A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
lene with the a/abastron or ‘box of ointment —a figure which seems to 
indicate an English origin, as in an Irish cross there would be a soldier 
holding up the sponge. Underneath is a 
m snake twisted up in itself, with heads at each 
end of its body, one attacking the other. 
Over the crucifix is a headless row of the 
Scandinavian chain-pattern, and above is a 
figure holding a spear in one hand and with the 
other hand and one foot wrenching open the jaws 
of the great dragon above. If this 
figure were merely entering the 
dragon’s mouth it would be easily 
recognized as the usual representa- 
tion of Christ’s descent into hell, 
but it is something more. It 
really illustrates a passage in the 
Vafthridnis-mal, a poem of the 
Edda, which tells how Vidar the 
Silent, one of the Norse gods, 
should avenge the death of Odin 
by rending open ‘ the cold jaws of 
the wolf’—the dragon wolf, off- 
spring of Loki the evil one. 
The south side has, beside 
dragons and a horseman with spear, 
the favourite device, seen already 
in part at Penrith, of the stag, em- 
blem of Christ or the Christian, 
chased by the dog or wolf. 
The western side is pure 
Edda. At the bottom it contains 
a group which Mr. Calverley was 
the first to explain as represent- 
ing the punishment of Loki. It 
is told in the prose Edda, and 
there are references to it in the 
# poem called Vé/uspd in the earlier 
Vipar, Gosrortu Cross. Edda, how the gods, tired of 
Loki’s misdeeds, caught him after 
a long struggle and bound him with three bonds in an 
underground cave over sharp rocks. Above his head 
they hung a serpent from whose mouth venom dripped 
on his face, but his faithful wife Sigun attended him 
and held a cup to catch the drops. ‘ When the cup 
was full she had to turn aside and empty it ; then the 
venom dropped on Loki so that he writhed in agony.’ glee 
Sivz, GosForTH 
Cross, 
268 
