The great necklace Brising, stolen by Loki and won back in fight
by Heimdal (according to the tenth-century Skalds Thjodulf and Ulf
Uggason), is Freyja's property. On this ground, she has been identified
with the heroine of _Svipdag and Menglad_, a poem undoubtedly old,
though it has only come down in paper MSS. It is in two parts, the
first telling how Svipdag aroused the Sibyl Groa, his mother, to
give him spells to guard him on his journey; the second describing
his crossing the wall of fire which surrounded his fated bride
Menglad. If Menglad is really Freyja, the "Necklace-glad," it is a
curious coincidence that one poem connects the waverlowe, or ring of
fire, with Frey also; for his bride Gerd is protected in the same way,
though his servant Skirni goes through it in his place:
_Skirni_. "Give me the horse that will bear me through the dark magic
waverlowe, and the sword that fights of itself against the giant-race."
_Frey_. "I give thee the horse that will bear thee through the dark
magic waverlowe, and the sword that will fight of itself if he is
bold who bears it." (_Skirnisfoer_.)
The connexion of both with the Midsummer fires, originally part of
an agricultural ritual, can hardly be doubted.
* * * * *
_Loki_, or Lopt, is a strange figure. He is admitted among the Aesir,
though not one of them by birth, and his whole relation to them
points to his being an older elemental God.
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