TTeeuuttoonniicc MMyytthhoollooggyy Gods and Goddesses of the Northland by Viktor Rydberg IN THREE VOLUMES Vol. III NORRŒNA SOCIETY LONDON - COPENHAGEN - STOCKHOLM - BERLIN - NEW YORK 1907 TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME III 94. Story of the Seven Sleepers — 707 95. The Anthropology of the Mythology — 729 PART V — THE IVALDE RACE 96. Svipdag and Groa — 747 97. Menglad’s Identity with Freyja — 751 98. The Sword of Revenge — 759 99. Orvandel, the Star-Hero — 767 100. Svipdag Identical with Otharus — 770 101. Svipdag in Saxo’s Account of Hotherus — 781 102. Ericus Disertus in Saxo — 793 103. The Svipdag Synonim Eirikr — 803 104. Later Fortunes of the Volund Sword — 808 105. The Svipdag Epithet “Skirnir” — 815 106. Transformation and Death of Svipdag — 819 107. Reminiscences of the Svipdag Myth — 830 108. Orvandel, Egil and Ebbo — 847 109. Frey Fostered in the Home of Orvandel — 865 110. Ivalde, Svipdag’s Grandfather — 870 111. Parallel Myths in Rigveda — 874 112. Judgment Passed on the Ivalde Sons — 884 113. Olvalde and Ivalde Sons Identical — 890 114. A Review of Thorsdrapa — 932 115. Of Volund’s Identity with Thjasse — 952 116. The Worst Deed of Revenge — 956 117. the Guard at Hvergelmer and the Elivagar — 968 118. Slagfin, Egil, and Volund — 971 119. The Niflung Hoard Left by Volund — 975 120. Slagfin-Gjuke a Star-Hero — 981 121. Slagfin’s Appearance in the Moon Myth — 985 122. Review of the Synonyms of Ivalde’s Sons — 991 123. Ivalde — 992 DICTIONARY OF GODS AND GODDESSES — 1013 INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES — 1041 707 THE MYTH IN REGARD TO THE LOWER WORLD (Part IV. Continued from Volume II) 94. THE SEVEN SLEEPERS. Völuspa gives an account of the events which forebode and lead up to Ragnarok. Among these we also find that leika Mims synir, that is, that the sons of Mimer “spring up,” “fly up,” “get into lively motion.” But the meaning of this has hitherto been an unsolved problem. In the strophe immediately preceding (the 44th) Völuspa describes how it looks on the surface of Midgard when the end of the world is at hand. Brothers and near kinsmen slay each other. The sacred bonds of morality are broken. It is the storm-age and the wolf-age. Men no longer spare or pity one another. Knives and axes rage. Volund’s world-destroying sword of revenge has already been fetched by Fjalar in the guise of the red cock (str. 41), and from the Ironwood, where it hitherto had been concealed by Angerboda and guarded by Egther; the wolf-giant Hate with his companions have invaded the world, which it was the duty of the gods 708 to protect. The storms are attended by eclipses of the sun (str. 40). Then suddenly the Gjallar-horn sounds, announcing that the destruction of the world is now to be fulfilled, and just as the first notes of this trumpet penetrate the world, Mimer’s sons spring up. “The old tree,” the world-tree, groans and trembles. When Mimer’s sons “spring up” Odin is engaged in conversation with the head of their father, his faithful adviser, in regard to the impending conflict, which is the last one in which the gods are to take a hand. I shall here give reasons for the assumption that the blast from the Gjallar- horn wakes Mimer’s sons from a sleep that has lasted through centuries, and that the Christian legend concerning the seven sleepers has its chief, if not its only, root in a Teutonic myth which in the second half of the fifth or in the first half of the sixth century was changed into a legend. At that time large portions of the Teutonic race had already been converted to Christianity: the Goths, Vandals, Gepidians, Rugians, Burgundians, and Swabians were Christians. Considerable parts of the Roman empire were settled by the Teutons or governed by their swords. The Franks were on the point of entering the Christian Church, and behind them the Alamannians and Longobardians. Their myths and sagas were reconstructed so far as they could be adapted to the new forms and ideas, and if they, more or less transformed, assumed the garb of a Christian legend, then this guise enabled them to travel to the utmost limits of Christendom; and if they also contained, as in 709 the case here in question, ideas that were not entirely foreign to the Greek-Roman world, then they might the more easily acquire the right of Roman nativity. In its oldest form the legend of “the seven sleepers” has the following outlines (Miraculorum Liber, vii., i. 92): “Seven brothers”* have their place of rest near the city of Ephesus, and the story of them is as follows: In the time of the Emperor Decius, while the persecution of the Christians took place, seven men were captured and brought before the ruler. Their names were Maximianus, Malchus, Martinianus, Constantius, Dionysius, Joannes, and Serapion. All sorts of persuasion was attempted, but they would not yield. The emperor, who was pleased with their courteous manners, gave them time for reflection, so that they should not at once fall under the sentence of death. But they concealed themselves in a cave and remained there many days. Still, one of them went out to get provisions and attend to other necessary matters. But when the emperor returned to the same city, these men prayed to God, asking Him in His mercy to save them out of this danger, and when, lying on the ground, they had finished their prayers, they fell asleep. When the emperor learned that they were in the above-mentioned cave, he, under divine influence, commanded that the entrance of the cave should be closed with large stones, “for,” said he, “as they are unwilling to offer sacrifices to our gods, they must perish there.” * For “brothers” the text, perhaps purposely, used the ambiguous word germani. This would, then, not be the only instance where the word is used in both senses at the same time. Cp. Quintil., 8, 3, 29. 711 ground and worshipped them, and they said to the ruler: “Most august Augustus! there has sprung up a false doctrine which tries to turn the Christian people from the promises of God, claiming that there is no resurrection of the dead. In order that you may know that we are all to appear before the judgment-seat of Christ according to the words of the Apostle Paul, the Lord God has raised us from the dead and commanded us to make this statement to you. See to it that you are not deceived and excluded from the kingdom of God.” When the Emperor Theodosius heard this he praised the Lord for not permitting His people to perish. But the men again lay down on the ground and fell asleep. The Emperor Theodosius wanted to make graves of gold for them, but in a vision he was prohibited from doing this. And until this very day these men rest in the same place, wrapped in fine linen mantles. At the first glance there is nothing which betrays the Teutonic origin of this legend. It may seemingly have had an independent origin anywhere in the Christian world, and particularly in the vicinity of Ephesus. Meanwhile the historian of the Franks, Bishop Gregorius of Tours (born 538 or 539), is the first one who presented in writing the legend regarding the seven sleepers. In the form given above it appears through him for the first time within the borders of the christianised western Europe (see Gregorius’ Miraculorum Liber, i., ch. 92). After him it reappears in Greek records, and thence it travels on and finally gets to Arabia and Abyssinia. His account is not written before the year 712 571 or 572. As the legend itself claims in its preserved form not to be older than the first years of the reign of Theodosius, it must have originated between the year’s 379-572. The next time we learn anything about the seven sleepers in occidental literature is in the Longobardian historian Paulus Diaconus (born about 723). What he relates has greatly surprised investigators; for although he certainly was acquainted with the Christian version in regard to the seven men who sleep for generations in a cave, and although he entertained no doubt as to its truth, he nevertheless relates another — and that a Teutonic — seven sleepers’ legend, the scene of which is the remotest part of Teutondom. He narrates (i. 4): “As my pen is still occupied with Germany, I deem it proper, in connection with some other miracles, to mention one which there is on the lips of everybody. In the remotest western boundaries of Germany is to be seen near the sea-strand under a high rock a cave where seven men have been sleeping no one knows how long. They are in the deepest sleep and uninfluenced by time, not only as to their bodies but also as to their garments, so that they are held in great honour by the savage and ignorant people, since time for so many years has left no trace either on their bodies or on their clothes. To judge from their dress they must be Romans. When a man from curiosity tried to undress one of them, it is said that his arm at once withered, and this punishment spread such a terror that nobody has since then dared to touch them. Doubtless it will some day be apparent why Divine Providence 713 has so long preserved them. Perhaps by their preaching — for they are believed to be none other than Christians — this people shall once more be called to salvation.