1. The Prose Edda
Christianity was firmly established in north-western Europe in the twelfth century, but there was still interest in the heathen legends of the gods. By then men were secure enough in their faith not to fear a resurgence of the ancient paganism, and felt new stirrings of affection for the old tales, never forgotten by the northern poets. The complex, sophisticated verses of the skaldic poets were very fashionable at the courts of kings and in the halls of cultured men, and these poets relied on the myths as their main source of imagery. Their poetry was filled with allusions to the old stories, some of them mere clichés, some neat and witty, and some retaining real poetic fire. In seventeenth-century England the poet Milton enriched his picture of a Biblical Eden by reference to such legends as the descent of Proserpine to Hades, and he could expect an instant response from readers trained in classical lore. In the same way a medieval Icelandic poet could refer to poetry as the ship of the dwarfs, to gold as the tears of Freyja or the cushion of the dragon Fafnir, and to a sword as the fire of the Valkyries: his audience would comprehend his meaning from their knowledge of the myths. He could do this whether he were praising a loved woman, describing adventures in battle, or expressing his enthusiasm for the cause of Christ, and be confident that his hearers would seize on the imaginative implications of his images.
By the twelfth century it was growing more difficult to do this. The old myths were fading from men’s minds: the churchmen sometimes condemned them as evil, and cultured young men were reared in the new Christian learning instead of the heathen traditions. It therefore occurred to a gifted Icelandic scholar, Snorri Sturluson, that it would be worth while to write a book about these matters before they were utterly lost. Snorri was a man of extraordinary gifts: chieftain, politician, historian, saga-writer, and poet. He planned his work as a handbook for poets and intellectuals, a guide to poetic imagery. Since he was a brilliant stylist, writing in his native Icelandic, it was no dry antiquarian treatise; he told the old tales of the gods with wit, irony, and a lively delight in their imaginative beauty. He called his book the Edda, and it is known as the Prose Edda to distinguish it from a collection of poems with the same name. It is from this book of Snorri’s, written about 1220, that our main impression of northern mythology has been derived.
There is little doubt that on the whole Snorri has given us a faithful picture of heathen mythology as he found it in the poets. Sometimes he quotes from poems which we still possess, and we can see what he is about; sometimes he gives us stanzas from lost poems, or tells stories which seem to be summaries of narrative poems now vanished; sometimes it is obvious that he is quoting statements which he himself does not understand. He was a fine scholar and literary artist, and was able on the whole to resist the temptation to alter his sources so as to rationalize them or to point a Christian moral. But he was primarily a literary artist, not an anthropologist or religious historian, and he was writing in the thirteenth century, not the heathen period. Much of his material came from poets who themselves had written in a Christian age. The question has to be raised then how far in his book we are dealing with an artificial world of myth, far removed from the living faith of the heathen period. For the moment however, provided we remember his limitations, there seems no better introduction to the mythology of the north than that which Snorri gives us.
2. The Gods and their World
Snorri began from a Christian standpoint, but a wise and tolerant one. When men by their sins broke away from God, he explained in his preface, they lost true understanding of him, and had to begin again from the beginning. As they looked at the wonderful living world around them and the heavens above, they felt that these must have been formed by an almighty creator, one who ruled the stars and existed before them. When certain great heroes came into their world, they believed that these must be the gods, and gave them worship. In this way Snorri explained the existence of the old legends, firmly rejecting the idea that the ancient divinities were devils. He knew that there were many gods and goddesses, and suggested that they came first from Troy, and that Thor was perhaps a grandson of King Priam, thus linking the north to the ancient world. Among the sons of Thor he placed Odin the Wise, who shared with his wife Frigg great powers of magic. Odin and Frigg moved northwards to Germany, and then to Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, leaving one of their sons to rule each kingdom. In Sweden in particular Odin set up chiefs and a code of laws ‘after the pattern of Troy’, and here was the centre of his rule. His descendants were known as the Aesir.
After this admirably objective introduction, Snorri presented the main body of his material, an account of the gods and their world. The first section of his book was called Gylfaginning, ‘the deluding of Gylfi’. Gylfi was a Swedish king who welcomed Odin on his arrival, and he later journeyed to the hall of the Aesir disguised as an old wayfaring man, Gangleri, to test for himself their wisdom and power. His questions were answered freely by three mysterious beings whom he found sitting one above the other on three high-seats, and who were introduced to him as High One, Just-as-High, and Third. These told him the names and characteristics of the chief gods and goddesses, and described the realms making up heaven and the underworld, the creation of the world, the doings of the gods, and their ultimate destruction by the powers of evil. The account ends with the promise of a new world of gods and men which will arise when the old is destroyed, and Gangleri is then told:
Now if you find more questions to ask, I don’t know how you will set about it, for I have never heard anyone tell more of the story of the world than this. Make what you can of it!
In this way Snorri skilfully avoids responsibility for the material which he is presenting. It is not he who speaks, as in the preface, but three doubtful characters who, you may think, were merely having sport with a naïve and inquisitive Swedish king. All men knew that the cunning old Aesir were past masters at spells to deceive the eyes and the mind. But Snorri guessed that most readers would be won by the persuasive tongues of the Great Three to listen for a while to their account of the vanished world of the gods.
