Part 15

(17) In Haustlaung Thjasse is called _ving-Rögnir vagna_, "the Rogner of the winged cars," and _fjardarblads leik-Regin_, "the Regin of the motion of the feather-leaf (the wing)." In the mythology Thjasse, like Volund, wears an eagle guise. In an eagle guise Volund flies away from his prison at Mimer-_Nidadr's_. When Thjasse, through Loke's deceit, is robbed of Idun, he hastens in wild despair, with the aid of his eagle guise, after the robber, gets his wings burned in the vaferflames kindled around Asgard, falls pierced by the javelins of the gods, and is slain by Thor. The original meaning of _Regin_ is maker, creator, arranger, worker. The meaning has been preserved through the ages, so that the word _regin_, though applied to all the creative powers (Völsupa), still retained even in Christian times the signification of artist, smith, and reappears in the heroic traditions in the name of the smith _Reginn_. When, therefore, Thjasse is called "the Regin of the motion of the feather-leaf," there is no reason to doubt that the phrase alludes not only to the fact that he possessed a feather guise, but also to the idea that he was its "smith;" the less so as we have already seen him characterised as an ancient artist in the phrases _thiaza thingskil_, _hapta snytrir_, and _fadir mörna_. Thus we here have a fourth proof of the same kind. The phrase "the Rognir of the winged cars" connects him not only with a single vehicle, but with several. "Wing-car" is a paraphrase for a guise furnished with wings, and enabling its owner to fly through the air. The expression "wing-car" may be applied to several of the strange means used by the powers for locomotion through the air and over the sea, as, for instance, the cars of Thor and Frey, Balder's ship Ringhorn, Frey's ship Skidbladner, and the feather garbs of the swan-maids. The mythology which knew from whose hands Skidbladner proceeded certainly also had something to say of the masters who produced Ringhorn and the above-mentioned cars and feather garbs. That they were made by ancient artists and not by the highest gods is an idea of ancient Aryan birth. In Rigveda it was the Ribhus, the counterparts of the Ivalde sons, who smithied the wonderful car-ship of the Asvinians and Indra's horses.

The appellations _Rögnir_ and _Regin_ also occur outside of Haustlaung in connection with each other, and this even as late as in the _Skida-Rima_, composed between 1400 and 1450, where Regin is represented as a smith (_Rögnir kallar Regin til sín: rammliga skaltu smida_--str. 102). In Forspjallsljod (10) we read: _Galdr gólo, gaundom ritho Rögnir ok Regin at ranni heimis_--"Rogner and Regin sang magic songs at the edge of the earth and constructed magic implements." They who do this are artists, smiths. In strophe 8 they are called _viggiar_, and _viggi_ is a synonym of _smidr_ (Younger Edda, i. 587). While they do this Idun is absent from Asgard (Forspjallsljod, str. 6), and a terrible cold threatens to destroy the earth. The words in Völuspa, with which the terrible fimbul-winter of antiquity is characterised, _loptr lævi blandinn_, are adopted by Forspjallsljod (str. 6--_lopti med lævi_), thus showing that the same mythic event is there described. The existence of the order of the world is threatened, the earth and the source of light are attacked by evil influences, the life of nature is dying, from the north (east), from the Elivagar rivers come piercing, rime-cold arrows of frost, which kill men and destroy the vegetation of the earth. The southern source of the lower world, whose function it is to furnish warming saps to the world-tree, was not able to prevent the devastations of the frost. "It was so ordained," it is said in Forspjallsljod, str. 2, "that Urd's _Odrærir_ (Urd's fountain) did not have sufficient power to supply protection against the terrible cold."[11] The destruction is caused by Rogner and Regin. Their magic songs are heard even in Asgard. Odin listens in Lidskjalf and perceives that the song comes from the uttermost end of the world. The gods are seized by the thought that the end of the world is approaching, and send their messengers to the lower world in order to obtain there from the wise norn a solution of the problem of the world and to get the impending fate of the world proclaimed.

