Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

element (see No. 35) was not only in the possession of the gods, but also in that of the
giants (Skírnismál), and the lightning did not proceed alone from Mjolnir, but was also
found in Hrungnir's hein (hone) and in Geirrod's glowing missle. The conflicts between
Thor and the giants were not only on solid ground, as when Thor made an expedition on
foot to Jotunheim, but also in the air. There were giant-horses that were able to wade with
force and speed through the atmosphere, as, for instance, Hrungnir's Gullfaxi
(Skáldskaparmál 24), and these giant-horses with their shining manes, doubtless, were
expected to carry their riders to the lightning-conflict in space against the lightninghurler,
Thor. The thunderstorm was frequently a víg þrimu, 63 a conflict between
thundering beings, in which the lightnings hurled by the ward of Midgard, the son of
Hlodyn, crossed the lightnings hurled by the foes of Midgard.
Loki and his brothers Helblindi and Byleistr are the children of a giant of this
kind, of a giant representing the hurricane and thunder. The rain-torrents and waterspouts
of the hurricane, which directly or indirectly became wedded to the sea through the
swollen streams, gave birth to Helblindi, who, accordingly, received Rán as his "maid"
(Ynglingasaga 51)*. The whirlwind in the hurricane received as his ward Byleistr, whose
name is composed of bylr, "whirlwind," and eistr, "the one dwelling in the east" (the
north), a paraphrase for "giant." 64 A thunderbolt from the hurricane gave birth to Loki.
His father is called Fárbauti, "the one inflicting harm," 65 and his mother is Laufey, "the
leaf-isle," a paraphrase for the tree-crown (Gylfaginning 33, Skáldskaparmál 23). Thus
Loki is the son of the burning and destructive lightning, the son of him who particularly
inflicts damaging blows on the sacred oaks (see No. 36) and sets fire to the groves. But
the violence of the father does not appear externally in the son's character. He long
prepares the conflagration of the world in secret, and not until he is put in chains does he
exhibit, by the earthquakes he produces, the wild passion of his giant nature. As a firebeing,
he was conceived as handsome and youthful. From an ethical point of view, the
impurity of the flame which he represents is manifested by his unrestrained sensuousness.
After he had been for ever exiled from the society of the gods and had been fettered in his
cave of torture, his exterior, which was in the beginning beautiful, became transformed
into an expression of his intrinsic wickedness, and his hair grew out in the form of horny
spears (see above). In this too he reveals himself as a counterpart of Heimdall, whose
helmet is ornamented with a glittering ram's-horn.
83.
MUNDILFARI'S IDENTITY WITH LODUR.
The position which we have found Mundilfari to occupy indicates that, although
not belonging to the powers dwelling in Asgard, he is one of the chief gods of the
Germanic mythology. All natural phenomena, which appear to depend on a fixed
mechanical law and not on the initiative of any mighty will momentarily influencing the
63 víg þrimu presumably 'a tumultuous battle'; used of 'the tumult of battle' in Helgi Hundingsbana I, 7
64 Simek, DNM pg 51: "The eytmology of Byleistr has not been satisfactorily settled; the second element is
probably related to -leiptr lightning and the first perhaps to bylr- wind."
65 Simek, DNM pg. 78: Farbauti "The name means the 'dangerous-hitter' which allows a naturalmythological
interpretation in the sense of lightning (Kock, Indogermanische Forsuchgen, 1899) or 'storm'
(Bugge, Studien, 1889).