Part 5

It has already been shown (see Nos. 59, 93) that the Elivagar have their source in the subterranean fountain Hvergelmir, situated on a mountain, which separates the subterranean region of bliss (Hel) from Niflhel. Here, near the source of the Elivagar, stands the great world-mill, which revolves the starry heavens, causes the ebb and flood of the ocean and regulates its currents, and grinds the bodies of the primeval giants into layers of mould on the rocky substrata (see Nos. 79, 80). From Hvergelmir, the mother of all waters, the northern root of the world-tree draws saps, which rise into its topmost branches, evaporate into Eikþyrnir above Asgard, and flow thence as vafer-laden clouds (see No. 36), which emit fructifying showers upon Midgard, and through the earth they return to their original source, the fountain Hvergelmir. The Hvergelmir mountain (the Nida-mountains, Niðafjöll) cannot have been left without care and protection, as it is of so vast importance in the economy of the world, and this the less since it at the same time forms the boundary between the lower world's realm of bliss and Niflhel, the subterranean Jötunheim, whose frost-thurses sustain the same relation to the inhabitants on the evergreen fields of bliss as the powers of frost in the upper Jötunheim sustain to the gods of Asgard and to the inhabitants of Midgard. There is no reason for assuming that the guard of brave sworn warriors of the Asgard gods, those warriors whom we have already seen in array near the Elivagar, should have only a part of this body of water to keep watch over. The clan of the elves, under their chiefs, the three sons of Ivaldi, even though direct evidence were wanting, must be regarded as having watched over the Elivagar along their whole extent, even to their source, and as having had the same important duty in reference to the giants of the lower world as in reference to those of the upper. As its name indicates, Niflheim is shrouded in darkness and mist, against which the peaks of the Hvergelmir mountain form the natural rampart as a protection to the smiling fields of bliss. But gales and storms might lift themselves above these peaks and enshroud even Mimir's and Urd's realms in mist. The elves are endowed with power to hinder this. The last strophe in Þórsdrápa, so interesting from a mythological standpoint, confirms this view. Egil is there called hneitir undir-fjálfs bliku, and is said to be helblótinn. Blika is a name for clouds while they are still near the horizon and appear as pale vapours, which to those skilled in regard to the weather forbode an approaching storm (compare Vigfusson's Dict., 69). Undir-fjálfr is thought by Egilson to mean subterranean mountains, by Vigfusson "the deep," abyssus. Hneitir undir-fjálfs bliku is "he wbo conquers (or resolves, scatters) the clouds rising, storm-foreboding, from the abyss (or over the lower-world mountain)". As Egil can be thus characterised, it is easy to explain why he is called helblótinn, "he who receives sacrifices in the subterranean realm of bliss". He guards the Teutonic elysian fields against the powers of frost and the mists of Niflheim, and therefore receives tokens of gratitude from their pious inhabitants.

The vocation of the sons of Ivaldi, as the keepers of the Hvergelmir fountain and of the Elivagar, has its counterpart in the vocation which, in the Iranian mythology, is attributed to Thjazi's prototype, the star-hero Tistrya (Tishya). The fountain Hvergelmir, the source of the ocean and of all waters, has in the Iranian mythology its counterpart in the immense body of water Vourukasha. Just as the Teutonic world-tree grows from its northern root out of Hvergelmir, the Iranian world-tree Gaokerena grows out of Vourukasha (Bundehesh, 18). Vourukasha is guarded by Tistrya, assisted by two heroes belonging to the class of mythological beings that are called Yazatas (Izads; in the Veda literature Yajata), "they who deserve offerings," and in the Iranian mythology they form the third rank of divine beings, and thus correspond to the elves of the Teutonic mythology. Assisted by these two heroes and by the "fevers of the just," Tistrya defends Vourukasha, and occasionally fights against the demon Apaosha, who desires to destroy the world (Bundehesh, 7). Tistrya, as such, appears in three forms: as a youth with bright and glistening eyes, as a wild boar, and as a horse. Can it be an accident that these forms have their counterparts in the Teutonic mythology in the fact that one of Thjazi's brothers (Egil-Örvandil-Ebur) has the epithet "wild boar," and that, as shall be shown below, his other brother (Slagfinn) bears the epithet Hengest, and that Thjazi-Völund himself, who for years was possessor of, and presumably invented, the "remedy against aging," which Idunn, his beloved, has charge of - that Thjazi-Völund himself was regarded as a youth with a "white neck" (Völundarkviða 2) and with glittering eyes (Völundarkviða 17), which after his death were placed in the heavens as stars?