Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

to popular belief in Schleswig (Arnkiel, I. 55; cp. J. Grimm, Deutsche Myth., Vol. II, Ch.
27 ), 9 Hel rides on a three-legged horse during the time of plague and kills people. Thus
the ugly-grown horse is not forgotten in traditions from the heathen time.
Völuspá informs us that in the primal age of man, the sorceress Heid went from
house to house and was a welcome guest with evil women, since she seið Leikin (síða
means to practice sorcery). Now, as Leikin is the "horsewoman of torture and death," and
rides the Hel-horse, then the expression síða Leikin can mean nothing else than by
sorcery to send Leikin, the messenger of disease and death, to those persons who are the
victims of the evil wishes of "evil women"; or, more abstractly, to bring by sorcery
dangerous diseases to men. 10
Völuspá 22 (Cod. Reg.) says of Heiðr:
seið hon kuni,
seið hon Leikin.
In this manuscript, the letter u is used for both u and y (compare Bugge,
Sæmundar Edda, Preface x., xi.), and therefore kuni may be read both kuni and kyni. The
latter reading makes logical sense. 11 Kyni is dative of kyn, a neuter noun, meaning
something sorcerous, supernatural, a monster. Kynjamein and kynjasótt mean diseases
brought on by sorcery. 12 Seið in both the above lines is past tense of the verb síða, and
not in either one of them the noun seiðr.
There was a sacred sorcery and an unholy one, according to the purpose for which
it was practiced, and according to the attending ceremonies. The object of the holy
sorcery was to bring about something good either for the sorcerer or for others, or to find
out the will of the gods and future things. The sorcery practiced by Heiðr is the unholy
one, hated by the gods, and again and again forbidden in the laws, and this kind of
9 Grimm, DM Vol. II, Ch. 27: In Denmark, one who blunders about clumsily is said to "gaaer som en
helhest," go about like a hel-horse. According to folklore, this hel-horse walks around the churchyard on
three legs, fetching the dead. Theile, 137: A custom is mentioned in which a live horse is buried in a
churchyard before the first human body is buried, so that it may become the walking dead horse. Theile,
138: One who has survived a serious illness will say "Jeg gav Döden en skiäppe havre," I gave Death a
bushel of oats (for his horse). Ankeil quotes I, 55, that according to superstition in times of plague "the Hell
rides about on a three-legged horse destroying men," and when the plague is over it is said "Hell is driven
away." As compelling as this evidence is, there is nothing solid to tie it to an earlier mythic belief.
10 This is incorrect. The capital letter in leikin is spurious, and as yet no personal name leikin has been
established (cp. Leikn). The meaning of the lines in question is "sorcery she knew, sorcery she was clever
at" (or "played at"). This analysis of Völuspá 22 was orginally presented in a footnote; I have added it to the
text in order to comment on it.
11 This is an oversimplification. Bugge clearly states that u and v are interchangeable in the mss., and that
sometimes v is seemingly used for y, probably because the tail of the y, being short, had faded away.
Considering this possibility, the alternate reading seið hon kyni would mean "she practiced sorcery upon the
race."
12 Kyn can mean "a wonder, a wondrous thing; something unbelievable, strange," but is never used in the
negative, especially in the oldest sources, and thus cannot be related to sorcery. Furthermore, the meaning
of "kyn" as "strange" calls for the plural for example kynjasótt or kynjamein, "strange illness." Kynsótt,
kynmein would mean a "sexually transmitted disease."