Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

myth, we shall discover an Erik who belongs to Thjazi's family, and whose mother is a swanmaid
(goddess of growth). This latter Erik also succeeded in seeing Odainsakur (see Nos. 102,
103).
45.
MIDDLE AGE SAGAS (continued). ICELANDIC SOUCES IN REGARD TO
GUDMUND, KING ON THE GLITTERING PLAINS.
In the saga of Hervör, 4 Odainsakur is mentioned, and there without any visible addition
of Christian elements. Gudmund (Goðmundr) was the name of a king in Jötunheim. His home
was called Grund, but the district in which it was situated was called the Glittering Plains
(Glæsisvellir). He was wise and mighty, and in a heathen sense pious, and he and his men
became so old that they lived many generations. Therefore, the story continues, the heathens
believed that Odainsakur was situated in his country. "That place (Odainsakur) is so healthy for
everyone who comes there that sickness and age depart, and no one ever dies there."
According to the saga-author, Jötunheim is situated north from Halogaland, along the
shores of Gandvik. The wise and mighty Gudmund died after he had lived half a thousand years.
After his death, the people worshipped him as a god, and offered sacrifices to him.
The same Gudmund is mentioned in Bósa saga ok Herrauðs, as a ruler of the Glittering
Plains, who was very skilful in the magic arts. Here, the Glittering Plains are said to be situated
near Bjarmaland, just as in Þorsteins þáttur Bæjarmagns, in which king Gudmund's kingdom,
Glittering Plains, is a country tributary to Jötunheim, whose ruler is Geirröðr (Geirrod).
In the history of Olaf Tryggvason, as it is given in Flateyjarbók, 5 the following episode is
incorporated. The Northman Helgi Thorisson was sent on a commercial journey to the far North
on the coast of Finmark, but he got lost in a great forest. There he met twelve red-clad young
maidens on horseback, and the horses' trappings shone like gold. The chief one of the maidens
was Ingibjörg, the daughter of Gudmund on the Glittering Plains. The young maidens raised a
splendid tent and set a table with dishes of silver and gold. Helgi was invited to remain, and he
stayed three days with Ingibjörg. Then Gudmund's daughters got ready to leave; but before they
parted Helgi received two chests full of gold and silver from Ingibjörg. With these he returned to
his father, but mentioned to nobody how he had obtained them. The next Yule night there came a
great storm, during which two men carried Helgi away, no one knew where. His sorrowing father
reported this to Olaf Trygggvason. The year passed. Then it happened at Yule that Helgi came in
to the king in the hall, and with him two strangers, who handed Olaf two gold-plated horns. They
said they were gifts from Gudmund on the Glittering Plains. Olaf filled the horns with good
drink and handed them to the messengers. Meanwhile, he had commanded the bishop who was
present to bless the drink. The result was that the heathen beings, who were Gudmund's
In his Lexicon Poeticum (pg. 423), Sveinbjörn Egilsson examines the name Nauma in detail. He defines the word as
giantess, yet notes that it is also used in kennings as an equivalent for "woman." Since it also appears in the
Nafnaþulur among "kvenna heiti ókennd," Egilsson concludes that Nauma must originally have been have been the
name of a "now unknown" goddess. In light of Rydberg's investigations, it appears that Nauma was Idunn's name
when she lived with her brothers in the Wolfdales.
4 Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, referred to hereafter as Hervör's Saga.
5 This geneology occurs in Helga þáttur Þórissonar, referred to hereafter as Helgi Thorisson's saga. This saga as
well as Bósa saga ok Herrauðs and Þorsteins þáttur Bæjarmagns (all three found in the Fornaldarsagas) appear in
English translation in Seven Viking Romances, tr. by Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards, Penquin Books, 1985.
Also see: http://www.germanicmythology.com/FORNALDARSAGAS/FORNALDARSOGURMAIN.html