Part 17

In regard to Agni's birth, it is characteristic of him that he is said to have several mothers, although their number varies according to the point from which the process of birth is regarded. When it is only to be a figurative expression for the origin of the friction-fire, the singer of the hymn can say that Agni had ten mothers or two mothers. In the case of the former, it is the ten fingers of the person producing the friction-fire that are meant. Sometimes this is stated outright (Rigveda, iii. 23, 3); then again the fingers are paraphrased by "the twice five sisters dwelling together" (iv. 6, 8), "the work-master's ten untiring maids" (i. 95, 1). In the case of the latter--that is, when two mothers are mentioned--the two pieces of wood rubbed together are meant (viii. 49, 15). In a more real sense he is said to have three places of nativity: one in the atmospheric sea, one in heaven, and one in the waters (i. 95, 3), and that his "great, wise, divine nature proceeded from the laps of many active mothers" (i. 95, 4), such as the waters, the stones, the trees, the herbs (ii. 1, 1). In Rigveda (x. 45, 2) nine maternal wombs or births are indicated; his "triple powers were sown in triplets in heaven, among us, and in the waters." In Rigveda (i. 141, 2) three places of nativity and three births are ascribed to him, and in such a way that he had seven mothers in his second birth. In Rigveda (x. 20, 7) he is called the son of the rock.

It scarcely needs to be pointed out that all that is here told about Agni corresponds point by point with the Teutonic myth about Heimdal. Here, as in many other instances, we find a similarity between the Teutonic and the Aryan-Asiatic myths, which is surprising, when we consider that the difference between the Rigveda and Zend languages on the one hand, and the oldest Teutonic linguistic monuments on the other, appear in connection with other circumstances to indicate that the old Aryan unity of language and religion lies ages back in antiquity. Agni's birth "beyond the atmosphere," his journey across the sea to original man in the savage state, his vocation as the sower of the blessings of culture among men, his appearance as the teacher of wisdom and "the sciences," his visit to the farms established by him, where he becomes "the husband of wives," father of human sons, and the founder of "the races" (the classes among the Teutons),--all this we rediscover completely in the Heimdal myth, as if it were a copy of the Aryan-Asiatic saga concerning the divine founder of culture; a copy fresh from the master's brush without the effects of time, and without any retouching. The very names of the ancient Aryan patriarchs, Bhrigu and Manu are recognisable in the Teutonic patriarch names Berchter and Mann (Mannus-Halfdan). In the case of Manu and Mann no explanation is necessary. Here the identity of sound agrees with the identity of origin. The descendants of Bhrigu and of his contemporary Bhriguians, are called Bhargavans, which corroborates the conclusion that Bhrigu is derived from _bharg_ "to shine," whence is derived the ancient Teutonic _berhta_, "bright," "clear," "light," the Old Saxon _berht_, the Anglo-Saxon _beorht_, which reoccurs in the Teutonic patriarch _Berchter_, which again is actually (not linguistically) identical with the Norse _Borgarr_. By Bhrigu's side stands Manu, just as Mann (Halfdan) is co-ordinate with Borgar.

Point by point the descriptions of Agni and Heimdal also correspond in regard to their divine natures and attributes. Agni is the great holy _white_ god; Heimdal is _mikill_ and _heilagr_, and is called _hviti áss_ (Younger Edda) or "the whitest of the Asas" (Thrymskv., 15). While Agni as the fire-god has golden teeth, Heimdal certainly for the same reason bears the epithet _gullintanni_, "the one with the golden teeth." Agni has white horses. In Ulf Uggeson's poem about the work of art in Hjardarholt, Heimdal rides his horse _Gulltoppr_, whose name reflects its splendour. While Agni's searching eyes can see in the distance and can penetrate the gloom of night, it is said of Heimdal that _hann sér jafnt nótt sem dag hundrad rasta frá sér_. While Agni perceives everything, even the inaudible motions in the growing of herbs and animals; while he penetrates and diffuses himself in plants and animals, it is said of Heimdal that he _heyrir ok that, er gras vex á jordu eda ull á saudum_. While Agni--it is not stated by what means--is able to produce a noise like thunder which re-echoes through both the world-halves, Heimdal has the horn, whose sound all the world shall hear, when Ragnarok is at hand. On a "circular path," Agni observes the beings in the world. Heimdal looks out upon the world from Bifrost. Agni keeps his eye on the deeds of the demons, is perpetually on the look-out, and protects the world by day and by night from dangers; Heimdal is the watchman of the gods _vördr goda_ (Grimnersmal), needs in his vocation as watchman less sleep than a bird, and faithfully guards the Asa-bridge against the giants. Agni is born of several mothers; Heimdal has mothers nine. Agni is "the fast traveller," who, in the human abodes he visits, opens a way for prayer and sacrifice (Rigv., vii. 13, 3); in Rigsmal, Heimdal has the same epithet, "the fast traveller," _röskr Stigandi_, as he goes from house to house and teaches men the "runes of eternity" and "the runes of time."

