Part 20

The question now is, whether the sword smithied by Volund and the one fetched by Hotherus are identical or not. The former is smithied in a winter-cold country beyond Myrkwood, where the mythic _Nidadr_ suddenly appears, takes possession of it, and the purpose for which it was made, judging from all circumstances, was that Volund with its aid was to conquer the hated powers which, stronger than he, the chief of elves, had compelled him to take refuge to the Wolfdales. If these powers were Asas or Vans, then it follows that Volund must have thought himself able to give to his sword qualities that could render it dangerous to the world of gods, although the latter had Thor's hammer and other subterranean weapons at their disposal. The sword captured by Hotherus is said to possess those very qualities which we might look for in the Volund weapon, and the regions he has to traverse in order to get possession of it refer, by their cold and remoteness, to a land similar to that where _Nidadr_ surprises Volund, and takes from him the dangerous sword.

As already stated, Nidad at the same time captured an arm-ring of an extraordinary kind. If the saga about Volund and his sword was connected with the saga-fragment turned into history by Saxo concerning Hotherus and the sword, whose owner he becomes, then we might reasonably expect that the precious arm-ring, too, should appear in the latter saga. And we do find it there. Mimingus, who guards the sword of victory, also guards a wonderful arm-ring, and through Saxo we learn what quality makes this particular arm-ring so precious, that Nidad does not seem to care about the other seven hundred which he finds in Volund's workshop. Saxo says: _Eidem (Mimingo) quoque armillam esse mira quadam arcanaque virtute possessoris opes augere solitam_. "In the arm-ring there dwells a wonderful and mysterious power, which increases the wealth of its possessor." In other words, it is a smith's work, the rival of the ring Draupner, from which eight similar rings drop every ninth night. This explains why Volund's smithy contains so many rings, that Nidad expresses his suspicious wonderment (str. 13).

There are therefore strong reasons for assuming that the sword and the ring, which Hotherus takes from Mimingus, are the same sword and ring as Nidad before took from Volund, and that the saga, having deprived Volund of the opportunity of testing the quality of the weapon himself in conflict with the gods, wanted to indicate what it really amounted to in a contest with Thor and his hammer by letting the sword came into the hands of Hotherus, another foe of the Asas. As we now find such articles as those captured by Nidad reappearing in the hands of a certain Mimingus, the question arises whether Mimingus is Nidad himself or some one of Nidad's subjects; for that they either are identical, or are in some way connected with each other, seems to follow from the fact that the one is said to possess what the other is said to have captured. Mimingus is a Latinising of _Mimingr_, _Mimungr_, son or descendant of Mimer.

_Nidadr_, _Nidudr_ (both variations are found in Volundarkvida), has, on the other hand, his counterpart in the Anglo-Saxon Nidhâd. The king who in "Deor the Scald's Complaint" fetters Volund bears this name, and his daughter is called Beadohild, in Volundarkvida Bodvild. Previous investigators have already remarked that Beadohild is a more original form than Bodvild, and Nidhad than _Nidudr_, _Nidadr_. The name Nidhad is composed of _nid_ (neuter gender), the lower world, Hades, and _had_, a being, person, _forma_, _species_. Nidhad literally means the lower world being, the Hades being. Herewith we also have his mythical character determined. A mythical king, who is characterised as the _being of the lower world_, must be a subterranean king. The mythic records extant speak of the subterranean king Mimer (the middle-age saga's Gudmund, king of the Glittering Fields; see Nos. 45, 46), who rules over the realm of the well of wisdom and has the dis of fate as his kinswoman, the princess of the realm of Urd's fountain and of the whole realm of death. While we thus find, on the one hand, that it is a subterranean king who captures Volund's sword and arm-ring, we find, on the other hand, that when Hotherus is about to secure the irresistible sword and the wealth-producing ring, he has to betake himself to the same winter-cold country, where all the traditions here discussed (see Nos. 45-49) locate the descent to Mimer's realm, and that he, through an entrance "scarcely approachable for mortals," must proceed into the bosom of the earth after he has subdued a Mimingus, a son of Mimer. Mimer being the one who took possession of the treasure, it is perfectly natural that his son should be its keeper.

This also explains why _Nidadr_ in Volundarkvida is called the king of the Njares. A people called Njares existed in the mythology, but not in reality. The only explanation of the word is to be found in the Mimer epithet, which we discovered in the variations Narve, Njorve, Nare, Nere, which means "he who binds." They are called Njares, because they belong to the clan of Njorvi-Nare.

