Not e’en the spirits of light
Can boast of aught so fair.
Whate’er is passing bright
On earth, from Hnos we call:
Siofna gives slumbers light,
The morn on pure souls fall.[[112]]
Freya had an equal share with Odin in the souls of all slain in fight; for is not love the cause of as much bloodshed as any other passion? All maidens of birth also hastened to her palace of Vingolf. Her car was drawn by two wild cats, or perhaps leopards; and next to Frigga, with whom she has been often confounded; she was the most powerful of all the goddesses. Her husband was Oddur, of whom little is known, except that he travelled far and wide, and that her attachment to him induced her to follow him, weeping tears of gold. Yet, if report be true, she was not always distinguished for conjugal faith. She had two daughters by Oddur, both exquisitely fair to behold; and she had four attendants, to each of whom was intrusted some portion of her sovereignty. Thus Siofna was the goddess of first love; Lofna removed all obstacles which impeded the fruition of lovers’ wishes; Var presided over betrothals, and punished false vows; Tir, the portress of Freya’s palace, refused admission to all who were not qualified to enter; and she was the enemy of all unfortunate lovers: she it was who prevented the fruition of their hopes.
This mythos explains itself more satisfactorily than any other.
ÆGIR AND RAN
Were of giant race, and deities of the deep. They had nine daughters, personifications of the billows, the currents, and the storm.