Part 4

Among the tasks to be performed by the world-mill there is yet another of the greatest importance. According to a belief which originated in ancient Aryan times, a fire is to be judged as to purity and holiness by its origin. There are different kinds of fire more or less pure and holy, and a fire which is holy as to its origin may become corrupted by contact with improper elements. The purest fire, that which was originally kindled by the gods and was afterwards given to man as an invaluable blessing, as a bond of union between the higher world and mankind, was a fire which was produced by rubbing two objects together (friction). In hundreds of passages this is corroborated in Rigveda, and the belief still exists among the common people of various Teutonic peoples. The great mill which revolves the starry heavens was also the mighty rubbing machine (friction machine) from which the sacred fire naturally ought to proceed, and really was regarded as having proceeded, as shall be shown below.

The word möndull, with which the handle of the mill is designated, is found among our ancient Aryan ancestors. It can be traced back to the ancient Teutonic manthula, a swing-tree (Fick, Wörterb. d. ind.-germ. Spr., iii. 232), related to Sanskrit Manthati, to swing, twist, bore, from the root manth, which occurs in numerous passages in Rigveda, and in its direct application always refers to the production of fire by friction (Bergaigne, Rel. ved., iii. 7).

In Rigveda, the sacred fire is personified by the "pure," upright," "benevolent" god Agni, whose very name, related to the Latin ignis, designates the god of fire. According to Rigveda, there was a time when Agni lived concealed from both gods and men, as the element of light and warmth found in all beings and things. Then there was a time when he dwelt in person among the gods, but not yet among men; and, finally, there was a time when Mâtaricvan, a sacred being and Agni's father in a literal or symbolic sense, brought it about that Agni came to our fathers (Rigv., i. 60, 1). The generation of men then living was the race of Bhriguians, so-called after an ancient patriarch Bhrigu. This Bhrigu, and with him Manu (Manus), was the first person who, in his sacrifices to the gods, used the fire obtained through Agni (Rigv., i. 31, 17, and other passages).

When, at the instigation of Mâtaricvan, Agni arrived among mankind, he came from a far-off region (Rigv., i. 128, 2). The Bhriguians who did not yet possess the fire, but were longing for it and were seeking for it (Rigv., x. 40, 2), found the newly-arrived Agni "at the confluence of the waters". In a direct sense, "the confluence of the waters" cannot mean anything else than the ocean, into which all waters flow. Thus Agni came from the distance across a sea to the coast of the country where that people dwelt who were named after the patriarch Bhrigu. When they met this messenger of the gods (Rigv., viii. 19, 21), they adopted him and cared for him at "the place of the water" (Rigv., ii. 4, 2). Mâtaricvan, by whose directions Agni, "the one born on the other side of the atmosphere" (x. 187, 5) was brought to mankind, becomes in the classical Sanskrit language a designation for the wind. Thus everything tends to show that Agni has traversed a wide ocean, and has been brought by the wind when he arrives at the coast where the Bhriguians dwell. He is very young, and hence bears the epithet yavishtha.

We are now to see why the gods sent him to men, and what be does among them. He remains among those who care for him, and dwells among them "an immortal among mortals" (Rigv., viii. 60, 11; iii. 5, 3), a guest among men, a companion of mortals (iv. 1, 9). He who came with the inestimable gift of fire long remains personally among men, in order that "a wise one among the ignorant" may educate them. He who "knows all wisdom and all sciences" (Rigv., iii. 1, 17; x. 21, 5) "came to be asked questions" (i. 60, 20) by men; he teaches them and "they listen to him as to a father" (i. 68, 9). He becomes their first patriarch (ii. 10, 1) and their first priest (v. 9, 4; x. 80, 4). Before that time they had lived a nomadic life, but he taught them to establish fixed homes around the hearths, on which the fire he had brought now was burning (iii. 1, 17). He visited them in these fixed dwellings (iv. 1, 19), where the Bhriguians now let the fire blaze (x. 122, 5); he became "the husband of wives" (i. 66, 4) and the progenitor of human descendants (i. 96, 2), through whom he is the founder of the classes or "races" of men (vi. 48, 8). He established order in all human affairs (iv. 1, 2), taught religion, instructed men in praying and sacrificing (vi. 1, 1, and many other passages), initiated them in the art of poetry and gave them inspiration (iii. 10, 5; x. 11, 6).

