The name is absent

408          THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i.

parallel lies in the assertion that there was no grass
anywhere to make green the earth.

The world was created out of the portions of
Ymers body ; but it seems to be a remnant of an-
cient heathendom when we find in later times a
tradition that Man was created out of the great
natural portions of the world itself. An ancient
Frisic manuscript quoted by Grimm in Haupt’s
Altdeutsche Blatter¹ says, “ God scop thene éresta
meneska, thet was Adam, fon achta wendem ; thet
bénete fon tha sténe, thet flask fon there erthe, thet
blod fon tha wetere, tha herta fon tha winde, thene
thochta fon tha wolken, thene suét fon tha dawe,
tha Iokkar fon tha gerse, tha agene fon there sunna,
and tha blérem on thene helga dm.” That is,—God
created him of eight things : his bones from stone,
his flesh from earth, his blood from water, his heart
from wind, his thought from cloud, his sweat from
dew, his hair from the grass, his eyes from the
sun, and then breathed into him the breath of life.
In the prose Salomon and Saturn we are also told
that Adam was created of eight pounds by weight :
a pound of earth from whence his flesh ; a pound
of fire, whence his red and hot blood ; a pound of
wind, whence his breathing; a pound of cloud,
whence his unsteadiness of mood ; a pound of grace,
whence his stature and growth ; a pound of blos-
soms, whence the variety of his eyes ; a pound of
dew, whence his sweat ; and a pound of salt, whence
his salt tears².

ɪ Vol. i. Part i. p. 1.

² See the Author’s edition, p. 181, and the notes at p. 194.

СЯ. x∏∙] HEATHENDOM. CREATION, ETC.

But a much more striking proof of heathendom
lies in the Anglosaxon belief that after the destruc-
tion of this creation a more beautiful one would
arise ; not only a metaphysical kingdom of heaven,
but a concrete world like our own, on a more im-
posing and glorious scale. It was the belief of the
Northmen that in the closing evening of the ages,
the Ragna-rauk, or twilight of the Gods, the old
Titanic powers would burst their fetters ; Loki, the
Northern Satan, would be released from his bond-
age ; Midgard’s orm, the serpent that surrounds
the world, would rise in his giant fury ; the wolf
Fenrir would snap his chain and move against the
gods ; the ship Naglfar, made of the nails of the
dead, and steered by Loki, would convey the sons
of Muspelheim to Vigrid, the plain on which this
heathen Armageddon was to be fought: at their
head the terrible Surtr, the black, the destroyer of
the gods, beneath whose sword of fire the whole
world should perish.

Opinn, Thorr, and the other gods shall perish,
but not unrevenged : the wolf and the serpent will
fall, one by the hands of ViSarr, Opinn’s son, the
other under the terrible battle-maul of Th6rr. The

ɪ Vaulu Spa, st. 60.

<<   <   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   >   >>