Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

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ut for certain lifandi menn (living men), yet inaccessible to people in general. In the myth concerning Mimir, we also find such a grove. 52. MIMIR'S GROVE. LIF AND LEIFTHRASIR. The grove is called after its ruler and guardian, Mimir's or Treasure-Mimir's grove (Mímis holt - Uppsala Codex of Gylfaginning 53; Hoddmímis holt - Vafþrúðnismál 45, Gylfaginning 53). Gylfaginning describes the destruction of the world and its regeneration, and then relates how the earth, rising out of the sea, is furnished with human inhabitants. "During the conflagration (í Surtarloga) two persons are concealed in Treasure-Mimir's grove. Their names are Lif (Líf) and Leifthrasir (Leifþrasir), and they feed on the morning dews. From them come so great an offspring that all the world is peopled." In support of its statement, Gylfaginning quotes Vafþrúðnismál <strong>44</strong>, 45. This poem makes Odin and the giant Vafthrudnir (Vafþrúðnir) put questions to each other, and among others Odin asks this question: Fjöld eg fór, fjöld eg freistaðag, fjöld eg reynda regin: Hvað lifir manna, þá er inn mæra líður fimbulvetur með firum? Much I have travelled, much I have tried, much I have tested the powers. What living persons, shall still live when the famous fimbul-winter has been in the world? Vafthrudnir answers: Líf og Leifþrasir, en þau leynast munu í holti Hoddmímis. Morgundöggvar þau sér að mat hafa, en þaðan af aldir alast. Lif and Leifthrasir (are still living); they are concealed in Hodd-Mimir's grove. Morning dews they will have for nourishment, From them are born (new) races. Gylfaginning says that the two human beings, Lif and Leifthrasir, who become the progenitors of the races that are to people the earth after Ragnarok, are concealed during the conflagration of the world in Hodd-Mimir's grove. This is, beyond doubt, in accordance with mythic views. But mythologists, who have not paid sufficient attention to what Gylfaginning's source (Vafþrúðnismál) has to say on the subject, have from the above expression drawn a conclusion which implies a complete misunderstanding of the traditions in regard to Hodd-Mimir's grove and the human pair therein concealed. They have assumed that Lif and Leifthrasir are, like all other people living at that time, inhabitants of the surface of the earth at the time when the conflagration of the world
egins. They have explained Mimir's grove to mean the world-tree, and argued that, when Surt's flames destroy all other mortals, this one human pair have succeeded in climbing upon some particular branch of the world-tree, where they were protected from the destructive element. There they were supposed to live on morning dews until the end of Ragnarok, and until they could come down from their hiding-place in Yggdrasil upon the earth which has risen from the sea, and there become the progenitors of a more happy human race. According to this interpretation, Yggdrasil was a tree whose trunk and branches could be grasped by human hands, and one or more mornings, with attendant morning dews, are assumed to have come and gone, while fire and flames enveloped all creation, and after the sun had been swallowed by the wolf and the stars had fallen from the heavens (Gylfaginning 51; Völuspá 58)! And with this terrible catastrophe before their eyes, Lif and Leifthrasir are supposed to sit in perfect unconcern, eating the morning dews! For the scientific reputation of mythical inquiry, it were well if that sort of investigations were avoided when they are not made necessary by the sources themselves. If sufficient attention had been paid to the above-cited evidence furnished by Vafþrúðnismál in this question, the misunderstanding might have been avoided, and the statement of Gylfaginning would not have been interpreted to mean that Lif and Leifthrasir inhabited Mimir's grove only during Ragnarok. For Vafþrúðnismál plainly states that this human pair are in perfect security in Mimir's grove, while a long and terrible winter, a fimbul-winter, visits the earth and destroys its inhabitants. Not until after the end of this winter do giants and gods collect their forces for a decisive conflict on Vigrid's plains; and when this conflict is ended, then comes the conflagration of the world, and after it the regeneration. Concerning the length of the fimbul-winter, Gylfaginning 51 claims that it continued for three years "without any intervening summer." Consequently, Lif and Leifthrasir must have had their secure place of refuge in Mimir's grove during the fimbul-winter, which precedes Ragnarok. And, accordingly, the idea that they were there only during Ragnarok, and all the strange conjectures based thereon, are unfounded. They continue to remain there while the winter rages, and during all the episodes which characterize the progress of the world towards ruin, and, finally, also, as Gylfaginning reports, during the conflagration and regeneration of the world. Thus it is explained why the myth finds it of importance to inform us how Lif and Leifthrasir support themselves during their stay in Mimir's grove. It would not have occurred to the myth to present and answer this question had not the sojourn of the human pair in the grove continued for some length of time. Their food is the morning dew. The morning dew from Yggdrasil was, according to the mythology, a sweet and wonderful nourishment, and in the popular traditions of the <strong>Germanic</strong> middle age, the dew of the morning retained its reputation for having strange, nourishing qualities. According to the myth, it evaporates from the world-tree, which stands, ever green and blooming, over Urd's and Mimir's sacred fountains, and drops from there "in dales" (Völuspá 19, 28; Gylfaginning 16). And as the world-tree is sprinkled and gets its lifegiving sap from these fountains, then it follows that the liquid of its morning dew is
Page 1 and 2: Undersökningar i Germanisk Mytolog
Page 3 and 4: myth, we shall discover an Erik who
Page 5 and 6: y a sacred order unlawful for the f
Page 7 and 8: there, the woman brought him to a p
Page 9 and 10: That these last ideas have been inf
Page 11 and 12: The river which is mentioned in Eri
Page 13 and 14: egg and the egg-shell." Also the ro
Page 15 and 16: conscious cunning. Nevertheless, he
Page 17: 51 GUDMUND'S IDENTITY WITH MIMIR. T
Page 21 and 22: elapse into the faults of the forme
Page 23 and 24: and Leifthrasir were still remember
Page 25 and 26: the ásmegir demands that he must h
Page 27 and 28: immortality. In the Germanic mythol
Page 29 and 30: In the Norse sagas of the Middle Ag
Page 31 and 32: journey around the world. From a my
Page 33 and 34: There can be no doubt that "the ás
Page 35 and 36: Hakon's men are designated in the s
Page 37 and 38: which calls them ásliðar, a word
Page 39 and 40: youth of fifteen years. The evil cr
Page 41 and 42: square, to be an abode for men; an
Page 43 and 44: there comes a great conflagration a
Page 45 and 46: carried his prey to Nastrond (Völu
Page 47 and 48: In regard to the position of Yggdra
Page 49 and 50: giants, Niflhel, Niflheim, extends
Page 51 and 52: 6. Under the third (subterranean) r
Page 53 and 54: Hades, the middle condition, and th
Page 55 and 56: 2. Reið hann niður þaðan Niflhe
Page 57 and 58: In Grímnismál, the word Hel occur
Page 59 and 60: first cross a river and then come t
Page 61 and 62: creative force, over which the "ove
Page 63 and 64: oaths to serve the gods. Their chie
Page 65 and 66: Tamsvendi eg þig drep, en eg þig
Page 67 and 68: appellation suggests, and receive t
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Gerd, who tries to reject the love
