Apparent contradictions whose explanation is forgotten
often survive in tradition; the inventor of a new story takes care to
make it consistent. It is probable, however, that there were originally
only two actors in the episode, the victim and the slayer, and that
Loki's part is later than Hoed's, for he really belongs to the Valhall
and Ragnaroek myth, and was only introduced here as a link. The incident
of the oath extracted from everything on earth to protect Baldr, which
occurs in Snorri and in a paper MS. of _Baldr's Dreams_, was probably
invented to explain the choice of weapon, which would certainly need
explanation to an Icelandic audience. If Dr. Frazer's theory be right,
Vali, who slew the slayer, must also have been an original figure in
the legend. His antiquity is supported by the fact that he plays the
part of avenger in the poems; while in Snorri, where he is mentioned
as a God, his absence from the account of Baldr's death is only a
part of that literary development by which real responsibility for
the murder was transferred from Hoed to Loki.
Snorri gives Baldr a son, Forseti (Judge), who is also named as a
God in _Grimnismal_. He must have grown out of an epithet of Baldr's,
of whom Snorri says that "no one can resist his sentence"; the sacred
tree would naturally be the seat of judgment.
* * * * *
_The Wanes._--Three of the Norse divinities, Njoerd and his son and
daughter, are not Aesir by descent.
Pages:
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32