Under such circumstances there can be no doubt that Orvandel-Egil and one of his brothers, the one designated by the name Aggo (Ajo), be this Volund or Slagfin, were entrusted in the mythology with the duty of fostering the young Frey. Orvandel also assumes, as vassal under Njord, the place which foster-fathers held in relation to the natural fathers of their protégés.
Frey, accordingly, is reared in Alfheim, and in the Ydales he is fostered by elf-princes belonging to a circle of brothers, among whom one, namely, Volund, is the most famous artist of mythology. His masterpiece, the sword of victory, in time proves to be superior to Sindre's chief work, the hammer Mjolner. And as it is always Volund whom Saxo mentions by Orvandel-Egil's side among his brothers (see No. 108), it is most reasonable to suppose that it is Volund, not Slagfin, who appears here under the name Aggo along with the great archer, and, like the latter, is entrusted with the fostering of Frey. It follows that Svipdag and Ull were Frey's foster-brothers. Thus it is the duty of a foster-brother they perform when they go to rescue Frey from the power of giants, and when they, later, in the war between the Asas and Vans, take Frey's side. This also throws additional light on Svipdag-Skirner's words to Frey in Skirnersmal, 5:
ungir saman
varom i árdaga,
vel mættim tvæir truasc.
110.
SVIPDAG'S GRANDFATHER IS IVALDE. ORVANDEL, VOLUND, AND SLAGFIN THEREFORE IDENTICAL WITH IVALDE'S SONS.
In the mythology we read that elves smithied splendid treasures for Frey (Grimnersmal, 42; Younger Edda, i. 140, 340). Among these treasures were the remarkable ship Skidbladnir and the gold-glittering boar Slidrugtanni, also called Gullinbursti (Younger Edda, i. 176, 264, 340-344), both clearly symbols of vegetation. The elves that smithied these treasures are called Ivalde's sons, and constitute the same group of brothers whose gifts to the gods, at the instigation of Loke, are subjected to a public examination by the Asas and by them found wanting as compared with Sindre's products. It would be most surprising, nay, quite incredible, if, when other artists made useful presents to Frey, the elf-prince Volund and his brothers did not do likewise, inasmuch as he is the chief smith of them all, and inasmuch as he, with his brother Orvandel-Egil, has taken upon himself the duties of a foster-father toward the young harvest-god, among which duties one was certainly to care for his good and enable him to perform the important task devolving on him in the administration of the world.
From this standpoint already it is more than probable that the same artist who in the heroic saga of the Teutonic tribes, under the name Volund, Wieland, Weland, by the side of Mimer, plays the part of the foremost smith that antiquity knew is the same one as in the mythology was the most excellent smith; that is, the most skilful one among Ivalde's sons. This view is perfectly confirmed as to its correctness by the proofs which I shall now present.
Of Ivalde, Fornspjallsljod says that he had two groups of children, and that Idun, the goddess of vegetation, belonged to one of these groups:
Álfa ættar
Ithunni heto
Ivallds ellri
ýngsta barna.