The Saga In Heimskringla And The Prose Edda

: MEDIAEVAL MIGRATION SAGAS.
: Teutonic Mythology

In the preceding pages we have given the reasons which make it appear

proper to assume that ancient Teutondom, within certain indefinable

limits, included the coasts of the Baltic and the North Sea, that the

Scandinavian countries constituted a part of this ancient Teutondom, and

that they have been peopled by Teutons since the days of the stone age.



The subject which I am now about to discuss requires an investigatio in

reference to what the Teutons themselves believed, in regard to this

question, in the earliest times of which we have knowledge. Did they

look upon themselves as aborigines or as immigrants in Teutondom? For

the mythology, the answer to this question is of great weight. For

pragmatic history, on the other hand, the answer is of little

importance, for whatever they believed gives no reliable basis for

conclusions in regard to historical facts. If they regarded themselves

as aborigines, this does not hinder their having immigrated in

prehistoric times, though their traditions have ceased to speak of it.

If they regarded themselves as immigrants, then it does not follow that

the traditions, in regard to the immigration, contain any historical

kernel. Of the former we have an example in the case of the Brahmins and

the higher castes in India: their orthodoxy requires them to regard

themselves as aborigines of the country in which they live, although

there is evidence that they are immigrants. Of the latter the Swedes are

an example: the people here have been taught to believe that a greater

or less portion of the inhabitants of Sweden are descended from

immigrants who, led by Odin, are supposed to have come here about one

hundred years before the birth of Christ, and that this immigration,

whether it brought many or few people, was of the most decisive

influence on the culture of the country, so that Swedish history might

properly begin with the moment when Odin planted his feet on Swedish

soil.



The more accessible sources of the traditions in regard to Odin's

immigration to Scandinavia are found in the Icelandic works,

Heimskringla and the Prose Edda. Both sources are from the same time,

that is, the thirteenth century, and are separated by more than two

hundred years from the heathen age in Iceland.



We will first consider Heimskringla's story. A river, by name Tanakvisl,

or Vanakvisl, empties into the Black Sea. This river separates Asia from

Europe. East of Tanakvisl, that is to say, then in Asia, is a country

formerly called Asaland or Asaheim, and the chief citadel or town in

that country was called Asgard. It was a great city of sacrifices, and

there dwelt a chief who was known by the name Odin. Under him ruled

twelve men who were high-priests and judges. Odin was a great chieftain

and conqueror, and so victorious was he, that his men believed that

victory was wholly inseparable from him. If he laid his blessing hand on

anybody's head, success was sure to attend him. Even if he was absent,

if called upon in distress or danger, his very name seemed to give

comfort. He frequently went far away, and often remained absent

half-a-year at a time. His kingdom was then ruled by his brothers Vile

and Ve. Once he was absent so long that the Asas believed that he would

never return. Then his brothers married his wife Frigg. Finally he

returned, however, and took Frigg back again.



The Asas had a people as their neighbours called the Vans. Odin made war

on the Vans, but they defended themselves bravely. When both parties had

been victorious and suffered defeat, they grew weary of warring, made

peace, and exchanged hostages. The Vans sent their son Njord and his son

Frey, and also Kvaser, as hostages to the Asas; and the latter gave in

exchange Honer and Mimer. Odin gave Njord and Frey the dignity of

priests. Frey's sister, too, Freyja, was made a priestess. The Vans

treated the hostages they had received with similar consideration, and

created Honer a chief and judge. But they soon seemed to discover that

Honer was a stupid fellow. They considered themselves cheated in the

exchange, and, being angry on this account, they cut off the head, not

of Honer, but of his wise brother Mimer, and sent it to Odin. He

embalmed the head, sang magic songs over it, so that it could talk to

him and tell him many strange things.



Asaland, where Odin ruled is separated by a great mountain range from

Tyrkland, by which Heimskringla means Asia Minor, of which the

celebrated Troy was supposed to have been the capital. In Tyrkland, Odin

also had great possessions. But at that time the Romans invaded and

subjugated all lands, and many rulers fled on that account from their

kingdoms. And Odin, being wise and versed in the magic art, and knowing,

therefore, that his descendants were to people the northern part of the

world, he left his kingdom to his brothers Vile and Ve, and migrated

with many followers to Gardarike, Russia. Njord, Frey, and Freyja, and

the other priests who had ruled under him in Asgard, accompanied him,

and sons of his were also with him. From Gardarike he proceeded to

Saxland, conquered vast countries, and made his sons rulers over them.

