Chapter 15

One thing seems particular to heroes, that their early years should be clouded by some defect, and that out of this darkness the bright revelation, the reserved force as it were, should suddenly break forth. Under this head we may even place the blind birth of the Welfs, and the vulgar belief about Hessians and Swabians (p. 373). In Saxo Gram., p. 63, Uffo is dumb, and his father Vermund blind; to him corresponds the double Offa in the line of Mercia, and both of these Offas are lame and dumb and blind. According to the 'vita Offae primi, Varmundi filii,' he was of handsome figure, but continued blind till his seventh year, and dumb till his thirtieth; when the aged Varmund was threatened with war, all at once in the assembly Offa began to speak. The 'vita Offae secundi' says, (84) the hero was at first called Vinered (se we must emend Pineredus), and was blind, lame and deaf, but when he came into possession of all his senses, he was named Offa secundus. Exactly so, in Sæm. 142ª, Hiörvarðr and Sigurlinn have a tall handsome son, but 'hann var þögull, ecki nafn festiz við hann'. Only after a valkyrja has greeted him by the name of Helgi, does he begin to speak, and is content to answer to that name. Starkaðr too was þögull in his youth (Fornald. sög. 3, 36), and Halfdan was reckoned stupid (Saxo, p. 134); just as slow was the heroism of Dietleib in unfolding itself (Vilk. saga cap. 91), and that of Iliya in the Russian tales. Our nursery-tales take up the character as äscherling, aschenbrodel, askefis (cinderel): the hero-youth lives inactive and despised by the kitchen-hearth or in the cattle-stall, out of whose squalor he emerges when the right time comes. I do not recollect any instance in Greek mythology of this exceedingly favourite feature of our folk-lore.

Unborn children, namely those that have been cut out of the womb, usually grow up heroes. Such was the famous Persian Rustem in Ferdusi, as well as Tristan according to the old story in Eilhart, or the Russian hero Dobrunä Nikititch, and the Scotch Macduff. But Völsûngr concerns us more, who spoke and made vows while yet unborn, who, after being cut out, had time to kiss his mother before she died (Völsûngas. cap. 2. 5). An obscure passage in Fâfnismâl (Sæm. 187ª) seems to designate Sigurðr also an ôborinn; and in one as difficult (Beow. 92), may not the 'umborwesende' which I took in a different sense on p. 370, stand for unbor-wesende, to intimate that Sceáf passed for an unborn? The Landnâmabôk 4, 4 has an Uni hinn ôborni (m.), and 1, 10 an Ulfrûn in ôborna (f.); for wise-woman, prophetesses, also come into the world the same way. (85) Our Mid. Ages tell of an unborn hero Hoyer (Benecke's Wigalois, p. 452); in Hesse, Reinhart of Dalwig was known as the unborn, being, after the cæsarian operation, brought to maturity in the stomachs of newly slaughtered swine. (86) As early as the tenth century, Eckhart of St. Gall informs us: Infans excisus et arvinae porci recens erutae, ubi incutesceret, involutus, bonae indolis cum in brevi apparuisset, baptizatur et Purchardus nominatur (Pertz. 2, 120); this is the Burchardus ingenitus, afterwards abbot of St. Gall. One Gebehardus, ex defunctae matris Dietpurgae utero excisus, is mentioned in the Chron. Petershus. p. 302, with the remark: De talibus excisis literae testantur quod, si vita comes fuerit, felices in mundo habeantur. To such the common standard cannot be applied, their extraordinary manner of coming into the world gives presage of a higher and mysterious destiny. Not unlike is the Greek myth of Metis and Tritogeneia: the virgin goddess springs out of the forehead of Zeus. The phrase about 'Hlöðr being born with helmet, sword and horse' (above, p. 76), is explained by the Hervararsaga, p. 490, to mean, that the arms and animals which accompany the hero were forged and born at the time of his birth. Schröter's Finnish Runes speak of a child that was born armed: this reminds us of the superstition about lucky children being born with hood and helmet (see ch. XXVIII).

It was noticed about the gods (p. 321), that Balder's brother when scarcely born, when but one night old, rushed to vengeance, unwashed and uncombed. This is like the children born of liten Kerstin after long gestation: the newborn son gets up directly and combs his hair, the new born daughter knows at once how to sew silk. Another version makes her give birth to two sons, one of whom combs his yellow locks, the other draws his sword, both equipped for swift revenge (Svenska fornsånger 2, 254-6). Here combing and not combing seem to be the same characteristic. A new born child speaks; Norske eventyr 1, 139.

As the birth of beloved kings is announced to their people by joyful phenomena, and their death by terrible, the same holds good of heroes. Their generosity founds peace and prosperity in the land. Frôði's reign in Denmark was a period of bliss; in the year of Hakon's election the birds bred twice, and trees bore twice, about which beautiful songs may be gleaned out of his saga, cap. 24. On the night that Helgi was born, eagles cried, and holy waters streamed from the mountains, Sæm. 149ª.

Sigurð's walk and manner of appearing was impetuous, like that of a god; when he first approached the burg of Brynhildr, 'iörð dûsaði ok opphimin,' earth shook and heaven, Sæm. 241b; and of Brynhild's laughing, as of that of the gods (p. 324), we are told: 'hlô, bœr allr dundi,' she laughed and all the castle dinned, Sæm. 208ª. A divine strength reveals itself in many deeds and movements of heroes. Dietrich's fiery breath may be suggestive of Donar, or perhaps only of a dragon: 'ob sîn âtem gæbe fiur als eines wilden trachen,' (Parz. 137, 18).

A widely prevalent mark of the hero race is their being suckled by beasts, or fed by birds. A hind offers her milk to Sigurðr when exposed, Vilk. saga 142; a she-wolf gives suck to the infant Dieterich (like Romulus and Remus) together with her four blind whelps, hence his name of Wolfdieterich. The same fellowship with whelps seems imputed to the beginnings of the Goths and Swabians, as to those of the Romans (p. 373); but the woodpecker also, that Bee-wolf, brought food to the sons of Mars, and we have come to know the Swabians as special devotees of Zio (p. 199). The Servian hero Milosh Kobilitch was suckled by a mare (kobila), Vuk 2, 101; does that throw light on the OHG. term of abuse merihûnsun, zâgûnsun (RA. 643)? A like offensive meaning lurked in the Latin lupa. (87) But it is not only to sucklings that the god-sent animals appear; in distress and danger also, swans, ravens, wolves, stags, bears, lions will join the heroes, to render them assistance; and that is how animal figures in the scutcheons and helmet- insignia of heroes are in many cases to be accounted for, though they may arise from other causes too, e.g., the ability of certain heroes to transform themselves at will into wolf or swan.




ENDNOTES:

84. These remarkable vitae Offae primi et secundi are printed after Watts's Matth. Paris, pp. 8, 9. Back

85. Heimreich's Nordfries. chr. 2, 341. Back

86. Zeitschrift für Hess. gesch. 1, 97. Back

87. Fils de truie; Garin 2, 229. Back