Part 2

All that has here been stated about Dvalin shows that the mythology has referred him to a place within the domain of Mimer's activity. We have still to point out two statements in regard to him. Sol is said to have been his _leika_ (Fornald., i. 475; Allvism, 17; Younger Edda, i. 472, 593). _Leika_, as a feminine word and referring to a personal object, means a young girl, a maiden, whom one keeps at his side, and in whose amusement one takes part at least as a spectator. The examples which we have of the use of the word indicate that the _leika_ herself, and the person whose _leika_ she is, are presupposed to have the same home. Sisters are called _leikur_, since they live together. Parents can call a foster-daughter their _leika_. In the neuter gender _leika_ means a plaything, a doll or toy, and even in this sense it can rhetorically be applied to a person.

In the same manner as Sol is called Dvalin's _leika_, so the son of Nat and Delling, Dag, is called _leikr Dvalins_, the lad or youth with whom Dvalin amused himself (Fornspjal., 24).

We have here found two points of contact between the mythic characters Dvalin and Delling. Dag, who is Dvalin's _leikr_, is Delling's son. Delling is the watchman of the castle of the _ásmegir_, which Dvalin's artists decorated.

Thus the whole group of persons among whom Dvalin is placed--Mimer, who is his teacher; Sol, who is his _leika_; Dag, who is his _leikr_; Nat, who is the mother of his _leikr_; Delling, who is the father of his _leikr_--have their dwellings in Mimer's domain, and belong to the subterranean class of the _numina_ of Teutonic mythology.

From regions situated below Midgard's horizon, Nat, Sol, and Dag draw their chariots upon the heavens. On the eastern border of the lower world is the point of departure for their regular journeys over the heavens of the upper world ("the upper heavens," _upphiminn_--Völuspa, 3; Vafthr., 20, and elsewhere; _uppheimr_--Alvm., 13). Nat has her home and, as shall be shown hereafter, her birthplace in dales beneath the ash Ygdrasil. There she takes her rest after the circuit of her journey has been completed. In the lower world Sol and Nat's son, Dag, also have their halls where they take their rest. But where Delling's wife and son have their dwellings there we should also look for Delling's own abode. As the husband of Nat and the father of Dag, Delling occupies the same place among the divinities of nature as the dawn and the glow of sunrise among the phenomena of nature. And outside the doors of Delling, the king of dawn, mythology has also located the dwarf _thjódreyrir_ ("he who moves the people"), who sings songs of awakening and blessing upon the world: "power to the Asas, success to the elves, wisdom to Hroptatyr" (_afl asom, enn alfum frama, hyggio Hroptaty_--Havam., 160).

Unlike his kinsmen, Nat, Dag, and Sol, Delling has no duty which requires him to be absent from home a part of the day. The dawn is merely a reflection of Midgard's eastern horizon from Delling's subterranean dwelling. It can be seen only when Nat leaves the upper heaven and before Dag and Sol have come forward, and it makes no journey around the world. From a mythological standpoint it would therefore be possible to entrust the keeping of the castle of the _ásmegir_ to the elf of dawn. The sunset-glow has another genius, Billing, and he, too, is a creation of Modsogner, if the dwarf-list is correct (Völuspa, 12). Sol, who on her way is pursued by two giant monsters in wolf-guise, is secure when she comes to her forest of the Varns behind the western horizon (_til varna vidar_--Grimn., 30). There in western halls (Vegtamskv., 11) dwells Billing, the chief of the Varns (_Billing veold Vernum_--Cod. Exon., 320). There rests his daughter Rind bright as the sun on her bed, and his body-guard keeps watch with kindled lights and burning torches (Havam., 100). Thus Billing is the watchman of the western boundary of Mimer's domain, Delling of the eastern.

From this it follows:

That the citadel of the _ásmegir_ is situated in Mimer's lower world, and there in the regions of the elf of dawn.

That Svipdag, who has seen the citadel of the _ásmegir_, has made a journey in the lower world before he found Menglad and secured her as his wife.

The conclusion to which we have arrived in regard to the subterranean situation of the citadel is entirely confirmed by the other passage in the poetic Edda, where the _ásmegir_ are mentioned by this name. Here we have an opportunity of taking a look within their castle, and of seeing the hall decorated with lavish splendour for the reception of an expected guest.