The World Tree
This world had for its centre a great tree, a mighty ash called Yggdrasill. So huge was this tree that its branches stretched out over heaven and earth alike. Three roots supported the great trunk, and one passed into the realm of the Aesir, a second into that of the frost-giants, and a third into the realm of the dead. Beneath the root in giant-land was the spring of Mimir, whose waters contained wisdom and understanding. Odin had given one of his eyes for the right to drink a single draught of that precious water. Below the tree in the kingdom of the Aesir was the sacred spring of fate, the Well of Urd. Here every day the gods assembled for their court of law, to settle disputes and discuss common problems. All came on horseback except Thor, who preferred to wade through the rivers that lay in his path, and they were led by Odin on the finest of all steeds, the eight-legged horse Sleipnir. The gods galloped over the bridge Bifrost, a rainbow bridge that glowed with fire. They alone might cross it, and the giants, who longed to do so, were held back. Near the spring of fate dwelt three maidens called the Norns, who ruled the destinies of men, and were called Fate (Urðr), Being (Verðandi), and Necessity (Skuld). They watered the tree each day with pure water and whitened it with clay from the spring, and in this way preserved its life, while the water fell down to earth as dew. The tree was continually threatened, even as it grew and flourished, by the living creatures that preyed upon it. On the topmost bough sat an eagle, with a hawk perched on its forehead: the same eagle, perhaps, of whom it is said that the flapping of its wings caused the winds in the world of men. At the root of the tree lay a great serpent, with many scores of lesser snakes, and these gnawed continually at Yggdrasill. The serpent was at war with the eagle, and a nimble squirrel ran up and down the tree, carrying insults from one to the other. Horned creatures, harts and goats, devoured the branches and tender shoots of the tree, leaping at it from every side.
Creation
The tree formed a link between the different worlds. We are never told of its beginning, but of the creation of the worlds of which it formed a centre there is much to tell. In the beginning there were two regions: Muspell in the south, full of brightness and fire; and a world of snow and ice in the north. Between them stretched the great emptiness of Ginnungagap. As the heat and cold met in the midst of the expanse, a living creature appeared in the melting ice, called Ymir. He was a great giant, and from under his left arm grew the first man and woman, while from his two feet the family of frost-giants was begotten. Ymir fed upon the milk of a cow called Auðhumla, who licked the salty ice-blocks and released another new being, a man called Buri. He had a son called Bor, and the sons of Bor were the three gods, Odin, Vili, and Ve. These three slew Ymir the ancient giant, and all the frost-giants save one, Bergelmir, were drowned in his surging blood.
From Ymir’s body they then formed the world of men:
… from his blood the sea and the lakes, from his flesh the earth, and from his bones the mountains; from his teeth and jaws and such bones as were broken they formed the rocks and the pebbles.
From Ymir’s skull they made the dome of the sky, placing a dwarf to support it at each of the four corners and to hold it high above the earth. This world of men was protected from the giants by a wall, made from the eyebrows of Ymir, and was called Midgard. The gods created inhabitants for it from two trees on the sea-shore, which became a man and a woman. They gave to them spirit and understanding, the power of movement, and the use of the senses. They created also the dwarfs, creatures with strange names, who bred in the earth like maggots, and dwelt in hills and rocks. These were skilled craftsmen, and it was they who wrought the great treasures of the gods. The gods caused time to exist, sending Night and Day to drive round the heavens in chariots drawn by swift horses. Two fair children, a girl called Sun and boy called Moon, were also set by them on paths across the sky. Sun and Moon had to drive fast because they were pursued by wolves, who meant to devour them. On the day when the greatest of the wolves succeeded in swallowing the Sun, the end of all things would be at hand.
Asgard
Once heaven and earth were formed, it was time to set about the building of Asgard, the realm of the gods. Here there were many wonderful halls, in which the gods dwelt. Odin himself lived in Válaskjálf, a hall roofed with silver, where he could sit in his special seat and view all the worlds at once. He had another hall called Valhalla, the hall of the slain, where he offered hospitality to all those who fell in battle. Each night they feasted on pork that never gave out, and on mead which flowed instead of milk from the udders of the goat Heidrun, one of the creatures that fed upon Yggdrasill. Odin’s guests spent the day in fighting, and all who fell in the combat were raised again in the evening to feast with the rest. Horns of mead were carried to them by the Valkyries, the maids of Odin, who had also to go down to the battlefields of earth and decide the course of war, summoning fallen warriors to Valhalla. Somewhere in Asgard there was a building with a roof of gold, called Gimli, to which it was said that righteous men went after death. There were other realms beyond Asgard, like Alfheim, where the fair elves lived, and as many as three heavens, stretching one beyond the other.