Volundarkvida (str. 19, with the following prose addition) makes Nidad's queen command Volund's knee-sinews to be cut. Of such a cruelty the older poem, "Deor the Skald's Complaint," knows nothing. This poem relates, on the other hand, that Nidad bound Volund with a fetter made from a strong sinew:

siththan hinne Nidhad on nede legde sveoncre seono-bende.

Though Volund is in the highest degree skilful, he is not able to free himself from these bonds. They are of magic kind, and resemble those _örlogthættir_ which are tied by Mimer's kinswoman Urd. Nidad accordingly here appears in Mimer-Njorve's character as "binder." With this fetter of sinew we must compare the one with which Loke was bound, and that tough and elastic one which was made in the lower world and which holds Fenrer bound until Ragnarok. And as Volund--a circumstance already made probable, and one that shall be fully proved below--actually regards himself as insulted by the gods, and has planned a terrible revenge against them, then it is an enemy of Odin that Nidhad here binds, and the above-cited paraphrase for the death-dis, Urd, employed by Egil Skallagrimson, "the kinswoman of the binder (Njorva) of Odin's foes" (see No. 85), also becomes applicable here.

The tradition concerning Nidhad's original identity with Mimer flourished for a long time in the German middle-age sagas, and passed thence into the Vilkinasaga, where the banished Volund became Mimer's smith. The author of Vilkinasaga, compiling both from German and from Norse sources, saw Volund in the German records as a smith in Mimer's employ, and in the Norse sagas he found him as Nidhad's smith, and from the two synonyms he made two persons.

The Norse form of the name most nearly corresponding to the Old English Nidhad is _Nidi_, "the subterranean," and that Mimer also among the Norsemen was known by this epithet is plain both from the Sol-song and from Völuspa. The skald of the Sol-song sees in the lower world "Nide's sons, seven together, drinking the clear mead from the well of ring-Regin." The well of the lower world with the "clear mead" is Mimer's fountain, and the paraphrase ring-Regin is well suited to Mimer, who possessed among other treasures the wonderful ring of Hotherus. Völuspa speaks of Nide's mountain, the Hvergelmer mountain, from which the subterranean dragon Nidhog flies (see No. 75), and of Nide's plains where Sindre's race have their golden hall. Sindre is, as we know, one of the most celebrated primeval smiths of mythology, and he smithied Thor's lightning hammer, Frey's golden boar, and Odin's spear Gungner (Gylfaginning). Dwelling with his kinsmen in Mimer's realm, he is one of the artists whom the ruler of the lower world kept around him (cp. No. 53). Several of the wonderful things made by these artists, as for instance the harvest-god's Skidbladner, and golden boar, and Sif's golden locks, are manifestly symbols of growth or vegetation. The same is therefore true of the original Teutonic primeval smiths as of the Ribhuians, the ancient smiths of Rigveda, that they make not only implements and weapons, but also grass and herbs. Out of the lower world grows the world-tree, and is kept continually fresh by the liquids of the sacred fountains. In the abyss of the lower world and in the sea is ground that mould which makes the fertility of Midgard possible (see No. 80); in the lower world "are smithied" those flowers and those harvests which grow out of this mould, and from the manes of the subterranean horses, and from their foaming bridles, falls on the fields and meadows that honey-dew "which gives harvests to men."

Finally, it must be pointed out that when Nidhad binds Volund, the foe of the gods, this is in harmony with Mimer's activity throughout the epic of the myths as the friend of the Asa-gods, and as the helper of Odin, his sister's son, in word and deed.

Further evidences of Mimer's identity with Nidhad are to be found in the Svipdag myth, which I shall discuss further on.

Vafthrudnersmal states in strophe 25 that "beneficent _regin_ (makers) created Ny and Nedan to count times for men," this being said in connection with what it states about Narve, Nat, and Dag. In the Völuspa dwarf-list we find that the chief of these _regin_ was Modsogner, whose identity with Mimer has been shown (see No. 53). Modsogner-Mimer created among other "dwarfs" also Ny and Nedan (Völuspa, 11). These are, therefore, his sons at least in the sense that they are indebted to him for their origin. The expressions to create and to beget are very closely related in the mythology. Of Njord Vafthrudner also says (str. 39) that "wise _regin_ created him" in Vanaheim.

