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870 DESTINY AND WELL-BEING.
Marc. 22, 9. formatum Fortunae habitum cum divite cornu, 3
Prudent, lib. 1 contra Symm.
Svantovit s
(p. 591), nay with the icepas a-corr/pla?, Luke 1, 69.
Of the wishing-rod we are reminded by the synonymous expres
sions : alles heiles ein wiinschel-ris, 3
; also with Amalthea s horn or
-twig, -wand, Troj. 2216,
and des Wunsches bluome/ Barl. 274, 25.
The belief in fairy things [wiinscheldinge, lit. wishing-gear] is
deeply rooted in our mythology : let us examine it minutely.
There are things, belonging to gods, but also lent to men, which
can bestow a plenitude of bliss, the best that heart can wish- ;
so that our old vernacular word seems quite appropriate. The
Sanskrit for wish is significant : mano-ratha, wheel of the mind ;
does this open to us a new aspect of the divine wish ? Wish
turns the wheel of our thoughts. In the Edda the wishing-gear
is the cunning workmanship of dwarfs, and is distributed among
the gods. OSinn possessed the spear Gungnir, the hurling of
which brings victory, Thorr the hammer Miolnir, which comes
crashing down as thunderbolt, which also consecrates, and of
itself comes back into his hand. Freyr had a sword of similar
nature, that swung itself (er sialft vegiz), Saem. 82 a . Sn. 40; its
name is unrecorded. The cudgel jump out o your sack ! in
our fairy-tale is the same story vulgarized; in GBgi s hall the
pitchers or beakers of ale brought tJiemselves (sialft barsc )?ar ol),
Ssem. 48 ; Wolfdieterich (Cod. dresd. 296-7) fell in with god
desses, to whose table the wheaten loaf came walking, and the
wine poured itself out : such gear the Greeks called avro^arov
(self-taught), II. 18, 376. OEgis-hialmr must originally have
been (Egi s own is (and CEgir
at times undistinguishable from
OSinn), as Aegis is wielded by the two deities
highest
Zeus and
Athena: afterwards the helmet came into the hand of heroes.
Out of the magic helm sprang helot-helm, grim-helm, tarn-happe,
tuunsch-mantel (Kinderm. no. 122), wunsch-hut,
on dwarfs, heroes and fortune s favourites the power
which bestow
to walk
unseen, to sail swiftly through the sky. To the goddesses
Freyja and Frigg belonged Brisinga men, which, like the t/^a?
of Yenus and Juno, awakened longing
and matches the
(fyte/oo?),
sword, spear and hammer of the gods (p. 885). On the veil or
hood of the goddess Sif grew golden hair, as corn does on the
earth : its proper name is not given. SMffblaffnir is described,