Teutonic Mythology Part 8

With Gram-Halfdan the Teutonic patriarch period ends. The human race had its golden age under Heimdal, its copper age under Skjold-Borgar, and the beginning of its iron age under Halfdan. The Skilfinga-Ynglinga race has been named after Heimdal-Skelfir himself, and he has been regarded as its progenitor. His son Skjold-Borgar has been considered the founder of the Skjoldungs. With Halfdan the pedigree is divided into three through his stepson Yngve-Svipdag, the latter's half-brother Gudhorm, and Gudhorm's half-brother Hading or Hadding. The war between these three--a continuation of the feud between Halfdan and Svipdag--was the subject of a cycle of songs sung throughout Teutondom, songs which continued to live though greatly changed with the lapse of time, on the lips of Germans throughout the middle ages (see Nos. 36-43).

Like his father, Halfdan was the fruit of a double fatherhood, a divine and a human. Saxo was aware of this double fatherhood, and relates of his Halfdan Berggram that he, although the son of a human prince, was respected as a son of Thor, and honoured as a G.o.d among that people who longest remained heathen; that is to say, the Swedes (_Igitur apud Sveones tantus haberi caepit, ut magni Thor filius existimatus, divinis a populo honoribus donaretur ac publico dignus libamine censeretur_). In his saga, as told by Saxo, Thor holds his protecting hand over Halfdan like a father over his son.

It is possible that both the older patriarchs originally were regarded rather as the founders and chiefs of the whole human race than of the Teutons alone. Certain it is that the appellation Teutonic patriarch belonged more particularly to the third of the series. We have a reminiscence of this in Hyndluljod, 14-16. To the question, "Whence came the Skjoldungs, Skilfings, Andlungs, and Ylfings, and all the free-born and gentle-born?" the song answers by pointing to "the foremost among the Skjoldungs"--Sigtrygg's slayer Halfdan--a statement which, after the memory of the myths had faded and become confused, was magnified in the Younger Edda into the report that he was the father of eighteen sons, nine of which were the founders of the heroic families whose names were at that time rediscovered in the heathen-heroic songs then extant.

According to what we have now stated in regard to Halfdan's genealogical position there can no longer be any doubt that he is the same patriarch as the Mannus mentioned by Tacitus in _Germania_, ch. 2, where it is said of the Germans: "In old songs they celebrate _Tuisco_, a G.o.d born of Earth (_Terra_; compare the G.o.ddess _Terra Mater_, ch. 40), and his son Mannus as the source and founder of the race. Mannus is said to have had three sons, after whose names those who dwell nearest the ocean are called Ingaevonians (_Ingaevones_), those who dwell in the centre Hermionians (_Hermiones_, _Herminones_), and the rest Istaevonians (_Istaevones_)." Tacitus adds that there were other Teutonic tribes, such as the Marsians, the Gambrivians, the Svevians, and the Vandals, whose names were derived from other heroes of divine birth.

Thus Mannus, though human, and the source and founder of the Teutonic race, is also the son of a G.o.d. The mother of his divine father is the G.o.ddess Earth, mother Earth. In our native myths we rediscover this G.o.ddess--polyonomous like nearly all mythic beings--in Odin's wife Frigg, also called _Fjorgyn_ and _Hlodyn_. As sons of her and Odin only Thor (Volusp.) and Balder (Lokasenna) are definitely mentioned.

In regard to the G.o.ddess Earth (Jord), Tacitus states (ch. 40), as a characteristic trait that she is believed to take a lively interest and active part in the affairs of men and nations (_eam intervenire rebus hominum, invehi populis arbitrantur_), and he informs us that she is especially worshipped by the Longobardians and some of their neighbours near the sea. This statement, compared with the emigration saga of the Longobardians (No. 15), confirms the theory that the G.o.ddess Jord, who, in the days of Tacitus, was celebrated in song as the mother of Mannus'

divine father, is identical with Frigg. In their emigration saga the Longobardians have great faith in Frigg, and trust in her desire and ability to intervene when the fate of a nation is to be decided by arms.