The Gods
As to the gods who dwelt in Asgard, Snorri twice gives their number as twelve, excluding Odin himself. Odin was the father and head of the Aesir; he was called All-Father, but had many other names, among them One-eyed, God of the Hanged, God of Cargoes, and Father of Battle. He journeyed far and wide over the earth, and had two ravens to bring him tidings from afar. His eldest son was Thor, whose mother was Earth. Thor was immensely strong, and drove in a chariot drawn by goats. He possessed three great treasures: the hammer Mjollnir, which could slay giants and shatter rocks; a belt of power which doubled his strength; and iron gloves with which to grasp the terrible hammer. Another son of Odin was Balder, said to be the fairest of all and most deserving of praise; he was white of skin and bright-haired, and was both wise and merciful. The gods Njord and Freyr were also dwellers in Asgard, but were not of the race of the Aesir. Njord came of the Vanir, and was sent to Asgard as a hostage when the two races were at war, and Freyr was his son. Njord controlled the winds and the sea, helped in fishing and seafaring, and brought men wealth, while Freyr gave sunshine and rain and the gifts of peace and plenty. Freyr possessed the ship Skíðblaðnir, large enough to hold all the gods, but small enough when folded to lie in a pouch, and also a wonderful boar with golden bristles. Another god was Tyr, who could give victory in battle, and it was he who bound the monster Fenrir and was left as a result with only one hand. There was also Bragi, who was skilled in the use of words and in the making of poetry. We hear too of Heimdall, who was called the white god, and was said to be the son of nine maidens. His dwelling was beside the rainbow bridge, for he acted as the gods’ warden, guarding heaven from the frost-giants. He could see for an immense distance, while his ears were sharp enough to catch the sound of grass growing on earth, and wool on sheep. He owned Gjallarhorn, whose ringing blast could be heard through all the worlds. There was also among the gods Loki, the son of a giant, who was handsome to look upon but given to evil ways. He was a cunning schemer, who both helped and hindered the gods, and he gave birth to the wolf Fenrir, to the World Serpent, and to Hel, the ruler of the land of death. These were the chief of the gods, and beside them were others of whom we know little: Ull, a famous archer and skier, Forseti, the son of Balder and a good law-giver, Hoder, a blind god, and Hoenir, who was sometimes the companion of Odin and Loki in their wanderings. The sons of the great gods, like Vali, Vidar, and Magni, had special parts to play, for they were to inherit the world of Asgard when the older generation had perished.
The Goddesses
There were also certain mighty goddesses. Frigg was the wife of Odin, and like him knew the future of gods and men. Freyja was Freyr’s twin sister, and the most renowned of all the goddesses; she helped in affairs of love and had some power over the dead. She drove in a chariot drawn by cats. Freyja was said to have had a husband called Od, who left her to weep tears of red gold at his disappearance. Skadi, the wife of Njord, came from the mountains to marry the sea god. The marriage was not a success, because neither was willing to live away from home, and in the end Skadi went back to the hills, where she went on skis and hunted with the bow. Bragi’s wife was Idun, who had one important part to play: she guarded the apples of immortality, on which the gods feasted in order to keep their perpetual youth. Other goddesses are little more than names. Thor’s wife, Sif, had wonderful golden hair. Balder’s wife was Nanna, and Loki’s Sigyn, while Gna and Fulla are mentioned as servants of Frigg. There is also Gefion, to whom unmarried girls went after death.
The Wooing of Gerd
Besides these, we have the maiden Gerd, who was wooed by Freyr. She lived in the north, and he caught sight of her one day as he sat on Odin’s seat. The radiance from her white arms lit up the sky and the sea, and as he watched, Freyr was overcome by so intense a desire for her that he could neither eat nor sleep. At last he sent his servant Skirnir down to woo her, giving him his own sword and a horse for the journey. Gerd was at length persuaded to yield to Freyr’s wooing and to consent to meet him in nine nights’ time. It was on this account, we are told, that Freyr was without a sword when the last great battle of the gods came to be fought.
The Building of the Wall of Asgard
When the gods built Asgard, one of the giants, who was a great craftsman, offered to encircle it with a splendid wall, to keep out their enemies. If the wall were finished within the space of one winter, it was agreed that he should have the fair goddess Freyja as his reward, and the sun and moon as well. They thought that he could never complete the task and would pay his life as a forfeit, but he was helped by a marvellous horse, Svaðilfari, who moved the stones for him and worked by night, doing twice as much as his master. Three days before the coming of spring the stronghold was nearly completed, and the gods were terrified at the thought of what they had promised. It was Loki who found a way out for them. He took on the form of a mare and whinnied at Svaðilfari, the great stallion, and lured him away. The unfortunate giant never finished the work, and when Thor returned from his travels he did not hesitate to slay him with his hammer. The meeting of the mare and Svaðilfari had one other important result: an eight-legged colt was born who became Sleipnir, the finest of all steeds, on which Odin himself rode.
The Binding of the Wolf
Other creatures said to be begotten by Loki on a giantess Angrboda were of less benefit to the gods. The most terrible was the wolf Fenrir, who was brought up in Asgard, but grew so huge and fierce that in the end only Tyr dared to feed him. He was so menacing that they knew he must be bound, but every fetter which they laid upon him was easily snapped. Finally, guided by the wisdom of Odin, the dwarfs forged a chain for him, made from the secret and impalpable things of the world – the roots of a mountain, the noise of a moving cat, and the breath of a fish. It seemed no more than a silken cord, yet no force could break it. The wolf thought it harmless, but he would not allow it to be laid upon him unless one of the gods placed a hand between his jaws as a hostage. Tyr alone was prepared to do this, and so the wolf was bound, the chain held, and the gods laughed – all but Tyr, who lost his hand.
Another of the monsters to whom Loki gave birth was the mighty serpent called Miðgarðsormr, the World Serpent. Odin flung it into the deep sea that encircled Midgard, and there it lies round the world, biting its own tail. As for Hel, Loki’s daughter, Odin sent her down into the realm of mist and darkness, Niflheim. There she rules a kingdom encircled by a high wall and secured by strong gates, and into it pass men who die of disease or old age.
3. Thor and the Giants
Outside Asgard there were other powers who possessed considerable strength and wisdom, and who had to be respected by the gods.