Vegtamskvida tells us that Odin, being alarmed in regard to the fate of his son Balder, made a journey to the lower world for the purpose of learning from a vala what foreboded his favourite son. When Odin had rode through Nifelhel and come to green pastures (_foldvegr_), he found there below a hall decorated for festivity, and he asks the prophetess:

hvæim eru bekkir baugum sánir, flæt fagrlig floth gulli?

"For whom are the benches strewn with rings and the gold beautifully scattered through the rooms?"

And the vala answers:

Her stændr Balldri of bruggin miodr, skirar væigar, liggr skiolldr yfir æn ásmegir i ofvæni.

"Here stands for Balder mead prepared, pure drink; shields are overspread, and the _ásmegir_ are waiting impatiently."

Thus there stands in the lower world a hall splendidly decorated awaiting Balder's arrival. As at other great feasts, the benches are strewn (cp. _breida bekki_, _strá bekki_, _bua bekki_) with costly things, and the pure wonderful mead of the lower world is already served as an offering to the god. Only the shields which cover the mead-vessel need to be lifted off and all is ready for the feast. Who or what persons have, in so good season, made these preparations? The vala explains when she mentions the _ásmegir_ and speaks of their longing for Balder. It is this longing which has found utterance in the preparations already completed for his reception. Thus, when Balder gets to the lower world, he is to enter the citadel of the _ásmegir_ and there be welcomed by a sacrifice, consisting of the noblest liquid of creation, the strength-giving _soma-madhu_ of Teutonic mythology. In the old Norse heathen literature there is only one more place where we find the word _ásmegir_, and that is in Olaf Trygveson's saga, ch. 16 (Heimskringla). For the sake of completeness this passage should also be considered, and when analysed it, too, sheds much and important light on the subject.

We read in this saga that Jarl Hakon proclaimed throughout his kingdom that the inhabitants should look after their temples and sacrifices, and so was done. Jarl Hakon's hird-skald, named Einar Skalaglam, who in the poem "Vellekla" celebrated his deeds and exploits, mentions his interest in the heathen worship, and the good results this was supposed to have produced for the jarl himself and for the welfare of his land. Einar says:

Ok hertharfir hverfa hlakkar móts til blóta, raudbrikar fremst rækir rikr, ásmegir, sliku. Nu grær jörd sem adan, &c.

Put in prose: _Ok hertharfir ásmegir hverfa til blóta; hlakkar móts raudbríkar ríkr rækír fremst sliku. Nu grær jörd sem ádan._

Translation: "And the _ásmegir_ required in war, turn themselves to the sacrificial feasts. The mighty promoter of the meeting of the red target of the goddess of war has honour and advantage thereof. Now grows the earth green as heretofore."

There can be no doubt that "the _ásmegir_ required in war" refer to the men in the territory ruled by Hakon, and that "the mighty promoter of the meeting of the red target of the goddess of war" refers to the warlike Hakon himself, and hence the meaning of the passage in its plain prose form is simply this: "Hakon's men again devote themselves to the divine sacrifices. This is both an honour and an advantage to Hakon, and the earth again yields bountiful harvests."

To these thoughts the skald has given a garb common in poetry of art, by adapting them to a mythological background. The persons in this background are the ásmegir and a mythical being called "the promoter of the red target," _raudbríkar rækir_. The persons in the foreground are the men in Hakon's realm and Hakon himself. The persons in the foreground are permitted to borrow the names of the corresponding persons in the background, but on the condition that the borrowed names are furnished with adjectives which emphasise the specific difference between the original mythic lenders and the real borrowers. Thus Hakon's subjects are allowed to borrow the appellation _ásmegir_, but this is then furnished with, the adjective _hertharfir_ (required in war), whereby they are specifically distinguished from the _ásmegir_ of the mythical background, and Hakon on his part is allowed to borrow the appellation _raudbríkar rækir_ (the promoter of the red target), but this appellation is then furnished with the adjective phrase _hlakkar móts_ (of the meeting of the goddess of war), whereby Hakon is specifically distinguished from the _raudbríkar rækir_ of the mythical background.

