Part 13

But some evil tongue persuaded the gods that the Ribhus had said something derogatory of the goblet made by Tvashtar. This made Tvashtar angry, and he demanded their death. The gods then sent the fire-god Agni to the Ribhus. The Ribhus asked: "Why has the most excellent, the most youthful one come to us? On what errand does he come?" Agni told them that it was reported that they had found fault with Tvashtar's goblet; they declared that they had not said anything derogatory, but only talked about the material of which it was made. Agni meanwhile stated the resolution of the gods, to the effect that they were to make from Tvashtar's goblet four others of the same kind. If they were unable to do this, then the gods would doubtless satisfy Tvashtar's request and take their lives; but if they were able to make the goblets, then they should share with the gods the right to receive offerings. Moreover, they were to give the following proof of mastership. They were to smithy a living horse, a living chariot, a living cow, and they were to create a means of rejuvenation and demonstrate its efficacy on two aged and enfeebled beings. The Ribhus informed the gods that they would do what was demanded of them. So they made the wonderful chariot or the chariot-ship, which they gave to the Asvinians--the beautiful twin-gods--on which they ride through the air and on the sea (cp. Skidbladner, Frey's ship, and Hringhorne, Balder's, and probably also Hoder's means of locomotion through the air and on the sea). Of one horse they made two, and presented them to Indra. Out of an empty cow's hide they smithied a cow (cp. Sindre's work of art when he made the boar Slidringtanne out of an empty pig's skin). They made the remedy of rejuvenation, and tested it successfully on their aged parents. Finally, they do the great master-work of producing four goblets of equal excellence from Tvashtar's. Thereupon they appear before the gods who, "with insight," test their works. Tvashtar himself could not help being astounded when he saw the goblets. But the result of the test by the gods, and the judgment passed on the art-works of the Ribhus, were fraught with danger for the future. Both Tvashtar and the Ribhus became dissatisfied. Tvashtar abandoned the gods and betook himself to the mountains with the dises of vegetation, in whose company he is often mentioned. The Ribhus refused to accept from the gods the proffered share in morning and noon sacrifices, and went away cursing their adversaries. They proceeded on long journeys, and the gods knew not where to find them (Rigv., i. 161, 1-13; iv. 33, 1-11, &c.).

The result of this trouble between the primeval artists themselves, and between them and the gods, becomes clear from the significance which Tvashtar, he who nourishes the world, and the Ribhus, they who deck the deserts with vegetation, and irrigate the valleys, have as symbols of nature. The beneficent powers of nature, who hitherto had operated in the service of the gods, abandon their work, and over the world are spread that winter of which the Iranian mythology speaks, that darkness, and that reign of giant-monsters which, according to Rigveda, once prevailed, and during which time Indra, at the head of the gods, fought valiantly to restore order and to bring back the sun.

Here we find remarkable points of contact, or rather contact surfaces, between the Asiatic-Aryan groups of myths and the Teutonic. The question is not as to similarity in special details. That kind of similarities may be pointed out in nearly all mythic groups in the world, and, as a rule, altogether too bold hypotheses are built on the feeble foundations they offer. The question here is in regard to identity in great, central, connected collections of myths. Such are: The myths concerning an original harmony between a divine clan on the one hand, and artists subordinate to, and in the service of, the divine clan on the other hand. Artists who produce fertility, ornaments, and weapons for the gods, know how to brew the strength- and inspiration-giving mead, and are closely connected with dises of vegetation, who, as we shall show, appear as swan-maids, not only in the Teutonic mythology but also in the Hindooic; the myths telling how this harmony was frustrated by a judgment in a competition, the contending parties being on the one hand he who in the Hindooic mythology made Indra's thunderbolt, and in the Teutonic Thor's thundering Mjolner; and on the other hand three brothers, of whom one is an excellent archer; the myths concerning the consequences of the judgment, the destruction of nature by frost-powers and giant-monsters; the myths (in the Iranian and Teutonic records of antiquity) concerning the subterranean paradise, in which a selection of the best beings of creation are protected against annihilation, and continue to live uncorrupted through centuries; the myths (in the Iranian and Teutonic records of antiquity) of the destiny of these beings, connected with the myths likewise common to the Iranian and Teutonic mythologies concerning the destruction and regeneration of the world. Common to the Hindooic and Teutonic mythology is also the idea that a cunning, spying, being, in Rigveda Dadhyak (Dadhyank), in the Icelandic sources Loke, has lost his head to an artist who smithied the bolt for Indra and the hammer for Thor, but saves his wager through cunning.