The only discrepancy is in the animal symbols by which Agni and Heimdal are designated. The bull is Agni's symbol, the ram is Heimdal's. Both symbols are chosen from the domestic animals armed with horns, and the difference is linguistically of such a kind, that it to some extent may be said to corroborate the evidence in regard to Agni's and Heimdal's identity. In the old Norse poetry, _Vedr_ (wether, ram), _Heimdali_ and the Heimdal epithet _Hallinskidi_, are synonymous. The word _vedr_, according to Fick (Wörterb., iii. 307), can be traced to an ancient Teutonic _vethru_, the real meaning of which is "yearling," a young domestic animal in general, and it is related to the Latin _vitulus_ and the Sanscrit _vatsala_, "calf." If this is correct, then we also see the lines along which one originally common symbol of a domestic animal developed into two and among the Rigveda Aryans settled on the "yearling" of the cow, and among the Teutons on that of the sheep. It should here be remarked that according to Ammianus Marcellinus (xix. 1) the tiara of the Persian kings was ornamented with a golden ram's-head. That Agni's span of horses were transformed into Heimdal's riding horse was also a result of time and circumstances. In Rigveda, riding and cavalry are unknown; there the horses of the gods draw the divine chariots. In the Teutonic mythology the draught horses are changed into riding horses, and chariots occur only exceptionally.

We have reason to be surprised at finding that the Aryan-Asiatic myths and the Teutonic have so broad surfaces of contact, on which not only the main outlines but even the details completely resemble each other. But the fact is not inexplicable. The hymns, the songs of the divine worship and of the sacrifices of the Rigveda Aryans, have been preserved, but the epic-mythological poems are lost, so that there remains the difficult task of reconstructing out of the former a clear and concise mythology, freed from "dissolving views" in which their mythic characters now blend into each other. The Teutonic mythology has had an opposite fate: here the genuine religious songs, the hymns of divine worship and of sacrifices, are lost, and there remain fragments of the mighty divine epic of the Teutons. But thus we have also been robbed of the opportunity of studying those very songs which in a higher degree than the epic are able to preserve through countless centuries ancient mythical traits; for the hymns belong to the divine worship, popular customs are long-lived, and the sacred customs are more conservative and more enduring than all others, if they are not disturbed by revolutions in the domain of faith. If an epithet of a god, _e.g._, "the fast traveller," has once become fixed by hymns and been repeated in the divine service year after year, then, in spite of the gradual transformation of the languages and the types of the race, it may be preserved through hundreds and thousands of years. Details of this kind may in this manner survive the ravages of time just as well as the great outlines of the mythology, and if there be a gradual change as to signification, then this is caused by the change of language, which may make an old expression unintelligible or give it another meaning based on the association of ideas.

From all this I am forced to draw the conclusion that Heimdal, like several other Teutonic gods--for example, Odin (Wodan, Rigveda's Vata)--belongs to the ancient Aryan age, and retained, even to the decay of the Teutonic heathendom his ancient character as the personal representative of the sacred fire, the fire produced by friction, and, in this connection, as the representative of the oldest culture connected with the introduction of fire.

This also explains Heimdal's epithet _Vindler_, in Cod. Reg. of the Younger Edda (i. 266, 608). The name is a subform of _vindill_ and comes from _vinda_, to twist or turn, wind, to turn anything around rapidly. As the epithet "the turner" is given to that god who brought friction-fire (bore-fire) to man, and who is himself the personification of this fire, then it must be synonymous with "the borer."

