Chapter 28

What seems to me to be far more significant than this wheel, which probably the Sâlida of our heathen forefathers never had (a whole carriage to herself would be more in their way), is the circumstance of her adopting children, owning her favourites for her sons: 'ich bin ouch in frô Sœlden schôz geleit,' laid in her lap. Fragm. 45b. To be a darling of fortune, a child of luck, to sit in fortune's lap, implies previous adoption (Goth. frasti-sibja, Rom. 9,4), conf. RA. 160. 463-4. A select being like this is called 'der Sœlden barn,' Barl. 37, 36. 191, 38. Engelh. 5070. 'Artûs der S. kint,' Zauberb 1433. 'S. kint hât S. stift' 1038. 'Maria der S. kint,' Wartb. kr. jen. 56. 'ir sît gezelt gelücke ze ingesinde (as inmate), dem heile ze liebem kinde,' Warnung 2596. 'Si ist S. sundertriutel (fondling), in der würzegarten kan si brechen ir rôsen,' MS. 1, 88ª. Now, as Wuotan can take the place of the gifting norn (p. 858), so he can that of Sælde; he is himself the bestower of all bliss, he takes up children into his bosom. Altogether identical therefore with Sælden barn must be 'des Wunsches barn, an dem der Wunsch was volle varn,' on whom Wish had perfectly succeeded, Orl. 3767. A child of luck has 'des Wunsches segen,' Lanz. 5504. For more references, see pp. 138-144. (20) Accordingly Sâlida can be regarded as a mere emanation of Wuotan (see Suppl.).

Such a child of luck was Fortunatus, to whom Fortuna (conf. Felicia, MsH. 2, 10b and infra ch. XXXII.) appears in a forest of Bretagne, and gives a fairy purse: and who also wins the wishing-cap (souhaitant chapeau), the tarn-cap, which one has only to put on, to be in a twinkling at some distant place. Evidently a hat of Wish or Wuotan (p. 463), a petasoj or winged cap of Hermes the giver of all good, of all sælde. And 'Sælde's hat' is expressly mentioned: 'sô decket uns der Sœlden huot, daz uns dehein weter selwen mac,' no weather can befoul us, MsH. 3, 466ª. The never empty purse I connect with the goddess's horn of plenty: 'mundanam cornucopiam Fortuna gestans,' Amm. Marc. 22, 9. 'formatum Fortunae habitum cum divite cornu,' Prudent. lib. 1 contra Symm.; also with Amalthea's horn or Svantovit's (p. 591), nay with the keraj swthriaj , Luke 1, 69. Of the wishing-rod we are reminded by the synonymous expressions: 'alles heiles ein wünschel-rîs,' -twig, -wand, Troj. 2216, and 'des Wunsches bluome,' Barl. 274, 25.

