Chapter 8

THE RELATION OF THE FIRST HELGI-LAY TO THE STORY OF MELEAGER.

        We have seen that the account of Helgi's birth and of the predictions of his future greatness, given in the First Helgi-lay, arose under the influence of an AS heroic poem (now lost) on Wolf-Theodoric, or Wolf-dietrich. Still, other foreign narratives seem to have affected this part of the poem.
        The Norns come to the king's court when Helgi is born, and decide the hero's fate. This poetic-mythic feature appears here, as part of an heroic story, for the first time in the North. (1) It was, however, already known in classical heroic story. The account in the First Helgi-lay resembles very closely a part of the story of Meleager as told by Hyginus (2): Cum Althaea Thestii filia una nocte concubuerunt Oeneus et Mars; ex quibus cum esset natus Meleager, subito in regia apparuerunt Parcae. Cui fata ita cecinerunt: Clotho dixit eum generosum futurum, Lachesis fortem. With this we may compare H. H., I, 1-2: 'Borghild had given birth to Helgi the stout-hearted in Brálund. It was night in the court. The Norns came, those who decided the fate of the prince. They said that he should become the most famous of princes, and be regarded as the best of the Buthlungs.'
        The two passages resemble each other even in details. ON í boe, 'in the court,' corresponds to in regia; ON nornir kvámu to parcae apparuerunt; ON þær er öðlingi aldr um skópu, 'those who decided the fate of the prince,' in connection with the following báðu, 'they bade (said),' to cui fata ita cecinerunt. The ON poem has, like the Latin, two adjectives: fortem could be taken to correspond in meaning to Helgi's surname enn hugumstóra, 'the courageous'; generosum, 'noble,' resembles beztan in meaning. ON báðu ........verða, 'said that he should become,' corresponds to dixit eum .... futurum.
        I have tried to prove that the author of the First Helgi-lay lived in Ireland, probably at the court of the Scandinavian king of Dublin; that he understood Irish, and not only associated with Irish poets, but also borrowed poetic motives from them. We know with certainty that the Irish were acquainted with several of the Latin collections of classical, mythic, and heroic tales made partly in the early Middle Ages. It would not, therefore, have been remarkable if the author of our lay heard Irish poets tell orally the story of Meleager, possibly in part as it was to be found in Hyginus, and if he reproduced the mythical Parcae in the Norns who visit the new-born Helgi.
        An historical investigation of the Norns and of their general relations to the Fées of Romance nations, the Parcae of the Romans, the Moirai of the Greeks, would lead us too far at this time. But in this connection I must point out the resemblance in expression (to which Dr. Hj. Falk has called my attention) between H. H., 1, 3: Sneru þær af afli ørlög ...... þáttu, 'They turned with strength the threads of fate,' and Ovid, Metam., VIII, 453: staminaque impresso fatalia pollice nentes of the Parcae, triplices sorores, in the story of Meleager's Birth; and I should like also to explain the expression which is used of the Norn in H. H., I, 4, viz. nipt Nera, 'Neri's (female) relative.' (3) This name Neri has the same meaning as Nörvi. According to the Gylfaginning, (4) the father of Night was the giant Nörvi or Narfi. (5) In Vafþrúðnismál, 25, and Alvíssmál, 29, he is called in the dative Nörvi, for which we must postulate a nom. Nörr. Neri arose from *Nørvi, as gera, 'to do,' 'make,' from gørva. The name is to be explained from an adjective *nörr. In Norse, *nörr meant 'narrow,' like the corresponding AS nearu. (6) The form Neri, *Nørvi by the side of Nari, Narvi, Nörvi, is to be explained by the primitive Germanic declension of the adjective, like the declension of u-stems in Gothic: nom. *narwuz, from which *nörr; definite form, *narwija, from which *nørvi. (7)
        The name of Night's father (who is thought of as dark like her), Nörr or Narvi, could thus mean 'the narrow,' and could be explained by the fact that nearu, naru in AS and OS poems is an epithet applied to night on account of its oppressive darkness, and also to hell. This nearu, naru is usually interpreted as 'narrow, oppressive.' (8)
        But E. H. Meyer and Golther have pointed out, what I myself had previously noticed, that the pedigree of Night in Snorri's Edda is based on the Greek and Roman cosmogonic genealogies, such as occur earliest in Hesiod. These classical pedigrees were, I suppose, known in Britain from some Latin work, and it was doubtless in Britain that the Norsemen became familiar with them.