From Saxland he went to Funen, and settled there. Seeland did not then

exist. Odin sent the maid Gefion north across the water to investigate

what country was situated there. At that time ruled in Svithiod a chief

by name Gylfe. He gave Gefion a ploughland,[3] and, by the help of four

giants changed into oxen, Gefion cut out with the plough, and dragged

into the sea near Funen that island which is now called Seeland. Where

the land was ploughed away there is now a lake called Logrin. Skjold,

Odin's son, got this land, and married Gefion. And when Gefion informed

Odin that Gylfe possessed a good land, Odin went thither, and Gylfe,

being unable to make resistance, though he too was a wise man skilled in

witchcraft and sorcery, a peaceful compact was made, according to which

Odin acquired a vast territory around Logrin; and in Sigtuna he

established a great temple, where sacrifices henceforth were offered

according to the custom of the Asas. To his priests he gave

dwellings--Noatun to Njord, Upsala to Frey, Himminbjorg to Heimdal,

Thrudvang to Thor, Breidablik to Balder, &c. Many new sports came to the

North with Odin, and he and the Asas taught them to the people. Among

other things, he taught them poetry and runes. Odin himself always

talked in measured rhymes. Besides, he was a most excellent sorcerer. He

could change shape, make his foes in a conflict blind and deaf; he was a

wizard, and could wake the dead. He owned the ship Skidbladner, which

could be folded as a napkin. He had two ravens, which he had taught to

speak, and they brought him tidings from all lands. He knew where all

treasures were hid in the earth, and could call them forth with the aid

of magic songs. Among the customs he introduced in the North were

cremation of the dead, the raising of mounds in memory of great men, the

erection of bauta-stones in commemoration of others; and he introduced

the three great sacrificial feasts--for a good year, for good crops, and

for victory. Odin died in Svithiod. When he perceived the approach of

death, he suffered himself to be marked with the point of a spear, and

declared that he was going to Gudheim to visit his friends and receive

all fallen in battle. This the Swedes believed. They have since

worshipped him in the belief that he had an eternal life in the ancient

Asgard, and they thought he revealed himself to them before great

battles took place. On Svea's throne he was followed by Njord, the

progenitor of the race of Ynglings. Thus Heimskringla.



We now pass to the Younger Edda,[4] which in its Foreword gives us in

the style of that time a general survey of history and religion.



First, it gives from the Bible the story of creation and the deluge.

Then a long story is told of the building of the tower of Babel. The

descendants of Noah's son, Ham, warred against and conquered the sons of

Sem, and tried in their arrogance to build a tower which should aspire

to heaven itself. The chief manager in this enterprise was Zoroaster,

and seventy-two master-masons and joiners served under him. But God

confounded the tongues of these arrogant people so that each one of the

seventy-two masters with those under him got their own language, which

the others could not understand, and then each went his own way, and in

this manner arose the seventy-two different languages in the world.

Before that time only one language was spoken, and that was Hebrew.

Where they tried to build the tower a city was founded and called

Babylon. There Zoroaster became a king and ruled over many Assyrian

nations, among which he introduced idolatry, and which worshiped him as

Baal. The tribes that departed with his master-workmen also fell into

idolatry, excepting the one tribe which kept the Hebrew language. It

preserved also the original and pure faith. Thus, while Babylon became

one of the chief altars of heathen worship, the island Crete became

another. There was born a man, by name Saturnus, who became for the

Cretans and Macedonians what Zoroaster was for the Assyrians. Saturnus'

knowledge and skill in magic, and his art of producing gold from red-hot

iron, secured him the power of a prince on Crete; and as he, moreover,

had control over all invisible forces, the Cretans and Macedonians

believed that he was a god, and he encouraged them in this faith. He had

three sons--Jupiter, Neptunus, and Plutus. Of these, Jupiter resembled

his father in skill and magic, and he was a great warrior who conquered

many peoples. When Saturnus divided his kingdom among his sons, a feud

arose. Plutus got as his share hell, and as this was the least desirable

part he also received the dog named Cerberus. Jupiter, who received

heaven, was not satisfied with this, but wanted the earth too. He made

war against his father, who had to seek refuge in Italy, where he, out

of fear of Jupiter, changed his name and called himself Njord, and where

he became a useful king, teaching the inhabitants, who lived on nuts and

roots, to plough and plant vineyards.