In the dictionaries and in the mythological text-books _Rögnir_ is said to be one of Odin's epithets. In his excellent commentary on Vellekla, Freudenthal has expressed a doubt as to the correctness of this view. I have myself made a list of all the passages in the Old Norse literature where the name occurs, and I have thereby reached the conclusion that the statement in the dictionaries and in the text-books has no other foundation than the name-list in _Eddubrott_ and the above-cited _Skidarima_, composed in the fifteenth century. The conceptions of the latter in regard to heathen mythology are of such a nature that it should never in earnest be regarded as an authority anent this question. In the Old Norse records there cannot be found a single passage where _Rögnir_ is used as an epithet of Odin. It is everywhere used in reference to a mythic being who was a smith and a singer of magic songs, and regularly, and without exception, refers to Thjasse. While Thjodolf designates Thjasse as the Rogner of the wing-cars, his descendant Hakon Jarl gets the same epithet in Einar Skalaglam's paraphrases. He is _hjörs brak-Rögnir_, "the Rogner of the sword-din," and _Geirrásargard-Rögnir_, "the Rogner of the wall of the sword-flight (the shield)." The Thjasse descendant, Sigurd Hladejarl, is, in harmony herewith, called _fens furs Rögnir_. _Thrym-Rögnir_ (Eg., 58) alludes to Thjasse as ruler in Thrymheim. A parallel phrase to _thrym-Rögnir_ is _thrym-Regin_ (Younger Edda, i. 436). Thus, while Thjasse is characterised as _Rögnir_, Saxo has preserved the fact that Volund's brother, Orvandel-Egil, bore the epithet Regin. Saxo Latinises Regin into Regnerus, and gives this name to Ericus-Svipdag's father (_Hist._, 192). The epithet _Rögnir_ confines itself exclusively to a certain group--to Thjasse and his supposed descendants. Among them it is, as it were, an inheritance.

The paraphrases in Vellekla are of great mythological importance. While other mythic records relate that Thjasse carried away Idun, the goddess of vegetation, the goddess who controls the regenerating forces in nature, and that he thus assisted in bringing about the great winter of antiquity, we learn from Vellekla that it was he who directly, and by separate magic acts, produced this winter, and that he, accordingly, acted the same part in this respect as Rogner and Regin do in Forspjallsljod.

Thus, for example, the poem on Hakon Jarl, when the latter fought against the sons of Gunhild, says: _Hjörs brak-Rögnir skók bogna hagl or Hlakkar seglum_, "the Rogner of the sword-din shook the hail of the bows from the sails of the valkyrie." The mythic kernel of the paraphrase is: _Rögnir skók hagl ur seglum_, "Rogner shook hails from the sails." The idea is still to be found in the sagas that men endowed with magic powers could produce a hailstorm by shaking napkins or bags, filling the air with ashes, or by untying knots. And in Christian records it is particularly stated of Hakon Jarl that he held in honour two mythic beings--Thorgerd and Irpa--who, when requested, could produce storms, rain, and hail. No doubt this tradition is connected with Hakon's supposed descent from Thjasse, the cause of hailstorms and of the fimbul-winter. By making Rogner the "Rogner of the sword-din," and the hail sent by him "the hail of the bows," and the sails or napkins shook by him "the sails of the valkyrie"--that is to say, the shields--the skald makes the mythological kernel pointed out develop into figures applicable to the warrior to the battle.

In other paraphrases Vellekla says that the descendant of Thjasse, Hakon, made "the death-cold sword-storm grow against the life of udal men in Odin's storm," and that he was "an elf of the earth of the wood-land" coming from the north, who, with "murder-frost," received the warriors of the south (Emperor Otto's army) at Dannevirke. Upon the whole Vellekla chooses the figures used in describing the achievements of Hakon from the domain of cold and storm, and there can be no doubt that it does so in imitation of the Thjasse-myth.

