Rydberg: V.113.part 1. Proofs Ivaldi's Sons = Olvaldi's.
Heidi Graw
Part 5
113.
PROOFS THAT IVALDI'S SONS ARE IDENTICAL WITH OLVALDI'S.
Observations made in the course of my investigations anent Ivaldi and his
sons have time and again led me to the unexpected result that Ivaldi's sons,
Slagfin, Egil, and Volund, are identical with Olvaldi-Alvaldi's sons, who,
in Gróttasöngur are called Iši, Urnir or Aurnir (Örnir), and Žjazi, and in
Skįldskaparmįl 4, Žjazi, Iši, and Gangur. This result was unexpected and, as
it seemed to me in the beginning, improbable, for the reason that where
Thjazi is mentioned in the Elder Edda, he is usually styled a giant, while
Volund is called a prince or chief of elves in Völundarkviša. In Grķmnismįl
11 Thjazi is designated as inn įmįtki jötunn; in Hįrbaršsljoš 19 as inn
žrśšmóšgi jötunn; in Hyndluljóš 30 (Völuspį in skamma 2) as a kinsman of
Gymir and Aurboda. The Grotti-song (9) says that Thjazi, Idi, and Aurnir
were brothers of those mountain giants who were the fathers of Menja and
Fenja. In the Younger Edda he is also called a jötunn. In the beginning of
my researches, and before Volund's position in the mythology was clear to
me, it appeared to me highly improbable that a prince among the elves and
one of the chief artists in the mythology could be characterised as a giant.
Indeed I was already then aware that the clan-names occurring in the
mythology - įss, vanur, įlfur, dvergur, and jötunn - did not exclusively
designate the descent of the beings, but could also be applied to them on
account of qualities developed or positions acquired, regardless of the clan
to which they actually belonged by their birth. In Žrymskviša 15, so to
speak in the same breath, Heimdall is called both įss and vanur - "žį kvaš
žaš Heimdallur, hvķtastur įsa, vissi hann vel fram sem vanir ašrir". And
Loki is designated both as įss and jötunn, although the Asas and giants
represent the two extremes. Neither Heimdall nor Loki are of the Asa-clan by
birth; but they are adopted in Asgard, that is, they are adopted Asas, and
this explains the appellation. Elves and dwarfs are doubtless by descent
different classes of beings, but the word dwarf, which in the earliest
Christian times became the synonym of a being of diminutive stature, also
meant an artist, a smith, whence both Vans and elves, nay, even Fjalar,
could be incorporated in the Völuspį dwarf-list. When, during the progress
of my investigations, it appeared that Volund and his brothers in the epic
of the mythology were the most dangerous foes of the gods and led the powers
of frost in their efforts to destroy the world, it could no longer surprise
me that Volund, though an elf prince, was characterised as inn įmįtki
jötunn, inn žrśšmóšgi jötunn. But there was another difficulty in the way:
according to Hyndluljóš and the Grotti-song, Thjazi and his brothers were
kinsmen of giants, and must therefore undoubtedly have had giant-blood in
their veins. But there are kinsmen of the giants among the Asas too; and
when in the progress of the investigation it appears that Thjazi's mother is
a giantess, but his father a hapt, a god of lower rank, then his maternal
descent, and his position as an ally and chief of the giants, and as the
most powerful foe of Asgard and Midgard, are sufficient to explain the
apparent contradiction that he is at the same time a giant and a kinsman of
the giants, and still identical with the elf-prince, Volund. It should also
be observed that, as shall be shown below, the tradition has preserved the
memory of the fact that Volund too was called a giant and had kinsmen among
the giants.
The reasons which, taken collectively, prove conclusively, at least to me,
that Ivaldi's sons and Olvaldi's are identical are the following:
(1) In regard to the names themselves, we note in the first place that, as
has already been pointed out, the name of the father of Idi, of Aurnir-Gang,
and of Thjazi appears with the variations Alvaldi, Ölvaldi, and Aušvaldi. To
persons speaking a language in which the prefixes Ķ-, Iš-, and Al- are
equivalents and are substituted for one another, and accustomed to poetics,
in which it was the most common thing to substitute equivalent nouns and
names (for example, Grjótbjörn for Arinbjörn, Fjallgyldir for Įsólfur, &c.),
it was impossible to see in Ķvaldi and Alvaldi anything but names
designating the same person.
