Part 5

The mythology has handed down several names of the coast region near the Elivagar, where Orvandil-Egil and his kinsmen dwelt, while they still were the friends of the gods, and were an outpost active in the service against the frost-powers. That this coast region was a part of Alfheim, and the most northern part of this mythic land, appears already from the fact that Volund and his brothers are in Völundarkviða elf-princes, sons of a mythic "king". The rule of the elf-princes must be referred to Alfheim for the same reason as we refer that of the Vans to Vanaheim, and that of the Asa-gods to Asgard. The part of Alfheim here in question, where Orvandil-Egil's citadel was situated, was in the mythology called Ýdalir, Ýsetur (Grímnismál 5; Olaf Tryggvason's saga, ch. 21). This is also suggested by the fact that Ullur, elevated to the dignity of an Asa-god, he who is the son of Orvandil-Egil, and Svipdag's brother (see No. 102), according to Grímnismál, has his halls built in Ýdalir. Divine beings who did not originally belong to Asgard, but were adopted in Odin's clan, and thus became full citizens within the bulwarks of the Asa-citadel, still retain possession of the land, realm, and halls, which is their udal and where they were reared. After he became a denizen in Asgard, Njord continued to own and to reside occasionally in the Vana-citadel Notatun beyond the western ocean (see Nos. 20, 93). Skadi, as an asynje, continues to inhabit her father Thjazi's halls in Thrymheim (Grímnismál 11). Vidar's grass and brush-grown realm is not a part of Asgard, but is the large plain on which, in Ragnarok, Odin is to fall in combat with Fenrir (Grímnismál 17; see No. 39). When Ull is said to have his halls in Ydalir, this must be based on a similar reason, and Ydalir must be the land where he was reared and which he inherited after his father, the great archer. When Grímnismál enumerates the homes of the gods, the series of them begins with Thrudheim, Thor's realm, and next thereafter, and in connection with Alfheim, is mentioned Ydalir, presumably for the reason that Thor's land and Orvandil-Egil's were, as we have seen, most intimately connected in mythology.

Land er heilagt,
er eg liggja sé
ásum og álfum nær;
en í Þrúðheimi
skal Þórr vera,
unz um rjúfast regin.

Ýdalir heita,
þar er Ullur hefir
sér um görva sali;
Álfheim Frey
gáfu í árdaga
tívar að tannfé.

Ýdalir means the "dales of the bow" or "of the bows". Ýsetur is "the chalet of the bow" or "of the bows". That the first part of these compound words is ýr, "a bow," is proved by the way in which the local name Ýsetur can be applied in poetical paraphrases, where the bow-holding hand is called ýsetur. The names refer to the mythical rulers of the region, namely, the archer Ull and his father the archer Orvandil-Egil. The place has also been called Geirvaðils setur, Geirvandils setur, which is explained by the fact that Orvandil's father bore the epithet Geirvandil (Saxo, Book III, p. 82). Hakon Jarl, the ruler of northern Norway, is called (Fagurskinna, 37, 4) Geirvaðils seturs Ullur, "the Ull of Geirvandil's chalet", a paraphrase in which we find the mythological association of Ull with the chalet which was owned by his father Orvandil and his grandfather Geirvandil. The Ydales were described as rich in gold. Ýseturs eldur is a paraphrase for gold. With this we must compare what Volund says (Völundarkviða 14) of the wealth of gold in his and his kinsmen's home. (See further, in regard to the same passage, Nos. 114 and 115.)

In connection with its mention of the Ydales, Grímnismál states that the gods gave Frey Alfheim as a tooth-gift. Tannfé (tooth-gift) was the name of a gift which was given (and in Iceland is still given) to a child when it gets its first tooth. The tender Frey is thus appointed by the gods as king over Alfheim, and chief of the elf-princes there, among whom Volund and Orvandil-Egil, judging from the mythic events themselves, must have been the foremost and most celebrated. It is also logically correct, from the standpoint of nature symbolism, that the god of growth and harvests receives the government of elves and primeval artists, the personified powers of culture. Through this arrangement of the gods, Volund and Orvandil become vassals under Njord and his son.

In two passages in Saxo we read mythic accounts told as history, from which it appears that Njord selected a foster-father for his son, or let him be reared in a home under the care of two fosterers. In the one passage (Book VI, p. 169) it is Fridlevus-Njord who selects Avo the archer as his son's foster-father; in the other passage (Book V, p. 118) it is the tender Frotho, son of Fridlevus and future brother-in-law of Ericus-Svipdag, who receives Isulfus and Aggo as guardians.

So far as the archer Avo is concerned, we have already met him above (see No. 108) in combat by the side of Anundus-Volund against one Halfdan. He is a parallel figure to the archer Toko, who likewise fights by the side of Anundus-Volund against Halfdan, and, as has already been shown, he is identical with the archer Orvandil-Egil.

The name Aggo is borne by one of the leaders of the emigration of the Longobardians, brother of Ebbo-Ibor, in whom we have already discovered Orvandil-Egil.

The name Isolfur, in the Old Norse poetic language, designates the bear (Younger Edda, Nafnaþulur). Vilkinasaga makes Ebbo (Wild-Ebur) appear in the guise of a bear when he is about to rescue Volund's son Vidga from the captivity into which he had fallen. In his shield Ebbo has images of a wild boar and of a bear. As the wild boar refers to one of his names (Ebur), the image of the bear should refer to another (Isolfur).

Under such circumstances there can be no doubt that Orvandil-Egil and one of his brothers, the one designated by the name Aggo (Ajo), be this Volund or Slagfin, were entrusted in the mythology with the duty of fostering the young Frey. Orvandil also assumes, as vassal under Njord, the place which foster-fathers held in relation to the natural fathers of their proteges.

Frey, accordingly, is reared in Alfheim, and in the Ydales he is fostered by elf-princes belonging to a circle of brothers, among whom one, namely, Volund, is the most famous artist of mythology. His masterpiece, the sword of victory, in time proves to be superior to Sindri's chief work, the hammer Mjolnir. And as it is always Volund whom Saxo mentions by Orvandil-Egil's side among his brothers (see No. 108), it is most reasonable to suppose that it is Volund, not Slagfin, who appears here under the name Aggo along with the great archer, and, like the latter, is entrusted with the fostering of Frey. It follows that Svipdag and Ull were Frey's foster-brothers. Thus it is the duty of a foster-brother they perform when they go to rescue Frey from the power of giants, and when they, later, in the war between the Asas and Vans, take Frey's side. This also throws additional light on Svipdag-Skirnir's words to Frey in Skírnismál 5:

því að ungir saman
vorum á árdaga,
vel mættum tveir trúast.