Chapters 114-123 - Germanic Mythology

It has already been shown above (see No. 89) that Sveigðir-Ivaldi in the mythic
saga concerning the tribal-heroes was the Swedes‘ first ruler, like his sons, Völund and
Egil, became the Longobardians‘ and Slagfinn the Burgundians‘, and, as shall be shown
below, also the Saxons‘. Even in the Ynglingasaga, compiled in the twelfth century, he
remains, under the name Svegðir, among the first kings of the Yngling family, and really
as the first hero; for his forerunners, Fjölnir, Freyr, and Óðinn, are pre-human gods (in
regard to Fjölnir, see Völuspá). 117 That Sveigðir was made the Swedes‘ tribe-hero has its
explanation in that Ivaldi, before his sons, before he had yet become the gods‘ foe and a
"perjured hapt," was the northern Germanic world‘s [745] guardian against the powers of
frost, and that the Sviones were the Germanic region‘s northernmost tribe of people. The
elf-stronghold on the southern coast of the Elivogar was Geirvaðill-Ivaldi's ―chalet,‖
before it became his sons‘ (see no. 109; nos. 113-115; and no. 117, 118). The continental
Teutons, like those on the Scandian peninsula, knew that north of the Swedes and in the
uttermost north lived a non-Germanic people who traveled on skis and lived by hunting
—the Finns. And as the realm that was subject to the tribe-hero of the Swedes extended
in the myths to the Elivogar, where his ―chalet‖ was situated, even the Finns must have
been under his scepter. This explains his bynames, Finnakonungur, Finnur, Viðfinnur,
Fin Folcvalding, as well as that his descendants form the myths‘ group of skiers. To the
―chalet‘s‖ location by the Elivogar, at the point where Thor has his wading spot across
this body of water (see nos. 109, 114), refer the Ivaldi epithets, Vaðill and Vaði. They
indicate his occupation as the guardian of the wading spot. Þidreks Saga af Bern
[Wilkinasaga] makes him a wader of the same kind as Thor, and makes him bear his son,
Völund, across a sound while the latter was still a lad. 118 Reasons which I may have
occasion in the future to present indicate that Ivaldi's mother was the Germanic
mythology‘s mightiest amazon, whose memory survives in Saxo's account of Queen
Rusila, Rusla (Book IV, 110; Book VII, 227; Book VIII, 246 [Hist. 178, 365, 394-
396]), 119 and in the German heroic-saga's Rütze. 120 This queen of the elves, dwelling
south of the Elivogar, is also remembered by Tacitus' informant. It says in Germania 45:
Svionibus Sitonum gentes continuantur. Cetera similes uno differunt quod femina
dominatur. ... Hic Suebiæ fines: "The Swedes are bounded by the Sitones. While they are
like each other in other things they differ in the one respect, that a woman rules over the
Sitones. Here ends the Suebi border." The name Sitones does not occur elsewhere, and it
would be vain to seek it in the domain of reality. Beyond the domain of the Sviones
extended the mythic geography of the time. The Sitones, who were governed by a queen,
117 The reference here is unclear. Fjölnir is a name of Odin in Grímnismál 47.
118 Ch. 58: ―Vadi left home with his son and came to Grænasound, and there was no ship available to cross
the sound. They waited there for a while. He then took the boy and put him on his shoulders and waded
across the sound. The water was nine ells deep.‖ [Haymes tr.]
119 Book IV, 118: ―He fought and overthrew the maid Rusila, who in her military ardour had aspired to
arms‖; Book VII, 227: ―Stikla and Rusila; utterly engaged in such female brashness…these amazons‖;
Book VIII, 222-223: ―The maiden Rusila, surpassing a woman‘s temperament in her strenuous military
activities, had had frequent clashes with her brother Thrond for the throne of Norway.‖ [Fisher tr.] In the
same text, H. Davidson comments that her name means ―red,‖ ibid, p. 71, fn. 48.
120 Gillespie, ibid, p. 112 s.v. Runze (Rütze, Rachin), in Ortnit and Wolfdietrich (B) a giantess, the wife of
Velle (Helle); in Wolfdietrich (B), Ortnit kills them both. In Ecken Ausfahrt (d) and Anhang des
Heldenbuches, she is the mother of Zere (Zorre) and the aunt of Ecke. …in Der hürnen Seufrid (Sachs),
Dietrich is said to have killed her. …the form Rütze is probably related to MHG rütschen, rützen, ‗slide‘
(cf. Ritzsch) while Runze can be related to MHG runse, ‗river, flowing water‘ (Kluge, EWb, 615).‖