Part 4

Groa hears his prayer, and sings from the grave an incantation of protection against the dangers which her prophetic vision has discovered on those journeys that now lie before Svipdag: first, the incantation that can inspire the despondent youth who lacks confidence in himself with courage and reliance in his own powers. It is, Groa says, the same incantation as another mother before her sang over a son whose strength had not yet been developed, and who had a similar perilous task to perform. It is an incantation, says Groa, which Rind, Vale's mother, sang over _Ránr_. This synonym of Vale is of saga-historical interest. Saxo calls Vale _Bous_, the Latinised form for Beowulf, and Beowulf's grave-mound, according to the Old English poem which bears his name, is situated on _Hrones næss_, _Ránr's_ ness. Here too a connection between Vale and the name _Ránr_ is indicated.

Groa's second incantation contains a prayer that when her son, joyless, travels his paths and sees scorn and evil before his eyes, he may always be protected by Urd's _lokur_ (an ambiguous expression, which may on the one hand refer to the bonds and locks of the goddess of fate, on the other hand to Groa's own phrophetic magic song: _lokur_ means both songs of a certain kind and locks and prisons).

On his journey Svipdag is to cross rivers, which with swelling floods threaten his life; but Groa's third incantation commands these rivers to flow down to Hel and to fall for her son. The rivers which have their course to Hel (_falla til Heljar hedan_--Grimnersmal, 28) are subterranean rivers rising on the Hvergelmer mountain (59, 93).

Groa's fourth and fifth incantations indicate that Svipdag is to encounter enemies and be put in chains. Her songs are then to operate in such a manner that the hearts of the foes are softened into reconciliation, and that the chains fall from the limbs of her son. For this purpose she gives him that power which is called "_Leifnir's_ fires" (see No. 38), which loosens fetters from enchanted limbs (str. 9, 10).

Groa's sixth incantation is to save Svipdag from perishing in a gale on the sea. In the great world-mill (_ludr_) which produces the maelstrom, ocean currents, ebb and flood tide (see Nos. 79-82), calm and war are to "gang thegither" in harmony, be at Svipdag's service and prepare him a safe voyage.

The seventh incantation that comes from the grave-chamber speaks of a journey which Svipdag is to make over a mountain where terrible cold reigns. The song is to save him from becoming a victim of the frost there.

The last two incantations, the eighth and the ninth, show what was already suggested by the third, namely, that Svipdag's adventurous journeys are to be crowned with a visit in the lower world. He is to meet Nat _á Niflvegi_, "on the Nifel-way," "in Nifel-land." The word _nifl_ does not occur in the Old Norse literature except in reference to the northern part of the Teutonic Hades, the forecourt to the worlds of torture there. _Niflhel_ and _Niflheim_ are, as we know, the names of that forecourt. _Niflfarinn_ is the designation, as heretofore mentioned, of a deceased whose soul has descended to Nifelhel; _Niflgódr_ is a nithing, one deserving to be damned to the tortures of the lower world. Groa's eighth incantation is to protect her son against the perilous consequences of encountering a "dead woman" (_daud kona_) on his journey through Nifelhel. The ninth incantation shows that Svipdag, on having traversed the way to the northern part of the lower world, crosses the Hvergelmer mountain and comes to the realm of Mimer; for he is to meet and talk with "the weapon-honoured giant," Mimer himself, under circumstances which demand "tongue and brains" on the part of Groa's son:

ef thú vid inn náddgöfga ordum skiptir jötun: máls ok mannvits sé ther á Mimis hjarta gnóga of getit.

In the poem Fjölsvinnsmal, which I am now to discuss, we read with regard to Svipdag's adventures in the lower world that on his journey in Mimer's domain he had occasion to see the _ásmegir's_ citadel and the splendid things within its walls (str. 33; cp. No. 53).

97.

SVIPDAG OUTSIDE OF THE GATES OF ASGARD. MENGLAD'S IDENTITY WITH FREYJA.

In the first stanzas of Fjölsvinnsmal we see Svipdag making his way to a citadel which is furnished with _forgördum_--that is to say, ramparts in front of the gate in the wall which surrounds the place. On one of these ramparts stands a watchman who calls himself _Fjölsvinnr_, which is an epithet of Odin (Grimnersmal, 47).

