Epitome of German Mythology. Part 1.
There isn't much known of the mythology of the ancient German tribes. This is an article in which the author tries to make connections with the surviving traditions, superstions and usages with that mythology. His research is based on what other researchers found and on what the clergy wrote about the heathen customs of the ancient Germanic tribes.
(Please note: I
have moved the footnotes from the bottom of the pages directly into the text.
The author refers to his own book vol.I, II and III on 19 occasions in the
footnotes. I have colored these footnotes red like this (See 1.) and made links to the collection of footnotes in a seperate blog.)
What follows are descriptions and tales from an old source:
The
principal sources of German mythology are,
Popular
narratives.
Superstitions
and ancient customs, in which traces of heathen myths, religious ideas and
forms of worship are to be found.
Popular
narratives branch into three classes:
I.
Heroic Traditions (Heldensagen) ;
II.
Popular Traditions (Volkssagen);
III.
Popular Tales (Marchen).
That
they all in common though traceable only in Christian times have preserved much
of heathenism, is confirmed by the circumstance, that in them many beings make
their appearance who incontestably belong to heathenism, viz. those subordinate
beings the dwarfs, water-sprites, etc., who are wanting in no religion which,
like the German, has developed conceptions of personal divinities.
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| 1. Siegfried slays the Dragon |
The principal sources of German Heroic Tradition are a series of poems, which have been transmitted from the eighth, tenth, but chiefly from the twelfth down to the fifteenth century. These poems are founded, as has been satisfactorily proved, on popular songs, collected, arranged and formed into one whole, for the most part by professed singers. The heroes, who constitute the chief personages in the narrative, were probably once gods or heroes, whose deep-rooted myths have been transmitted through Christian times in an altered and obscured form. With the great German heroic tradition the story of Siegfried and the Nibelunge, this assumption is the more surely founded, as the story, even in heathen times, was spread abroad in Northern song.
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| 2. Rubezahl, the Giant |
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| 3.Hänsl and Gretl |
(Many such conjurations and
spells are given by Grimm, D. M. pp. CXXVI-CLIX. 1st edit., and in Mone’s
Anzeiger, also in Altdeutsche Blatter, Bd. ii. etc.).
They are for the most part in rime and rhythmical, and usually conclude with an
invocation of God, Christ and the saints. Their beginning is frequently epic,
the middle contains the potent words for the object of the spell. That many of
these forms descend from heathen times is evident from the circumstance that
downright heathen beings are invoked in them (Erce and Fasolt. See D. M. pp. cxxx-cxxxn. 1st edit. Muller, p. 21.)
.
“A circumstance yet more
striking is, that to the Virgin Mary are transferred a number of pleasing
traditions of Hold and Frouwa, the Norns and Valkyriur. How delightful are
these stories of Mary, and what could any other poesy have to compare with them
! With the kindly heathen characteristics are associated for us a feeling of
the higher sanctity which surrounds this woman. Flowers and plants are named
after Mary, images of Mary are borne in procession and placed in the
forest-trees, in exact conformity with the heathen worship; Mary is the divine
mother, the spinner, and appears as a helpful virgin to all who invoke her. But
Mary stands not alone. In the Greek and the Latin churches a numerous host of
saints sprang up around her, occupying the place of the gods of the second and third
classes, the heroes and wise women of heathenism, and filling the heart,
because they mediate between it and a higher, severer Godhead. Among the saints
also, both male and female, there were manyclasses, and the several cases in
which they are helpful are distributed among them like offices and occupations
For the hero who slew the dragon, Michael or George was substituted, and the
heathen Siegberg was transferred over to Michael; as in France out of Mons
Martis a Mons martyrum (Montmartre) was formed. It is worthy of remark that the
Osseten out of dies Martis (Mardi) make a George s day, and out of dies Veneris
(Vendredi) a Mary s day. Instead of Odin and Freyia, at minnedrinking, St. John
and St. Gertrud were substituted.”)
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| 4. Norse Gods |
While
the Scandinavian religion may, even as it has been transmitted to us, be
regarded as a connected
whole, the isolated fragments of German mythology can be considered only as the damaged
ruins of a structure, for the restoration of which the plan is wholly wanting.
But this plan we in great measure possess in the Northern Mythology, seeing
that many of these German ruins are in perfect accordance with it. Hence we may
confidently conclude that the German religion, had it been handed down to us in
equal integrity with the Northern, would, on the whole, have exhibited the same
system, and may, therefore, have recourse to the latter, as the only means left
us of assigning a place to each of its isolated fragments. Although the
similitude of language and manners speaks forcibly in favour of a close
resemblance between the German and Northern mythologies, yet the assumption of
a perfect identity of both religions is, on that account, by no means
admissible ; seeing that the only original authorities for German heathenism,
the Merseburg poems , in the little information supplied by them, show some remarkable
deviations from the religious system of the North (Muller, p. 86. In the Westphalian dialect Wednesday is called
Godenstag, Gaunstag, Gunstag ; in Nether Rhenish, Gudenstag ; in Middleage Netherlandish
or Dutch, Woensdach-, in New Netherl., Woensdag; in Flemish, Goensdag; in Old
Frisic, Wernsdei; in New Fris., Wdnsdey; in Nor. Fris., Winsdei, in Anglo-Sax.,
Wodenes- and Wodnesdag ; in Old Nor., Odinsdagr.)
The
question here naturally presents itself, by what course of events did the
Odinic worship become
spread over the larger portion of Germany and the Netherlands? By Paulus
Diaconus (De Gestis Langobard. i. 8) we are
informed that Wodan was worshipped as a god by all the Germanic
nations. And Jonas of Bobbio (Vita S.
Columbani, in Act. Bened. sec. 2. p. 26) makes mention of
a vessel filled with beer, as an offering to Wodan, among the Suevi (Alamanni) on the Lake of Constance.
Hence it is reasonable to conclude that his worship prevailed especially among
those tribes
which, according to their own traditions and other historic notices, wandered
from north
to south. Whether Wodan was regarded as
a chief divinity by all the German tribes is uncertain,
no traces of his worship existing among the Bavarians; and the name of the
fourth day of
the week after him being found chiefly in the north of Germany, but in no High
German dialect.
The following is Snorri s account of Odin’s course from the Tanais to his final settlement
in Sweden :
“The country to the east of the Tanais (Tanaqvisl)
in Asia was called Asaheim ; but the chief city (borg) in the country was called Asgard.
