Part 8

The Svipdag synonyms so far met with are: Ódr (Hotherus), Óttarr (Otharus), and Eirekr (Ericus).

It is remarkable, but, as we shall find later, easy to explain that this saga-hero, whom the mythology made Freyja's husband, and whose career was adorned with such strange adventures, was not before the ninth century, and that in Sweden, accorded the same rank as the Asa-gods, and this in spite of the fact that he was adopted in Asgard, and despite the fact that his half-brother Ull was clothed with the same dignity as that of the Asa-gods. There is no trace to show that he who is Freyja's husband and Frey's brother-in-law was generally honoured with a divine title, with a temple, and with sacrifices. He remained to the devotees of the mythology what he was--a brilliant hero, but nothing more; and while the saga on the remote antiquity of the Teutons made him a ruler of North Teutonic tribes, whose leader he is in the war against Halfdan and Hadding (see Nos. 33, 38), he was honoured as one of the oldest kings of the Scandinavian peoples, but was not worshipped as a god. As an ancient king he has received his place in the middle-age chronicles and genealogies of rulers now under the name Svipdag, now under the name Erik. But, at the same time, his position in the epic was such that, if the Teutonic Olympus was ever to be increased with a divinity of Asa-rank, no one would have a greater right than he to be clothed with this dignity. From this point of view light is shed on a passage in ch. 26 of _Vita Ansgarii_. It is there related, that before Ansgarius arrived in Birka, where his impending arrival was not unknown, there came thither a man (doubtless a heathen priest or skald) who insisted that he had a mission from the gods to the king and the people. According to the man's statement, the gods had held a meeting, at which he himself had been present, and in which they unanimously had resolved to adopt in their council that King Erik who in antiquity had ruled over the Swedes, so that he henceforth should be one of the gods (_Ericum, quondam regem vestrum, nos unanimes in collegium nostrum ascisimus, ut sit unus de numero deorum_); this was done because they had perceived that the Swedes were about to increase the number of their present gods by adopting a stranger (Christ) whose doctrine could not be reconciled with theirs, and who accordingly did not deserve to be worshipped. If the Swedes wished to add another god to the old ones, under whose protection the country had so long enjoyed happiness, peace, and plenty, they ought to accord to Erik, and not to the strange god, that honour which belongs to the divinities of the land. What the man who came to Birka with this mission reported was made public, and created much stir and agitation. When Ansgarius landed, a temple had already been built to Erik, in which supplications and sacrifices were offered to him. This event took place at a time foreboding a crisis for the ancient Odinic religion. Its last bulwarks on the Teutonic continent had recently been levelled with the ground by Charlemagne's victory over the Saxons. The report of the cruelties practised by the advocates of the doctrine, which invaded the country from the south and the west for the purpose of breaking the faith of the Saxon Odin worshippers towards their religion, had certainly found its way to Scandinavia, and doubtless had its influence in encouraging that mighty effort made by the northern peoples in the ninth century to visit and conquer on their own territory their Teutonic kinsmen who had been converted to Christianity. It is of no slight mythological interest to learn that zealous men among the Swedes hoped to be able to inspire the old doctrine with new life by adopting among the gods Freyja's husband, the most brilliant of the ancient mythic heroes and the one most celebrated by the skalds. I do not deem it impossible that this very attempt made Erik's name hated among some of the Christians, and was the reason why "Old Erik" became a name of the devil. _Vita Ansgarii_ says that it was the devil's own work that Erik was adopted among the gods.

The Svipdag synonym Erik reappears in the Christian saga about Erik Vidforle (the far-travelled), who succeeded in finding and entering _Odainsakr_ (see No. 44). This is a reminiscence of Svipdag's visit in Mimer's realm. The surname _Vidförli_ has become connected with two names of Svipdag: we have _Eirikr hinn vidförli_ and _Ódr_ (_Oddr_) _hinn vidförli_ in the later Icelandic sagas.

104.

THE LATER FORTUNES OF THE VOLUND SWORD.