(2) Anent the variation Ölvaldi we have already seen that its equivalents
Ölmóšur and Sumbl (Finnakonungur, phinnorum rex) allude to Slagfin's,
Orvandil-Egil's, and Volund's father, while Olvaldi himself is said to be
the father of Idi, Aurnir, and Thjazi.
(3) Ajo's and Ibor's mother is called Gambara in Origo Longobardorum and in
Paulus Diaconus. Aggo's and Ebbo's mother is called Gambaruc in Saxo. In
Ibor-Ebbo and Ajo-Aggo we have re-discovered Egil and Volund. The Teutonic
stem of which the Latinised Gambara was formed is in all probability gambur,
gammur, a synonym of grķpur (Nafnažulur), the German Greif. According to
Haustlaung 13, Thjazi's mother is the giantess Greip, daughter of Geirröšur.
The forms grip, neuter, and greip, feminine, are synonyms in the Old Norse
language, and they surely grew out of the same root. While Gambara thus is
Volund's mother, Thjazi's mother bears a name to which Gambara alludes.
(4) The variation Aušvaldi means "the one presiding over riches," and the
epithet finds its explanation in the Younger Edda's account of the gold
treasure left by Thjazi's father, and of its division among his sons
(Skįldskaparmįl 4). It is there stated that Thjazi's father was mjög
gullaušugur. Ivaldi's sons, who gave the gods golden treasures, were
likewise rich in gold, and in Völundarkviša Volund speaks of his and his
kinsmen's golden wealth in their common home.
(5) Of the manner in which Thjazi and his brothers divided the golden
treasure the Younger Edda contains, in the above passage, the following
statement: "When Olvaldi died and his sons were to divide the inheritance,
they agreed in the division to measure the gold by taking their mouths full
of gold an equal number of times. Hence gold is called in poetry the words
or speech of these giants."
It is both possible and assumable that in the mythology the brothers divided
the gold in silence and in harmony. But that it should have been done in the
manner here related may be doubted. There is reason to suspect that the
story of the division of the gold in the manner above described was invented
in Christian times in order to furnish an explanation of the phrase žingskil
Žjaza in Bjarkamįl, of Išja glysmįl in the same source, and of Išja orš,
quoted in Mįlskrśšsfręši. More than one pseudo-mythic story, created in the
same manner and stamped by the same taste, is to be found in the Younger
Edda. It should not be forgotten that all these phrases have one thing in
common, and that is, a public deliberation, a judicial act. Mįl and orš do
not necessary imply such an allusion, for in addition to the legal meaning,
they have the more common one of speech and verbal statements in general;
but to get at their actual significance in the paraphrases quoted we must
compare them with žingskil, since in these paraphrases all the expressions,
žingskil, glysmįl, and orš, must be founded on one and the same mythic
event. With žingskil is meant that which can be produced before a court by
the defendant in a dispute to clear up his case; and as gold ornaments are
called Thjazi's žingskil in Bjarkamįl, it should follow that some judicial
act was mentioned in the mythology, in which gold treasures made or
possessed by Thjazi were produced to clear up a dispute which, in some way
or other, touched him. From the same point of view Idi's glysmįl and Idi's
orš are to be interpreted. Idi's glysmįl are Idi's "glittering pleadings";
his orš are the evidence or explanation presented in court by the ornaments
made by or belonging to him. Now, we know from the mythology a court act in
which precious works of the smiths, "glittering pleadings," were produced in
reference to the decision of a case. The case or dispute was the one caused
by Loki, and the question was whether he had forfeited his head to Sindri or
not. As we know, the decision of the dispute depended on a comparison
between Brokk's and Sindri's works on the one hand, and those of the Ivaldi
sons on the other. Brokk had appeared before the high tribunal, and was able
to plead his and his brother's cause. Ivaldi's sons, on the other hand, were
not present, but the works done by them had to speak in their behalf, or
rather for themselves. From this we have, as it seems to me, a simple and
striking explanation of the paraphrases Žjaza žingskil, Išja glysmįl, Išja
orš. Their works of art were the glittering but mute pleadings which were
presented, on their part, for the decision of the case. That gold carried in
the mouth and never laid before the tribunal should be called žingskil I
regard as highly improbable. From heathen poems we cannot produce a single
positive proof that a paraphrase of so distorted and inadequate a character
was ever used.
