THE FIFTH FABLE. Of the formation of Afke and Emla. TH HESE were indeed important labours, faid Gangler; but whence came the men, who at prefent inhabit the world? Har answered, The fons of Bore, as they were walking one day upon the shore, found two pieces of wood floating on the waves. They took them, and made a man of the one, and a woman of the other (A). The firft gave them life and foul; the fecond reafon and motion; the third, hearing, fight, fpeech, garments, and a name. They called the man Afke, and the woman Emla. From these two, are defcended the human race; to whom the Gods have affigned a habitation near MIDGARD. Then the fons of Bore built, in the middle of the world, the fortrefs of ASGARD; where dwell the Gods, and their families (B). There it is, that fo many wonderful works are wrought on the earth, and and in the air. Har added, And there it is that the palace of Odin is fituated, called Lidfkialf, or the Terror of the Nations. When ODIN is there feated on his lofty throne, he thence discovers every country, he fees all the actions of men, and comprehends whatever he beholds. This wife is FRIGGA, the daughter of Fiorgun. The iffue of that marriage is what we call the family of the ASES, that is, of the Gods; a race intirely divine, and which hath built the ancient ASGARD. Wherefore Odin is justly called the UNIVERSAL FATHER; for he is the parent of Gods, and men; and all things have been produced by his power. The Earth is his daughter and wife (c). On her hath he begotten AfaThor (or the God THOR) his first-born. Strength and Valour are the attendants on this God, and therefore he triumphs over every thing that hath life. ઠંડ REMARKS ON THE FIFTH FABLE. (A) "They made a man, &c."] We are come at laft to the creation of our species. The circumftances of this fable, fhew that it was invented among a people addicted to navigation, and fettled in a country furrounded with feas and lakes. Bartholin conjectures, that the philofophers of the north, in making men fpring from the fea, intended to fortify the Scandinavians against the fear, that annihilation was the confequence of being drowned; and to make them regard the fea, as their proper proper and naturalelement. We fhall fee, by the fequel, that the great aim of these warlike Theologians was to infpire courage, and to remove all pretences and grounds for fear. Alke, in the Gothic language, fignifies an ASH-TREE, and Emla, an ELM. I fhall leave to others to find out the reason why the preference hath been given to these two trees; and what relation there could be between the two fexes, and these two different forts of wood. (B) Where dwell "the Gods and their fa"milies." ASGARD is literally the Court of the Gods. Some manufcripts add, that ASGARD is Troy; but this can be no other than the marginal note of some copyift, crept by mistake into the text. The Gods, being continually threatned with attacks by the Giants, built in the middle a large inclosure, named MIDGARD, or the MiddleAbode, one of the ftrongeft of citadels. This is the Olympus of Homer; as the Giants are his Titans. I fhall once for all ( obferve, that the Go thic and Celtic nations, as well as, the Greeks, derived all these fables from the inexhauftible fource of eaftern tradi tions. But the people of the north preserved them nearly the fame as they received them, for above two thoufand years; whereas the fame fables found in Greece fo favourable a foil, that in a fhort time they multiplied a hundred fold. (c) "The EARTH is his daughter and wife, " &c."] This fable proves that the ancient Scalds understood by the name Frigga, the spouse of the Supreme God; and that, at the fame time, this Frigga was the Earth. 'This doctrine is of very great antiquity, and hath been in general received by all the Gothic and' Celtic nations. Their philofophers taught, that the Supreme God, Teut, or Wodan, was the active principle, the foul of the world, which uniting itfelf with matter, had thereby put it into a condition to produce the Intelligences, or Inferior Godsy Gods, and Men, and all other creatures. This is what the poets exprefs figuratively, when they fay that Odin efpoufed Frigga, or Frea, that is, the LADY, by way of eminence. One cannot doubt, after having read this paffage of the EDDA, but it was this fame Goddefs, to whom the Germans, according to Tacitus, confecrated one of the Danifh islands, worshipping her under the name of Herthus, or the Earth: (the English word Earth, as well as the German Erde, being evidently the fame with that, to which Tacitus has only given a Latin termination.) As to the worship that was paid her, fee it defcribed by Pelloutier, in his Hift. des Celtes, Vol. II. c. 8. Though it was by the concurrence of the Supreme God and Matter, that this Univerfe was produced; yet the anci'ent philofophers of the C north *' allowed a great difference between thefe two principles: the Supreme God was eternal, whereas Matter was his work, and of courfe had a beginning all this, in the language of the an cients, was expreffed by this phrase; "Earth is "the daughter and wife of the Univerfal Fa ❝ther." Laftly, from this myfical marriage, was born the God THOR. AfaThor means THE LORD THOR. He was the firftborn of the Supreme God, and the greatest and most powerful of all the inferior divinities, or intelligences that were born from the union of the two principles. One cannot doubt but it was he, who had the charge of lanching the thunder. In the languages of the north, the name given to this God is ftill that of the Thunder. When they adopted the Roman Calendar, that day which was confecrated to Jupiter, or the Mafter of the Thunder, was affigned to Thor; and is called this day Thorsdag, THURSDAY, or the day of THOR. (See Vol. 1. pag. 96.) To conclude, Adam of Bremen, an au at Fr. Les Celtes thor |