Kitabı oku: «The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda», sayfa 13

CHAPTER X

This myth about Frey and Gerd is the subject of one of the most fascinating poems in the Elder Edda, the Journey of Skirner. It is, as Auber Forestier, in Echoes from Mistland, says, the germ of the Niblung story. Frey is Sigurd or Sigfrid, and Gerd is Brynhild. The myth is also found in another poem of the Elder Edda, the Lay of Fjolsvin, in which the god himself—there called Svipday (the hastener of the day)—undertakes the journey to arouse from the winter sleep the cold giant nature of the maiden Menglad (the sun-radiant daughter), who is identical with Freyja (the goddess of spring, promise, or of love between man and woman, and who can easily be compared with Gerd). Before the bonds which enchain the maiden can in either case be broken, Bele (the giant of spring storms, corresponding to the dragon Fafner in the Niblung story,) must be conquered, and Wafurloge (the wall of bickering flames that surrounded the castle) must be penetrated. The fanes symbolize the funeral pyre, for whoever enters the nether world must scorn the fear of death. (Auber Forestier’s Echoes from Mistland; Introduction, xliii, xliv.) We also find this story repeated again and again, in numberless variations, in Teutonic folk-lore; for instance, in The Maiden on the Glass Mountain, where the glass mountain takes the place of the bickering flame.

CHAPTER XI

The tree Lerad (furnishing protection) must be regarded as a branch of Ygdrasil.

CHAPTER XII

In Heimskringla Skidbladner is called Odin’s ship. This is correct. All that belonged to the gods was his also.

CHAPTER XIII

For a thorough analysis of Thor as a spring god, as the god who dwells in the clouds, as the god of thunder and lightning, as the god of agriculture, in short, as the god of culture, we can do no better than to refer our readers to Der Mythus von Thor, nach Nordischen Quellen, von Ludwig Uhland, Stuttgart, 1836; and to Handbuch der Deutschen Mythologie, mit Einschluss der Nordischen, von Karl Simrock, Vierte Auflage, Bonn, 1874.

CHAPTER XIV

The death of Balder is justly regarded as the most beautiful myth in Teutonic mythology. It is connected with the Lay of Vegtam in the Elder Edda. Like so many other myths (Frey and Gerd, The Robbing of Idun, etc.) the myth symbolizes originally the end of summer and return of spring. Thus Balder dies every year and goes to Hel. But in the following spring he returns to the asas, and gladdens all things living and dead with his pure shining light. Gradually, however, the myth was changed from a symbol of the departing and returning summer, and applied to the departing and returning of the world year, and thus the death of Balder prepares the way for Ragnarok and Regeneration. Balder goes to Hel and does not return to this world. Thokk refuses to weep for him. His return is promised after Ragnarok. The next spring does not bring him back, but the rejuvenated earth. Thus the death of Balder becomes the central thought in the drama of the fate of the gods and of the world. It is inseparably connected with the punishment of Loke and the twilight of the gods. The winter following the death of Balder is not an ordinary winter, but the Fimbul-winter, which is followed by no summer, but by the destruction of the world. The central idea in the Odinic religion, the destruction and regeneration of the world, has taken this beautiful sun-myth of Balder into its service. Balder is then no more merely the pure holy light of heaven; he symbolizes at the same time the purity and innocence of the gods; he is changed from a physical to an ethical myth. He impersonated all that was good and holy in the life of the gods; and so it came to pass that when the golden age had ceased, when thirst for gold (Gulveig), when sin and crime had come into the world, he was too good to live in it. As in Genesis fratricide (Cain and Abel) followed upon the eating of the forbidden fruit, and the loss of paradise; so, when the golden age (paradise) had ended among the asas, Loke (the serpent) brought fratricide (Hoder and Balder) among the gods; themselves and our ancestors regarded fratricide as the lowest depth of moral depravity. After the death of Balder

 
Brothers slay brothers,
Sisters’ children
Shed each other’s blood,
Hard grows the world,
Sensual sin waxes huge.
 
 
There are sword-ages, ax-ages—
Shields are cleft in twain,—
Storm-ages, murder-ages,—
Till the world falls dead,
And men no longer spare
Or pity one another.
 

Upon the whole we may say that a sun-myth first represents the death of the day at sunset, when the sky is radiant as if dyed in blood. In the flushing morn light wins its victory again. Then this same myth becomes transferred to the death and birth of summer. Once more it is lifted into a higher sphere, while still holding on to its physical interpretation, and is applied to the world year. Finally, it is clothed with ethical attributes, becomes thoroughly anthropomorphized, and typifies the good and the evil, the virtues and vices (light and darkness), in the character and life of gods and of men. Thus we get four stages in the development of the myth.

CHAPTER XV

Ragnarok. The word is found written in two ways, Ragnarok and ragnarökr. Ragna is genitive plural, from the word regin (god), and means of the gods. Rok means reason, ground, origin, a wonder, sign, marvel. It is allied to the O.H.G. rahha = sentence, judgment. Ragnarök would then mean the history of the gods, and applied to the dissolution of the world, might be translated the last judgment, doomsday, weird of gods and the world. Rokr means twilight, and Ragnarokr, as the Younger Edda has it, thus means the twilight of the gods, and the latter is adopted by nearly all modern writers, although Gudbr. Vigfusson declares that Ragnarok (doomsday) is no doubt the correct form. And this is also to be said in favor of doomsday, that Ragnarok does not involve only the twilight, but the whole night of the gods and the world.

THE NIFLUNGS AND GJUKUNGS

This chapter of Skaldskaparmal contains much valuable material for a correct understanding of the Nibelungen-Lied, especially as to the origin of the Niblung hoard, and the true character of Brynhild. The material given here, and in the Icelandic Volsunga Saga, has been used by Wm. Morris in his Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs. In the Nibelungen-Lied, as transposed by Auber Forestier, in Echoes from Mist-Land, we have a perfect gem of literature from the middle high German period, but its author had lost sight of the divine and mythical origin of the material that he wove into his poem. It is only by combining the German Nibelungen-Lied with the mythical materials found in Norseland that our national Teutonic epic can be restored to us. Wagner has done this for us in his famous drama; Jordan has done it in his Sigfrid’s saga; Morris has done it in the work mentioned above; but will not Auber Forestier gather up all the scattered fragments relating to Sigurd and Brynhild, and weave them together into a prose narrative, that shall delight the young and the old of this great land?

We are glad to welcome at this time a new book in the field of Niblung literature. We refer to Geibel’s Brunhild, translated, with introduction and notes, by Prof. G. Theo. Dippold, and recently published in Boston.

MENJA AND FENJA

This is usually called the peace of Frode, which corresponds to the golden age in the life of the asas. Avarice is the root of crime, and all other evils. Avarice is at the bottom of all the endless woes of the Niblung story. The myth explaining why the sea is salt is told in a variety of forms in different countries. In Germany there are several folk-lore stories and traditions in regard to it. In Norway, where folk-lore tales are so abundant, we find the myth about Menja and Fenja recurring in the following form:

WHY THE SEA IS SALT

Long, long ago there were two brothers, the one was rich and the other was poor. On Christmas eve the poor one had not a morsel of bread or meat in his house, and so he went to his brother and asked him for mercy’s sake to give him something for Christmas. It was not the first time the brother had had to give him, and he was not very much pleased to see him this time either.

“If you will do what I ask of you, I will give you a whole ham of pork,” said he.

The poor man promised immediately, and was very thankful besides.

“There you have it, now go to hell,” said the rich one, and threw the ham at him.

“What I have promised, I suppose, I must keep,” said the other. He took the ham and started. He walked and walked the whole day, and at twilight he came to a place where everything looked so bright and splendid.

“This must be the place,” thought the man with the ham.

Out in the wood-shed stood an old man with a long white beard, cutting wood for Christmas.

“Good evening,” said the man with the ham.

“Good evening, sir. Where are you going so late?” said the man.

“I am on my way to hell, if I am on the right road,” said the poor man.

“Yes, you have taken the right road; it is here,” said the old man. “Now when you get in, they will all want to buy your ham, for pork is rare food in hell; but you must not sell it, unless you get the hand-mill that stands back of the door for it. When you come out again I will show you how to regulate it. You will find it useful in more than one respect.”

The man with the ham thanked the old man for this valuable information, and rapped at the devil’s door.

When he came in it happened as the old man had said. All the devils, both the large ones and the small ones, crowded around him like ants around a worm, and the one bid higher than the other for the ham.

“It is true my wife and I were to have it for our Christmas dinner, but, seeing that you are so eager for it, I suppose I will have to let you have it,” said the man. “But if I am to sell it, I want that hand-mill that stands behind the door there for it.”

The devil did not like to spare it, and kept dickering and bantering with the man, but he insisted, and so the devil had to give him the hand-mill. When the man came out in the yard he asked the old wood-chopper how he should regulate the mill; and when he had learned how to do it, he said “thank you,” and made for home as fast as he could. But still he did not reach home before twelve o’clock in the night Christmas eve.

“Why, where in the world have you been?” said the woman. “Here I have been sitting hour after hour waiting and waiting, and I haven’t as much as two sticks to put on the fire so as to cook the Christmas porridge.”

“Oh, I could not come any sooner. I had several errands to do, and I had a long way to go too. But now I will show you,” said the man. He set the mill on the table, and had it first grind light, then a table-cloth, then food and ale and all sorts of good things for Christmas, and as he commanded the mill ground. The woman expressed her great astonishment again and again, and wanted to know where her husband had gotten the mill, but this he would not tell.

“It makes no difference where I have gotten it; you see the mill is a good one, and that the water does not freeze,” said the man.

Then he ground food and drink, and all good things, for the whole Christmas week, and on the third day he invited his friends: he was going to have a party. When the rich brother saw all the nice and good things at the party, he became very wroth, for he could not bear to see his brother have anything.

“Christmas eve he was so needy that he came to me and asked me for mercy’s sake to give him a little food, and now he gives a feast as though he were both count and king,” said he to the others.

“But where in hell have you gotten all your riches from?” said he to his brother.

“Behind the door,” answered he who owned the mill. He did not care to give any definite account, but later in the evening, when he began to get a little tipsy, he could not help himself and brought out the mill.

“There you see the one that has given me all the riches,” said he, and then he let the mill grind both one thing and another. When the brother saw this he was bound to have the mill, and after a long bantering about it, he finally was to have it; but he was to pay three hundred dollars for it, and his brother was to keep it until harvest.

“When I keep it until then, I shall have ground food enough to last many years,” thought he.

Of course the mill got no chance to grow rusty during the next six months, and when harvest-time came, the rich brother got it; but the other man had taken good care not to show him how to regulate it. It was in the evening that the rich man brought the mill home, and in the morning he bade his wife go and spread the hay after the mowers,—he would get dinner ready, he said. Toward dinner he put the mill on the table.

“Grind fish and gruel: Grind both well and fast!” said the man, and the mill began to grind fish and gruel. It first filled all the dishes and tubs full, and after that it covered the whole floor with fish and gruel. The man kept puttering and tinkering, and tried to get the mill to stop; but no matter how he turned it and fingered at it, the mill kept on, and before long the gruel got so deep in the room that the man was on the point of drowning. Then he opened the door to the sitting-room, but before long that room was filled too, and the man had all he could do to get hold of the door-latch down in this flood of gruel. When he got the door open he did not remain long in the room. He ran out as fast as he could, and there was a perfect flood of fish gruel behind, deluging the yard and his fields.

The wife, who was in the meadow making hay, began to think that it took a long time to get dinner ready. “Even if husband does not call us, we will have to go anyway. I suppose he does not know much about making gruel; I will have to go and help him,” said the woman to the mowers.

They went homeward, but on coming up the hill they met the flood of fish and gruel and bread, the one mixed up with the other, and the man came running ahead of the flood.

“Would that each one of you had an hundred stomachs, but have a care that you do not drown in the gruel flood,” cried the husband. He ran by them as though the devil had been after him, and hastened down to his brother. He begged him in the name of everything sacred to come and take the mill away immediately.

“If it grinds another hour the whole settlement will perish in fish and gruel,” said he.

But the brother would not take it unless he got three hundred dollars, and this money had to be paid to him.

Now the poor brother had both money and the mill, and so it did not take long before he got himself a farm, and a much nicer one than his brother’s. With his mill he ground out so much gold that he covered his house all over with sheets of gold. The house stood down by the sea-shore, and it glistened far out upon the sea. All who sailed past had to go ashore and visit the rich man in the golden house, and all wanted to see the wonderful mill, for its fame spread far and wide, and there was none who had not heard speak of it.

After a long time there came a sea-captain who wished to see the mill. He asked whether it could grind salt.

“Yes, it can grind salt,” said he who owned the mill; and when the captain heard this, he was bound to have it, let it cost what it will. For if he had that, thought he, he would not have to sail far off over dangerous waters after cargoes of salt. At first the man did not wish to sell it, but the captain teased and begged and finally the man sold it, and got many thousand dollars for it. When the captain had gotten the mill on his back, he did not stay there long, for he was afraid the man might reconsider the bargain and back out again. He had no time to ask how to regulate it; he went to his ship as fast as he could, and when he had gotten some distance out upon the sea, he got his mill out.

“Grind salt both fast and well,” said the captain. The mill began to grind salt, and that with all its might. When the captain had gotten the ship full he wanted to stop the mill; but no matter how he worked, and no matter how he handled it, the mill kept grinding as fast as ever, and the heap of salt kept growing larger and larger, and at last the ship sank. The mill stands on the bottom of the sea grinding this very day, and so it comes that the sea is salt.

VOCABULARY

Adils. A king who reigned in Upsala.

Ae. A dwarf.

Æger. The god presiding over the stormy sea.

Alf. A dwarf.

Alfather. A name of Odin.

Alfheim. The home of the elves.

Alfrig. A dwarf.

Alsvid. One of the horses of the sun.

Althjof. A dwarf.

Alvis. A dwarf.

Amsvartner. The name of the lake in which the island was situated where the wolf Fenrer was chained.

Andhrimner. The cook in Valhal.

Andlang. The second heaven.

Andvare. A dwarf.

Andvare-naut. The ring in the Niblung story.

Angerboda. A giantess; mother of the Fenris-wolf.

Annar. Husband of Night and father of Jord.

Arvak. The name of one of the horses of the sun.

Asaheim. The home of the asas.

Asaland. The land of the asas.

Asas. The Teutonic gods.

Asa-thor. A common name for Thor.

Asgard. The residence of the gods.

Ask. The name of the first man created by Odin, Honer and Loder.

Aslaug. Daughter of Sigurd and Brynhild.

Asmund. A man visited by Odin.

Asynjes. The Teutonic goddesses.

Atle. Gudrun’s husband after the death of Sigurd.

Atrid. A name of Odin.

Aud. The son of Night and Naglfare.

Audhumbla. The cow that nourished the giant Ymer.

Audun. A name derived from Odin.

Aurgelmer. A giant; grandfather of Bergelmer; the same as Ymer.

Aurvang. A dwarf.

Austre. A dwarf.

Bafur. A dwarf.

Balder. Son of Odin and Frigg, slain by Hoder.

Baleyg. A name of Odin.

Bar-isle. A cool grove in which Gerd agreed with Skirner to meet Frey.

Bauge. A brother of Suttung. Odin worked for him one summer, in order to get his help in obtaining Suttung’s mead of poetry.

Beigud. One of Rolf Krake’s berserks.

Bele. A giant, brother of Gerd, slain by Frey.

Bergelmer. A giant; son of Thrudgelmer and grandson of Aurgelmer.

Berling. A dwarf.

Bestla. Wife of Bure and mother of Odin.

Biflide. A name of Odin.

Biflinde. A name of Odin.

Bifrost. The rainbow.

Bifur. A dwarf.

Bikke. A minister of Jormunrek; causes Randver to be hanged, and Svanhild trodden to death by horses.

Bil. One of the children that accompany Moon.

Bileyg. A name of Odin.

Bilskirner. Thor’s abode.

Blain. A dwarf.

Blodughofde. Frey’s horse.

Bodn. One of the three jars in which the poetic mead is kept.

Bodvar bjarke. One of Rolf Krake’s berserks.

Bol. One of the rivers flowing out of Hvergelmer.

Bolthorn. A giant; father of Bestla, mother of Odin.

Bolverk. A name of Odin.

Bombur. A dwarf.

Bor. Son of Bure; father of Odin.

Brage. A son of Odin; the best of skalds.

Breidablik. The abode of Balder.

Brimer. One of the heavenly halls after Ragnarok.

Brising. Freyja’s necklace.

Brok. A dwarf.

Brynhild. One of the chief heroines in the Niblung story.

Budle. Father of Atle and Brynhild.

Bue. A son of Vesete, who settled in Borgundarholm.

Bure. Grandfather of Odin.

Byleist. A brother of Loke.

Byrger. A well from which Bil and Hjuke were going when they were taken by Moon.

Dain. A dwarf.

Dain. One of the stags that bite the leaves of Ygdrasil.

Dainsleif. Hogne’s sword.

Day. Son of Delling.

Daybreak. The father of Day.

Delling. Daybreak.

Dolgthvare. A dwarf.

Dore. A dwarf.

Draupner. Odin’s ring.

Drome. One of the fetters with which the Fenris-wolf was chained.

Duf. A dwarf.

Duney. One of the stags that bite the leaves of Ygdrasil.

Durathro. One of the stags that bite the leaves of Ygdrasil.

Durin. A dwarf.

Dvalin. One of the stags that bite the leaves of Ygdrasil.

Dvalin. A dwarf.

Eikinskjalde. A dwarf.

Eikthyrner. A hart that stands over Odin’s hall.

Eilif. Son of Gudrun; a skald.

Eimyrja. One of the daughters of Haloge and Glod.

Eindride. A name of Thor.

Eir. An attendant of Menglod, and the best of all in the healing art.

Ekin. One of the rivers flowing from Hvergelmer.

Elder. A servant of Æger.

Eldhrimner. The kettle in which the boar Sahrimner is cooked in Valhal.

Elivogs. The ice-cold streams that flow out of Niflheim.

Eljudner. Hel’s hall.

Elle. An old woman (old age) with whom Thor wrestled in Jotunheim.

Embla. The first woman created by Odin, Honer and Loder.

Endil. The name of a giant.

Erp. A son of Jonaker, murdered by Sorle and Hamder.

Eylime. The father of Hjordis, mother of Volsung.

Eysa. One of the daughters of Haloge and Glod.

Fafner. Son of Hreidmar, killed by Sigurd.

Fal. A dwarf.

Falhofner. One of the horses of the gods.

Farbaute. The father of Loke.

Farmagod. One of the names of Odin.

Farmatyr. One of the names of Odin.

Fenja. A female slave who ground at Frode’s mill.

Fenris-wolf. The monster wolf, son of Loke.

Fensaler. The abode of Frigg.

Fid. A dwarf.

File. A dwarf.

Fimafeng. Æger’s servant.

Fimbul. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

Fimbulthul. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

Fimbul-tyr. The unknown god.

Fimbul-winter. The great and awful winter of three years duration preceding Ragnarok.

Finnsleif. A byrnie belonging to King Adils, of Upsala.

Fjalar. A dwarf.

Fjolner. A name of Odin.

Fjolsvid. A name of Odin.

Fjorgvin. The mother of Frigg and of Thor.

Fjorm. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

Folkvang. Freyja’s abode.

Form. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

Fornjot. The ancient giant; the father of Æger.

Forsete. The peace-maker; son of Balder and Nanna.

Frananger force. The waterfall into which Loke cast himself in the likeness of a salmon.

Freke. One of Odin’s wolves.

Frey. Son of Njord and husband of Skade.

Freyja. The daughter of Njord and sister of Frey.

Fridleif. A son of Skjold.

Frigg. Wife of Odin and mother of the gods.

Frode. Grandson of Skjold.

Froste. A dwarf.

Fulla. Frigg’s attendant.

Fundin. A dwarf.

Fyre. A river in Sweden.

Gagnrad. A name of Odin.

Galar. A dwarf.

Gandolf. A dwarf.

Gang. A giant.

Ganglare. A name of Odin.

Ganglate. Hel’s man-servant.

Ganglere. A name of Odin.

Ganglot. Hel’s maid-servant.

Gangrad. A name of Odin.

Gardrofa. A horse.

Garm. A dog that barks at Ragnarok.

Gaut. A name of Odin.

Gefjun. A goddess; she is present at Æger’s feast.

Gefn. One of the names of Freyja.

Geirahod. A valkyrie.

Geirrod. A giant visited by Thor.

Geir Skogul. A valkyrie.

Geirvimul. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

Gelgja. The fetter with which the Fenris-wolf was chained.

Gerd. A beautiful giantess, daughter of Gymer.

Gere. One of Odin’s wolves.

Gersame. One of the daughters of Freyja.

Gilling. Father of Suttung, who possessed the poetic mead.

Gimle. The abode of the righteous after Ragnarok.

Ginnar. A dwarf.

Ginungagap. The premundane abyss.

Gipul. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

Gisl. One of the horses of the gods.

Gjallar-bridge. The bridge across the river Gjol, near Helheim.

Gjallar-horn. Heimdal’s horn.

Gjallar-river. The river near Helheim.

Gjalp. One of the daughters of Geirrod.

Gjuke. A king in Germany, visited by Sigurd.

Gladsheim. Odin’s dwelling.

Glam. The name of a giant.

Glapsvid. A name of Odin.

Glaser. A grove in Asgard.

Gleipner. The last fetter with which the wolf Fenrer was bound.

Glener. The husband of Sol (sun).

Gler. One of the horses of the gods.

Glitner. Forsete’s hall.

Gloin. A dwarf.

Gna. Frigg’s messenger.

Gnipa-cave. The cave before which the dog Garm barks.

Gnita-heath. Fafner’s abode, where he kept the treasure of the Niblungs.

Goin. A serpent under Ygdrasil.

Gol. A valkyrie.

Goldfax. The giant Hrungner’s horse.

Gomul. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

Gondler. One of the names of Odin.

Gondul. A valkyrie.

Gopul. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

Got. A name of Odin.

Gote. Gunnar’s horse.

Gothorm. A son of Gjuke; murders Sigurd, and is slain by him.

Grabak. One of the serpents under Ygdrasil.

Grad. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

Grafvitner. A serpent under Ygdrasil.

Grafvollud. A serpent under Ygdrasil.

Gram. Sigurd’s sword.

Grane. Sigurd’s horse.

Greip. One of the daughters of Geirrod.

Grid. A giantess visited by Thor.

Gridarvol. Grid’s staff.

Grim. A name of Odin.

Grimhild. Gjuke’s queen.

Grimner. One of the names of Odin.

Grjottungard. The place where Thor fought with Hrungner.

Groa. A giantess, mother of Orvandel.

Grotte. The name of King Frode’s mill.

Gud. A valkyrie.

Gudny. One of the children of Gjuke.

Gudrun. The famous daughter of Gjuke.

Gullinburste. The name of Frey’s boar.

Gullintanne. A name of Heimdal.

Gulltop. Heimdal’s horse.

Gullveig. A personification of gold; she is pierced and burnt.

Gungner. Odin’s spear.

Gunlat. The daughter of the giant Suttung.

Gunn. A valkyrie.

Gunnar. The famous son of Gjuke.

Gunthrain. One of the rivers flowing from Hvergelmer.

Gwodan. An old name for Odin.

Gylfe. A king of Svithjod, who visited Asgard under the name of Ganglere.

Gyller. One of the horses of the gods.

Gymer. Another name of the ocean divinity Æger.

Habrok. A celebrated hero.

Hallinskide. Another name of Heimdal.

Haloge. A giant, son of Fornjot; also called Loge.

Hamder. Son of Jonaker and Gudrun, incited by his mother to avenge his sister’s death.

Hamskerper. A horse; the sire of Hofvarpner, which was Gna’s horse.

Hangagod. A name of Odin.

Hangatyr. A name of Odin.

Haptagod. A name of Odin.

Har. The High One; applied to Odin.

Harbard. A name assumed by Odin.

Hate. The wolf bounding before the sun, and will at last catch the moon.

Heide. Another name for Gullveig.

Heidrun. A goat that stands over Valhal.

Heimdal. The god of the rainbow.

Heimer. Brynhild’s foster-father.

Hel. The goddess of death; daughter of Loke.

Helblinde. A name of Odin.

Helmet-bearer. A name of Odin.

Hengekjapt. The man to whom King Frode gave his mill.

Hepte. A dwarf.

Heran. A name of Odin.

Herfather. A name of Odin.

Herjan. A name of Odin.

Hermod. The god who rode on Sleipner to Hel, to get Balder back.

Herteit. A name of Odin.

Hild. A valkyrie.

Hildesvin. A helmet, which King Adils took from King Ale.

Himinbjorg. Heimdal’s dwelling.

Hindfell. The place where Brynhild sat in her hall, surrounded by the Vafurloge.

Hjalmbore. A name of Odin.

Hjalprek. A king in Denmark; collects a fleet for Sigurd.

Hjatle the valiant. One of Rolf Krake’s berserks.

Hjordis. Married to Sigmund, and mother of Sigurd.

Hjuke. One of the children that accompany Moon.

Hledjolf. A dwarf.

Hler. Another name of Æger.

Hlidskjalf. The seat of Odin, whence he looked out over all the world.

Hlin. One of the attendants of Frigg; Frigg herself is sometimes called by this name.

Hlodyn. Thor’s mother.

Hlok. A valkyrie.

Hloride. A name of Thor.

Hniker. A name of Odin.

Hnikud. A name of Odin.

Hnitbjorg. The place where Suttung hid the poetic mead.

Hnos. Freyja’s daughter.

Hoder. The slayer of Balder; he is blind.

Hodmimer’s-holt. The grove where the two human beings, Lif and Lifthraser, were preserved during Ragnarok.

Hofvarpner. Gna’s horse.

Hogne. A son of Gjuke.

Honer. One of the three creating gods; with Odin and Loder he creates Ask and Embla.

Hor. A dwarf.

Horn. A name of Freyja.

Hrasvelg. A giant in an eagle’s plumage, who produces the wind.

Hreidmar. The father of Regin and Fafner.

Hrib. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

Hrimfaxe. The horse of Night.

Hringhorn. The ship upon which Balder’s body was burned.

Hrist. A valkyrie.

Hrodvitner. A wolf; father of the wolf Hate.

Hron. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer.

Hroptatyr. A name of Odin.

Hrotte. Fafner’s sword.

Hrungner. A giant; Thor slew him.

Hrym. A giant, who steers the ship Naglfar at Ragnarok.

Hvergelmer. The fountain in the middle of Niflheim.

Huge. A person (Thought) who ran a race with Thjalfe, in Jotunheim.

Hugist. One of Odin’s ravens.

Hugstore. A dwarf.

Hymer. A giant with whom Thor went fishing when he caught the Midgard-serpent.

Hyndla. A vala visited by Freyja.

Hyrroken. A giantess who launched the ship on which Balder was burned.

Ida. A plain where the gods first assemble, and where they assemble again after Ragnarok.

Idavold. The same.

Ide. A giant, son of Olvalde.

Idun. Wife of Brage; she kept the rejuvenating apples.

Ironwood. The abode of giantesses called Jarnveds.

Iva. A river in Jotunheim.

Ivald. The father of the dwarfs that made Sif’s hair, the ship Skidbladner, and Odin’s spear Gungner.

Jafnhar. A name of Odin.

Jalg. A name of Odin.

Jalk. A name of Odin.

Jarnsaxa. One of Heimdal’s nine giant mothers.

Jarnved. The same as Ironwood.

Jarnvidjes. The giantesses dwelling in Ironwood.

Jord. Wife of Odin, mother of Thor.

Jormungand. The Midgard-serpent.

Jormunrek. King of Goths, marries Svanhild.

Joruvold. The country where Aurvang is situated. Thence come several dwarfs.

Jotunheim. The home of the giants.

Kerlaugs. The rivers that Thor every day must cross.

Kile. A dwarf.

Kjaler. A name of Odin.

Kormt. A river which Thor every day must cross.

Kvaser. The hostage given by the vans to the asas; his blood, when slain, was the poetical meed kept by Suttung.

Lading. One of the fetters with which the Fenris-wolf was bound.

Landvide. Vidar’s abode.

Laufey. Loke’s mother.

Leipt. One of the rivers flowing out of Hvergelmer.

Lerad. A tree near Valhal.

Letfet. One of the horses of the gods.

Lit. A dwarf.

Ljosalfaheim. The home of the light elves.

Loder. One of the three gods who created Ask and Embla.

Lofn. One of the asynjes.

Loge. A giant who tried his strength at eating with Loke in Jotunheim.

Loke. The giant-god of the Norse mythology.

Lopt. Another name for Loke.

Lovar. A dwarf.

Lyngve. The island where the Fenris-wolf was chained.

Magne. A son of Thor.

Mannheim. The home of man; our earth.

Mardol. One of the names of Freyja.

Megingjarder. Thor’s belt.

Meile. A son of Odin.

Menglad. Svipdag’s betrothed.

Menja. A female slave who ground at Frode’s mill.

Midgard. The name of the earth in the mythology.

Midvitne. A giant.

Mimer. The name of the wise giant; keeper of the holy well.

Mist. A valkyrie.

Mjodvitner. A dwarf.

Mjolner. Thorn’s hammer.

Mjotud. A name of Odin.

Mode. One of Thor’s sons.