The following account is given
of their presence in Asgard:
(1) In _Vafthrudnismal_, Odin asks:
"Whence came Njoerd among the sons of the Aesir? for he was not born
of the Aesir."
_Vafthrudni_. "In Vanaheim wise powers ordained and gave him for a
hostage to the Gods; at the doom of the world he shall come back,
home to the wise Wanes."
(2) There is an allusion in _Voeluspa_ to the war which caused the
giving of hostages:
"Odin shot into the host: this was the first war in the world. Broken
was the wall of the citadel of the Aesir, so that the Wanes could
tread the fields of war."
(3) Loki taunts Njoerd with his position, in _Lokasenna_:
"Thou wast sent from the east as a hostage to the Gods...."
_Njoerd_. "This is my comfort, though I was sent from far as a hostage
to the Gods, yet I have a son whom no one hates, and he is thought
the best of the Aesir."
_Loki_. "Stay, Njoerd, restrain thy pride; I will hide it no longer:
thy son is thine own sister's son, and that is no worse than one
would expect."
_Tyr_. "Frey is the best of all the bold riders of Asgard."
There is little doubt that Njoerd was once a God of higher importance
than he is in the Edda, where he is overshadowed by his son. Grimm's
suggestion that he and the goddess Nerthus, mentioned by Tacitus,
were brother and sister, is supported by the line in _Lokasenna_; it
is an isolated reference, and the Goddess has left no other traces in
Scandinavian mythology.
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