An important observation should here be pointed out. A comparison between different passages in Rigveda shows, that of all the remarkable works of art which were exhibited to the gods for their examination, there was originally not one of metal. Tvashtar's goblet was not made of gold, but of fire and water and a third element. Indra's thunderbolt was made of the bones of the head of Dadhyak's horse, and it is in a later tradition that it becomes bronze. Common to the Aryan-Asiatic and the Teutonic mythology is the ability of the primeval artists to make animals from empty skins of beasts, and of making from _one_ work of art several similar ones (the goblet of the Ribhus, Sindre's Draupner). In the Teutonic mythology, Thor's hammer was not originally of metal, but of stone, and the other works produced by Sindre and Ivalde's sons may in the course of centuries have undergone similar changes. It should also be noted that not a trace is to be found in the Asiatic groups of myths of a single one to be compared with that concerning Svipdag and the sword of victory. In the Teutonic heroic saga, Geirvandel, the spear-hero, is the father of Orvandel, the archer, and of him is born Svipdag, the sword-hero (cp. No. 123). The myth concerning the sword of victory seems to be purely Teutonic, and to have sprung into existence during one of the bronze or iron ages, while the myths concerning the judgment passed on the primeval artists, and concerning the fimbul-winter following, must hail from a time when metals were not yet used by the Aryans. In the other event it would be most incredible to suppose that the judgment should concern works of art, of which not a single one originally suggested a product of metal.

112.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE JUDGMENT PASSED ON THE IVALDE SONS (_continued_). NJORD'S EFFORTS TO BRING ABOUT A RECONCILIATION.

It has already been stated that Fridlevus-Njord rescues a princely youth from the power of the giants. According to Saxo, the event was an episode in the feud between Fridlevus-Njord and Anundus (Volund), and Avo, the archer (Orvandel-Egil). This corroborates the theory that the rescued youth was Frey, Volund's and Egil's foster-son. The first one of the gods to be seized by fears on account of the judgment passed on Ivalde's sons, ought, naturally, to be Njord, whose son Frey was at that time in the care and power of Volund and Egil (see No. 109). We also learn from Saxo that Fridlevus took measures to propitiate the two brothers. He first sends messengers, who on his behalf woo the daughter of Anund-Volund, but the messengers do not return. Anund had slain them. Thereupon Fridlevus goes himself, accompanied by others, and among the latter was a "mediator." The name of the mediator was Bjorno, and he was one of those champions who constituted the defence of that citadel, which Fridlevus afterwards captured, and which we have recognised as Asgard (see No. 36). Thus Bjorno is one of the Asas, and there are reasons, which I shall discuss later, for assuming him to be Balder's brother _Hödr_. The context shows that Fridlevus' journey to Ivalde's sons and meeting with them takes place while there was yet hope of reconciliation, and before the latter arrived in the inaccessible Wolfdales, which are situated below the Na-gates in the subterranean Jotunheim. On the way thither they must have been overtaken by Fridlevus, and doubtless the event occurred there which Saxo relates, and of which an account in historical form is preserved in the Longobardian migration saga.

The meeting did not lead to reconciliation, but to war. Avo, the archer (Orvandel-Egil; see Nos. 108, 109) appeared on the one side and challenged Fridlevus-Njord to a duel. Bjorno became angry that a person of so humble descent as this Avo dared to challenge the noble-born Fridlevus, and in his wrath he drew his bow to fell "the plebeian" with an arrow. Thus Bjorno also was an archer. But Avo anticipated him, and an arrow from him severed Bjorno's bow-string from the bow. While Bjorno was tying the string again, there came from Avo a second arrow, which passed between his fingers without hurting him, and then there came a third arrow, which shot away Bjorno's arrow just as he was placing it on the string. Then the Ivalde sons continued their departure. Bjorno let loose a _molossus_ he had with him to pursue them, probably the same giant-dog or giant wolf-dog which Saxo describes in a preceding chapter (_Hist._, 260) as being in Bjorno's possession, and which before had guarded the giant Offote's herds. But this _molossus_ was not able to prevent those fleeing from reaching their destination in safety. In all probability Frey had already been delivered by his wards to the giants when this happened. This must have occurred on the way between the abode abounding in gold, where Ivalde's sons had formerly lived in happiness, and the Wolfdales, and so within Jotunheim, where the gods were surrounded by foes.

