Chapter 21
The Greek dryads (15)
and hamadryads have their life linked to a tree, and as this withers and dies,
they themselves fall away and cease to be; any injury to bough or twig is felt
as a wound, and a wholesale hewing down puts an end to them at once. (16)
A cry of anguish escapes them when the cruel axe comes near. Ovid in Met. 8,
742 seq., tells a beautiful story of Erisichthon's impious attack on the grove
of Ceres:
Ille etiam Cereale nemus violasse securi
dicitur, et lucos ferro temerasse vetustos.
Stabat in his ingens annoso robore quercus,
saepe sub hac dryades festas duxere choreas......
Contremuit, gemitumque dedit Deoïa quercus,
et pariter frondes, pariter pallescere glandes
coepere, ac longi pallorem ducere rami.
When the alder (erle) is hewn, it bleeds, weep, and begins to speak (Meinert's
Kuhländch. 122). An Austrian märchen (Ziska 38-42) tells of the stately fir,
in which there sits a fay waited on by dwarfs, rewarding the innocent and plaguing
the guilty; and a Servian song of the maiden in the pine (fichte) whose bark
the boy splits with gold and silver horn. Magic spells banish the ague into
frau Fichte (see Suppl.).
This belief in spirit-haunted trees was no less indigenous among
Celts. Sulpicius Severus (beg. of 5th
cent.) reports in his life of St. Martin, ed. Amst. 1665, p. 457:
'Dum in vico quodam templum antiquissimum diruisset, et arborem pinum, quae fano
erat proxima, esset aggressus excidere, tum vero antistes illius luci ceteraque
gentilium turba coepit obsistere; et cum iidem illi, dum templum evertitur, imperante
domino quievissent, succidi arborem non patiebantur. Ille eos sedulo commonere,
nihil esse religionis in stipite; Deum potius, cui serviret ipse, sequerentur;
arborem illam exscindi oportere, quia esset daemoni dedicata' (see Suppl.).
A great deal might be written on the sacredness
of particular plants and flowers. They are either dedicated to certain gods
and named after them (as Donners bart, p. 183. Baldrs brâ, p. 222. Forneotes
folme, p. 240. Lokkes havre, p. 242. Freyju hâr, Friggjar gras, p. 302-3); or
they come of the transformation of some afflicted or dying man. Nearly all such
plants have power to heal or hurt, it is true they have to be plucked and gathered
first: the Chap. on magic will furnish examples. Like sacred tutelary beasts,
they are blazoned on the coats-of-arms of countries, towns, and heroes. Thus
to the Northwest Germans, especially Frisians and Zeelanders, the seeblatt (nymphaea,
nenuphar) was from the earliest times an object of veneration. The Hollanders
call it plompe, the Frisians pompe: strictly speaking, the broad leaves floating
on the sea are pompebledden, and the fragrant white flowers, golden yellow inside,
swanneblommen (flores cygnei); which recalls the names given at p. 489, nixblume,
näckblad, muhme and mummel (i.e. swan-maiden). The Frisians put seven 'sea-blades'
(zeven plompenbladen) in their escutcheon, and under that emblem looked for
victory; (17) our Gudrunlied (1373)
knows all about it, and furnishes Herwîc of Sêwen or Sêlanden with a sky-blue
flag: 'sêbleter swebent (float) dar inne.' This sea-flower is the sacred lotus
of old Egypt, and is also honoured in India; the Tibetans and Nepâlese bow down
to it, it is set up in temples, Brahma and Vishnu float on its leaf; and it
is no other than a M. Nethl. poem that still remembers Thumbkin floating on
the leaf (p. 451).
We shall have still more to say about sacred animals, which enter
into more intimate relation with man than dumb nature can; but their cultus
will admit of being referred to two or three principal causes. Either they stood
connected with particular gods, and to some extent in their service, as the
boar belongs to Frô, the wolf and raven to Wuotan; or there lies at the basis
the metamorphosis of a higher being into some animal shape, on the strength
of which the whole species comes to be invested with a halo of honour. That
is how we may in some instances have to take a bear, bull, cow or snake, presupposing
an incarnation, though our mythology may have long ceased to reach so far back
as to give a full account of it. Then, bordering close upon such a lowering
of the god into the animal, comes the penal degradation of man into a beast,
the old doctrine of transmigration, in which we discover a third reason for
the consecration of animals, though it does not warrant an actual worship of
them. Those myths, e.g. of the cuckoo, woodpecker, nightingale, and so on, furnish
a fund of beautiful tales, which enter largely into the hero-worship (see Suppl.).
