The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda
by which the earth, the hills, the stones and mounds were opened to him;
and he bound those who dwell in them by the power of his word, and went
in and took what he pleased. From these arts he became very celebrated.
His enemies dreaded him; his friends put their trust in him, and relied
on his power and on himself. He taught the most of his arts to his
priests of the sacrifices, and they came nearest to himself in all
wisdom and witch-knowledge. Many others, however, occupied themselves
much with it; and from that time witchcraft spread far and wide, and
continued long. People sacrificed to Odin, and the twelve chiefs of
Asaland,--called them their gods, and believed in them long after. From
Odin’s name came the name Audun, which people gave to his sons; and from
Thor’s name came Thorer, also Thorarinn; and it was also sometimes
augmented by other additions, as Steinthor, Hafthor, and many kinds of
alterations.
[Footnote 126: In the mythology this ship belongs to Frey, having
been made for him by the dwarfs.]
[Footnote 127: Hugin and Munin.]
[Footnote 128: The old Norse word is órlög, which is plural, (from
ör = Ger. _ur_, and lög, _laws_,) and means the primal law, fate,
weird, doom; the Greek μοῖρα. The idea of predestination was a
salient feature in the Odinic religion. The word örlog, O.H.G.
_urlac_, M.H.G. _urlone_, Dutch _orlog_, had special reference to
a man’s fate in war. Hence Orlogschiffe in German means a naval
fleet. The Danish orlog means warfare at sea.]
Odin established the same law in his land that had been before in
Asaland. Thus he established by law that all dead men should be burned,
and their property laid with them upon the pile, and the ashes be cast
into the sea or buried in the earth. Thus, said he, everyone will come
to Valhal with the riches he had with him upon the pile; and he would
also enjoy whatever he himself had buried in the earth. For men of
consequence a mound should be raised to their memory, and for all other
warriors who had been distinguished for manhood, a standing stone; which
custom remained long after Odin’s time. Toward winter there should be a
blood-sacrifice for a good year, and in the middle of winter for a good
crop; and the third sacrifice should be in summer, for victory in
battle. Over all Svithjod[129] the people paid Odin a scatt, or tax,--so
much on each head; but he had to defend the country from enemy or
disturbance, and pay the expense of the sacrifice-feasts toward winter
for a good year.
[Footnote 129: Svithjod, which here means Sweden, is derived from
Odin’s name, Svidr and thjod = folk, people. Svithjod thus means
Odin’s people, and the country takes its name from the people.]
Njord took a wife hight Skade; but she would not live with him, but
married afterward Odin, and had many sons by him, of whom one was called
Saming, and of this Eyvind Skaldespiller sings thus:
To Asason[130] Queen Skade bore
Saming, who dyed his shield in gore,--
The giant queen of rock and snow
Who loves to dwell on earth below,
The iron pine-tree’s daughter she,
Sprung from the rocks that rib the sea,
To Odin bore full many a son,--
Heroes of many a battle won.
[Footnote 130: Odin.]
To Saming Jarl Hakon the Great reckoned up his pedigree.[131] This
Svithjod (Sweden) they call Mannheim, but the great Svithjod they call
Godheim, and of Godheim great wonders and novelties were related.
[Footnote 131: Norway was given to Saming by Odin.]
Odin died in his bed in Sweden; and when he was near his death he made
himself be marked with the point of a spear,[132] and said he was going
to Godheim, and would give a welcome there to all his friends, and all
brave warriors should be dedicated to him; and the Swedes believed that
he was gone to the ancient Asgard, and would live there eternally. Then
began the belief in Odin, and the calling upon him. The Swedes believed
that he often showed himself to them before any great battle. To some he
gave victory, others he invited to himself; and they reckoned both of
these to be well off in their fate. Odin was burnt, and at his pile
there was great splendor. It was their faith that the higher the smoke
arose in the air, the higher would he be raised whose pile it was; and
the richer he would be the more property that was consumed with him.
[Footnote 132: He gave himself nine wounds in the form of the head
of a spear, or Thor’s hammer; that is, he marked himself with the
sign of the _cross_, an ancient heathen custom.]
Njord of Noatun was then the sole sovereign of the Swedes; and he
continued the sacrifices, and was called the drot, or sovereign, by the
Swedes, and he received scatt and gifts from them. In his days were
peace and plenty, and such good years in all respects that the Swedes
believed Njord ruled over the growth of seasons and the prosperity of
the people. In his time all the diars, or gods, died, and
blood-sacrifices were made for them. Njord died on a bed of sickness,
and before he died made himself be marked for Odin with the spear-point.
The Swedes burned him, and all wept over his grave-mound.
Frey took the kingdom after Njord, and was called drot by the Swedes,
and they paid taxes to him. He was like his father, fortunate in friends
and in good seasons. Frey built a great temple at Upsala, made it his
chief seat, and gave it all his taxes, his land and goods. Then began
the Upsala domains, which have remained ever since. Then began in his
day the Frode-peace; and then there were good seasons in all the land,
which the Swedes ascribed to Frey, so that he was more worshiped than
the other gods, as the people became much richer in his days by reason
of the peace and good seasons. His wife was called Gerd, daughter of
Gymer, and their son was called Fjolner. Frey was called by another
name, Yngve; and this name Yngve was considered long after in his race
as a name of honor, so that his descendants have since been called
Ynglings (_i.e._ Yngve-lings). Frey fell into a sickness, and as his
illness took the upper hand, his men took the plan of letting few
approach him. In the meantime they raised a great mound, in which they
placed a door with three holes in it. Now when Frey died they bore him
secretly into the mound, but told the Swedes he was alive, and they kept
watch over him for three years. They brought all the taxes into the
mound, and through the one hole they put in the gold, through the other
the silver, and through the third the copper money that was paid. Peace
and good seasons continued.
