SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY 



195 



alphabet, but still written in the spirit of the asa- 

 faith, 'naught extenuating and putting down 

 naught in malice.' The most important of the 

 Icelandic documents are the Elder or Poetic Edda 

 and the Younger or Prose Edda. The Heimskringla, 

 completed by Snorre Stnrlason about the year 1230, 

 contains much information concerning Scandinavian 

 heathendom, for it gives a very elaborate account 

 of the introduction of Christianity in the north, 

 portraying the conflict between tne old and the 

 new religion, and begins with sketches of a number 

 of kings who ruled Norway 140 years before the 

 introduction of Christianity. Hence valuable in- 

 formation may be found in that work not only in 

 regard to the rites and ceremonies prescril^ by 

 the Odinic ritual, but also of the morals and habits 

 inculcated and produced by the Odinic code. 

 Several of the Icelandic sagas are also of value 

 in this respect. Caesar and Tacitus furnish some 

 important data, and next after them come the 

 Christian writers down through the fogj.'y anil dark 

 middle ages, who wrote in Latin ; but the very 

 small amount of mythological information con- 

 tained in their books is due in part to their ignor- 

 ance, but mainly to their hostility to the heathen 

 religion. Among this class of writers Denmark 

 presents a remarkable exception in Saxo Gnim- 

 maticus, who lived in Denmark in the 12th cen- 

 tury. He wrote a Historia Danica, and embodied 

 in it an outline of Scandinavian mythology based 

 on old pongs. But he presents it as history, assum- 

 ing Odin, Thor, and the other deities to have been 

 kings and potentates in the north. The first eight 

 books of his history are exclusively mythological. 

 Saxo had a world of valuable light, though he 

 himself saw nothing. Finally the student of 

 Scandinavian mythology must look for fragments of 

 Odini.sm in the customs, habits, speech, traditions, 

 ballads, folklore tales, and in the usages of the 

 Christian churches; throughout Teutondom, 



It was Time's morning 



When Yiner lived ; 



There was no sand, no sea, 



Nor cooling billows ; 



Earth there wu none. 



No lofty heaven ; 



No >pot of living Rrven ; 



Only a deep profound. 



Thus the Elder Edda. The l>eginning was this : 

 Many ages ere the earth was made there existed 

 two worlds. Far to the north was Nitlheim i.e. 

