Note.—Thus the plan laid by Loke and the giantesses to drown the men hostile to the giants, the men dwelling on the south coast of the Elivagar, came near succeeding. They were saved by their prudence in wading higher up the stream than Thor, so that, if they lost their foothold, they could be hurled by the eddies against him. One of the Gandvik champions, and, as the continuation of the poems shows, the foremost one among them, here characterised as "the god of the bow," is tossed by a storm-billow against Thor's shoulders, and there saves himself. Thjalfe and the whole remaining host of the warriors of Ide's sæter have at the same time been carried by the waves down against Hlodyn's powerful son, and save themselves by seizing hold of his belt of strength. With "the god of the bow" on his shoulders, and with a whole host of warriors clinging to his waist, Thor continues his wading across the stream.
In strophe 8, the Gandvik champions are designated by two paraphrases. We have already seen them described as "Gang's warrior-vans" and as "Varg's land-defenders." Here they are called "the clever warriors of the viking-sæter" (víkinga setrs snotrir gunnar runnar) and "Odin's land-defenders, bound by oaths" (Gauta eidsvara fridar). That Ide's sæter is called "the vikings' sæter" is explained by the fact that it is situated near Gandvik, and that these bayings had the Elivagar as the scene of their conflicts with the powers of frost. That they are Odin's land-defenders, bound by oaths, means that they are mythical beings, who in rank are lower than the Asas, and are pledged by oaths to serve Odin and defend his territory against the giants. Their sæter (chalet) near Gandvik is therefore an outpost against the powers of frost. It follows that Ide, Gang, and Thjasse originally are numina, though of a lower, serving rank; that their relation to the higher world of gods was of such a character that they could not by their very nature be regarded as foes of the giants, but are bound to the cause of the gods by oaths; but on the other hand they could not be full-blooded giants of the race produced from Ymer's feet (see No. 86). Their original home is not Jotunheim itself, but a land bordering on the home of the giants, and this mytho-geographical locality must correspond with their mytho-genealogical position. The last strophe in Thorsdrapa calls the giants slain by the Gandvik champions "Alfheim's calves," Alfheim's cattle to be slaughtered, and this seems to indicate that these champions belong to the third and lowest of those clans into which the divinities of the Teutonic mythology are divided, that is, the elves.
The Gandvik champion who rescues himself on Thor's shoulders, while the rest of them hold fast to his girdle, is a celebrated archer, and so well known to the hearers of Thorsdrapa, that it was not necessary to mention him by name in order to make it clear who he was. In fact, the epithet applied to him, "the god of the bow" (áss kykva naudar, and in strophe 18, tvívidar Týr), is quite sufficient to designate him as the foremost archer of mythology, that is, Orvandel-Egil, who is here carried on Thor's shoulders through the raging waves, just as on another occasion he was carried by Thor in his basket across the Elivagar. Already in strophe 4 he is referred to as the hero nimble in thought and body, who is known for his hospitality, and who made compensation for Loke's evil deed. The foremost one next after him among the Gandvik champions is Thjalfe, Egil's foster-son. The others are designated as Thjalfe's ýta sinni, his body of men.
Thus we find that the two foremost among "Gang's warrior-vans," who with Thor marched forth from "Ide's sæter," before Rogner (Thjasse) became Loke's ally, are Volund's and Slagfin's brother Egil and Egil's foster-son Thjalfe. We find that Egil and Thjalfe belong to the inhabitants of Ide's sæter, where Thor on this occasion had stopped, and where he had left his chariot and goats, for now, as on other occasions, he goes on foot to Jotunheim. And as in other sources Egil is mentioned as the one who on such occasions gives lodgings to Thor and his goats, and as Thorsdrapa also indicates that he is the hospitable host who had received Thor in his house, and had paid him a ransom for the damage caused by Loke to one of his goats, then this must be a most satisfactory proof that Ide's sæter is the same place as the Geirvadils setr inhabited by Egil and his brothers, and that Orvandel-Egil is identical either with Ide or Gang, from which it follows, again, that Alvalde's (Olvalde's) sons, Ide, Gang, and Thjasse, are identical with Ivalde's sons, Slagfin, Egil, and Volund.
That Egil is identical with Gang and not with Ide is apparent from a comparison with the Grotte-song. There Olvalde's sons are called Idi, Aurnir, and Thjazi, while in the Younger Edda they are called Idi, Gángr, and Thjazi. Thus Aurnir is identical with Gángr, and as Aurnir means "wild boar," and as "wild boar" (Ebur, Ibor, Ebbo) is an epithet of Egil, Orvandel-Egil must be identical with Gang.
In regard to the rest of Thorsdrapa I may be brief, since it is of less interest to the subject under discussion.
Strophe 10. In spite of the perilous adventure described above, the hearts of Thjalfe and the Gandvik champions were no more terrified than Thor's. Here they are designated as eids fiardar, "the men pledged by oath," with which is to be compared eidsvara fridar in strophe 8.
Strophes 11, 12, show that Thor landed safely with his burden. Scarcely had he and his companions got a firm foothold on the other strand before Geirrod's giant-clan, "the world-tree-destroying folk of the sea-belt," came to the spot, and a conflict arose, in which the attacks of the giants were firmly repulsed, and the latter were finally forced to retreat.
Strophe 13. After the victory Thor's terrible hosts pressed farther into Jotunheim to open Geirrod's hall, and they arrived there amid the din and noise of cave-dwellers.
The following strophes mention that Thor broke the backs of Geirrod's daughters, and pressed with his warriors into Geirrod's hall, where he was received with a piece of red-hot iron hurled by the latter, which, hurled back by Thor, caused the death of the giant-chief. Thor had given the glowing javelin such a force that some one who stood near him, probably Egil, "drank so that he reeled in the air-current of the piece of iron the air-drink of Hrimner's daughter" (svalg hrapmunum á siu lopti Hrimnis drósar lyptisylg). Hrimner's daughter is Gulveig-Heid (Hyndluljod, 32), and her "air-drink" is the fire, over which the gods held her lifted on their spears (Völuspa, 21).