(6) Saxo relates that the same Fridlevus-Njord who fought with Anund-Volund
and Avo-Egil wooed Anund's daughter and was refused, but was married to her
after Anund's death. Thus it would seem that Njord married a daughter of
Volund. In the mythology he marries Thjazi's daughter Skadi. Thus Volund and
Thjazi act the same part as father-in-law of Njord.
(7) Saxo further relates that Freyja-Syritha's father was married to the
soror of Svipdag-Otharus. Soror means sister, but also foster-sister and
playmate. If the word is to be taken in its strictest sense, Njord marries a
daughter of Volund's brother; if in its modified sense, Volund's daughter.
(8) In a third passage (Saxo, Book I, p. 30), Skadi's father appears under
the name Haquinus. The same name belongs to a champion (Book VII, p. 203)
who assists Svipdag-Ericus in his combat with the Asa-god Thor and his
favourite Halfdan, and is the cause that Thor's and Halfdan's weapons prove
themselves worthless against the Volund sword wielded by Svipdag-Ericus.
There is, therefore, every reason for regarding Haquinus as one of Saxo's
epithets for Volund. The name Hįkon, of which Haquinus has been supposed to
be the Latinised form, never occurs in the Norse mythic records, but
Haquinus is in this case to be explained as a Latinisation with the aspirate
usual in Saxo of the Old German Aki, the Middle German Ecke, which occurs in
the compositions Eckenbrecht, Eckehard, and Eckesachs. In "Rosengarten,"
Eckenbrecht is a celebrated weapon-smith. In Vilkinasaga, Eckehard is, like
Volund, a smith who works for Mimir; and Eckesacbs is a sword made by the
three dwarfs, of which in part the same story is told as of Volund's sword
of victory. Thus while Haquinus and what is narrated of Haquinus refers to
the smith Volund, a person who in Saxo is called Haquinus assumes the place
which belongs to Thjazi in his capacity of Skadi's father.
(9) In Lokasenna 17, Loki reproaches Idun that she has embraced the slayer
of her own brother:
žig kveš eg allra kvenna
vergjarnasta vera,
sķzt arma žķna
lagšir ķturžvegna
um žinn bróšurbana.
Idun is a daughter of Ivaldi (Forspjallsljóš), and hence a sister or
half-sister of the famous smiths, Ivaldi's sons. From the passage it thus
appears that one of Ivaldi's sons was slain, and Loki insists that Idun had
given herself to the man who was the cause of his death.
There is not the slightest reason to doubt that in this instance, as in so
many other cases, Loki boasts of the evil deeds he has committed, and of the
successes he has had among the asynjes, according to his own assurances.
With the reproches cast on Idun we should compare what he affirms in regard
to Freyja, in regard to Tyr's wife, in regard to Skadi and Sif, in reference
to all of whom he claims that they have secretly been his mistresses.
Against Idun he could more easily and more truthfully bring this charge, for
the reason that she was at one time wholly in his power, namely, when he
stole into Thjazi's halls and carried her away thence to Asgard
(Skįldskaparmįl 3). Under such circumstances, that slayer of Idun's brother,
whom she is charged with embracing, can be none other than Loki himself. As
a further allusion to this, the author of the poem makes Loki speak of a
circumstance connected with the adventure - namely, that Idun, to sweeten
the pleasure of the critical hour, washed her arms shining white - a
circumstance of which none other than herself and her secret lover could
know. Thus Loki is the cause of the slaying of one of the famous artists,
Ivaldi's sons. The murders of which Loki boasts in the poem are two only,
that of Baldur and that of Thjazi. He says that he advised the killing of
Baldur, and that he was the first and foremost in the killing of Thjazi
(fyrstur og efstur). Baldur was not Idun's brother. So far as we can make
out from the mythic records extant, the Ivaldi son slain must have been
identical with Thjazi, the son of Alvaldi. There is no other choice.
