Chapters 114-123 - Germanic Mythology

Of interest to the question concerning the position of the various weapons of
mythology is that the giants in Þórsdrápa avail themselves of the sling. Geirröd is called
vegtaugar þrjótur, "the industrious applier of the sling" 36 (str. 17), and álmtaugar Ægir,
"the Ægir of the sling-band (not bow-string) made of elm-bast." 37
In the last strophe Egil is said to be helblótinn and hneitir undirfjálfs bliku,
expressions to which I shall return further on.
The relation between Völund and his swan-maids in Völundarkviða, like the
relation between Rögnir-Thjazi and Idun in Hrafnagaldur Óðins [Forspjallsljóð] is not
that of the robber's to his unwilling victim, but one of mutual harmony. This is confirmed
by a poem which I shall analyze when the investigation reaches a point that demands it,
and according to which Idun from childhood was tied by bonds of love and by oath to the
highly-gifted but unhappy son of Ivaldi, to the great artist who by his irreconcilable thirst
for revenge, became the Lucifer of Germanic mythology, while Loki is its Mephisto 38 I
presume that the means of rejuvenation, the "gods' [712] remedy against old age (ellilyf
ása – Haustlöng 9), which Idun alone in Asgard knows and possesses, was a product of
Thjazi-Völund's art. The middle ages also remembered Völund (Wieland) as a healer, and
this trait seems to be ancient, since in Rigveda as well the counterparts of Ivaldi's sons,
the Ribhus, at the request of the gods, invent means of rejuvenation. It may be presumed
that the mythology clearly described his outward personality. From his mother he must
have inherited his giant strength, which, according to the Grotti-song, surpassed
Hrungnir's and the latter's father (harður var Hrungnir og hans faðir, þó var Þjazi þeim
öflgari - Gróttasöngur 9). 39 With his strength he probably had beauty united. Otherwise,
Völundarkviða's author would hardly have said that his swan-maid laid her arms around
Önund's (Völund's) "white" neck. That one portrayed his eyes as glittering may be
concluded in that they distinguish him on the vault of heaven as a star-hero, and that in
Völundarkviða Nidhad's queen speaks of the hateful glow in the bond artists's gaze (ámun
eru augu ormi þeim inum frána, Völundarkviða 17). 40
Ivaldi's sons, Thjazi-Völund, Aurnir-Egil, and Idi-Slagfinn, are, as we have seen,
bastards of an elf and a giantess (Greip, Gambara). Ivaldi's daughters, on the other hand
(see No. 113), have as mother a sun-dis, daughter of the ruler of the atmosphere, Nökkvir.
In other sources the statement in Hrafnagaldur Óðins 6 [Forspjallsljóð 6] is confirmed,
that Ivaldi had two sets of children, and that she, "who among the family of elves was
called Idun" belonged to one of them. Thus, while Idun and her sisters are half-sisters to
Ivaldi's sons, they are in turn half-brothers to pure giants, sons of Greip, and these giants
are, according to the Grotti-song (9), the fathers of Fenja and Menja. The familial
36 þrjóti jótrs vegtaugar, "villain of the tooth of the way of the fishing-line," seems to be a kenning for
"giant."
37 The kenning ægir álmtaugar indeed refers to Geirröðr. Álmtaug "elm-cord" is a poetic name for a
bowstring. Álmr "elm" is a heiti for bow as bows were commonly made of flexible elm. Ægir álmtaugar
"he who terrifies the bowstring" is "the one who makes it tremble (as with fear)" i.e. an archer or simply a
warrior.[Lexicon Poeticum].
38 Mefistofeles (Mefisto) or Mephistopheles is the devil to whom Dr. Faust sold his soul. Rydberg translated
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust into Swedish in 1876. Rydberg also made a thorough study of the
Judeo-Christian religion in Bibelns lära om Kristus, "The Bible's Doctrine concerning Christ," 1862.
39 "Hard was Hrungnir and his father, although Thjazi was more powerful than them."
40 "Reminiscent are his eyes, of a serpent's as they glitter."