The belief in fairy things [wünscheldinge, lit. wishing-gear] is deeply rooted in our mythology: let us examine it minutely. There are things, belonging to gods, but also lent to men, which can bestow a plentitude of bliss, the best that heart can wish; so that are old vernacular word seems quite appropriate. The Sanskrit for wish is significant: mano-ratha, wheel of the mind; does this open to us a new aspect of the divine wish? Wish turns the wheel of our thoughts. In the Edda the wishing-gear is the cunning workmanship of dwarfs, and is distributed among the gods. Oðinn possessed the spear Gûngnir, the hurling of which brings victory, Thôrr the hammer Miölnir, which comes crashing down as thunderbolt, which also consecrates, and of itself comes back into his hand. Freyr had a sword of similar nature, that swung itself (er siâlft vegiz), Sæm. 82ª. Sn. 40; its name is unrecorded. The 'cudgel jump out o' your sack!' in our fairy tale is the same story vulgarized; in (Egi's hall the pitchers or beakers of ale brought themselves (siâlft barsc þar 0l), Sæm. 48; Wolfdieterich (Cod. dresd. 296-7) fell in with goddesses, to whose table the wheaten loaf came walking, and the wine poured itself out: such gear the Greeks called automaton (self-taught), Il. 18, 376. (Egis-hialmr must originally have been Œgi's own and Œgir is at times undistinguishable from Oðinn), as Aegis is wielded by the two highest deities Zeus and Athena: afterwards the helmet came into the hand of heroes. Out of the magic helm sprang helot-helm, grîm-helm, tarn-kappe, wunsch-mantel (Kinderm. no. 122), wunsch-hut, which bestow on dwarfs, heroes and fortune's favourites the power to walk unseen, to sail swiftly through the sky. To the goddesses Freyja and Frigg belonged Brîsînga men, which, like the imaj of Venus and Juno, awakened longing (imeroj), and matches the sword, spear and hammer of the gods (p. 885). On the veil or hood of the goddess Sif grew golden hair, as corn does on the earth: its proper name is not given. Skîðblaðnir is described, now as a ship, now as a hat, both of which could either be folded up or expanded, for sailing in or for raising a storm; wishing-ships occur in Norske eventyr 1, 18. 142 and Sv. folkv. 1, 142-3. Not unlike this are out winged sandals and league boots. Gullinbursti, too, Frey's boar, carries him through air and water. From Oðin's ring Draupnir dropped other rings as heavy; the miraculous power of Fulla's ring (Fullo fîngrgull, Sn. 68) is not specified, perhaps it made one invisible, like that of Aventiure (p. 911). Draupnir suggests the broodpenny (Deut. sag. no. 86) or hatching dollar of later times: whoever ate the bird's heart, would find a gold-piece under his pillow every morning. With this are connected the wishing-purse, and the wishing-rod, which unlocks the hoard, but apparently feeds it as well (ch. XXXI); also the wunderblume and the springwurzel [root which springs open the door of the treasure]; a bird's nest makes invisible (Deut. s. no. 85. Haupt's Zeitschr. 3, 361. Mone's Anz. 8, 539). Frôði's wishing-mill Grôtti would grind anything the grinder wished for aloud (Sn. 146), gold, salt, etc.; this we can match with the wheel of fortune, an image that may be an importation to us (p. 866), yet not have been strange to our remote ancestry; of manoratha I have spoken before. British legend too had its own version of fortune's wheel (p. 869). Such a mill, such a wheel ought above all to grind food for gods. The gods possess the drink of immortality, which inspires man with song, and keeps a god young. Iðun's apples restore youth, as apples in Völsûngasaga make pregnant, in Sneewitchen send sleep, and in Fortunatus give horns and take them away. But the wishing-cloak becomes a wishing-cloth, which when spread brings up any dish one may desire: in Danish and Swedish songs such a cloth is woven of field wool (ageruld, D. vis. 1, 265. 300.

