Part 22

Originally, the mead, the _soma_, belongs to Mimer alone. From an unknown depth it rises in the lower world directly under the world-tree, whose middle root is watered by the well of the precious liquid. Only by self-sacrifice, after prayers and tears, is Odin permitted to take a drink from this fountain. The drink increases his strength and wisdom, and enables him to give order to the world situated above the lower regions. From its middle root the world-tree draws liquids from the mead-fountain, which bless the einherjes of Asgard as a beverage, and bless the people of Midgard as a fructifying honey-dew. Still this mead is not pure; it is mixed with the liquids from Urd's and Hvergelmer's fountains. But somewhere in the Jotunheims, the genuine mead was discovered in the fountain Byrger. This discovery was kept secret. The keeper of the secret was Ivalde, the sworn watchman near the Elivagar. In the night he sent his son Slagfin (afterwards called after his adopted father Hjuke) and his daughter Bil (Idun) to dip liquid from the fountain Byrger and bring it to him. But the children never returned. The moon-god had taken them and Byrger's liquids unto himself, and thus the gods of Asgard were able to partake of this drink. Without the consent of the moon-god, Ivalde on his part secured his daughter the sun-dis, and doubtless she bears to him the daughters Idun, Almveig, and other dises of growth and rejuvenation, after he had begotten Slagfin, Egil, and Volund with the giantess Greip. The moon-god and Ivalde have accordingly taken children from each other. The circumstance that the mead, which gives the gods their creative power and wisdom, was robbed from Ivalde--this find which he kept secret and wished to keep for himself alone--makes him the irreconcilable foe of the moon-god, is the cause of the war between them, and leads him to violate the oath which he had taken to him. He attacks Gevar in the night, kills and burns him, and recaptures the mead preserved in the ship of the moon. He is henceforth for ever a foe of the gods, and allies himself with the worst enemies of their world, the powers of frost and fire. Deep down in Hades there has long dwelt another foe of the gods, Surt-Durin, the clan-chief of Suttung's sons, the father of Fjalar. In the oldest time he too was the friend of the gods, and co-operated with Mimer in the first creation (see No. 89). But this bond of friendship had now long been broken. Down into the deep and dark dales in which this clan hostile to the gods dwells, Ivalde brings his mead-treasure into safety. He apparently gives it as the price of Fjalar's daughter Gunlad, and as a pledge of his alliance with the world of giants. On the day of the wedding, Odin comes before him, and clad in his guise, into Surt's halls, marries Gunlad, robs the liquids of Byrger, and flies in eagle guise with them to Asgard. On the wedding day Ivalde comes outside of Surt's mountain-abode, but never enters. A dwarf, the keeper of the halls, entices him into his ruin. It has already been stated that he was probably buried beneath an avalanche.

The myth concerning the carrying of the mead to the moon, and concerning its fate there, has left various traces in the traditions of the Teutonic people. In the North, Hjuke and Bil with their mead-burden were the objects seen in the spots on the moon. In southern Sweden, according to Ling, it was still known in the beginning of this century, that the bucket carried by the figures in the moon was a "brewing kettle," consequently containing or having contained a brewed liquid. According to English traditions, not the two children of Vidfin, but a drunken criminal (Ritson's _Ancient Songs_; cp. J. Grimm, _Deut. Myth._, 681), dwelt in the full moon, and that of which he is charged in widely circulated traditions is that he was gathering fagots for the purpose of crime, or in an improper time (on the Sabbath). Both the statements that he is drunk and that his crime consists in the gathering of fagots--lead us to suppose that this "man in the moon" originally was Ivalde, the drink-champion and the mead-robber, who attacked and burnt the moon-god. His punishment is that he will never get to heaven, but will remain in the moon, and there he is for ever to carry a bundle of thorn-fagots (thus according to a German tradition, and also according to a tradition told by Chaucer). Most probably, he has to carry the thorn-rod of the moon-god burnt by him. The moon-god (see Nos. 75, 91) ruled over the Teutonic Erynnies armed with rods (_limar_), and in this capacity he bore the epithet _Eylimi_. A Dutch poem from the fourteenth century says that the culprit _in duitshe heet Ludergheer_. A variation which J. Grimm (_Deut. Myth._, 683) quotes is Lodeger. The name refers, as Grimm has pointed out, to the Old High German Liutker, the Lüdiger of the German middle-age poem. In "Nibelunge Noth," Lüdiger contends with the Gjukungs; in "Dieterichs Flucht," he abandons Dieterich's cause and allies himself with the evil Ermenrich. Like Liutwar, Lüdiger is a pendant to the Norse Hlaudver, in whom we have already rediscovered Ivalde. While, according to the Younger Edda, both the Ivalde children Hjuke and Bil appear in the moon, according to the English and German traditions it is their criminal father who appears on the scene of the fire he kindled, drunk with the mead he robbed, and punished with the rod kept by his victim.