In this city there was a chief named Odin (Wodan), and there
was a great place of sacrifice (offersted),
etc. At that time the Roman generals were marching over the world and reducing
all nations to subjection; but Odin being foreknowing and possessed
of magical skill, knew that his posterity should occupy the northern half of
the world. He
then set his brothers Ve and Vili over Asgard, but himself, with all the diar (The diar were the twelve chief priests)and
a vast multitude of people, wandered forth, first westwards to Gardariki (The Great and Little Russia of after-times.)
, and afterwards southwards to Saxland (Strictly
the Saxons land ; but by the Northern writers the
name is applied to the whole of Germany, from the Alps in the south to the
Rhine in the west). He had many sons; and
after having reduced under his subjection an extensive kingdom in Saxland, he
placed his sons to defend the country. He afterwards proceeded northwards to
the sea, and took up his abode in an island which is called Odins-ey in Fyen (A singular inaccuracy, Odense (Oftins ey or
rather Oftins ve) being the chief town of Fyen). But when Odin learned that
there were good tracts of land to the east in Gym’s kingdom (See 1), he proceeded thither, and Gylfi
concluded a treaty with him . Odin made his place of residence by the Malar
lake, at the place now called Sigtuna. There he erected a vast temple.
The worship of Thunaer or Donar, the Northern Thor, among the
Germans appears certain only from the Low German formula of renunciation (c forsacho allum dioboles uuercum and uuordum thunaer
ende uuoden ende saxnote ende allem them unholdum the hira genotas sint. -
renounce all the works and words of
the devil, Thunaer and Woden and Saxnot and all those fiends that are their
associates. Massmann,
Abschwbrungsformeln No. 1.) and the name of
the fifth day of the week (Ohg. Donares
tac, Toniris tac ; Mhg.
Donrestac ; Mill. Donresdach ; Nnl. Donderdag ; 0. Fris. Thunresdei, Tornsdei ;
N. Fris. Tongersdei ; Nor.
Fris. Tursdei; A. Sax. Thunres dag; 0. Nor. Thorsdagr.)
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| 5.Tyr and Fenrir |
The Frisic god Fosite is, according to all probability, the
Scandinavian Forseti (See 3). Of him
it is related that a temple was erected to him in Heligoland, which formerly
bore the name of Fositesland. On the island there was a spring, from which no
one might draw water except in silence. No one might touch any of the animals
sacred to the god, that fed on the island, nor anything else found there. St.
Wilibrord baptized three Frisians in the spring, and slaughtered three of the
animals, for himself and his companions, but had nearly paid with his life for
the profanation of the sanctuary, a crime which, according to the belief of the
heathen, must be followed by madness or speedy death (Alcuini Vita S. Wilibrordi cited by Grimm, D. M. p. 210.) At a
later period, as we are informed by Adam of Bremen, the island was regarded as
sacred by Pirates (De Situ Danise, p.
132. Miiller, p. 88).
Besides the above-named five gods, mention also occurs of three
goddesses, viz. Frigg, the wife of Wodan, who is spoken of by Paulus Diaconus (i. 8) under
the name of Frea (See D. M. p. 276) In the Merseburg poem, where she is called Frua or Friia, she
appears as a sister of Volla, the Northern Fulla. The sixth day of the week is named either
after her or after the Northern goddess Freyia (The
names of the sixth day of the week waver : Ohg. Fria dag, Frijetag ; Mhg.
Fritac, Vriegtag ; Mill.
Vridach ; 0. Fris. Frigendei, Fredei ; N. Fris. Fred-, A. Sax. Frige dag; 0.
Nor. Friadagr, Freyjudagr; S\v. Dan. Fredag.),
but who in Germany was probably called Frouwa ; and the goddess HLUDANA, whom Thorlacius identifies with Hlodyn .
Of the god Saxnot nothing occurs beyond the mention of his name in
the renunciation, which we have just seen. In the genealogy of the kings of Essex a
Seaxneat appears as a son of Woden.
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| 6. Tuisco |
As the common ancestor of the German nation, Tacitus, on the authority of ancient poems, places the hero or god Tuisco, who sprang from the earth; whose son Mannus had three sons, after whom are named the three tribes, viz. the Ingsevones, nearest to the ocean ; the Herminones, in the middle parts; and the Istsevones.
After
all it is, perhaps, from the several prohibitions, contained in the decrees of
councils or declared
by the laws, that we derive the greater part of our knowledge of German
heathenism. Of these
sources one of the most important is the Indiculus Superstitionum Et Paganiarum,
at the end of a Capitulary of Carloman (A.D.
743), contained in the Vatican MS. No. 577, which is a catalogue of the
heathen practices that were forbidden at the council of Lestines (Liptinse), in the diocese of Cambrai.
Although the Indiculus has been frequently printed, we venture to give it a place here, on account of its importance for German Mythology.
Indiculus
Superstitionum Et Paganiarum.
The sacrilegio ad sepulchra
mortuorum. - "About sacrilege at the graves of the
dead"
The sacrilegio super defunctos
id est dadsisas. - "About sacrilege over the dead, the death-meal"
The spurcalibus in February.
- "About banquets in February"
The casulis id est fanis.
- "About small buildings, that is, shrines"
The sacrilegious per
aecclesias. - "About sacrilegiousness to
churches"
The sacris siluarum quae
nimidas vocant. - "About tree sanctuaries, which they call
nimida's"
The hiis quae faciunt super
petras. - "About the things they do over certain
stones"
The Sacris Mercury, sheet of
Iovis. - "About sacrifices to Mercury or
Jupiter"
The sacrificio quod fit alicui
sanctorum. - "About the sacrificial service for one
or another saint"
The filacteriis et ligaturis.
- "About amulets and bindsels"
The fontibus sacrificiorum.
- "About sacrificing to sources"
The incantation bus.
- "About incantations" (Galdr)
The auguriis sheet avium sheet
equorum sheet bovum stercora sheet sternutationes.
- "About the predictions from
manure
of birds, horses or cattle and sneezing" (Spá)
The divinis sheet sortilogis.
- "About future predictions and throwing fate"
The igne fricato the ligno id
est nodfyr. - "About a fire made of grated wood, what
is called nodfyr"
The cerebro animalium.
- "About the animal brain"
The observatione pagana in
foco, sheet in inchoatione rei alicuius. - "Pagan
perception in the pan, or in the
beginning
of everything"
The incertis locis que colunt
pro sacris. "About places in uncertain place, which
they worship as a sanctuary" (nemetons)
The petendo quod boni vocant
sanctae Mariae. "About the call of the good-natured, who
is seen as Holy Mary"
The feriis quae faciunt Jovi sheet
Mercurio. "About parties that they hold for Jupiter
or Mercury"
The lunae defectione, quod
dicunt Vinceluna. - "About the lunar eclipse they call
Vinceluna"
The tempestatibus et cornibus
et cocleis. - "Over storms, the horns of bulls, and
snails"
The sulcis circa villas.
