The Gods of the North: an epic poem. Adam Oehlenschläger
of giants. He was wicked, and so were all his race, who were called Hrimthusser. Shortly after the apparition of Ymer, arose the cow Audumbla; she nourished herself by licking the frost from the pillars of salt in Ginnungagap; and this operation produced, on the first day, a man’s hair; on the second, his whole head; on the third the entire man; this man was called Bure. Bure had a son called Bor; and this Bor, by an union with a beautiful giantess of the name of Betsla, became the father of three sons, Odin, Vil and Ve, the progenitors of the Asar race. These three brothers slew the giant Ymer, from whose body flowed so much blood, that all the giants were drowned therein, except Bergelmer and his wife, who escaped from the deluge on the top of a mountain. Bergelmer and his wife had a numerous progeny, and by them were perpetuated the giant race. Odin, Vil and Ve, having slain Ymer, proceeded to the creation of the world, as it now exists. From the limbs of Ymer, they created the earth, the mountains from his bones, the sea from his blood, the heavens from his scull; and from his eye-brows they built Midgard, name of the abode to be inhabited by the human race, and so called, because it lies in the middle region. They then from two trees, which they found on the sea-shore, created a man, called Askur, and a woman called Embla; and placed them to dwell in Midgard. From this pair descend all mankind.
On the confines of Midgard towards the north, and separated from it by mountains of ice and snow, and dreary wastes eternally agitated by storms, lies Utgard, the domain of the giants, whose sovereign is Lok, commonly called Utgard-Lok, to distinguish him from an Asa bearing the same name. Utgard became thus the region assigned to the giant race, as Midgard was to mankind. The Asar chose for themselves a region supposed to be in the heavens above the earth, and this region they called Asagard. There they built for themselves various palaces and tenements; and dwelling therein, pass their time in joy and felicity, in banquets, tournaments, festivals, and amusements of all sorts; or they occupy themselves in conferring happiness upon, and imagining inventions useful and beneficial to the human race. They occasionally descend from Asagard to Midgard, by passing over the bridge Bifrost, when they deem it necessary to intervene immediately in the affairs of mankind, for the purpose of relieving the oppressed, or of enforcing the practice of justice and benevolence.
The giants, on the contrary, when they sally forth from their domain in Utgard, do so for the purpose of creating storms and earthquakes, and causing, either openly or insidiously, as much mischief as possible to gods and men.
I shall not in this preface enumerate the names of the different gods and goddesses, nor of their abodes and attributes; neither shall I enumerate the names of the giants, nor those of the Dvergar, of the Alfer, or of the Vaner. All these names will be found in a catalogue, alphabetically arranged, which I shall annex to this work. Neither shall I take notice, in this preface, of the various episodes of the mythology, which are introduced in the body of the poem, and explain themselves; but I shall proceed to give an account of the death of Balder,[7] as it is related in the younger or prosaic Edda.
Frigga is the wife of Odin and queen of the gods. Their son Balder, the most benevolent among the Asar, called by the Skalds “the fillet that binds together the garland of the gods,” was troubled with unpleasant dreams, portending some dreadful calamity to himself, and pregnant with mischief and ruin to the universe. He related his dreams to the Asar, and a council was held by them, in order to devise the means of averting the threatened mischief. His mother Frigga exacted an oath from all the elements, from iron and all kinds of metals, from stones, trees, beasts, birds, fishes and reptiles, that they would do no injury to Balder. When this oath was made, it was agreed upon by the Asar, that they should throw their lances at Balder, or cut at him with their swords, by way of amusement and experiment. Of course, enchanted as he was, he remained unscathed from all those assaults. This rejoiced the gods exceedingly; but there was one among the Asar, called Lok, originally of giant race, but admitted among the gods; a being of a treacherous and vacillating disposition, addicted to mockery and calumny, and inheriting from his ancestors, the giants, a strong innate disposition to mischief. It grieved him sore, that no injury could be done to Balder. He repaired to Fensal, the abode of Frigga, in the shape of a female, and related to her what had past between Balder and the other Asar at the tournament. Frigga replied: No weapon can do injury to Balder, for I have exacted an oath in his favour from all things likely to do him mischief. Lok answered: Have you really exacted an oath from all things? Frigga replied: Eastward to Valhalla grows a little plant, called the mistletoe; from it I exacted no oath, for it appeared to me so insignificant, as to be incapable of doing harm to anybody. Lok went away, dug up the plant, and made thereof a spear; he then went in search of Hædur, twin-brother of Balder, and born blind. Having found him, he asked him, why he did not join in the general amusement, and cast a weapon at Balder. Hædur replied: I am blind, and have no weapon. Lok answered: You should not be the only one among the Asar, who does not do honour to Balder; here! take this lance (giving to him the spear made of the mistletoe), and run at him with it! Hædur did so, and Balder fell down dead. The gods were inconsolable at his loss, and sent Hermod, the messenger of Odin, to Hela, the queen of death and of the shades below, into whose hands Balder had fallen, in order to supplicate his release. Hermod mounted the steed of Odin, called Sleipner, and repaired to the abode of Hela, in order to demand the restitution of Balder. Hela at first refused to release him on any condition whatsoever; but at length relenting, she said: Now is the time to prove, if Balder be really so beloved by all creatures, as ye pretend. If, therefore, every thing in nature will shed tears for Balder’s death, and demand his release, I will grant it. Hermod returned to Asagard, satisfied with the success of his mission. The Asar sent messengers all over the earth, calling upon all creatures to weep for Balder’s death; and all creatures did grieve and join in the prayer for his release from the shades of Helheim, except an old witch, by name Thock, who was sitting by the entrance of a cavern. When called upon to join in the general lamentation, she answered spitefully:
With dry tears
Doth Thock grieve
For the death of Balder;
He never did good to me
Either in life or death;
May Hela retain her prey!
and in consequence of this solitary refusal, Hela did retain her prey, and will do so until the end of time. It was now discovered that the witch Thock was no other than Lok himself in disguise; and the gods, enraged at his treachery, inflicted on him a summary vengeance. Changing his two sons into wolves, who devour each other, the gods make a chain from their intestines, and bind therewith Lok to a sharp rock in a subterranean abode. They then place over him two enormous serpents, who drop their venom on his limbs, and he is to remain exposed to this continual torture until the end of the world. But though Lok be thus punished, the calamity springing from Balder’s death cannot be averted; from it dates the entrance of crime and misery into the world, and a state of unceasing warfare in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth; which state is to last until the great day of Ragnarok, called the twilight of the gods. On that awful day, which is to be preceded by a severe uninterrupted winter of three years’ duration, a great battle is to be fought between the gods and giants, in which dreadful conflict giants, gods, mankind, the whole universe, in fine, are to perish in a shower of fire and blood. After the destruction of the world, a new creation is to take place under the auspices of Vidar, the god of silence and wisdom, the sole being who survives the general conflagration. It is he who is to resuscitate the gods and the human race, and to lead them to dwell in the palace of Gimle on the plains of Ida, an abode of eternal joy and felicity, where virtue and love are to reign triumphant, and vice and hatred be extinguished for ever. As the details of the destruction of the world and of its reconstruction are given in the last canto of this poem, I need not dwell on them here.[8] Besides the alphabetical catalogue, explicatory of all that remains to be known, concerning the events and personages which figure in this poem, I have annexed to each canto notes, which give the hidden sense and meaning of most of the mythes and allegories; on which subjects I have borrowed all my information from the celebrated Danish antiquarian Finn Magnussen, now living in Copenhagen, which information is to be found in his two admirable works, the one called “The elder Edda, translated with copious notes and illustrations;”