Thor’s Journey to Utgard
This is shown by the tale of how Thor himself was once outwitted and found his great might of little avail. He set out one day with Loki for a companion. When they stopped at a farm for food, Thor provided it himself by slaughtering the goats which drew him, so that they could be cooked and eaten. After the meal he spread out the bones on the goatskins, raised his hammer Mjollnir, and blessed them, whereupon the goats stood up, fully restored to life. The farmer’s son had however unthinkingly broken one of the leg-bones for marrow, and the goat to which it belonged was left lame. Thor’s anger was terrible to see, and the farmer in his panic offered him his two children, Thialfi and Roskva, to be his servants.
These four then went on into the land of the giants. They travelled all day through a mighty forest, and at night came to a huge building with a wide opening across one side. They groped their way in and lay down for the night, but before day came there was a great earthquake, and the building shook. In terror they moved down the hall, and found an opening leading into a passage on the right. Here they sat, terrified, while Thor guarded the entrance with his hammer, and all night long they could hear a great roaring noise outside.
When it grew light they ventured out, and found a huge giant lying not far away. They realized that the roaring was caused by his snores. Thor buckled on his belt of strength, but at that moment the giant rose to his feet, and so enormous was he that for once Thor was not prepared to swing his hammer. The giant said his name was Skrymir, ‘Big Fellow’, and he picked up what they had taken to be a building but now saw to be his glove, with the thumb sticking out on the right to make the side-passage in which they had sheltered.
The giant said they could journey together, and suggested that they should put all their provisions into one bag, which he carried. His great strides took him on ahead, and that evening they found him waiting under an oak. He lay down for a nap while they turned to prepare the supper. But when Thor tried to undo the bag, he could not unfasten the strap, strive as he would. At last in a fury he struck Skrymir on the head with his hammer. But the giant only opened his eyes and asked mildly if a leaf had fallen on his head. In the end they lay down without supper, and once more the noise of Skrymir’s snores filled their ears. Thor struck with his hammer a second time, but the only response from Skrymir was to ask whether an acorn had fallen on him. At dawn, when the giant still slept, Thor struck a third time, and this was so mighty a blow that the hammer sank in up to the handle. The giant then sat up and remarked that a bird seemed to have dropped something on him from the tree above. Then he took leave of them, warning Thor to be on his best behaviour when he reached the hall of Utgard, where he assured them there were plenty of fellows bigger even than himself. He strode off through the wood, and to their great relief they saw him no more.
They reached Utgard at midday, and found it no smaller than they had been led to believe. It was indeed so huge that they were able to get in by squeezing between the bars of the mighty gate. In the hall was the king, Utgard-Loki. When at last he noticed his puny visitors, he was not very complimentary in his welcome, but he inquired whether they had any special gifts which they could display before the company. Then followed a series of trials of strength at which Thor and his companions did not acquit themselves as well as might have been expected.
First Loki tried a race at eating with a man called Logi. He was utterly outstripped, for though he rapidly devoured all the meat he was given, Logi swallowed the bones and the trough as well. Next Thialfi, who was a swift runner, ran races with a lad called Hugi, but Hugi was able to reach the end of the course and come back to meet him every time. Then Thor made trial of his strength in a drinking contest. Thor was given a huge horn, which he expected to empty easily, but after three attempts to do so he found that the liquid had only dropped a little below the rim. Next the king suggested that he should try the feat of lifting the cat up from the floor. A great grey cat jumped down in front of him, and Thor grasped it round the middle and exerted all his strength, but was only able to raise one of its paws off the ground. Finally Utgard-Loki called in his old foster-mother to wrestle with Thor. She seemed a decrepit old woman, but Thor with all his power could not get her off her feet. When however she grasped hold of him, he was forced down on one knee before the king stopped the conflict.
The discomfited god and his companions were then given splendid hospitality, and stayed there that night. Next morning Utgard-Loki himself escorted them to the gate, and once they were safely outside, he revealed the truth to them. Thor and his comrades had been deceived by cunning magic, altering the appearance of things. The three blows struck at Skrymir – who in fact was Utgard-Loki himself – had fallen on to the earth, and Thor’s hammer had left three mighty pits in the hill which the giant had interposed between himself and the angry god. The bag which could not be undone had been fastened by iron bands. As for the contests in the hall, they had not been what they seemed. Loki’s opponent was Logi (Fire), which consumes all things more swiftly than any man or god. Thialfi had raced against Hugi (Thought), swifter than any man in its flight. The horn offered to Thor had its tip in the ocean, and the great draughts he had drunk had lowered the sea-level down to ebb tide. The cat was in truth the ancient monster, the World Serpent, so that all were terrified when Thor’s strength proved great enough to raise it a little way from the depths of the sea. His opponent in the wrestling was no other than Elli (Old Age), who can overcome the strongest. When he learned how he had been tricked, Thor in his rage swung his hammer, intending to destroy the stronghold, but even as he did so it vanished from sight, and they were alone on the plain.
Thor’s Fishing
Perhaps it was to take vengeance for this humiliation – or so at least it was suggested to Gangleri – that Thor set out to visit the giant Hymir, in the guise of a youth. He asked to go fishing with Hymir, and when sent off to get some bait, he took the giant’s biggest ox and cut off its head to take along with them. The boat moved so fast once Thor took the oars that Hymir was astounded, and before long they reached the fishing ground. Thor rowed on still further, although Hymir tried to prevent him for fear of disturbing the Midgard Serpent, and when at last he threw the ox-head out into the sea, it was indeed the serpent which took the bait. Thor had to exert all his divine strength, and before long, digging his heels through the boat and pushing hard against the sea bottom, he hauled up the monster, and they stared fiercely into one another’s eyes. At this terrible sight, Hymir was panic-stricken, and as Thor raised his hammer, he cut the line. The serpent sank back into the depths of the sea, and Thor in anger knocked the giant overboard and waded back to shore. Whether he struck off the serpent’s head before it sank, or it still lies coiled round the earth, Gangleri was unable to discover.