The rule also requires that, at least on that point of which the skald happens to be treating, the persons in the mythological background should hold a relation to each other which resembles, and can be compared with, the relation between the persons in the foreground. Hakon's men stand in a subordinate relation to Hakon himself; and so must the _ásmegir_ stand in a subordinate relation to that being which is called _raudbríkar rækir_, providing the skald in this strophe as in the others has produced a tenable parallel. Hakon is, for his subjects, one who exhorts them to piety and fear of the gods. _Raudbríkar rækir_, his counterpart in the mythological background, must have been the same for his _ásmegir_. Hakon's subjects offer sacrifices, and this is an advantage and an honour to Hakon, and the earth grows green again. In the mythology the _ásmegir_ must have held some sacrificial feast, and _raudbríkar rækir_ must have had advantage and honour, and the earth must have regained its fertility. Only on these conditions is the figure of comparison to the point, and of such a character that it could be presented unchallenged to heathen ears familiar with the myths. It should be added that Einar's greatness as a skald is not least shown by his ability to carry out logically such figures of comparison. We shall later on give other examples of this.

Who is, then, this _raudbríkar rækir_, "the promoter of the red target?"

In the mythological language _raudbrik_ (red target) can mean no other object than the sun. Compare _rödull_, which is frequently used to designate the sun. If this needed confirmation, then we have it immediately at hand in the manner in which the word is applied in the continuation of the paraphrase adapted to Hakon. A common paraphrase for the shield is the sun with suitable adjectives, and thus _raudbrik_ is applied here. The adjective phrase is here _hlakkar móts_, "of the meeting of the war-goddess" (that is, qualifying the red target), whereby the red target (= sun), which is an attribute of the mythic _rækir_ of the background, is changed to a shield, which becomes an attribute of the historical _rækir_ of the foreground, namely Hakon jarl, the mighty warrior. Accordingly, _raudbríkar rækir_ of the mythology must be a masculine divinity standing in some relation to the sun.

This sun-god must also have been upon the whole a god of peace. Had he not been so, but like Hakon a war-loving shield-bearer, then the paraphrase _hlakkar móts raudbríkar rækir_ would equally well designate him as Hakon, and thus it could not be used to designate Hakon alone, as it then would contain neither a _nota characteristica_ for him nor a _differentia specifica_ to distinguish him from the mythic person, whose epithet _raudbríkar rækir_ he has been allowed to borrow.

This peaceful sun-god must have descended to the lower world and there stood in the most intimate relation with the _ásmegir_ referred to the domain of Mimer, for he is here represented as their chief and leader in the path of piety and the fear of the gods. The myth must have mentioned a sacrificial feast or sacrificial feasts celebrated by the _ásmegir_. From this or these sacrificial feasts the peaceful sun-god must have derived advantage and honour, and thereupon the earth must have regained a fertility, which before that had been more or less denied it.

From all this it follows with certainty that _raudbrikar rækir_ of the mythology is Balder. The fact suggested by the Vellekla strophe above analysed, namely, that Balder, physically interpreted, is a solar divinity, the mythological scholars are almost a unit in assuming to be the case on account of the general character of the Balder myth. Though Balder was celebrated for heroic deeds he is substantially a god of peace, and after his descent to the lower world he is no longer connected with the feuds and dissensions of the upper world. We have already seen that he was received in the lower world with great pomp by the _ásmegir_, who impatiently awaited his arrival, and that they sacrifice to him that bright mead of the lower world, whose wonderfully beneficial and bracing influence shall be discussed below. Soon afterwards he is visited by Hermod. Already before Balder's funeral pyre, Hermod upon the fastest of all steeds hastened to find him in the lower world (Gylfag., 51, 52), and Hermod returns from him and Nanna with the ring _Draupnir_ for Odin, and with a veil for the goddess of earth, Fjorgyn-Frigg. The ring from which other rings drop, and the veil which is to beautify the goddess of earth, are symbols of fertility. Balder, the sun-god, had for a long time before his death been languishing. Now in the lower world he is strengthened with the bracing mead of Mimer's domain by the _ásmegir_ who gladly give offerings, and the earth regains her green fields.

