Towards the Baldur Myth - Germanic Mythology

people will promote him to divine rank after his death and sacrifice to him, and allows
this to happen in spite of ―Geirstada-alf‘s‖ request.
But into which of the known gods was Olaf Geirstadaalf transformed? Under
which name was he adopted into our fathers‘ pantheon? Even to this question the verse
cited seems to hint at an answer, when it says that the ―gods‘ equal‖ in question met his
death via a foot-injury. Among the gods, only one exists about whom the story is told that
some time before his death he was attacked by a disease. This god is Baldur. We may
remind ourselves what Saxo says of him: that he fell so ill that ne pedibus quidem
incedere posset. 75
If we consider the story about Olaf Geirstadaalf more closely, we find in the same
work that certain elements of the Baldur myth return, historicized and localized to
Vestfold. Baldur dreams fateful dreams. The gods seek the meaning of the dreams and for
this purpose gather all the inhabitants of Asgard to the Thing; senn voru æsir allir a þingi
ok asynjur allir a mali (Vegtamskvíða 1). 76 Olaf Geirstadaalf dreams a dream so
worrisome that all the people in his kingdom gather to the thingstead so that the dream
may be interpreted and its meaning made known. Baldur‘s dreams involve portents of his
death and of the hard misfortunes that the summer god‘s death will cause the world.
Olaf‘s dreams involve portents of his death and a plague from the east that will snatch
half of the country‘s inhabitants. Baldur is strong, handsome, pious, and peaceful, as is
Olaf Geirstadaalf. When Baldur lived, the world had its golden age; after his death came
a severe universal winter. During Olaf Geirstadaalf‘s reign, happiness and good harvests
prevailed, but after his death bad harvests occurred.
The story finally reports that Olaf Geirstadaalf owned a belt that had the quality of
facilitating childbirth. Information from the mythological content of a verse that I shall
present later shows that Baldur owned a tól (tool), with which he eased the labor of
childbearing women. In association with this, it should be noted that the Vedic Discouri,
to which Baldur and Hödur are mytho-historically related, are spoken of as helpers of
childbearing women, and that Atharvaveda (see Ludwig Mantralitteratur p. 477), in a
delivery-charm, speaks of a ―hand-ring‖ (parahasta) with the same qualities as Olaf
Geirstadaalf‘s belt.
I now come to the evidence which demonstrates that the partial heroicizing of the
Baldur myth in the song about Helgi Hjörvardsson and its partial heroicizing in the story
of Olaf Geirstadaalf are elements of one and the same myth-transformation process and
have one and the same mytho-historic point of origin.
Hyndluljóð 18 states that Dag was married to Thora drengamoder and in their line
was born the finest warriors, among whom are counted Fradmar, Gyrd, two Frekis, Am,
Josurmar, and Alf the old. The verse occurs between verses 17, which speaks of ―Seaking‘s
and his wife Svava‘s daughter Hildigun, and verse 20, which speaks of Nökkvi‘s
i.e. ―the ship-captain‘s‖ second daughter Nanna, Baldur‘s wife. The saga-cycle to which
Fradmar, Gyrd, the two Frekis, Am, Josurmar and Alf the old belong, and in which the
exploits which justify their epithet ―the finest warriors‖ are told, has been lost without
leaving any other trace than what shall be pointed out below.
The Norwegian or Icelandic creator of this family tree has adopted Dag and
Thora‘s clan into Olaf Haraldsson‘s family tree. Among their descendants in the
75 Saxo, Book 3, ―he could not so much as walk.,‖ (Oliver Elton translation).
76 ―Together were the Æsir all in council, and the Asyniur all in conference‖ (Benjamin Thorpe translation).