CHAPTER XXIII.
THE GIANTS.
As we have already seen, the Northern races imagined that the giants were the first creatures who came to life among the icebergs filling the vast abyss of Ginnunga-gap. These giants were from the very beginning the opponents and rivals of the gods, and as the latter were the personifications of all that is good and lovely, the former naturally served to denote all that was ugly and evil.
Jötun-heim.
Slain by the gods, Ymir, the first giant, fell lifeless on the ice, drowning all his progeny in his blood. One couple only, Bergelmir and his wife, effected their escape to the confines of the world, Jötun-heim, where they took up their abode and became the parents of all the giant race. In the North the giants were called by various names, each having a particular meaning. Jötun, for instance, meant “the great eater,” for the giants were noted for their enormous appetites as well as for their uncommon size. As they were fond of drinking as well as of eating, they were also called Thurses, a word which some writers claim had the same meaning as thirst, while others think they owed this name to the high towers (“turseis”) which they were supposed to have built. As the giants were antagonistic to the gods, the latter always strove to keep them at a distance, and drove them away into Jötun-heim, in the cold regions of the pole, where they condemned them to remain. The giants were almost invariably worsted in their encounters with the gods, for they were heavy and slow witted, and had nothing but stone weapons to oppose the Æsir’s bronze. In spite of this inequality, however, they were sometimes greatly envied by the gods, for they were thoroughly conversant with all knowledge relating to the past. Odin himself was envious of this acquirement, and no sooner had he secured it by a draught from Mimir’s spring than he hastened off to Jötun-heim to measure himself against Vafthrudnir, the most learned of the giant band. But he would never have succeeded in defeating his antagonist in this strange encounter had he not ceased inquiring about the past and propounded a question relating to the future.
Of all the gods Thor was the most feared by the Jötuns, for he was continually waging war against the frost and mountain giants, who would fain have hindered agriculture and bound the earth forever in their rigid bands. In fighting against them, Thor, as we have already seen, generally had recourse to his crashing hammer Miölnir, with which he reduced them to powder.
Origin of the mountains.
The Germans fancied that the uneven surface of the earth was due to the giants, who, treading upon it while it was still soft and newly created, marred its smoothness, while the giantesses, seeing the valleys made by their huge footprints, shed copious tears, which formed the streams. As such was the Teutonic belief, the people imagined that the giants, who were their personifications of the mountains, were huge uncouth creatures, who could only move about in the darkness or fog, and were petrified as soon as the first rays of sunlight pierced through the gloom or scattered the clouds.
This belief made them call one of their principal mountain chains the Riesengebirge (giant mountains). The Scandinavians also shared this belief, and to this day the Icelanders designate their highest mountain peaks by the name of Jokul, a modification of the word “Jötun.” In Switzerland, where the everlasting snows rest upon the lofty mountain tops, the people still relate old stories of the time when the giants roamed abroad; and when an avalanche comes crashing down the mountain side, they say the giants have restlessly shaken off part of the icy burden from their brows and shoulders.
As the giants were also personifications of snow, ice, cold, stone, and subterranean fire, they were all said to be descended from the primitive Fornjotnr, whom some authorities identify with Ymir. According to this version of the myth, Fornjotnr had three sons: Hler, the sea; Kari, the air; and Loki, fire. These three divinities were the first gods, formed the oldest trinity, and their respective descendants were the sea giants Mimir, Gymir, and Grendel, the storm giants Thiassi, Thrym, and Beli, and the giants of fire and death, such as the Fenris wolf and Hel.
As all the royal dynasties claimed descent from some mythical being, the Merovingians asserted that their first progenitor was a sea giant, who rose up out of the waves in the form of an ox, surprised the queen while she was walking alone on the seashore, and induced her to become his wife. She gave birth to a son named Meroveus, the founder of the first dynasty of Frankish kings.