This is related of Agni when he came to the earth and dwelt among men. As to his divine nature, he is the pure, white god (iv. 1, 7; iii. 7, 1), young, strong, and shining with golden teeth (v. 2, 2), and searching eyes (iv. 2, 12) which can see far (vii. 1, 1), penetrate the darkness of night (i. 94, 7), and watch the acts of demons (x. 87, 12). He, the guard of order (i. 11, 8), is always attentive (i. 31, 12), and protects the world by day and by night from dangers (i. 98, 1). On a circular path he observes all beings (vii. 13, 3), and sees and knows them all (x. 187, 4). He perceives everything, being able to penetrate the herbs, and diffuse himself into plants and animals (vii. 9, 3 ; viii. 43, 9; x. 1, 2). He hears all who pray to him, and can make himself heard as if he had the voice of thunder, so that both the halves of the world re-echo his voice (x. 8, 1). His horses are like himself white (vi. 6, 4). His symbol among the animals is the bull (i. 31, 5; i. 146, 2).

In regard to Agni's birth, it is characteristic of him that he is said to have several mothers, although their number varies according to the point from which the process of birth is regarded. When it is only to be a figurative expression for the origin of the friction-fire, the singer of the hymn can say that Agni had ten mothers or two mothers. In the case of the former, it is the ten fingers of the person producing the friction-fire that are meant. Sometimes this is stated outright (Rigveda, iii. 23, 3); then again the fingers are paraphrased by "the twice five sisters dwelling together" (iv. 6, 8), "the work-master's ten untiring maids" (i. 95, 1). In the case of the latter - that is, when two mothers are mentioned - the two pieces of wood rubbed together are meant (viii. 49, 15). In a more real sense he is said to have three places of nativity: one in the atmospheric sea, one in heaven, and one in the waters (i. 95, 3), and that his "great, wise, divine nature proceeded from the laps of many active mothers" (i. 95, 4), such as the waters, the stones, the trees, the herbs (ii. 1, 1). In Rigveda (x. 45, 2) nine maternal wombs or births are indicated; his "triple powers were sown in triplets in heaven, among us, and in the waters". In Rigveda (i. 141, 2) three places of nativity and three births are ascribed to him, and in such a way that he had seven mothers in his second birth. In Rigveda (x. 20, 7) he is called the son of the rock.

It scarcely needs to be pointed out that all that is here told about Agni corresponds point by point with the Teutonic myth about Heimdall. Here, as in many other instances, we find a similarity between the Teutonic and the Aryan-Asiatic myths, which is surprising, when we consider that the difference between the Rigveda and Zend languages on the one hand, and the oldest Teutonic linguistic monuments on the other, appear in connection with other circumstances to indicate that the old Aryan unity of language and religion lies ages back in antiquity. Agni's birth "beyond the atmosphere," his journey across the sea to original man in the savage state, his vocation as the sower of the blessings of culture among men, his appearance as the teacher of wisdom and "the sciences," his visit to the farms established by him, where he becomes "the husband of wives," father of human sons, and the founder of "the races" (the classes among the Teutons), - all this we rediscover completely in the Heimdall myth, as if it were a copy of the Aryan-Asiatic saga concerning the divine founder of culture; a copy fresh from the master's brush without the effects of time, and without any retouchings. The very names of the ancient Aryan patriarchs, Bhrigu and Manu are recognisable in the Teutonic patriarch names Berchter and Mann (Mannus-Halfdan). In the case of Manu and Mann no explanation is necessary. Here the identity of sound agrees with the identity of origin. The descendants of Bhrigu and of his contemporary Bhriguians, are called Bhargavans, which corroborates the conclusion that Bhrigu is derived from bharg "to shine," whence is derived the ancient Teutonic berhta, "bright," "clear," "light," the Old Saxon berht, the Anglo-Saxon beorht, which reoccurs in the Teutonic patriarch Berchter, which again is actually (not linguistically) identical with the Norse Borgarr. By Bhrigu's side stands Manu, just as Mann (Halfdan) is co-ordinate with Borgar.

