Part 16 (1/2)

_Uggerus_ is a Latinised form of Odin's name _Yggr_, and is the same mythic character as Saxo before introduced on the scene as ”the old one-eyed man,” Hadding's protector. Although he had been Frotho's enemy, the aged _Yggr_ comes to him and informs him what the ”Huns” are plotting, and thus Frotho is enabled to resist their a.s.sault.[28]

When Odin, out of consideration for the common welfare of mankind and the G.o.ds, renders the Vans, who had banished him, this service, and as the latter are in the greatest need of the a.s.sistance of the mighty Asa-father and his powerful sons in the conflict with the giant world, then these facts explain sufficiently the reconciliation between the Asas and the Vans. This reconciliation was also in order on account of the bonds of kins.h.i.+p between them. The chief hero of the Asas, Thor, was the stepfather of Ull, the chief warrior of the Vans (Younger Edda, i.

252). The record of a friendly settlement between Thor and Ull is preserved in a paraphrase, by which Thor is described in Thorsdrapa as ”_gulli Ullar_,” he who with persuasive words makes Ull friendly. Odin was invited to occupy again the high-seat in Asgard, with all the prerogatives of a paterfamilias and ruler (Saxo, _Hist._, 44). But the dispute which caused the conflict between him and the Vans was at the same time manifestly settled to the advantage of the Vans. They do not a.s.sume in common the responsibility for the murder of Gulveig Angerboda.

She is banished to the Ironwood, but remains there unharmed until Ragnarok, and when the destruction of the world approaches, then Njord shall leave the Asas threatened with the ruin they have themselves caused and return to the ”wise Vans” (_i aldar rauc hann mun aptr coma heim med visom vaunom_--Vafthr., 39).

The ”Hun war” has supplied the answer to a question, which those believing in the myths naturally would ask themselves. That question was: How did it happen that Midgard was not in historical times exposed to such attacks from the dwellers in Jotunheim as occurred in antiquity, and at that time threatened Asgard itself with destruction? The ”Hun war” was in the myth characterized by the countless lives lost by the enemy. This we learn from Saxo. The sea, he says, was so filled with the bodies of the slain that boats could hardly be rowed through the waves.

In the rivers their bodies formed bridges, and on land a person could make a three days' journey on horseback without seeing anything but dead bodies of the slain (_Hist._, 234, 240). And so the answer to the question was, that the ”Hun war” of antiquity had so weakened the giants in number and strength that they could not become so dangerous as they had been to Asgard and Midgard formerly, that is, before the time immediately preceding Ragnarok, when a new fimbul-winter is to set in, and when the giant world shall rise again in all its ancient might. From the time of the ”Hun war” and until then, Thor's hammer is able to keep the growth of the giants' race within certain limits, wherefore Thor in Harbardsljod explains his attack on giants and giantesses with _micil mundi ett iotna, ef allir lifdi, vetr mundi manna undir Mithgarthi_.

Hadding's rising star of success must be put in connection with the reconciliation between the Asas and Vans. The reconciled G.o.ds must lay aside that seed of new feuds between them which is contained in the war between Hadding, the favourite of the Asas, and Gudhorm, the favourite of the Vans. The great defeat once suffered by Hadding must be balanced by a corresponding victory, and then the contending kinsmen must be reconciled. And this happens. Hadding wins a great battle and enters upon a secure reign in his part of Teutondom. Then are tied new bonds of kins.h.i.+p and friends.h.i.+p between the hostile races, so that the Teutonic dynasties of chiefs may trace their descent both from Yngve (Svipdag) and from Borgar's son Halfdan. Hadding and a surviving grandson of Svipdag are united in so tender a devotion to one another that the latter, upon an unfounded report of the former's death, is unable to survive him and takes his own life. And when Hadding learns this, he does not care to live any longer either, but meets death voluntarily (Saxo, _Hist._, 59, 60).