- "About grooves around farms"
The pagano cursu quem yrias
nominant, scissis pannis sheet calciamentis. -
"About the pagan race they call Yria, with clothes and shoes"
The eo, quod sibi sanctos
fingunt quoslibet mortuos. - "About what they
themselves describe as a holy death"
The simulacro de consparsa
farina. - "About the image of scattered
grains" (grain dummies)
The simulacris the pannis
factis. - "About images made of cloths"
The simulacro quod per campos
porter. - "About the image they carry over the
fields"
The ligneis pedibus sheet
manibus pagano ritual. - "Over wooden feet and
hands to the pagan rite"
The eo, quod credunt, quia
femine lunam comendet, quod possint corda hominum tollere juxta paganos.
- "About
that,
why the women trust the moon, which can elevate the hearts of people to the
Gentiles" (Seiðr)
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| 7. Indiculus |
From
the popular traditions and tales of Germany a sufficiently clear idea of the
nature of the giants
and dwarfs of Teutonic fiction may be obtained. As in the Northern belief the
giants inhabit
the mountains, so does German tradition assign them dwellings in mountains and caverns.
Isolated mounts, sand-hills or islands have been formed by the heaps of earth
which giant-miaidens have let fall out of their aprons when constructing a dam
or a causeway scattered fragments of rock are from
structures under taken by them in ancient times; and of the huge masses of
stone lying about the country, for the presence of which the common people
cannot otherwise account, it is said that they were cast by giants, or that
they had shaken them out of their shoes like grains of sand. Impressions of
their fingers or other members are frequently to be seen on such stones. Other
traditions tell of giants that have been turned into stone, and certain rocks
have received the appellation of giants clubs (A rock near Bonn is called Fasolt s Keule club). Moors and sloughs
have been caused by the blood that sprang from a giant s wound, as from Ymir’s.
In Germany, too, traces exist of the turbulent elements being
considered as giants. A formula is preserved in which Fasolt is conjured to avert a storm; in
another, Mermeut, who rules over the storm, is invoked. Fasolt
is the giant who figures so often in German middle-age poetry; he was the brother of Ecke, who was himself a divinity of floods and
waves. Of Mermeut nothing further is known. In the German popular tales the devil is
frequently made to step into the place of the giants. Like them he has his abode in rocks , hurls huge
stones, in which the impression of his fingers or other members is often to be seen, causes moors and
swamps to come forth, or has his habitation in them , and raises the whirlwind (Stopke, or Stepke, is in Lower Saxony an
appellation of the devil and of
the whirlwind, from which proceed the fogs that pass over the land. The devil
sits in the whirlwind and rushes howling
and raging through the air. Mark. Sagen, p. 377. The whirlwind is also ascribed
to witches. If a knife be cast
into it, the witch will be wounded and become visible. Schreibers Taschenbuch,
1839, p. 323. Comp. Grimm,
Abergl. 522, 554 ; Mones Anzeiger, 8, 278. (See 4) The spirits that raise storms and hail may be appeased by shaking
out a flour-sack and saying : “Siehe da, Wind, koch ein Mus fur dein Kind “ (See there, Wind, boil a pap for thy child !) ; or by throwing a tablecloth out of the window. Grimm, Abergl. 282.
Like the Wild Huntsman, the
devil on Ash Wednesday hunts the wood-wives. Ib. 469, 914. (See 5)
According to a universal tradition, compacts are frequently made
with the devil, by which he is bound to complete a building, as a church, a house, a barn, a
causeway, a bridge or the like within a certain short period; but by some artifice, through which the
soul of the person, for whom he is doing the work, is saved, the completion of the undertaking is
prevented. The cock, for instance, is made to crow; because, like the giants and dwarfs, who shun the
light of the sun, the devil also loses his power at the break of day. In being thus deceived and
outwitted, he bears a striking resemblance to the giants, who, though possessing prodigious
strength, yet know not how to profit by it, and therefore in their conflicts with gods and
heroes always prove the inferior.
While in the giant-traditions and tales of Germany a great degree
of uniformity appears, the belief in dwarfs displays considerable vivacity and variety ; though no other
branch of German popular story exhibits such a mixture with the ideas of the neighbouring
Kelts and Slaves. This intermingling of German and foreign elements appears particularly
striking on comparing the German and Keltic elf-stories, between which will be found a
strong similitude, which is hardly to be explained by the assumption of an original resemblance
independent of all intercommunication. Tradition assigns to the dwarfs of Germany,
as the Eddas to those of the North, the interior of the earth, particularly rocky caverns, for
a dwelling. There they live together as a regular people, dig for ore, employ
themselves in smith s work, and collect treasures. Their activity is of a
peaceful, quiet character, whence they are distinguished as the still folk (the
good people, the guid neighbours] ; and because it is practised in secret, they
are said to have a tarncap, or tarnmantle (From
Old Saxon dernian, A. S. dyrnan, to conceal. With the dwarfs the sun rises at
midnight. Grimm, D. M. p. 435.), or mistmantle, by which they can make
themselves invisible. For the same reason they are particularly active at
night.
The dwarfs in general are, as we have seen, the personification of
the hidden creative powers, on whose efficacy the regular changes in nature depend. This idea
naturally suggests itself both from the names borne by the dwarfs in the Eddas, and from the myths
connected with them. These names denote for the most part
either activity in general, or individual natural phenomena, as the phases
of the moon, wind, etc. The activity of the dwarfs, which popular tradition
symbolically signifies
by smith’s work, must be understood as elemental or cosmical. It applies
particularly to the
thriving of the fruits of the earth. We consequently frequently find the dwarfs
busied in helping men in their agricultural labours, in getting in the harvest,
making hay and the like, which is merely a debasement of the idea that, through
their efficacy, they promote the growth and maturity of the fruits of the
earth. Tradition seems to err in representing the dwarfs as thievish on such
occasions, as stealing the produce from the fields, or collecting the
thrashed-out corn for themselves; unless such stories are meant to signify that
evil befalls men, if they offend those beneficent beings, and thereby cause
them to suspend their efficacy, or exert it to their prejudice. The same
elemental powers which operate on the fruits of the earth also exercise an
influence on the well-being of living creatures. Well-known and wide-spread is
the tradition that the dwarfs have the power, by their touch, their breathing,
and even by their look, to cause sickness or death to man and beast.