The story of this adventure on the journey of the emigrating Ivalde sons reappears in a form easily recognised in Paulus Diaconus, where he tells of the emigration of the Longobardians under Ibor (Orvandel-Egil; see No. 108) and Ajo (Volund). In Saxo Avo-Egil, who belongs to the race of elves, becomes a low-born champion, while the Vana-god Njord becomes King Fridlevus. In Paulus the saga is not content with making the great archer of the emigrants a plebeian, but he is made a thrall who challenges a chosen free-born warrior among the foes of the Longobardians. In the mythology and in Saxo the duel was fought with bows and arrows, and the plebeian was found to be far superior to his opponent. Paulus does not name the kind of weapons used, but when it had ended with the victory of "the thrall," an oath was taken on an _arrow_ that the thralls were to be freed from their chains by the Longobardians. Consequently the arrow must have been the thrall's weapon of victory. In the mythology, the journey of the Ivalde sons to the Wolfdales was down to the lower world Jotunheim and northward through Nifelhel, inhabited by thurses and monsters. Both in Saxo and Paulus this sort of beings take part in the adventures described. In Saxo, Fridlevus' war-comrade Bjorno sends a monster in the guise of a dog against the sons of Ivalde. In Paulus, according to the belief of their enemies, the emigrants had as their allies "men with dog-heads."

Bjorno is an Asa-god; and he is described as an archer who had confidence in his weapon, though he proved to be inferior to Avo in the use of it. Among the gods of Asgard only two archers are mentioned--_Hödr_ and _Ullr_. At the time when this event occurred Ull had not yet been adopted in Asgard. As has been shown above (see No. 102), he is the son of Orvandel-Egil and Sif. His abode is still with his parents when Svipdag, his half-brother, receives instructions from Sif to seek Frey and Freyja in Jotunheim (see No. 102), and he faithfully accompanies Svipdag through his adventures on this journey. Thus Ull is out of the question--the more so as he would in that case be opposing his own father. Hoder (_Hödr_) is mentioned as an archer both in the Beowulf poem, where he, under the name Hædcyn, shoots Balder-Herebeald accidentally with his "horn-bow," and in Saxo (_arcus peritia pollebat_--_Hist._, 111), and in Christian tales based on myths, where he appears by the name _Hedinn_. That Bjorno, mentioned by Saxo as a beautiful youth, is Hoder is confirmed by another circumstance. He is said to be _sequestris ordinis vir_ (_Hist._, 270), an expression so difficult to interpret that scholars have proposed to change it into _sequioris_ or _equestris ordinis vir_. The word shows that Bjorno in Saxo's mythological authorities belonged to a group of persons whose functions were such that they together might be designated as a _sequestris ordo_. _Sequester_ means a mediator in general, and in the law language of Rome it meant an impartial arbitrator to whom a dispute might be referred. The Norse word which Saxo, accordingly, translated with _sequestris ordo_, "the mediators," "the arbitrators," can have been none other than the plural _ljónar_, a mythological word, and also an old legal term, of which it is said in the Younger Edda: _Ljónar heita their menn, er ganga um sættir manna_, "_ljónar_ are called those men whose business it is to settle disputes." That this word _ljónar_ originally designated a certain group of Asa-gods whose special duty it was to act as arbitrators is manifest from the phrase _ljóna kindir_, "the children of the peacemakers," an expression inherited from heathendom and applied to mankind far down in Christian times; it is an expression to be compared with the phrase _megir Heimdallar_, "Heimdal's sons," which also was used to designate mankind. In Christian times the phrase "children of men" was translated with the heathen expression _ljóna kindir_; and when the recollection of the original meaning of _ljónar_ was obliterated, the word, on account of this usage, came to mean men in general (_viri_, _homines_), a signification which it never had in the days of heathendom.

