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Chapter 19
To some extent (but, in my opinion, to a very limited extent), the conversation with Hrķmgerth is an imitation of that with Guthmund. For in the older treatment of the story of Helgi Hund. (among the verses which are now collected under the name of the Second Lay) Sinfjötli also pours out unmeasured reproaches upon Guthmund; and here Helgi Hund. likewise appears after the dispute.
But in the Helgi lay the king's watchman on guard converses with another man, his enemy, not with a witch. The Lay of Helgi Hund. does not explain the presence of the witch Hrķmgerth. It throws no light on the way in which the story so developed that Helgi, accompanied by Atli, slays Hati, and changes Hrķmgerth, Hati's daughter, into stone.
In Wfd. A, the hero, being tired, falls asleep in a meadow by the sea-shore, (17) where the billows are beating against the stone cliffs. There comes up out of the depths of the sea a disgusting troll in the form of a woman, with skin covered with scales, and overgrown with long sea-grasses. She wakes him, and they begin to converse. She says that she would fain help him, and begs him to marry her; but he answers: 'The Devil's dam shall not come into my arms.' Thereupon she changes into one of the most beautiful of women, radiant as the sun. But Wolfdietrich says that he has sworn never to marry any woman until he has freed his men from captivity. Then she begs him to give her one of his brothers instead. She will carry him with her to the bottom of the sea, for she rules over all which the sea covers. She shows Wolfdietrich his way; and he leaves her (A, 465-505).
Wfd. B. recounts a corresponding adventure: Wolfdietrich and his men, being pursued by enemies, are obliged to flee to a forest. They come to a green pasture, where the men lie down to sleep, while Wolfdietrich himself keeps watch. Then comes Else the hairy (rūhe) to him, on all-fours like a bear. She begs him to grant her his love, and promises him in return a kingdom. But he answers: 'I will not love thee, thou devilish woman (du vālantinne rīch). Go to Hell.' Thereupon she casts a spell over Wolfdietrich, so that he is long out of his mind. Finally, however, she springs into a rejuvenating fountain, and becomes a most beautiful woman. She receives in baptism the name Sigminne, and Wolfdietrich, who is also restored, marries her.
With this adventure of Wolfdietrich the encounter between Helgi Hjör. and the mermaid Hrķmgerth is, in my opinion, connected. Hrķmgerth is a disgusting troll, like the woman who meets Wolfdietrich. This woman has her home, according to A, in the water, and was doubtless originally regarded as a mermaid like Hrķmgerth. The troll, in Wfd. B, is a shaggy; and Helgi says that the mountain-giant, Lothin (i.e. shaggy), will be a fit husband for Hrķmgerth. She is designated as fįla (H. Hj., 16; cf. 13), and that word seems to be related to vālantinne, an expression used of the troll in Wfd. B, 310.
In Wfd. A, the troll comes to the hero when he is asleep and wakes him; in Wfd. B, she comes when his men sleep and he alone is watching. Hrķmgerth comes when Helgi and all his men, except Atli, are asleep. She says to Helgi: 'Wake up! If I get to sleep one night with thee, then shall I have recompense for my sorrow' (H. Hj., 24). In Wfd. B, 309, the troll says to the hero, nu minne mich, Wolfdietrich. Helgi answers: 'Lothin is he called who shall marry thee, thou who art loathsome to men; the worst mountain-giant is a fit husband for thee.' (18) And the troll is answered similarly in B, 316: 'The Devil shall sleep with thee.' The curse du hebe dich zuo der helle, B, 310, corresponds to Atli's words to Hrķmgerth (H. Hj., 16): 'Nine leagues shouldst thou be under the earth.'
It is, however, only in the conversation with Helgi that the Hrķmgerth lay shows any real agreement with the episode of the mermaid in the Wolfdietrich story. In the latter there is no parallel to the conversation of Hrķmgerth with Helgi'' watchman Atli. The dénoūment is different in the two stories.
And, finally, while the mermaid in the Wolfdietrich story is changed into a most beautiful woman, whom the hero marries, the troll Hrķmgerth, in the story of Helgi Hjör., is contrasted with the radiant Svįfa, whom Helgi marries. To explain these variations, we must examine certain other stories which are connected with that of Else.
In Wfd. B, the hairy Else comes to Wolfdietrich and urges him repeatedly to grant her his love. When she finds that he will not accede to her request, she casts a spell over him, so that he lives half a year in the forest out of his mind. But then an angel speaks to her, and says that if she does not release him from the spell, thunder shall kill her within three days. When she again offers Wolfdietrich her love, he says that he will marry her if she will be baptized. She then takes him on a ship across the sea to her kingdom. There she is rejuvenated in a fountain which is half warm, half cold, becomes the most beautiful of women, and in baptism receives the name Sigminne. Wolfdietrich, who is also rejuvenated in the fountain, marries her, and lives with her for a time, without thinking of his captured men. When, finally, he decides to depart to fight with Ortnit, she makes a splendid ship ready for him, and brings on board a shirt possessed of curative powers.
On the one hand, these legendary features were affected by the story of Calypso.