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One of the signs that Ragnarok and
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conqueror in hundreds of battles, t
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While a terrible winter is raging,
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dead) beings called ásmegir and á
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in the dialects of several Germanic
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As maid-servants under Urd, there a
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30; Grímnismál 36; Skáldskaparm
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final destiny received Hel-shoes li
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on horseback, with wisdom in their
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THE CHOOSING. THE MIDDLE-AGE FABLE
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67. THE PSYCHOPOMPS OF THOSE NOT FA
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In our mythical records there is me
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sorcery is designated in Völuspá
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dead. Another road went to the sout
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The Aesir go to the thingstead near
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unes which Hadding applied were car
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majority of cases the fame acquired
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In Völuspá 26 orð is employed in
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To understand this strophe correctl
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life. Hades-images of those things
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The hamingja hears of it before any
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He who has observed these virtues m
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it is said that an immense subterra
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The author of the second song about
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him (in the capacity of hilmir Fán
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uttering a sound; but, when the spi
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Their way from Urd's well goes to t
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grotto" - reka einn fyrir Geitis gn
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is also Saxo's statement, that the
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and in one of the dotted lines the
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Saxo further says that the floor is
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Codex Regius (36) A fellr austan vm
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78. THE PLACES OF PUNISHMENT (conti
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There are at least three caves of t
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itself. 5 The true etymology of Mú
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go to show that Loki and his son ar
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tradition explained how the mill ca
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Vafþrúðnismál does not mean a w
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In its character as an institution
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According to Sólarljóð, the mill
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an isle, and which around this isla
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corrupted by contact with improper
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instructed men in praying and sacri
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Point by point the descriptions of
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or turn, wind, to turn anything aro
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element (see No. 35) was not only i
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this race has its chieftain, and th
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22). During the war between the Aes
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85. NARFI, NOTT'S FATHER, IDENTICAL
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Tveggja bága Njörva nipt á nesi
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(e) As the father of Nott, living i
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The discrepancy shows that the auth
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patronymic or, in other respects, o
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The two fundamental ideas of the my
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the quoted Vafþrúðnismál stroph
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"mortals" can scarcely cross its th
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Though Völund is in the highest de
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The names, epithets, and paraphrase
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former. The name mjötviður, with
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103, 104) that on this occasion he
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concerned, from the expression að
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Ölvaldi, Ölmóður, and Sumbli fi
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Mimir and Urd. That he tried to get
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him they have called Svithiod geiri
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nourish the roots of the world-tree
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Some monosyllabic names ending in -
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out there. We must therefore choose
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wind-ship" (ausa Hertýs víngnóð
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mythology rescued in Germany, the s
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weapons of his foes. Surrounded by
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The misfortune which happened first
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atmosphere, and as we have also lea
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get light on this point. According
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Ægir's hall is far out in the dept
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which once was his, after the arch
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In the strophe immediately precedin
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form given above it appears through
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the Frisians pursued by the plunder
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that is to say, that they are the s
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hiti við himin sjálfan -- "high l
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Syrian" who had interpreted the sto
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The anthropological conception pres
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mælsku þína og meginhyggjur. you
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serpent-symbol of eternity, the liq
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spirit, and on the other hand by th
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covering of a personal kernel (óð
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Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

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