4. The Doom of the Gods
The Death of Balder
Next Gangleri learned of the event which led to the destruction of the earth and of Asgard, the death of Balder the Beautiful. Balder, son of Odin, had ominous dreams, and the gods, fearing that danger threatened him, sent Frigg to extract an oath from all things on earth, whether living creatures, plants, or things of metal, wood, and stone, that they would do no harm to Balder. After this they found it amusing to fling darts and hurl heavy objects at Balder, knowing that they could do him no hurt. But Loki took on the disguise of a woman, and talked with Frigg. He learned that one little plant, the mistletoe, had taken no oath, since Frigg had thought it too young to threaten Balder. Filled with spite, Loki pulled up mistletoe and persuaded Hoder, the blind god, to throw it at Balder in sport, guiding his hand as he threw. The dart pierced Balder through, and he fell dead to the earth.
Bitter indeed was the grief of the Aesir, and Odin’s most bitter of all, since he alone knew the extent of the loss they had suffered. Frigg begged that someone would ride to the kingdom of death and bring Balder back to them. Hermod, another of Odin’s sons, agreed to make the perilous journey, riding Odin’s horse Sleipnir. The gods meanwhile took up Balder’s body and laid it on a funeral pyre built on his own ship, Hringhorni. A giantess pushed it off the rollers into the sea, and there Balder was burned on the pyre, with his wife Nanna, who had died of grief, and his horse beside him. Odin laid the gold ring Draupnir, one of the great treasures of the gods, upon the pyre as a last gift. All the gods and goddesses came to Balder’s funeral.
Hermod’s Ride to Hel
Meanwhile Hermod had been riding down the dark road to the land of the dead, and over the bridge that spanned the Resounding River. There was a maid, Modgud, guarding this bridge, and she came out in wonder to see who came riding with such noise and tumult. Balder, she said, had already passed that way, and five troops of the dead, but this newcomer was not like such travellers, and had the aspect of a living man. At last Hermod reached Hel-gate, and Sleipnir leaped over it with ease. The hall of Hel stood open before them, and Balder was sitting in the high seat. Hel was willing to release him on condition that all things in the world, living or dead, would weep for him. But should any creature refuse to weep, she said, then he must stay with her and never go back to the Aesir. So Hermod bade farewell to Balder, who gave him Draupnir to bear back to Odin and many rich gifts besides, and returned with Hel’s answer.
At the summons of the gods, all things did indeed weep for Balder, men and beasts, stones and metals, in the way that we see all things weep after frost, when the air grows warm again. But at last the messenger of the gods came to a giantess, alone in a cave. When they asked her to weep for Balder, her reply was a deadly one:
Alive or dead, the old man’s son
has been no use to me.
Let Hel hold what she has!
It was believed that this giantess was no other than Loki himself, seeking in his malice to keep Balder in Hel.
The Aesir were so wrathful that Loki knew that this time he had no hope of mercy if they caught him, so he fled from them, built a house with doors looking out in every direction, and then changed himself into a salmon in the river. But Kvasir, the wisest of the Aesir, found some ashes on the hearth where Loki had been burning a net, and from the shape of this he realized that this was the only way to catch the nimble salmon. They made the net to Loki’s pattern, and at the third try they caught him by the tail. Loki was then bound across three flat stones, held down by the entrails of one of his own sons. There he was left to writhe beneath the mouth of a snake, which dropped its poison on to his face. His faithful wife Sigyn sat with a bowl to catch the poison drops, but each time she went to empty it the poison fell on Loki again, and his struggles caused the earth to shake.
Ragnarok
There Loki must lie until Ragnarok, the time of the destruction of the gods. This fearful time will be ushered in by many portents. First there will be great wars through the world, and a time of strife and hatred between men. The bonds of kinship will hold them no longer, and they will commit appalling deeds of murder and incest. There will also be a period of bitter cold, when a terrible pursuing wolf catches the sun and devours her; the moon too is to be swallowed up, and the stars will fall from the sky. The mountains will crash into fragments as the whole earth shakes and trembles, and the World Tree quivers in the tumult. Now all fettered monsters break loose. The wolf Fenrir advances, his great gaping jaws filling the gap between earth and sky, while the serpent emerges from the sea, blowing out poison. The sea rises to engulf the land, and on the flood the ship Naglfar is launched, a vessel made from the nails of dead men. It carries a crew of giants, with Loki as their steersman. From the fiery realm of Muspell, Surt and his following ride out with shining swords, and the bridge Bifrost is shattered beneath their weight. His forces join the frost-giants on the plain of Vigrid, and there the last battle will be fought between this mighty host and the gods.
The note of Heimdall’s horn arouses the Aesir to their danger, and Odin rides to the spring beneath the World Tree, to take counsel of Mimir’s head. Then with his chosen champions from Valhalla he goes out on to the plain, to encounter at last his ancient enemy, the wolf. Thor meets the World Serpent, and Freyr fights against Surt; Tyr must encounter the hound Garm, broken loose from the underworld, while Heimdall does battle with Loki. All the gods must fall, and the monsters be destroyed with them. Thor kills the serpent, and then falls dead, overcome by its venom. Odin is devoured by Fenrir, but his young son Vidar slays the wolf in turn, setting one foot upon its jaw and tearing it asunder. Tyr and Heimdall both conquer their opponents, but they do not survive the struggle. Only Surt remains to the last, to fling fire over the whole world, so that the race of men perishes with the gods, and all are finally engulfed in the overwhelming sea:
The sun becomes dark. Earth sinks in the sea.