After the reconciliation between the Asas and Vans they succeed in capturing Loke. Saxo relates this in connection with Odin's return from Asgard, and here calls Loke _Mitothin_. In regard to this name, we may, without entering upon difficult conjectures concerning the first part of the word, be sure that it, too, is taken by Saxo from the heathen records in which he has found his account of the first great war, and that it, in accordance with the rule for forming such epithets, must refer to a mythic person who has had a certain relation with Odin, and at the same time been his ant.i.thesis. According to Saxo, _Mitothin_ is a thoroughly evil being, who, like Aurboda, strove to disseminate the practice of witchcraft in the world and to displace Odin. He was compelled to take flight and to conceal himself from the G.o.ds. He is captured and slain, but from his dead body arises a pest, so that he does no less harm after than before his death. It therefore became necessary to open his grave, cut his head off, and pierce his breast with a sharp stick (_Hist._, 43).

These statements in regard to _Mitothin's_ death seem at first glance not to correspond very well with the mythic accounts of Loke's exit, and thus give room for doubt as to his ident.i.ty with the latter. It is also clear that Saxo's narrative has been influenced by the mediaeval stories about vampires and evil ghosts, and about the manner of preventing these from doing harm to the living. Nevertheless, all that he here tells, the beheading included, is founded on the mythic accounts of Loke. The place where Loke is fettered is situated in the extreme part of the h.e.l.l of the wicked dead (see No. 78). The fact that he is relegated to the realm of the dead, and is there chained in a subterranean cavern until Ragnarok, when all the dead in the lower world shall return, has been a sufficient reason for Saxo to represent him as dead and buried. That he after death causes a pest corresponds with Saxo's account of _Ugarthilocus_, who has his prison in a cave under a rock situated in a sea, over which darkness broods for ever (the island _Lyngvi_ in Amsvartner's sea, where Loke's prison is--see No. 78). The hardy sea-captain, Thorkil, seeks and finds him in his cave of torture, pulls a hair from the beard on his chin, and brings it with him to Denmark.

When this hair afterwards is exposed and exhibited, the awful exhalation from it causes the death of several persons standing near (_Hist._, 432, 433). When a hair from the beard of the tortured Loke (”a hair from the evil one”) could produce this effect, then his whole body removed to the kingdom of death must work even greater mischief, until measures were taken to prevent it. In this connection it is to be remembered that Loke, according to the Icelandic records, is the father of the feminine demon of epidemics and diseases, of her who rules in Niflheim, the home of the spirits of disease (see No. 60), and that it is Loke's daughter who rides the three-footed steed, which appears when an epidemic breaks out (see No. 67). Thus Loke is, according to the Icelandic mythic fragments, the cause of epidemics. Lakasenna also states that he lies with a pierced body, although the weapon there is a sword, or possibly a spear (_pic a hiorvi scola binda G.o.d_--Lakas., 49). That Mitothin takes flight and conceals himself from the G.o.ds corresponds with the myth about Loke. But that which finally and conclusively confirms the ident.i.ty of Loke and Mitothin is that the latter, though a thoroughly evil being and hostile to the G.o.ds, is said to have risen through the enjoyment of divine favour (_caelesti beneficio vegetatus_). Among male beings of his character this applies to Loke alone.

