Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

proper, for they have contained and do contain many beings of a higher or lower divine
rank. There dwells the divine mother Nott, worshipped by the Teutons; there Thor's
mother and her brother and sister Njörd and Fulla are fostered; there Baldur, Nanna, and
Hodur are to dwell until Ragnarok; there Delling, Billing, Rind, Dag, Mani, and Sol, and
all the clan of artists gathered around Mimir, they who in their smithy create living
beings, vegetation, and ornaments, have their halls; there was born Odin's son Vali. Of
the mythological divinities, only a small number were fostered in Asgard. When Göndul
and Skögul at the head of sword-fallen men ride "over the green worlds of the gods," this
agrees with the statement in the myth about Hermod's journey to Hel, that fylki of dead
riders gallop over the subterranean gold-bridge, on the other side of which glorious
regions are situated, and with the statement in Vegtamskviða that Odin, when he had left
Niflhel behind him, came to a foldvegr, a way over green plains, by which he reaches the
hall that awaits Baldur.
In the heroic songs of the Elder Edda, and in other poems from the centuries
immediately succeeding the introduction of Christianity, the memory survives that the
heroes journey to the lower world. Sigurd Fafnisbani comes to Hel. Of one of Atli's
brothers who fell by Gudrun's sword it is said, í Helju hún þann hafði 37 (Atlamál 51). In
the same poem, strophe 43, one of the Niflungs says of a sword-fallen foe that they had
him lamdan til Heljar. 38
The mythic tradition is supported by linguistic usage, which, in such phrases as
berja í Hel, drepa í Hel, drepa til Heljar, færa til Heljar, indicated that those fallen by the
sword also had to descend to the realm of death.
The memory of valkyries, subordinate to the goddess of fate and death, and
belonging with her to the class of norns, continued to flourish in Christian times both
among Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. Among the former, wælcyrge, wælcyrre
(valkyrie) could be used to express the Latin parca, 39 and in Beowulf occur phrases in
which Hild and Gud (the valkyries Hildr and Gunnr) perform the tasks of Vyrd. 40 In
Atlamál 28, the valkyries are changed into "dead women," inhabitants of the lower world,
who came to choose the hero and invite him to their halls. The basis of the transformation
is the recollection that the valkyries were not only in Odin's service, but also in that of the
lower world goddess Urd (compare Atlakviða 16, where they are called norns), and that
they as psychopomps conducted the chosen Heroes to Hel on their way to Asgard.
66.
While, under the influence of heathen thought, the Christian heaven is envisioned as a beautiful green
meadow; for example in the quote above, as well as in Fitt 11, line 948's "high meadow of heaven," and
elsewhere.
37 "she sent him to Hel"
38 "beaten to Hel"
39 parca, fate; For a fuller survey of the references in this paragraph see Grimm, DM Vol I, 16, section 4,
the probable source of Rydberg's evidence here.
40 Beowulf line 452 and 1481 gif mec hild nime, if Hild take me (if battle takes me); line 2536 oððe guð
nimeð, or Gud take me (or battle take me); cp. line 446 gif mec deað nimeð if death takes me.
Beowulf line 1123 þær guð fornam whom Gud had taken (whom battle had taken); cp. line 488, 2236
deað fornam, death had taken.