As sons of Nide-Mimer the changes of the moon have been called after his name _Nidi_, and collectively they have been called by the plural _Nidgar_, in a later time _Nidar_. And as Nat's brothers they are enumerated along with her as a stereotyped alliteration. In Vafthrudnersmal Odin asks the wise giant whether he knows whence Nat and Nidjar (_Nott med Nithom_) came, and Völuspa (6) relates that in the dawn of time the high holy gods (_regin_) seated themselves on their judgment-seats and gave names to Nat and Nidjar (_Nott ok Nithiom_). The giving of a name was in heathen times a sacred act, which implied an adoption in the name-giver's family or circle of friends.

_Nidjar_ also appears to have had his signification of moon-changes in regard to the changes of months. According to Saxo (see No. 46), King Gorm saw in the lower world twelve sons of Gudmund-Mimer, all "of noble appearance." Again, Solarljod's skald says that the sons of Nide, whom he saw in the lower world, were "seven together." From the standpoint of a nature-symbol the difference in these statements is explained by the fact that the months of the year were counted as twelve, but in regard to seasons and occupations there were seven divisions: _gor-mánudr_, _frer-m._, _hrut-m._, _ein-m._, _sol-m._, _sel-m._, _kornskurdar-mánudr_. Seven is the epic-mythological number of these _Nidjar_. To the saga in regard to these I shall return in No. 94.

88.

A GENERAL REVIEW OF MIMER'S NAMES AND EPITHETS.

The names, epithets, and paraphrases with which the king of the lower world, the ward of the fountain of wisdom, was designated, according to the statements hitherto made, are the following:

(1) _Mimir_ (_Hodd-mímir_, _Mímr_, _Mími_, _Mime der alte_).

(2) _Narfi_ (_Narvi_, _Njorvi_, _Nörr_, _Nari_, _Neri_).

(3) _Nidi_ (_Nidhad_, _Nidadr_, _Nidudr_, _Nidungr_).

These three names, which means the Thinker, the Binder, the Subterranean, are presumably all ancient.

(4) _Modsognir_, "the mead-drinker."

(5) _Hoddrofnir_, presumably "the one bounteous in treasures."

(6) _Gauta spjalli_, "the one with whom Gaute (Odin) counsels."

(7) _Baug-regin_, Ring-regin.

(8) _Godmundr_, the name by which Mimer appears in Christian middle-age sagas of Norse origin. To these names may still be added:

(9) _Fimbulthulr_, "the great teacher" (the lecturer). Havamál (str. 142; cp. str. 80) says that _Fimbulthulr_ drew (_fadi_) the runes, that _ginn-regin_ "made" (_gordo_) them, that is to say, in the older sense of the word, prepared them for use, and that Odin (_hroptr raugna_) carved (_reist_) them. In the strophes immediately preceding, it is said that Odin, by self-sacrifice, begot runes out of the deep and fimbul-songs from Beistla's brother. These statements, joined with those which mention how the runes given by Mimer were spread over the world, and were taught by various clan-chiefs to different clans (see No. 53), make it evident that a perfect myth had been developed in regard to the origin of the runes and the spreading of runic knowledge. Mimer, as the possessor of the well of wisdom, was the inventor or source of the runes. When Sigrdrifumal (str. 13) says that they dropped out of Hoddrofner's horn, this is, figuratively speaking, the same as Havamál tells, when it states that Fimbulthul carved them. The oldest powers (_ginnregin_) and Odin afterwards developed and spread them.

At the time of Tacitus, and probably one or two centuries earlier, the art of writing was known among the Teutons. The runic inscriptions that have come down to our time bear evidence of a Greek-Roman origin.

By this we do not mean to deny that there were runes--at least, non-phonetic ones--before them. The many kinds of magic runes of which our mythic records speak are perhaps reminiscences of them. At all events we must distinguish the latter from the common runes for writing, and also from the many kinds of cypher-runes the keys of which are to be sought in the common phonetic rune-row.

