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Chapter 3. Midgard 78
pose, initially, there was a scramble to populate Midgard, and the beings created
by the Æsir were people, and those created by the Vanir were the álfar/ landvaetter
(land-spirits). To resolve the conflict each side sends a God of extreme intelligence
and one of the creators of each side’s proposed populace for Midgard. The resolution
in the home of the Gods resulted in the Æsir and the Vanir living side by side, and
the resolution for Midgard was for man and land-spirit to live side by side with the
only real difference between the two being that the land-spirits were discorporate
and non-organic.
The evidence from the sagaic, eddaic, and poetic literature is scanty. However,
an interpretation of the tale as a ”contest” between the tribes of Gods provides a
motivating factor for the initiation of the conflict between the Gods and a rational
reason why land-spirits/ elves and men must seek to live in harmony with one
another. It also offers some explanation as to why the cults of the álfar and of the
ancestors appear to overlap to the point of one being confused for the other. Lastly,
it means that the Æsir did not overthrow the earlier worshipped Vanir but that the
two tribes of Gods may have been worshipped together, or at least side by side, from
very early on. Turville-Peter alludes to such in his Myth and Religion of the North:
“From such records as we possess, it does not appear that the polytheistic
pagans of Scandinavia and Germany were so dogmatic or fanatical in their
religious beliefs that they would be likely to go to war for the worship of
one tribe of gods or another. This first war in the world seems to be part
of the creation myth. It explains how the [G]ods who promoted such different
interests as the Vanir and Æsir lived in friendship 29 . . . . They explain
how gods and men, who have such different interests and ambitions, as the
agriculturalist, the merchant, the warrior and the king, can live together in
harmony.” 30
According to such a view, because of their similar origins, land-spirits and men are
destined live side by side, by the same set of rules, interacting with one another
through gift-giving, honor and respect. The relationship is tenuous, however, because
people are ever prone to petty squabbling, thievery, oath-breaking, lying, etc.,
and land-spirits appear to be vengeful by nature, often being the source of disease
to land, animal, or man.
That the Huldrafolk were created by the Gods, similar to men, can be seen in
the Heathen idea that Álfheim was ruled over by Freyr, one of the Vanir, and in
the Christian idea that they were either the first children or the “hidden children”
29 In Myth and Religion of the North, by Turville-Petre (rpt. by Greenwood Press, Westport,
Ct.) p. 160, 1964.
30 op. cit., p. 162, 1964.