Down sinketh the sleigh in the yawning cleft.
But, fortunately, Fridthjof was not far away. He came to their rescue, and
With a single tug he setteth amain
Both steed and sleigh on the ice again.
Of Æger’s and Ran’s daughters, the waves, it is said that they congregate in large numbers according to the will of their father. They have pale locks and white veils; they are seldom mild in their disposition toward men; they are called billows or surges, and are always awake when the wind blows. They lash the sounding shores, and angrily rage and break around the holms;[[74]] they have a hard bed (stones and rocks), and seldom play in calm weather. The names of the daughters of Æger and Ran represent the waves in their various magnitudes and appearances. Thus Himinglœfa, the sky-clear; Duva, the diver; Blodughadda, the bloody- or purple-haired; Hefring, the swelling; Bylgja, billow; Kolga, raging sea, etc.
These myths are very simple and need no extended explanations. Æger is the Anglo-Saxon eagor, the sea. He is also called Hler, the shelterer (hlé, Anglo-Saxon hleo, Danish Læ, English lee), and Gymer, the concealing (geyma, Anglo-Saxon gyman, Norse gjemme, to conceal, to keep). These names express the sea in its uproar, in its calmness, and as the covering of the deep. The name of his wife, Ran (robbery or the robbing; rœna, to plunder), denotes the sea as craving its sacrifice of human life and of treasures. It is a common expression in Norseland that the sea brews and seethes, and this at once suggests Æger’s kettles. The foaming ale needs no butler but passes itself around, and there is plenty of it. That Æger, when visited by the gods, illuminated his hall with shining gold, refers of course to the phosphorescent light of the sea (Icelandic marelldr, Norse morild). Those who are familiar with the sea cannot fail to have seen the sparks of fire that apparently fly from it when its surface is disturbed in the dark. Thus the servants of Æger, Elde and Funfeng (both words meaning fire), are properly called excellent firemen. The relation between Njord and Æger seems to be the same as between Okeanos, the great water encircling the earth, and Pontus, the Mediterranean, within the confines of the earth.
Some of the old Norse heroes are represented as possessing a terrifying helmet, Æger’s helmet (gishjálmr); and thus, as Odin’s golden helmet is the beaming sky, and as the dwarfs cover themselves with a helmet of fog, so Æger wears on his brow a helmet made of dense darkness and heaven-reaching, terrifying breakers.
Æger and his family, it is certain, did not belong among the asas, yet they were regarded, like them, as mighty beings, whose friendship was sought by the gods themselves; and England, that proud mistress of the sea, is the reflection of the myth of Æger, showing what grand results are achieved historically, when human enterprise and heroism enter into friendly relations with the sea, making it serve the advancement of civilization,—when the gods go to Æger’s hall to banquet.
SECTION III. FREY.
Njord had two children—a son Frey and a daughter Freyju, both fair and mighty. Frey is one of the most celebrated of the gods. He presides over rain and sunshine and all the fruits of the earth, and should be invoked to obtain good harvests, and also for peace. He moreover dispenses wealth among men. He is called van and vanagod, yeargod and goods-giver (fégjafi). He owns the ship Skidbladner and also Goldenbristle (gullinbursti) or Slidrugtanne (the sharp-toothed), a boar with golden bristles, with which he rides as folk-ruler to Odin’s hall. In time’s morning, when he was yet a child, the gods gave him Alfheim (home of elves) as a present.