The statement in Forspjallsljod, that Ivalde had two groups of children, corresponds with the result at which we have arrived. By the giantess Greip he is the father of Slagfin, Egil, and Volund; by the sun-dis Gevar, Nokver's daughter and Nanna's sister, he is the father of dises of growth, among whom are Idun, who first is Volund's beloved or wife, and thereupon is married to Brage. Another daughter of Ivalde is the beloved of Slagfin-Gjuke, Auda, the "frau Ute" of the German heroic saga. A third is Signe-Alveig, in Saxo the daughter of _Sumblus Phinnorum_ (Ivalde). At his wedding with her, Egil is attacked and slain by Halfdan. Hadding is Halfdan's and her son.

Several things indicate that, when their father became a foe of the gods, Ivalde's sons were still their friends, and that Slagfin particularly was on the side of his foster-father in the conflict with Ivalde. With this corresponds also the conduct of the Gjukungs toward Valtarius, when he takes flight with Hildigun. In the Anglo-Saxon heroic poetry, the name Hengest is borne by the person who there takes Slagfin's place as Hnæf-Gevar's nearest man. The introduction to the Younger Edda has from its English authorities the statement that _Heingestr_ (Hengest) was a son of Vitta and a near kinsman of Svipdag. If, as previous investigators have assumed, Vitta is Vade, then Hengest is a son of Ivalde, and this harmonises with the statement anent his kinship with Svipdag, who is a grandson of Ivalde. The meaning of the word Hengest refers of itself to Slagfin-_Geldr_. The name _Geldr_ is a participle of _gelda_, and means _castratus_. The original meaning of Hengest is "a gelding," _equus castratus_ (in the modern German the word got for the first time its present meaning). That the adjective idea _castratus_ was transferred to the substantive _equus castratus_ is explained by the fact that _Gils_, _Gisl_, a mythic name for a horse (Younger Edda, i. 70, 482), was also a Gjukung name. One of Hengest's ancestors in his genealogy in Beda and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is called Vict-gils; one of Slagfin-Gjuke's sons is named _Gilser_. A neither mythic nor historic brother of Hengest added in later times is named Horsa. The Ravenna geography says that when the Saxons left their old abodes on the continent, they marched _cum principe suo Anschis_, and with their chief _Ans-gisl_, who therefore here appears in the place of Hengest. Synonymous with Hengest is the Norse _Jálkr_, _equus castratus_, and that some member of the mythological group of skee-runners, that is, some one of the male members of the Ivalde race, in the Norse version of the Teutonic mythology, bore this epithet is proved by the paraphrase _öndr-Jálkr_, "the _equus castratus_ of the skee-runners." The cause of the designation is found in the event described above, which has been handed down by the poem "Valtarius Manufortis." The chief one of the Gjukungs, originally Gjuke himself, there fights with Valtarius, who in the mythology was his father, and receives in the conflict a wound "clean to the thigh-bone." This wound may have symbolic significance from the fact that the fight is between father and son. According to the English chronicler Nennius, Hengest had two brothers, Ochta and Ebissa. In spite of their corruption these names remind us of Slagfin's brothers, Aggo-Ajo (Volund) and Ibor-Ebbo (Egil).

