Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology
Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology
Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology
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Míms vinr (Mimir's friend), then caution dictates that we keep open the highly probable<br />
possibility that Mimir himself is meant by Ásviðr.<br />
All that has here been stated about Dvalin shows that the mythology has referred<br />
him to a place within the domain of Mimir's activity. We have still to point out two<br />
statements in regard to him. Sol is said to have been his leika (Alvíssmál 16 - kalla<br />
dvergar Dvalins leika; cp. Nafnaþulur). Leika, as a feminine word and referring to a<br />
personal object, means a young girl, a maiden, whom one keeps at his side, and in whose<br />
amusement one takes part at least as a spectator. The examples which we have of the use<br />
of the word indicate that the leika herself, and the person whose leika she is, are<br />
presupposed to have the same home. Sisters are called leikur, since they live together.<br />
Parents can call a foster-daughter their leika. In the neuter gender, leika means a<br />
plaything, a doll or toy, and even in this sense it can rhetorically be applied to a person.<br />
In the same manner as Sol is called Dvalin's leika, so the son of Nat and Delling,<br />
Dag, is called leikr Dvalins, the lad or youth with whom Dvalin amused himself<br />
(Hrafnagaldur Óðins 24.) 5<br />
We have here found two points of contact between the mythic characters Dvalin<br />
and Delling. Dag, who is Dvalin's leikr, is Delling's son. Delling is the watchman of the<br />
castle of the ásmegir, which Dvalin's artists decorated.<br />
Thus the whole group of persons among whom Dvalin is placed - Mimir, who is<br />
his teacher; Sol, who is his leika; Dag, who is his leikr; Nott, who is the mother of his<br />
leikr; Delling, who is the father of his leikr - have their dwellings in Mimir's domain, and<br />
belong to the subterranean class of the numina of <strong>Germanic</strong> mythology.<br />
From regions situated below Midgard's horizon, Nott, Sol, and Dag draw their<br />
chariots upon the heavens. On the eastern border of the lower world is the point of<br />
departure for their regular journeys over the heavens of the upper world ("the upper<br />
heavens," upphiminn - Völuspá 3; Vafþrúðnismál 20, and elsewhere; uppheimur -<br />
Alvíssmál 12). Nott has her home and, as shall be shown hereafter, her birthplace in dales<br />
beneath the ash Yggdrasil. There she takes her rest after the circuit of her journey has<br />
been completed. In the lower world, Sol and Nott's son, Dag, also have their halls where<br />
they take their rest. But where Delling's wife and son have their dwellings there we<br />
should also look for Delling's own abode. As the husband of Nott and the father of Dag,<br />
Delling occupies the same place among the divinities of nature as the dawn and the glow<br />
of sunrise among the phenomena of nature. And outside the doors of Delling, the king of<br />
dawn, mythology has also located the dwarf Þjóðrerir ("he who moves the people"), who<br />
sings songs of awakening and blessing upon the world: "power to the Aesir, success to<br />
the elves, wisdom to Hroptatyr" (afl gól hann ásum, en álfum frama, hyggju Hroptatý -<br />
Hávamál 160).<br />
Unlike his kinsmen, Nott, Dag, and Sol, Delling has no duty which requires him<br />
to be absent from home a part of the day. The dawn is merely a reflection on Midgard's<br />
eastern horizon from Delling's subterranean dwelling. It can be seen only when Nott<br />
leaves the upper heaven and before Dag and Sol have come forward, and it makes no<br />
5 The passage reads: dró leik Dvalins drösull í reið, "in his chariot, the steed drew Dvalin's playmate."<br />
Here, leikr Dvalins might simply refer to Sol. In that case, Dag would be imagined as riding the horse<br />
which pulls Sol's chariot. Drösul may be read as a proper name for Dag's horse. See Supplement I, for the<br />
full text.