åkerull, Sv. vis. 2, 199), a sort of grass with a woolly flower (eriophorum polystachium); the same wishing-cloth occurs in Norske ev. 1, 44. 274, it is pulled out of a mare's ear, p. 112. Other wishing-cloths have to be spun in silence, or the hemp for them must be picked, baked, hatchelled, spun and woven all in one day. The Servians tell of a miraculous cow, out of whose ear yarn is spun, she is then killed and buried, and miracles are wrought on her grave. A wishing-cow Kâmaduh or Kâmadhenu is mentioned in Indian myth (Pott 2, 421. Somadeva 1, 198); a wishing-goat, who procures money, in the Norw. tales 1, 45; an ass in Pentam. 1, 1. The machandelbom (juniper) in our fairy-tale is a wishing-tree, so is that from which Cinderella shakes down all her splendid dresses; the Indians call it kalpa vriksha (tree of wishes) or Manoratha-dayaka (wish-giving), Somadeva 2, 84. Besides the dresses of sun and moon, the gold-hen and seven chickens (p. 728) are contained in the nut. Fortuna carries a horn of plenty (p. 870). The goat Amaltheia's horn suppled the nymphs who had nursed Zeus with all they wished for; another legend makes the nymph Amaltheia possess a bull's horn, which gave in abundance all manner of meat and drink that one could wish. A Scottish tradition has it, that if any one can approach a banquet of the fairies, take away their drinking-bowl or horn, and carry it across a running stream without spilling, it will be to him a cornucopia of good fortune; if he break it, his good days are done (R. Chambers pp. 32-3). We know that wise-women and elfins offer drinking-horns to men (p. 420); that jewels of the elves (like those of the smith dwarfs) ensure luck to human families, viz. their sword, ring and goblet (p. 457); that the swan left in Loherangrîn's family a sword, horn and fingerling (ring, Parz. 826. 19). Oberon's horn, and he is of elf kind, was a wishing-horn, and excited magic dancing. Other wonders are wrought by the harps of gods and heroes (p. 907). The elves, beside the horn, have in their gift a bread of grace that blesses. By the side of this may stand the beautiful myths of the cruse of oil that never runds dry, the savoury pottage the brims over, the yarn that has never done winding. Jemshid's goble too was a miraculous one, so was the far-famed Grail (greal, Ducange sub v. gradalus, graletus, grasala, grassale, grassellus), that nourished and healed, which Romance legend took up and intertwined with christian, as indeed the spear of Longinus and the bleeding lance are very likely heathen wishing-spear; nails of the true cross are worked up into bridles that bring victory (El. xxii), wood of the cross and a thousand relics are applied to Thaumaturgic uses (ch. XXXVI), rings and precious stones were held against a relic, that its virtue might pass into them; precious stones themselves are in a sense wishing-stones, such to the Indians was Divyaratna (Pott 2, 421), which fulfilled all the wishes of its owner. And the Grail cannot be more celebrated in the poems of the Round Table than Sampo is in the epic of the Finns. It was fashioned by the god Illmarinen in Pohjola, and a joy it was to live in the land that possessed it, the fields were covered with standing corn and hanging fruits. But the gods tried to win it back (just like Oðhrœrir, p. 902), and Wäinämöinen and Ilmarinen succeeded in the theft; yet Louhi the princess of Pohjola pursued them in eagle's shape (as Suttûng did Oðinn), and overtook the fugitives on the open sea. While Louhi makes a clutch at Sampo falls into the sea and breaks; the lid alone (Kirjokannen 23, 393, conf. 11, 361) is left in Louhi's hand, and with it she flies back to Pohjola: wretchedness and famine have reigned there ever since. Wäinämöinen finds pieces of Sampo on the shore, and has them sown, out of which grow up trees, one of them a lofty oak that darkens the sun. The points of likeness between this Sampo and the Norse drink of immortality are startling, and the pieces picked up on the strand by the highest god, and giving birth to trees, may be compared to Askr and Embla, whom the three âses found on the sea-shore (p. 560. Sæm. 3b). The name Sampo, doubtless one of high antiquity and sacredness, calls to mind a Mongolian legend of a tree Asambu-bararkha, whose fruit dropping in the water uttered the sound sambu (Majer's Myth. wtb. 1, 565); sangpa in Tibetian means purified, holy. We gather from all these examples, still far from complete, how under the veil of sensuous images---spear, hammer, hat, helmet, cloak, horn, goblet, necklace, ring, ship, wheel, tree, rod, flower, cloth, meat and drink---lay hidden the spiritual ones of victory, happiness, peace, healing, fertility, riches, virtue and poetic art. But when several attributes met in one object, as in Sampo and the Grail, they still further enhanced its meaning and sacredness (see Suppl.).