Freyja alone remained of the gods, and she became on this account so
celebrated that all women of distinction were called by her name, whence
they now have the title Frue (Germ. _Frau_), so that every woman is
called frue (that is, mistress) over her property, and the wife is
called the house-frue. Freyja continued the blood-sacrifices. Freyja had
also many other names. Her husband was called Oder, and her daughters
Hnos and Gersame. They were so very beautiful that afterward the most
precious jewels were called by their names.
When it became known to the Swedes that Frey was dead, and yet peace and
good seasons continued, they believed that it must be so as long as Frey
remained in Sweden, and therefore they would not burn his remains, but
called him the god of this world, and afterward offered continually
blood-sacrifices to him, principally for peace and good seasons.[133]
[Footnote 133: Here ends Snorre’s account of the asas in
Heimskringla. The reader will, of course, compare the account here
given of Odin, Njord, Frey, Freyja, etc., with the purely
mythological description of them in the Younger Edda, and with
that in Norse Mythology. Upon the whole, Snorre has striven to
accommodate his sketch to the Eddas, while he has had to clothe
mythical beings with the characteristics of human kings. Like
Saxo-Grammaticus, Snorre has striven to show that the deities,
which we now recognize as personified forces and phenomena of
nature, were extraordinary and enterprising persons, who formerly
ruled in the North, and inaugurated the customs, government and
religion of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, England, and the
other Teutonic lands.]
FORNJOT AND THE SETTLEMENT OF NORWAY.
In the asa-faith we find various foreign elements introduced. Thus, for
example, the vans did not originally belong to the Odinic system. As the
Teutons came in contact with other races, the religious ideas of the
latter were frequently adopted in some modified form. Especially do
Finnish elements enter into the asa-system. The Finnish god of thunder
was Ukko. He is supposed to have been confounded with our Thor, whence
the latter got the name Öku-Thor (Ukko-Thor). The vans may be connected
with the Finnish Wainamoinen, and in the same manner a number of Celtic
elements have been mixed with Teutonic mythology. And this is not all.
There must have flourished a religious system in the North before the
arrival of Odin and his apostles. This was probably either Tshudic or
Celtic, or a mixture of the two. The asa-doctrine superseded it, but
there still remain traces in some of the oldest records of the North.
Thus we have in the prehistoric sagas of Iceland an account of the
finding of Norway, wherein it is related that Fornjot,[134] in Jotland,
which is also called Finland or Quenland, east of the Gulf of Bothnia,
had three sons: Hler, also called Æger, Loge and Kare.[135] Of Loge it
is related that he was of giant descent, and, being very tall of
stature, he was called Haloge, that is High Loge; and after him the
northern part of Norway is called Halogaland (now Helgeland). He was
married to Glod (a red-hot coal), and had with her two daughters, Eysa
and Eimyrja; both words meaning glowing embers. Haloge had two jarls,
Vifil (the one taking a vif = wife) and Vesete (the one who sits at the
ve = the sanctuary, that is, the dweller by the hearth, the first
sanctuary), who courted his daughters; the former addressing himself to
Eimyrja, the latter to Eysa, but the king refusing to give his consent,
they carried them away secretly. Vesete settled in Borgundarholm
(Bornholm), and had a son, Bue (one who settles on a farm); Vifil sailed
further east and settled on the island Vifilsey, on the coast of Sweden,
and had a son, Viking (the pirate).
[Footnote 134: The word fornjot can be explained in two ways:
either as for-njot = the first enjoyer, possessor; or as forn-jot,
the ancient giant. He would then correspond to Ymer.]
[Footnote 135: Notice this trinity: Hler is the sea (comp. the
Welsh word _llyr_ = sea); Loge is fire (comp. the Welsh _llwg_),
he reminds us both by his name and his nature of Loke; Kare is the
wind.]
The third son, Kare, had a numerous offspring. He had one son by name
Jokul (iceberg), another Froste (frost), and Froste’s son was named Sna
(snow). He had a third son, by name Thorri (bare frost), after whom the
mid-winter month, Thorra-month, was called; and his daughters hight Fonn
(packed snow), Drifa (snow-drift), and Mjoll (meal, fine snow). All
these correspond well to Kare’s name, which, as stated, means wind.
Thorri had two sons, Nor and Gor, and a daughter, Goe. The story goes on
to tell how Goe, the sister, was lost, and how the brothers went to
search for her, until they finally found him who had robbed her. He was
Hrolf, from the mountain, a son of the giant Svade, and a grandson of
Asa-Thor. They settled their trouble, and thereupon Hrolf married Goe,
and Nor married Hrolf’s sister, settled in the land and called it after
his own name, Norvegr, that is, Norway. By this story we are reminded of