Nor are they deceived in their trust in her; she is able to bring about that Odin, without considering the consequences, gives the Longobardians a new name; and as a christening present was in order, and as the Longobardians stood arrayed against the Vandals at the moment when they received their new name, the gift could be no other than victory over their foes. Tacitus' statement, that the Longobardians were one of the races who particularly paid worship to the G.o.ddess Jord, is found to be intimately connected with, and to be explained by, this tradition, which continued to be remembered among the Longobardians long after they became converted to Christianity, down to the time when _Origo Longobardorum_ was written.

Tacitus calls the G.o.ddess Jord Nerthus. Vigfusson (and before him J.

Grimm) and others have seen in this name a feminine version of _Njordr_.

Nor does any other explanation seem possible. The existence of such a form is not more surprising than that we have in Freyja a feminine form of Frey, and in Fjorgyn-Frigg a feminine form of Fjorgynr. In our mythic doc.u.ments neither Frigg nor Njord are of Asa race. Njord is, as we know, a Van. Frigg's father is _Fjorgynr_ (perhaps the same as _Parganya_ in the Vedic songs), also called _Annarr_, _anarr_, and _onarr_, and her mother is Narve's daughter Night. Frigg's high position as Odin's real and lawful wife, as the queen of the Asa world, and as mother of the chief G.o.ds Thor and Balder, presupposes her to be of the n.o.blest birth which the myth could bestow on a being born outside of the Asa clan, and as the Vans come next after the Asas in the mythology, and were united with them from the beginning of time, as hostages, by treaty, by marriage, and by adoption, probability, if no other proof could be found, would favour the theory that Frigg is a G.o.ddess of the race of Vans, and that her father _Fjorgyn_ is a clan-chief among the Vans. This view is corroborated in two ways. The cosmogony makes Earth and Sea sister and brother. The same divine mother Night (Nat), who bears the G.o.ddess Jord, also bears a son _Udr_, _Unnr_, the ruler of the sea, also called _Audr_ (Rich), the personification of wealth. Both these names are applied among the G.o.ds to Njord alone as the G.o.d of navigation, commerce, and wealth. (In reference to wealth compare the phrase _audigr sem Njordr_--rich as Njord.) Thus Frigg is Njord's sister. This explains the att.i.tude given to Frigg in the war between the Asas and Vans by Voluspa, Saxo, and the author of Ynglingasaga, where the tradition is related as history. In the form given to this tradition in Christian times and in Saxo's hands, it is disparaging to Frigg as Odin's wife; but the pith of Saxo's narrative is, that Frigg in the feud between the Asas and Vans did not side with Odin but with the Vans, and contributed towards making the latter lords of Asgard. When the purely heathen doc.u.ments (Volusp., Vafthr., Lokas.) describe her as a tender wife and mother, Frigg's taking part with the Vans against her own husband can scarcely be explained otherwise than by the Teutonic principle, that the duties of the daughter and sister are above the wife's, a view plainly presented in Saxo (p. 353), and ill.u.s.trated by Gudrun's conduct toward Atle.

Thus it is proved that the G.o.d who is the father of the Teutonic patriarch Mannus is himself the son of Frigg, the G.o.ddess of earth, and must, according to the mythic records at hand, be either Thor or Balder.

The name given him by Tacitus, _Tuisco_, does not determine which of the two. _Tuisco_ has the form of a patronymic adjective, and reappears in the Norse _Tivi_, an old name of Odin, related to _Dios divus_, and _devas_, from which all the sons of Odin and G.o.ds of Asgard received the epithet _tivar_. But in the songs learned by Saxo in regard to the northern race-patriarch and his divine father, his place is occupied by Thor, not by Balder, and "Jord's son" is in Norse poetry an epithet particularly applied to Thor.