From the prologue to the Grîmnismâl, Sæm. 39, we learn that Oðinn and Frigg, beside being the chief paternal and maternal deities of antiquity, bestow their protection on special favourites: under the form of an old man and woman, they bring up the boys Geirröðr and Agnar respectively, the act being expressed by the verb fôstra. Frigg had even, according to Sn. 38, a special handmaid, herself a divine being, whom she appointed for the defence (til gætslu) of such foster-sons against all dangers; this personified Tutela was named Hlîn (p. 884), as if the couch, klinh, OHG. hlîna (recubitus, Gl. Ker. 273) on which one leans (root hleina hláin, Gr. klinw , Lat. clino). We find 'harmr Hlînar,' Sæm. 9, and there went a proverb 'sâ er forðaz hleinir,' he that is struggling leans for help. Hlîn (Goth. Hleins?) shelters and shields, the Goth. hláins is a hill [Germ. berg, a hill, is from bergen, to hide], the OHG. hlinaperga, linaperga = fulcrum, reclinatorium.

Those who are born with a caul about their head are popularly believed to be lucky children. Such a membrane is called glückshaube, wehmutter-häublein, and is carefully treasured up, or sewed into a band and put round the babe. (21) Fischart in Garg. 229b calls it kinderpelglin (balg, bag), while the Icelanders give it the name of fylgja f., and imagine that in it resides the child's guardian spirit or a part of its soul: midwives are careful not to injure it, but bury it under the threshold over which the mother has to pass. Whoever carelessly throws it away or burns it, deprives the child of its guardian, Edd. Sæm. Hafniens. 2, 653. This guardian-spirit is variously named fylgja (who follows man), sometimes forynja (who goes before him, F. Magn. lex. 379), oftener hamîngja (felicitas) from hamr induviae, nay, this hamr of itself seems to stand for the same thing: 'hamr Alta,' genius Atlii, Sæm. 253b. According to Ihre (de Superst. p. 24-5), the Swed. hamn denotes a genius that follows each man.




ENDNOTES:

20. I find also a proper name Seldenbot = Sælde's messenger, Weisth. 3, 277-8. [Back]

21. Kinderm. no. 29, conf. 3, 39. Ettner's Hebamme p. 534. Journal v. u. f. D. 1788. 1, 574. Ital. 'nascer vestito' = avventurato; Fr. né coiffé; Pol. 2 czepku urodzil, Haupt's Zeitschr. 1, 137. The Servians name the caul koshulitsa, little shirt, and a child born with it vidovit: he will go to the Vilas and know more than other men. In Holland they say 'met den helm geboren zin' (conf. p. 389): such children have the power of seeing spectres; a ham (ovum) in which a foal came into the world is hung up on a high tree, Westendorp p. 518. Of the glücks-helm we are told: 'ab eo tegmine obstetrices et delirae aniculae infantibus bona ex colore rubicundo, vel mala ex nigricante praesagire solent. magno vendunt hujusmodi pileos infantiles credulis advocatis, qui se hinc adjuvari putant.' This in Anton. Diadum. cap. 4 is borrowed from an older passage in Aelius Lampridius: 'solent pueri pileo insignari naturali, quod obstetrices rapiunt et advocatis credulis vendunt, siquidem causidici hoc juvari dicuntur.' [AS. heafela, hafela. MHG. hüetelîn, batwât, kindbälgel, westerhûfe, westerhuot; conf. the westerwât preserved in churches, and the names Glückshelm Barnhelm. 'Membranulae ad modum retis dispositae, in quibus quandoque nascuntur pueri et vocantur in vulgari (Bohemico) wodienic. de his membranis famant vetulae: si recipiantur IX vel ad minus V et habeantur cum filo aureo et sericeo in ecclesia per novem dies illo tempore quo horae canonicae dicuntur per nonam, et ferantur per aliquem ad judicem vel ad judicium, ille obtinet causam suam.' Jungmann sub v. odenj. Lith. namai kudikio, child's house. ON. Hlöðr born with helmet and sword.-----Extr. from Suppl., vol. iii. Not a word about it as a charm against drowning.] [Back]