(10) It has already been shown above that Volund and the swan-maid who came
to him in the Wolfdales were either brother and sister or half-brother and
half-sister. From what has been stated above, it follows that Thjazi and
Idun were related to each other in the same manner.
(11) Thjazi's house is called Brunn-akr (Haustlaung 9). In Völundarkviša 10
Volund is called Brunni.
(12) Idun has the epithet Snót (Haustlaung 2), "the wise one," "the
intlligent one ". Volund's swan-maid has the epithet Alvitur, "the
much-knowing one," "the very intelligent one" (Völundarkviša 1). Volund has
the epithet Įsólfur (Hyndluljóš; cp. No. 109). Thjazi has the epithet
Fjallgyldir (Haustlaung 4), which is a paraphrase of Įsólfr (įss = fjall,
ślfur = gyldir).
(13) One of Volund's brothers, namely Orvandil-Egil, had the epithet "Wild
boar" (Ibor, Ebur). One of Thjazi's brothers is called Urnir, Aurnir. This
name means "wild boar". Compare the Swedish and Norwegian peasant word orne,
and the Icelandic word runi (a boar), in which the letters are transposed.
(14) At least one of Alvaldi's sons was a star-hero, viz., Thjazi, whose
eyes Odin and Thor fastened on the heavens (Hįrbaršsljóš 19; Skįldskaparmįl
3). At least one of Ivaldi's sons was a star-hero, viz., Orvandil-Egil
(Skįldskaparmįl 25). No star-hero is mentioned who is not called a son of
Alvaldi or is a son of Ivaldi, and not a single name of a star or of a group
of stars can with certainty be pointed out which does not refer to Alvaldi's
or Ivaldi's sons. From the Norse sources we have the names Örvandilstį,
Žjaza augu, Lokabrenna, and reiš Rögnis. Lokabrenna, the Icelandic name of
Sirius, can only refer to the brenna (fire) caused by Loki when Thjazi fell
into the vaferflames kindled around Asgard. In reiš Rögnis, Rognir's car,
Rognir is, as shall be shown below, the epithet of a mythic person, in whom
we rediscover both Volund and Thjazi. In Old English writings the Milky Way
is called Vętlingastręt, Watlingestręt. The Watlings or Vętlings can only be
explained as a patronymic meaning Vati's sons. Vati (Vaši) is one of the
names of the father of Volund and his brothers (see No. 110). Another old
English name of a star-group is Eburthrung, Eburthring. Here Egil's surname
Ebur, "wild boar," reappears. The name Idi, borne by a brother of Thjazi,
also seems to have designated a star-hero in England.
At least two of these figures and names are very old and of ancient Aryan
origin. I do not know the reasons why Vigfusson assumes that Orvandil is
identical with Orion, but the assumption is corroborated by mythological
facts. Orion is the most celebrated archer and hunter of Greek mythology,
just as Orvandil is that of the Teutonic. Like Orvandil-Egil, he has two
brothers of whom the one Lykos (wolf) has a Telchin name, and doubtless was
originally identical with the Telchin Lykos, who, like Volund, is a great
artist and is also endowed with powers to influence the weather. Orion
could, so it is said, walk on the sea as well as on the land. Orvandil-Egil
has skis, with which he travels on the sea as well as on the snow-fields,
whence small ships are called Egil's andrar, Egil's skis (Kormak, 5). Orion
woos a daughter of Oinopion. The first part of the word is oinos (wine); and
as Oinopion is the son of Bacchus, there is no room for doubt that he
originally had a place in the Aryan myth in regard to the mead.
Orvandil-Egil woos a daughter of Sumbl (Olvaldi), the king of the Finns, who
in the Teutonic mythology is Oinopion's counterpart. Orion is described as a
giant, a tall and exceedingly handsome man, and is said to be a brother of
the Titans. His first wife, the beautiful Sida, he soon lost by death; just
as Orvandil lost Groa. Sida, with its Dorian variation Rhoa, means fruit.