The first strophe of the poem calls Svipdag _thursa thjódar sjólr_ (_sjóli_), "the leader of the Thurs people." The reason why he could be designated thus has already been given (see Nos. 24, 33): During the conflicts between the powers of winter and the sons of Ivalde, and the race connected with them, on the one side, and the Teutonic patriarch Halfdan, favoured by the Asa-gods, on the other side, Svipdag opposed the latter and finally defeated him (see No. 93).

From the manner in which Fjölsvin receives the traveller it appears that a "leader of the Thurs people" need not look for a welcome outside of such a citadel as this. Fjölsvin calls him a _flagd_, a _vargr_, and advises him to go back by "moist ways," for within this wall such a being can never come. Meanwhile these severe words do not on this occasion appear to be spoken in absolute earnest, for the watchman at the same time encourages conversation, by asking Svipdag what his errand is. The latter corrects the watchman for his rough manner of receiving him, and explains that he is not able to return, for the burgh he sees is a beautiful sight, and there he would be able to pass a happy life.

When the watchman now asks him about his parents and family he answers in riddles. Himself "the leader of the Thurs people," the former ally of the powers of frost, he calls Windcold, his father he calls Springcold, and his grandfather Verycold (_Fjölkaldr_). This answer gives the key to the character of the whole following conversation, in which Svipdag is the questioner, whose interrogations the watchman answers in such a manner that he gives persons and things names which seldom are their usual ones, but which refer to their qualities.

What castle is this, then, before which Svipdag stopped, and within whose walls he is soon to find Menglad, whom he seeks?

A correct answer to this question is of the greatest importance to a proper understanding of the events of mythology and their connection. Strange to say, it has hitherto been assumed that the castle is the citadel of a giant, a resort of thurses, and that Menglad is a giantess.

Svipdag has before him a scene that enchants his gaze and fills him with a longing to remain there for ever. It is a pleasure to the eyes, he says, which no one willingly renounces who once has seen a thing so charming. Several "halls," that is to say, large residences or palaces, with their "open courts," are situated on these grounds. The halls glitter with gold, which casts a reflection over the plains in front of them (_gardar gloa mer thykkja af gullna sali_--str. 5). One of the palaces, a most magnificent one (an audrann), is surrounded by "wise Vaferflame," and Fjölsvin says of it that from time immemorial there has been a report among men in regard to this dwelling. He calls it _Hýrr_, "the gladdening one," "the laughing one," "the soul-stirring one." Within the castle wall there rises a hill or rock, which the author of the song conceived as decorated with flowers or in some other ravishing way, for he calls it _a joyous rock_. There the fair Menglad is seen sitting like an image (_thruma_), surrounded by lovely dises. Svipdag here sees the world-tree, invisible on earth, spreading its branches loaded with fruits (_aldin_) over all lands. In the tree sits the cock _Vidofnir_, whose whole plumage glitters like gold (str. 19, 22, 23, 31, 32, 35, 49).

The whole place is surrounded by a wall, "so solid that it shall stand as long as the world" (str. 12). It is built of Lerbrimer's (Ymer's) limbs, and is called _Gastrofnir_, "the same one as refuses admittance to uninvited guests." In the wall is inserted the gate skilfully made by Solblinde's sons, the one which I have already mentioned in No. 36. Svipdag, who had been in the lower world and had there seen the halls of the gods and the well-fortified castle of the _ásmegir_ (see No. 53), admires the wall and the gate, and remarks that no more dangerous contrivances (for uninvited guests) than these were seen among the gods (str. 9-12).

The gate is guarded by two "garms," wolf-dogs. Fjölsvin explains that their names are _Gifr_ and _Geri_, that they are to live and perform their duty as watch-dogs to the end of the world (_unz rjúfask regin_), and that they are the watchers of watchers, whose number is eleven (_vardir ellifu, er their varda_--str. 14).

Just as the mythic personality that Svipdag met outside of the castle is named by the Odin-epithet _Fjölsvidr_, so we here find one of the watching dogs called after one of Odin's wolf-dogs, _Geri_ (Grimnersmal, 19). Their duty of watching, which does not cease before Ragnarok, they perform in connection with eleven mythic persons dwelling within the citadel, who are themselves called _vardir_, an epithet for world-protecting divinities. Heimdal is _vördr goda_, Balder is _vördr Hálfdanar jarda_. The number of the Asas is eleven after Balder descended to the lower world. Hyndluljod says: _Voru ellifu æsir taldir, Balldr er hne vid banathufu_.

