Northern mythology

NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY. 169
name of her horse, Hofvarpnir (the hoof-caster), and that W
of its sh'e, Hamskerpnh- (skin-drier), or Hattstrykh* (hatsweeper),
and of its dam, Gar^rofa^ (house, or fencebreaker).
The word rindr is still used in Iceland to denote
barren land. It is the Engl. 7irid. Rind betokens
the frost-hardened surface of the earth. Of her son Vali^s
birth the Eddas supply no details : it is merely said. She
gave birth to him i vestur solum ^ (in the halls of the
West), for which a various reading has i vetur solum (in
the halls of winter), which suits remarkably well with
Rind. In Saxo^ we find the chief features of a myth,
which has there assumed an almost historic colouring, but
evidently belongs to our category. It is a description of
Odin^s love for Rinda, and forms a counterpart to the
myths of Ochn and Gunnlod"*, Frey and Gerd^ :— " Rostiophus^
Phiuuicus having foretold to Odin, that by Rinda,
the daughter of the king of the Rutheni', he would have
a son, who should avenge the death of Baldur; Odin,
concealing his face with his hat, enters into that king^s
senice, and being made general of his army, gains a great
victory; and shortly after, by his single arm, puts the
whole army of the enemy to flight with immense slaughter.
Relying on his achievements, he solicits a kiss from
Rinda, in place of which he receives a blow, w^hich does
not, however, divert him from his pm-pose.
In the following
year, disguised in a foreign garb, he again seeks the
king, under the name of Roster the smith, and receives
from him a considerable quantity of gold, to be wrought
into female ornaments. Of this, besides other things, he
1 Page. 35. 2 Vegtamskv. Str. 16.
3 Pages 126, sq. ed. Miiller.
4 Page 40. 5
Page 46.
^ HrossJ'iof was one of the Hrimnir's children ;
Frost-giant it is therefore
clear that with him it is the middle of winter. Ilyndlulj, Str. 31.
The Russians.