In another poem to Hakon Jarl, of which poem there is only a fragment extant, the skald Einar speaks of Hakon's generosity, and says: _Verk Rögnis mer hogna_, "Rogner's works please me." We know that Hakon Jarl once gave Einar two gilt silver goblets, to which belonged two scales in the form of statuettes, the one of gold, the other of silver, which scales were thought to possess magic qualities, and that Hakon on another occasion gave him an exceedingly precious engraved shield, inlaid between the engraved parts with gold and studded with precious stones. It was customary for the skalds to make songs on such gifts. It follows, therefore, that the "works of Rogner," with which Einar says he was pleased, are the presents which Hakon, the supposed descendant of Rogner-Thjasse, gave him; and I find this interpretation the more necessary for the reason that we have already found several unanimous evidences of Thjasse's position in the mythology as an artist of the olden time.

Forspjallsljod's Rogner "sings magic songs" and "concocts witchcraft" in order to encourage and strengthen by these means of magic the attack of the powers of frost on the world protected by the gods. Haustlaung calls Thjasse _ramman reimud Jötunheima_, "the powerful _reimud_ of Jotunheim." The word _reimud_ occurs nowhere else. It is thought to be connected with _reimt_ and _reimleikar_, words which in the writings of Christian times refer to ghosts, supernatural phenomena, and _reimudr_. _Jötunheima_ has therefore been interpreted as "the one who made Jotunheim the scene of his magic arts and ghost-like appearances." From what has been stated above, it is manifest that this interpretation is correct.

A passage in Thorsdrapa (str. 3), to which I shall recur below, informs us that at the time when Thor made his famous journey to the fire-giant Geirrod, Rogner had not yet come to an agreement with Loke in regard to the plan of bringing ruin on the gods. Rogner was, therefore, during a certain period of his life, the foe of the gods, but during a preceding period he was not an enemy. The same is true of Thjasse. He was for a time _hapta snytrir_, "the one giving the gods treasures." At another time he carried away Idun, and appeared as one changed into _dólgr ballastr vallar_, "the most powerful foe of the earth" (Haustl., 6), an expression which characterises him as the cause of the fimbul-winter.

There still remain one or two important passages in regard to the correct interpretation of the epithet Rogner. In Atlakvida (33) it is said of Gudrun when she goes to meet her husband Atle, who has returned home, carrying in her hand a golden goblet, that she goes to _reifa gjöld Rögnis_, "to present that requital or that revenge which Rogner gave." To avenge her brothers, Gudrun slew in Atle's absence the two young sons she had with him and made goblets of their skulls. Into one of these she poured the drink of welcome for Atle. A similar revenge is told about Volund. The latter secretly kills _Nidadr's_ two young sons and makes goblets out of their skulls for their father. In the passage it is stated that the revenge of Gudrun against Atle was of the same kind as Rogner's revenge against some one whom he owed a grudge. So far as our records contain any information, Volund is the only one to whom the epithet Rogner is applicable in this case. Of no one else is it reported that he took a revenge of such a kind that Gudrun's could be compared therewith. In all other passages the epithet Rogner refers to "the father of the swords," to the ancient artist Thjasse, the son of Alvalde. Here it refers to the father of the most excellent sword, to the ancient artist Volund, the son of Ivalde.

The strophe in Vellekla, which compares the Thjasse descendant Hakon Jarl with the hail-producing Rogner, also alludes to another point in the myth concerning him by a paraphrase the kernel of which is: _Varat svanglýjadi at frýja ofbyrjar nè drifu_, "it was impossible to defy the swan-pleaser in the matter of storm and bad weather." The paraphrase is made applicable to Hakon by making the "swan-pleaser" into the "pleaser of the swan of the sword's high-billowing fjord"--that is to say, the one who pleases the bird of the battlefield, that is, the raven. The storm is changed into "the storm of arrows," and the bad weather into the "bad weather of the goddess of the battle." The mythological kernel of this paraphrase, and that which sheds light on our theme, is the fact that Rogner in the mythology was "one who pleased the swans." In the heroic poem three swan-maids are devoted in their love to Volund and his brothers. Volundarkvida says that the third one lays her arms around Volund-Anund's white neck.