Hakon's men are designated in the strophe as _hertharfir ásmegir_. When they are permitted to borrow the name of the _ásmegir_, then the adjective _hertharfir_, if chosen with the proper care, is to contain a specific distinction between them and the mythological beings whose name they have borrowed. In other words, if the real _ásmegir_ were of such a nature that they could be called _hertharfir_, then that adjective would not serve to distinguish Hakon's men from them. The word _hertharfir_ means "those who are needed in war," "those who are to be used in war." Consequently, the _ásmegir_ are beings who are _not_ to be used in war, beings whose dwelling, environment, and purpose suggest a realm of peace, from which the use of weapons is banished.

Accordingly, the parallel presented in Einar's strophe, which we have now discussed, is as follows:

_Mythology._ _History._

Peaceful beings of the lower Warlike inhabitants of the world (ásmegir). earth (hertharfir ásmegir).

at the instigation of their at the instigation of their chief, chief,

the sun-god Balder (raudbríkar the shield's Balder, Hakon rækir), (hlakkar móts raudbríkar rækir),

go to offer sacrifices. go to offer sacrifices.

The peaceful Balder is thereby The shield's Balder is thereby benefited. benefited.

The earth grows green again. The earth grows green again.

ok ásmegir, ok hertharfir ásmegir,

hverfa til blóta; hverfa til blóta

raudbrikar rikr rækir hlakkar móts raudbríkar rikr rækir fremst sliku. fremst sliku.

Nú grær jördsem ádan. Nú grær jörd sem ádan.

In the background which Einar has given to his poetical paraphrase, we thus have the myth telling how the sun-god Balder, on his descent to the lower world, was strengthened by the soma-sacrifice brought him by the _ásmegir_, and how he sent back with Hermod the treasures of fertility which had gone with him and Nanna to the lower world, and which restored the fertility of the earth.

To what category of beings do the _ásmegir_ then belong? We have seen the word applied as a technical term in a restricted sense. The possibilities of application which the word with reference to its definition supplies are:

(1) The word may be used in the purely physical sense of Asa-sons, Asa-descendants. In this case the subterranean _ásmegir_ would be by their very descent members of that god-clan that resides in Asgard, and whose father and clan-patriarch is Odin.

(2) The word can be applied to men. They are the children of the Asa-father in a double sense: the first human pair was created by Odin and his brothers (Völusp., 16, 17; Gylfag., 9), and their offspring are also in a moral sense Odin's children, as they are subject to his guidance and care. He is Alfather, and the father of the succeeding generations (_allfadir_, _aldafadir_). A word resembling _ásmegir_ in character is _ásasynir_, and this is used in Allvismal, 16, in a manner which shows that it does not refer to any of those categories of beings that are called gods (see further, No. 62)[5] The conception of men as sons of the gods is also implied in the all mankind embracing phrase, _megir Heimdallar_ (Völusp., 1), with which the account of Rig-Heimdal's journey on the earth and visit to the patriarchs of the various classes is connected.[6]

The true meaning of the word in this case is determined by the fact that the _ásmegir_ belong to the dwellers in the lower world already before the death of Balder, and that Balder is the first one of the Asas and sons of Odin who becomes a dweller in the lower world. To this must be added, that if _ásmegir_ meant Asas, Einar would never have called the inhabitants of Norway, the subjects of jarl Hakon, _hertharfir ásmegir_, for _hertharfir_ the Asas are themselves, and that in the highest degree. They constitute a body of more or less warlike persons, who all have been "needed in conflict" in the wars around Asgard and Midgard, and they all, Balder included, are gods of war and victory. It would also have been _malapropos_ to compare men with Asas on an occasion when the former were represented as bringing sacrifices to the gods; that is, as persons subordinate to them and in need of their assistance.

The _ásmegir_ are, therefore, human beings excluded from the surface of the earth, from the mankind which dwell in Midgard, and are inhabitants of the lower world, where they reside in a splendid castle kept by the elf of dawn, Delling, and enjoy the society of Balder, who descended to Hades. To subterranean human beings refers also Grimnismal, 21, which says that men (_mennzkir menn_) dwell under the roots of Ygdrasil; and Allvismal, 16 (to be compared with 18, 20, and other passages), and Skirnersmal, 34, which calls them _áslithar_, a word which Gudbrand Vigfusson has rightly assumed to be identical with _ásmegir_.

