Part 26 (1/2)

Anglo-Saxon Poetry (Coneybeare's tr.).

There are countless other tales of swan maidens or Valkyrs, who are said to have consorted with mortals; but the most popular of all is that of Brunhild, the wife of Sigurd, a descendant of Sigmund and the most renowned of Northern heroes.

William Morris, in ”The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon,”

gives a fascinating version of another of these Norse legends. The story is amongst the most charming of the collection in ”The Earthly Paradise.”

Brunhild

The story of Brunhild is to be found in many forms. Some versions describe the heroine as the daughter of a king taken by Odin to serve in his Valkyr band, others as chief of the Valkyrs and daughter of Odin himself. In Richard Wagner's story, ”The Ring of the Nibelung,”

the great musician presents a particularly attractive, albeit a more modern conception of the chief Battle-Maiden, and her disobedience to the command of Odin when sent to summon the youthful Siegmund from the side of his beloved Sieglinde to the Halls of the Blessed.

CHAPTER XIX: HEL

Loki's Offspring

Hel, G.o.ddess of death, was the daughter of Loki, G.o.d of evil, and of the giantess Angurboda, the portender of ill. She came into the world in a dark cave in Jotun-heim together with the serpent Iormungandr and the terrible Fenris wolf, the trio being considered as the emblems of pain, sin, and death.

”Now Loki comes, cause of all ill!

Men and aesir curse him still.

Long shall the G.o.ds deplore, Even till Time be o'er, His base fraud on Asgard's hill.

While, deep in Jotunheim, most fell, Are Fenrir, Serpent, and Dread Hel, Pain, Sin, and Death, his children three, Brought up and cherished; thro' them he Tormentor of the world shall be.”

Valhalla (J. C. Jones).

In due time Odin became aware of the terrible brood which Loki was cheris.h.i.+ng, and resolved, as we have already seen, to banish them from the face of the earth. The serpent was therefore cast into the sea, where his writhing was supposed to cause the most terrible tempests; the wolf Fenris was secured in chains, thanks to the dauntless Tyr; and Hel or Hela, the G.o.ddess of death, was hurled into the depths of Nifl-heim, where Odin gave her power over nine worlds.

”Hela into Niflheim thou threw'st, And gav'st her nine unlighted worlds to rule, A queen, and empire over all the dead.”

Balder Dead (Matthew Arnold).

Hel's Kingdom in Nifl-heim

This realm, which was supposed to be situated under the earth, could only be entered after a painful journey over the roughest roads in the cold, dark regions of the extreme North. The gate was so far from all human abode that even Hermod the swift, mounted upon Sleipnir, had to journey nine long nights ere he reached the river Gioll. This formed the boundary of Nifl-heim, over which was thrown a bridge of crystal arched with gold, hung on a single hair, and constantly guarded by the grim skeleton Modgud, who made every spirit pay a toll of blood ere she would allow it to pa.s.s.

”The bridge of gla.s.s hung on a hair Thrown o'er the river terrible,-- The Gioll, boundary of Hel.

Now here the maiden Modgud stood, Waiting to take the toll of blood,-- A maiden horrible to sight, Fleshless, with shroud and pall bedight.”