We will now combine the results of this investigation concerning Rogner, and in so doing we will first consider what is said of him when the name occurs independently, and not connected with paraphrases, and then what is said of him in paraphrases in which his name constitutes the kernel.

Forspjallsljod describes Rogner as dwelling on the northern-most edge of the earth at the time when Idun was absent from Asgard. There he sings magic songs and concocts witchcraft, by which means he sends a destructive winter out upon the world. He is a "smith," and in his company is found one or more than one mythic person called Regin. (Regin may be singular or plural.)

Einar Skalaglam, who received costly treasures from Hakon Jarl, speaks in his song of praise to the latter of the "works of Rogner," which please him, and which must be the treasures he received from the Jarl.

In Thorsdrapa, Eilif Gudrunson relates that Rogner had not yet "associated himself" with Loke when Thor made his expedition to Geirrod.

Atlakvida states that he revenged himself on some one, with which revenge the song compares Gudrun's when she hands to Atle the goblets made of the skulls of the two young sons of the latter.

All the facts presented in these passages are rediscovered in the myth concerning Ivalde's sons--Volund, Egil, and Slagfin. There was a time when they were the friends of the gods and smithied for them costly treasures, and there was another time when they had the same plans as Loke tried to carry out in a secret manner--that is, to dethrone the gods and destroy what they had created. They deliver their foster-son Frey, the young god of harvests, to the giants (see Nos. 109, 112)--an event which, like Idun's disappearance from Asgard, refers to the coming of the fimbul-winter--and they depart to the most northern edge of the lower world where they dwell with swan-maids, dises of growth, who, like Idun in Forspjallsljod (str. 8), must have changed character and joined the world-hostile plots of their lovers. (Of Idun it is said, in the strophe mentioned, that she clothed herself in a wolf-skin given her by the smiths, and _lyndi breytti, lek at lævisi, litom skipti_.) The revenge which Volund, during his imprisonment by Nidad, takes against the latter explains why Atlakvida characterises Gudrun's terrible deed as "Rogner's revenge." In regard to the witchcraft (_gand_) concocted by Rogner and Regin, it is to be said that the sword of victory made by Volund is a _gandr_ in the original sense of this word--an implement endowed with magic powers, and it was made during his sojourn in the Wolfdales.

One passage in Volundarkvida (str. 5), which hitherto has defied every effort at interpretation, shows that his skill was occupied with other magic things while he dwelt there. The passage reads: _Lucthi hann alla lindbauga vel_. The "lind"-rings in question, smithied of "red gold" (see the preceding lines in strophe 5), are, according to the prefix, _lind, linnr_, serpent-formed rings, which again are gand- (witchcraft) rings on account of the mysterious qualities ascribed to the serpent. _Lindbaugi_ is another form for _linnbaugi_, just as _lindból_ is another form for _linnból_. The part played by the serpent in the magic arts made it, when under the influence or in the possession of the magician, a _gand_, whence _linnr_, a serpent, could be used as a paraphrase of _gandr_, and _gandr_ could in turn, in the compound _Jörmungandr_, be used as an epithet for the Midgard-serpent. The rings which Volund "closed well together" are gand-rings. The very rope (_bast, böstr_--Volundarkvida, 7, 12) on which he hangs the seven hundred gand-rings he has finished seems to be a gand, an object of witchcraft, with which Volund can bind and from which he can release the wind. When Nidad's men surprised Volund in his sleep and bound him with this rope, he asks ambiguously who "had bound the wind" with it (str. 12). In two passages in Volundarkvida (str. 4, 8) he is called _vedreygr_, "the storm-observer," or "the storm-terrible." The word may have either meaning. That Volund for his purposes, like Rogner, made use of magic songs is manifest from Saxo (_Hist._, 323, 324). According to Saxo it was by means of Volund-Haquinus' magic song that the Volund-sword, wielded by Svipdag-Ericus, was able to conquer Thor's hammer and Halfdan's club.