Thus it is also demonstrated that the _ásmegir_ are identical with the subterranean human persons Lif and Leifthraser and their descendants in Mimer's grove. The care with which the mythology represents the citadel of the _ásmegir_ kept, shown by the fact that the elf Delling, the counterpart of Heimdal in the lower world, has been entrusted with its keeping, is intelligible and proper when we know that it is of the greatest importance to shield Lif and Leifthraser's dwelling from all ills, sickness, age, and moral evil (see above). It is also a beautiful poetic thought that it is the elf of the morning dawn--he outside of whose door the song of awakening and bliss is sung to the world--who has been appointed to watch those who in the dawn of a new world shall people the earth with virtuous and happy races. That the _ásmegir_ in the lower world are permitted to enjoy the society of Balder is explained by the fact that Lif and Leifthraser and their offspring are after Ragnarok to accompany Balder to dwell under his sceptre, and live a blameless life corresponding to his wishes. They are to be his disciples, knowing their master's commandments and having them written in their hearts.

We have now seen that the _ásmegir_ already before Balder's death dwell in Mimer's grove. We have also seen that Svipdag on his journey in the lower world had observed a castle, which he knew belonged to the _ásmegir_. The mythology knows two fimbul-winters; the former raged in time's morning, the other is to precede Ragnarok. The former occurred when Freyja, the goddess of fertility, was treacherously delivered into the power of the frost-giants and all the air was blended with corruption (Völusp., 26); when there came from the Elivogs stinging, ice-cold arrows of frost, which put men to death and destroyed the greenness of the earth (Fornspjallsljod); when King Snow ruled, and there came in the northern lands a famine which compelled the people to emigrate to the South (Saxo, i. 415). Svipdag made his journey in the lower world during the time preceding the first fimbul-winter. This follows from the fact that it was he who liberated Freyja, the sister of the god of the harvests, from the power of the frost-giants (see Nos. 96-102). Lif and Leifthraser were accordingly already at that time transferred to Mimer's grove. This ought to have occurred before the earth and her inhabitants were afflicted by physical and moral evil, while there still could be found undefiled men to be saved for the world to come; and we here find that the mythology, so far as the records make it possible for us to investigate the matter, has logically met this claim of poetic justice.

[1] S. Bugge, Sæmund. Edda, xxvi. Thorl. Jónsson's Edda, Snorra St., viii.

[2] Looking simply at the form, the strophe may also be translated in the following manner: "Tell me, Fjolsvinn, what I ask of you, and what I wish to know. Who of the _ásmegir_ made what I saw within the castle wall?" Against this formal possibility there are, however, several objections of facts. Svipdag would then be asking Fjolsvinn who had made that which he once in the past had seen within a castle wall without informing Fjolsvinn in regard to which particular castle wall he has reference. It also presupposes that Svipdag knew that the _ásmegir_ had made the things in question which were within the castle wall, and that he only wished to complete his knowledge by finding out which one or ones of the _ásmegir_ it was that had made them. And finally, it would follow from Fjolsvinn's answer that the dwarfs he enumerates are sons of Asas. The formal possibility pointed out has also a formal probability against it. The gen. pl. _ásmaga_ has as its nearest neighbour _gard_, not _hverr_, and should therefore be referred to _gard_, not to _hverr_, even though both the translations gave an equally satisfactory meaning so far as the facts related are concerned; but that is not the case.

[3] I follow the text in most of the manuscripts, of which Bugge has given various versions. One manuscript has in the text, another in the margin, _Lidscialfr_, written in one word (instead of _lithsci alfr_). Of this Munch made _Lidskjalfr_. The dative _loki_ from _lok_, a gate (cp. _luka loka_, to close, enclose) has been interpreted as _Loki_, and thus made the confusion complete.

[4] _Thar_ (in the assembly of the gods) _var Modsognir mæstr um ordinn dverga allra_.

[5]

_Sol heitir med monnom, enn sunna med godum, kalla dvergar Dvalin's leika eyglo iotnar, alfar fagra hvel alscir asa synir._

[6] Cp. also Gylfag., 9, in regard to Odin: _Ok fyrir thvi má hann heita Allfodr, at hann er fadir alra godanna ok manna ok alls thess, er af honom ok hans krapti var fullgjört._

54.

THE IRANIAN MYTH CONCERNING MIMER'S GROVE.