That which
they cause when they are offended they must also be able to remedy. Apollo, who
sends the pestilence, is at the same time the healing god. Hence to the dwarfs
likewise is ascribed a knowledge of the salutary virtues of stones and plants.
In the popular tales we find them saving from sickness and death ; and while
they can inflict injury on the cattle, they often also take them under their
care. The care of deserted and unprotected children is also ascribed to them,
and in heroic tradition they appear as instructors ( Of this description was Regin, the instructor of Sigurd.). At the
same time it cannot be denied that tradition much more frequently tells a
widely different tale, representing them as kidnapping the children of human
mothers and substituting their own changelings, dickkopfs or kielkropfs. These
beings are deformed, never thrive, and, in spite of their voracity, are always
lean, and are, moreover, mischievous. But that this tradition is a
misrepresentation, or at least a part only, of the
original one, is evident from the circumstance, that when the changeling is
taken back the mother
finds her own child again safe and sound, sweetly smiling, and as it were
waking out of a deep
sleep. It had, consequently, found itself very comfortable while under the care
of the dwarfs, as they themselves also declare, that the children they steal
find better treatment with them than with their own parents. By stripping this
belief of its mythic garb, we should probably find the sense to be, that the
dwarfs take charge of the recovery and health of sick and weakly children.
Hence it may also be regarded as a perversion of the ancient belief, when it is
related that women are frequently summoned to render assistance to dwarf-wives
in labour ; although the existence of such traditions may be considered as a
testimony of the intimate and friendly relation in which they stand to mankind.
But if we reverse the story and assume that dwarf-wives are present at the
birth of a human child, we gain an appendage to the Eddaic faith that the Norns,
who appeared at the birth of children, were of the race of dwarfs. In the
traditions it is, moreover, expressly declared that the dwarfs take care of the
continuation and prosperity of families. Presents made by them have the effect
of causing a race to increase, while the loss of such is followed by the
decline of the family ; for this indicates a lack of respect towards these beneficent
beings, which induces them to withdraw their protection. The anger of the
dwarfs, in any way roused, is avenged by the extinction of the offender’s race.
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| 8. Dwarf |
We
have here made an attempt, out of the numerous traditions of dwarfs, to set
forth, in a prominent
point of view, those characteristics which exhibit their nobler nature, in the supposition
that Christianity may also have vilified these beings as it has the higher
divinities. At the
same time it is not improbable that the nature of the dwarfs, even in heathen
times, may have had
in it something of the mischievous and provoking, which they often display in
the traditions. Among
the wicked tricks of the dwarfs one in particular deserves notice that they lay
snares for young
females and detain them in their habitations, herein resembling the giants,
who, according to
the Edda's, strive to get possession of the goddesses. If services are to be
rendered by them, a pledge must be exacted from them, or they must
be compelled by force; but if once overcome, they
prove faithful servants and stand by the heroes in their conflicts with the
giants, whose natural
enemies they seem to be, though they are sometimes in alliance with them.
Popular
tradition designates the dwarfs as heathens, inasmuch as it allows them to have
power only
over unbaptized children. It gives us further to understand that this belief is
of ancient date, when
it informs us that the dwarfs no longer possess their old habitations. They
have emigrated, driven
away by the sound of church bells, which to them, as heathenish beings, was
hateful, or because
people were malicious and annoyed them, that is, no longer entertained the same
respect for
them as in the time of heathenism. But that this faith was harmless, and could
without prejudice
exist simultaneously with Christianity, appears from the tradition which
ascribes to the dwarfs
Christian sentiments and the hope of salvation (Dwarfs go to church. Grimm, D. S. No. 23, 32. Kobolds are Christians, sing
spiritual songs, and hope to be saved, Ib, i, pp. 112, 113, Miiller, p. 342.)
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| 9. Norns |
The Northern conception of the Norns is rendered more complete by numerous passages in the Anglo-Saxon and Old-Saxon writers. In Anglo-Saxon poetry Wyrd manifestly occupies the place of Urd , the eldest Norn, as the goddess of fate, who attends human beings when at the point of death; and from the Codex Exoniensis we learn that the influence of the Norns in the guiding of fate is metaphorically expressed as the weaving of a web, as the juoipai and parcse are described as spinners.
( Me haet Wyrd gewaef. - That
Wyrd wove for me. (Cod.Exon.p.355, 1.)
Wyrd oft nered. - Wyrd
oft preserves
unfaegne eorl, - an
undoom’d man,
bonne his elleu dean, - when
his valour avails. (Beowulf, 1139.)
Him waes Wyrd - To him was Wyrd
ungemete neah. - Exceedingly
near. (Ib. 4836.)
Thiu uurd is at handum. - The
Wurd is at hand. (Heliand, p. 146, 2.)
Thiu uurth nahida thuo, - The
Wurth then drew near,
mari maht godes. - the great might of
God. (Ib. 163, 16.)
(In an Old High German gloss
also we find wurt, fatum. (Graff, i. p. 992.) The English and Scotch have
preserved the word the longest, as in the weird sisters of Macbeth and Gawen
Douglas s Virgil ; the weird elves in Warner’s Albion’s England ; the weird
lady of the woods in Percy’s Reliques. (See Grimm, D. M. pp. 376-378 for other instances.)
Thus,
too, does the poet of the Heliand personify Wurth, whom, as a goddess of death,
he in like
manner makes an attendant on man in his last hour.
We
find not only in Germany traditions of Wise Women, who, mistresses of fate, are
present at
the birth of a child ; but of the Keltic fairies it is also related that they
hover about mortals as guardian
spirits, appearing either three or seven or thirteen together nurse and tend
new-born children,
foretell their destiny, and bestow gifts on them, but among which one of them
usually mingles
something evil. Hence they are invited to stand sponsors, the place of honour
is assigned them
at table, which is prepared with the greatest care for their sake. Like the
Norns, too, they spin.