Quadrupeds.----Foremost of animals I name the horse, the noblest,
wisest, trustiest of domestic animals, with whom the hero holds friendly talk
(p. 392), who sympathizes in his griefs and rejoices in his victories. As some
heroes are named after the horse (Hengest, Hors), the horse too has proper names
given him; Norse mythology assigns to nearly every god his separate horse, endowed
with miraculous powers. Oðin's steed is named Sleipnir (p. 154), and is, like
some giants and heroes, an octopod. (18)
The other horses of the âses are enumerated by Sæm. 44ª and Sn. 18, without
specifying to which they belonged. Several names are formed with 'faxi' (jubatus,
comatus, OHG. vahso), as Skînfaxi (Sæm. 32. Sn. 11), Gullfaxi (Sn. 107-10),
Hrîmfaxi (Sæm. 32. 91. Sn. 11), Freyfaxi (Vatnsd. 140-1). Of these, Gullfaxi
the gold-maned belonged to giant Hrûngnir, Skînfaxi the shiny-maned was the
steed of Day, and Hrîmfaxi the rimy-maned (p. 641) of Night. But even Faxi by
itself is a name for horses, e.g. Fornald. sög. 2, 168, 508. Arvakr (early-waker),
Alsviðr (all-wise) are horses of the sun-chariot, Sæm. 45. Sn. 12; on Arvakr's
car, on Alsvinn's (19) hoof, there
were runes written; also runes 'â Sleipnis tönnom (teeth),' Sæm. 196ª, as well
as on the bears paw and the wolf's claws. (20)
Svaðilfari was the horse that helped the giant in building, Sn. 46. And our
hero-legend has handed down the names of many famous horses (p. 392). Bajart
is described as intelligent, like Alsviðr; he is said to be still alive in Ardennes
forest, where you may hear him neigh every year on Midsummer day (Quatre fils
Aimon 180ª). The track of Schimming's shoe stands printed on the rock, Vilk.
saga cap. 37 (see Suppl.).
The Freyfaxi in Vatnsdælasaga was owned by a man named Brandr,
who is said to have worshipped it (at hann hefði âtrûnað â Faxa), and was therefore
called Faxabrandr. The unpublished saga of Hrafnkell is known to me only from
Müller's Bibl. 1, 103, but he too had a horse Freyfaxi (mispr. Freirfara), which
he had half given to Freyr, vowing at the same time to slay the man who should
mount it without his leave. I can give the passage from Joh. Erici de philippia
apud priscos boreales, Lips. 1755, p. 122: 'Hrafnkell âtti þann grip î eigo
sinni, er hânom þôtti betri enn annar, þat var hestr bleikalôttr at lit, er
hann kallaði Freyfaxa, hann gaf Frey vin sînom (supra, pp. 93. 211) þenna hest
hâlfann. â þessom hesti hafði hann svâ mikla elsko (love), at hann strengdi
þess heit (vow), at hann skyldi þeim manni at bana verða, er þeim hesti riði
ân hans vilja.' Brand's 'âtrûnað' refers, no doubt, to the same circumstance
of his horse being hallowed and devoted to the god. A striking testimony to
this is found in Olafs Tryggvasonar saga: (21)
Tidings came to the king, that the Trændir (men of Drontheim) had turned back
to the worship of Freyr, whose statue still stood among them. When the king
commanded them to break the image, the replied: 'ei munum ver brióta lîkneski
Freys, þvîat ver höfum leingi honum þionat ok hefr oss vel dûgat.' Olafr summoned
them to an assembly, resolving to destroy the idol himself, and sailed to the
coast where the temple (hof) stood. When he landed, he found the horses of the
god grazing there (þâ sâu hans menn stôðhross nokr við vegin, er þeir sögðu
at hann Freyr ætti). The king mounted the stallion, and his courtiers the mares,
and so they rode to the temple; Olafr dismounted, walked in and threw down the
idols (goðin), (22) but took Frey's
image away with him. When the Trændir found their gods dishonoured, and Frey's
image carried off, they were ware that the king had done it, and they came to
the place of meeting. The king had the image set up in the Thing, and asked
the people: 'know ye this man?' 'It is Freyr our god' they answered. 'How has
he shown his power to you?' 'He has often spoken to us, foretold the future,
granted plenty and peace (veitti oss âr oc frið).' 'The devil spake to you'
said the king; then taking an axe, he cried to the image: 'Now help thyself,
and defend thee if thou canst.' Freyr continuing silent, Olafr hewed off both
his hands, and then preached to the people how this idolatry had arisen. The
whole narrative bears the impress of a later age, yet it had sprung out of Norse
tradition, and assures us that horses were consecrated to Freyr, and maintained
in the hallowed precincts of his temples. Had not the temples of other gods
such horses too? The animals that Wilibrord found grazing in Fosete's sanctuary
(p. 230) can hardly have been horses, or he would not have had them slaughtered
for food; but the practice of rearing cattle consecrated to the gods is established
by it none the less. And apart from this, it seems that single beasts were maintained
by private worshippers of the god.
Such breed
of pure and dedicated horses was destined for holy uses, especially sacrifice,
divination, and the periodical tours of deities in their cars. Their manes were
carefully cultivated, groomed and decorated, as the name Faxi indicates; probably
gold, silver and ribbons were twined or plaited into the locks (Gullfaxi, Skînfaxi);
mön glôar (juba splendet), Sæm. 92ª, lýsir mön af mari (lucet juba ex equo)
32b, as indeed the Lat. jubar suggests juba, because a man does radiate, and
light sends out beams in the manner of hair. (23)
Gulltoppr, Silfrintoppr are names of horses whose tails were tied round with
gold or silver, Sn. 44. The names of Gyllir and Gler (golden, glittering, ibid.)
may be given them for the same reason, or because their hoofs were shod with
gold, or from the gilding of the bridle and saddle. Of colours, white was esteemed
the noblest; a king would make his entry, or bestow a fief, seated on a milk-white
steed. The Weisthümer often mention the white horse (e.g. 3, 342. 857); if an
inheritance lie vacant, the governor is to mount a white foal, and taking one
man before him and the other behind, to set one of them down on the property
(3, 831; conf. 2, 541). A foal was esteemed even purer and nobler than a horse
(see Suppl.). (24)
ENDNOTES:
15. AS. gloss, wudu-elfenne, wood-elfins, fem. pl. [Back]
16. 'Non sine hamadryadis fato cadit arborea trabs.' Ausonius.
[Back]
17. J.H. Halbertsma's Het Buddhisme en zijn stichter, Deventer
1843, pp. 3. 10; and he adds, that the people are to this day very careful in
picking and carrying the plompen: if you fall with the flower in you hand, you
get the falling sickness. Plomben, our plumfen, ON. pompa, means plumping or
plunging down. Acc. to W. Barnes, 'butterpumps = ovary of the yellow waterlily;'
conf. Lith. pumpa, Slav. pupa, wen, pimple? Mart. Hamconii Frisia, Franekarae
1620, p. 7, says Friso introduced the cognisance of the seven sea-blades: 'insigne
Frisonis, ut Cappidus refert, septem fuerunt rubra nympheae herbae folia, in
tribus argenteis constitutae trabibus per scutum caeruleum oblique ductis.'
Cappidus is said to have been a priest at Stavorn at the beg. of the 10th
century, but nothing more is known of him. Conf. Van d. Bergh's Volksoverlev.
p. 33. 41. 110. Others connect the division of Friesland into 7 leaves of the
scutcheon; it is not known for certain when that division first began; see De
vrije Vries 4, 137. [Back]
18. Old riddle on Oðinn and Sleipnir in the Hervarasaga:
'Who are the two that go to Thing (council) together, and have three eyes, ten
legs and one tail between them?' A mode of expression quite of a piece with
our old habits of speech; thus in the Weisthümer it is said the officers
of the court shall come to the assize with 6 1/2 mouths, meaning three men on
horseback and a dog. [Back]
19. Sviðr, gen. svinns, like maðr, manns. [Back]
20. Reminding of the Germ. Beast-apologue (Reinh. cclxiii).
In Fornald. sög. 1, 169 Rafn prefers, wrongly I think, the reading 'höfði,'
head. [Back]
21. d. Skalh. 1698. 1690. 2, 190 cap. 49; this cap. is left
out in Fornm. sög. 2, 189, but inserted at 10, 312. [Back]
22. So that there were other statues standing beside Frey's.
[Back]
23. Single hairs out of the mane or tail of a sacred horse
were treasured up. Franz Wessel relates p. 14, that when the Johannites preached
in a town or village, they had a fine stallion ridden round, to which the people
offered 'afgehowen woppen (bunch of oat ears)'; any one who could get a hair
out of the horse's tail, thought himself lucky, and sewed it into the middle
of his milk-strainer, and the milk was proof against witchcraft. [Back]
24. A foal's tooth, it seems, was hung about the person, and worn as a safeguard.
A MHG. poet says: 'gevater unde füli-zant an grôzen nœten sint ze
swach,' godfathers and foal's teeth are too weak in great emergencies, MS. 2,
160b. To let children ride on a black foal makes them cut their teeth easily,
Superst. I, 428. From Eracl. 1320. 1485 fül-zene appear to be the milk-teeth
shed by a foal (see Suppl.). [Back]
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