Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

Míms vinr (Mimir's friend), then caution dictates that we keep open the highly probable
possibility that Mimir himself is meant by Ásviðr.
All that has here been stated about Dvalin shows that the mythology has referred
him to a place within the domain of Mimir's activity. We have still to point out two
statements in regard to him. Sol is said to have been his leika (Alvíssmál 16 - kalla
dvergar Dvalins leika; cp. Nafnaþulur). Leika, as a feminine word and referring to a
personal object, means a young girl, a maiden, whom one keeps at his side, and in whose
amusement one takes part at least as a spectator. The examples which we have of the use
of the word indicate that the leika herself, and the person whose leika she is, are
presupposed to have the same home. Sisters are called leikur, since they live together.
Parents can call a foster-daughter their leika. In the neuter gender, leika means a
plaything, a doll or toy, and even in this sense it can rhetorically be applied to a person.
In the same manner as Sol is called Dvalin's leika, so the son of Nat and Delling,
Dag, is called leikr Dvalins, the lad or youth with whom Dvalin amused himself
(Hrafnagaldur Óðins 24.) 5
We have here found two points of contact between the mythic characters Dvalin
and Delling. Dag, who is Dvalin's leikr, is Delling's son. Delling is the watchman of the
castle of the ásmegir, which Dvalin's artists decorated.
Thus the whole group of persons among whom Dvalin is placed - Mimir, who is
his teacher; Sol, who is his leika; Dag, who is his leikr; Nott, who is the mother of his
leikr; Delling, who is the father of his leikr - have their dwellings in Mimir's domain, and
belong to the subterranean class of the numina of Germanic mythology.
From regions situated below Midgard's horizon, Nott, Sol, and Dag draw their
chariots upon the heavens. On the eastern border of the lower world is the point of
departure for their regular journeys over the heavens of the upper world ("the upper
heavens," upphiminn - Völuspá 3; Vafþrúðnismál 20, and elsewhere; uppheimur -
Alvíssmál 12). Nott has her home and, as shall be shown hereafter, her birthplace in dales
beneath the ash Yggdrasil. There she takes her rest after the circuit of her journey has
been completed. In the lower world, Sol and Nott's son, Dag, also have their halls where
they take their rest. But where Delling's wife and son have their dwellings there we
should also look for Delling's own abode. As the husband of Nott and the father of Dag,
Delling occupies the same place among the divinities of nature as the dawn and the glow
of sunrise among the phenomena of nature. And outside the doors of Delling, the king of
dawn, mythology has also located the dwarf Þjóðrerir ("he who moves the people"), who
sings songs of awakening and blessing upon the world: "power to the Aesir, success to
the elves, wisdom to Hroptatyr" (afl gól hann ásum, en álfum frama, hyggju Hroptatý -
Hávamál 160).
Unlike his kinsmen, Nott, Dag, and Sol, Delling has no duty which requires him
to be absent from home a part of the day. The dawn is merely a reflection on Midgard's
eastern horizon from Delling's subterranean dwelling. It can be seen only when Nott
leaves the upper heaven and before Dag and Sol have come forward, and it makes no
5 The passage reads: dró leik Dvalins drösull í reið, "in his chariot, the steed drew Dvalin's playmate."
Here, leikr Dvalins might simply refer to Sol. In that case, Dag would be imagined as riding the horse
which pulls Sol's chariot. Drösul may be read as a proper name for Dag's horse. See Supplement I, for the
full text.