Untitled - Awaken Video

Chapter 6. The Sky 151
and
and
open your mind to him, give him gifts,
and go to see him often.” (st. 44)
“Always as a young man I traveled alone,
and I would lose my way;
I felt I was rich if I made a friend–
no man by himself is happy.” (st. 47)
“You don’t have to give large gifts always,
small things often suffice;
half a loaf and a lifted goblet
have found me friends” (st. 52)
12
This same relationship between man and God is described in the first paragraph of
Chapter three in the Eyrbyggja Saga:
“Besides running a good farm, this Hrolf was a chieftain of considerable
standing. He was a close friend of Þór, and had charge of Þór’s temple there
on the island (Mostur Island off South Hordaland), so people called him
Þórolf. A tall, powerful man, Þórolf was very handsome and his long beard
got him the nickname Mostur-Beard. He was respected above all other men
on the island” 13
Not only can the relationship between God and man be seen here, but, so also can
the result of the relationship, that of accessing power/ luck through the blending
of the two lineages, i.e. the “respect” and the “high regard” of Þórolf by his fellow
islanders as well as the success of the farm (which continued long after his death).
That the relationship between deities and mankind mirrored the relationship
between king and subject is interesting. Prior to the coming of Christianity to the
North, kingdoms were small and kings interacted with individual subjects within
the protective boundaries of the kingdom and, for that matter, with the land, itself.
12 Terry, Patricia Poems of the Elder Edda (University of Pennsylvania Press) 1990, pp. 16-18.
13 Eyrbyggja Saga translated by Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards (Penguin Classics;
London, UK) 1989, p.27.