Grimm's TM - Spells
Jesus gik sig efter vejen frem, der mödte han slangen (snake). 'Hvor har du agtet dig?' sagde der herre Jesus. Saa svarede han: 'til den, som svag er (is weak).' Saa svarede den herre Jesus: 'Jeg skal dig igien vende (turn thee back), hiem igien sende. jeg skal sende dig udi bierget blaa (into the blue mtn), der skal du staae, saa länge som verden (world) staaer, jeg skal binde dig med mine ti fingre og med tolv Guds engle.' udi tre navn etc.
Jesus reed sig til heede (heath), der reed han syndt (asunder) sit folebeen. Jesus stigede af, og lägte det (doctored it). Jesus lagde marv i marv, been i been, kiöd i kiöd. Jesus lagde derpaa et blad, at det skulde blive i samme stad. i tre navne etc.
Jeg giör at dette best for qvärsil udi 3 navn. der ere 3 ord som döver (allay) qvärsil: et er jorden, det andet er solen, det tredie er Jesu Christi moder jomfrue Marie.
When badly stung with nettles, you take a few leaves of dock, dockon (rumex obtusifolius), spit on them, and rub the place with them, uttering the words: 'In dockon (elsewh. dock), out nettle!' In Chaucer's Troil. and Cr. 4, 461: 'Nettle in, dock out.' A Mid. Lat. saw: 'Exeat urtica, tibi sit periscelis amica!' --- Brockett's Glossary of North-country words, p. 57. [Out nettle, in dock! Barnes, p. 49]
The same incidents, the same turns of expression, re-appear in different countries: a sign of long and wide diffusion. Thus, the elf or devil, bound on a mischievous errand, is met and baulked (XXXVIII. LII. LIII. LVI); then again, the meeting of those in search of remedies forms a prelude (XXXI. XXXIX). The successive casting-out from marrow to bone, fr. bone to flesh, fr. flesh to skin, in VI and LII shews the oneness of the Old German spell with the Swedish. It is ancient too for protection to be expressed by gates (VIIIb), hauberk, (18) shirt, shield, helmet and sword. (IV. X. L. LII), or by a body of bone, a heart of stone, a head of steel (IX. X. XI). Often Alliteration still peeps out through the Rhyme, e.g. in the numbers 77 and 55 (XXX. XXXIX. VIIIb), and in the AS. spells III. IV.
As alliteration and rhyme are mixed, the contents seem also to combine a worship of Heathen and Christian beings. Mary stands side by side with Earth and Sun (LVIII), also with Earth and Heaven (II). Sun and Moon are invoked in X and LII, and in XXXV the head must be turned toward the Sun: a primitive worship of Elements. The Jutish formula LIII retains even the goddess Freya, if the translation be correct: 'I lay me down on my right side, so shall I sleep with lady Freya.' Who is Ragirist? (ON. ragr = timidus, malus, conf. Ragi og Riste! herud Ragi Rist, Antiqv. anm. 3, 44). Rylla too in LIII seems a nickname (conf. Rulla s. 2, 298).
Many spells rest on mere sympathy between the simile and the desired effect. The blood, the fire, are to stand as still as Christ hung on the cross (XLI, sanguis mane in venis, sicut Christus pro te in poenis; sanguis mane fixus, sicut Christus crucifixus); as Jorden stood at the baptism (VIII); as mankind will stand at the Judgment day (XXXII). The fire is to keep in its sparks, as Mary kept her maidenhood (XXVI); the worm in the flesh to feel such pain as Peter felt when he saw the sufferings of his Lord (XXXIV); the hoof to break as little as ever God broke his word (XXXVI). Yet sometimes the formula of the simile bears a direct relation to the effect, as in VIIIb, where a peace is prayed for, like that which prevailed at the birth of Christ.
Our poets of the 13th cent. mention several spells, but quote none. 'Das swert bedarf wol segens wort,' Parz. 253, 25; 'swertes segen źren,' MS. 2, 233a; 'wunden segen sprechen,' Parz. 507, 23. Only in Diut. 1, 362 are a few words introduced of a Blessing on a Journey: 'guot sī iu weter unde wint!' An ābent-segen, a morgen-segen, are alluded to in MS. 1, 184a. 2, 36a; conf. 1, 161a. 2, 207b. A morning-blessing composed by Walther stands in his works 24, 18.
Notes:
17. Horst (Zauber-bibl. 4, 363) got a number of Spells out of a 15th cent. parchment at Trier, but does not give them in his book, which has a wearisome abundance of worthless things. Probably the little Book of Romanus (Görres no. 34) contains available matter. [Back]
18. A MS. at Cambr. Univ. LI. 1, 10 has a Latin spell, entitled Lorica, with an AS. interlinear version: 'hanc loricam Loding cantavit ter in omni die.' There are 89 lines of rhyme, imploring protection for all parts of the body and in all dangers.
The first four lines are:
Suffragare, trinitatis unitas,
unitatis suffragare trinitas,
suffragare quaeso mihi posito
magni velut in periculo.
It is not very poetical, nor always intelligible; but it is of the 9th cent. [Back]
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