In her father’s old mansion.
Njord is the god of the sea; that is to say, of that part of the sea which is immediately connected with the earth, that part of the sea which is made serviceable to man, where fishing and commerce carried on. His dwelling is Noatun, which means land of ships (nór, ship; tún, yard, place). Njord’s realm is bounded on the one side by the earth, the land, and on the other by the raging ocean, where Æger with his daughters reigns. Njord’s wife is Skade (harm), the wild mountain stream, which plunges down from the high rocks, where she prefers to dwell, and pours herself into the sea. Her dwelling is Thrymheim, the roaring home, at the thundering waterfall. Taken as a whole, the myth is very clear and simple.
The compromise between Njord and Skate, to dwell nine nights in Thrymheim (home of uproar, storms) and three nights in Noatun, of course has reference to the severe northern latitudes, where rough weather and wintry storms prevail during the greater part of the year.
SECTION II. ÆGER AND RAN.
These do not belong to the vana-divinities, but are given here in order to have the divinities of the sea in one place. As Njord is the mild, beneficent sea near the shore, so Æger is the wild, turbulent, raging sea far from the land, where fishing and navigation cannot well be carried on; the great ocean, and yet bordering on the confines of then asas. Hence Æger’s twofold nature; he is a giant, but still has intercourse with the gods. Thus in Mimer, Æger and Njord, we have the whole ocean represented, from its origin, Mimer, to its last stage of development, to Njord, in whom, as a beneficent divinity, it unites itself with the gods; that is to say, blesses and serves the enterprises of men.
Æger visits the gods, and the latter visit him in return; and it was once when the gods visited him that his brewing-kettle was found too small, so that Thor had to go to the giant Hymer and borrow a larger one. In Æger’s hall the bright gold was used instead of fire, and there the ale passed around spontaneously. Ran is his wife. She has a net, in which she catches those who venture out upon the sea. Æger and Ran have nine daughters, the waves. Loke once borrowed Ran’s net, to catch the dwarf Andvare, who in the guise of a fish dwelt in a waterfall. With her hand she is able to hold the ships fast. It was a prevailing opinion among the ancient Norsemen that they who perished at sea came to Ran; for Fridthjof, who with his companions was in danger of being wrecked, talks about his having to rest on Ran’s couch instead of Ingeborg’s, and as it was not good to come empty-handed to the halls of Ran and Æger, he divided a ring of gold between himself and his men.
Thus Tegner has it in Fridthjof at Sea:
Whirling cold and fast
Snow-wreaths fill the sail;
Over dock and mast