Myths of the Norsemen Part 15

Lay of Grimnir (Thorpe's tr.).

Isolated from her beloved companions, Idun pined, grew pale and sad, but persistently refused to give Thia.s.si the smallest bite of her magic fruit, which, as he well knew, would make him beautiful and renew his strength and youth.

"All woes that fall On Odin's hall Can be traced to Loki base.

From out Valhalla's portal 'Twas he who pure Iduna lured,-- Whose casket fair Held apples rare That render G.o.ds immortal,-- And in Thia.s.si's tower immured."

Valhalla (J. C. Jones).

Time pa.s.sed. The G.o.ds, thinking that Idun had accompanied her husband and would soon return, at first paid no heed to her departure, but little by little the beneficent effect of the last feast of apples pa.s.sed away. They began to feel the approach of old age, and saw their youth and beauty disappear; so, becoming alarmed, they began to search for the missing G.o.ddess.

Close investigation revealed the fact that she had last been seen in Loki's company, and when Odin sternly called him to account, he was forced to admit that he had betrayed her into the storm-giant's power.

"By his mocking, scornful mien, Soon in Valhal it was seen 'Twas the traitor Loki's art Which had led Idun apart To gloomy tower And Jotun power."

Valhalla (J. C. Jones).

The Return of Idun

The att.i.tude of the G.o.ds now became very menacing, and it was clear to Loki that if he did not devise means to restore the G.o.ddess, and that soon, his life would be in considerable danger.

He a.s.sured the indignant G.o.ds, therefore, that he would leave no stone unturned in his efforts to secure the release of Idun, and, borrowing Freya's falcon plumage, he flew off to Thrym-heim, where he found Idun alone, sadly mourning her exile from Asgard and her beloved Bragi. Changing the fair G.o.ddess into a nut according to some accounts, or according to others, into a swallow, Loki grasped her tightly between his claws, and then rapidly retraced his way to Asgard, hoping that he would reach the shelter of its high walls ere Thia.s.si returned from a fis.h.i.+ng excursion in the Northern seas to which he had gone.

Meantime the G.o.ds had a.s.sembled on the ramparts of the heavenly city, and they were watching for the return of Loki with far more anxiety than they had felt for Odin when he went in search of Od-hroerir. Remembering the success of their ruse on that occasion, they had gathered great piles of fuel, which they were ready to set on fire at any moment.

Suddenly they saw Loki coming, but descried in his wake a great eagle. This was the giant Thia.s.si who had suddenly returned to Thrym-heim and found that his captive had been carried off by a falcon, in whom he readily recognised one of the G.o.ds. Hastily donning his eagle plumes he had given immediate chase and was rapidly overtaking his prey. Loki redoubled his efforts as he neared the walls of Asgard, and ere Thia.s.si overtook him he reached the goal and sank exhausted in the midst of the G.o.ds. Not a moment was lost in setting fire to the acc.u.mulated fuel, and as the pursuing Thia.s.si pa.s.sed over the walls in his turn, the flames and smoke brought him to the ground crippled and half stunned, an easy prey to the G.o.ds, who fell ruthlessly upon him and slew him.

The aesir were overjoyed at the recovery of Idun, and they hastened to partake of the precious apples which she had brought safely back. Feeling the return of their wonted strength and good looks with every mouthful they ate, they good-naturedly declared that it was no wonder if even the giants longed to taste the apples of perpetual youth. They vowed therefore that they would place Thia.s.si's eyes as a constellation in the heavens, in order to soften any feeling of anger which his kinsmen might experience upon learning that he had been slain.

"Up I cast the eyes Of Allvaldi's son Into the heaven's serene: They are signs the greatest Of my deeds."

Lay of Harbard (Thorpe's tr.).

The G.o.ddess of Spring

The physical explanation of this myth is obvious. Idun, the emblem of vegetation, is forcibly carried away in autumn, when Bragi is absent and the singing of the birds has ceased. The cold wintry wind, Thia.s.si, detains her in the frozen, barren north, where she cannot thrive, until Loki, the south wind, brings back the seed or the swallow, which are both precursors of the returning spring. The youth, beauty, and strength conferred by Idun are symbolical of Nature's resurrection in spring after winter's sleep, when colour and vigour return to the earth, which had grown wrinkled and grey.

Idun Falls to the Nether World

As the disappearance of Idun (vegetation) was a yearly occurrence, we might expect to find other myths dealing with the striking phenomenon, and there is another favourite of the old scalds which, unfortunately, has come down to us only in a fragmentary and very incomplete form. According to this account, Idun was once sitting upon the branches of the sacred ash Yggdrasil when, growing suddenly faint, she loosed her hold and dropped to the ground beneath, and down to the lowest depths of Nifl-heim. There she lay, pale and motionless, gazing with fixed and horror-struck eyes upon the gruesome sights of Hel's realm, trembling violently the while, like one overcome by penetrating cold.

"In the dales dwells The prescient Dis, From Yggdrasil's Ash sunk down, Of alfen race, Idun by name, The youngest of Ivaldi's Elder children.

She ill brooked Her descent Under the h.o.a.r tree's Trunk confined.

She would not happy be With Norvi's daughter, Accustomed to a pleasanter Abode at home."

Odin's Ravens' Song (Thorpe's tr.).

Seeing that she did not return, Odin bade Bragi, Heimdall, and another of the G.o.ds go in search of her, giving them a white wolfskin to envelop her in, so that she should not suffer from the cold, and bidding them make every effort to rouse her from the stupor which his prescience told him had taken possession of her.

"A wolf's skin they gave her, In which herself she clad."

Odin's Ravens' Song (Thorpe's tr.).

Idun pa.s.sively allowed the G.o.ds to wrap her in the warm wolfskin, but she persistently refused to speak or move, and from her strange manner her husband sadly suspected that she had had a vision of great ills. The tears ran continuously down her pallid cheeks, and Bragi, overcome by her unhappiness, at length bade the other G.o.ds return to Asgard without him, vowing that he would remain beside his wife until she was ready to leave Hel's dismal realm. The sight of her woe oppressed him so sorely that he had no heart for his usual merry songs, and the strings of his harp were mute while he remained in the underworld.

"That voice-like zephyr o'er flow'r meads creeping, Like Bragi's music his harp strings sweeping."

Viking Tales of the North (R. B. Anderson).

In this myth Idun's fall from Yggdrasil is symbolical of the autumnal falling of the leaves, which lie limp and helpless on the cold bare ground until they are hidden from sight under the snow, represented by the wolfskin, which Odin, the sky, sends down to keep them warm; and the cessation of the birds' songs is further typified by Bragi's silent harp.

CHAPTER VIII: NIoRD

A Hostage with the G.o.ds

We have already seen how the aesir and Vanas exchanged hostages after the terrible war they had waged against each other, and that while Hoenir, Odin's brother, went to live in Vana-heim, Niord, with his two children, Frey and Freya, definitely took up his abode in Asgard.

"In Vana-heim Wise powers him created, And to the G.o.ds a hostage gave."

Lay of Vafthrudnir (Thorpe's tr.).

As ruler of the winds, and of the sea near the sh.o.r.e, Niord was given the palace of Noatn, near the seash.o.r.e, where, we are told, he stilled the terrible tempests stirred up by aegir, G.o.d of the deep sea.