        The third son of Nótt, 'Night,' is called Dagr, 'Day,' just as Dies (Hemera) was born of Nox (Nyx). The first son of Night is Auðr, (9) 'desolate.' This name is a Norse adaptation of Aether, who was the son of Nox. The Norsemen must have heard Aether in Britain and have changed it into Auðr, knowing that the AS êðe, 'desolate,' corresponded to auðr in Old Norse. Night is married a second time to Ánarr or Ónarr, (10) and has with him the daughter Jörð, 'earth.' In the genealogies of the classical cosmogonies we find Terra, 'earth' (Tellus, Ge) and Love, Amor (Eros). (11) Jörð is here a translation of Terra, and as for Ánarr or Ónarr, in which the Norsemen doubtless thought of án or ón, 'without,' I agree with Golther that it is an altered form of Amor. (12)
        The giant Nørvi, who is father of Night (called in AS nearu), and black and gloomy like his daughter, is, as E. H. Meyer has already observed, a modification of Erebus, who is named in Cornutus directly before black Night, and who, like her, came from Chaos (the Scandinavian Ginnungagap).
        But if Nørvi is Erebus, then the Helgi-poet's designation of the Norn, who comes in the night, as nipt Nera, i.e. 'the female relative of Neri (Nørvi),' must also have had its origin in the cosmogonic genealogies of the classics. In Hyginus (13) the three Parcae are said to be the daughters of Nox and Erebus. The author of the Helgi-lay must have become acquainted with this genealogy in one of the British Isles. (14)
        The theory that there is historical connection between the Norns in the Helgi-lay and the Parcae in the Meleager-story (15) is supported, in the first place, by the fact that the author of the Norse poem knew also, as I shall point out in my discussion of the Hrímgerth-lay, another mythical Greek tale, in Latin form, just as he knew the Irish version of the Destruction of Troy; and in the second place, by the fact that the incidents of the coming of the fate-maidens to the new-born child and their predictions as to his future, passed from the Meleager-story by many different ways into popular tales. (16) It is to be noted particularly that this motive was attached in the Middle Ages to other persons among West-European peoples, partly through the influence of Celtic works.
        In the French romance Amadas of the thirteenth century, which, according to Gaston Paris, (17) is of Breton origin, three prophetic sisters appear at a child's birth and decide its fate.
        In the fourteenth century French poem of Ogier le Danois, which was influenced by the Arthur-romances, fées come to Ogier at his birth. Ogier here shows special likeness to the Meleager-story in that the fée Morgue presents the child with a sword, decreeing that his life shall last as long as the blade is not corroded. This coming of the fées is not found in the older poems on Ogier. It appears, however, again in the prose story of that hero which dates from the beginning of the fifteenth century. (18)
        The most interesting occurence of this incident in Old French is in the fourteenth century romance of Brun de la Montaigne. (19) There we read that, in accordance with a time-honoured Breton custom, Butor has his young son borne to the fountain of marvels in the forest of Broceliande. That night many fées assembled over the future of the child. The first gave him beauty and grace, and decreed that he should be conqueror in tourneys and battles. The second, however, thought this liberality too great, and as an offset decreed that he should have pain and sorrow in love. The third, conceiving a very strong attachment for the child, promised to aid him whenever he was in need of help. She wrapped him up in silk clothes and put a gold ring on his finger. Then all vanished, for it was nigh cock-crow.
        The son of Maillefer (20) also was visited by fées at his birth. After having partaken of a repast prepared specially for them, they dispensed gifts to the child. The first decreed that he should be valiant and handsome, govern Constantinople, be King of Greece, and convert the Venetians. No animal should have power to poison him. The other two also gave him similar good gifts, and all disappeared at dawn.
