Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

Þýtur Þund,
unir Þjóðvitnis
fiskur flóði í;
árstraumur þykir
ofmikill
valglaumi að vaða.
"Thund (the air-river) roars. The 'fish of the folk-wolf' (Þjóðvitnir's fish) rests in
the flood. The river current seems too great for the noisy crowd of the slain to wade."
It has already been shown (No. 65) that those fallen by the sword ride with their
psychopomps on Bifröst up to Valhal, and do not proceed there through space, but have a
solid foundation for the hoofs of their steeds. Here, as in Fáfnismál 15, the air is
compared with a river, in which the horses are compelled to wade or swim if the bridge
leading to Asgard is not used, and the current in this roaring stream is said to be very
strong; while, on the other hand, "the fish" stands safe and inviting therein. That the
author of Grímnismál called the bridge a fish must seem strange, but has its natural
explanation in Icelandic usage, which called every bridge-end or bridge-head a sporður,
that is, a fish-tail. Compare Sigurdrífumál 16, which informs us that runes were risted on
"the fish-tail" of the great mythic bridge (á brúar sporði), and the expression
brúarsporður (bridge-head, bridge-"fish-tail") in Njáls Saga ch. 145 and Biskupasögur 1,
17. As a bridge-pier could be called a fish-tail, it was perfectly logical for the poem to
make the bridge a fish. On the zenith of the bridge stands Valhall, that secures those
fallen in battle, and whose entrance is decorated with images of the wolf and of the eagle
(Grímnismál 10), animals that satisfy their hunger on the field of battle. This explains
why the fish is called that of the folk-wolf or great wolf. 1 The meaning of the paraphrase
is simply "the Valhall bridge." That the bow of Bifröst stands north and south follows
from the fact that the gods pass over one end of the bridge on their way to Urd's fountain,
situated in the south of the lower world, while the other end is outside of Niflhel, situated
in the north. From the south the gods come to their judgment-seats in the realm of the dis
of fate and death. From the north came, according to Vegtamskviða, Odin when he rode
through Niflhel to that hall which awaited Baldur. Why the Asa-father on that occasion
chose that route Vegtamskviða does not inform us. But from Saxo (Book 3), who knew an
old heathen song 2 about Odin's visit in the lower world on account of Baldur's death, we
1 The phrase Þjóðvitnis fiskur is commonly thought to mean "the great wolf's fish" and taken as a reference
to the World-serpent, Fenrir's brother. However, in the context of the poem, a reference to the ocean
surrounding Midgard makes little sense. By suggesting the meaning "Valhal's bridge" (i.e. Bifröst) Rydberg
was on the right track. However, Eysteinn Björnsson notes that Þjóðvitnir might mean "the one with greatly
enhanced senses." In an article, which best explains this theory found at
http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/grm21.html Eysteinn notes: Vitnir can, indeed, mean wolf, but the
etymology of the word shows it to be related to the word vit, sense, senses. In fact, Magnússon's
Etymological Dictionary states that the original meaning of the word is 'one with sharp senses'." In this
light, "the one with enhanced senses" must refer to Heimdall the guardian of the Bifröst bridge who "can
see, by night as well as by day, 100 rasts about in every direction' and can hear grass growing on earth and
wool on the backs of sheep.
2 Possibly the same as that of which a few strophes are preserved in Baldurs draumar, an old poetic
fragment whose gaps have been filled in a very unsatisfactory manner in recent times with strophes which
now are current as Vegtamskviða. That Odin, when he is about to proceed to the abode which in the