I have now given a review of the manner in which I have found the fragments of the myth concerning Svipdag up to the point where he obtains Freyja as his wife. The fragments dove-tail into each other and form a consecutive whole. Now, a few words in regard to the part afterwards played by the Volund sword, secured by Svipdag in the lower world, in the mythology, and in the saga. The sword, as we have seen, is the prize for which Asgard opens its gate and receives Svipdag as Freyja's husband. We subsequently find it in Frey's possession. Once more the sword becomes the price of a bride, and passes into the hands of the giant Gymer and his wife. It has already been demonstrated that Gymer's wife is the same Angerboda who, in historical times and until Ragnarok, dwells in the Ironwood (see No. 35). Her shepherd, who in the woods watches her monster flocks, also keeps the sword until the fire-giant Fjalar shall appear in his abode in the guise of the red cock and bring it to his own father Surt, in whose hand it shall cause Frey's death, and contribute to the destruction of the world of gods.

A historian, Priscus, who was Attila's contemporary, relates that the Hun king got possession of a divine sword that a shepherd had dug out of the ground and presented to him as a gift. The king of the Huns, it is added, rejoiced in the find; for, as the possessor of the sword that had belonged to the god "Mars," he considered himself as armed with authority to undertake and carry on successfully any war he pleased (see Jordanes, who quotes Priscus).

On the Teutonic peoples the report of this pretended event must have made a mighty impression. It may be that the story was invented for this purpose; for their myths told of a sword of victory which was owned by that god who, since the death of Balder, and since Tyr became one-handed, was, together with Thor, looked upon as the bravest of the warlike gods, which sword had been carried away from Asgard to the unknown wildernesses of the East, where it had been buried, not to be produced again before the approach of Ragnarok, when it was to be exhumed and delivered by a shepherd to a foe of mankind. Already, before this time, the Teutons had connected the appearance of the Huns with this myth. According to Jordanes, they believed that evil troll-women, whom the Gothic king Filimer had banished from his people, had taken refuge in the wildernesses of the East, and there given birth to children with forest giants ("satyres"), which children became the progenitors of the Huns. This is to say, in other words, that they believed the Huns were descended from Angerboda's progeny in the Ironwood, which, in the fulness of time, were to break into Midgard with the monster Hate as their leader. The sword which the god Frey had possessed, and which was concealed in the Ironwood, becomes in Jordanes a sword which the god "Mars" had owned, and which, thereafter, had been concealed in the earth. Out of Angerboda's shepherd, who again brings the sword into daylight and gives it to the world-hostile Fjalar, becomes a shepherd who exhumes the sword and gives it to Attila, the foe of the Teutonic race.

The memory of the sword survived the victory of Christianity, and was handed down through the centuries in many variations. That Surt at the end of the world was to possess the sword of course fell away, and instead now one and then another was selected as the hero who was to find and take it; that it was watched by a woman and by a man (in the mythology Angerboda and Eggther); and that the woman was an even more disgusting being than the man, were features that the saga retained both on the Continent and in England.

The Beowulf poem makes a monster, by name Grendel ("the destroyer"), dwell with his mother under a marsh in a forest, which, though referred to Denmark and to the vicinity of the splendid castle of a Danish king, is described in a manner which makes it highly probable that the prototype used by the Christian poet was a heathen skald's description of the Ironwood. There is, says he, the mysterious land in which the wolf conceals himself, full of narrow valleys, precipices, and abysses, full of dark and deep forests, marshes shrouded in gloom, lakes shaded with trees, nesses lashed by the sea, mountain torrents and bogs, which in the night shine as of fire, and shelter demoniac beings and dragons in their turbid waves. The hunted game prefers being torn into pieces by dogs to seeking its refuge on this unholy ground, from which raging storms chase black clouds until the heavens are darkened and the rain pours down in torrents. The English poet may honestly have located the mythological Ironwood in Denmark. The same old border-land, which to this very day is called "Dänische wold," was still in the thirteenth century called by the Danes Jarnwith, the Ironwood. From his abode in this wilderness Grendel makes nightly excursions to the Danish royal castle, breaks in there, kills sleeping champions with his iron hands, sucks out their blood, and carries their corpses to the enchanted marsh in order to eat them there. The hero, Beowulf, who has heard of this, proceeds to Denmark, penetrates into the awful forest, dives, armed with Denmark's best sword, down into the magic marsh to Grendel's and his mother's hall, and kills them after a conflict in which the above-mentioned sword was found useless. But down there he finds another which Grendel and his mother kept concealed, gets possession of it, and conquers with its aid.

Of this remarkable sword it is said that it was "rich in victory," that it hailed from the past, that "it was a good and excellent work of a smith," and that the golden hilt was the work of the "wonder-smith." On the blade was risted (engraved) "that ancient war" when "the billows of the raging sea washed over the race of giants," and on a plate made of the purest gold was written in runes "the name of him for whom this weapon was first made." The Christian poet found it most convenient for his purpose not to name this name for his readers or hearers. But all that is here stated is applicable to the mythological sword of victory. "The Wonder-smith" in the Old English tale is Volund (Weland). The coat of mail borne by Beowulf is "Welandes geweorc." "Deor the Scald's Complaint" sings of Weland, and King Alfred in his translation of Boethius speaks of "the wise Weland, the goldsmith, who, in ancient times, was the most celebrated." That the Weland sword was "the work of a giant" corresponds with the Volund myth (see below); and as we here learn that the blade was engraved with pictures representing the destructions of the ancient giant-artists in the waves of the sea (the blood of the primeval giant Ymer), then this illustrates a passage in Skirnersmal where it is likewise stated that the sword was risted with images and "that it fights of itself against the giant race" (Skirnersmal, 8, 23, 25; see No. 60). This expression is purposely ambiguous. One meaning is emphasised by Frey's words in Skirnersmal, that it fights of itself "if it is a wise man who owns it" (_ef sá er horscr er hefir_). The other meaning of the expression appears from the Beowulf poem. The sword itself fights against the giant race in the sense that the "wonder-smith" (Weland), by the aid of pictures on the blade of the sword itself, represented that battle which Odin and his brothers fought against the primeval giants, when the former drowned the latter in the blood of their progenitor, the giant Ymer.

Grendel is the son of the troll-woman living in the marsh, just as Hate is Angerboda's. The author identifies Grendel with Cain banished from the sight of his Creator, and makes giants, thurses, and "elves" the progeny of the banished one. Grendel's mother is a "she-wolf of the deep" and a mermaid (_merewif_). Angerboda is the mother of the wolf progeny in the Ironwood and "drives the ships into Ægir's jaws." What "Beowulf" tells about Grendel reminds us in some of the details so strongly of Völuspa's words concerning Hate that the question may be raised whether the English author did not have in mind a strophe resembling the one in Völuspa which treats of him. Völuspa's Hate _fyllisk fjörvi feigra manna_, "satiates himself with the vital force of men selected for death." Beowulf's Grendel sucks the blood of his chosen victims until life ebbs out of them. Völuspa's Hate _rydr ragna sjöt raudum dreyra_, "colours the princely abode with red blood from the wounds." Grendel steals into the royal castle and stains it with blood. The expression here reappears almost literally. Völuspa's _ragna sjöt_ and _dreyri_ correspond perfectly to "Beowulf's" _driht-sele_ and _dreor_.

In Vilkinasaga we read that Nagelring, the best sword in the world was concealed in a forest, and was there watched by a woman and a man. The man had the strength of twelve men, but the woman was still stronger. King Thidrek and his friend Hildebrand succeeded after a terrible combat in slaying the monster. The woman had to be slain thrice in order that she should not come to life again. This feature is also borrowed from the myth about Angerboda, the thrice slain.

_Historia Pontificum_ (from the middle of the twelfth century) informs us that Duke Wilhelm of Angoulême (second half of the tenth century) possessed an extraordinary sword made by Volund. But this was not the real sword of victory. From Jordane's history it was known in the middle age that this sword had fallen into Attila's hands, and the question was naturally asked what afterwards became of it. Sagas answered the question. The sword remained with the descendants of the Huns, the Hungarians. The mother of the Hungarian king Solomon gave it to one Otto of Bavaria. He lent it to the margrave of Lausitz, Dedi the younger. After the murder of Dedi it came into the hands of Emperor Henry IV., who gave it to his favourite, Leopold of Merseburg. By a fall from his horse Leopold was wounded by the point of the sword, and died from the wound. Even in later times the sword was believed to exist, and there were those who believed that the Duke of Alba bore it at his side.

105.

THE SVIPDAG EPITHET SKIRNER. THE VOLUND SWORD'S NAME GAMBANTEIN.

After Svipdag's marriage with Freyja the saga of his life may be divided into two parts--the time before his visit in Asgard as Freyja's happy husband and Frey's best friend, and the time of his absence from Asgard and his change and destruction.

To the former of these divisions belongs his journey, celebrated in song, to the abode of the giant Gymer, whither he proceeds to ask, on Frey's behalf, for the hand of Gerd, Gymer's and Aurboda's fair daughter. It has already been pointed out that after his marriage with Gunvara-Freyja, Erik-Svipdag appears in Saxo as Frotho-Frey's right hand, ready to help and a trusted man in all things. Among other things the task is also imposed on him to ask, on behalf of Frotho, for the hand of a young maid whose father in the mythology doubtless was a giant. He is described as a deceitful, treacherous being, hostile to the gods, as a person who had laid a plan with his daughter as a bait to deceive Frotho and win Gunvara for himself. The plan is frustrated by Svipdag (Ericus), Ull (Rollerus), and Thor (Bracus), the last of whom here appears in his usual _rôle_ as the conqueror of giants. At the very point when Frotho's intended father-in-law thinks he has won the game Thor rushes into his halls, and the schemer is compelled to save himself by flight (_Hist._, 221, &c.). In the excellent poem Skirnersmal, the Icelandic mythic fragments have preserved the memory of Frey's courtship to a giant-maid, daughter of Aurboda's terrible husband, the giant-chief Gymer. Here, as in Saxo, the Vana-god does not himself go to do the courting, but sends a messenger, who in the poem is named by the epithet _Skirner_. All that is there told about this Skirner finds its explanation in Svipdag's saga. The very epithet Skirnir, "the shining one," is justified by the fact that Solbjart-Orvandel, the star-hero, is his father. Skirner dwells in Asgard, but is not one of the ruling gods. The one of the gods with whom he is most intimately united is Frey. Thus his position in Asgard is the same as Svipdag's. Skirner's influence with Freyja's brother is so great that when neither Njord nor Skade can induce the son to reveal the cause of the sorrow which afflicts him, they hope that Skirner may be able to do so. Who, if not Svipdag, who tried to rescue Frey from the power of the giants, and who is his brother-in-law, and in Saxo his all in all, would be the one to possess such influence over him? Skirner also appeals to the fact that Frey and he have in days past had adventures together of such a kind that they ought to have faith in each other, and that Frey ought not to have any secret which he may not safely confide to so faithful a friend (str. 5). Skirner is wise and poetic, and has proverbs on his lips like Svipdag-Erik (cp. str. 13 in Skirnersmal with str. 47 in Fjölsvinnsmal). But the conclusive proof of their identity is the fact that Skirner, like Svipdag, had made a journey to the lower world, had been in Mimer's realm at the foot of Ygdrasil, and there had fetched a sword called Gambantein, which is the same sword as the one Frey lays in his hand when he is to go on his errand of courtship--the same sword as Frey afterwards parts with as the price paid to Gymer and Aurboda for the bride. When Gerd refuses to accept the courtship-presents that Skirner brings with him, he draws his sword, shows its blade to Gerd, threatens to send her with its edge to Nifelhel, the region below the Na-gates, the Hades-dwelling of Hrimner, Hrimgrimner, and of other giants of antiquity, the abode of the furies of physical sicknesses (see No. 60), and tells her how this terrible weapon originally came into his possession:

Til holtz ec gecc oc til hrás vidar gambantein at geta, gambantein ec gat.