The name Groa refers, like Sida, Rhoa, to vegetation, growth. After Sida's
decease, Orion woos Oinopion's daughter, just as Orvandil-Egil woos the
daughter of the Finnish king Sumbl after Groa's death. He has a third erotic
alliance with Eos. According to one record he is said to have been killed
because, in his love of the chase, he had said that he would exterminate all
game on earth. This statement may have its origin in the myth preserved by
the Teutons about Volund's and Orvandil-Egil's effort to destroy all life on
the earth by the aid of the powers of frost. Hesiod says that the Pleiades
(which set when Orion rises above the horizon) save themselves from Orion in
the stream of the ocean. The above-mentioned Old English name of a
constellation Eburthrung may refer to the Pleiades, since the part žrung,
drying, refers to a dense cluster of stars. The first part of the word,
Ebur, as already stated, is a surname of Orvandil-Egil. It should be added
that the points of similarity between the Orion and Orvandil myths are of
such a nature that they exclude all idea of being borrowed one from the
other. Like the most of the Greek myths in the form in which they have been
handed down to us, the Orion myth is without any organic connection with any
epic whole. The Orvandil myth, on the other hand, dovetails itself as a part
into a mythological epic which, in grand and original outlines, represents
the struggle between gods, patriarchs, ancient artists, and frost-giants for
the control of the world.
The name Thjazi, Žjazi, in an older and uncorrupted form Žizi, I regard to
be most ancient like the person that bears it. According to my opinion,
Thjazi is identical with the star-hero mentioned in Rigveda, Tishya, the
Tistrya of the Iranians, who in Rigveda (x. 64, 8) is worshipped together
with an archer, who presumably was his brother. The German middle-age poetry
has preserved the name Thjazi in the form Desen (which is related to Žjazi
as Delven is to Žjįlfi). In "Dieterichs Flucht" Desen is a king, whose
daughter marries Dieterich-Hadding's father. In the Norse sources a sister
of Thjazi (Alveig-Signy, daughter of Sumbl, the king of the Finns) marries
Hadding's father, Halfdan. Comnion to the German and Norse traditions is,
therefore, that Hadding's father marries a near kinswoman of Thjazi.
(15) In the poem Haustlaung Thjazi's adventure is mentioned, when he
captured Loki with the magic rail. Here we get remarkable, hitherto
misunderstood, facts in regard to Thjazi's personality.
That they have been misunderstood is not owing to lack of attention or
acumen on the part of the interpreters. On the contrary, acumen has been
lavished thereon. [*See for example Th. Wisen's investigations and Finnur
Jonsson's Krit. Stud. (Copenhagen, 1884).] In some cases the scholars have
resorted to text-changes in order to make the contents intelligible, and
this was necessary on account of the form in which our mythology hitherto
has been presented, and that for good reasons, since important studies of
another kind, especially of accurate editions of the Teutonic mythological
texts, have claimed the time of scholars and compelled them to neglect the
study of the epic connection of the myths and of their exceedingly rich and
abundant synonymics. As a matter of course, an examination of the synonymics
and of the epic connection could not fail to shed another light than that
which could be gained without this study upon a number of passages in the
old mythological poems, and upon the paraphrases based on the myths and
occurring in the historical songs.
In Haustlaung Thjazi is called fašir mörna, "the father of the swords".
