Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

had the privilege of seeing the realms of the lower world and of inspecting the hall where
the seven brothers have their abode. But whoever ventured to touch their treasures, or
was allured by the splendor of their mantles to attempt to secure any of them, was
punished by the drooping and withering of his limbs.
When Ragnarok is at hand, the aged and abused world-tree trembles, and
Heimdall's trumpet, until then kept in the deepest shade of the tree, is once more in the
hand of the god, and at a world-piercing blast from this trumpet Mimir's seven sons start
up from their sleep and arm themselves to take part in the last conflict. This is to end with
the victory of the good; the world-tree will grow green again and flourish under the care
of its former keepers; "all evil shall then cease, and Baldur shall come back." The
Germanic myth in regard to the seven sleepers is thus most intimately connected with the
myth concerning the return of the dead Baldur and of the other dead men from the lower
world, with the idea of resurrection and the regeneration of the world. It forms an integral
part of the great epic of Germanic mythology, and could not be spared. If the world-tree
is to age during the historical epoch, and if the present period of time is to progress
toward ruin, then this must have its epic cause in the fact that the keepers of the chief root
of the tree were severed by the course of events from their important occupation.
Therefore Mimir dies; therefore his sons sink into the sleep of ages. But it is necessary
that they should wake and resume their occupation, for there is to be a regeneration, and
the world-tree is to bloom with new freshness.
Both in Germany and in Sweden there still prevails a popular belief which puts
"the seven sleepers" in connection with the weather. If it rains on the day of the seven
sleepers, then, according to this popular belief, it is to rain for seven weeks thereafter.
People have wondered how a weather prophecy could be connected with the sleeping
saints, and the matter would also, in reality, be utterly incomprehensible if the legend
were of Christian origin; but it is satisfactorily explained by the heathen-Germanic
mythology, where the seven sleepers represent those very seven so-called economic
months - the seven changes of the weather - which gave rise to the division of the year
into the months - gormánuðr, frerm., hrútm., einm., sólm., selm., and
kornskurðarmánuðr. Navigation was also believed to be under the protection of the seven
sleepers, and this we can understand when we remember that the hall of Mimir's sons was
thought to stand near the Hvergelmir fountain and the Grotti of the skerry, "dangerous to
seamen," and that they, like their father, were lovers of men. Thorkil, the great navigator
of the saga, therefore praises Gudmund-Mimir as a protector in dangers. 7
The legend has preserved the connection found in the myth between the above
meaning and the idea of a resurrection of the dead. But in the myth concerning Mimir's
seven sons this idea is most intimately connected with the myth itself, and is, with epic
logic, united with the whole mythological system. In the legend, on the other hand, the
resurrection idea is put on as a trade-mark. The seven men in Ephesus are lulled into their
long sleep, and are waked again to appear before Theodosius, the emperor, to preach a
sermon illustrated by their own fate against the false doctrine which tries to deny the
resurrection of the dead.
Gregorius says that he is the first who recorded in the Latin language this miracle,
not before known to the Church of Western Europe. As his authority he quotes "a certain
7 Saxo Book 8: "Thorkill told them to greet his arrival cheerfully, telling them that this was Gudmund, the
brother of Geirrod, and the most faithful guardian in perils of all men who landed in that spot." Elton tr.