Part 4

The condition in which the traditions of the great Volund (Wayland) have come down to our time is one of the many examples illustrating how, under the influences of a change of faith, a myth disrobes itself of its purely mythical character and becomes a heroic saga. The nature of the mythic traditions and songs is not at once obliterated in the time of transition; there remain marks of their original nature in some or other of the details as proof of what they have been. Thus that fragment of a Volund saga, turned into an epic, which the Old Norse literature has preserved for us in Völundarkviða, shows us that the artist who is the hero of the song was originally conceived not as a son of man, but as a member of the mythic race of elves which in Völuspá is mentioned in connection with the Asas (hvað er með ásum, hvað er með álfum? - str. 48). Volund is an elf-prince (álfa vísi, álfa ljóði - Völundarkviða 11, 14), and, as shall be shown below, when we come to consider the Volund myth exhaustively, he and his brothers and their mistresses have played parts of the very greatest importance in the epic of Teutonic mythology. Under such circumstances it follows that the other persons appearing in Völundarkviða also were originally mythical characters.

One of these is called Niðaður (Niðuður), king of Njarar, and I am now to investigate who this Niðaður was in the mythology.

When Volund for the first time appears by this name in the Elder Edda, he is sojourning in a distant country, to which it is impossible to come without traversing the Myrkwood forest famous in the mythology (see No. 78). It is a snow-clad country, the home of bears and wolves. Volund gets his subsistence by hunting on skees. The Old English poem, "Deor the Scald's Complaint," confirms that this region was regarded as very cold (cp. vintercealde vræce). In Völundarkviða it is called Wolfdales (Úlfdalir).

Volund stays here many years in company with his two brothers and with three swan-maids, their mistresses or wives, but finally alone. Volund passes the time in smithying, until he is suddenly attacked by Niðaður (Niðuður), "the Njara-king" (Völundarkviða 7), who puts him in chains and robs him of two extraordinary treasures - a sword and an arm-ring. Seven hundred arm-rings hung in a string in Volund's hall; but this one alone seemed to be worth more than all the rest, and it alone was desired by Niðaður (str. 8, 9, 17).

Before Volund went to the Wolfdales, he had lived with his people a happy life in a land abounding in gold (str. 14). Not voluntarily, but from dire necessity he had exchanged his home for the distant wilderness of the Wolfdales. "Deor the Scald's Complaint" says he was an exile (Veland him be vurman vreces cannade). A German saga of the middle ages, "Anhang des Heldenbuchs," confirms this statement. Wieland (Volund), it is there said, "was a duke who was banished by two giants, who took his land from him," whereupon "he was stricken with poverty," and "became a smith". The Völundarkviða does not have much to say about the reason for his sojourn in the Wolfdales, but strophe 28 informs us that, previous to his arrival there, he had suffered an injustice, of which he speaks as the worst and the most revenge-demanding which he, the unhappy and revengeful man, ever experienced. But he has had no opportunity of demanding satisfaction, when he finally succeeds in getting free from Niðaður's chains. Who those mythic persons are that have so cruelly insulted him and filled his heart with unquenchable thirst for revenge is not mentioned; but in the very nature of the case those persons from whose persecutions he has fled must have been mightier than he, and as he himself is a chief in the godlike clan of elves, his foes are naturally to be looked for among the more powerful races of gods.

And as Völundarkviða pictures him as boundlessly and recklessly revengeful, and makes him resort to his extraordinary skill as a smith - a skill famous among all Teutonic tribes - in the satisfaction which he demands of Niðaður, there is no room for doubt that, during the many years he spent in Wolfdales, he brooded on plans of revenge against those who had most deeply insulted him, and that he made use of his art to secure instruments for the carrying out of these plans. Of the glittering sword of which Niðaður robbed him, Volund says (str. 18) that he had applied his greatest skill in making it hard and keen. The sword must, therefore, have been one of the most excellent ones mentioned in the songs of Teutonic heathendom. Far down in the middle ages, the songs and sagas were fond of attributing the best and most famous swords wielded by their heroes to the skill of Volund.

In the myths turned by Saxo into history, there has been mentioned a sword of a most remarkable kind, of untold value (ingens præmium), and attended by success in battle (belli fortuna comitaretur). A hero whose name Saxo Latinised into Hotherus (Hist. Dan., beginning of Book III) got into enmity with the Asa-gods, and the only means with which he can hope to cope with them is the possession of this sword. He also knows where to secure it, and with its aid he succeeds in putting Thor himself and other gods to flight.

In order to get possession of this sword, Hotherus had to make a journey which reminds us of the adventurous expeditions already described to Gudmund-Mimir's domain, but with this difference, that he does not need to go by sea along the coast of Norway in order to get there, which circumstance is sufficiently explained by the fact that, according to Saxo, Hotherus has his home in Sweden. The regions which Hotherus has to traverse are pathless, full of obstacles, and for the greater part continually in the cold embrace of the severest frost. They are traversed by mountain-ridges on which the cold is terrible, and therefore they must be crossed as rapidly as possible with the aid of "yoke-stags". The sword is kept concealed in a specus, a subterranean cave, and "mortals" can scarcely cross its threshold (haud facile mortalibus patere posse). The being which is the ward of the sword in this cave is by Saxo called Mimingus.