Point by point the descriptions of Agni and Heimdall also correspond in regard to their divine natures and attributes. Agni is the great holy white god; Heimdall is mikill and heilagr, and is called hvíti áss (Younger Edda) or "the whitest of the Asas" (Þrymskviða 15). While Agni as the fire-god has golden teeth, Heimdall certainly for the same reason bears the epithet gullintanni, "the one with the golden teeth ". Agni has white horses. In Ulf Uggason's poem about the work of art in Hjarðarholt, Heimdall rides his horse Gulltoppur, whose name reflects its splendour. While Agni's searching eyes can see in the distance and can penetrate the gloom of night, it is said of Heimdall that hann sér jafnt nótt sem dag hundrað rasta frá sér. While Agni perceives everything, even the inaudible motions in the growing of herbs and animals; while he penetrates and diffuses himself in plants and animals, it is said of Heimdall that he heyrir og það, er gras vex á jörðu eða ull á sauðum. While Agni - it is not stated by what means - is able to produce a noise like thunder which re-echoes through both the world-halves, Heimdall has the horn, whose sound all the world shall hear, when Ragnarok is at hand. On a "circular path," Agni observes the beings in the world. Heimdall looks out upon the world from Bifrost. Agni keeps his eye on the deeds of the demons, is perpetually on the look-out, and protects the world by day and by night from dangers; Heimdall is the watchman of the gods, vörður goða (Grímnismál), needs in his vocation as watchman less sleep than a bird, and faithfully guards the Asa-bridge against the giants. Agni is born of several mothers; Heimdall has mothers nine. Agni is "the fast traveller," who, in the human abodes he visits, opens a way for prayer and sacrifice (Rigv., vii. 13, 3); in Rígsþula, Heimdall has the same epithet, "the fast traveller," röskr Stígandi, as he goes from house to house and teaches men the "runes of eternity" and "the runes of time".

The only discrepancy is in the animal symbols by which Agni and Heimdall are designated. The bull is Agni's symbol, the ram is Heimdall's. Both symbols are chosen from the domestic animals armed with horns, and the difference is linguistically of such a kind, that it to some extent may be said to corroborate the evidence in regard to Agni's and Heimdall's identity. In the old Norse poetry, Veður (wether, ram), Heimdali and the Heimdall epithet Hallinskíði, are synonymous. The word veður, according to Fick (Wörterb., iii. 307), can be traced to an ancient Teutonic vethru, the real meaning of which is "yearling," a young domestic animal in general, and it is related to the Latin vitulus and the Sanskrit vatsala, "calf". If this is correct, then we also see the lines along which one originally common symbol of a domestic animal developed into two and among the Rigveda Aryans settled on the "yearling" of the cow, and among the Teutons on that of the sheep. It should here be remarked that according to Ammianus Marcellinus (xix. 1) the tiara of the Persian kings was ornamented with a golden ram's-head. That Agni's span of horses were transformed into Heimdall's riding horse was also a result of time and circumstances. In Rigveda, riding and cavalry are unknown; there the horses of the gods draw the divine chariots. In the Teutonic mythology the draught horses are changed into riding horses, and chariots occur only exceptionally.

We have reason to be surprised at finding that the Aryan-Asiatic myths and the Teutonic have so broad surfaces of contact, on which not only the main outlines but even the details completely resemble each other. But the fact is not inexplicable. The hymns, the songs of the divine worship and of the sacrifices of the Rigveda Aryans, have been preserved, but the epic-mythological poems are lost, so that there remains the difficult task of reconstructing out of the former a clear and concise mythology, freed from "dissolving views" in which their mythic characters now blend into each other. The Teutonic mythology has had an opposite fate: here the genuine religious songs, the hymns of divine worship and of sacrifices, are lost, and there remain fragments of the mighty divine epic of the Teutons. But thus we have also been robbed of the opportunity of studying those very songs which in a higher degree than the epic are able to preserve through countless centuries ancient mythical traits; for the hymns belong to the divine worship, popular customs are long-lived, and the sacred customs are more conservative and more enduring than all others, if they are not disturbed by revolutions in the domain of faith. If an epithet of a god, e.g., "the fast traveller," has once become fixed by hymns and been repeated in the divine service year after year, then, in spite of the gradual transformation of the languages and the types of the race, it may be preserved through hundreds and thousands of years. Details of this kind may in this manner survive the ravages of time just as well as the great outlines of the mythology, and if there be a gradual change as to signification, then this is caused by the change of language, which may make an old expression unintelligible or give it another meaning based on the association of ideas.

