THOR, HYMIR, AND THE MIDGARD SERPENT.
(From an etching by Lorenz Frölich.)
Hymir, a giant and ruler of the winter sea, was the owner of a great kettle that brewed any quantity desired of the finest ale. The gods, eager to posses the kettle, sent Thor to obtain it. Proceeding to the borders of heaven, where Hymir lived, Thor assumed the form of a young man and appearing before the giant, asked permission to accompany him on a fishing excursion. The giant objected that so small a youth could not endure the hardships of such a journey, but finally consented. Thor secured necessary bait by tearing the head from a bull, and the two then set off to row far out to sea. Thor insisted upon going further until they came near the borders of the world, and the two began to fish. Hymir soon hooked and drew up two whales, which he boastfully showed as proof of his strength, but soon after Thor hooked the Midgard Serpent, which rose spouting floods of venom that greatly terrified Hymir. Thor pulled with so much strength on the line that he broke through the bottom of the boat, but his feet stood upon the bottom of the sea and he raised his hammer to strike the serpent; Hymir was so alarmed, however, that he cut the line and let the serpent escape. Thor then rowed back with Hymir to his castle, where he slew Hymir and several other giants and secured the kettle.
See page [855].
A passage in Thorsdrapa (str. 3), to which I shall recur below, informs us that at the time when Thor made his famous journey to the fire-giant Geirrod, Rogner had not yet come to an agreement with Loke in regard to the plan of bringing ruin on the gods. Rogner was, therefore, during a certain period of his life, the foe of the gods, but during a preceding period he was not an enemy. The same is true of Thjasse. He was for a time hapta snytrir, "the one giving the gods treasures." At another time he carried away Idun, and appeared as one changed into dólgr ballastr vallar, "the most powerful foe of the earth" (Haustl., 6), an expression which characterises him as the cause of the fimbul-winter.
There still remain one or two important passages in regard to the correct interpretation of the epithet Rogner. In Atlakvida (33) it is said of Gudrun when she goes to meet her husband Atle, who has returned home, carrying in her hand a golden goblet, that she goes to reifa gjöld Rögnis, "to present that requital or that revenge which Rogner gave." To avenge her brothers, Gudrun slew in Atle's absence the two young sons she had with him and made goblets of their skulls. Into one of these she poured the drink of welcome for Atle. A similar revenge is told about Volund. The latter secretly kills Nidadr's two young sons and makes goblets out of their skulls for their father. In the passage it is stated that the revenge of Gudrun against Atle was of the same kind as Rogner's revenge against some one whom he owed a grudge. So far as our records contain any information, Volund is the only one to whom the epithet Rogner is applicable in this case. Of no one else is it reported that he took a revenge of such a kind that Gudrun's could be compared therewith. In all other passages the epithet Rogner refers to "the father of the swords," to the ancient artist Thjasse, the son of Alvalde. Here it refers to the father of the most excellent sword, to the ancient artist Volund, the son of Ivalde.
The strophe in Vellekla, which compares the Thjasse descendant Hakon Jarl with the hail-producing Rogner, also alludes to another point in the myth concerning him by a paraphrase the kernel of which is: Varat svanglýjadi at frýja ofbyrjar nè drifu, "it was impossible to defy the swan-pleaser in the matter of storm and bad weather." The paraphrase is made applicable to Hakon by making the "swan-pleaser" into the "pleaser of the swan of the sword's high-billowing fjord"—that is to say, the one who pleases the bird of the battlefield, that is, the raven. The storm is changed into "the storm of arrows," and the bad weather into the "bad weather of the goddess of the battle." The mythological kernel of this paraphrase, and that which sheds light on our theme, is the fact that Rogner in the mythology was "one who pleased the swans." In the heroic poem three swan-maids are devoted in their love to Volund and his brothers. Volundarkvida says that the third one lays her arms around Volund-Anund's white neck.
We will now combine the results of this investigation concerning Rogner, and in so doing we will first consider what is said of him when the name occurs independently, and not connected with paraphrases, and then what is said of him in paraphrases in which his name constitutes the kernel.
Forspjallsljod describes Rogner as dwelling on the northern-most edge of the earth at the time when Idun was absent from Asgard. There he sings magic songs and concocts witchcraft, by which means he sends a destructive winter out upon the world. He is a "smith," and in his company is found one or more than one mythic person called Regin. (Regin may be singular or plural.)
Einar Skalaglam, who received costly treasures from Hakon Jarl, speaks in his song of praise to the latter of the "works of Rogner," which please him, and which must be the treasures he received from the Jarl.
In Thorsdrapa, Eilif Gudrunson relates that Rogner had not yet "associated himself" with Loke when Thor made his expedition to Geirrod.