The question now is, whether the sword smithied by Volund and the one fetched by Hotherus are identical or not. The former is smithied in a winter-cold country beyond Myrkwood, where the mythic Niðaður suddenly appears, takes possession of it, and the purpose for which it was made, judging from all circumstances, was that Volund with its aid was to conquer the hated powers which, stronger than he, the chief of elves, had compelled him to take refuge to the Wolfdales. If these powers were Asas or Vans, then it follows that Volund must have thought himself able to give to his sword qualities that could render it dangerous to the world of gods, although the latter had Thor's hammer and other subterranean weapons at their disposal. The sword captured by Hotherus is said to possess those very qualities which we might look for in the Volund weapon, and the regions he has to traverse in order to get possession of it refer, by their cold and remoteness, to a land similar to that where Niðaður surprises Volund, and takes from him the dangerous sword.

As already stated, Nidad at the same time captured an armring of an extraordinary kind. If the saga about Volund and his sword was connected with the saga-fragment turned into history by Saxo concerning Hotherus and the sword, whose owner he becomes, then we might reasonably expect that the precious arm-ring, too, should appear in the latter saga. And we do find it there. Mimingus, who guards the sword of victory, also guards a wonderful arm-ring, and through Saxo we learn what quality makes this particular arm-ring so precious, that Nidad does not seem to care about the other seven hundred which he finds in Volund's workshop. Saxo says: Eidem (Mimingo) quoque armillam esse mira quadam arcanaque virtute possessoris opes augere solitam. "In the arm-ring there dwells a wonderful and mysterious power, which increases the wealth of its possessor." In other words, it is a smith's work, the rival of the ring Draupnir, from which eight similar rings drop every ninth night. This explains why Volund's smithy contains so many rings, that Nidad expresses his suspicious wonderment (str. 14).

There are therefore strong reasons for assuming that the sword and the ring, which Hotherus takes from Mimingus, are the same sword and ring as Nidad before took from Volund, and that the saga, having deprived Volund of the opportunity of testing the quality of the weapon himself in conflict with the gods, wanted to indicate what it really amounted to in a contest with Thor and his hammer by letting the sword come into the hands of Hotherus, another foe of the Asas. As we now find such articles as those captured by Nidad reappearing in the hands of a certain Mimingus, the question arises whether Mimingus is Nidad himself or some one of Nidad's subjects; for that they either are identical, or are in some way connected with each other, seems to follow from the fact that the one is said to possess what the other is said to have captured. Mimingus is a Latinising of Mímingur, Mímungur, son or descendant of Mimir.

Niðaður, Niðuður (both variations are found in Völundarkviða), has, on the other hand, his counterpart in the Anglo-Saxon Nidhâd. The king who in "Deor the Scald's Complaint" fetters Volund bears this name, and his daughter is called Beadohild, in Völundarkviða Bodvild. Previous investigators have already remarked that Beadohild is a more original form than Bodvild, and Nidhad than Niðuður, Niðaður. The name Nidhad is composed of nid (neuter gender), the lower world, Hades, and had, a being, person, forma, species. Nidhad literally means the lower world being, the Hades being. Herewith we also have his mythical character determined. A mythical king, who is characterised as the being of the lower world, must be a subterranean king. The mythic records extant speak of the subterranean king Mimir (the middle-age saga's Gudmund, king of the Glittering Fields; see Nos. 45, 46), who rules over the realm of the well of wisdom and has the dis of fate as his kinswoman, the princess of the realm of Urd's fountain and of the whole realm of death. While we thus find, on the one hand, that it is a subterranean king who captures Volund's sword and arm-ring, we find, on the other hand, that when Hotherus is about to secure the irresistible sword and the wealth-producing ring, he has to betake himself to the same winter-cold country, where all the traditions here discussed (see Nos. 45-49) locate the descent to Mimir's realm, and that he, through an entrance "scarcely approachable for mortals," must proceed into the bosom of the earth after he has subdued a Mimingus, a son of Mimir. Mimir being the one who took possession of the treasure, it is perfectly natural that his son should be its keeper.

This also explains why Niðaður in Völundarkviða is called the king of the Njares. A people called Njares existed in the mythology, but not in reality. The only explanation of the word is to be found in the Mimir epithet, which we discovered in the variations Narvi, Njorvi, Nari, Neri, which means "he who binds". They are called Njares, because they belong to the clan of Njorvi-Nari.

Völundarkviða (str. 17, with the following prose addition) makes Nidad's queen command Volund's knee-sinews to be cut. Of such a cruelty the older poem, "Deor the Scald's Complaint," knows nothing. This poem relates, on the other hand, that Nidad bound Volund with a fetter made from a strong sinew:

siþþan hinne Nidhad on
nede legde
sveoncre seono-bende.

Though Volund is in the highest degree skilful, he is not able to free himself from these bonds. They are of magic kind, and resemble those örlögþættir which are tied by Mimir's kinswoman Urd. Nidad accordingly here appears in Mimir-Njorvi's character as "binder". With this fetter of sinew we must compare the one with which Loki was bound, and that tough and elastic one which was made in the lower world and which holds Fenrir bound until Ragnarok. And as Volund - a circumstance already made probable, and one that shall be fully proved below - actually regards himself as insulted by the gods, and has planned a terrible revenge against them, then it is an enemy of Odin that Nidhad here binds, and the above-cited paraphrase for the death-dis, Urd, employed by Egil Skallagrimson, "the kinswoman of the binder (Njorvi) of Odin's foes" (see No. 85), also becomes applicable here.

The tradition concerning Nidhad's original identity with Mimir flourished for a long time in the German middle-age sagas, and passed thence into the Vilkinasaga, where the banished Volund became Mimir's smith. The author of Vilkinasaga, compiling both from German and from Norse sources, saw Volund in the German records as a smith in Mimir's employ, and in the Norse sagas he found him as Nidhad's smith, and from the two synonyms he made two persons.

The Norse form of the name most nearly corresponding to the Old English Nidhad is Niði, "the subterranean," and that Mimir also among the Norsemen was known by this epithet is plain both from the Sólarljóð and from Völuspá. The skald of the Sun-song sees in the lower world "Nidi's sons, seven together, drinking the clear mead from the well of ring-Regin". The well of the lower world with the "clear mead" is Mimir's fountain, and the paraphrase ring-Regin is well suited to Mimir, who possessed among other treasures the wonderful ring of Hotherus. Völuspá speaks of Nidi's mountain, the Hvergelmir mountain, from which the subterranean dragon Nidhogg flies (see No. 75), and of Nidi's plains where Sindri's race have their golden hall. Sindri is, as we know, one of the most celebrated primeval smiths of mythology, and he smithied Thor's lightning hammer, Frey's golden boar, and Odin's spear Gungnir (Gylfaginning). Dwelling with his kinsmen in Mimir's realm, he is one of the artists whom the ruler of the lower world kept around him (cp. No. 53). Several of the wonderful things made by these artists, as for instance the harvest-god's Skidbladnir, and golden boar, and Sif's golden locks, are manifestly symbols of growth or vegetation. The same is therefore true of the original Teutonic primeval smiths as of the Ribhuians, the ancient smiths of Rigveda, that they make not only implements and weapons, but also grass and herbs. Out of the lower world grows the world-tree, and is kept continually fresh by the liquids of the sacred fountains. In the abyss of the lower world and in the sea is ground that mould which makes the fertility of Midgard possible (see No. 80); in the lower world "are smithied" those flowers and those harvests which grow out of this mould, and from the manes of the subterranean horses, and from their foaming bridles, falls on the fields and meadows that honey-dew "which gives harvests to men".

Finally, it must be pointed out that when Nidhad binds Volund, the foe of the gods, this is in harmony with Mimir's activity throughout the epic of the myths as the friend of the Asa-gods, and as the helper of Odin, his sister's son, in word and deed.

Further evidences of Mimir's identity with Nidhad are to be found in the Svipdag myth, which I shall discuss further on.

Vafþrúðnismál states in strophe 25 that "beneficent regin (makers) created Ny and Nid to count times for men," this being said in connection with what it states about Narvi, Nott, and Dag. In the Völuspá dwarf-list we find that the chief of these regin was Modsognir, whose identity with Mimir has been shown (see No. 53). Modsognir-Mimir created among other "dwarfs" also Nyi and Nidi (Völuspá 11). These are, therefore, his sons at least in the sense that they are indebted to him for their origin. The expressions to create and to beget are very closely related in the mythology. Of Njord Vafthrudnir also says (str. 39) that "wise regin created him" in Vanaheim.

As sons of Nidi-Mimir the changes of the moon have been called after his name Niði, and collectively they have been called by the plural Niðjar, in a later time Niðar. And as Nott's brothers they are enumerated along with her as a stereotyped alliteration. In Vafþrúðnismál Odin asks the wise giant whether he knows whence Nott and Nidjar (Nótt með Niðum) came, and Völuspá 6 relates that in the dawn of time the high holy gods (regin) seated themselves on their judgment-seats and gave names to Nott and Nidjar (Nótt og Niðjum). The giving of a name was in heathen times a sacred act, which implied an adoption in the name-giver's family or circle of friends.

Niðjar also appears to have had his signification of moon-changes in regard to the changes of months. According to Saxo (see No. 46), King Gorm saw in the lower world twelve sons of Gudmund-Mimir, all "of noble appearance". Again, Sólarljóð's skald says that the sons of Nidi, whom he saw in the lower world, were "seven together". From the standpoint of a nature-symbol the difference in these statements is explained by the fact that the months of the year were counted as twelve, but in regard to seasons and occupations there were seven divisions: gor-mánuðr, frer-m., hrút-m., ein-m., sól-m., sel-m., kornskurðar-mánuðr. Seven is the epic-mythological number of these Niðjar. To the saga in regard to these I shall return in No. 94.