"I went to Holt And to the juicy tree Gambantein to get, Gambantein I got."

The word _teinn_, a branch, a twig, has the meaning of sword in all the compounds where it occurs: _benteinn_, _bifteinn_, _eggteinar_, _hævateinn_ (_homateinn_), _hjörteinn_, _hræteinn_, _sárteinn_, _valteinn_. _Mistelteinn_ has also become the name of a sword (Younger Edda, i. 564; Fornald., i, 416, 515; ii. 371; cp. No. 101), and the same weapon as is here called _gambanteinn_ is called _hævateinn_, _homateinn_ (see further No. 116) in Fjölsvinnsmal.

In the mythology there is only one single place which is called Holt. It is _Mimis holt_, _Hoddmimis holt_, the subterranean grove, where the children who are to be the parents of the future race of man have their secure abode until the regeneration of the world (see Nos. 52, 53), living on the morning-dew which falls from the world-tree, _hrár vidr_, "the tree rich in sap" (see No. 89). Mimer-Nidhad also comes from Holt when he imprisons Volund (Volund., 14). It has already been proved above that, on his journey in the lower world, Svipdag also came to _Mimis holt_, and saw the citadel within which the _ásmegir_ have their asylum.

Saxo has known either the above-cited strophe or another resembling it, and when his Erik-Svipdag speaks of his journey in ambiguous words (_obscura umbage_), Saxo makes him say: _Ad trunca sylvarum robora penetravi ... ibi cuspis a robore regis excussa est_ (_Hist._, 206). With the expression _ad robora sylvarum penetravi_ we must compare _til holtz ec gecc_. The words _robur regis_ refer to the tree of the lower world king, Mimer _Mimameidr_, the world-tree. Erik-Svipdag's purpose with his journey to this tree is to secure a weapon. Saxo calls this weapon _cuspis_. Fjölsvinnsmal calls it, with a paraphrase, _broddr_. _Cuspis_ is a translation of _broddr_.

Thus there can be no doubt concerning the identity of Skirner with Svipdag.

106.

SVIPDAG'S LATER FORTUNES. HIS TRANSFORMATION AND DEATH. FREYJA GOES IN SEARCH OF HIM. FREYJA'S EPITHET MARDÖLL. THE SEA-KIDNEY, BRISINGAMEN. SVIPDAG'S EPITHET HERMÓDR.

When the war between the Asas and the Vans had broken out, Svipdag, as we have learned, espouses the cause of the Vans (see Nos. 33, 38), to whom he naturally belongs as the husband of the Vana-dis Freyja and Frey's most intimate friend. The happy issue of the war for the Vans gives Svipdag free hands in regard to Halfdan's hated son Hadding, the son of the woman for whose sake Svipdag's mother Groa was rejected. Meanwhile Svipdag offers Hadding reconciliation, peace, and a throne among the Teutons (see No. 38). When Hadding refuses to accept gifts of mercy from the slayer of his father, Svipdag persecutes him with irreconcilable hate. This hatred finally produces a turning-point in Svipdag's fortunes and darkens the career of the brilliant hero. After the Asas and Vans had become reconciled again, one of their first thoughts must have been to put an end to the feud between the Teutonic tribes, since a continuation of the latter was not in harmony with the peace restored among the gods (see No. 41), nevertheless the war was continued in Midgard (see No. 41), and the cause is Svipdag. He has become a rebel against both Asas and Vans, and herein we must look for the reason why, as we read in the Younger Edda, he disappeared from Asgard (Younger Edda, 114). But he disappears not only from the world of the gods, but finally also from the terrestrial seat of war, and that god or those gods who were to blame for this conceal his unhappy and humiliating fate from Freyja. It is at this time that the faithful and devoted Vana-dis goes forth to seek her lover in all worlds _med ukunnum thjódum_.

Saxo gives us two accounts of Svipdag's death--the one clearly converted into history, the other corresponding faithfully with the mythology. The former reports that Hadding conquered and slew Svipdag in a naval battle (_Hist._, 42). The latter gives us the following account (_Hist._, 48):