According to the historified saga, Hengest was the leader of the first Saxon army which landed in Britain. All scholars have long since agreed that this Hengest is a mythical character. The migration saga of the Teutonic mythology was transferred by the heathen Saxons to England, and survived there until Christian times. After the names of the real leaders of the Saxon immigration were forgotten, Hengest was permitted to take their place, because in the mythology he had been a leader of the Saxon emigrants from their original country, the Scandian peninsula (see No. 16), and because this immigration was blended in Christian times with the memory of the emigration from Germany to Britain. Thus, while the Longobardians made Volund and Egil (Ajo and Ibor) the leaders of their emigration, the Saxons made Volund's and Egil's brother Slagfin (Hengest-Gjuke) their leader. The Burgundians also regarded Slagfin (Gjuke) as their emigration hero and royal progenitor. Of this there is evidence partly in _Lex Burgundionum_, the preface of which enumerates Burgundian kings who have Gjukung names; partly in a Middle High German poem, which makes the Gjukungs Burgundian kings. The Saxon migration saga and the Burgundian are therefore, like those of the other Teutonic races, connected with the Ivalde race and with the fimbul-winter.

THE END.

DICTIONARY OF PRINCIPAL PROPER NAMES IN TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY,

_with Explanations of the Character, Attributes and Significance of the Gods, Goddesses, Giants, Dwarfs and associated creatures and places._

DICTIONARY OF GODS AND GODDESSES.

A

ÆGIR. [Anglo-Sax., _eagor_, the sea]. The god who presides over the stormy sea. He entertains the gods every harvest, and brews ale for them. _Æger._

AGNAR. A son of King Hraudung and foster-son of Frigg. _Agnar._

AGNAR. A son of King Geirrod. He serves drink to Grimner (Odin). _Agnar._

ALFR. An elf, fairy; a class of beings like the dwarfs, between gods and men. They were of two kinds: elves of light (_Ljosalfar_) and elves of darkness (_Dokkalfar_). The abode of the elves is _Alfheimr_, fairy-land, and their king is the god Frey. _Elf._

ALFODR or ALFADIR [Father of all]. The name of Odin as the supreme god. _Allfather._

ALFHEIMR. Elf-land, fairy-land. Frey's dwelling. _Alfheim._

ALSVIDR. The all-wise. One of the horses of the sun. _Alsvid._

ALVISS. The dwarf who answers Thor's questions in the lay of Alvis. _Alvis._

AMSVARTNIR. The name of the sea, in which the island was situated where the wolf Fenrer was chained. _Amsvartner._

ANNARR or ONARR. Husband of night and father of Jord (_the earth_). _Annar._

ANDHRIMNIR. The cook in Valhal. _Andhrimner._

ANDVARI. The name of a pike-shaped dwarf; the owner of the fatal ring called _Andvaranautr_. _Andvare._

ANDVARAFORS. The force or waterfall in which the dwarf Andvare kept himself in the form of a pike fish. _Andvare-Force._

ANDVARANAUTR. The fatal ring given Andvare (the wary spirit). _Andvarenaut._

ANGANTYR. He has a legal dispute with Ottar Heimske, who is favored by Freyja. _Angantyr._

ANGEYJA. One of Heimdal's nine mothers. The Elder Edda says in the Lay of Hyndla: Nine giant maids gave birth to the gracious god, at the world's margin. These are: Gjalp, Greip, Eistla, Angeyja, Ulfrun, Eyrgjafa, Imd, Atla, and Jarnsaxa. _Angeyja._

ANGRBODA [Anguish-creating]. A giantess; mother of the Fenris-wolf by Loke. _Angerboda._

ARVAKR [Early awake]. The name of one of the horses of the sun. _Aarvak._

ASS or AS; plural Æsir. The _asas_, gods. The word appears in such English names as _Os_born, _Os_wald, etc. With an _n_ it is found in the Germ. _Ans_gar (Anglo-Sax. _Os_car). The term _æsir_ is used to distinguish Odin, Thor, etc., from the _vanir_ (vans). _Asa._

ASA-LOKI. Loke, so called to distinguish him from Utgard-Loke, who is a giant. _Asa-Loke._

ASA-THORR. A common name for Thor. _Asa-Thor._

ASGARDR. The residence of the gods (_asas_). _Asgard._

ASKR. The name of the first man created by Odin, Hœner and Loder. _Ask._

ASYNJA; plural ASYNJUR. A goddess; feminine of _Ass_. _Asynje._

ATLA. One of Heimdal's nine mothers. _Atla._

AUDHUMLA; also written AUDHUMBLA. The cow formed from the frozen vapors resolved into drops. She nourished the giant Ymer. _Audhumbla._