Passing now to the passages where the name Rogner occurs in paraphrases, I would particularly emphasize what I have already demonstrated: that Haustlaung with this name refers to Thjasse; that poems of a more recent date than Haustlaung, and connected with the same celebrated song, apply it to the supposed descendants of Thjasse, Hakon Jarl and his kinsmen; that all of these paraphrases represent Rogner as a producer of storm, snow, and hail; and that Rogner made "wind-cars," was a "Regin of the motion of the feather-leaf" (the wing), and "one who pleased the swans." Therefore (_a_) Rogner is an epithet of Thjasse, and at the same time it designates Volund; (_b_) all that is said of Rogner, when the name in the paraphrases is a Thjasse-epithet, applies to Volund; (_c_) all that is said of Rogner, independently of paraphrases, applies to Volund.

(18) A usage in the Old Norse poetry is to designate a person by the name of his opponent, when, by means of an additional characterisation, it can be made evident that the former and not the latter is meant. Thus, a giant can be called _berg-thórr_ or _grjót-Módi_, because he once had Thor or Thor's son Mode as an opponent, and these epithets particularly apply to giants who actually fought with Thor or Mode in the mythology. In contrast with their successors in Christian times, the heathen skalds took great pains to give their paraphrases special justification and support in some mythological event. For the same reason that a giant who had fought with Mode could be called _grjót-Módi_, Volund, as Nidad's foe, could be called _grjót-Nidudr_. This epithet also occurs a single time in the Old Norse poetry, namely, in Haustlaung, and there it is applied to Thjasse. The paraphrase shows that the skald had in his mind a corresponding (antithetic) circumstance between Thjasse and _Nidadr_ (_Nidudr_). What we are able to gather from our sources is, that Volund and _Nidadr_ had had an encounter, and that one of so decisive a character, that the epithet _grjót-Nidudr_ naturally would make the hearers think of Volund.

(19) When Loke had struck Thjasse, who was in eagle guise, with the magic pole, Thjasse flew up; and as Loke's hand was glued fast to one end of the pole and the eagle held fast to the other end, Loke had to accompany the eagle on its flight. Haustlaung says that Thjasse, pleased with his prey, bore him a long distance (_of veg lángan_) through the air. He directed his course in such a manner that Loke's body fared badly, probably being dragged over trees and rocks (_svá at slitna sundr úlfs födor mundi_). Then follows in the poem the lines given below, which I quote from Codex Regius, with the exception of a single word (_midjungs_, instead of _mildings_), which I cite from Codex Wormianus. Here, as elsewhere, I base nothing on text emendations, because even such, for which the best of reasons may be given, do not furnish sufficient foundation for mythological investigation, when the changes are not supported by some manuscript, or are in and of themselves absolutely necessary.

thá vard thórs ofrunni, thúngr var Loptr, of sprúnginn; málunautr hvats mátti midjungs fridar bidja.

The contents of these lines, in the light of what has now been stated, are as follows:

Thjasse's pleasure in dragging Loke with him, and making his limbs come in disagreeable contact with objects on their way, was so great that he did not abstain therefrom, before he felt that he had over-exerted himself. Strong as he was, this could not but happen, for he had been flying with his burden very far from the place where he captured Loke in the ambush he had laid; and, besides, Loke was heavy. The badly-hurt Loke had during the whole time desired to beg for mercy, but during the flight he was unable to do so. When Thjasse finally sank to the ground, Loke obtained a breathing space, so that he could sue for mercy.

In the four lines there are four paraphrases. Thjasse is called _thórs ofrunni_ or _thórs ofrúni_, "he who made Thor run," or "he who was Thor's friend," and "_midjungr_," a word the meaning of which it is of no importance to investigate in connection with the question under consideration. Loke is called _Loptr_, a surname which is applied to him many times, and _málunautr hvats midjungs_, "he who had journeyed with the female companion of the powerful Midjung (Thjasse)." The female companion (_mála_) of Thjasse is Idun, and the paraphrase refers to the myth telling how Loke carried Idun away from Thjasse's halls, and flew with her to Asgard.

With these preparatory remarks I am ready to present a literal translation of the passage: