Popular Tales from the Norse Part 72

The following are translations from Saxo, the _Wilkina Saga_, and the _Malleus Maleficarum_. The question is completely set at rest by Grimm, _D. M._ p. 353 fol. and p. 1214.

'Nor is the following story to be wrapped in silence. A certain Palnatoki, for some time among King Harold's bodyguard, had made his bravery odious to very many of his fellow-soldiers by the zeal with which he surpa.s.sed them in the discharge of his duty. This man once, when talking tipsily over his cups, had boasted that he was so skilled an archer, that he could hit the smallest apple placed a long way off on a wand at the first shot; which talk, caught up at first by the ears of backbiters, soon came to the hearing of the king. Now, mark how the wickedness of the king turned the confidence of the sire to the peril of the son, by commanding that this dearest pledge of his life should be placed instead of the wand, with a threat that, unless the author of this promise could strike off the apple at the first flight of the arrow, he should pay the penalty of his empty boasting by the loss of his head. The king's command forced the soldier to perform more than he had promised, and what he _had_ said, reported by the tongues of slanderers, bound him to accomplish what he had _not_ said'...'Nor did his sterling courage, though caught in the snare of slander, suffer him to lay aside his firmness of heart; nay, he accepted the trial the more readily because it was hard. So Palnatoki warned the boy urgently when he took his stand to await the coming of the hurtling arrow with calm ears and unbent head, lest by a slight turn of his body he should defeat the practised skill of the bowman; and, taking further counsel to prevent his fear, he turned away his face lest he should be scared at the sight of the weapon. Then taking three arrows from the quiver, he struck the mark given him with the first he fitted to the string.

But, if chance had brought the head of the boy before the shaft, no doubt the penalty of the son would have recoiled to the peril of the father, and the swerving of the shaft that struck the boy would have linked them both in common ruin. I am in doubt, then, whether to admire most the courage of the father or the temper of the son, of whom the one by skill in his art avoided being the slayer of his child, while the other by patience of mind and quietness of body saved himself alive, and spared the natural affection of his father.

Nay, the youthful frame strengthened the aged heart, and showed as much courage in awaiting the arrow as the father, skill in launching it. But Palnatoki, when asked by the king why he had taken more arrows from the quiver, when it had been settled that he should only try the fortune of the bow _once_, made answer "That I might avenge on thee the swerving of the first by the points of the rest, lest perchance my innocence might have been punished, while your violence escaped scot-free"'.--_Saxo Gram._, Book X, (p. 166, ed. Frankf.)

'About that time the young Egill, Wayland's brother, came to the court of King Nidung, because Wayland (Smith) had sent him word.

Egill was the fairest of men and one thing he had before all other men--he shot better with the bow than any other man. The king took to him well, and Egill was there a long time. Now, the king wished to try whether Egill shot so well as was said or not, so he let Egill's son, a boy of three years old, be taken, and made them put an apple on his head, and bade Egill shoot so that the shaft struck neither above the head nor to the left nor to the right; the apple only was he to split. But it was not forbidden him to shoot the boy, for the king thought it certain that he would do that on no account if he could at all help it. And he was to shoot one arrow only, no more. So Egill takes three, and strokes their feathers smooth, and fits one to his string, and shoots and hits the apple in the middle, so that the arrow took along with it half the apple, and then fell to the ground.

This master-shot has long been talked about, and the king made much of him, and he was the most famous of men. Now, King Nidung asked Egill why he took out _three_ arrows, when it was settled that one only was to be shot with. Then Egill answered "Lord", said he, "I will not lie to you; had I stricken the lad with that one arrow, then I had meant these two for you." But the king took that well from him, and all thought it was boldly spoken'.--_Wilkina Saga_, ch. 27 (ed. Pering).

'It is related of him (Puncher) that a certain lord, who wished to obtain a sure trial of his skill, set up his little son as a b.u.t.t, and for a mark a s.h.i.+lling on the boy's cap, commanding him to carry off the s.h.i.+lling without the cap with his arrow. But when the wizard said he could do it, though he would rather abstain, lest the Devil should decoy him to destruction; still, being led on by the words of the chief, he thrust one arrow through his collar, and, fitting the other to his crossbow, struck off the coin from the boy's cap without doing him any harm; seeing which, when the lord asked the wizard why he had placed the arrow in his collar? he answered "If by the Devil's deceit I had slain the boy, when I needs must die, I would have transfixed you suddenly with the other arrow, that even so I might have avenged my death."'--_Malleus Malef._, p. ii, ch. 16.

[6]

See _Pantcha-Tantra_, v. ii of Wilson's _a.n.a.lysis_, quoted by Loiseleur Deslongchamps, _Essai sur les Fables Indiennes_ (Paris, Techener, 1838, p. 54), where the animal that protects the child is a mangouste (Viverra Mungo). See also _Hitopadesa_, (Max Muller's Translation, Leipzig, Brockhaus, p. 178) where the guardian is an otter. In both the foe is a snake. [7]

The account in the _Nibelungen_ respecting the _Tarnhut_ is confused, and the text probably corrupt; but so much is plain, that Siegfried got it from Elberich in the struggle which ensued with Schilbung and Niblung, after he had shared the h.o.a.rd.

[8]

Thus we find it in the originals or the parallels of Grendel in _Beowulf_, of Rumpelstiltskin, of the recovery of the Bride by the ring dropped into the cup, as related in 'Soria Moria Castle,'

and other tales; of the 'wis.h.i.+ng ram', which in the Indian story becomes a 'wis.h.i.+ng cow', and thus reminds us of the bull in one of these Norse Tales, out of whose ear came a 'wis.h.i.+ng cloth'; of the lucky child, who finds a purse of gold under his pillow every morning; and of the red lappet sown on the sleeping lover, as on Siegfried in the _Nibelungen_. The devices of Upakosa, the faithful wife, remind us at once of 'the Master-maid', and the whole of the stories of Saktideva and the Golden City, and of Viduschaka, King Adityasena's daughter, are the same in groundwork and in many of their incidents as 'East o' the Sun, and West o' the Moon', 'the Three Princesses of Whiteland', and 'Soria Moria Castle'.

[9]

Kolle, _Kanuri Proverbs and Fables_ (London Church Missionary House, 1854), a book of great philological interest, and one which reflects great credit on the religious society by which it was published.

[10]

Notte Duodecima. Favola terza. 'Pederigo da Pozzuolo che intendeva il linguaggio de gli animali, astretto dalla moglie dirle un segreto, quella stranamente batte.'

[11]

The story of the Two Brothers Anesou and Satou, from the _D'Orbiney Papyrus_, by De Ronge, Paris, 1852.

[12]

See the Ananzi Stories in the Appendix, which have been taken down from the mouth of a West Indian nurse.

[13]

See _Anecd. and Trad._, Camd. Soc. 1839, pp. 92 fol. See also the pa.s.sages from Anglo-Saxon laws against 'well-waking', which Grimm has collected: _D. M._, p. 550.

[14]

One of Odin's names, when on these adventures, was Gangradr, or Gangleri. Both mean 'the _Ganger_, or way-farer'. We have the latter epithet in the '_Gangrel_ carle', and '_Gangrel loon_', of the early Scotch ballads.

[15]

So also Orion's Belt was called by the Nors.e.m.e.n, Frigga's spindle or _rock, Friggjar rock_. In modern Swedish, _Friggerock_, where the old G.o.ddess holds her own; but in Danish, _Mariaerock_, Our Lady's rock or spindle. Thus, too, _Karlavagn_, the 'car of men', or heroes, who rode with Odin, which we call 'Charles' Wain', thus keeping something, at least, of the old name, though none of its meaning, became in Scotland 'Peter's-pleugh', from the Christian saint, just as Orion's sword became 'Peter's-staff'. But what do 'Lady Landers' and 'Lady Ellison'

mean, as applied to the 'Lady-Bird' in Scotland?

[16]

Here are a few of these pa.s.sages which might be much extended: Burchard of Worms, p. 194, a. 'credidisti ut aliqua femina sit quae hoc facere possit quod quaedam a diabolo deceptae se affirmant necessario et ex praecepto facere debere; id est c.u.m daemonum turba in similitudinem mulierum transformata, quam vulgaris stult.i.tia _Holdam_ vocat, certis noctibus equitare debere super quasdam bestias, et in eorum se consortio annumeratam esse.'

'Illud etiam non omittendum, quod quasdam sceleratae mulieres retro post Sathanam conversae, daemonum illusionibus et phantasmatibus seductae credunt se et profitentur nocturnis horis c.u.m _Diana_ paganorum dea, vel c.u.m _Herodiade_ et innumera mult.i.tudine mulierum equitare super quasdam bestias, et multa terrarum spatia intempestae noctis silentio pertransire, ejusque jussionibus velut _Dominae_ obedire et certis noctibus ad ejus servitium evocari.'

--Burchard of Worms, 10, I.

'Quale est, quod noctilucam quandam, vel _Herodiadem_, vel praesidem noctis Dominam concilia et conventus de nocte a.s.serunt convocare, varia celebrari convivia, etc.'--Joh. Sarisberiensis Polycrat. 2, 17 (died 1182).

'_Herodiam_ illam baptistae Christi interfectricem, quasi reginam, immo deam proponant, a.s.serentes tertiam totius mundi partem illi traditam.'--Rather. Cambrens. (died 974).

'Sic et daemon qui praetextu mulieris c.u.m aliis de nocte, domos et cellaria dicitur frequentare, et vocant eam _Satiam_ a satietate, et _Dominam Abundiam_ pro abundantia, quam eam praestare dic.u.n.t domibus quas frequentaverit; hujusmodi etiam daemones quas _dominas vocant_, vetulae penes quas error iste remansit et a quibus solis creditur et somniatur.'--Guilielmus Alvernus, 1, 1036 (died 1248).

So also the Roman de la Rose (Meon line 18, 622.)

Qui les cinc sens ainsinc decoit Par les fantosmes, qu'il recoit,

Don maintes gens par lor folie Cuident estre par nuit estries, _Errans_ aveques _Dame Habonde_: Et dient, que par tout le monde _Li tiers enfant_ de nacion _Sunt de ceste condicion._

And again, line 18,686:

Dautre part, _que li tiers du monde_ _Aille_ ainsinc _eavec Dame Habonde_.

[17]

See the derivation of _pagan_ from paga.n.u.s, one who lived in the country, as opposed to urba.n.u.s, a townsman.

[18]

Keisersberg Omeiss, 46 b., quoted by Grimm, _D.M._ pp. 991, says:

Wen man em man verbrent, so brent man wol zehen frauen.

[19]

See the pa.s.sage from Vincent, _Bellov. Spec. Mor._, iii, 2, 27, quoted in Grimm, _D. M._ pp. 1,012-3.

[20]

The following pa.s.sage from _The Fortalice of Faith_ of Alphonso Spina, written about the year 1458, will suffice to show how disgustingly the Devil, in the form of a goat, had supplanted the 'Good Lady': Quia nimium abundant tales perversae mulieres ine Delphinatu et Guasconia, ubi se a.s.serunt concurrere de nocte in quadam planitie deserta ubi est _caper quidam in rupe_, qui vulgariter dicitur _el boch de Biterne_ et clued ibi _conveniunt c.u.m candelis accensis et adorant illum caprum osculpntes eum in ano suo_. Ideo captae plures earum, ab inquisitoribus fidei et convictae comburuntur.'

About the same time, too, began to spread the notion of formal written agreements between the Fiend and men who were to be his after a certain time, during which he was to help them to all earthly goods. This, too, came with Christianity from the East. The first instance was Theophilus, vicedominus of the Bishop of Adana, whose fall and conversion form the original of all the Faust Legends. See Grimm, D. M. 969, and 'Theophilus in Icelandic, Low German, and other tongues, by G. W. Dasent, Stockholm, 1845.' There a complete account of the literature of the legend may be found. In almost all these early cases the Fiend is outwitted by the help of the Virgin or some other saint, and in this way the reader is reminded of the Norse Devil, the successor of the Giants, who always makes bad bargains.

When the story was applied to Faust in the sixteenth century, the terrible Middle Age Devil was paramount, and knew how to exact his due.

[21]

How strangely full of common sense sounds the following article from the Capitularies of Charlemagne, _De part. Sax._, 5: