Loke Causes Enmity Between The Gods And The Original Artists

: THE MYTH CONCERNING THE EARLIEST PERIOD AND THE EMIGRATIONS FROM THE NORTH.
: Teutonic Mythology

The danger averted by Heimdal when he secured the sun-dis with bonds of

love begins in the time of Borgar. The corruption of nature and of man

go hand in hand. Borgar has to contend with robbers (pugiles and

piratae), and among them the prototype of pirates--that terrible

character, remembered also in Icelandic poetry, called Rodi (Saxo,

Hist., 23, 345). The moderate laws given by Heimdal had to be made

more severe by
orgar (Hist., 24, 25).



While the moral condition in Midgard grows worse, Loke carries out in

Asgard a cunningly-conceived plan, which seems to be to the advantage of

the gods, but is intended to bring about the ruin of both the gods and

man. His purpose is to cause enmity between the original artists

themselves and between them and the gods.



Among these artists the sons of Ivalde constitute a separate group.

Originally they enjoyed the best relations to the gods, and gave them

the best products of their wonderful art, for ornament and for use.

Odin's spear Gungnir, the golden locks on Sif's head, and Frey's

celebrated ship Skidbladner, which could hold all the warriors of Asgard

and always had favourable wind, but which also could be folded as a

napkin and be carried in one's pocket (Gylfaginning), had all come from

the workshop of these artists.



Ivalda synir The sons of Ivalde

gengu i ardaga went in ancient times

Scidbladni at skapa, to make Skidbladner,

scipa bezt, among ships the best,

scirom Frey, for the shining Frey,

nytom Njardar bur. Njord's useful son.



(Grimnismal.)



Another group of original artists were Sindre and his kinsmen, who dwelt

on Nida's plains in the happy domain of the lower world (Voelusp., Nos.

93, 94). According to the account given in Gylfaginning, ch. 37, Loke

meets Sindre's brother Brok, and wagers his head that Sindre cannot make

treasures as good as the above-named gifts from Ivalde's sons to the

Asas. Sindre then made in his smithy the golden boar for Frey, the ring

Draupner for Odin, from which eight gold rings of equal weight drop

every ninth night, and the incomparable hammer Mjolner for Thor. When

the treasures were finished, Loke cunningly gets the gods to assemble

for the purpose of deciding whether or not he has forfeited his head.

The gods cannot, of course, decide this without at the same time passing

judgment on the gifts of Sindre and those of Ivalde's sons, and showing

that one group of artists is inferior to the other. And this is done.

Sindre's treasures are preferred, and thus the sons of Ivalde are

declared to be inferior in comparison. But at the same time Sindre

fails, through the decision of the gods, to get the prize agreed on.

Both groups of artists are offended by the decision.



Gylfaginning does not inform us whether the sons of Ivalde accepted the

decision with satisfaction or anger, or whether any noteworthy

consequences followed or not. An entirely similar judgment is mentioned

in Rigveda (see No. 111). The judgment there has the most important

consequences: hatred toward the artists who were victorious, and toward

the gods who were the judges, takes possession of the ancient artist who

was defeated, and nature is afflicted with great suffering. That the

Teutonic mythology has described similar results of the decision shall

be demonstrated in this work.



Just as in the names Alveig and Almveig, Bil-roest and Bifroest,

Arinbjoern and Grjotbjorn, so also in the name Ivaldi or Ivaldr,

the latter part of the word forms the permanent part, corresponding to

the Old English Valdere, the German Walther, the Latinised

Waltharius.[14]



The former part of the word may change without any change as to the

person indicated: Ivaldi, Allvaldi, Oelvaldi, Audvaldi, may be

names of one and the same person. Of these variations Ivaldi and

Allvaldi are in their sense most closely related, for the prefix I

(Id) and All may interchange in the language without the least

change in the meaning. Compare all-likr, ilikr, and idglikr;

all-litill and ilitill; all-nog, ignog and idgnog. On the

other hand, the prefixes in Oelvaldi and Audvaldi produce different

meanings of the compound word. But the records give most satisfactory

evidence that Oelvaldi and Audvaldi nevertheless are the same person

as Allvaldi (Ivaldi). Thjasse's father is called in Harbardsljod (19)

Allvaldi; in the Younger Edda (i. 214) Oelvaldi and Audvaldi. He

has three sons, Ide, Gang, also called Urner (the Grotte-song), and the

just-named Thjasse, who are the famous ancient artists, "the sons of

Ivalde" (Ivalda synir). We here point this out in passing. Complete

statement and proof of this fact, so important from a mythological

standpoint, will be given in Nos. 113, 114, 115.



