Tale and Mythology

counterpart of Shu, represents rain, dew, and moisture. We have already seen that these twin gods proceeded from Khepera, and the words which are used to express the idea of emission, i.e., dshesh D, aand n tef ' D indicate the processes by which they came into being as separate entities. The creation of Shu made a space between the heavens and the/ earth into which the Eye of Nu could rise from out of the waters and shine, and because the sunlight immediately followed the creation of Shu that god is sometimes identified with light, and is regarded as its personification. The general sense of the passage under discussion makes it necessary to assume that Nu is identified with Khepera, and vice versd.  The next passage refers to the creation of man, and the god, presumably Khepera, says, "Now after these things, I united my "members, and I wept over them, and men and women came into "being from the tears which came forth from my eye." Of this passage there ar...

The legend of Wayland runs as follows: Once upon a time there were three brothers, named Slagfinn, Egil, and Wayland; their father was king of the Finns. It so befell that they went out on their skis to hunt and came to a place called Wolf Dales, lying near a body of water called Wolf Lake; there they built themselves a house. One morning they chanced to see three beautiful women sitting on the shore weaving linen; beside them lay their swan cloaks, by which token the brothers knew them to be Valkyries. They carried the three women home and wedded them. Slagfinn took to wife Ladgunn Swanwhite; Wayland took Hervor Allwise; and Egil took Olrun. The first two were the daughters of king Lodvi, and the third a daughter of king Kiar of Valland. When they had lived together seven years, a longing for battle came over the Valkyries, and in the absence of the brothers they flew away. Egil and Slagfinn at once set out in search of their wives; Wayland remained alone at home in the Wolf Dale...

Just as Thor was accustomed to make adventurous sorties in order to discomfit the Giants with material weapons, so Odin from time to time undertook to match wits with them; to this end he would send out challenges inviting them to try their wisdom against his own. Among the Giants was an old wiseacre named Vafthrudnir, famous for his knowledge of the ancient history of the universe and of the gods themselves; with him Odin wished to debate for mastery. Frigg begged him to forgo his purpose on the plea that no one could compete with Vafthrudnir; but since Odin was determined, Frigg could do nothing else than wish him luck and express the hope that his wisdom would not be found wanting in the hour of trial. Odin accordingly sought out Vafthrudnir; presenting himself under the name of Gagnrad,1 he let it be known that he had come to discover whether Vafthrudnir was really so wise as rumor had made him out to be. “You shall not escape from my hall,” said Vafthrudnir, “if your wisdom d...

The death of Kvasir occasioned the dissemination among men of a knowledge of the poetic arts. It happened in the following manner: Kvasir was in the habit of journeying hither and thither in the world for the purpose of teaching wisdom to men. Once upon a time he was invited to visit the home of the Dwarfs Fjalar and Galar; they begged permission to speak a word or two with him in private, and promptly killed him. His blood they allowed to drip into two crocks and a kettle; then they mixed honey with the blood and from this pottage they brewed a mead possessing the peculiar virtue that whoever should drink of it would become a skald or a soothsayer. The two crocks are called Son and Bodn, and the kettle Odrœrir. The Dwarfs told the Æsir that Kvasir had been drowned in his own perfect wisdom, no man being wise enough to match wits with him. Some time later the Dwarfs invited into their home a Giant named Gilling and his wife. The Dwarfs asked the Giant to row out to sea to fish w...

When Ægir had got possession of the huge kettle borrowed by Thor from Hymir, he prepared a great banquet for the Æsir.1 Odin was one of the guests; others were Frigg, Sif, Bragi, Idun, Tyr, Njord, Skadi, Frey, Freyja, Vidar, Frey’s serving men, Byggvir and Beyla, with a host of other Æsir and Elves besides. Loki also made one of the number, but Thor was absent on an expedition to the east. Radiant gold lit the room instead of tapers, and the ale poured forth of itself without the aid of any cupbearer. Ægir’s servants, Eldir and Fimafeng, were praised highly on every hand for the skilful performance of their duty. Hereat Loki grew angry and killed Fimafeng, although the spot was holy ground. The Æsir brandished their shields, raised an outcry against Loki, and drove him out into the forest; then they sat down to their drinking. Loki nevertheless shortly returned and, meeting Eldir outside the hall, asked him what the Æsir were discoursing about over their cups. “They are speaking o...

The story of Thor’s visit to the Giant Hymir is told in verse in a poem of the Poetic Edda (Hymiskviða) and in prose in Snorri’s Edda. In the Eddic poem the myth begins by recounting how the gods, gathered at a banquet given by Ægir, discovered through magic arts that he had in his possession a huge number of kettles. Thor hinted to Ægir that he was inferior to the Æsir, and in revenge Ægir asked Thor to go out and find a kettle large enough to brew ale for all the Æsir at one time. No one had heard of a kettle of this size, until finally Tyr let it be known that his father (his mother’s father?), the Giant Hymir, who lived to the eastward of the Elivagar, had one that was a mile deep; but it was impossible for any one to get hold of it without trickery. Thor and Tyr accordingly drove away from Asgard and in due course arrived at the house of man named Egil; there they stabled the goats and continued on foot to Hymir’s farm, only to discover that he had gone out hunting. On walkin...

Thor, god of thunder, was the most ardent enemy of the Giants; yet he did not always come out the victor in his encounters with them. Once upon a time he drove off with his goats, attended by Loki; as night fell, they found lodging with a countryman. Here Thor slaughtered his goats, flayed them, and caused them to be cooked; then he invited the countryman, with his wife, his son, and his daughter, to share the meat with him, but asked them to throw all the bones down on the goats’ hides. They did as he bade them, all but Thjalfi, the farmer’s son, who broke a thigh bone to get at the marrow. At dawn Thor rose, donned his garments, raised Mjollnir aloft, and with the hammer consecrated the goats’ hides; at once the goats sprang to their feet, as much alive as ever, except that one of them halted on one hind leg. Then Thor understood that the countryman or some one in his house had been careless enough to break the thigh bone; in anger he knitted his eyebrows and gripped the hammer ...