Let
us now endeavour to ascertain whether among the Germans there exist traces of a
belief in the
Valkyriur. In Anglo-Saxon the word wselcyrige (wselcyrie) appears as an equivalent to necis arbiter,
Bellona, Alecto, Erinnys, Tisiphone; the pi. vselcyrian toparcce, venefica-,
and Anglo- Saxon
poets use personally the nouns Hild and Gud, words answering to the names of
two Northern
Valkyriur, Hildr and Gunnr (comp. hildr,
pugna; gunnr, proelium, bellum). In the first Merseburg
poem damsels, or idisi, are introduced, of
whom: ”some fastened fetters, some stopt
an army, some sought after bonds”; and therefore perform functions having
reference to war; consequently are to be regarded as Valkyriur. We have still a superstition to notice, which in
some respects seems to offer a resemblance to the belief in the Valkyriur,
although in the main it contains a strange mixture of senseless,
insignificant stories. We allude to the belief in witches and their nightly meetings. The belief in magic, in evil magicians
and sorceresses, who by means of certain arts are enabled to injure their fellow-creatures, to
raise storms, destroy the seed in the earth, cause sickness to man and beast is of remote antiquity. (We subjoin the principal denominations of magicians and
soothsayers, as affording an insight into their several modes of operation. The
more general names are : divini, magi,
harioli, vaticinatores, etc. More special ippellations are : sortilegi (sortiarii,),
diviners by lot; inicmtatores,
enchanters ; somniorum conjectores, interpreters of dreams, cauculatores and
coclearii, diviners by offering-cups
(comp. Du Fresne subvoce, and Indie. Superst. c. 22); haruspices, consulters
of entrails (Capitul. vn. 370, Legg.
Liutprandi vi. 30; comp. Indie, c. 16, and the divining from human sacrifices.
Procop. de B. G. 2. 25); auspices (Ammian.
Marcel. 14. 9) ; obligatores, tiers of strings or ligatures (for the cure of
diseases) ; tempestarii, or immissores tempestatum,
raisers of storms.)
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| 10.Valkyrie |
It is found in the East and among the Greeks and Romans; it was
known also to the Germans and Slaves in the time of their paganism, without their having
borrowed it from the Romans. In it there is nothing to be sought for beyond what appears on the
surface, viz. that low degree of religious feeling, at which belief supposes effects from unknown
causes to proceed from super natural agency, as from persons by means of spells, from herbs,
and even from an evil glance a degree which can subsist simultaneously with the
progressing religion, and, therefore, after the introduction of Christianity, could long prevail, and in part
prevails down to the present day. Even in the time of heathenism it was, no
doubt, a belief that these sorceresses on certain days and in certain places
met to talk over their arts and the application of them, to boil magical herbs,
and for other evil purposes. For as the sorcerer, in consequence of his occult
knowledge and of his superiority over the great mass of human beings, became,
as it were, isolated from them, and often harboured hostile feelings towards
them, he was consequently compelled to associate with those who were possessed
of similar power. It must, however, be evident that the points of contact are
too few to justify our seeing the ground of German belief in witch-meetings in
the old heathen sacrificial festivals and assemblies. And why should we be at
the pains of seeking an historic basis for a belief that rests principally on
an impure, confused deisidaimonia, which finds the supernatural where it does
not exist? That mountains are particularly specified as the places of assembly,
arises probably from the circumstance that they had been the offering-places of
our forefathers; and it was natural to assign the gatherings of the witches to
known and distinguished localities
(The
most celebrated witch-mountain is the well-known Bracken (Blocksberg} in the
Harz ; others, of which mention occurs, are the ffuiberg near Halberstadt; in
Thuringia the Horselberg near Eisenach, or the Inselberg near Schmalkalde; in
Hesse the Bechelsberg or Bechtelsberg near Ottrau; in Westphalia the Koterberg
near Corvei, or the Weckingsstein near Minden; in Swabia, in the Black Forest,
at Kandel in the Brisgau, or the Heuberg near Balingen; in Franconia the
Kreidenberg near Wiirzburg, and the Staffelstein near Bamberg; in Alsace the Bischenberg
and Bilchelberg. The Swedish trysting-place is the Blakulla (according to Ihre,
a rock in the sea between Smaland and Gland, literally the Black Mountain), and
the Nasajjall m Norrland. The Norwegian witches also ride to the Blaakolle, to
the Dovrefjeld, to the Lyderhorn near Bergen, to Kiarru, to Vardo and Domen in
Finmark, to Troms (i. e. Trommenfjeld), a mountain in the isle of Tromso, high
up in Finmark. The Neapolitan streghe (striges) assemble under a nut-tree near
Benevento. Italian witchmountains are: the Barco di Ferrara, the Paterno di
Bologna, Spinato della Mirandola, Tossale di Bergamo and La Croce del
Pasticcio, of the locality of which I am ignorant. In France the Puy de Dome,
near Clermont in Auvergne, is distinguished. (Grimm, D. M. p. 1004.) In
Lancashire the witches assembled at Malkin Tower by the side of “ the mighty
Pendle”, of whom the same tradition is current relative to the transforming of
a man into a horse by means of a bridle, as we find in (see 6); also that of striking off a hand (see 7, and 8). See Roby's Popular
Traditions of England, vol. ii. pp. 211-253, edit. 1841.). Equally natural was it that the witches should proceed to the
place of assembly through the air, in an extraordinary manner as on he-goats,
broomsticks (On their way to the Blocksberg,
Mephistopheles says to Faust : “Verlangst du nicht nach einem Besenstiele? Ich
wiinschte mir den allerderbsten Bock. Dost thou not long for a broomstick? I
could wish for a good stout he-goat.“), oven-forks and other utensils.
 |
| 11. Witches |
After having thus briefly noticed the gods, the giants, the
dwarfs, etc., there remains for consideration a series of subordinate beings, who are confined to
particular localities, having their habitation in the water, the forests and woods, the fields and in
houses, and who in many ways come in contact with man.
A
general expression for a female demon seems to have been minne, the original
signification of which
was, no doubt, woman. The word is used to designate female water-sprites and
woodwives. Holde
is a general denomination for spirits, both male and female, but occurs
oftenest in composition,
as brunnenholden, wasserholden (spirits
of the springs and waters). There are no bergholden
or waldholden (mountain-holds,
forest-holds), but dwarfs are called by the diminutive holdechen. The
original meaning of the word is bonus genius, whence evil spirits are designated
unholds.
.
The
name of Bilwiz (also written Pilwiz,
Pilewis, Buiweeks) is attended with some obscurity. The feminine
form Bulwechsin also occurs. It denotes a good, gentle being, and may either,
with Grimm, be rendered by tequum sciens, aquus, bonus , or with Leo by the
Keltic bilbheith, bilbhith (from bil,
good, gentle, and bheith or bhith, a being) . Either of these derivations
would show that the name was originally an appellative ; but the traditions
connected with it are so obscure and varying, that they hardly distinguish any
particular kind of sprite. The Bilwiz shoots like the elf, and has shaggy or
matted hair (Bilwitzen (bilmitzen)
signifies to tangle or mat the hair. Muller, p. 367).