AURBODA. Gymer's wife and Gerd's mother. _Aurboda._

AURGELMIR. A giant; grandfather of Bergelmer; called also Ymer. _Aurgelmer._

AUSTRI. A dwarf presiding over the east region. _Austre. East._

B

BALDR. God of the summer-sunlight. He was son of Odin and Frigg; slain by Hoder, at the instigation of Loke. He returns after Ragnarok. His dwelling is Breidablik. _Balder._

BARREY. A pleasant grove in which Gerd agreed with Skirner to meet Frey. _Barey._

BAUGI. A brother of Suttung, for whom (Baugi) Odin worked one summer in order to get his help in obtaining Suttung's mead of poetry. _Bauge._

BELI. A giant, brother of Gerd, who was slain by Frey. _Bele._

BERGELMIR. A giant; son of Thrudgelmer and grandson of Aurgelmer. _Bergelmer._

BESTLA. Wife of Bur and mother of Odin. _Bestla._

BEYLA. Frey's attendant; wife of Bygver. _Beyla._

BIFROST. [To tremble; the trembling way]. The rainbow. _Bifrost._

BILSKIRNIR. The heavenly abode of Thor, from the flashing of light in the lightning. _Bilskirner._

BOLTHORN. A giant; father of Bestla, Odin's mother. _Bolthorn._

BOLVERKR [Working terrible things]. An assumed name of Odin, when he went to get Suttung's mead. _Bolverk._

BODN. One of the three vessels in which the poetical mead was kept. Hence poetry is called the wave of the _bodn_. _Bodn._

BORR [_burr_, a son; Scotch _bairn_]. A son of Bure and father of Odin, Vile and Ve. _Bor._

BRAGI. The god of poetry. A son of Odin. He is the best of skalds. _Brage._

BREIDABLIK. [Literally to gleam, twinkle]. Balder's dwelling. _Breidablik._

BRISINGAMEN. Freyja's necklace or ornament. _Brisingamen._

BURI. The father of Bor. He was produced by the cow's licking the stones covered with rime, frost. _Bure._

BYGGVIR. Frey's attendant; Beyla's husband. _Bygver._

BYLEIPTR [Flame of the dwelling]. The brother of Loke. _Byleipt._

D

DAGR [Day]. Son of Delling. _Dag._

DAINN. A hart that gnaws the branches of Ygdrasil. _Daain._

DELLINGR [Dayspring]. The father of Day. _Delling._

DIS; plural DISIR. Attendant spirit or guardian angel. Any female mythic being may be called Dis. _Dis._

DRAUPNIR. Odin's ring. It was put on Balder's funeral-pile. Skirner offered it to Gerd. _Draupner._

DROMI. One of the fetters by which the Fenris-wolf was chained. _Drome._

DUNEYRR, DURAPROP. Harts that gnaw the branches of Ygdrasil. _Durathror._

DURINN. A dwarf, second in degree. _Durin._

DVALINN. A dwarf. _Dvalin._

DVERGR. A dwarf. In modern Icelandic lore dwarfs disappear, but remain in local names, as Dverga-steinn, and in several words and phrases. From the belief that dwarfs lived in rocks an echo is called _dwerg-mal_ (dwarf talk), and _dwerg-mala_ means to echo. The dwarfs were skilled in metal-working.

E

EDDA. The literal meaning of the word is great-grandmother, but the term is usually applied to the mythological collection of poems discovered by Brynjolf Sveinsson in the year 1643. He, led by a fanciful and erroneous suggestion, gave to the book which he found the name Sæmundar Edda, Edda of Sæmund. This is the so-called _Elder Edda_. The _Younger Edda_, is a name applied to a work written by Snorre Sturleson, and contains old mythological lore and the old artificial rules for verse-making. The ancients applied the name _Edda_ only to this work of Snorre. The _Elder Edda_ was never so called. And it is also uncertain whether Snorre himself knew his work by the name of Edda. In the Rigsmal (Lay of Rig) Edda is the progenitrix of the race of thralls.

