69 Loki Loki as a Terrible Stranger and a Sacred Visitor Tomoaki MIZUNO 1. 1. The Methodology to Disclose the Enigmatic Figures of Loki Loki still remains one of the enigmatic figures in the NNorse orse pantheon ，, although many scholars scholars have endeavoured to explain Loki's complicated character from various points of of view. 1I believe that that the total figure of Loki could be gradually disclosed ，, when we would direct our notice to a certain specific action pattern of Loki . That is to saysay,， Loki comes ，, by nature ，, from the other world or ‘'their' their' world and intrudes into the divine worldworld,， or or into ‘'our' worldwor ld in a semeiological semeiological sense. In other words ，, Loki can be defined as a traveling traveling deity ，, who is invested with preeminent divine powerspowers, ， especially when making a completion of a difficult journey ，, and Loki thus appears to be a sacred visitor visitor,， some-some­ times times,， or to be a terrible stranger stranger,， at other times. It It can be readily acknowledged that Loki (or Lodurr) L60urr)，, when regarded as a traveling deity deity,， forms a triad together with Othin and HaniH~nir. r. ln In some mythological accounts accounts,， on the the other hand ，, Loki shows the close close relationship with Thor ，, accompanying him on a journey journey or enticing him into giants' land. land. ThusThus,， as Axel Olrik has pointed out ，, Loki myths can be largely into classified into two di different任erent types ，, Othin-Loki and Thor-Loki stories. Olrik has has supposed ，, through a folkloric approachapproach,， that these two types mainly result from the regional regional di difference:任erence: Othin-Loki type belongs to a western group ，, presumably connected with with the Faroe Islands Islands,， while Thor-Loki type does to a more eastern groupgroup,， in some relation relation with the Esthonian folkloric folkloric conception of the thundergod's servant (de Vries 1933 1933 : 142 -43). Olrik concludes concludes,， with some wishful thinking thinking,， that the the double character of Loki could be explained from Olrik 's perspective of the two different origins of Loki 's mythological mythological traditions. Jan de Vries Vries,， howeverhowever, ， casts doubt on the validity of Olrik's theory theory,， giving a rather harsh criticism that Olrik “ "strangely" strangely" over-estimated the later distorted distorted and unreliable popular traditions with his own aim of reconstructing the original original original types of Loki myths (de Vries 1933: 143 -44). ln In spite of such critical comments ，, it it undeniably remains a simple fact that Loki is in a close relationship with Othin as well as as with ThorThor. Making a total survey of Loki mythsmyths,， Jens Peter SchjOdt Schj¢dt enumerated the eighteen myth-motifs myth-motifs (abbreviated to S in my past paper: Mizuno 1987a). His scheme of Loki motifs motifs would be more useful and productive ，, if we could categorize and rearrange the myths in question as follows ，, in accordaccordance with three mythological types of Othin-Loki, 70 70 Thor-Loki and Othin-Loki-Thor Othin-Loki-Thor or the compound (Mizuno 1987a: 19319 3-97). -97). (1) (1) Othin-Loki type: Sl ，, S2S2, ， S3 ，, S7S7, ， S9S9, ， SlOSIO, ， S14SI4, ， S15SI5 (2) (2) Thor-Loki typ type:e : S5 ，, S6 ，, S8 ，, Sll ，, S12S12, ， S13 (3) (3) th thee compound ttype:y pe : S4S4,， S16S16, ， S17S17, ， S18 1I havhavee demon s trated that this rearra rearragedge d dia diagramgram could be a basic stragedy to disentangle disentangle the rrealea l character of Loki as a terrible sstranger tranger and a sac sacred red vis visitor,itor ， from an apparently odd assemblage of Loki mythmythss (Mizuno 1987a; 1987b). To draw an examexample ple of the Baldr mythm yth (S14 in the above diagram) ，, Loki indubitably reveals his character character of a terrible stranger by inducing HHoorぬr to shoot at Baldr with the mistletoe as a fatal weapon. Resultantly Resultantly,， however ，, all the more for his apparently brutality against BaldrBaldr,， a representative of magicalmagical invulnerability ，, Loki turns out to recover the cos- cos­ mological mological and indispensable principle of life and death . Thus ，, against the dominant view that that Loki is to bring about some chaotic ssituationituation and so he must be embodiment of evilness evilness,， 1I have argued that the victim Baldr who wins invulnerability owing to FriggFrigg's 's sorcery sorcery can be assimilated to the giant Thja zi who temporarily succeeded in winning Idunn Iounn,， the goddess of eternal youth (S9 above). 1n In light of the situation in which the AsiriEsir gogods ds are put ，, Baldr 's invulnerabilit y means ssuper uper-abundance -abundance of life in a central part of their their world AsgardrAsgaror,， and contrariwise contrariwise,， the possibly long absence of 1dunn IOunn who hahass been abducted abducted by ThjaThjazizi is nothing but a serious decline of life and youthfulness. 1n In either crisis crisis,， Loki is the only deity who could exert himself to retrieve the proper order (Mizuno 1987d : 40). FurthermoreFurthermore,， in both stories stories, ， it is obviously after completing his journe journeyy alone that that Loki accomplishes his charged mission with craftiness. Thus it seems as if going through through a journ journey ey enabled Loki to actuali ze and enhance his divine powepower. r. 22,， Female Disguise of Loki 1n 1n In relation to these these preliminary remarksremarks,， we must not overlook the recurring motif of of the female disguise ，, which is commonly noticed in the above two mythsmyths: : Loki disguise himself himself as a s supernaturalupernatural woman when setting out on a journey to see Frigg and gain the mistletoe ，, or he is c1 clothed 0thed in Freyja 's or Frigg's hamr ‘'feather garment' (or va lshamr falcon-feather ‘'falcon-featherfalcon-feather garmengarment' t' : Skm 3 ; Skm 26 26,， or fi /iaorhamr・adr ル，zmr : trkprk 9). 1n In other wordswords,， Loki habitually habitually makes a journey ，, sometimes in the dis g uise of a woman . ProbablProbablyy，, by dint of such such a specific disguise could Loki become invested with extraordinarily mystical powepower. r. 1n 1n In this respect ，, we may countcount,， as a variant of the female disguise ，, the sto story ry that Loki transfigures transfigures himself into a mare to interrupt the work of the mountain giant who has nearly nearly completed the fortification of MidgardrMiogar or with the the aid of his magical stallion named Svadilfari Svadilfari Svaoilf~ri (Gylf 42). Loki is reported to have sstayed tayed in the under grogroundund for eight years years,， serving as a LLokiok i as a Terr T erribl ibl e Stranger and a Sacred Sacred VViisit or 71 milkmaid (Ls 23). Othin is also por tr aye d di sg ui sin g him se lf as a wo m aann to exe rci se magic. magic. magic. In th the e often-cited often-cited ssttr rop he (Ls 24 ). Loki oki,， w hil e being taunted wit h keeping on the “"wowomam ani sh shaphape" e" (args (args adal) aoal) as a ma gica l di sg ui se se,， rretorts etort s ana n accusation aga in st Othin for for ha vin g exe rci rcise d th e sa m e magicma gic:: “"YouYo u (Othin) (Othin) have chant eded a spe ll lik ea a prophetess (v (volりlva) va)，, and wa ncl nd ered about thr ough the the human wo rld in a witch's witch's shaphape." e." ThThee female di sg ui se see m t too hhaveave bebecomeco m e the target of accusation as fl agranagranttl ly 'unmanlyunmanly' misconduct in in th thee li g ht of the mmoralityoralit y of wa rri or-ce nt ere eredd soc iety ety,， asi cl de from it so origri gin al signifi- nifi­ ca nce . RRecentlyece ntl y，, Preben M. SOS¢reensense n exexpplicat li cateed the co nce cep pt t of the the hi ghl y di disparagingspa ra gin g wo rd s suchu ch as ηnior,idr ， mgr anda nd e1gi eigi，, aand nd the soc ial co nt ex t，, w hen the in sult occ ur ss.. AccordingAccord ing to th thee delin li neationeat ion of SOS¢rensnsen,en ， mg1mgi ' and oth er related related wo rd s have basically sex ual ual meaningmeaning: : “"TT he he man w whoh o is mgr isw willin g or inclined to pl playay or int inteereste d in playing the female part part in sex ual relations " (SOrensen (S¢rensen :1 18). AnAndd as heaeatth heenn w it ch craft waswa s ssuppresseduppresse d and forbidden forbidden in the Christian Middle AgesAges,， the tr traditionaladiti ona l so sorcerce ry ry of m en di disguisingsg ui sin g them-them­ se l ves as women was sti gmat ize d as a detestably unmanlunmanlyy practice practice,， n ea rl y id entifi eedd wwit ith h “"peper rvers it y in sexsexua ual l matt e rs." s." Deri Derivedve d fr fromom th thee bas ic sex ual m ea nin g，, SOS ¢rense n int er-­ pret ss,， th the e abusive abusive wo rd s argr anda nd ragr as ha vin g th e se sensen se of “"cowacowa rdl yy,， unmanlyunmanly, ， e任ffeminateminate"e" wwi ith th rega rd to to m oral rals and charact haract er (SOrensen: (S¢rensen: 20) . H ea al so expl laaiin ns that such a Ii li nkagnkagee and fusion beetweetwee n “"sesex x ual unm an line liness" ss" and “"unm anlin ess in a moral se nsnse" e" co uld be madmadee,， mainlymainl y bbecauseeca u se “"tthe antithesis be twee n masculine and feminine" feminine" was se sett up in aann act ual sstatet ate of affairs affairs::“ "t the he duti es of a man we re dir ecte ectedd out warwardsds，, consi consistedsted in part of wo rk away from hom ee,， s hee pgat herin gg,， fi fishing shin g，, trade anda nd transport transport;; [whil eJ e] a wowomaman n's wowork rk was houhousekeesekeepipi 暗ng，, care of children children,， oot th heerr jobs w ithin th e homeome,， such as those ttoo do with milk anda nd woo l" (SOrensen: (S¢rensen: 20) .