In the latter ages, popular belief, losing the old nobler idea of
this supernatural being, as in the case of Holla and Berchta, retained the
remembrance only of the hostile side of its character. It appears,
consequently, as a tormenting, terrifying, hair- and beardtangling, grain-cutting
sprite, chiefly in a female form, as a wicked sorceress or witch. The tradition
belongs more particularly to the east of Germany, Bavaria, Franconia, Voigtland
and Silesia. In Voigtland the belief in the bilsen- or bilver-schnitters, or
reapers, is current. These are wicked men, who injure their neighbours in a
most unrighteous way: they go at midnight stark naked, with a sickle tied on
their foot, and repeating magical formula, through the midst of a field of corn
just ripe. From that part of the field which they have cut through with their
sickle all the corn will fly into their own barn. Or they go by night over the
fields with little sickles tied to their great toes, and cut the straws,
believing that by so doing they will gain for themselves half the produce of
the field where they have cut.
The
Schrat or Schratz remains to be mentioned. From Old High German glosses, which
translate scratun
by pilosi, and waltschrate by satyrus, it appears to have been a spirit of the
woods. In the popular
traditions mention occurs of a being named Jüdel, which disturbs children and
domestic animals.
When children laugh in their sleep, open their eyes and turn, it is said the
Jüdel is playing with
them. If it gets entrance into a lying-in woman’s room, it does injury to the
new-born child. To
prevent this, a straw from the woman’s bed must be placed at every door, then
no Jüdel nor spirit
can enter. If the Jüdel will not otherwise leave the children in quiet,
something must be given
it to play with. Let a new pipkin be bought, without any abatement of the price
demanded; put
into it some water from the child's bath, and set it on the stove. In a few
days the Jüdel will have
splashed out all the water. People also hang egg-shells, the yolks of which
have been blown into
the child s pap and the mother s pottage, on the cradle by linen threads, that
the Jüdel may play
with them instead of with the child. If the cows low in the night, the Jüdel is
playing with them.
But
what are the Winseln ? We are informed that the dead must be turned with the
head towards
the east, else they will be
terrified by the Winseln, who wander hither from the west.
Of the several kinds of spirits, which we classify according to the locality and the elements in which they have their abode, the principal are the demons of the water or the Nixen (The male water-sprite is called nix;, the female nixe. Comp. Ohg. nichus, crocodilus ; A. S. nicor, pi. niceras ; Sw. neck ; Dan. riok. Hnikarr and HnikutJr are names of Odin). Their form is represented as resembling a human being, only somewhat smaller. According to some traditions, the Nix has slit ears, and is also to be known by his feet, which he does not willingly let be seen. Other traditions give the Nix a human body terminating in a fishtail, or a complete fishsform. They are clothed like human beings, but the water-wives may be known by the wet hem of their apron, or the wet border of their robe. Naked Nixen, or hung round with moss and sedge, are also mentioned. Like the dwarfs, the water-sprites have a great love of dancing. Hence they are seen dancing on the waves, or coming on land and joining in the dance of human beings. They are also fond of music and singing. From the depths of a lake sweetly fascinating tones sometimes ascend, oftentimes the Nixen may be heard singing. Extraordinary wisdom is also ascribed to them, which enables them to foretell the future (That water-sprites have the gift of prophecy has been the belief of many nations. We need only remind the reader of Nereus and Proteus). The water-wives are said to spin. By the rising, sinking, or drying up of the water of certain springs and ponds caused, no doubt, by the Nix the inhabitants of the neighbourhood judge whether the seasons will be fruitful or the contrary. Honours paid to the water-spirits in a time of drought are followed by rain, as any violation of their sacred domain brings forth storm and tempest (If stones are thrown into the Mummelsee, the serenest sky becomes troubled and a storm arises. Grimm, D. S. No. 59. The belief is probably Keltish. Similar traditions are current of other lakes, as of theLake of Pilatus, of Camarina in Sicily, etc.). They also operate beneficially on the increase of cattle. They possess flocks and herds, which sometimes come on land and mingle with those of men and render them prolific.
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| 12. Nixen |
Tradition also informs us that these beings exercise an influence over the lives and health of human beings. Hence the Nixen come to the aid of women in labour; while the common story, as in the case of the dwarfs, asserts the complete reverse. The presence of Nixen at weddings brings prosperity to the bride; and new-born children are said to come out of ponds and springs; although it is at the same time related that the Nixen steal children, for which they substitute changelings. There are also traditions of renovating springs (Jungbrunnen), which have the virtue of restoring the old to youth. (Thus the rugged Else, Wolfdietrich s beloved, bathed in such a spring and came forth the beautiful Sigeminne. Muller, p. 373.) The water-sprites are said to be both covetous and bloodthirsty. This character is, however, more applicable to the males than to the females, who are of a gentler nature, and even form connections with human beings, but which usually prove unfortunate. Male water-sprites carry off young girls and detain them in their habitations, and assail women with violence.
The watersprite suffers no one from wantonness forcibly to enter his dwelling, to examine it, or to diminish its extent. Piles driven in for an aqueduct he will pull up and scatter; those wrho wish to measure the depth of a lake he will threaten; he frequently will not endure fishermen, and bold swimmers often pay for their temerity with their lives. If a service is rendered to the watersprite, he will pay for it no more than he owes ; though he sometimes pays munificently; and for the wares that
he buys, he will bargain and haggle, or pay with old perforated coin. He treats even his relations with cruelty. Water-maidens, who have staid too late at a dance, or other water-sprites, who have intruded on his domain, he will kill without mercy : a stream of blood that founts up from the water announces the deed. Many traditions relate that the water-sprite draws persons down with his net, and murders them; that the spirit of a river requires his yearly offering, etc. To the worship of water-sprites the before-cited passage from Gregory of Tours bears ample witness.
The prohibitions, too, of councils against the performance of any heathen rites at springs, and particularly against burning lights at them, have, no doubt, reference to the water-sprites. In later Christian times some traces have been preserved of offerings made to the demons of the water. Even to the present time it is a Hessian custom to go on the second day of Easter to a cave on the Meisner (A chain of hills in Electoral Hesse), and draw water from the spring that flows from it, when flowers are deposited as an offering (The Bavarian custom also of throwing a man wrapped in leaves or rushes into the water on Whit Monday may have originated in a sacrifice to appease the water-sprite). Near Louvain are three springs, to which the people ascribe healing virtues. In the North it was a usage to cast the remnants of food into waterfalls. Rural sprites cannot have been so prominent in the German religion as water-sprites, as they otherwise would have acted a more conspicuous part in the traditions.
