Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

unes which Hadding applied were carved by Hardgreip, a giantess who protected him.
But within the court here in question men come in great numbers (þjóðir), and among
them there must be but a small number who have penetrated so deeply into the secret
knowledge of runes. For those who have done so it is of importance and advantage. For
by them they are able to defend themselves against complaints, the purpose of which is
"to requite the harm they have caused with consuming woe." In the court they are able to
mæla (speak) in their own defense.
Thus it follows that those hosts of people who enter this thingstead stand there
with speechless tongues. They are and remain mute before their judges unless they know
the speech-runes which are able to loosen the fetters of their tongues. Of the dead man's
tongue, it is said in Sólarljóð 44 that it is til trés metin og kólnað allt fyrir utan. 3
The sorrow or harm one has caused is requited in this Thing by heiptir, unless the
accused is able - thanks to the speech-runes - to speak and give reasons in his defense. In
Hávamál 151, the word heiptir has the meaning of something supernatural and magical.
It has a similar meaning here, as Vigfusson has already pointed out. 4 The magical speechrunes,
wound, woven, and placed together, form as it were a garb of protection around
the defendant against the magic heiptir. In the Hávamál strophe mentioned, the skald
makes Odin paraphrase, or at least partly explain, the word heiptir with mein, which "eat"
their victims. 5 It is in the nature of the myth to regard such forces as personal beings. We
have already seen the spirits of disease appear in this manner (see No. 60). The heiptir
were also personified. They were the Erinysof the Germanic mythology, armed with
scourges of thorns (see below). 6
He who at the Thing particularly dispenses the law of requital is called magni.
The word has a double meaning, which appears in the verb magna, which means both to
make strong and to operate with supernatural means. 7
From all this it must be sufficiently plain that the Thing here referred to is not the
Althing in Iceland or the Gulathing in Norway, or any other Thing held on the surface of
the earth. The thingstead here discussed must be situated in one of the mythical realms,
between which the earth was established. And it must be superhuman beings of higher or
lower rank who occupy the judgment-seats there and requite the sins of men with heiptir.
But in Asgard, men do not enter with their tongues sealed in death. For the einherjes who
are invited to the joys of Valhall there are no heiptir prepared. Inasmuch as the
mythology gives us information about only two thingsteads where superhuman beings
3 "became like wood and all was cold without"
4 Vigfusson's Dictionary (pg. 252) "Heipt: In the old poems, Hávamál and Sigurdrífumál, heipt seems to be
used in a particular sense viz., an imprecation (a curse), spell. Hávamál 137, 151; Sigurdrífumál 12, 36."
5 ok þann hal, er mik heifta kveðr, þann eta mein heldr en mik, "and that man declares heiptir against me,
mein shall consume him sooner than me. Mein means harm or injury, and also can refer to disease.
6 The Erinys or Furies, attendants of Hades in Greek mythology, who live at the entrance to the
underworld. Their duty is to punish the guilty who have not sought atonement before the gods while alive.
They sometimes appear on earth pursuing murders and the perpetrators of other base crimes. They fall fast
and furiously upon the criminal, permitting him no rest.
7 It is difficult to accept this reading, since the word magni only occurs in the masculine singular as the
name for Thor's son, Magni. The passage itself however is problematic. Codex Regius reads magni here,
but the Völsungasaga has magi. This is usually emended to mangi, in agreement with the reading in all the
later paper manuscripts. Without this emendation, the line makes little sense. The words vilt at, want that,
are clearly separate in the mss. and cannot be read as vilt-at, want-not, because at, that, would be missing,
and the sentence incomplete.