Chapter 38

To adjure solemnly is in OHG. munigôn inti manôn (hortari et monere), AS. mynegian and manian: 'sîs bimunigôt thuruh then himilisgon Got, bisuoran thuruh thes forahta (fear of Him), ther alla worolt worahta!' O. iv. 19, 47. 'ih bimunium dih' begins the formula in Spell VII. Even in MHG.: 'des wart vil manec wilder geist von ir gemuniet und gemant,' Troj. 10519 (see Suppl.).

Hellirûna, necromantia, shows itself in the lays sung after the heathen fashion on graves and barrows, to make the dead speak or send something out. The Indiculus superst. distinguishes between 'sacrilegium ad sepulcra mortuorum' and 'sacrilegium super defunctos, id est dadsisas.' Dâd is for dôd, dêd (conf. nêdfyr, nôdfyr, p. 603-4); the OS. sisas I take to be the OHG. sisuwâ neniae, of which the sing. would be sisu, siso: sisesang is carmen lugubre, Diut. 2, 283b. Graff 6, 281, and an OS. form of confession has 'ik gihôrda (heard) hetlunnussia endi unhrênia (unclean) sespilon,' perh. for sese-spilon, dirge-spells; the same obscure root appears in proper names Sisebutus, Sisenandus, etc., etc., Gramm. 2, 476. Hetlunnussia must mean imprecations, conf. OS. hatol dirus, Hel. 110, 8 and OHG. hazzal malitiosus, Gl. Hrab. 957a. Neniae are carmina funebria, hymns in honour of the dead; Britferthi vita Dunstani (b. 925) cap. 1 (Acta sanct. 19 May) says of that saint: 'avitae gentilitatis vanissima didicisse carmina, et historiarum frivolas colere incantationum nenias.' In the same way Greg. Tur. mirac. 2, 1: 'ad vicum in quo fanatici erroris naeniae colebantur.' An AS. byrgensang translates epitaphium, and Mone's Glosses 943-4 give lîcsang, lîcleoð epicedium, byriensang, bergelsleoð, byrgleoð carmen super tumulum. Hroswitha's Proterius says of an adjuration: 'supra gentilis tumulum sub tempore noctis stans, herebi domino suplex.' The ON. expression is val-galdr qveða, to say corpse-incantation, Sæm. 94a: by it Oðinn compelled the vala, on whom snow and rain and dew had fallen (p. 314), to rise from her barrow and answer him. Grôa's son and Hervör utter formulas almost identical: 'vaki þû Grôa! vaki þû gôð kona! vek ek þik dauðra dura,' Sæm. 97a; 'vaki þû Angantýr! vekr þic Hervör einka dôttir ykkar Svâfu (of thee and Svâfa),' Fornald. sög. 1, 435; after a gruesome conversation with her father, the sword she craves is thrown out of the barrow. In the same way, at the son's adjuration, a sword is handed out of the tomb in the folksong of Orm (Sv. fornsånger 2, 446-7. Danske viser 1, 59. 60-6-7), and in a Faröe song of Virgar, i.e. Wudga, Witege (Lyngbye p. 369). Wolfdietrich constrains the dead tongue of his buried father to utter seven words, Cod. Dresd. 313 (see Suppl.).

As the spoken spell bursts open the tomb, so do locks and bars give way before it. Ferabras 2759:

Venc a l'us de la cambra, si la trobat tancada,

et a dit son conjur: tota s'es desfermada.
Though the following passage in Meier Helmbrecht 1205 mentions only the act of approaching, the cattle-stealer must, as he drew near, have uttered some unloosing spell:

Mîn geselle Wolves-drüzzel (-throttle, -throat)

ûf tuot er âne slüzzel (opens without key)

alliu slòz und îsenhalt (bolts and iron staples)

in einem jâr hân ich gezalt (counted)

hundert îsenhalte grôz,

daz ie daz slôz dannen schôz (aye the bolt shot out of them)

als er von verre gie dar zuo (from far came towards them);

ros, ohsen und manic kuo,

die ungezalt sint beliben,

die er ûz dem hove hât getriben,

daz ie daz slôz von sîner stat (from its place)

schôz, swann er dar zuo trat (when he stept thereto).
Even now some thieves and sharpers have the reputation of being able to 'bespeak' their chains and locks, and make them burst.

Gods and demons could of their mere might raise wind and storm, magicians did the same by means of song. Saxo Gram. p. 71 has a certain Oddo, 'vir magicae doctus, ita ut absque carina altum pererrans hostilia saepe navigia concitatis carmine procellis everteret.' These tempestarii have been dealt with, p. 638. Again: 'carminibus in nimbos solvere coelum,' ibid. 17. But song could turn away storm and hail, as well as draw it on: 'cum averti carmine grandines credant plerique, cujus verba inserere non equidem serio ausim,' Pliny 17, 28 [47].

As the whole of sorcery sank into the hands of old wives, and the faith of bygone times was called kerlînga villa, Sæm. 169, alter wîbe troume, Turl. Wh. 1, 82a, grawdeij muqoi, 1 Tim. 4. 7, in Gothic 'us-alþanáizô spilla'; the healing formulas handed down from the past fared no better. Already in the 12^th cent. the Miracula S. Matthiae (by a Benedictine of Treves) expresses itself thus, cap. 34: 'cujus dolore mater affecta medicinam et anilia adhibuit carmina,' Pez. thes. anec. 2, 3 p. 234 (see Suppl.).

These superstitious formulas are a gain to the history of our mythology, they yield information about deities and practices of heathenism, which but for them would be utterly lost. Even books by churchmen find room for them, because their use in certain cases, diseases of cattle for instance, was still considered lawful and beneficial. A comprehensive collection of them would be sure to lead to discoveries, but the time is hardly ripe for it yet, as they lie scattered, and have to be slowly gathered from the mouth of the people and out of witch-trials. (6) Here let a few striking examples place beyond a doubt, not only their value, but their obstinate diffusion through nearly the whole of Europe.

In the Merseburg MS. the first poem is a bond-spell, to be sung while tying or unloosing bands, and this time relating to the release of a prisoner:

Eiris sâzun idisi, sâzun hera duoder,

suma hapt heptidun, suma heri lezidun,

suma clûbôdun umbi cuoniowidi:

'insprincg haptbandum, invar vigandum!'
i.e. Olim sedebant nymphae, sedebant huc illuc (AS. þider, thither), aliae vincula vinciebant, aliae exercitum morabantur, aliae carpebant redimicula: 'exsili e vinculis, elabere hostibus!' Wackernagel was the first to penetrate the sense of the last line, by which the last but one is also made clear: the plucking (clawing) at the bonds slackens their hold, and the captive then can slip them off. Of 'hapt heptian' I have spoken p. 401; the binding and unbinding is alluded to in our minnesongs. Beda 4, 22 tells of a man who could not be kept bound: 'nec tamen vinciri potuit, nam mox ut abiere qui vinxerant, eadem ejus sunt vincula soluta..... Interea comes, qui eum tenebat, mirari et interrogare coepit, quare ligari non posset, an forte literas solutorias, de qualibus fabulae ferunt, apud se haberet, propter quas ligari non posset? At ille respondit, nihil se talium artium nosse.' He was sold to a third man: 'sed nec ab illo ullatenus potuit alligari.' Beda's explanation of the marvel is, that his friends, thinking him dead, had had masses said for the deliverance of his soul. The AS. version goes a step farther, which seems worthy of notice: 'and hine âcsade, hwæðer he þâ âlýsendlîcan rûne cuðe, and þâ stânas mid him âwritene hæfde, be swylcum men leás spell secgað.' What were these stones written over with runes, which the translator had in his mind? ---- We have to suppose three sets of women, each plying a separate task (see Suppl.).

The second Merseburg formula is for healing a lamed horse:

Phol ende Wôden vuorun zi holza,

dô wart demo Balderes volon sîn vuoz birenkit (wrenched);

dô biguolen Sinthgunt, Sunnâ era suister,

dô biguolen Frûwâ, Follâ era suister,

dô biguolen Wôdan, sô he wola conda,

sôse bên-renki, sôse bluot-renki,

sôse lidi-renki.................

bên zi bêna, bluot zi bluoda,

lid zi giliden, sôse gelîmida sîn.
Here is sung an adventure that befell the two gods (p. 224), and how Wôdan healed the sprained foot of Balder's foal by besinging it (bigalan). And now the repetition of the song cures other lame horses too. What the rest of the gods cannot do, Wôdan can, just as the Yngl. saga 7 says of him: 'Oðinn kunni at gera með ordum (words alone) einum at slöckva eld ok kyrra siâ, ok snûa vindum hverja leið er hann vildi.' He is the greatest magician or wonder-man of all.

Now observe in what shapes the same spell shows itself surviving in the popular superstitions of today. In Norway:

Jesus reed sig til hede,

da reed han sönder sit fole-been (his foal's leg asunder).

Jesus stigede af, og lägte det:

Jesus lagde marv i marv,

been i been, kjöd i kjöd,

Jesus lagde derpaa et blad (thereon a leaf),

at det skulde blive i samme stad.
In Sweden, for a horse's ailment flåg (our anflug, fit):

Oden står på berget (stands on the hill),

han spörjer (speers, asks) efter sin fole,

floget har han fått. --------

spotta (spit) i din hand, och i hans mun (his mouth),

han skall få bot (get boot) i samma stund (hour).
Whilst another begins thus:

Frygge frågade frå:

huru skall man bota (heal)

den flåget får (sheep)?
The two Swedish stanzas, evidently incomplete, are given by F. Magnusen in the Dagen 1842 no. 119, from Mimer, Ups. 1839. p. 277. That similar snatches of song still live in the Netherlands, I am informed in a letter from Halbertsma: 'Een mijner boeren gaf my voorleden jaar een rijm, dat de toverdokters prevelden, terwijl zij den verrukten voet van een pard (foot of a horse) met de hand van boven naar beneden stroken, en alzo genazen.' I wish he had sent me the rhyme itself.

What sounds more significant is a Scotch tradition I take out of Chamber's Fireside stories, Edinb. 1842. p. 37: 'When a person has received a sprain, it is customary to apply to an individual practised in casting the wresting thread. This is a thread spun from black wool, on which are cast nine knots, and tied round a sprained leg or arm. During the time the operator is putting the thread round the affected limb, he says, but in such a tone of voice as not to be heard by the bystanders, nor even by the person operated upon:

The Lord rade,

set joint to joint,

and the foal slade;

bone to bone,

he lighted,

and sinew to sinew

and he righted,

Heal in the Holy Ghost's name!'
Here the spell serves for sprains even in the human body, though it set out with the sliding of the foal; and to the whispered words is added a ligature of woollen thread in nine knots.

How exact the agreement, in these perfectly independent versions, of their 'bên zi bêna, been i been, bone to bone,' their 'lid zi giliden, kjöd i kjöd, sinew to sinew'! Those who cannot believe in the faithful preservation of what is entrusted to popular memory, have here an example extending from the 10^th cent. to the 19^th over Germany, Scotland and Scandinavia. It is certain that the same or similar words have been superstitiously repeated countless times in all the countries of Teutonic tongue. The Cod. Vatic. 4395 has on fol. 83a the following charm: 'Gott wurden iiii nagel (God had 4 nails) in sein hend und fuez geslagen, da von er iiii wunden enphie, do er an dem heiligen chreuz hieng (l. hie). die funft wunden im Longinus stach, er west nicht waz er an ihm rach ..... an dem dritten tag gepot (bade) Got dem lichnam, der in der erden lag, fleisch zu fleisch, pluet zu pluet, adern zu adern, pain zu pain, gelider zu gelidern, yslichs (each) an sein stat. bei Demselbigen gepeut ich dir (bid I thee) fleisch zu fleisch,' etc.




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