After having sailed between Scylla and Charybdis Odysseus comes to the beautiful sea-nymph, Calypso, in the wooded isle Ogygia. She promises Odysseus eternal youth if he will live with her, and even retains him by force. The hero remains with Calypso several years; but in the day-time he sits by the sea-shore, full of longing, lamenting his fate. Hermes brings to Calypso a command from Zeus to set Odysseus free, and let him sail home: otherwise Zeus's anger shall overtake her. Then Calypso helps Odysseus to build a fleet, in which he sails away. She gives him sweet-scented garments, such as the immortals wear.
The author of Wfd. B seems himself to hint that he was here influenced by the story of Odysseus, for the hairy Else is said to live z'alten Troyen. This doubtless means that she is the same person as Calypso, with whom Odysseus, who came from 'old Troy,' remained for a time. (19)
On the other hand, the story of Wolfdietrich's meeting with the mermaid was probably influenced by the story of Circe, the beautiful daughter of the Sun, in the isle Ęęa, who was similar in nature to Calypso, and in origin practically identical.
In Wfd. B, Else casts a spell over Wolfdietrich, so that he wanders about mad in the forest, and lives on the fruits of the earth. Circe changes Odysseus's followers by magic into grovelling swine, and gives the hero himself a magic potion, with the same end in view. (20)
Following the directions of Hermes, Odysseus threatens Circe, and is protected from her wiles. Thereupon he lies with her. He is strengthened when with her by bathing in warm water. (21) But he will taste neither meat nor drink until Circe frees his followers. She restores them to human form, making them at the same time younger and more beautiful than before. Odysseus remains with Circe a year.
In Wfd. A, before Wolfdietrich comes to the mermaid, he hears a voice which echoes through the mountain and dale. He believes it to be the devil's voice from hell; but when he comes down from the side of the mountain, he perceives a sea, and realises that all the noise he has heard is due simply to the breaking of the waves against the rocky cliffs. Completely worn out, he falls asleep in the field where the mermaid finds him.
Here we may have, on the one hand, a reminiscence of the coming of Odysseus to the island Scheria. Odysseus hears the breakers dash with thundering sound against the shores. He afterwards swims to the island. Worn out with fatigue, he lies down to sleep under some bushes, where the king's daughter Nausicaa finds him. On the other hand, we are reminded of the fact that Odysseus comes a second time to Circe, after he has been in the nether world. When he is about to leave her she directs him on his course, and reveals to him the dangers which he and his followers are to encounter. In Wfd. A, the mermaid directs Wolfdietrich on his course when he leaves her.
As they are about to separate, the mermaid gives him an herb of which she says: 'It is useful and good for both bodies and hearts. Thou shalt take it with thee in thy wallet. When thou eatest of it thou shalt have the strength of a lion.' She shows Wolfdietrich the herb growing under a tree, and teaches him how to recognise it wherever he may see it. 'There is much of it in the world; one should pay careful heed to it.' As soon as Wolfdietrich has taken a little of this herb in his mouth, he recovers his strength. He also gives some to his horse, which immediately becomes high-spirited and strong. This herb appears to be connected with the moly of the Odyssey, which Hermes digs up for Odysseus, explaining to him its peculiar virtues. Odysseus takes the powerful root of healing with him to Circe's dwelling, and it protects him against magic.
In Wfd. the mermaid, who is changed into the most beautiful of women, was first a disgusting monster. If I am right in my supposition that Wfd. has taken features from the Odyssey, then the conception of the mermaid as a disgusting troll is doubtless due to the influence of the story of Scylla. This theory will find support in the ON poem.
17. In this redaction the poet probably thought of a lake in the vicinity of Berchtesgaden in Upper Bavaria; see Ztsch. f. d. Alt., XII, 508 f. But in the original story it was doubtless the sea shore which was meant. Back
18. Loðinn heitir er þik skal eiga........sá býr í þolleyju þurs, H. Hj., 25, seems to presuppose: Hrímgrímnir heitir þurs, er þik hafa skal, Skírnismál, 35. Back
19. Nevertheless, I will not affirm that the name rûch Else arose through rûch *Calise (cf. Calixa in Benoît de Ste. More), from a romance or mediæval-Latin form of Calypso. Yet, so far as I know, the name has not as yet been explained. Back
20. But the incident of Else's cutting two locks of hair from Wolfdietrich while he sleeps, and changing him to a madman, was doubtless influenced by the story of Dalilah, who has seven locks cut from the head of Samson while he sleeps. Back
21. In the Middle Ages Circe seems to have been supplied with a rejuvenating fountain. Dernedde (Über die den altfranzös. Dichtern bekannten epischen Stoffe aus dem Alterthum, Erlangen, 1887), remarks, p. 132: 'Deschamps [of the second half of the fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth centuries] sagt S. 31,
beim Tode von G. de Machault:
La fons Circé et la fonteine Hélie
Dont vous estiez le ruissel et le dois,
Ou poetes mistrent leur etudie
Convient taire, etc.
Ich vermag mir über den Sinn der Worte la fons Circe keine Rechenschaft zu geben.' Back
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