In regard to the statement that Loke after his removal to the kingdom of death had his head separated from his body, Saxo here relates, though in his own peculiar manner, what the myth contained about Loke's ruin, which was a logical consequence of his acts and happened long after his removal to the realm of death. Loke is slain in Ragnarok, to which he, freed from his cave of torture in the kingdom of death, proceeds at the head of the hosts of ”the sons of destruction.” In the midst of the conflict he seeks or is sought by his constant foe, Heimdal. The s.h.i.+ning G.o.d, the protector of Asgard, the original patriarch and benefactor of man, contends here for the last time with the Satan of the Teutonic mythology, and Heimdal and Loke mutually slay each other (_Loki a orustu vid Heimdall, ok verdr hvarr annars bani_--Younger Edda, 192). In this duel we learn that Heimdal, who fells his foe, was himself pierced or ”struck through” to death by a head (_sva er sagt, at hann var lostinn manns hofdi i gognum_--Younger Edda, 264; _hann var lostinn i hel med manns hofdi_--Younger Edda, 100, ed. Res). When Heimdal and Loke mutually cause each other's death, this must mean that Loke's head is that with which Heimdal is pierced after the latter has cut it off with his sword and become the bane (death) of his foe. Light is thrown on this episode by what Saxo tells about Loke's head. While the demon in chains awaits Ragnarok, his hair and beard grow in such a manner that ”they in size and stiffness resemble horn-spears” (_Ugarthilocus ...

cujus olentes pili tam magnitudine quam rigore corneas aequaverant hastas_--_Hist._, 431, 432). And thus it is explained how the myth could make his head act the part of a weapon. That amputated limbs continue to live and fight is a peculiarity mentioned in other mythic sagas, and should not surprise us in regard to Loke, the dragon-demon, the father of the Midgard-serpent (see further, No. 82).

[Footnote 28: _Deseruit eum_ (Hun) _quoque Uggerus vates, vir aetatis incognitae et supra humanum terminum prolixae; qui Frothonem transfugae t.i.tulo petens quidquid ab Hunis parabatur edocuit_ (_Hist._, 238).]

42.

HALFDAN AND HAMAL FOSTER-BROTHERS. THE AMALIANS FIGHT IN BEHALF OF HALFDAN'S SON HADDING.

HAMAL AND THE WEDGE-FORMED BATTLE-ARRAY. THE ORIGINAL MODEL OF THE BRAVALLA BATTLE.

The mythic progenitor of the Amalians, _Hamall_, has already been mentioned above as the foster-brother of the Teutonic patriarch, Halfdan (Helge Hundingsbane). According to Norse tradition, Hamal's father, _Hagall_, had been Halfdan's foster-father (Helge Hund., ii.), and thus the devoted friend of Borgar. There being so close a relation between the progenitors of these great hero-families of Teutonic mythology, it is highly improbable that the Amalians did not also act an important part in the first great world war, since all the Teutonic tribes, and consequently surely their first families of mythic origin, took part in it. In the ancient records of the North, we discover a trace which indicates that the Amalians actually did fight on that side where we should expect to find them, that is, on Hadding's, and that Hamal himself was the field-commander of his foster-brother. The trace is found in the phrase _fylkja Hamalt_, occurring in several places (Sig.

Faf., ii. 23; Har. Hardr., ch. 2; Fornalds. Saga, ii. 40; Fornm., xi.

304). The phrase can only be explained in one way, ”arranged the battle-array as _Hamall_ first did it.” To Hamal has also been ascribed the origin of the custom of fastening the s.h.i.+elds close together along the s.h.i.+p's railing, which appears from the following lines in Harald Hardrade's Saga, 63:

Hamalt syndiz mer homlur hildings vinir skilda.

We also learn in our Norse records that _fylkja Hamalt_, ”to draw up in line of battle as Hamal did,” means the same as _svinfylkja_, that is, to arrange the battalions in the form of a wedge.[29] Now Saxo relates (_Hist._, 52) that Hadding's army was the first to draw the forces up in this manner, and that an old man (Odin) whom he has taken on board on a sea-journey had taught and advised him to do this.[30] Several centuries later Odin, according to Saxo, taught this art to Harald Hildetand. But the mythology has not made Odin teach it twice. The repet.i.tion has its reason in the fact that Harald Hildetand, in one of the records accessible to Saxo, was a son of Halfdan Borgarson (_Hist._, 361; according to other records a son of Borgar himself--_Hist._, 337), and consequently a son of Hadding's father, the consequence of which is that features of Hadding's saga have been incorporated into the saga produced in a later time concerning the saga-hero Harald Hildetand. Thereby the Bravalla battle has obtained so universal and gigantic a character.