The Osnabruck popular belief tells of a Tremsemutter, who goes among the corn and is feared by the children. In Brunswick she is called the Kornweib (Cornwife). When the children seek for cornflowers, they do not venture too far in the field, and tell one another about the Cornwife who steals little children. In the Altmark and Mark of Brandenburg she is called the Roggenmohme (From roggen, rye, and muhme, aunt, cousin), and screaming children are silenced by saying :”Be still, else the Roggenmohine with her long, black teats will come and drag thee away!“
Or, according to other relations, “with her black iron teats”. By others she is called Rockenmor, because like Holda and Berchta she plays all sorts of tricks with those idle girls who have not spun all off from their spinning-wheels (Rocken) by Twelfth day. Children that she has laid on her black bosom easily die. In the Mark they threaten children with the Erbsenmuhme (From Erbsen, peas), that they may not feast on the peas in the field. In the Netherlands the Long Woman is known, who goes through the corn-fields and plucks the projecting ears. In the heathen times this rural or field sprite was, no doubt, a friendly being, to whose influence the growth and thriving of the corn were ascribed (Adalbert Kuhn, who in the collecting of German popular traditions is indefatigable, makes us acquainted with another female being, who bears a considerable resemblance to Holda, Berchta and others of that class, and is called the Murraue. See more of her in, see 9).
Spirits inhabiting the forests are mentioned in the older authorities, and at the present day people know them under the appellations of Waldleute (Forest-folk), Holzleute (Wood-folk), Moosleute (Moss-folk), Wilde Leute (Wild folk) (The appellation of Schrat is also applicable to the Forestsprites. The Goth, skohsl (Sainovtov) is by Grimm (D. M. p. 455) compared with the 0. Nor. Skogr (forest), who thence concludes that it was originally a forest-sprite. Jornandes speaks of sylvestres homines, quos faunos ficarios vocant.)
The traditions clearly distinguish the Forest-folk from the Dwarfs, by ascribing to them a larger stature, but have little more to relate concerning them than that they stand in a friendly relation to man, frequently borrow bread and household utensils, for which they make requital but are now so disgusted with the faithless world that they have retired from it. Such narratives are in close analogy with the dwarf-traditions, and it is, moreover, related of the females, that they are addicted to the ensnaring and stealing of children (The wood-wives (Holzweibel) come to the wood-cutters and ask for something to eat, and will also take it out of the pots ; though they remunerate for what they have taken or borrowed in some other way, frequently with good advice. Sometimes they will help in the labours of the kitchen or the wash; but always express great dread of the Wild Huntsman, who persecutes them. Grimm, D. M. p. 452.). On the Saale they tell of a Buschgrossmutter (Bush-grandmother) and her Moosfräulein (Moss-damsels).
The Buschgrossmutter seems almost a divine being of heathenism, holding sway over the Forest-folk; as offerings were made to her. The Forest-wives readily make their appearance when the people are baking bread, and beg to have a loaf baked for them also, as large as half a millstone, which is to be left at an appointed spot. They afterwards either compensate for the bread, or bring a loaf of their own batch, for the ploughmen, which they leave in the furrow or lay on the plough, and are exceedingly angry if any one slights it. Sometimes the Forest-wife will come with a broken wheelbarrow, and beg to have the wheel repaired. She will then, like Berchta, pay with the chips that fall, which turn to gold; or to knitters she gives a clew of thread that is never wound off. As often as any one twists the stem of a sapling, so that the bark is loosed, a Forestwife must die. A peasant woman, who had given the breast to a screaming forest-child, the mother rewarded with the bark on which the child lay. The woman broke off a piece and threw it in her load of wood: at home she found it was gold. Like the dwarfs, the Forest-wives are dissatisfied with the present state of things. In addition to the causes already mentioned, they have some particular reasons. The times, they say, are no longer good since folks count the dumplings in the pot and the loaves in the oven, or since they piped the bread, and put cumin into it. (To pipe the bread (das Brot pipen) is to impress the points of the fingers into the loaf, as is usual in most places. Perhaps the Forest-wives could not carry off piped bread. From a like cause they were, no doubt, averse to the counting. Whether the seasoning with cumin displeased them merely as being an innovation, or for some hidden cause, we know not, but the rime says:
 |
| 13. Bushgrandmother |
Kummelbrot unser Tod! Cumin-bread our death!
Kummelbrot macht Angst und Noth ! Cumin-bread makes pain and affliction !
Hence their precepts: Peel no tree, relate no dream, pipe no bread, or bake no cumin in bread, so will God help thee in thy need. A Forest-wife, who had just tasted a new-baked loaf, ran off to the forest screaming aloud: They’ve baken for me cumin-bread, that on this house brings great distress! And the prosperity of the peasant was soon on the wane, so that at length he was reduced to abject poverty
Little Forest-men, who have long worked in a mill, have been scared away by the miller''s men leaving clothes and shoes for them. It would seem that by accepting clothes these beings were fearful of breaking the relation subsisting between them and men.
We shall see presently that the domestic sprites act on quite a different principle. We have still a class of subordinate beings to consider, viz. the domestic sprites or Goblins (Kobolde). Numerous as are the traditions concerning these beings, there seems great reason to conclude that the belief in them, in its present form, did not exist in the time of heathenism; but that other ideas must have given occasion to its development. The ancient mythologic system has in fact no place for domestic sprites and goblins. Nevertheless, we believe that by tracing up through popular tradition, we shall discern forms, which at a later period were comprised under the name of Kobolds (Muller, p. 381. According to the Swedish popular belief, the domestic sprite had his usual abode in a tree near the house. Muller, p. 382. Grimm, D. M. p. 479.)
The domestic sprites bear a manifest resemblance to the dwarfs. Their figure and clothing are represented as perfectly similar; they evince the same love of occupation, the same kind, though sometimes evil, nature. We have already seen that the dwarfs interest themselves in the prosperity of a family, and in this respect the Kobolds may be partially considered as dwarfs, who, for the sake of taking care of the family, fix their abode in the house. In the Netherlands the dwarfs are called Kaboutermannekens, that is, Kobolds . The domestic sprite is satisfied with a small remuneration, as a hat, a red cloak, and party-coloured coat with tingling bells. Hat and cloak he has in common with the dwarfs. It may probably have been a belief that the deceased members of a family tarried after death in the house as guardian and succouring spirits, and as such, a veneration might have been paid them like that of the Romans to their lares. It has been already shown that in the heathen times the departed were highly honoured and revered, and we shall presently exemplify the belief that the dead cleave to the earthly, and feel solicitous for those they have left behind. Hence the domestic sprite may be compared to a lar familiaris, that participates in the fate of its family. It is, moreover, expressly declared in the traditions that domestic sprites are the souls of the dead, and the White Lady who, through her active aid, occupies the place of a female domestic sprite, is regarded as the ancestress of the family, in whose dwelling she appears. (Kobolds are the souls of persons that have been murdered in the house. Grimm, D. S. No. 71. A knife sticks in their back. See 10.).