The shining stars slip out of the sky.
Vapour and fire rage fiercely together,
till the leaping flame licks heaven itself.
Yet this is not the end. Earth will arise again from the waves, fertile, green, and fair as never before, cleansed of all its sufferings and evil. The sons of the great gods still remain alive, and Balder will return from the dead to reign with them. They will rule a new universe, cleansed and regenerated, while two living creatures who have sheltered from destruction in the World Tree will come out to repeople the world with men and women. A new sun, outshining her mother in beauty, will journey across the heavens.
Such is the picture of the beginning and end of the world of gods and men, drawn for Gangleri by the Three Powers.
5. The Giants and the Dwarfs
In the second section of this book, Gangleri has disappeared and Snorri fills out his outline by adding more stories about the gods which will serve to explain some of the imagery used by poets. Nearly all the stories which he includes in Skáldskaparmál (Poetic Diction) have to do with attempts by the giants to get the better of the gods and to steal their treasures.
The Theft of the Apples
First we hear of the theft of the apples of youth. One day when three of the gods, Odin, Loki, and Hoenir, were journeying together, they tried to roast an ox for their dinner, but the meat would not cook. At last a mighty eagle in an oak called out to them from above, and offered to get the meal cooked for them if they would give him a share. It turned out that his idea of a fair share meant the greater part of the ox, and Loki in a rage attacked him with a stick. He was caught up with the stick, and carried through the air, and the eagle refused to let him go until he promised to bring him Idun and her golden apples. When Loki returned to Asgard, it was easy to lure Idun outside on some pretext, and the giant Thiazi, still in his eagle form, bore her off to his home.
Without the apples of youth, the Aesir began to grow grey and wrinkled, and at last Loki’s guilt was discovered, and he was threatened with death unless he righted the wrong that he had done. Accordingly he borrowed the falcon shape of Freyja and flew off to Thiazi’s abode. The giant was out fishing, so Loki changed Idun into a nut and flew off with it in his claws. Thiazi discovered the loss and started in pursuit, and Loki flew into Asgard only just in time. The gods were waiting with a heap of wood shavings, and they set fire to these as soon as Loki had flown over the wall, so that the fire singed Thiazi’s wings and he fell down inside the stronghold of the gods, and was easily slain.
His daughter Skadi came to avenge her father, and the gods offered her marriage with one of them as compensation for the slaying. She was permitted to see no more than their feet when she made her choice, and so it came about that she married Njord, thinking that she was choosing the handsome Balder. Odin also pleased her by throwing Thiazi’s eyes up into heaven, where they became stars.
The Winning of the Mead
Next we hear of the truce made between the Aesir and the Vanir, and how this led to the gift of inspiration coming to gods and men. When the two companies of gods met to make peace, they took a vessel and all spat into it, and from the contents they created the wise Kvasir, who was able to answer all questions. Kvasir however was killed by two dwarfs, who let his blood run into three huge vessels, and mixed it with honey to make a rich mead. Whoever drank of this received the gift of inspiration, and could compose poetry and utter words of wisdom. The malicious dwarfs, however, went too far when they killed a giant called Gilling, and his wife as well. The giant’s son, Suttung, took vengeance on them by putting them on a rock and leaving them there to drown. To save their lives they were forced to give him the mead, and it is for this reason that poetry is called ‘Kvasir’s blood’ or ‘ship of the dwarfs’.
The gods wished to win the precious liquid back from the giants, and Odin set out to do so. First he sharpened the scythes of nine men labouring in the fields to such good effect that in the end they quarrelled over the possession of his wonderful whetstone, and cut one another’s throats. Then he took their place, and hired himself out to their master, the giant Baugi, who was Suttung’s brother. The only wage he demanded was a drink of the wonderful mead. Baugi agreed to this, but when it came to the point, his brother would not let Odin have his drink. Then Odin persuaded Baugi to help him to bore a hole into the mountain where Suttung lived, and he crept in, taking the form of a serpent. He slept three nights with Suttung’s daughter, and persuaded her to give him three drinks of the mead. In three draughts he emptied all three vessels, and flew off in eagle form back to the Aesir, who had more vessels ready for him. He spat out the mead into them, all but a little that had been lost on the way – known as the poetaster’s share – and so it came about that poetry is now said to be the gift of Odin and the Aesir to men.
Thor’s Duel
Another tale is that of the giant Hrungnir’s duel with Thor. Odin and Hrungnir had a wager together, each insisting that he had the finer horse. Odin galloped off on Sleipnir and Hrungnir after him on his horse Goldmane, and Hrungnir inadvertently found himself inside the realm of the gods before he drew rein. The Aesir allowed him to drink from Thor’s great beakers, and he grew boastful, declaring that he was going to sink Asgard into the sea and carry off Freyja and Sif. Thor at this point came in, furiously demanding why a giant was sitting drinking among them, but Hrungnir claimed safe-conduct, and challenged Thor to a duel.
For this duel the giants made a clay man, called Mist-Calf, to support Hrungnir. Hrungnir himself had a sharp, three-cornered heart of stone, and a stone head, and he was armed with a stone shield and a whetstone. Thor came out with Thialfi to meet him, and Thialfi told the giant he had better stand on his shield, in case Thor attacked him from below. Then Thor bore down on Hrungnir with thunder and lightning, and hurled his hammer at him, while the giant threw his whetstone. The weapons met in mid air, and the whetstone was shattered, but one piece lodged in Thor’s forehead. The hammer went on to strike Hrungnir’s skull and break it in pieces. Meanwhile Thialfi had dealt with the clay figure without much difficulty. The only problem was caused by Hrungnir falling on top of Thor, for no one could move his great leg off the god until Thor’s little son, Magni, came up and pushed it away. Magni received the horse Goldmane as a reward. A seeress tried to sing spells to get the piece of whetstone out of Thor’s head, but he began to tell her how he had once carried her husband Aurvandil in a basket out of giant-land, and when one toe of Aurvandil had frozen, he had flung it up into the sky to become the star called Aurvandil’s Toe. She was so interested that the spell was never finished, and so the stone still remains in Thor’s head.
Thor’s visit to Geirrod
Another tale about Thor tells of his expedition to the realm of Geirrod. Loki had again been out flying in Freyja’s feather shape, and he was captured in the hall of Geirrod by the giant himself. Geirrod recognized the hawk by its eyes, and knew it to be Loki, so he shut him up and starved him for three months, until he promised to bring Thor to the hall without his hammer or belt of strength. Loki succeeded in this, but on the way Thor was warned of his danger by a friendly giantess, who lent him her magic staff, another belt, and iron gloves. First Thor was nearly drowned in the river Vimir, for Geirrod’s daughter stood astride the stream making it swell, until he struck her with a huge rock, and then climbed out with the aid of a rowan tree. Then he entered Geirrod’s hall, and sat down on a seat, but at once felt himself being raised to the roof. He forced the seat down with the aid of his magic staff, and so broke the backs of Geirrod’s two daughters, who had been pushing up his chair. Then he went up to Geirrod, who flung a ball of hot iron at him. Thor caught it with his iron gloves, and while Geirrod ducked behind a pillar, he hurled it through the pillar and the giant together. So Thor went back unscathed to Asgard.
The Treasures of the Gods
There is also the story of how the gods obtained their wonderful treasures. One day in a fit of mischief Loki cut off Sif’s golden hair, and Thor would have killed him if he had not found two cunning dwarfs to make new tresses of real gold for Sif, which would grow like natural hair. They also made Freyr’s wonderful ship and Odin’s great spear Gungnir. Loki then challenged two other skilful dwarfs to make three more treasures as good as these, wagering his head that they would not succeed. As they laboured in the smithy the dwarf working the bellows was stung persistently by a fly, but in spite of this they succeeded in forging a marvellous boar with bristles of gold, which could run faster than any steed and light up the darkest night. They also forged the great gold ring, Draupnir, from which eight other rings dropped every ninth night.
As they were making the third treasure, the fly stung the dwarf again, this time on his eyelid, and he had to raise his hand to brush it away. The third treasure was the great hammer Mjollnir, which would hit anything at which it was thrown and return to the thrower’s hand. Because of the interference of the fly, however, which was Loki in disguise, it was a little short in the handle. Nevertheless the gods held that the hammer was the best of all their treasures, and a sure weapon against their enemies, and they declared that Loki had lost his wager. He ran away, only to be caught by Thor and handed over to the dwarfs; they wanted to cut off his head, but Loki argued that they had no right to touch his neck. So in the end they contented themselves with sewing up his lips.
The Ransom of Otter
Odin and Loki also play a part in the story of the otter’s ransom, which leads on to the famous tale of the hero Sigurd the Volsung. The two gods were wandering through the world with Hoenir one day, when they saw an otter on the edge of a waterfall, drowsily eating a salmon. Loki flung a stone at the otter and bragged of his double catch. But when that night they stopped at the house of a man called Hreidmar, it transpired that the otter was his son in animal form, and he and his other sons, Fafnir and Regin, threatened to slay the gods in revenge. They had to agree to the ransom imposed by Hreidmar, which was to fill the otter skin with gold and then pile gold over it until it was hidden from sight. To do this, Loki had to catch the dwarf Andvari, who was hiding in the shape of a fish, and make him give up the great golden treasure which he was known to possess. The dwarf tried hard to hold on to a little gold ring, which he said would help him to become rich again, but which would bring destruction on all who possessed it. Loki however insisted on taking that too, and it was needed in the end, since when gold covered the skin, one whisker could still be seen and the ring was used to hide it. It is for this reason that poets use such names for gold as ‘otter’s ransom’ or ‘forced payment of the Aesir’.
The wonderful golden treasure only brought ruin to the house of Hreidmar in the end, for his sons slew him in their greed, and then Fafnir turned himself into a dragon and lay upon the gold. His brother Regin urged on the young hero Sigurd the Volsung to slay the dragon, but when Sigurd discovered Regin was tricking him, he slew him as well. Sigurd came into possession of Andvari’s ring when he took over the treasure, and this ring ultimately caused his own death and much unhappiness.
6. Myths outside the Prose Edda
This concludes the series of stories given in the Prose Edda about the gods and their doings. We can add to them one more story in the form of a narrative poem, very similar in spirit to those in Snorri’s collection. This is the tale of how the giant Thrym stole Thor’s hammer, and the unknown poet tells it with the same ironic humour and imaginative delight which distinguishes Snorri’s myths. The poem, Prymskviða, is found in the Elder Edda.
The Theft of Thor’s Hammer
The story goes that one day Thor discovered that his hammer had been stolen, and he called on Loki to find out what had become of it. Loki borrowed Freyja’s falcon shape and went out to search, and he found at last that the giant Thrym had hidden the hammer deep down in the earth, and refused to return it to the gods unless he were given Freyja as his wife. This message caused the greatest consternation in Asgard, and sent Freyja into so great a rage that she shattered her famous necklace as she panted with fury. But Heimdall suggested a plan to get back the hammer without risk to Freyja. Thor was to wrap himself in a bridal veil and journey to Jotunheim in Freyja’s place, accompanied by Loki disguised as the bride’s handmaid. At first Thor thought such a disguise beneath his dignity, but Loki reminded him tardy that without the hammer there was no hope for Asgard.
Thunder and lightning rent the mountains as they drove off in Thor’s chariot, and when they entered Jotunheim they received an enthusiastic welcome. At the feast that night all was nearly discovered because of the bride’s voracious appetite, but Loki quickly explained that the reason why Freyja was able to eat an ox and eight salmon was because her ardent longings for the wedding had kept her fasting for eight nights. Again when Thrym tried to kiss the bride, he was terrified by a glimpse of. the god’s terrible burning eyes beneath the veil, but Loki explained that Freyja had had no sleep for eight nights, so intense was her longing for Jotunheim. Thor’s ordeal came to an end when the hammer was at last brought in to hallow the bridal couple, and laid in the lap of the bride. Once he had his hands upon it, it was not long before Thrym and all the wedding party were slain, and Thor returned with Loki in triumph to Asgard.
The Truce with the Vanir
Here then is one myth which Snorri for some reason did not include in his stories about Thor. We know that there were others known to him which were not used in the Prose Edda, since some are introduced into another of his works, Ynglinga Saga. This gives the history of Sweden from very early times, and includes an account of the ending of the war between the Aesir and the Vanir. We are told that when the truce had been made, the Vanir sent as hostages two of their foremost men, Njord and Freyr, and in return the Aesir sent Hoenir, who was tall and handsome, and Mimir, who was very wise. But Hoenir was of little use in counsel because he was so silent, and the Vanir felt that they had not had a fair exchange. They cut off Mimir’s head and sent it to the Aesir. Then Odin took the head and sang spells over it, and was able to talk with it and learn hidden matters.
Gefion
In the same saga there is a story about Gefion, whose name Snorri included among the goddesses. She was sent by Odin to look for land, and King Gylfi of Sweden offered her as much land as she could plough. Gefion visited a giant, had four sons by him, and changed these into a team of oxen. With her mighty team she ploughed round Zealand (the island on which Copenhagen stands) and separated it from Sweden. After this she dwelt at Leire with Skiold, son of Odin.
Other myths about the gods and their dealings with Danish kings and heroes are found in the work of a Danish scholar and ecclesiastic who lived in the twelfth century, Saxo Grammaticus. His stories are badly told in complex, pompous Latin, and are frequently muddled, repetitive, and spoiled by moralizing. They have none of the charm of Snorri’s work, but they contain material of much interest and value. Other myths are implied or referred to in mythological poems about the gods, some of which are in the form of questions and answers exchanged between two supernatural beings, who test one another’s knowledge. The dealings of the gods with famous heroes of old time have not been mentioned in this chapter, but there are many stories about them in the heroic poems and the legendary sagas, and these will be referred to from time to time in the course of this book. Other lost myths can be guessed at from the mythological imagery used by the skaldic poets.
Although it must be realized that Snorri’s tales do not exhaust our knowledge about the gods, they do, however, form a good starting point for study. He gives us an impressive picture of the universe, with the World Tree at the centre. We see the gods in never-ending competition with the giants and monsters who threaten their peace and menace their world. We see them divided amongst themselves by jealousies and quarrels, yet ready to combine against a common enemy when the danger becomes acute. Snorri traces for us the beginning of the universe from the primeval heat and cold which existed before the worlds; he lets us realize that it cannot last for ever, since the hostile forces must triumph for a while when the present worlds are overthrown at Ragnarok, before a new cycle begins. In preserving the finest of the myths for us, he has also set them in a memorable framework.
Yet he leaves many questions unanswered. This no doubt will already be obvious to the reader. Who for instance were the twelve great gods of whom Snorri speaks ? Was there, so to speak, an official list, and are figures like Hoenir, Kvasir, Hoder, and Mimir to be included among the twelve ? Were the first man and woman created from the body of Ymir or from trees on the sea-shore ? Did Thor kill the World Serpent before Ragnarok ? Is Asgard to be thought of as above the earth or beside it, under a root of the World Tree ? Was the tree standing before the creation of the worlds ? Why is first Thor and then Odin called the Father of the Gods ? What happened to the other sons of Bor ? Why were the Vanir at war with the Aesir ? Some of these questions had probably occurred to Snorri, but as in the instance of the fate of the Midgard Serpent in the fishing adventure, he may have been unable to give an answer.
There is also the deeper question of how far these gods in the myths ever claimed real worship and allegiance from men. Some of the stories are clearly skilful literary efforts, primarily for entertainment. How much real belief existed in the background ? Are Thor and Loki serious or comic figures ? Can we respect these sometimes naïve and childish characters of the myths as Snorri represents them ?
It is with some of these questions, and in particular with these last, that this book is concerned. To find a simple answer to them may be difficult, and in some cases impossible. We can only attempt a reasoned survey of the gods who appear in the myths, based on our present knowledge.