Heimdal's and Loke's conflict in regard to Brisingamen has undoubtedly been an episode in the mythic account of Svipdag's last fortunes and Freyja's abode with him in the sea. There are many reasons for this assumption. We should bear in mind that Svipdag's closing career constituted a part of the great epic of the first world war, and that both Heimdal and Loke take part in this war, the former on Hadding's, the latter on Gudhorm-Jormunrek's and Svipdag's side (see Nos. 38, 39, 40). It should further be remembered that, according to Saxo, at the time when he slays the monster, Hadding is wandering about as an exile in the wildernesses, and that it is about this time that Odin gives him a companion and protector in Liserus-Heimdal (see No. 40). The unnamed woman, who after the murder had taken place puts herself in Hadding's way, informs him whom he has slain, and calls the wrath of the gods and the elements down upon him, must be Freyja herself, since she witnessed the deed and knew who was concealed in the guise of the dragon. So long as the latter lived Brisingamen surely had a faithful watcher, for it is the nature of a dragon to brood over the treasures he finds. After being slain and dragged on shore by Hadding, his "bed," the gold, lies exposed to view on Vagasker, and the glimmer of Brisingamen reaches Loke's eyes. While the woman, in despair on account of Svipdag's death, stands before Hadding and speaks to him, the ornament has no guardian, and Loke finds the occasion convenient for stealing it. But Heimdal, Hadding's protector, who in the mythology always keeps his eye on the acts of Loke and on his kinsmen hostile to the gods, is also present, and he too has seen Brisingamen. Loke has assumed the guise of a seal, while the ornament lies on a rock in the sea, Vágasker, and it can cause no suspicion that a seal tries to find a resting-place there. Heimdal assumes the same guise, the seals fight on the rock, and Loke must retire with his errand unperformed. The rock is also called Singastein (Younger Edda, i. 264, 268), a name in which I see the Anglo-Saxon Sincastân, "the ornament rock." An echo of the combat about Brisingamen reappears in the Beowulf poem, where Heimdal (not Hamdir) appears under the name Hâma, and where it is said that "Hâma has brought to the weapon-glittering citadel (Asgard) Brosingamene," which was "the best ornament under heaven;" whereupon it is said that Hâma fell "into Eormenric's snares," with which we should compare Saxo's account of the snares laid by Loke, Jormenrek's adviser, for Liserus-Heimdal and Hadding.[8]
107.
REMINISCENCES OF THE SVIPDAG-MYTH.
The mythic story about Svipdag and Freyja has been handed down in popular tales and songs, even to our time, of course in an ever varying and corrupted form. Among the popular tales there is one about Mærthöll, put in writing by Konrad Maurer, and published in Modern Icelandic Popular Tales.
The wondrous fair heroine in this tale bears Freyja's well-known surname, Mardol, but little changed. And as she, like Freyja, weeps tears that change into gold, it is plain that she is originally identical with the Vana-dis, a fact which Maurer also points out.
Like Freyja, she is destined by the norn to be the wife of a princely youth. But when he courted her, difficulties arose which remind us of what Saxo relates about Otharus and Syritha.
As Saxo represents her, Syritha is bound as it were by an enchantment, not daring to look up at her lover or to answer his declarations of love. She flies over the mountains more pristino, "in the manner usual in antiquity," consequently in all probability in the guise of a bird. In the Icelandic popular tale Marthol shudders at the approaching wedding night, since she is then destined to be changed into a sparrow. She is about to renounce the embrace of her lover, so that he may not know anything about the enchantment in which she is fettered.
In Saxo the spell resting on Syritha is broken when the candle of the wedding night burns her hand. In the popular tale Marthol is to wear the sparrow guise for ever if it is not burnt on the wedding night or on one of the two following nights.
Both in Saxo and in the popular tale another maiden takes Mardol's place in the bridal bed on the wedding night. But the spell is broken by fire, after which both the lovers actually get each other.