Nor is it long before it becomes apparent what the consequences are of

the decision pronounced by the Asas on Loke's advice upon the treasures

presented to the gods. The sons of Ivalde regarded it as a mortal

offence, born of the ingratitude of the gods. Loke, the originator of

the scheme, is caught in the snares laid by Thjasse in a manner fully

described in Thjodolf's poem "Haustlaung," and to regain his liberty he

is obliged to assist him (Thjasse) in carrying Idun away from Asgard.



Thjasse was known as the storm-giant who having been born in deformity

was ever seeking golden apples from Idun to cure his ugliness. Upon one

occasion assuming the form of an eagle he interrupted a feast of Odin,

Honer and Loke and when the latter attempted to strike the voracious

bird with a stake found himself fastened to both stake and eagle and was

borne away shrieking for mercy. Thjasse promised to release Loke if he

would bring to him Idun and her golden apples. Loke in fulfillment of

his promise beguiled Idun out of Asgard whereupon Thjasse in the form of

an eagle seized the goddess in his talons and bore her away to his

castle, Thrymheim. He was soon afterwards killed by the gods, and Idun

was released.]



Idun, who possesses "the Asas' remedy against old age," and keeps the

apples which symbolise the ever-renewing and rejuvenating force of

nature, is carried away by Thjasse to a part of the world inaccessible

to the gods. The gods grow old, and winter extends its power more and

more beyond the limits prescribed for it in creation. Thjasse, who

before was the friend of the gods, is now their irreconcilable foe. He

who was the promoter of growth and the benefactor of nature--for Sif's

golden locks, and Skidbladner, belonging to the god of fertility,

doubtless are symbols thereof--is changed into "the mightiest foe of

earth," dolg ballastan vallar (Haustl., 6), and has wholly assumed the

nature of a giant.



At the same time, with the approach of the great winter, a terrible

earthquake takes place, the effects of which are felt even in heaven.

The myth in regard to this is explained in No. 81. In this explanation

the reader will find that the great earthquake in primeval time is

caused by Thjasse's kinswomen on his mother's side (the

Grotte-song)--that is, by the giantesses Fenja and Menja, who turned the

enormous world-mill, built on the foundations of the lower world, and

working in the depths of the sea, the prototype of the mill of the

Grotte-song composed in Christian times; that the world-mill has a

moendull, the mill-handle, which sweeps the uttermost rim of the earth,

with which handle not only the mill-stone but also the starry heavens

are made to whirl round; and that when the mill was put in so violent a

motion by the angry giantesses that it got out of order, then the starry

constellations were also disturbed. The ancient terrible winter and the

inclination of the axis of heaven have in the myth been connected, and

these again with the close of the golden age. The mill had up to this

time ground gold, happiness, peace, and good-will among men; henceforth

it grinds salt and dust.



The winter must of course first of all affect those people who inhabited

the extensive Svithiod north of the original country and over which

another kinsman of Heimdal, the first of the race of Skilfings or

Ynglings, ruled. This kinsman of Heimdal has an important part in the

mythology, and thereof we shall give an account in Nos. 89, 91, 110,

113-115, and 123. It is there found that he is the same as Ivalde, who,

with a giantess, begot the illegitimate children Ide, Urner, and

Thjasse. Already before his sons he became the foe of the gods, and from

Svithiod now proceeds, in connection with the spreading of the

fimbul-winter, a migration southward, the work at the same time of the

Skilfings and the primeval artists. The list of dwarfs in Voeluspa has

preserved the record of this in the strophe about the artist migration

from the rocks of the hall (Salar steinar) and from Svarin's mound

situated in the north (the Voeluspa strophe quoted in the Younger Edda;

cp. Saxo., Hist., 32, 33, and Helg. Hund., i. 31, ii. to str. 14). The

attack is directed against aurvanga sjoet, the land of the clayey

plains, and the assailants do not stop before they reach Joeruvalla the

Jara plains, which name is still applied to the south coast of

Scandinavia (see No. 32). In the pedigree of these emigrants--



their er sottu

fra Salar steina (or Svarins haugi)

aurvanga sjot

til Joeruvalla--



occur the names Alfr and Yngvi, who have Skilfing names; Fjalarr,

who is Ivalde's ally and Odin's enemy (see No. 89); Finnr, which is

one of the several names of Ivalde himself (see No. 123); Frosti, who

symbolises cold; Skirfir, a name which points to the Skilfings; and

Virfir, whom Saxo (Hist. Dan., 178, 179) speaks of as Huyrvillus,

and the Icelandic records as Virvill and Vifill (Fornalders. ii. 8;

Younger Edda, i. 548). In Fornalders. Vifill is an emigration leader who

married to Loge's daughter Eymyrja (a metaphor for fire--Younger Edda,

ii. 570), betakes himself from the far North and takes possession of an

island on the Swedish coast. That this island is Oland is clear from

Saxo, 178, where Huyrvillus is called Holandiae princeps. At the same

time a brother-in-law of Virfir takes possession of Bornholm, and

Gotland is colonised by Thjelvar (Thjalfi of the myth), who is the son

of Thjasse's brother (see Nos. 113, 114, 115). Virfir is allied with

the sons of Finnr (Fyn--Saxo, Hist., 178). The saga concerning the

emigration of the Longobardians is also connected with the myth about

Thjasse and his kinsmen (see Nos. 112-115).



