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GIANTS.
545
entrance into heaven. How they fared on the way was never
known, but the joke is made upon them, that after a long march
they came to a great calm, clear sheet of water,
in which the
bright sky was reflected ; here they thought they could plunge
into heaven, so they jumped in and were drowned. 1 From so
remarkable a consensus 2 we cannot but draw the conclusion, that
the giants held together as a people, and were settled in the
mountains of a country, but that they gradually gave way to
the human race, which may be regarded as a nation of invaders.
Legend converts their stone weapons into the woodman s axe or
the knife, their martial profession into the peaceable pursuit of
baking bread. It was an ancient custom to stick swords or
knives into a tree standing in the middle of the yard (Fornald.
sog. 1, 120-1) ; a man s strength was proved by the depth to
which he drove the hatchet into a stem, RA. 97. The jumping
into the blue lake savours of the fairy-tale, and comes before us
in some other narratives (Kinderm. 1, 343. 3, 112).
But, what deserves some attention, Swedish folktales make the
divine foe of giants, him that hurls thunderbolts and throws
hammers, himself play with stones as with balls. Once, as Thor
was going past Linneryd in Smaland with his henchman (the
Thialfi of the Edda), he came upon a giant to whom he was not
known, and opened a conversation : Whither goes thy way ?
I go to heaven to
fight Thor, who has set my stable on fire.
Thou presumest too much ; why, thou hast not even the strength
to lift this little stone and set it on the great one. The giant
clutched the stone with all his might, but could not lift it off the
ground, so much weight had Thor imparted to it. Thor s servant
tried it next, and lifted it lightly as he would a glove. Then
the giant knew it was the god, and fell upon him so lustily that
he sank on his knees, but Thor swung his hammer and laid
the enemy prostrate.
All over Germany there are so many of these stories about
stones and hammers being hurled, and giant s fingers imprinted
1 The last four tales from Eedeker, nos. 37 to 40. Dutten means stulti, and is
further intensified by the adj. In the Teutonist dod=gawk, conf. Bichthofen sub
v. dud, and supra, p. 528 on tumbo. Similar tales on the Rhon mts., only with
everything giant-like effaced, about the tollen dittisser (Bechstein pp. 81-91).
2 I do not know that any tract in Germany is richer in giant-stories than West
phalia and Hesse. Conf. also Kuhn s Markische sagen, nos. 22. 47. 107. 132. 141.
149. 158. 202. Temme s Pommersche sagen, nos. 175-184. 187.