These wolf-dogs are foes of giants and trolls. If a _vættr_ came there he would not be able to get past them (str. 16--_ok kemt thá vættr, ef thá kom_). The troll-beings that are called _gifr_ and _kveldridur_ (Völuspa, 50; Helge Hjorv., 15), and that fly about in the air with _lim_ (bundles of sticks) in their hands, have been made to fall by these dogs. They have made _gifr-lim_ into a "land-wreck" (_er gjordu gífrlim reka fyrir löndin_--str. 13). As one of the dogs is himself called _Gifr_, his ability, like that of those chased by him, to fly in the air seems to be indicated. The old tradition about Odin, who with his dogs flies through the air above the earth, has its root in the myth concerning the duty devolving upon the Asa-father, in his capacity of lord of the heavens, to keep space free from _gifr_, _kveddridur_, _tunridur_, who "_leika á lopti_," do their mischief in the air (cp. Havamál, 155).

The hall in which Menglad lives, and that part of the wall-surrounded domain which belongs to her, seems to be situated directly in front of the gate, for Svipdag, standing before it, asks who is the ruler of the domain which he sees before him, and Fjölsvin answers that it is Menglad who there holds sway, owns the land, and is mistress of the treasure-chambers.

The poem tells us in the most unmistakable manner that Menglad is an asynje, and that one of the very noblest ones. "What are the names," asks Svipdag, "of the young women who sit so pleasantly together at Menglad's feet?" Fjölsvin answers by naming nine, among whom are the goddess of healing, _Eir_ (Prose Edda, i. 114), and the dises _Hlif_, "the protectress," _Björt_, "the shining," _Blid_, "the blithe," and _Frid_, "the fair." Their place at Menglad's feet indicates that they are subordinate to her and belong to her attendants. Nevertheless they are, Fjölsvin assures us, higher beings, who have sanctuaries and altars (str. 40), and have both power and inclination quickly to help men who offer sacrifices to them. Nay, "no so severe evil can happen to the sons of men that these maids are not able to help them out of their distress." It follows with certainty that their mistress Menglad, "the one fond of ornaments," must be one of the highest and most worshipped goddesses in the mythology. And to none of the asynjes is the epithet "fond of ornaments" (Menglad) more applicable than to the fair owner of the first among female ornaments, Brisingamen--to Freyja, whose daughters _Hnoss_ and _Gersami_ are called by names that mean "ornaments," and of whose fondness for beautiful jewels even Christian saga authors speak. To the court of no other goddess are such dises as _Björt_, _Blid_, and _Frid_ so well suited as to hers. And all that Fjölsvinnsmal tells about Menglad is in harmony with this.

Freyja was the goddess of love, of matrimony, and of fertility, and for this reason she was regarded as the divine ruler and helper, to whom loving maids, wives who are to bear children, and sick women were to address themselves with prayers and offerings. Figuratively this is expressed in Fjölsvinnsmal with the words that every sick woman who walks up the mountain on which Menglad sits regains her health. "That mountain has long been the joy of the sick and wounded" (str. 36). The great tree whose foliage spreads over Menglad's palace bears the fruits that help _kélisjúkar konur_, so that _utar hverva that thær innar skyli_ (str. 22). In the midst of the fair dises who attend Menglad the poem also mentions _Aurboda_, the giantess, who afterwards becomes the mother-in-law of Freyja's brother, and whose appearance in Asgard as a maid-servant of Freyja, and as one of those that bring fruits from the world-tree to _kélisjúkar konur_, has already been mentioned in No. 35. If we now add that Menglad, though a mighty goddess, is married to Svipdag, who is not one of the gods, and that Freyja, despite her high rank among the goddesses, does not have a god for her husband, but, as Gylfaginning expresses it, _giptist theim manni er Ódr heitir_, and, finally that Menglad's father is characterised by a name which refers to Freyja's father, Njord,[3] then these circumstances alone, without the additional and decisive proofs which are to be presented as this investigation progresses, are sufficient to form a solid basis for the identity of Menglad and Freyja, and as a necessary consequence for the identity of Svipdag and _Ódr_, also called _Óttarr_.