(10) _Brimir_. By the side of the golden hall of Sindre, Völuspa (str. 36) mentions the giants Brimer's "bjór" hall, which is in _Okólnir_. _Bjórr_ is a synonym for mead and ale (Alvism., 34). _Okólnir_ means "the place where cold is not found." The reference is to a giant dwelling in the lower world who presides over mead, and whose hall is situated in a domain to which cold cannot penetrate. The myth has put this giant in connection with Ymer, who in relative opposition to him is called _Leirbrimir_, clay-Brimer (Fjöllsvinnsmal). These circumstances refer to Mimer. So also Sigrdrifumal (str. 14), where it is said that "Odin stood on the mountain with Brimer's sword" (_Brimis eggiar_), when Mimer's head for the first time talked with him. The expression "Brimer's sword" is ambiguous. As a head was once used as a weapon against Heimdal, a sword and a head can, according to Skaldskaparmal, be employed as paraphrases for each other, whence "Brimer's sword" may be the same as "Mimer's head" (Skaldskaparmal 69, Cod. H.; cp. Skaldskaparmal, 8, and Gylfag., 27). Sigrdrifumal certainly also employs the phrase in its literal sense of a famous mythological sword, for, in the case in question, it represents Odin as fully armed, with helmet on his head; and the most excellent mythological sword, according to an added line in strophe 24 of Grimnersmal (Cod. A.), bore Brimer's name, just as the same sword in the German saga has the name Miminc (Biterolf v. 176, in Vilkinasaga changed to Mimmung), doubtless because it at one time was in Mimer-Nidhad's possession; for the German saga (Biterolf, 157; cp. Vilkinasaga, ch. 23) remembers that a sword called by Mimer's name was the same celebrated weapon as that made by Volund (Weiland in Biterolf; Velint in Vilkinasaga), and hence the same work of art as that which, according to Vilkinasaga, Nidhad captured from him during his stay in Wolfdales.

89.

THE MEAD MYTH.

We have seen (Nos. 72, 73) that the mead which was brewed from the three subterranean liquids destroys the effects of death and gives new vitality to the departed, and that the same liquid is absorbed by the roots of the world-tree, and in its trunk is distilled into that sap which gives the tree eternal life. From the stem the mead rises into the foliage of the crown, whose leaves nourish the fair giver of "the sparkling drink," in Grimnersmal symbolised as Heidrun, from the streams of whose teats the mead-horns in Asgard are filled for the einherjes. The morning dew which falls from Ygdrasil down into the dales of the lower world contains the same elements. From the bridle of Rimfaxe and from the horses of the valkyries some of the same dew also falls in the valleys of Midgard (see No. 74). The flowers receive it in their chalices, where the bees extract it, and thus is produced the earthly honey which man uses, and from which he brews _his_ mead (cp. Gylfag., ch. 16). Thus the latter too contains some of the strength of Mimer's and Urd's fountains (_veigar_--see Nos. 72, 73), and thus it happens that it is able to stimulate the mind and inspire poetry and song--nay, used with prudence, it may suggest excellent expedients in important emergencies (cp. Tacitus, _Germania_).

Thus the world-tree is among the Teutons, as it is among their kinsmen the Iranians (see below), a _mead-tree_. And so it was called by the latter, possibly also by the former. The name _miötvidr_, with which the world-tree is mentioned in Völuspa (2) and whose origin and meaning have been so much discussed, is from a mythological standpoint satisfactorily explained if we assume that an older word, _miödvidr_, the mead-tree, passed into the word similar in sound, _miötvidr_, the tree of fate (from _miöt_, measure; cp. _mjötudr_ in the sense of fate, the power which gives measure, and the Anglo-Saxon _metod_, Old Saxon _metod_, the giver of measure, fate, providence).

The sap of the world-tree and the _veigar_ of the horn of the lower world are not, however, precisely the same mead as the pure and undefiled liquid from Mimer's fountain, that which Odin in his youth, through self-sacrifice, was permitted to taste, nor is it precisely the same as that concerning the possession of which the powers of mythology long contended, before it finally, through Odin's adventures at Suttung's, came to Asgard. The episodes of this conflict concerning the mead will be given as my investigation progresses, so far as they can be discovered. Here we must first examine what the heathen records have preserved in regard to the closing episode in which the conflict was ended in favour of Asgard. What the Younger Edda (Bragarædur) tells about it I must for the present leave entirely unnoticed, lest the investigation should go astray and become entirely abortive.

The chief sources are the Havamál strophes 104-110, and strophes 13 and 14. Subordinate sources are Grimnersmal (50) and Ynglingatal (15). To this must be added half a strophe by Eyvind Skaldaspiller (Skaldskaparmal, ch. 2).

