.o.ddess of death, was hurled into the depths of Nifl-heim, where Odin gave her power over nine worlds.

"Hela into Niflheim thou threw'st, And gav'st her nine unlighted worlds to rule, A queen, and empire over all the dead."

Balder Dead (Matthew Arnold).

Hel's Kingdom in Nifl-heim

This realm, which was supposed to be situated under the earth, could only be entered after a painful journey over the roughest roads in the cold, dark regions of the extreme North. The gate was so far from all human abode that even Hermod the swift, mounted upon Sleipnir, had to journey nine long nights ere he reached the river Gioll. This formed the boundary of Nifl-heim, over which was thrown a bridge of crystal arched with gold, hung on a single hair, and constantly guarded by the grim skeleton Modgud, who made every spirit pay a toll of blood ere she would allow it to pa.s.s.

"The bridge of gla.s.s hung on a hair Thrown o'er the river terrible,-- The Gioll, boundary of Hel.

Now here the maiden Modgud stood, Waiting to take the toll of blood,-- A maiden horrible to sight, Fleshless, with shroud and pall bedight."

Valhalla (J. C. Jones).

The spirits generally rode or drove across this bridge on the horses or in the waggons which had been burned upon the funeral pyre with the dead to serve that purpose, and the Northern races were very careful to bind upon the feet of the departed a specially strong pair of shoes, called Hel-shoes, that they might not suffer during the long journey over rough roads. Soon after the Giallar bridge was pa.s.sed, the spirit reached the Ironwood, where stood none but bare and iron-leafed trees, and, pa.s.sing through it, reached Hel-gate, beside which the fierce, blood-stained dog Garm kept watch, cowering in a dark hole known as the Gnipa cave. This monster's rage could only be appeased by the offering of a Hel-cake, which never failed those who had ever given bread to the needy.

"Loud bays Garm Before the Gnipa cave."

Saemund's Edda (Thorpe's tr.).

Within the gate, amid the intense cold and impenetrable darkness, was heard the seething of the great cauldron Hvergelmir, the rolling of the glaciers in the Elivagar and other streams of Hel, among which were the Leipter, by which solemn oaths were sworn, and the Slid, in whose turbid waters naked swords continually rolled.

Further on in this gruesome place was Elvidner (misery), the hall of the G.o.ddess Hel, whose dish was Hunger. Her knife was Greed. "Idleness was the name of her man, Sloth of her maid, Ruin of her threshold, Sorrow of her bed, and Conflagration of her curtains."

"Elvidner was Hela's hall.

Iron-barred, with ma.s.sive wall; Horrible that palace tall!

Hunger was her table bare; Waste, her knife; her bed, sharp Care; Burning Anguish spread her feast; Bleached bones arrayed each guest; Plague and Famine sang their runes, Mingled with Despair's harsh tunes.

Misery and Agony E'er in Hel's abode shall be!"

Valhalla (J. C. Jones).

This G.o.ddess had many different abodes for the guests who daily came to her, for she received not only perjurers and criminals of all kinds, but also those who were unfortunate enough to die without shedding blood. To her realm also were consigned those who died of old age or disease--a mode of decease which was contemptuously called "straw death," as the beds of the people were generally of that material.

"Temper'd hard by frost, Tempest and toil their nerves, the sons of those Whose only terror was a bloodless death."

Thomson.

Ideas of the Future Life

Although the innocent were treated kindly by Hel, and enjoyed a state of negative bliss, it is no wonder that the inhabitants of the North shrank from the thought of visiting her cheerless abode. And while the men preferred to mark themselves with the spear point, to hurl themselves down from a precipice, or to be burned ere life was quite extinct, the women did not shrink from equally heroic measures. In the extremity of their sorrow, they did not hesitate to fling themselves down a mountain side, or fall upon the swords which were given them at their marriage, so that their bodies might be burned with those whom they loved, and their spirits released to join them in the bright home of the G.o.ds.

Further horrors, however, awaited those whose lives had been criminal or impure, these spirits being banished to Nastrond, the strand of corpses, where they waded in ice-cold streams of venom, through a cave made of wattled serpents, whose poisonous fangs were turned towards them. After suffering untold agonies there, they were washed down into the cauldron Hvergelmir, where the serpent Nidhug ceased for a moment gnawing the root of the tree Yggdrasil to feed upon their bones.

"A hall standing Far from the sun In Nastrond; Its doors are northward turned, Venom-drops fall In through its apertures; Entwined is that hall With serpents' backs.

She there saw wading The sluggish streams Bloodthirsty men And perjurers, And him who the ear beguiles Of another's wife.

There Nidhog sucks The corpses of the dead."

Saemund's Edda (Thorpe's tr.).