A synonym of Heimdal's epithet _Stigandi_, "the traveller," is _Rati_, "the traveller," from _rata_, "to travel," "to move about." Very strangely, this verb (originally _vrata_, Goth. _vrâton_, to travel, make a journey) can be traced to an ancient Teutonic word which meant to turn or twist, or something of the sort (Fick, _Wörterb._, iii. 294). And, so far as the noun _Rati_ is concerned, this signification has continued to flourish in the domain of mythology after it long seems to have been extinct in the domain of language. Havamál (106), Grimnersmal (32), and Bragarædur testify each in its own way that the mythical name _Rati_ was connected with a boring activity. In Havamál "Rate's mouth" gnaws the tunnel through which Odin, in the guise of an eagle, flies away with the mead-treasure concealed in the "deep dales" at Fjalar's under the roots of the world-tree. In the allegorical Grimnersmal strophe it is "Rate's tooth" (_Ratatoskr_) who lets the mead-drinking foe of the gods near the root of the world-tree find out what the eagle in the top of the world-tree (Odin) resolves and carries out in regard to the same treasure. In Bragarædur the name is given to the gimlet itself which produced the connection between Odin's world and Fjalar's halls. The gimlet has here received the name of the boring "traveller," of him who is furnished with "golden teeth." Hence there are good reasons for assuming that in the epic of the myth it was Heimdal-Gullintanne himself whose fire-gimlet helped Odin to fly away with his precious booty. In Rigveda Agni plays the same part. The "tongue of Agni" has the same task there as "Rate's mouth" in our Norse records. The sacred mead of the liquids of nourishment was concealed in the womb of the mountain with the Dasyus, hostile to the world; but Agni split the mountain open with his tongue, his ray of light penetrated into the darkness where the liquids of nourishment were preserved, and through him they were brought to the light of day, after Trita (in some passages of Rigveda identical with Vata) had slain a giant monster and found the "cows of the son of the work-master" (cp. Rigveda, v. 14, 4; viii. 61, 4-8; x. 8, 6-9). "The cows of the son of the work-master" is a paraphrase for the saps of nourishment. In the Teutonic mythology there is also "a son of the work-master," who is robbed of the mead. Fjalar is a son of Surt, whose character as an ancient artist is evident from what is stated in Nos. 53 and 89.

By friction Mataricvan brought Agni out of the maternal wombs in which he was concealed as an embryo of light and warmth. Heimdal was born to life in a similar manner. His very place of nativity indicates this. His mothers have their abodes _vid jardar thraum_ (Hyndl., 35) near the edge of the earth, on the outer rim of the earth, and that is where they gave him life (_báru thann man vid jardar thraum_). His mothers are giantesses (_iotna meyjar_), and nine in number. We have already found giantesses, nine in number, mentioned as having their activity on the outer edge of the earth--namely, those who with the _möndull_, the handle, turn the vast friction-mechanism, the world-mill of Mundilfore. They are the _níu brúdir of Eyludr_, "the Isle-grinder" mentioned by Snæbjorn (see above). These nine giant-maids, who along the outer zone of the earth (_fyrir jordar skauti_) push the mill's sweep before themselves and grind the coasts of the islands, are the same nine giant-maids who on the outer zone of the earth gave birth to Heimdal, the god of the friction-fire. Hence one of Heimdal's mothers is in Hyndluljod called _Angeyja_, "she who makes the islands closer," and another one is called _Eyrgjafa_, "she who gives sandbanks." _Mundilföri_, who is the father of Sol and Mane, and has the care of the motions of the starry heavens is accordingly also, though in another sense, the father of Heimdal the pure, holy fire to whom the glittering objects in the skies must naturally be regarded as akin.