Three Asa-gods are mentioned in our mythological records as peacemakers--Balder, Hoder, and Balder's son, Forsete. Balder is mentioned as judge in the Younger Edda (90). As such he is _liksamastr_--that is, "the most influential peacemaker." Of Forsete, who inherits his father's qualities as judge, it is said in Grimnersmal (15) that he _svefer allar sacir_, "settles all disputes." Hoder, who both in name and character appears to be a most violent and thoughtless person, seems to be the one least qualified for this calling. Nevertheless he performed the duties of an arbitrator by the side of Balder and probably under his influence. Saxo (_Hist._, 122) speaks of him as a judge to whom men referred their disputes--_consueverat consulenti populo plebiscita depromere_--and describes him as gifted with great talents of persuasion. He had _eloquentiæ suavitatem_, and was able to subdue stubborn minds with _benignissimo sermone_ (_Hist._, 116, 117). In Völuspa (60) the human race which peoples the renewed earth is called _burir brodra tvegia_, "the sons of the two brothers," and the two brothers mentioned in the preceding strophe are Balder and Hoder. Herewith is to be compared _ljóna kindir_ in Völuspa (14). In Harbardsljod (42) the insolent mocker of the gods, Harbard, refers to the miserable issue of an effort made by _jafnendr_, "the arbitrator," to reconcile gods with certain ones of their foes. I think it both possible and probable that the passage refers to the mythic event above described, and that it contains an allusion to the fact that the effort to make peace concerned the recovery of Frey and Freyja, who were delivered as "brides" to naughty giants, and for which "brides" the peacemakers received arrows and blows as compensation. Compare the expression _bæta mundi baugi_ and Thor's astonishment, expressed in the next strophe, at the insulting words, the worst of the kind he ever heard. Saxo describes the giant in whose power Frey is, when he is rescued by his father, as a cowardly and enervated monster whose enormous body is a _moles destituta rubore_ (_Hist._, 268). In this manner ended the effort of the gods to make peace. The three sons of Ivalde continue their journey to the Wolfdales, inaccessible to the gods, in order that they thence might send ruin upon the world.

113.

PROOFS THAT IVALDE'S SONS ARE IDENTICAL WITH OLVALDE'S.

Observations made in the course of my investigations anent Ivalde and his sons have time and again led me to the unexpected result that Ivalde's sons, Slagfin, Egil, and Volund, are identical with Olvalde-Alvalde's sons, who, in the Grotte-song, are called _Idi_, _Urnir_ or _Aurnir_ (_Ornir_), and _thjazi_, and in the Younger Edda (p. 214) _thjazi_, _Idi_, and _Gángr_. This result was unexpected and, as it seemed to me in the beginning, improbable, for the reason that where Thjasse is mentioned in the Elder Edda, he is usually styled a giant, while Volund is called a prince or chief of elves in Volundarkvida. In Grimnersmal (11) Thjasse is designated as _inn amátki iotunn_; in Harbardsljod (19) as _enn thrudmothgi iotunn_; in Hyndluljod (30) as a kinsman of Gymer and Aurboda. The Grotte-song (9) says that Thjasse, Ide, and Aurnir were brothers of those mountain giants who were the fathers of Menja and Fenja. In the Younger Edda he is also called a _jötunn_. In the beginning of my researches, and before Volund's position in the mythology was clear to me, it appeared to me highly improbable that a prince among the elves and one of the chief artists in the mythology could be characterised as a giant. Indeed I was already then aware that the clan-names occurring in the mythology--_áss_, _vanr_, _álfr_, _dvergr_, and _jötunn_--did not exclusively designate the descent of the beings, but could also be applied to them on account of qualities developed or positions acquired, regardless of the clan to which they actually belonged by their birth. In Thrymskvida (15), so to speak in the same breath, Heimdal is called both _áss_ and _vanr_--"_thá quath that Heimdallr, hvitastr ása, vissi han vel fram sem vanir áthrir_." And Loke is designated both as _áss_ and _jötunn_, although the Asas and giants represent the two extremes. Neither Heimdal nor Loke are of the Asa-clan by birth; but they are adopted in Asgard, that is, they are adopted Asas, and this explains the appellation. Elves and dwarfs are doubtless by descent different classes of beings, but the word dwarf, which in the earliest Christian times became the synonym of a being of diminutive stature, also meant an artist, a smith, whence both Vans and elves, nay, even Fjalar, could be incorporated in the Völuspa dwarf-list. When, during the progress of my investigations, it appeared that Volund and his brothers in the epic of the mythology were the most dangerous foes of the gods and led the powers of frost in their efforts to destroy the world, it could no longer surprise me that Volund, though an elf prince, was characterised as _inn ámátki iotunn, enn thrudmothgi iotunn_. But there was another difficulty in the way: according to Hyndluljod and the Grotte-song, Thjasse and his brothers were kinsmen of giants, and must therefore undoubtedly have had giant-blood in their veins. But there are kinsmen of the giants among the Asas too; and when in the progress of the investigation it appears that Thjasse's mother is a giantess, but his father a _hapt_, a god of lower rank, then his maternal descent, and his position as an ally and chief of the giants, and as the most powerful foe of Asgard and Midgard, are sufficient to explain the apparent contradiction that he is at the same time a giant and a kinsman of the giants, and still identical with the elf-prince, Volund. It should also be observed that, as shall be shown below, the tradition has preserved the memory of the fact that Volund too was called a giant and had kinsmen among the giants.

