Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

weapons of his foes. Surrounded by his assailants, he is said to have sung the strophe in
question, in which he says that "the beloved, beautiful, brave Fulla of his hall," that is to
say, his wife, "is to enquire for him, her friend," for whose sake "Fal's rain" now "falls
thick and fast," while "keen edges bite him." In a foregoing strophe Gisli has been
compared with a "Baldur of the shield," and this shield-Baldur now, as in the Baldur of
the myth, is the focus of javelins and swords, while he, like Baldur, has a beautiful and
faithful wife, who, like Nanna, is to take his death to heart. If the name Nanna, as has
been assumed by Vigfusson and others, is connected with the verb nenna, and means "the
brave one," then rekkilát Fulla, "the brave Fulla of Gisli's hall," is an all the more
appropriate reference to Nanna, since Fulla and she are intimately connected in the
mythology, and are described as the warmest of friends (Gylfaginning). Briefly stated: in
the poem Gisli is compared with Baldur, his wife with Nanna, his death with Baldur's
death, and the rain of weapons by which he falls with Fal's rain. 6
In a strophe composed by Refr (Skáldskaparmál 9) the skald offers thanks to
Odin, the giver of the skaldic art. The Asa-father is here called Fals hrannvala brautar
fannar salar valdi ("The ruler of the hall of the drift of the way of the billow-falcons of
Fal"). 7 This long paraphrase means, as has also been assumed by others, the ruler of
heaven. Thus heaven is designated as "the hall of the drift of the way of the billowfalcons
of Fal." The "drift" which belongs to heaven, and not to the earth, is the cloud.
The heavens are "the hall of the cloud." But in order that the word "drift" might be
applied in this manner it had to be united with an appropriate word, showing that the
heavens were meant. This is done by the adjective phrase "of the way of the billowfalcons
of Fal." Standing alone, "the drift of the way of the billow-falcons" could not
possibly mean anything else than the billow white with foam, since "billow-falcons" is a
paraphrase for ships, and the "way of the billow-falcons" is a paraphrase for the sea. By
adding the name Falr the meaning is changed from "sea" to "sky." By Fal's "billowfalcons"
must therefore be meant objects whose course is through the air, just as the
course of the ships is on the sea, and which traverse the drift of the sky, the cloud, just as
the ships plough through the drift of the sea, the white-crested billow. Such a paraphrase
could not possibly avoid drawing the fancy of the hearers and readers to the atmosphere
strewn with clouds and penetrated by sunbeams, that is, to Odin's hall. Baldur is a sungod,
as his myth, taken as a whole, plainly shows, and as is manifested by his epithet:
rauðbríkar ríkur rækir (see No. 53). Thus Fal, like Baldur, is a divinity of the sun, a
being which sends the sunbeams down through the drifts of the clouds. As he,
furthermore, like Baldur, stood in a rain of weapons under circumstances sufficiently
familiar for such a rain to be recognized when designated as Fal's, and as be, finally, like
6 Again Rydberg misunderstands the meaning of the complex skaldic poetry. The first half of the strophe
reads: Fals hallar skal Fulla/ fagrleit, sús mik teitir,/ rekkilát at rökkum,/regns, sínum vin fregna. Falr is not
a personal name here, but a term for a part of the spear, i.e. the socket of the spear-head, and thus a heiti for
the spear itself. "Rain of spear" is a normal kenning for battle. " A more likely reading however is: "The
beautiful, brave Fulla of the 'rain of the hall of the spear,' [i.e. gold; "hall of the spear" =hand; "rain of the
hand" = gold; Fulla of gold=woman] she who pleases me, shall receive news of her brave friend."
7 The verse reads: Þér eigu vér veigar/ Valgautar,salar brautar,/Fals, hrannvala fannar,/framr, valdi tamr,
gjalda. Faulkes renders this: "To you we owe Fal's cup [the mead of poetry], noble Slaughter-Gaut [Odin],
practiced controller of the wave-horse's [ship's] snow-road's [sea's] hall [sky]." Faulkes takes Fal as the
name of a dwarf after the Nafnaþular. He notes hrannvala may also be rendered wave-falcon. Fals veigar
would better be translated "Fal's drink" cp. the skírar veigar served to Baldur in Vegtamskviða 7.