Mannus has three sons. So has Halfdan. While Mannus has a son _Ingaevo_, Halfdan has a stepson Yngve, Inge (Svipdag). The second son of Mannus is named Hermio. Halfdan's son with Groa is called _Gudhormr_. The second part of this name has, as Jessen has already pointed out, nothing to do with _ormr_. It may be that the name should be divided _Gudhormr_, and that _hormr_ should be referred to _Hermio_. Mannus' third son is _Istaevo_. The Celtic scholar Zeuss has connected this name with that of the Gothic (more properly Vandal) heroic race Azdingi, and Grimm has again connected Azdigni with Hazdiggo (_Haddingr_). Halfdan's third son is in Saxo called Hadingus. Whether the comparisons made by Zeuss and Grimm are to the point or not (see further, No. 43) makes but little difference here. It nevertheless remains as a result of the investigation that all is related by Tacitus about the Teutonic patriarch Mannus has its counterpart in the question concerning Halfdan, and that both in the myths occupy precisely the same place as sons of a G.o.d and as founders of Teutonic tribes and royal families. The pedigrees are:

=_Tacitus._= =_Norse doc.u.ments._=

Tivi and the G.o.ddess Jord. Tivi=Odin and the G.o.ddess Jord.

Tivi's son (Tiusco). Tivi's son Thor.

Mannus, progenitor of the Halfdan, progenitor of the Teutonic tribes. royal families.

+--------+--------+ +---------+---------+ Ingaevo. Hermio. Istaevo. Yngve. Gudhormr. Hadding.

26.

THE SACRED RUNES LEARNED FROM HEIMDAL.

The mythic ancient history of the human race and of the Teutons may, in accordance with the a.n.a.lysis above given, be divided into the following epochs:--(1) From Ask and Ernbla's creation until Heimdal's arrival; (2) from Heimdal's arrival until his departure; (3) the age of Skjold-Borgar; (4) Halfdan's time; (5) The time of Halfdan's sons.

And now we will discuss the events of the last three epochs.

In the days of Borgar the moral condition of men grows worse, and an event in nature takes place threatening at least the northern part of the Teutonic world with destruction. The myth gives the causes of both these phenomena.

The moral degradation has its cause, if not wholly, yet for the greater part, in the activity among men of a female being from the giant world.

Through her men become acquainted with the black art, the evil art of sorcery, which is the opposite of the wisdom drawn from Mimer's holy fountain, the knowledge of runes, and acquaintance with the application of nature's secret forces for good ends (see Nos. 34, 35).

The sacred knowledge of runes, the "fimbul-songs," the white art, was, according to the myth, originally in the possession of Mimer. Still he did not have it of himself, but got it from the subterranean fountain, which he guarded beneath the middle root of the world-tree (see No.

63)--a fountain whose veins, together with the deepest root of the world-tree, extends to a depth which not even Odin's thought can penerate (Havam., 138). By self-sacrifice in his youth Odin received from Bestla's brother (Mimer; see No. 88) a drink from the precious liquor of this fountain and nine fimbul-songs (Havam., 140; cp. Sigrdr., 14), which were the basis of the divine magic of the application of the power of the word and of the rune over spiritual and natural forces, in prayer, in sacrifices and in other religious acts, in investigations, in the practical affairs of life, in peace and in war (Havam., 144 ff.; Sigrdr., 6 ff.). The character and purpose of these songs are clear from the fact that at the head is placed "help's fimbul-song," which is able to allay sorrow and cure diseases (Havam., 146).

In the hands of Odin they are a means for the protection of the power of the Asa-G.o.ds, and enable them to a.s.sist their worshippers in danger and distress. To these belong the fimbul-song of the _runes of victory_; and it is of no little interest that we, in Havamal, 156, find what Tacitus tells about the _barditus_ of the Germans, the shield-song with which they went to meet their foes--a song which Ammia.n.u.s Paulus himself has heard, and of which he gives a vivid description. When the Teutonic forces advanced to battle the warriors raised their shields up to a level with the upper lip, so that the round of the shield formed a sort of sounding-board for their song. This began in a low voice and preserved its subdued colour, but the sound gradually increased, and at a distance it resembled the roar of the breakers of the sea. Tacitus says that the Teutons predicted the result of the battle from the impression the song as a whole made upon themselves: it might sound in their ears in such a manner that they thereby became more terrible to their enemies, or in such a manner that they were overcome by despair.

The above-mentioned strophe of Havamal gives us an explanation of this: the warriors were roused to confidence if they, in the harmony of the subdued song increasing in volume, seemed to perceive Valfather's voice blended with their own. The strophe makes Odin say: _Ef ec scal til orrostu leitha langvini, undir randir ec gel, en their meth riki fara heilir hildar til, heilir hildi fra_--"If I am to lead those to battle whom I have long held in friendship, then I sing under their shields.

