378 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i.
Nicors and other supernatural beings of a fiendish
character. The references are Grindles pyt1, Grin-
dles bece2, and Grendles mere3. Grimm, by a com-
parison of philological and other data, identifies
Grendel with the Norse Loki, the evil-bringer, and
in the end destroyer of the gods4. The early con-
verted Anglosaxons who possessed another devil to
oppose to the Almighty in the Ragnaratkr5, could
easily reconcile themselves to the destruction of
Grendel by an earthly hero ; although the ancient
heathendom breaks out in the supernatural powers
attributed to the latter, and which placing him very
near the rank of the gods, induce a belief that Beo-
wulf contains only the shadow of an older myth
which may have been current far beyond the limits
of this island6. It will be sufficient to call atten-
tion to the many German tales in which the devil’s
mother figures as a principal actor, nay to our own
familiar expression, the devil's dam, to show how
essential this characteristic of the fiend was : the
devil of the Church had certainly no mother ; but
the old Teutonic evil spirit had, and Loki and
Grendel are alike in this. Even the religious view,
which naturally shaped itself to other influences,
could not escape the essential heathendom of this
idea : the devil who is so constant an agent in the
Anglosaxon legends, has, if not a mother, at least
a father, no less than Satan himself ; but Satan lies
ɪ Cod. Dipl. No. 69. 2 Ibid. No. 670.
ɜ Ibid. No. 353. 4 Mythologie, p. 222.
5 The Dei il and the Pater Noster were to contend together at Dooms-
day: each was to assume fifteen different foɪɪns. Sal. Sat. p. 145.
° See Beowulf, ii. Postscript, and the Stammtafel der Westsachsen.
сн. x∏∙]
HEATHENDOM. MONSTERS.
379
bound in hell, as Loki lies bound, and it is only as
bis emissary and servant that the devil his son1 ap-
pears on earth, to tempt and to destroy. In Cæd-
ɪnon, the legend of St. Andrew, Juliana, Gu⅛lac,
etc., it is always the devil’s son and satellite who
executes his work on earth, and returns to give an
account of his mission to him that sent him.
Thus throughout the strange confusion which
besets all Anglosaxon compositions in which the
devil is introduced either as a tempter or a perse-
cutor of the holy and just, we may perceive a ray
of ancient heathendom, gloomy enough, no doubt,
but far less miserable than the vile materialism of
the notions with which it has been mixed up. The
rude Eoten or Titan is not nearly so repugnant to
our Christian ideas as the gross corporeal fiends
who have grown out of him, and who play so con-
spicuous a part in Anglosaxon hagiology or purgato-
rial legends : nor is it easy to. conceive any supersti-
tion more degrading than that which Eastern or
perhaps even Roman traditions thus engrafted upon
the ancient creed. With these we are not called
upon to deal in any further detail, for though they
ɪ In the legend of Juliana, the subordinate devil speaks of Satan aa
his father and king. Cod. Exon. pp. 2C1, 273. ʌnd so also in Salo-
mon and Satum (p. 141), he is called Satan’s thane. Again, in the
same composition, Satan is called the devil’s father : “ The Pater Nos-
ter will shoot the devil with boiling shafts ; and the lightning will burn
and mark him, and the rain will be shed over him, and the thick dark-
ness confuse him, and the thunder thrash him with the fiery axe, and
drive him to the iron chain wherein his father dwelleth, Satan and Sa-
thiel.” p, 149. jn βle lθgθnd of St. Andrew, Satan himself appears,
which may be owing to its Greek origin. See λrercelli Poems, Andr.
ɪ- 2388 : still, ⅛ another passage Satan sends his children. Ibid. 1. 2C92.