To Asason[130] Queen Skade bore
Saming, who dyed his shield in gore,—
The giant queen of rock and snow
Who loves to dwell on earth below,
The iron pine-tree’s daughter she,
Sprung from the rocks that rib the sea,
To Odin bore full many a son,—
Heroes of many a battle won.

To Saming Jarl Hakon the Great reckoned up his pedigree.[131] This Svithjod (Sweden) they call Mannheim, but the great Svithjod they call Godheim, and of Godheim great wonders and novelties were related.

Odin died in his bed in Sweden; and when he was near his death he made himself be marked with the point of a spear,[132] and said he was going to Godheim, and would give a welcome there to all his friends, and all brave warriors should be dedicated to him; and the Swedes believed that he was gone to the ancient Asgard, and would live there eternally. Then began the belief in Odin, and the calling upon him. The Swedes believed that he often showed himself to them before any great battle. To some he gave victory, others he invited to himself; and they reckoned both of these to be well off in their fate. Odin was burnt, and at his pile there was great splendor. It was their faith that the higher the smoke arose in the air, the higher would he be raised whose pile it was; and the richer he would be the more property that was consumed with him.

Njord of Noatun was then the sole sovereign of the Swedes; and he continued the sacrifices, and was called the drot, or sovereign, by the Swedes, and he received scatt and gifts from them. In his days were peace and plenty, and such good years in all respects that the Swedes believed Njord ruled over the growth of seasons and the prosperity of the people. In his time all the diars, or gods, died, and blood-sacrifices were made for them. Njord died on a bed of sickness, and before he died made himself be marked for Odin with the spear-point. The Swedes burned him, and all wept over his grave-mound.

Frey took the kingdom after Njord, and was called drot by the Swedes, and they paid taxes to him. He was like his father, fortunate in friends and in good seasons. Frey built a great temple at Upsala, made it his chief seat, and gave it all his taxes, his land and goods. Then began the Upsala domains, which have remained ever since. Then began in his day the Frode-peace; and then there were good seasons in all the land, which the Swedes ascribed to Frey, so that he was more worshiped than the other gods, as the people became much richer in his days by reason of the peace and good seasons. His wife was called Gerd, daughter of Gymer, and their son was called Fjolner. Frey was called by another name, Yngve; and this name Yngve was considered long after in his race as a name of honor, so that his descendants have since been called Ynglings (i.e. Yngve-lings). Frey fell into a sickness, and as his illness took the upper hand, his men took the plan of letting few approach him. In the meantime they raised a great mound, in which they placed a door with three holes in it. Now when Frey died they bore him secretly into the mound, but told the Swedes he was alive, and they kept watch over him for three years. They brought all the taxes into the mound, and through the one hole they put in the gold, through the other the silver, and through the third the copper money that was paid. Peace and good seasons continued.

Freyja alone remained of the gods, and she became on this account so celebrated that all women of distinction were called by her name, whence they now have the title Frue (Germ. Frau), so that every woman is called frue (that is, mistress) over her property, and the wife is called the house-frue. Freyja continued the blood-sacrifices. Freyja had also many other names. Her husband was called Oder, and her daughters Hnos and Gersame. They were so very beautiful that afterward the most precious jewels were called by their names.

When it became known to the Swedes that Frey was dead, and yet peace and good seasons continued, they believed that it must be so as long as Frey remained in Sweden, and therefore they would not burn his remains, but called him the god of this world, and afterward offered continually blood-sacrifices to him, principally for peace and good seasons.[133]

[FORNJOT AND THE SETTLEMENT OF NORWAY.]

In the asa-faith we find various foreign elements introduced. Thus, for example, the vans did not originally belong to the Odinic system. As the Teutons came in contact with other races, the religious ideas of the latter were frequently adopted in some modified form. Especially do Finnish elements enter into the asa-system. The Finnish god of thunder was Ukko. He is supposed to have been confounded with our Thor, whence the latter got the name Öku-Thor (Ukko-Thor). The vans may be connected with the Finnish Wainamoinen, and in the same manner a number of Celtic elements have been mixed with Teutonic mythology. And this is not all. There must have flourished a religious system in the North before the arrival of Odin and his apostles. This was probably either Tshudic or Celtic, or a mixture of the two. The asa-doctrine superseded it, but there still remain traces in some of the oldest records of the North. Thus we have in the prehistoric sagas of Iceland an account of the finding of Norway, wherein it is related that Fornjot,[134] in Jotland, which is also called Finland or Quenland, east of the Gulf of Bothnia, had three sons: Hler, also called Æger, Loge and Kare.[135] Of Loge it is related that he was of giant descent, and, being very tall of stature, he was called Haloge, that is High Loge; and after him the northern part of Norway is called Halogaland (now Helgeland). He was married to Glod (a red-hot coal), and had with her two daughters, Eysa and Eimyrja; both words meaning glowing embers. Haloge had two jarls, Vifil (the one taking a vif = wife) and Vesete (the one who sits at the ve = the sanctuary, that is, the dweller by the hearth, the first sanctuary), who courted his daughters; the former addressing himself to Eimyrja, the latter to Eysa, but the king refusing to give his consent, they carried them away secretly. Vesete settled in Borgundarholm (Bornholm), and had a son, Bue (one who settles on a farm); Vifil sailed further east and settled on the island Vifilsey, on the coast of Sweden, and had a son, Viking (the pirate).

The third son, Kare, had a numerous offspring. He had one son by name Jokul (iceberg), another Froste (frost), and Froste’s son was named Sna (snow). He had a third son, by name Thorri (bare frost), after whom the mid-winter month, Thorra-month, was called; and his daughters hight Fonn (packed snow), Drifa (snow-drift), and Mjoll (meal, fine snow). All these correspond well to Kare’s name, which, as stated, means wind. Thorri had two sons, Nor and Gor, and a daughter, Goe. The story goes on to tell how Goe, the sister, was lost, and how the brothers went to search for her, until they finally found him who had robbed her. He was Hrolf, from the mountain, a son of the giant Svade, and a grandson of Asa-Thor. They settled their trouble, and thereupon Hrolf married Goe, and Nor married Hrolf’s sister, settled in the land and called it after his own name, Norvegr, that is, Norway. By this story we are reminded of Kadmos, who went to seek his lost sister Europa. In the Younger Edda the winds are called the sons of Fornjot, the sea is called the son of Fornjot, and the brother of the fire and of the winds, and Fornjot is named among the old giants. This makes it clear that Fornjot and his offspring are not historical persons, but cosmological impersonations. And additional proof of this is found by an examination of the beginning of the Saga of Thorstein, Viking’s Son. (See Viking Tales of the North, pp. 1 and 2).