In Hyndluljod (37) Heimdal's nine giant-mothers are named: _Gjálp_, _Greip_, _Eistla_, _Eyrgjafa_, _Ulfrun_, _Angeyja_, _Imdr_, _Atla_, _Járnsaxa_. The first two are daughters of the fire-giant Geirrod (Younger Edda, i. 288). To fire refers also _Imdr_, from _ím, embers_. Two of the names, _Angeyja_ and _Eyrgjafa_, as already shown, indicate the occupation of these giantesses in connection with the world-mill. This is presumably also the case with _Járnsaxa_, "she who crushes the iron." The iron which our heathen fathers worked was produced from the sea- and swamp-iron mixed with sand and clay, and could therefore properly be regarded as a grist of the world-mill.

Heimdal's antithesis in all respects, and therefore also his constant opponent in the mythological epic, is Loke, he too a fire-being, but representing another side of this element. Natural agents such as fire, water, wind, cold, heat, and thunder have in the Teutonic mythology a double aspect. When they work in harmony, each within the limits which are fixed by the welfare of the world and the happiness of man, then they are sacred forces and are represented by the gods. But when these limits are transgressed, giants are at work, and the turbulent elements are represented by beings of giant-race. This is also true of thunder, although it is the common view among mythologists that it was regarded exclusively as a product of Thor's activity. The genuine mythical conception was, however, that the thunder which purifies the atmosphere and fertilises the thirsty earth with showers of rain, or strikes down the foes of Midgard, came from Thor; while that which splinters the sacred trees, sets fire to the woods and houses, and kills men that have not offended the gods, came from the foes of the world. The blaze-element (see No. 35) was not only in the possession of the gods, but also in that of the giants (Skirnersmal), and the lightning did not proceed alone from Mjolner, but was also found in Hrungner's _hein_ and in Geirrod's glowing javelin. The conflicts between Thor and the giants were not only on _terra firma_, as when Thor made an expedition on foot to Jotunheim, but also in the air. There were giant-horses that were able to wade with force and speed through the atmosphere, as, for instance, Hrungner's _Gullfaxi_ (Younger Edda, i. 270), and these giant-horses with their shining manes, doubtless, were expected to carry their riders to the lightning-conflict in space against the lightning-hurler, Thor. The thunder-storm was frequently a _vig thrimu_, a conflict between thundering beings, in which the lightnings hurled by the ward of Midgard, the son of Hlodyn, crossed the lightnings hurled by the foes of Midgard.

Loke and his brothers _Helblindi_ and _Byl-eistr_ are the children of a giant of this kind, of a giant representing the hurricane and thunder. The rain-torrents and waterspouts of the hurricane, which directly or indirectly became wedded to the sea through the swollen streams, gave birth to Helblinde, who, accordingly, received _Rán_ as his "maid" (Yngl., 51). The whirlwind in the hurricane received as his ward _Byleistr_, whose name is composed of _bylr_, "whirlwind," and _eistr_, "the one dwelling in the east" (the north), a paraphrase for "giant." A thunderbolt from the hurricane gave birth to Loke. His father is called _Fárbauti_, "the one inflicting harm," and his mother is _Laufey_, "the leaf-isle," a paraphrase for the tree-crown (Younger Edda, 104, 268). Thus Loke is the son of the burning and destructive lightning, the son of him who particularly inflicts damaging blows on the sacred oaks (see No. 36) and sets fire to the groves. But the violence of the father does not appear externally in the son's character. He long prepares the conflagration of the world in secret, and not until he is put in chains does he exhibit, by the earthquakes he produces, the wild passion of his giant nature. As a fire-being, he was conceived as handsome and youthful. From an ethical point of view, the impurity of the flame which he represents is manifested by his unrestrained sensuousness. After he had been for ever exiled from the society of the gods and had been fettered in his cave of torture, his exterior, which was in the beginning beautiful, became transformed into an expression of his intrinsic wickedness, and his hair grew out in the form of horny spears (see above). In this too he reveals himself as a counterpart of Heimdal, whose helmet is ornamented with a glittering ram's horn.

83.

MUNDILFORE'S IDENTITY WITH LODUR.