From all this I am forced to draw the conclusion that Heimdall, like several other Teutonic gods - for example, Odin (Wodan, Rigveda's Vata) - belongs to the ancient Aryan age, and retained, even to the decay of the Teutonic heathendom his ancient character as the personal representative of the sacred fire, the fire produced by friction, and, in this connection, as the representative of the oldest culture connected with the introduction of fire.

This also explains Heimdall's epithet Vindler, in Cod. Reg. of the Younger Edda (skáldskaparmál 15). The name is a subform of vindill and comes from vinda, to twist or turn, wind, to turn anything around rapidly. As the epithet "the turner" is given to that god who brought friction-fire (bore-fire) to man, and who is himself the personification of this fire, then it must be synonymous with "the borer".

A synonym of Heimdall's epithet Stígandi, "the traveller," is Rati, "the traveller," from rata, "to travel," "to move about". Very strangely, this verb (originally vrata, Goth. vrâton, to travel, make a journey) can be traced to an ancient Germanic word which meant to turn or twist, or something of the sort (Fick, Wörterb., iii. 294). And, so far as the noun Rati is concerned, this signification has continued to flourish in the domain of mythology after it long seems to have been extinct in the domain of language. Hávamál 106, Grímnismál 32, and Bragaræður testify each in its own way that the mythical name Rati was connected with a boring activity. In Hávamál "Rati's mouth" gnaws the tunnel through which Odin, in the guise of an eagle, flies away with the mead-treasure concealed in the "deep dales" at Fjalar's under the roots of the world-tree. In the allegorical Grímnismál strophe it is "Rati's tooth" (Ratatoskur) who lets the mead-drinking foe of the gods near the root of the world-tree find out what the eagle in the top of the world-tree (Odin) resolves and carries out in regard to the same treasure. In Bragarædur the name is given to the gimlet itself which produced the connection between Odin's world and Fjalar's halls. The gimlet has here received the name of the boring "traveller," of him who is furnished with "golden teeth". Hence there are good reasons for assuming that in the epic of the myth it was Heimdall-Gullintanni himself whose fire-gimlet helped Odin to fly away with his precious booty. In Rigveda Agni plays the same part. The "tongue of Agni" has the same task there as "Rati's mouth" in our Norse records. The sacred mead of the liquids of nourishment was concealed in the womb of the mountain with the Dasyus, hostile to the world; but Agni split the mountain open with his tongue, his ray of light penetrated into the darkness where the liquids of nourishment were preserved, and through him they were brought to the light of day, after Trita (in some passages of Rigveda identical with Vata) had slain a giant monster and found the "cows of the son of the work-master" (cp. Rigveda, v. 14, 4; viii. 61, 4-8 ; x. 8, 6-9). "The cows of the son of the work-master" is a paraphrase for the saps of nourishiment. In the Teutonic mythology there is also "a son of the work-master," who is robbed of the mead. Fjalar is a son of Surt, whose character as an ancient artist is evident from what is stated in Nos. 53 and 89.

By friction Mâtaricvan brought Agni out of the maternal wombs in which he was concealed as an embryo of light and warmth. Heimdall was born to life in a similar manner. His very place of nativity indicates this. His mothers have their abodes við jarðar þröm (Völuspá in skamma 7) near the edge of the earth, on the outer rim of the earth, and that is where they gave him life (báru þann mann). His mothers are giaintesses (jötna meyjar), and nine in number. We have already found giantesses, nine in number, mentioned as having their activity on the outer edge of the earth - namely, those who with the möndull, the handle, turn the vast friction-mechanism, the world-mill of Mundilfori. They are the níu brúðir of Eylúður, "the Isle-grinder," mentioned by Snæbjörn (see above). These nine giant-maids, who along the outer zone of the earth (fyrir jarðar skauti) push the mill's sweep before themselves and grind the coasts of the islands, are the same nine giant-maids who on the outer zone of the earth gave birth to Heimdall, the god of the friction-fire. Hence one of Heimdall's mothers is called Angeyja, "she who makes the islands closer," and another one is called Eyrgjafa, "she who gives sandbanks". Mundilföri, who is the father of Sol and Mani, and has the care of the motions of the starry heavens is accordingly also, though in another sense, the father of Heimdall the pure, holy fire to whom the glittering objects in the skies must naturally be regarded as akin.