From all this it appears that a series of emigration and colonisation

tales have their origin in the myth concerning the fimbul-winter caused

by Thjasse and concerning the therewith connected attack by the

Skilfings and Thjasse's kinsmen on South Scandinavia, that is, on the

clayey plains near Jaravall, where the second son of Heimdal,

Skjold-Borgar, rules. It is the remembrance of this migration from north

to south which forms the basis of all the Teutonic middle-age migration

sagas. The migration saga of the Goths, as Jordanes heard it, makes them

emigrate from Scandinavia under the leadership of Berig. (Ex hac igitur

Scandza insula quasi officina gentium aut certe velut vagina nationum

cum rege suo Berig Gothi quondam memorantur egressi--De Goth. Orig., c.

4. Meminisse debes, me de Scandzae insulae gremio Gothos dixisse egressos

cum Berich suo rege--c. 17.) The name Berig, also written Berich and

Berigo, is the same as the German Berker, Berchtung, and indicates the

same person as the Norse Borgarr. With Berig is connected the race of

the Amalians; with Borgar the memory of Hamal (Amala), who is the

foster-brother of Borgar's son (cp. No. 28 with Helge Hund., ii.). Thus

the emigration of the Goths is in the myth a result of the fate

experienced by Borgar and his people in their original country. And as

the Swedes constituted the northernmost Teutonic branch, they were the

ones who, on the approach of the fimbul-winter, were the first that were

compelled to surrender their abodes and secure more southern

habitations. This also appears from saga fragments which have been

preserved; and here, but not in the circumstances themselves, lies the

explanation of the statements, according to which the Swedes forced

Scandinavian tribes dwelling farther south to emigrate. Jordanes (c. 3)

claims that the Herulians were driven from their abode in Scandza by the

Svithidians, and that the Danes are of Svithidian origin--in other

words, that an older Teutonic population in Denmark was driven south,

and that Denmark was repeopled by emigrants from Sweden. And in the

Norse sagas themselves, the centre of gravity, as we have seen, is

continually being moved farther to the south. Heimdal, under the name

Scef-Skelfir, comes to the original inhabitants in Scania. Borgar, his

son, becomes a ruler there, but founds, under the name Skjold, the royal

dynasty of the Skjoldungs in Denmark. With Scef and Skjold the Wessex

royal family of Saxon origin is in turn connected, and thus the royal

dynasty of the Goths is again connected with the Skjold who emigrated

from Scandza, and who is identical with Borgar. And finally there

existed in Saxo's time mythic traditions or songs which related that all

the present Germany came under the power of the Teutons who emigrated

with Borgar; that, in other words, the emigration from the North carried

with it the hegemony of Teutonic tribes over other tribes which before

them inhabited Germany. Saxo says of Skjold-Borgar that omnem

Alamannorum gentem tributaria ditione perdomuit; that is, "he made the

whole race of Alamanni tributary." The name Alamanni is in this case not

to be taken in an ethnographical but in a geographical sense. It means

the people who were rulers in Germany before the immigration of Teutons

from the North.



From this we see that migration traditions remembered by Teutons beneath

Italian and Icelandic skies, on the islands of Great Britain and on the

German continent, in spite of their wide diffusion and their separation

in time, point to a single root: to the myth concerning the primeval

artists and their conflict with the gods; to the robbing of Idun and the

fimbul-winter which was the result.



The myth makes the gods themselves to be seized by terror at the fate of

the world, and Mimer makes arrangements to save all that is best and

purest on earth for an expected regeneration of the world. At the very

beginning of the fimbul-winter Mimer opens in his subterranean grove of

immortality an asylum, closed against all physical and spiritual evil,

for the two children of men, Lif and Lifthrasir (Vafthr., 45), who are

to be the parents of a new race of men (see Nos. 52, 53).



The war begun in Borgar's time for the possession of the ancient country

continues under his son Halfdan, who reconquers it for a time, invades

Svithiod, and repels Thjasse and his kinsmen (see Nos. 32, 33).



[Footnote 14: Elsewhere it shall be shown that the heroes mentioned in

the middle age poetry under the names Valdere, Walther, Waltharius

manufortis, and Valthere of Vaskasten are all variations of the name of

the same mythic type changed into a human hero, and the same, too, as

Ivalde of the Norse documents (see No. 123).]



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