Without the least reason it has been doubted that a mythic person, that is
so frequently called a giant, and whose connection with the giant world and
whose giant nature are so distinctly held forth in our mythic sources, could
be an artist and a maker of swords. Consequently the text has been changed
to fašir mornar or fašir morna, the father of consumption or of the
strength-consuming diseases, or of the feminine thurses representing these
diseases. But so far as our mythic records give us any information, Thjazi
had no other daughter than Skadi, described as a proud, bold, powerful maid,
devoted to achievements, who was elevated to the rank of an asynje, became
the wife of the god of wealth, the tender stepmother of the lord of harvests
(Skķrnismįl), Frigg's elja, and in this capacity the progenitress of
northern rulers, who boasted their descent from her. That Thjazi had more
daughters is indeed possible, but they are not mentioned, and it must remain
a conjecture on which nothing can be built; and even if such were the case,
it must be admitted that as Skadi was the foremost and most celebrated among
them, she is the first one to be thought of when there is mention of a
daughter or of daughters of Thjazi. But that Skadi should be spoken of as a
morn, a consumption-witch, and that Hakon Jarl should be regarded as
descended from a demon of consumption, and be celebrated in song as the
scion of such a person, I do not deem possible. The text, as we have it,
tells us that Thjazi was the father of swords (mörnir = sword; see Younger
Edda, Nafnažulur). We must confine ourselves to this reading and remember
that this is not the only passage which we have hitherto met with where his
name is put in connection with works of a smith. Such a passage we have
already met with in Žjaza žingskil.
(16) In the same poem, Haustlaung, Thjazi is called hapta snytrir, "the one
who decorated the gods," furnished them with treasures. This epithet, too,
appeared unintelligible, so long as none of the artists of antiquity was
recognised in Thjazi; hence text-changes were also resorted to in this case
in order to make sense out of the passage.
The situation described is as follows: Odin and Hęnir, accompanied by Loki
are out on a journey. They have traversed mountains and wildernesses
(Skįldskaparmįl 2), and are now in a region which, to judge from the
context, is situated within Thjazi's domain, Thrymheim. The latter, who is
margspakur and lómhugašur (Haustlaung 3, 12), has planned an ambush for Loki
in the very place which they have now reached: a valley (Skįldskaparmįl 2)
overgrown with oak-trees (Haustlaung 6), and the more inviting as a place of
refreshment and rest, inasmuch as the Asas are hungry after their long
journey (Skįldskaparmįl 2), and see a herd of "yoke-bears" pasturing in the
grass near by. Thjazi has calculated on this and makes one of the bears act
the part of a decoy (tįlhreinn = a decoy reindeer - Haustlaung 3; see
Vigfusson's Dict., 626), which permits itself to be caught by the
travellers. That the animal belongs to Thjazi's herds follows from the fact
that it (6) is said to belong to the "dis of the bow-string," Skadi, his
daughter. The animal is slaughtered and a fire is kindled, over which it is
to be roasted. Near the place selected for the eating of the meal there
lies, as it were accidentally, a rail or stake. It resembles a common rail,
but is in fact one of Thjazi's smith-works, having magic qualities. When the
animal is to be carved, it appears that the "decoy reindeer was quite hard
between the bones for the gods to cut" (tįlhreinn var mešal beina
tormišlašur tķvum - stanza 3). At the same time the Asas had seen a great
eagle flying toward them (2), and alighting near the place where they
prepared their feast (3). From the context it follows that they took it for
granted that the eagle guise concealed Thjazi, the ruler of the region. The
animal being found to be so hard to carve, the Asas at once guess that
Thjazi, skilled in magic arts, is the cause, and they immediately turn to
him with a question, which at the same time tells him that they know who he
is: Hvaš, kvįšu, hapta snytrir hjįlmfaldinn, žvķ valda? "They (the gods)
said (kvįšu): Why cause this (hvaš žvķ valda) thou ornament-giver of the
gods (hjįlmfaldinn hapta snytrir), concealed in a guise (eagle guise)?" He
at once answers that he desires his share of the sacred meal of the gods,
and to this Odin gives his consent. Nothing indicates that Odin sees a foe
in Thjazi. There is then no difficulty in regard to the roast; and when it
is ready and divided into four parts Thjazi flies down, but, to plague Loki,
he takes so much that the latter, angry, and doubtless also depending on
Odin's protection if needed, seizes the rail lying near at hand and strikes
the eagle a blow across the back. But Loki could not let go his hold of the
rail; his hand stuck fast to one end while the other end clung to the eagle,
and Thjazi flew with him and did not let go of him before he had forced him
to swear an oath that he would bring Idun into Thjazi's hands.
