SCORPION

CHAPTER XVIII: THE VALKYRS


The Battle Maidens

Odin's special attendants, the Valkyrs, or battle maidens, were either
his daughters, like Brunhild, or the offspring of mortal kings,
maidens who were privileged to remain immortal and invulnerable as
long as they implicitly obeyed the god and remained virgins. They and
their steeds were the personification of the clouds, their glittering
weapons being the lightning flashes. The ancients imagined that they
swept down to earth at Valfather's command, to choose among the slain
in battle heroes worthy to taste the joys of Valhalla, and brave
enough to lend aid to the gods when the great battle should be fought.


    "There through some battlefield, where men fall fast,
    Their horses fetlock-deep in blood, they ride,
    And pick the bravest warriors out for death,
    Whom they bring back with them at night to Heaven
    To glad the gods and feast in Odin's hall."

            Balder Dead (Matthew Arnold).


These maidens were pictured as young and beautiful, with dazzling white
arms and flowing golden hair. They wore helmets of silver or gold,
and blood-red corselets, and with spears and shields glittering,
they boldly charged through the fray on their mettlesome white
steeds. These horses galloped through the realms of air and over
the quivering Bifrцst, bearing not only their fair riders, but the
heroes slain, who after having received the Valkyrs' kiss of death,
were thus immediately transported to Valhalla.



The Cloud Steeds

As the Valkyrs' steeds were personifications of the clouds, it
was natural to fancy that the hoar frost and dew dropped down upon
earth from their glittering manes as they rapidly dashed to and fro
through the air. They were therefore held in high honour and regard,
for the people ascribed to their beneficent influence much of the
fruitfulness of the earth, the sweetness of dale and mountain-slope,
the glory of the pines, and the nourishment of the meadow-land.



Choosers of the Slain

The mission of the Valkyrs was not only to battlefields upon earth, but
they often rode over the sea, snatching the dying Vikings from their
sinking dragon-ships. Sometimes they stood upon the strand to beckon
them thither, an infallible warning that the coming struggle would
be their last, and one which every Northland hero received with joy.


    "Slowly they moved to the billow side;
      And the forms, as they grew more clear,
    Seem'd each on a tall pale steed to ride,
      And a shadowy crest to rear,
    And to beckon with faint hand
    From the dark and rocky strand,
      And to point a gleaming spear.

    "Then a stillness on his spirit fell,
      Before th' unearthly train;
    For he knew Valhalla's daughters well,
      The chooser of the slain!"

            Valkyriur Song (Mrs. Hemans).



Their Numbers and Duties

The numbers of the Valkyrs differ greatly according to various
mythologists, ranging from three to sixteen, most authorities, however,
naming only nine. The Valkyrs were considered as divinities of the
air; they were also called Norns, or wish maidens. It was said that
Freya and Skuld led them on to the fray.


    "She saw Valkyries
    Come from afar,
    Ready to ride
    To the tribes of god;
    Skuld held the shield,
    Skaugul came next,
    Gunnr, Hildr, Gaundul,
    And Geir-skaugul.
    Thus now are told
    The Warrior's Norns."

            Sжmund's Edda (Henderson's tr.).


The Valkyrs, as we have seen, had important duties in Valhalla, when,
their bloody weapons laid aside, they poured out the heavenly mead for
the Einheriar. This beverage delighted the souls of the new-comers,
and they welcomed the fair maidens as warmly as when they had first
seen them on the battlefield and realised that they had come to
transport them where they fain would be.


    "In the shade now tall forms are advancing,
    And their wan hands like snowflakes in the moonlight are gleaming;
    They beckon, they whisper, 'Oh! strong Armed in Valour,
    The pale guests await thee--mead foams in Valhalla.'"

            Finn's Saga (Hewitt).



Wayland and the Valkyrs

The Valkyrs were supposed to take frequent flights to earth in swan
plumage, which they would throw off when they came to a secluded
stream, that they might indulge in a bath. Any mortal surprising them
thus, and securing their plumage, could prevent them from leaving the
earth, and could even force these proud maidens to mate with him if
such were his pleasure.

It is related that three of the Valkyrs, Olrun, Alvit, and Svanhvit,
were once sporting in the waters, when suddenly the three brothers
Egil, Slagfinn, and Vцlund, or Wayland the smith, came upon them,
and securing their swan plumage, the young men forced them to remain
upon earth and become their wives. The Valkyrs, thus detained,
remained with their husbands nine years, but at the end of that time,
recovering their plumage, or the spell being broken in some other way,
they effected their escape.


    "There they stayed
    Seven winters through;
    But all the eighth
    Were with longing seized;
    And in the ninth
    Fate parted them.
    The maidens yearned
    For the murky wood,
    The young Alvit,
    Fate to fulfil."

            Lay of Vцlund (Thorpe's tr.).