Jupiter had many sons. From one of them, Dardanus, descended in the

fifth generation Priamus of Troy. Priamus' son was Hektor, who in

stature and strength was the foremost man in the world. From the Trojans

the Romans are descended; and when Rome had grown to be a great power it

adopted many laws and customs which had prevailed among the Trojans

before them. Troy was situated in Tyrkland, near the centre of the

earth. Under Priamus, the chief ruler, there were twelve tributary

kings, and they spoke twelve languages. These twelve tributary kings

were exceedingly wise men; they received the honour of gods, and from

them all European chiefs are descended. One of these twelve was called

Munon or Mennon. He was married to a daughter of Priamus, and had with

her the son Tror, "whom we call Thor." He was a very handsome man, his

hair shone fairer than gold, and at the age of twelve he was full-grown,

and so strong that he could lift twelve bear-skins at the same time. He

slew his foster-father and foster-mother, took possession of his

foster-father's kingdom Thracia, "which we call Thrudheim," and

thenceforward he roamed about the world, conquering berserks, giants,

the greatest dragon, and other prodigies. In the North he met a

prophetess by name Sibil (Sibylla), "whom we call Sif," and her he

married. In the twentieth generation from this Thor, Vodin descended,

"whom we call Odin," a very wise and well-informed man, who married

Frigida, "whom we call Frigg."



At that time the Roman general Pompey was making wars in the East, and

also threatened the empire of Odin. Meanwhile Odin and his wife had

learned through prophetic inspiration that a glorious future awaited

them in the northern part of the world. He therefore emigrated from

Tyrkland, and took with him many people, old and young, men and women,

and costly treasures. Wherever they came they appeared to the

inhabitants more like gods than men. And they did not stop before they

came as far north as Saxland. There Odin remained a long time. One of

his sons, Veggdegg, he appointed king of Saxland. Another son, Beldegg,

"whom we call Balder," he made king in Westphalia. A third son, Sigge,

became king in Frankland. Then Odin proceeded farther to the north and

came to Reidgothaland, which is now called Jutland, and there took

possession of as much as he wanted. There he appointed his son Skjold as

king; then he came to Svithiod.



Here ruled king Gylfe. When he heard of the expedition of Odin and his

Asiatics he went to meet them, and offered Odin as much land and as much

power in his kingdom as he might desire. One reason why people

everywhere gave Odin so hearty a welcome and offered him land and power

was that wherever Odin and his men tarried on their journey the people

got good harvests and abundant crops, and therefore they believed that

Odin and his men controlled the weather and the growing grain. Odin went

with Gylfe up to the lake "Logrin" and saw that the land was good; and

there he chose as his citadel the place which is called Sigtuna,

founding there the same institutions as had existed in Troy, and to

which the Turks were accustomed. Then he organised a council of twelve

men, who were to make laws and settle disputes. From Svithiod Odin went

to Norway, and there made his son Saeming king. But the ruling of

Svithiod he had left to his son Yngve, from whom the race of Ynglings

are descended. The Asas and their sons married the women of the land of

which they had taken possession, and their descendants, who preserved

the language spoken in Troy, multiplied so fast that the Trojan language

displaced the old tongue and became the speech of Svithiod, Norway,

Denmark, and Saxland, and thereafter also of England.