So long as it was impossible to assume that Thjazi had been the friend of
the gods before this event happened, and in the capacity of ancient artist
had given them valuable products of his skill, and thus become a hapta
snytrir, it was also impossible to see in him, though he was concealed in
the guise of an eagle, the hjįlmfaldinn here in question, since hjįlmfaldinn
manifestly is in apposition to hapta snytrir, "the decorator of the gods".
(The common meaning of hjįlmur, as is well known, is a covering, a garb, of
which hjįlmur in the sense of a helmet is a specification.) It therefore
became necessary to assume that Odin was meant by hjįlmfaldinn and hapta
snytrir. This led to the changing of kvįšu to kvaš and to the insertion in
the manuscripts of a mun not found there, and to the exclusion of a žvķ
found there. The result was, moreover, that no notice was taken of the use
made of the expressions hjįlmfaldinn and snytrir in a poem closely related
to Haustlaung, and evidently referring to its description of Thjazi. This
poem is Einar Skalaglam's "Vellekla," which celebrates Hakon Jarl, the
Great. Hakon Jarl regarded himself as descended from Thjazi through the
latter's daughter, Skadi (Hįleygjatal), and on this account Vellekla
contains a number of allusions to the mythic progenitor. The task (from a
poetic and rhetorical point of view) which Einar has undertaken is in fact
that of taking, so far as possible, the kernel of those paraphrases with
which he celebrates Hakon Jarl (see below) from the myth concerning Thjazi,
and the task is performed with force and acumen. In the execution of his
poem Einar has had before him that part of Thjodolf's Haustlaung which
concerned Thjazi. In str. 6 he calls Thjazi's descendant žjóšar snytrir,
taking his cue from Haustlaung, which calls Thjazi hapta snytrir. In str. 8
he gives Hakon the epithet hjįlmi faldinn, having reference to Haustlaung,
which makes Thjazi appear hjįlmfaldinn. In str. 10 Hakon is a garš-Rögnir,
just as Thjazi is a ving-Rögnir in Haustlaung. In str. 11 Hakon is a
mišjungur, just as Thjazi is a mišjungur in Haustlaung. In str. 16 an
allusion is made in the phrase vildi Yggs nišur frišar bišja to Haustlaung's
mįlunautur hvats mįtti frišar bišja. In str. 21 Hakon is called hlym-Narfi,
just as Thjazi in Haustlaung is called grjót-Nišašur (Narfi and Nišašur are
epithets of Mimir; see Nos. 85, 87). In str. 22 Hakon is called fangsęll,
and Thjazi has the same epithet in Haustlaung. Some of the paraphrases in
Vellekla, to which the myth about Thjazi furnishes the kernel, I shall
discuss below. There can, therefore, be no doubt whatever that Einar in
Haustlaung's hjįlmfaldinn and hapta snytrir saw epithets of Thjazi, and we
arrive at the same result if we interpret the text in its original reading
and make no emendations.
Thus we have already found three paraphrases which inform us that Thjazi was
an ancient artist, one of the great smiths of mythology: (1) Žjaza žingskil,
golden treasures produced as evidence in court owned or made by Thjazi; (2)
hapta snytrir, he who gave ornaments to the gods; (3) fašir mörna, the
father of the swords.
Thjazi's claim to become a table-companion of the gods and to eat with them,
af helgu skutli, points in all probability to an ancient mythological fact
of which we find a counterpart in the Iranian records. This fact is that, as
a compensation for the services he had rendered the gods, Thjazi was anxious
to be elevated to their rank and to receive sacrifices from their
worshippers. This demand from the Teutonic star-hero Thjazi is also made by
the Iranian star-hero Tistrya, Rigveda's Tishya. Tistrya complains in Avesta
that he has not sufficient strength to oppose the foe of growth, Apaosha,
since men do not worship him, Tistrya, do not offer sacrifices to him. If
they did so, it is said, then he would be strong enough to conquer.
Tishya-Tistrya does not appear to have obtained complete rank as a god; but
still he is worshipped in Rigveda, though very seldom, and in cases of
severe dry weather the Iranians were commanded to offer sacrifices to him.
(..cont'd part 2 ....)