It has been turned into an arbitrarily written version of the battle which ended in Hadding's defeat. Swedes, Goths, Nors.e.m.e.n, Curians, and Esthonians here fight on that side which, in the original model of the battle, was represented by the hosts of Svipdag and Gudhorm; Danes (few in number, according to Saxo), Saxons (according to Saxo, the main part of the army), Livonians, and Slavs fight on the other side. The fleets and armies are immense on both sides. s.h.i.+eld-maids (amazons) occupy the position which in the original was held by the giantesses Hardgrep, Fenja, and Menja. In the saga description produced in Christian times the Bravalla battle is a ghost of the myth concerning the first great war. Therefore the names of several of the heroes who take part in the battle are an echo from the myth concerning the Teutonic patriarchs and the great war. There appear _Borgar_ and _Behrgar_ the wise (Borgar), _Haddir_ (Hadding), _Ruthar_ (_Hrutr_-Heimdal, see No. 28_a_), _Od_ (_Odr_, a surname of Freyja's, husband, Svipdag, see Nos. 96-98, 100, 101), _Brahi_ (_Brache_, _Asa-Bragr_, see No. 102), _Gram_ (Halfdan), and _Ingi_ (Yngve), all of which names we recognise from the patriarch saga, but which, in the manner in which they are presented in the new saga, show how arbitrarily the mythic records were treated at that time.

The myth has rightly described the wedge-shaped arrangement of the troops as an ancient custom among the Teutons. Tacitus (_Germ._, 6) says that the Teutons arranged their forces in the form of a wedge (_acies per cuneos componitur_), and Caesar suggests the same (_De Bell.

Gall._, i. 52: _Germani celeriter ex consuetudine sua phalange facta_...). Thus our knowledge of this custom as Teutonic extends back to the time before the birth of Christ. Possibly it was then already centuries old. The Aryan-Asiatic kinsmen of the Teutons had knowledge of it, and the Hindooic law-book, called Ma.n.u.s', ascribes to it divine sanct.i.ty and divine origin. On the geographical line which unites Teutondom with Asia it was also in vogue. According to aelia.n.u.s (_De instr. ac._, 18), the wedge-shaped array of battle was known to the Scythians and Thracians.

The statement that Harald Hildetand, son of Halfdan Borgarson, learned this arrangement of the forces from Odin many centuries after he had taught the art to Hadding, does not disprove, but on the contrary confirms, the theory that Hadding, son of Halfdan Borgarson, was not only the first but also the only one who received this instruction from the Asa-father. And as we now have side by side the two statements, that Odin gave Hadding this means of victory, and that Hamal was the first one who arranged his forces in the shape of a wedge, then it is all the more necessary to a.s.sume that these statements belong together, and that Hamal was Hadding's general, especially as we have already seen that Hadding's and Hamal's families were united by the sacred ties which connect foster-father with foster-son and foster-brother with foster-brother.

[Footnote 29: Compare the pa.s.sage, _Eirikr konungr fylkti sva lidi sinu, at rani (the swine-snout) var a framan a fylkinganni, ok lukt allt utan med skjaldbjorg_, (Fornm., xi. 304), with the pa.s.sage quoted in this connection: _hildingr fylkti Hamalt lidi miklu_.]

[Footnote 30: The saga of Sigurd Fafnersbane, which absorbed materials from all older sagas, has also incorporated this episode. On a sea-journey Sigurd takes on board a man who calls himself _Hnikarr_ (a name of Odin). He advises him to ”_fylkja Hamalt_” (Sig. Fafn., ii.

16-23).]

43.

EVIDENCE THAT DIETERICH ”OF BERN” IS HADDING. THE DIETERICH SAGA THUS HAS ITS ORIGIN IN THE MYTH CONCERNING THE WAR BETWEEN MANNUS-HALFDAN'S SONS.