The Prose Edda's first part, Gylfaginning, consists of a collection of

mythological tales told to the reader in the form of a conversation

between the above-named king of Sweden, Gylfe, and the Asas. Before the

Asas had started on their journey to the North, it is here said Gylfe

had learned that they were a wise and knowing people who had success in

all their undertakings. And believing that this was a result either of

the nature of these people, or of their peculiar kind of worship, he

resolved to investigate the matter secretly, and therefore betook

himself in the guise of an old man to Asgard. But the foreknowing Asas

knew in advance that he was coming, and resolved to receive him with all

sorts of sorcery, which might give him a high opinion of them. He

finally came to a citadel, the roof of which was thatched with golden

shields, and the hall of which was so large that he scarcely could see

the whole of it. At the entrance stood a man playing with sharp tools,

which he threw up in the air and caught again with his hands, and seven

axes were in the air at the same time. This man asked the traveller his

name. The latter answered that he was named Ganglere, that he had made a

long journey over rough roads, and asked for lodgings for the night. He

also asked whose the citadel was. The juggler answered that it belonged

to their king, and conducted Gylfe into the hall, where many people

were assembled. Some sat drinking, others amused themselves at games,

and still others were practising with weapons. There were three

high-seats in the hall, one above the other, and in each high-seat sat a

man. In the lowest sat the king; and the juggler informed Gylfe that the

king's name was Har; that the one who sat next above him was named

Jafnhar; and that the one who sat on the highest throne was named Thride

(thridi). Har asked the stranger what his errand was, and invited him

to eat and drink. Gylfe answered that he first wished to know whether

there was any wise man in the hall. Har replied that the stranger should

not leave the hall whole unless he was victorious in a contest in

wisdom. Gylfe now begins his questions, which all concern the worship of

the Asas, and the three men in the high-seats give him answers. Already

in the first answer it appears that the Asgard to which Gylfe thinks he

has come is, in the opinion of the author, a younger Asgard, and

presumably the same as the author of Heimskringla places beyond the

river Tanakvisl, but there had existed an older Asgard identical with

Troy in Tyrkland, where, according to Heimskringla, Odin had extensive

possessions at the time when the Romans began their invasions in the

East. When Gylfe with his questions had learned the most important facts

in regard to the religion of Asgard, and had at length been instructed

concerning the destruction and regeneration of the world, he perceived a

mighty rumbling and quaking, and when he looked about him the citadel

and hall had disappeared, and he stood beneath the open sky. He returned

to Svithiod and related all that he had seen and heard among the Asas;

but when he had gone they counselled together, and they agreed to call

themselves by those names which they used in relating their stories to

Gylfe. These sagas, remarks Gylfaginning, were in reality none but

historical events transformed into traditions about divinities. They

described events which had occurred in the older Asgard--that is to say,

Troy. The basis of the stories told to Gylfe about Thor were the

achievements of Hektor in Troy, and the Loke of whom Gylfe had heard

was, in fact, none other than Ulixes (Ulysses), who was the foe of the

Trojans, and consequently was represented as the foe of the gods.



Gylfaginning is followed by another part of the Prose Edda called

Bragaroedur (Brage's Talk), which is presented in a similar form. On

Lessoe, so it is said, dwelt formerly a man by name AEgir. He, like

Gylfe, had heard reports concerning the wisdom of the Asas, and resolved

to visit them. He, like Gylfe, comes to a place where the Asas receive

him with all sorts of magic arts, and conduct him into a hall which is

lighted up in the evening with shining swords. There he is invited to

take his seat by the side of Brage, and there were twelve high-seats in

which sat men who were called Thor, Njord, Frey, &c., and women who were

called Frigg, Freyja, Nanna, &c. The hall was splendidly decorated with

shields. The mead passed round was exquisite, and the talkative Brage

instructed the guest in the traditions concerning the Asas' art of

poetry. A postscript to the treatise warns young skalds not to place

confidence in the stories told to Gylfe and AEgir. The author of the

postscript says they have value only as a key to the many metaphors

which occur in the poems of the great skalds, but upon the whole they

are deceptions invented by the Asas or Asiamen to make people believe

that they were gods. Still, the author thinks these falsifications have

an historical kernel. They are, he thinks, based on what happened in the

ancient Asgard, that is, Troy. Thus, for instance, Ragnarok is

originally nothing else than the siege of Troy; Thor is, as stated,

Hektor; the Midgard-serpent is one of the heroes slain by Hektor; the

Fenris-wolf is Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, who slew Priam (Odin); and

Vidar, who survives Ragnarok, is AEneas.



[Footnote 3: As much land as can be ploughed in a day.]



[Footnote 4: A translation of the Younger or Prose Edda was edited by R.

B. Anderson and published by S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago, in 1881.]