The glorious castle to which Svipdag travelled "up" is therefore Asgard, as is plain from its very description--with its gold-glittering palace, with its wall standing until Ragnarok, with its artistic gate, with its eleven watchers, with its Fjölsvin-Odin, with its asynje _Eir_, with its benevolent and lovely dises worshipped by men, with its two wolf-dogs who are to keep watch so long as the world stands, and which clear the air of _tunridur_, with its shady arbour formed by the overhanging branches of the world-tree, and with its gold-feathered cock _Vidofnir_ (Völuspa's _Gullinkambi_).

Svipdag comes as a stranger to Asgard's gate, and what he there sees he has never before seen. His conversation with Fjölsvin is a series of curious questions in regard to the strange things that he now witnesses for the first time. His designation as _thursa thjodar sjólr_ indicates not only that he is a stranger in Asgard, but also that he has been the foe of the Asgards. That he under such circumstances was able to secure admittance to the only way that leads to Asgard, the bridge Bifrost; that he was allowed unhindered to travel up this bridge and approach the gate unpunished, and without encountering any other annoyances than a few repelling words from Fjölsvin, who soon changes his tone and gives him such information as he desires--all this presupposes that the mythology must have had strong and satisfactory reasons for permitting a thing so unusual to take place. In several passages in Grogalder and in Fjölsvinnsmal it is hinted that the powers of fate had selected Svipdag to perform extraordinary things and gain an end the attaining of which seemed impossible. That the norns have some special purpose with him, and that Urd is to protect him and direct his course with invisible bonds, however erratic it may seem, all this gleams forth from the words of his mother Groa in the grave-chamber. And when Svipdag finally sees Menglad hasten to throw herself into his arms, he says himself that it is Urd's irresistible decree that has shaped things thus: _Urdar ordi kvedr engi madr_. But Urd's resolve alone cannot be a sufficient reason in the epic for Svipdag's adoption in Asgard, and for his gaining, though he is not of Asa-birth, the extraordinary honour and good luck of becoming the husband of the fairest of the asynjes and of one of the foremost of the goddesses. Urd must have arranged the chain of events in such a manner that Menglad _desires_ to possess him, that Svipdag has deserved her love, and that the Asa-gods deem it best for themselves to secure this opponent of theirs by bonds of kinship.

[3] In strophe 8 Fjolsvin says of Menglad:

_Menglöd of heitir, en hana módir of gat vid Svafrthorins syni._

_Svafr_ alone, or as a part of a compound, indicates a Vana-god. According to an account narrated as history in Fornaldersaga (i. 415), a daughter of Thjasse was married to "king" _Svafrlami_. In the mythology it is Freyja's father, the Vana-god Njord, who gets Thjasse's daughter for his wife. The Sun-song (str. 79, 80) mentions Njord's daughters together with _Svafr_ and _Svafrlogi_. The daughters are nine, like Menglad and her dises.

98.

SVIPDAG BRINGS TO ASGARD THE SWORD OF REVENGE FORGED BY VOLUND.

The most important question put to Fjölsvin by Svipdag is, of course, the one whether a stranger can enter. Fjölsvin's answer is to the effect that this is, and remains, impossible, unless the stranger brings with him a certain sword. The wall repels an uninvited comer; the gate holds him fast if he ventures to lay hands on it; of the two wolf-dogs one is always watching while the other sleeps, and no one can pass them without permission.

To this assurance on the part of Fjölsvin are added a series of questions and answers, which the author of the poem has planned with uncommon acumen. Svipdag asks if it is not, after all, possible to get past the watching dogs. There must be something in the world delicate enough to satisfy their appetite and thus turn away their attention. Fjölsvin admits that there are two delicacies that might produce this effect, but they are pieces of flesh that lie in the limbs of the cock Vidofner (str. 17, 18). He who can procure these can steal past the dogs. But the cock Vidofner sits high in the top of the world-tree and seems to be inaccessible. Is there, then, asks Svipdag, any weapon that can bring him down dead? Yes, says Fjölsvin, there is such a weapon. It was made outside of Na-gate (_nagrindr_). The smith was one _Loptr_. He was robbed (_rúinn_) of this weapon so dangerous to the gold-glittering cock, and now it is in the possession of _Sinmara_, who has laid it in a chest of tough iron beneath nine _njard_-locks (str. 25, 26).