In Völuspá in skamma 9 Heimdall's nine giant-mothers are named: Gjálp, Greip, Eistla, Eyrgjafa, Úlfrún, Angeyja, Imdur, Atla, Járnsaxa. The first two are daughters of the fire-giant Geirrod (Skáldskaparmál 26). To fire refers also Imdur, from ím, embers. Two of the names, Angeyja and Eyrgjafa, as already shown, indicate the occupation of these giantesses in connection with the world-mill. This is presumably also the case with Járnsaxa, "she who crushes the iron". The iron which our heathen fathers worked was produced from the sea- and swamp-iron mixed with sand and clay, and could therefore properly be regarded as a grist of the world-mill.

Heimdal's antithesis in all respects, and therefore also his constant opponent in the mythological epic, is Loki, he too a fire-being, but representing another side of this element. Natural agents such as fire, water, wind, cold, heat, and thunder have in the Teutonic mythology a double aspect. When they work in harmony, each within the limits which are fixed by the welfare of the world and the happiness of man, then they are sacred forces and are represented by the gods. But when these limits are transgressed, giants are at work, and the turbulent elements are represented by beings of giant-race. This is also true of thunder, although it is the common view among mythologists that it was regarded exclusively as a product of Thor's activity. The genuine mythical conception was, however, that the thunder which purifies the atmosphere and fertilises the thirsty earth with showers of rain, or strikes down the foes of Midgard, came from Thor; while that which splinters the sacred trees, sets fire to the woods and houses, and kills men that have not offended the gods, came from the foes of the world. The blaze-element (see No. 35) was not only in the possession of the gods, but also in that of the giants (Skírnismál), and the lightning did not proceed alone from Mjolnir, but was also found in Hrungnir's hein and in Geirrod's glowing javelin. The conflicts between Thor and the giants were not only on terra firma, as when Thor made an expedition on foot to Jotunheim, but also in the air. There were giant-horses that were able to wade with force and speed through the atmosphere, as, for instance, Hrungnir's Gullfaxi (skáldskaparmál 24), and these giant-horses with their shining manes, doubtless, were expected to carry their riders to the lightning-conflict in space against the lightning-hurler, Thor. The thunderstorm was frequently a víg þrimu, a conflict between thundering beings, in which the lightnings hurled by the ward of Midgard, the son of Hlodyn, crossed the lightnings hurled by the foes of Midgard.

Loki and his brothers Helblindi and Byleistr are the children of a giant of this kind, of a giant representing the hurricane and thunder. The rain-torrents and waterspouts of the hurricane, which directly or indirectly became wedded to the sea through the swollen streams, gave birth to Helblindi, who, accordingly, received Rán as his "maid" (Yngl., 51 [?]). The whirlwind in the hurricane received as his ward Byleistr, whose name is composed of bylr, "whirlwind," and eistr, "the one dwelling in the east" (the north), a paraphrase for "giant". A thunderbolt from the hurricane gave birth to Loki. His father is called Fárbauti, "the one inflicting harm," and his mother is Laufey, "the leaf-isle," a paraphrase for the tree-crown (Gylfaginning 33, Skáldskaparmál 23). Thus Loki is the son of the burning and destructive lightning, the son of him who particularly inflicts damaging blows on the sacred oaks (see No. 36) and sets fire to the groves. But the violence of the father does not appear externally in the son's character. He long prepares the conflagration of the world in secret, and not until he is put in chains does he exhibit, by the earthquakes he produces, the wild passion of his giant nature. As a fire-being, he was conceived as handsome and youthful. From an ethical point of view, the impurity of the flame which he represents is manifested by his unrestrained sensuousness. After he had been for ever exiled from the society of the gods and had been fettered in his cave of torture, his exterior, which was in the beginning beautiful, became transformed into an expression of his intrinsic wickedness, and his hair grew out in the form of horny spears (see above). In this too he reveals himself as a counterpart of Heimdall, whose helmet is ornamented with a glittering ram's-horn.