EGDIR. An eagle that appears at Ragnarok. _Egder._

EGILL. The father of Thjalfe; a giant dwelling near the sea. Thor left his goats with him when on his way to the giant Hymer to get a vessel in which to brew ale.

EIKTHYRNIR. A hart that stands over Odin's hall (Valhal). From his antlers drops water from which rivers flow. _Eikthyrner._

EINHERI; plural EINHERJAR. The only (_ein_) or great champions; the heroes who have fallen in battle and been admitted into Valhal. _Einherje._

EIR. [The word signifies _peace_, _clemency_]. An attendant of Menglod, and the most skillful of all in the healing art. _Eir._

EISTLA. One of Heimdal's nine mothers. _Eistla._

ELDHRIMNIR. The kettle in which the boar Sæhrimner is cooked in Valhal. _Eldhrimner._

ELDIR. The fire-producer; a servant of Æger. _Elder._

ELIVAGAR. The ice-waves; poisonous cold streams that flow out of Niflheim. _Elivagar._

EMBLA. The first woman. The gods found two lifeless trees, the _ask_ (ash) and the _embla_; of the ash they made _man_, of the embla, _woman_.

EYRGJAFA. One of Heimdal's nine mothers. _Eyrgjafa._

F

FAFNIR. Son of Hreidmar. He kills his father to get possession of the Andvarenaut. He afterwards changes himself into a dragon and guards the treasure on Gnitaheath. He is slain by Sigurd, and his heart is roasted and eaten. _Fafner._

FALHOFNIR [Hollow-hoof]. One of the horses of the gods. _Falhofner._

FARBAUTI [Ship-destroyer]. The father of Loke. _Farbaute._

FENRIR or FENRISULFR. The monster-wolf. He is the son of Loke, who bites the hand of Tyr. The gods put him in chains, where he remains until Ragnarok. In Ragnarok he gets loose, swallows the sun and conquers Odin, but is killed by Vidar. _Fenrer_ or _Fenris-wolf_.

FENSALIR. The abode of Frigg. _Fensal._

FJALAR. A misnomer for Skrymer, in whose glove Thor took shelter. _Fjalar._

FJALAR. A dwarf, who slew Kvaser, and composed from his blood the poetic mead. _Fjalar._

FJALAR. A cock that crows at Ragnarok. _Fjalar._

FIMAFENGR. The nimble servant of Æger. He was slain by the jealous Loke. _Fimafeng._

FIMBUL. It means _mighty great_. In the mythology it appears as:

FIMBULFAMBI. A mighty fool. _Fimbulfambe._

FIMBULTYR. The mighty god, great helper (Odin). _Fimbultyr._

FIMBULVETR [_vetr_, winter]. The great and awful winter of three years' duration preceding the end of the world. _Fimbul-winter._

FIMBULTHUL. A heavenly river. _Fimbulthul._

FIMBULTHULR. The great wise man. _Fimbulthuler._

FJOLNIR. One of Odin's many names. _Fjolner._

FJORGYN. A personification of the earth; mother of Thor. _Fjorgyn._

FOLKVANGR. [Paradise, a field]. The folk-field. Freyja's dwelling. _Folkvang._

FORNJOTR. The most ancient giant. He was father of Æger, or Hler, the god of the ocean; of Loge, flame or fire, and of Kaare, wind. His wife was Ran. These divinities are generally regarded as belonging to an earlier mythology, probably to that of the Fins or Celts. _Fornjot._

FORSETI [The fore-sitter, president, chairman]. Son of Balder and Nanna. His dwelling is Glitner, and his office is that of a peacemaker. _Forsete._

FRANANGRS-FORS. The force or waterfall into which Loke, in the likeness of a salmon, cast himself, and where the gods caught him and bound him. _Fraananger-Force._

FREKI. One of Odin's wolves. _Freke._

FREYJA [Feminine of Freyr]. The daughter of Njord and sister of Frey. She dwells in Folkvang. Half the fallen in battle belong to her, the other half to Odin. She lends her feather disguise to Loke. She is the goddess of love. Her husband is Oder. Her necklace is Brisingamen. She has a boar with golden bristles. _Freyja._