The position which we have found Mundilfore to occupy indicates that, although not belonging to the powers dwelling in Asgard, he is one of the chief gods of the Teutonic mythology. All natural phenomena, which appear to depend on a fixed mechanical law and not on the initiative of any mighty will momentarily influencing the events of the world, seem to have been referred to his care. The mythology of the Teutons, like that of the Rigveda-Aryans, has had gods of both kinds--gods who particularly represent that order in the physical and moral world which became fixed in creation, and which, under normal conditions, remain entirely uniform, and gods who particularly represent the powerful temporary interference for the purpose of restoring this order when it has been disturbed, and for the purpose of giving protection and defence to their worshippers in times of trouble and danger. The latter are in their very nature war-gods always ready for battle, such as Vita and Indra in Rigveda, Odin and Thor-Indride in the Eddas; and they have their proper abode in a group of fortified celestial citadels like Asgard, whence they have their out-look upon the world they have to protect--the atmosphere and Midgard. The former, on the other hand, have their natural abode in Jormungrund's outer zone and in the lower world, whence the world-tree grew, and where the fountains are found whose liquids penetrate creation, and where that wisdom had its source of which Odin only, by self-sacrifice, secured a part. Down there dwell, accordingly, Urd and Mimer, Nat and Dag, Mundilfore with the dises of the sun and the moon, Delling, the genius of the glow of dawn, and Billing, the genius of the blushing sunset. There dwell the smiths of antiquity who made the chariots of the sun and moon and smithied the treasures of vegetation. There dwell the _nidjar_ who represent the moon's waxing and waning; there the seven sons of Mimer who represent the changing seasons (see No. 87). Mundilfore is the lord of the regular revolutions of the starry firmament, and of the regular rising and sinking of the sea in its ebb and flood. He is the father of the dises of the sun and moon, who make their celestial journeys according to established laws; and, finally, he is the origin of the holy fire; he is father of Heimdal, who introduced among men a systematic life in homes fixed and governed by laws. As the father of Heimdal, the Vana-god, Mundilfore is himself a Vana-god, belonging to the oldest branch of this race, and in all probability one of those "wise rulers" who, according to Vafthrudnersmal, "created Njord in Vanaheim and sent him as a hostage to the gods (the Asas)."

Whence came the clans of the Vans and the Elves? It should not have escaped the notice of the mythologists that the Teutonic theogony, as far as it is known, mentions only two progenitors of the mythological races--_Ymer_ and _Bure_. From Ymer develop the two very different races of giants, the offspring of his arms and that of his feet (see No. 86)--in other words, the noble race to which the norns Mimer and Beistla belong, and the ignoble, which begins with Thrudgelmer. _Bure_ gives birth to _Burr_ (Bor), and the latter has three sons--_Odinn_, _Vei (Vé)_, and _Vili (Vilir)_. Unless Bure had more sons, the Van- and Elf-clans have no other theogonic source than the same as the Asa-clan, namely, _Burr_. That the hierologists of the Teutonic mythology did not leave the origin of these clans unexplained we are assured by the very existence of a Teutonic theogony, together with the circumstance that the more thoroughly our mythology is studied the more clearly we see that this mythology has desired to answer every question which could reasonably be asked of it, and in the course of ages it developed into a systematic and epic whole with clear outlines sharply drawn in all details. To this must be added the important observation that _Vei_ and _Vili_, though brothers of Odin, are never counted among the Asas proper, and had no abode in Asgard. It is manifest that Odin himself with his sons founds the Asa-race, that, in other words, he is a clan-founder in which this race has its chieftain, and that his brothers, for this very reason, could not be included in his clan. There is every reason to assume that they, like him, were clan-founders; and as we find besides the Asa-clan two other races of gods, this of itself makes it probable that Odin's two brothers were their progenitors and clan-chieftains.

Odin's brothers, like himself, had many names. When Völuspa says that Odin, in the creation of man, was assisted by Honer and Loder, and when the Younger Edda (i. 52) says that, on this occasion, he was attended by his brothers, who just before (i. 46) are called Ve and Vile, then these are only different names of the same powers. Honer and Loder are Ve and Vile. It is a mistake to believe that Odin's brothers were mythical ghosts without characteristic qualities, and without prominent parts in the mythological events after the creation of the world and of man, in which we know they took an active part (Völuspa, 4, 16, 17). The assumption that this was the case depends simply upon the fact that they have not been found mentioned among the Asas, and that our records, when not investigated with proper thoroughness, and when the mythological synonymics have not been carefully examined, seem to have so little to say concerning them.