It must have been most difficult and dangerous to go to the place where _Sinmara_ has her abode and try to secure the weapon so well kept. Svipdag asks if anyone who is willing to attempt it has any hope of returning. Fjölsvin answers that in Vidofner's ankle-bones (_völum_) lies a bright, hook-shaped bone. If one can secure this, bring it to _Ludr_ (the place of the lower-world mill), and give it to _Sinmara_, then she can be induced to part with the weapon in question (str. 27-30).

It appears from this that the condition on which Svipdag can get into the castle where Menglad dwells is that he shall be in possession of a weapon which was smithied by an enemy of the gods, here called _Loptr_, and thus to be compared with Loke, who actually bears this epithet. If he does not possess this weapon, which doubtless is fraught with danger to the gods, and is the only one that can kill the gold-glittering cock of the world-tree, then the gate of the citadel is not opened to him, and the watching wolf-dogs will not let him pass through it.

But Fjölsvin also indicates that under ordinary circumstances, and for one who is not particularly chosen for this purpose by Fate, it is utterly impossible to secure possession of the sword in question. Before Sinmara can be induced to lend it, it is necessary to bring Vidofner dead down from the branches of the world-tree. But to kill the cock that very weapon is needed which Sinmara cannot otherwise be induced to part with.

Meanwhile the continuation of the poem shows that what was impossible for everybody else has already been accomplished by Svipdag. When he stands at the gate of the castle in conversation with Fjölsvin he has the sword by his side, and knows perfectly well that the gate is to be opened so soon as it pleases him to put an end to the talk with Fjölsvin and pronounce his own name. The very moment he does this the gate swings on its hinges, the mighty wolf-dogs welcome (_fagna_) him, and Menglad, informed by Fjölsvin of his arrival, hastens eagerly to meet him (str. 42, &c.). Fjölsvinnsmal, so far as acumen in plot and in execution is concerned, is the finest old poem that has been handed down to our time, but it would be reduced to the most absurd nonsense if the sword were not in Svipdag's possession, as the gate is never to be opened to anyone else than to him who brings to Menglad's castle the sword in question.

So far as the sword is concerned we have now learned:

That it was made by an artist who must have been a foe of the gods, for Fjölsvin designates him by the Loke-epithet _Loptr_;

That the place where the artist dwelt when he made the weapon was situated _fyr nágrindr nedan_;

That while he dwelt there, and after he had finished the sword, he was robbed of it (_Loptr rúinn fyr nágrindr nedan_);

That he or they who robbed him of it must have been closely related to Nat and the night dises, for the sword was thereafter in the keeping of the night-being _Sinmara_;

That she regarded it as exceedingly precious, and also dangerous if it came into improper hands, since she keeps it in a "tough iron chest" beneath nine magical locks;

That the eleven guards that dwell in the same castle with Menglad regard it as of the greatest importance to get the sword within their castle wall;

That it has qualities like no other weapon in the world: this sword, and it alone, can kill the golden cock on the world-tree--a quality which seems to indicate that it threatens the existence of the world and the gods.

It is evident that the artist who made this incomparable and terrible weapon was one of the most celebrated smiths in mythology. The question now is, whether the information given us by Fjölsvinnsmal in regard to him is sufficient to enable us to determine with certainty who he is.

The poem does not name him by any of his names, but calls him by the Loke-epithet _Loptr_, "the airy." Among the ancient smiths mentioned in our mythic fragments there is one who refers to himself with the epithet _Byrr_, "Wind," suggesting to us the same person--this one is Volund. After he in his sleep had been made prisoner by Mimer-_Nidadr_ and his Njarians (see No. 87), he says when he awakes:

Hverir 'ro iofrar their er a laugdo besti Byr síma oc mic bundo?

"Who are the mighty, who with bonds (_besti_, dative of _böstr_) bound the wind (_laugdo sima a Byr_) and fettered me?" The expression implies that it is as easy to bind the wind as Volund. He was also able to secure his liberty again in spite of all precautions.