        In the romance of Huon de Bordeaux, (21) finished in 1454 and printed before 1516, we read that Oberon received marvellous gifts at his birth from the fées invited to his christening, but that a wicked fée, who was not invited, decreed that he should not grow after his third year.
        In Ysaie le Triste (22) also, fées appear in the night beside the new-born child and give it good gifts.
        In Perceforest, a French romance of the fourteenth century, Lucina, Themis, and Venus visit a girl at her birth.
        We have a similar incident in the Icelandic tale of Mœrþöll, (23) preserved in MS of ca. 1700. Three sisters 'blákápur' are invited to the baptism of a new-born girl. The eldest two give good gifts; but the youngest, who had been treated with less consideration, lays a curse on the child.
        Professor Molke Moe calls my attention to a related Norwegian tale, Trollnøstet, 'the witch's claw,' taken down by Jørgen Moe in Bygland, in S.W. Norway. This points even more distinctly to the Meleager-story. A strange woman comes to the cradle of a queen's child, and says: 'Yes, handsome art thou; but yet shalt thou become an adulterer and murderer, and shalt be sentenced to death. And thy mother shall not live after this candle is burnt out.' The queen arouses the nurse, and bids her extinguish the candle, which is afterwards preserved. The prophecy, nevertheless, was fulfilled.
        In Germany also we have early evidence of the belief under discussion. To Professor Moltke Moe I owe the two following references. In Hartmann von Aue's Erec (v. 9900), written at the end of the twelfth century, Frau Sælde (Good Luck) comes to the cradle of the new-born child, and gives it gifts. In the confessional of Burchard of Worms (d 1025), the question is asked: 'Do you believe, as some do, that those whom people call Parcae, still exist?......That, when a child is born, they decide what shall happen to him.'
        In Scandinavia the story of Meleager's birth influenced, as is well known, the Nornagest (him to whom the Norns came).
        Saxo tells (Bk. VI. p. 272, ed. Müller) that it was the custom in olden times to question the Norns (Parcae) as to a child's fate. Thus Fridleif (Fridleuus) acted when he wished to know the destiny of his son Óláf (Olauus). The first Norn gave the boy beauty and favour among men; the second, liberality; but the third, who was malicious, decreed that he should be miserly. Olrik, (24) who shows that the story was taken by Saxo from an Old Norse source, thinks that the third Norn laid upon Óláf the curse that he should be betrayed by the servant he trusted most.
        The account in the Helgi-lay differs from most tales of fate-maidens coming to a new-born child, in that Helgi receives no bad gift.
        That the Wolf-Theodoric story which influenced the Helgi-poet in his account of the hero's birth, contained a prophecy of the future greatness of the new-born child, appears probable after comparing the German poem with the Cormac story. It was doubtless this agreement which suggested to the Norse poet the introduction of the fate-maidens, the earliest example of whose appearance at an infant's birth is preserved in the story of Meleager. (25) It is just possible, however, that our poet was influenced in this borrowing by finding other points of contact between the Meleager and Helgi stories. Sigrún, for example, may have seemed to him to resemble Atalanta, Meleager's love, who was a huntress, and one of Diana's maiden-nymphs, (26) and who, armed as a man, took part with the men in the chase of the Calydonian boar. (27) In the First Helgi-lay, Sigrún rides with a company of battle-maidens, all of them birnie-clad and armed with helmet, spear, and bow. When Helgi helps Sigrún, he kills her relatives; when Meleager helps Atalanta, he kills his mother's brothers. (28)
        It is perhaps also worth mentioning that Meleager is called a son of Mars, and that the Helgi-poet represents his hero as sprung from a race of famous warriors. He made him a son of Sigmund, the hero specially protected by the Battle-God Odin, and of Borghild, i.e. the battle-maiden dwelling in the castle. Naturally, then, the poet felt impelled to let fate-maidens predict the hero's greatness even at his birth.



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