The brothers felt the loss of their wives extremely, and two of them,
Egil and Slagfinn, putting on their snow shoes, went in search of
their loved ones, disappearing in the cold and foggy regions of
the North. The third brother, Vцlund, however, remained at home,
knowing all search would be of no avail, and he found solace in the
contemplation of a ring which Alvit had given him as a love-token,
and he indulged the constant hope that she would return. As he was a
very clever smith, and could manufacture the most dainty ornaments of
silver and gold, as well as magic weapons which no blow could break,
he now employed his leisure in making seven hundred rings exactly
like the one which his wife had given him. These, when finished, he
bound together; but one night, on coming home from the hunt, he found
that some one had carried away one ring, leaving the others behind,
and his hopes received fresh inspiration, for he told himself that
his wife had been there and would soon return for good.

That selfsame night, however, he was surprised in his sleep, and
bound and made prisoner by Nidud, King of Sweden, who took possession
of his sword, a choice weapon invested with magic powers, which he
reserved for his own use, and of the love ring made of pure Rhine
gold, which latter he gave to his only daughter, Bodvild. As for the
unhappy Vцlund himself, he was led captive to a neighbouring island,
where, after being hamstrung, in order that he should not escape, the
king put him to the incessant task of forging weapons and ornaments
for his use. He also compelled him to build an intricate labyrinth,
and to this day a maze in Iceland is known as "Vцlund's house."

Vцlund's rage and despair increased with every new insult offered
him by Nidud, and night and day he thought upon how he might obtain
revenge. Nor did he forget to provide for his escape, and during the
pauses of his labour he fashioned a pair of wings similar to those his
wife had used as a Valkyr, which he intended to don as soon as his
vengeance had been accomplished. One day the king came to visit his
captive, and brought him the stolen sword that he might repair it;
but Vцlund cleverly substituted another weapon so exactly like the
magic sword as to deceive the king when he came again to claim it. A
few days later, Vцlund enticed the king's sons into his smithy and
slew them, after which he cunningly fashioned drinking vessels out
of their skulls, and jewels out of their eyes and teeth, bestowing
these upon their parents and sister.


    "But their skulls
    Beneath the hair
    He in silver set,
    And to Nidud gave;
    And of their eyes
    Precious stones he formed,
    Which to Nidud's
    Wily wife he sent.
    But of the teeth
    Of the two
    Breast ornaments he made,
    And to Bцdvild sent."

            Lay of Vцlund (Thorpe's tr.).


The royal family did not suspect whence they came; and so these gifts
were joyfully accepted. As for the poor youths, it was believed that
they had drifted out to sea and had been drowned.

Some time after this, Bodvild, wishing to have her ring repaired, also
visited the smith's hut, where, while waiting, she unsuspectingly
partook of a magic drug, which sent her to sleep and left her in
Vцlund's power. His last act of vengeance accomplished, Vцlund
immediately donned the wings which he had made in readiness for
this day, and grasping his sword and ring he rose slowly in the
air. Directing his flight to the palace, he perched there out of reach,
and proclaimed his crimes to Nidud. The king, beside himself with
rage, summoned Egil, Vцlund's brother, who had also fallen into his
power, and bade him use his marvellous skill as an archer to bring
down the impudent bird. Obeying a signal from Vцlund, Egil aimed
for a protuberance under his wing where a bladder full of the young
princes' blood was concealed, and the smith flew triumphantly away
without hurt, declaring that Odin would give his sword to Sigmund--a
prediction which was duly fulfilled.

Vцlund then went to Alf-heim, where, if the legend is to be believed,
he found his beloved wife, and lived happily again with her until
the twilight of the gods.

But, even in Alf-heim, this clever smith continued to ply his craft,
and various suits of impenetrable armour, which he is said to have
fashioned, are described in later heroic poems. Besides Balmung
and Joyeuse, Sigmund's and Charlemagne's celebrated swords, he is
reported to have fashioned Miming for his son Heime, and many other
remarkable blades.


    "It is the mate of Miming
    Of all swerdes it is king,
    And Weland it wrought,
    Bitterfer it is hight."

            Anglo-Saxon Poetry (Coneybeare's tr.).


There are countless other tales of swan maidens or Valkyrs, who are
said to have consorted with mortals; but the most popular of all is
that of Brunhild, the wife of Sigurd, a descendant of Sigmund and
the most renowned of Northern heroes.

William Morris, in "The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon,"
gives a fascinating version of another of these Norse legends. The
story is amongst the most charming of the collection in "The Earthly
Paradise."



Brunhild

The story of Brunhild is to be found in many forms. Some versions
describe the heroine as the daughter of a king taken by Odin to serve
in his Valkyr band, others as chief of the Valkyrs and daughter of
Odin himself. In Richard Wagner's story, "The Ring of the Nibelung,"
the great musician presents a particularly attractive, albeit a more
modern conception of the chief Battle-Maiden, and her disobedience
to the command of Odin when sent to summon the youthful Siegmund from
the side of his beloved Sieglinde to the Halls of the Blessed.