TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

136 WODAN.
When Loki wanted to hide, it was from this seat that OSinn espied
his whereabouts, Sn. 69. Sometimes also Frigg, his consort, is
imagined sitting by his side, and then she enjoys the same prospect :
Oolnn ok Frigg sdto i HliSscialfo, ok sd urn heima alia, Seem. 39.
The proem to the Grimnismal bears a strong resemblance to the
legend in Paul ; for, just as Frea pulls
her favourites the Winili
through, in opposition to Wodan s own resolve, so Frigg brings to
grief GeirroSr, whom Oolnn favoured. Sensuous paganism, how
ever, makes the god-like attribute of overseeing all things depend
on the position or structure of a particular chair, and as the
gift forsakes the god when he does not occupy the seat, others can
enjoy the privilege by taking his place. This was the case when
Freyr spied the beautiful GerSr away down in lotunheim ; Freyr
hafdi setsc i HliSskialf, oc sd urn, heima alia, Ssem. 81. Sn. 39. The
word hliffscialf seems to mean literally door-bench, from liliS
(ostium, conf. Engl. lid), and skialf (scamnum), AS. scylfe, Csedm.
79, 4. Engl. shelf (see Suppl). Mark the language in which the
OS. poet describes the Ascension of Christ : sohta imo thena helagon
stdl, sitit imo thar an thea suidron (right) half Godes, endi tlianan
all gisihit (seeth) waldandeo Crist, so huat so (whatso) thius werold
behabet, Hel. 176, 47, conf. C;edm. 265, 16.
This idea of a seat in the sky, from which God looks on the
earth, is not yet extinct among our people. The sitting on the
right hand is in the Bible, but not the looking down. The
formulas qui haut siet et de loing mire, qui haut siet et
loins voit (supra, p. 23) are not cases in point, for men
everywhere have thought of the Deity as throned on high and
seeing far around. Zeus also sits on Ida, and looks on at mortal
men ; he rules from Ida s top, "ISrjOev ytteSeW, even as Helios, the
eye of the sun, surveys and discerns all things, II. 3, 277. But a
widely-circulated marchen tells us of a mortal man, whom St. Peter
admitted into heaven, and who, led on by curiosity, ended by
climbing into the chair of the Lord, from which one can look down
and see nil that is done on the whole earth. He sees a washerwoman
steal two lady s veils, and in his anger seizes the footstool of the
Lord, which stands before the chair (al. a chairs leg), and hurls it
down at the thief. 1 To such lengths has the ancient fable travelled.
1 Kindcrmarchen no. 35. First in Bebel, ed. 1, Tub. 1506, p. 6. Frey s
gartengesellschaft cap. 109, ed. 1556 p. 106, ed. 1590 p. 85. Rollwagenbuchlein
1590, pp. 98-9 (here a golden settle). Mosew vermischte schriften 1, 332. 2,