The reasons which, taken collectively, prove conclusively at least to me, that Ivalde's sons and Olvalde's are identical are the following:

(1) In regard to the names themselves, we note in the first place that, as has already been pointed out, the name of the father of Ide, as Aurnir-Gang, and of Thjasse appears with the variations _Allvaldi_, _Ölvaldi_, and _Audvaldi_. To persons speaking a language in which the prefixes _I-_, _Id-_, and _All-_ are equivalents and are substituted for one another, and accustomed to poetics, in which it was the most common thing to substitute equivalent nouns and names (for example, _Grjótbjörn_ for _Arinbjörn_, _Fjallgyldir_ for _Ásólfr_, &c.), it was impossible to see in _Ivaldi_ and _Allvaldi_ anything but names designating the same person.

(2) Anent the variation Olvalde we have already seen that its equivalents Olmodr and Sumbl (Finnakonungr, _phinnorum rex_) allude to Slagfin's, Orvandel-Egil's, and Volund's father, while Olvalde himself is said to be the father of Ide, Aurnir, and Thjasse.

(3) Ajo's and Ibor's mother is called _Gambara_ in _Origo Longobardorum_ and in Paulus Diaconus. Aggo's and Ebbo's mother is called _Gambaruc_ in Saxo. In Ibor-Ebbo and Ajo-Aggo we have re-discovered Egil and Volund. The Teutonic stem of which the Latinised Gambara was formed is in all probability _gambr_, _gammr_, a synonym of _gripr_ (Younger Edda, ii. 572), the German _Greif_. According to the Younger Edda (i. 314), Thjasse's mother is the giantess _Greip_, daughter of _Geirrödr_. The forms _grip_, neuter, and _greip_, feminine, are synonyms in the Old Norse language, and they surely grew out of the same root. While Gambara thus is Volund's mother, Thjasse's mother bears a name to which Gambara alludes.

(4) The variation _Audvaldi_ means "the one presiding over riches," and the epithet finds its explanation in the Younger Edda's account of the gold treasure left by Thjasse's father, and of its division among his sons (p. 214.) It is there stated that Thjasse's father was _mjök gullaudigr_. Ivalde's sons, who gave the gods golden treasures, were likewise rich in gold, and in Volundarkvida Volund speaks of his and his kinsmen's golden wealth in their common home.

(5) Of the manner in which Thjasse and his brothers divided the golden treasure the Younger Edda contains, in the above passage, the following statement: "When Olvalde died and his sons were to divide the inheritance, they agreed in the division to measure the gold by taking their mouths full of gold an equal number of times. Hence gold is called in poetry the words or speech of these giants."