 the nebulous world, and far to the south was Mus- 

 pelheim i.e. the fire world. Between them was 

 Ginungagap, the yawning deep. In the middle of 

 Nitiheim lay the spring Hvergelmer, and from it 

 flowed twelve ice-cold streams, called the Elivogs 

 (Elivagar), of which Gjol was situated nearest 

 Hel's gate. Muspelheim was so bright and hot 

 that it burned and blazed, and could only be 

 entered by those who had their home there. In 

 the midst of this intense light and burning heat 

 gat Snrt, guarding it* lM)rders with a flaming sword 

 in hi* hand. The Klivogs Mowed far from their 

 spring-head in Hvergelmer into Oinnngagap, and 

 tne venom they carried with them hardened as 

 does dross from a furnace, and became ice. Vapours 

 gathered and froze to rime, and thus were formed 

 in the yawning gap many layers of congealed 

 vapour. But the south side of Ginungagap was 

 lighted up by sparks from Muspelheim. Thus, 

 while freezing cold and gathering gloom proceeded 

 from Niflheim, the other side of the gulf was 

 exposed to the dazzling radiance and scorching 

 blasts from MiiM|K>lh)-ii!i, and when theheated blasts 

 met the frozen vapours they melted into drops, and, 

 '.'/ >hr, miaht of him who sent the heat, these drops 

 quickened into life and took the form of a giant 

 man. His name was Ymer, and he became the 

 progenitor of all the evil race of giants. At the 



I same time and in the same manner sprang into 

 life a cow, Audhumbla, by whose milk Ymer was 

 nourished. The cow fed herself by licking the salt 

 ' rime on the rocks, and at the ena of the first day 

 I she produced by licking the stones a man's hair, 

 i on the second evening a head, and on the third 

 evening a perfect man. His name was Bure. He 

 was fair, great, and mighty. He begat a son by 

 name Bor. Bor married tne giantess Bestla, and 

 she bore him three sons, Odin, Vile, and Ve (Spirit, 

 Will, and Holiness), and Odin became the father 

 of the gods, who rule heaven and earth. The three 

 ; brothers, Odin, Vile, and Ve, slew the giant Ymer, 

 : and when he fell so much blood flowed that all the 

 race of giants were drowned excepting Bergelmer 

 and his wife, who escaped in a boat and perpetuated 

 their race. The three sons of Bor dragged Ymer's 

 body into Ginungagap, and out of it they made 

 the world : of his flesh the land, of his blood the 

 ocean, of his bones the rocks, of his hair the forests, 

 of his skull the vaulted sky, which they decorated 

 with red hot flakes from Muspelheim to serve as 

 sun, moon, and stars. Ymer's Drain they scattered 

 in the air, and made of it the melancholy clouds. 

 Dwarfs quickened like maggots in Ymer's flesh. 

 But there were yet no human beings upon the 

 earth. One day Odin, Hfiner, and'Loder were 

 walking by the sea, anil found two trees, an ash 

 and an elm. They made of them the first man 

 and woman. Odin gave them the breath of life 

 (ond), Kroner gave them feeling (dtl ), and Loder 

 gave them blood and the form (image) of the gods 

 ( A/ / I it' i godh ). The man they called Ask and 

 the woman Embla, and from them are descended 

 the whole human family. 



It is worthy of note that the world does not 

 pass from chaos to cosmos. The old Scandi- 

 navians took a step farther back into primeval 

 time, and conceived first a jfre-chaotic state 

 ( Muspelheim, Nitlheim, and Ginungagap), then 

 a chaotic epoch (Ymer, Audhumbla, Sure, Bor, 

 Bestla, Bolthorn, Odin, Vile, and Ve), and fin- 

 ally COOT/KW made from Ymer slain. The gods be- 

 longing to the Asgard pantheon and also giants 

 came into !>eing in the chaotic epoch. Odin was 

 born in chaos. But the Scandinavian mythology 

 conceived living and life-giving beings in the pre- 

 chaotic age also. Surt guarded Muspelheini before 

 any creation or birth had taken place. Surt is also 

 the last figure who appears in Ragnarok, where he 

 flings fire and flame over the world, and he is the 

 last' one who appears in that terrible act of the 

 drama. The Edda says that N id ling, a terrible 

 serpent, dwelt in Hvergelmer in Niflheim. Venom 

 flowed with the Klivogs rivers out of Hvergelmer. 

 This points to an evil being in pre-chaotic Niflheim. 

 This dualism in the pre-chaotic epoch is a very 

 interesting point in Scandinavian mythology. The 

 Odinic pantheon has twelve gods to whom divine 

 worship is due, and there are twenty-six goddesses. 

 The twelve gods are Odin, Thor, Balder, Hermod, 

 Tyr, Brage, Heimdal, Hoder, Vidar, Uller, Vale, 

 and Forsete. The ana-god Ho?ner disappears from 

 the circle of gods, having been given as a hostage 

 to the Vans. To the nninlier of gods must however 

 be added Niord and Frey, who originally were 

 Vans, and also Loke, who was of giant descent, 

 but had entered into foster-brotherhood with Odin 

 himself, and was adopted by the gods. Chief 

 among the goddesses is Odin's wife 1" rigg ; Thor's 

 wife is Sif, Haider's is Nanna, and Brage's is Idun. 

 Freyja is the goddess of love. The gods and 

 goddesses dwell in Asgard, but nearly every one 

 has a separate dwelling. Odin's high-seat is in 

 Hlidskjalf. whence he looks out upon all the nine 

 worlds. He also has a large hall, the famous 

 Valhal, whither he invites all men fallen in battle. 

 Thor lives in Thrudvang, Balder in Breidablik, 