The statements of the chief source have, strange to say, been almost wholly unobserved, while the mythologists have confined their attention to the later presentation in Bragarædur, which cannot be reconciled with the earlier accounts, and which from a mythological standpoint is worse than worthless. In 1877 justice was for the first time done to Havamál in the excellent analysis of the strophes in question made by Prof. M. B. Richert, in his "Attempts at explaining the obscure passages not hitherto understood in the poetic Edda."

From Havamál alone we get directly or indirectly the following:

The giant Suttung, also called Fjalar, has acquired possession of the precious mead for which Odin longs. The Asa-father resolves to capture it by cunning.

There is a feast at Fjalar's. Guests belonging to the clan of rimthurses are gathered in his halls (Havamál, 110). Besides these we must imagine that Suttung-Fjalar's own nearest kith and kin are present. The mythology speaks of a separate clan entirely distinct from the rimthurses, known as _Suttungs Synir_ (Alvismal, Skirnersmal; see No. 78), whose chief must be Suttung-Fjalar, as his very name indicates. The Suttung kin and the rimthurses are accordingly gathered at the banquet on the day in question.

An honoured guest is expected, and a golden high-seat prepared for him awaits his arrival. From the continuation of the story we learn that the expected guest is the wooer or betrothed of Suttung-Fjalar's daughter, Gunlad. On that night the wedding of the giant's daughter is to be celebrated.

Odin arrives, but in disguise. He is received as the guest of honour, and is conducted to the golden high-seat. It follows of necessity that the guise assumed by Odin, when he descends to the mortal foes of the gods and of himself, is that of the expected lover. Who the latter was Havamál does not state, unless strophe 110, 5, like so many other passages, is purposely ambiguous and contains his name, a question which I shall consider later.

After the adventure has ended happily, Odin looks back with pleasure upon the success with which he assumed the guise of the stranger and played his part (str. 107). _el keyptz litar hefi ec vel notith_: "From the well changed exterior I reaped great advantage." In regard to the mythological meaning of _litr_, see No. 95: The expression _keyptr litr_, which literally means "purchased appearance," may seem strange, but _kaupa_ means not only to "buy," but also to "change," "exchange;" _kaupa klædum vid einn_ means "to change clothes with some one." Of a queen who exchanged her son with a slave woman, it is said that she _keyptr um sonu vid ambátt_. But the cause of Odin's joy is not that he successfully carried out a cunning trick, but that he in this way accomplished a deed of inestimable value for Asgard and for man (str., 107, 4-6), and he is sorry that poor Gunlad's trust in him was betrayed (str. 105). This is a characterisation of Odin's personality.

Nor does Havamál tell us what hinders the real lover from putting in his appearance and thwarting Odin's plan, while the latter is acting his part; but of this we learn something from another source, which we shall consider below.

The adventure undertaken by Odin is extremely dangerous, and he ran the risk of losing his head (str. 106, 6). For this reason he has, before entering Suttung-Fjalar's halls, secured an egress, through which he must be able to fly, and if possible, with the skaldic mead as his booty. There is no admittance for everybody to the rocky abode where the mead-treasure so much desired by all powers is kept. The dwelling is, as Eyvind tells us, situated in an abyss, and the door is, as another record tells us, watched. But Odin has let Rate bore ("gnaw") a tunnel through the mountain large enough to give him room to retire secretly (str. 106). In regard to Rate, see No. 82.

When the pretended lover has seated himself in the golden high-seat, a conversation begins around the banquet table. It is necessary for Odin to guard well his words, for he represents another person, well known there, and if he is not cautious he may be discovered. It is also necessary to be eloquent and winning, so that he may charm Gunlad and secure her devotion, for without her knowledge he cannot gain his end, that of carrying away the supply of inspiration-mead kept at Suttung's. Odin also boasts (str. 103, 104) that on this occasion he proved himself _minnigr_ and _málugr_ and _margfrodr_ and eloquent for the realisation of his plan.

During the progress of the feast the guest had his glass filled to his honour with the precious mead he desired to obtain. "Gunlad gave me on the golden seat the drink of the precious mead" (str. 105).

Then the marriage ceremony was performed, and on the holy ring Gunlad took to Odin the oath of faithfulness (str. 110).