FREYR. He is son of Njord, husband of Skade, slayer of Bele, and falls in conflict with Surt in Ragnarok. Alfheim was given him as a tooth-gift. The ship Skidbladner was built for him. He falls in love with Gerd, Gymer's fair daughter. He gives his trusty sword to Skirner. _Frey._

FRIGG. [Love]. She is the wife of Odin, and mother of Balder and queen of the gods, and reigns with Odin in Hlidskjalf. She exacts an oath from all things that they shall not harm Balder. _Frigg._

FULLA [Fullness]. Frigg's attendant. She takes care of Frigg's toilette, clothes and slippers. Nanna sent her a finger-ring from Helheim. She is represented as wearing her hair flowing over her shoulders. _Fulla._

G

GALAR. One of two dwarfs who killed Kvaser. Fjalar was the other. _Galar._

GAGNRADE. A name assumed by Odin when he went to visit Vafthrudner. _Gagnraad._

GANGLERI. One of Odin's names in Grimner's Lay. _Ganglere._

GANGLERI. A name assumed by King Gylfe when he came to Asgard. _Ganglere._

GARDROFA. The goddess Gnaa has a horse by name Hofvarpner. The sire of this horse is Hamskerper, and its mother is Gardrofa. _Gardrofa._

GARMR. A dog that barks at Ragnarok. He is called the largest and best among dogs. _Garm._

GEFJUN or GEFJON. A goddess. She is a maid, and all those who die maids become her maid-servants. She is present at Æger's feast. Odin says she knows men's destinies as well as he does himself. _Gefjun._

GEIRRODR. A son of King Hraudung and foster-son of Odin; he becomes king and is visited by Odin, who calls himself Grimner. He is killed by his own sword. There is also a giant by name Geirrod, who was once visited by Thor. _Geirrod._

GEIRSKOGUL. A valkyrie. _Geirskogul._

GEIRVIMUL. A heavenly river. _Geirvimul._

GERDR. Daughter of Gymer, a beautiful young giantess; beloved by Frey. _Gerd._

GERI. [_gerr_, greedy]. One of Odin's wolves. _Gere._

GERSEMI. One of Freyja's daughters. _Gerseme._

GJALLARBRU [_gjalla_, to yell, to resound]. The bridge across the river Gjol, near Helheim. The bridge between the land of the living and the dead. _Gjallarrbridge._

GJALLARHORN. Heimdal's horn, which he will blow at Ragnarok. _Gjallar horn._

GILLING. Father of Suttung, who possessed the poetic mead. He was slain by Fjalar and Galar. _Gilling._

GIMLI [Heaven]. The abode of the righteous after Ragnarok. _Gimle._

GJALP. One of Heimdal's nine mothers. _Gjalp._

GINNUNGA-GAP. The great yawning gap, the premundane abyss, the chaos or formless void, in which dwelt the supreme powers before the creation. In the eleventh century the sea between Greenland and Vinland (America) was called Ginnunga-gap. _Ginungagap._

GJOLL. One of the rivers Elivagar that flowed nearest the gate of Hel's abode. _Gjol._

GISL [Sunbeam]. One of the horses of the gods. _Gisl._

GLADR [Clear, bright]. One of the horses of the gods. _Glad._

GLADSHEIMR [Home of brightness or gladness]. Odin's dwelling. _Gladsheim._

GLASIR. A grove in Asgard. _Glaser._

GLEIPNIR. The last fetter with which the wolf Fenrer was bound. _Gleipner._

GLER [The glassy]. One of the horses of the gods. _Gler._

GLITNIR [The glittering]. Forsete's golden hall. _Glitner._

GNA. She is the messenger that Frigg sends into the various worlds on her errands. She has a horse called Hofvarpenr, that can run through air and water. _Gnaa._

GNIPAHELLIR. The cave before which the dog Garm barks. _The Gnipa-cave._

GNITAHEIDR. Fafner's abode, where he kept the treasure called Andvarenaut. _Gnita-heath._

GOINN. A serpent under Ygdrasil. _Goin._

GOLL. A valkyrie. _Gol._

GOMUL. A heavenly river. _Gomul._

GONDUL. A valkyrie. _Gondul._

GOPUL. A heavenly river. _Gopul._

GRABAKR. One of the serpents under Ygdrasil. _Graabak._

GRAD. A heavenly river. _Graad._