When domestic sprites sometimes appear in the form of snakes, it is in connection with the belief genii or spirits who preserve the life and health of certain individuals. This subject, from the lack of adequate sources, cannot be satisfactorily followed up ; though so much is certain, that as, according to the Roman idea, the genius has the form of a snake, so, according to the German belief, this creature was in general the symbol of the soul and of spirits. Hence it is that in the popular traditions much is related of snakes which resembles the traditions of domestic sprites. Under this head we bring the tradition, that in every house there are two snakes, a male and a female, whose life depends on that of the master or mistress of the family. They do not make their appearance until these die, and then die with them. Other traditions tell of snakes that live together with a child, whom they watch in the cradle, eat and drink with it. If the snake is killed, the child declines and dies shortly after. In general, snakes bring luck to the house in which they take up their abode, and milk is placed for them as for the domestic sprites.
We will now give a slight outline of the externals of divine worship among the heathen Germans. The principal places of worship were, consistently with the general character of the Germans, in the free, open nature. The expression of Tacitus was still applicable; Groves consecrated to the gods are therefore repeatedly mentioned, and heathen practices in them forbidden. In Lower Saxony, even in the eleventh century, they had to be rooted up, by Bishop Unwan of Bremen, in order totally to extirpate the idolatrous worship. But still more frequently, as places of heathen worship, trees and springs are mentioned, either so that it is forbidden to perform any idolatrous rites at them, or that they are directly stigmatized as objects of heathen veneration. At the same time we are not justified in assuming that a sort of fetish adoration of trees and springs existed among them, and that their religious rites were unconnected with the idea of divine or semidivine beings, to whom they offered adoration ; for the entire character of the testimonies cited in the note sufficiently proves that through them the externals only of the pagan worship have been transmitted to us, the motives of which the transmitters either did not or would not know. As sacred spots, at which offerings to the gods were made, those places were particularly used where there were trees and springs. The trees were sacred to the gods, adoraverit. The prohibitions in the decrees of the councils and the laws usually join trees with springs, or trees, springs, rocks and crossways together. Whether all the passages which refer to Gaul are applicable to German heathenism is not always certain, as trees and springs were held sacred also by the Kelts, whose festivals were solemnized near or under them; an instance of which is the oak sacred to Jupiter, which Boniface caused to be felled. These trees, as we shall presently see, were, at the sacrificial feasts, used for the purpose of hanging on them either the animals sacrificed or their hides, whence the Langobardish Blood-Tree derives its name. Similar was the case with regard to the springs at which offerings were made; they were also sacred to the god whose worship was there celebrated, as is confirmed by the circumstance, that certain springs in Germany were named after gods and were situated near their sanctuaries. How far these were needful in sacrificial ceremonies, and in what manner they were used, we know not. But the worship of trees and springs may in reality have consisted in a veneration offered to the spirits who, according to the popular faith, had their dwelling in them; tradition having preserved many tales of beings that inhabited the woods and waters, and many traces of such veneration being still extant, of which we shall speak here after. It seems, however, probable that the worship of such spirits, who stood in a subordinate relation to the gods, was not so prominent and glaring that it was deemed necessary to issue such repeated prohibitions against it. This double explanation applies equally to the third locality at which heathen rites were celebrated stones and rocks ( can certainly have been only a grove. The fourth chapter of the Indiculus,; De casulis, i.e. fanis,; may refer to small buildings, in which probably sacrificial utensils or sacred symbols were kept).
In stones, according to the popular belief, the dwarfs had their abode ; but principally rugged stone altars are thereby understood, such as still exist in many parts of Germany. We are unable to say with certainty whether the beforementioned offering-places served at the same time as burying-grounds of the dead, a supposition rendered probable by the number of urns containing ashes, which are often found on spots supposed to have been formerly consecrated to heathen worship. But the graves of the dead, at all events, seem designated as offering-places. That such offerings at graves were sometimes made to the souls of the departed, who after death were venerated as higher and beneficent beings, may be assumed from the numerous prohibitions, by the Christian church, against offering to saints, and regarding the dead indiscriminately as holy; although not all the sacrificia mortuorum and the heathen observances, which at a later period took place at burials , may have had reference to the dead, but may also have had the gods for object. Hence we may safely conclude that all the heathen rites, which were performed at springs, stones and other places, had a threefold reference: their object being either the gods, the subordinate elementary spirits, or the dead; but in no wise were life less objects of nature held in veneration by our forefathers for their own sakes alone.
Northen Mythology, comprising the principal traditions and superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany, and The Netherlands. Compiled from original and other sources, in three volumes. Vol I of III, By Benjamin Thorpe,
Continued in part 2.
Pic. Source:
1. http://deutschland-im-mittelalter.de/Kuenste/Literatur/Nibelungen/Lindwurm-Kampf
2. http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/zdrasila_adolf_rubezahl.htm
3. A. Rackham
4. https://pixers.us/wall-murals/germanic-nordic-gods-freya-wotan-thor-52026588
5. https://worldhistory.us/european-history/the-norse-god-tiwaz-or-tyr-and-the-origin-of-tuesday.php
6.https://www.magnoliabox.com/products/tuisto-or-tuisco-is-the-divine-ancestor-of-the-germanic-peoples-lc990127-0192-1
7. https://i2.wp.com/www.jassa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/incubusz.jpg
8. A. Rackham
9. ib.
10.ib.
11.ib.
12.ib.
13. https://pierangelo-boog.blogspot.com/2017/08/ernst-liebenauer-illustrationen-fur_28.html
Nico
Pic. Source:
1. http://deutschland-im-mittelalter.de/Kuenste/Literatur/Nibelungen/Lindwurm-Kampf
2. http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/zdrasila_adolf_rubezahl.htm
3. A. Rackham
4. https://pixers.us/wall-murals/germanic-nordic-gods-freya-wotan-thor-52026588
5. https://worldhistory.us/european-history/the-norse-god-tiwaz-or-tyr-and-the-origin-of-tuesday.php
6.https://www.magnoliabox.com/products/tuisto-or-tuisco-is-the-divine-ancestor-of-the-germanic-peoples-lc990127-0192-1
7. https://i2.wp.com/www.jassa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/incubusz.jpg
8. A. Rackham
9. ib.
10.ib.
11.ib.
12.ib.
13. https://pierangelo-boog.blogspot.com/2017/08/ernst-liebenauer-illustrationen-fur_28.html
Nico
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