The Heroes of Asgard Part 18

Another still more difficult to understand in Hyndla's lay,

"Then shall another come, Yet mightier, Although I dare not His name declare.

Few may see Further forth Than when Odin Meets the Wolf."

Simrock, however, thinks that he sees some gleams of a higher unseen Hidden Power very faintly here and there, and between this Being and Odin he also fancies that he can trace some connection. But he is very uncertain on the point.

Simrock says of the G.o.ddesses in the Scandinavian mythology that they most of them represent only one side of the original Earth Mother, dividing the double nature between them; so we see some personating the fruitful, beneficent, life-giving renovating earth, whilst Hela has only the dark side left in her nature. It is, however, to be observed that whilst half a corpse she is half a woman. Gerda and Iduna are mixed in nature, also Rinda and others of Odin's giantess wives. He says, also, that Hela is the eldest of the G.o.ddesses, and that the root idea remains with her,--a receiver of the dead, as earth is,--though she became so degraded. Odin gave her power over nine worlds, and here we see a trace of the old idea of her being the great Earth Mother. "From a G.o.ddess of the underworld to a G.o.ddess of death is one step. A G.o.ddess of the underworld should be life-giving as well as destroying; but soon the heathen horror of death appears, and the destroyer is looked upon as the ender only, not the fresh begetter;" she becomes a hunger that will not be satisfied, and hence Hela is a daughter of Loki.

Out of the flood, into the flood again,--Niflheim and Muspelheim join hands in the twilight. As in the first beginning of things we saw the strange waves alternately frozen and melted by these antagonistic powers, and out of this antagonism a form--so in Ragnarok we see the flood once more supreme, the rival forces, cold and heat, both fighting against the formed, ordered world--both, because both alike represent elemental forces which must precede formation. So, also, a second time the world emerges out of the struggle, Simrock thinks, a renewed world morally and physically; and certainly it does seem to have made some advance upon the old order of things,--it stands forth beautiful at once. But does this mean any more, we wonder, than the golden age come back, with fate in the back-ground. So many of the same powers seem to be at work in the two worlds, that we can only think of a succession of events in looking at the picture. We see again the golden tables, we see Hodur as well as Baldur. There is one very obscure verse which seems to imply that the giant fate-maidens are in the renewed world. Sons succeed their fathers. Odin's sons inherit Odin's hall; the two mentioned are Vali and Vidar, who were both descended from giantesses, and giants always typify the baser part of nature. Thor's sons retain the badge of warfare. On the other hand, it is said that Hod and Baldur come up _peacefully_ together from the deep; it has been remarked, also, that no Vanir G.o.ds (inferior to those of Asgard) are mentioned. There is also a strophe in the Voluspa which talks of peace established, and of heavenly Gimill, gold bedecked, where the righteous people are to dwell for evermore, and enjoy happiness--

"She a Hall sees standing than the sun brighter, With gold bedecked in Gimill.

There shall the righteous people dwell, And for evermore happiness enjoy."

But again, immediately following these hopeful strains, we are shown the dark-spotted snake--the Eternal Gnawer, with a corpse upon his wings.

"The dark dragon flying from beneath, the glistening serpent, On his wings bears Nidhogg, flying o'er the plain a corpse."

Our ears are puzzled by the strain, and we cannot catch the melody's last tone. Is it a joy note or a wail? from Gimill's gold roofs, from the sh.o.r.e of corpses? "Who can search into the beginning; who can search into the end?"

INDEX OF NAMES, WITH MEANINGS.

SELECTED FROM MALLET'S "NORTHERN ANTIQUITIES," AND FROM THORPE'S "NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY."

_aegir_--The King of the Sea. The name means, "to flow."

_aesir_--G.o.ds or Lords. Singular, As or Asa.

_Alf_, _Elf_--Alfheim, Elfhome.

_Ali_ or _Vali_--The name of one of Loki's children. It signifies, "strong."

_Amsvartnir_--Name of a lake. It means, "grief, black, gloomy."

_Angurbodi_--The mother of Jormungand, Hela, and Fenrir. The name signifies, "anguish boding."

_Asgard_--Literally, "G.o.d's-ward," or "the abode of the G.o.ds."

_Asyniur_--G.o.ddesses.

_Audhumla_--The first cow. Signifies, "void, darkness."

_Baldur_--Bright, white, bold.

_Barri_--The Warm Wood.

_Beli_--The stag killed by Frey. _Beli_ signifies, "to bellow."

_Bifrost_--Name given to the rainbow. It means, "the Tremulous or Aerial Bridge."

_Bilskirnir_--Name of Thor's mansion. It signifies either "bright s.p.a.ce" or "storm-serene."

_Bor_ or _Bur_--The first hero.

_Bragi_--The G.o.d of eloquence. From _braga_, "to s.h.i.+ne;" or _bragga_, "to adorn." _Bragr_, which in Norse signifies "poetry," has become in English "to brag," and a poet "a braggart." From Bragi's b.u.mper, the Bragafull, comes our word "bragget," and probably, also, the verb "to brew;" Norse, _brugga_.

_Breidablik_--Name of Baldur's abode. It means, "broad-blink, wide-glancing, expanded splendour."

_Brisingamen_--Name of Freyja's necklace. From _brising_ "flaming."

_Dain_--Signifies, "swoon," or "complete repose." It is the name of one of the four harts which ran about among the branches of Yggdrasil; also the name of a dwarf.

_Draupnir_--A ring of Odin, which, after being placed on Baldur's pile, acquired the power of dropping every ninth night eight rings of equal weight with itself.

_Dromi_--Name of a chain by which Fenrir was bound, and from which he freed himself. It has since become a proverb in Sweden, "To get loose from Laeding, and to dash out of Dromi," when anything is to be done with great exertion.

_Duneyr_--Name of one of the harts which lived in Yggdrasil.

_Durathror_--Light sleep. Another of the harts.

_Durin_--Name of a dwarf. Signifies, "light sleep."

_Dvalin_--Torpor. Name of one of the harts; also of a dwarf.

_Einherjar_--Chosen heroes.

_Elivagar_--Stormy waves. The name of the rivers which flowed forth from Hvergelmir, and hardened into ice in Ginnungagap, the abyss of abysses, situated between Niflheim and Muspellheim.

_Elli_--Old Age. She wrestled with Thor in Jotunheim.

_Elvidnir_--The entrance-hall of Hela's palace. It means, "wide storm."

_Ermt_--Name of a river through which Thor had to wade.

_Fenrir_ or _Fenris Ulfr_--Monster wolf, or dweller in an abyss, or howling wolf of the deep.

_Fensalir_--Frigga's abode. _Fensaloon_, or watery deep.

_Folkvang_--Freyja's abode. Literally, "the folk's field or habitation."

_Frey_ and _Freyja_--Master and mistress, from whence the German word "frau." The names also signify, "mild, joyous, fructifying, beauteous."