With success they go to the conflict, and successfully they go out of it." Voluspa also refers to the shield-song in 47, where it makes the storm-giant, _Hrymr_, advancing against the G.o.ds, "lift his shield before him" (_hefiz lind fyrir_), an expression which certainly has another significance than that of unnecessarily pointing out that he has a shield for protection. The runes of victory were able to arrest weapons in their flight and to make those whom Odin loved proof against sword-edge and safe against ambush (Havam., 148, 150). Certain kinds of runes were regarded as producing victory and were carved on the hilt and on the blade of the sword, and while they were carved Tyr's name was twice named (Sigrdr., 6).

Another cla.s.s of runes (_brimrunar_, Sigrdr., 10; Havam., 150) controlled the elements, purified the air from evil beings (Havm., 155), gave power over wind and waves for good purposes--as, for instance, when sailors in distress were to be rescued--or power over the flames when they threatened to destroy human dwellings (Havam., 152). A third kind of runes (_malrunar_) gave speech to the mute and speechless, even to those whose lips were sealed in death (see No. 70). A fourth kind of runes could free the limbs from bonds (Havam., 149). A fifth kind of runes protected against witchcraft (Havam., 151). A sixth kind of runes (_olrunar_) takes the strength from the love-potion prepared by another man's wife, and from every treachery mingled therein (Sigrdr., 7, 8). A seventh kind (_bjargrunar_ and _limrunar_) helps in childbirth and heals wounds. An eighth kind gives wisdom and knowledge (_hugrunar_, Sigrdr., 13; cp. Havam., 159). A ninth kind extinguishes enmity and hate, and produces friendship and love (Havam., 153, 161). Of great value, and a great honour to kings and chiefs, was the possession of healing runes and healing hands; and that certain n.o.ble-born families inherited the power of these runes was a belief which has been handed down even to our time. There is a distinct consciousness that the runes of this kind were a gift of the blithe G.o.ds. In a strophe, which sounds as if it were taken from an ancient hymn, the G.o.ds are beseeched for runes of wisdom and healing: "Hail to the G.o.ds! Hail to the G.o.ddesses! Hail to the bounteous Earth (the G.o.ddess Jord). Words and wisdom give unto us, and healing hands while we live!" (Sigrdr., 4).

In ancient times arrangements were made for spreading the knowledge of the good runes among all kinds of beings. Odin taught them to his own clan; Dainn taught them to the Elves; Dvalinn among the dwarfs; asvinr (see No. 88) among the giants (Havam., 143). Even the last-named became partic.i.p.ators in the good gift, which, mixed with sacred mead, was sent far and wide, and it has since been among the Asas, among the Elves, among the wise Vans, and among the children of men (Sigrdr., 18). The above-named Dvalinn, who taught the runes to his clan of ancient artists, is the father of daughters, who, together with dises of Asa and Vana birth, are in possession of _bjargrunar_, and employ them in the service of man (Fafnism., 13).

To men the beneficent runes came through the same G.o.d who as a child came with the sheaf of grain and the tools to Scandia. Hence the belief current among the Franks and Saxons that the alphabet of the Teutons, like the Teutons themselves, was of northern origin. Rigsthula expressly presents Heimdal as teaching runes to the people whom he blessed by his arrival in Midgard. The n.o.ble-born are particularly his pupils in runic lore. Of Heimdal's grandson, the son of Jarl Borgar, named Kon-Halfdan, it is said:

En Konr ungr But Kon the young kunni runar, taught himself runes, aefinrunar runes of eternity ok alldrrunar. and runes of earthly life.

Meir kunni hann Then he taught himself monnum bjarga, men to save, eggjar deyfa, the sword-edge to deaden, aegi legia, the sea to quiet, klok nam fugla, bird-song to interpret, kyrra ellda, fires to extinguish, saeva ok svefia, to soothe and comfort, sorgir laegia. sorrows to allay.

The fundamental character of this rune-lore bears distinctly the stamp of n.o.bility. The runes of eternity united with those of the earthly life can scarcely have any other reference than to the heathen doctrines concerning religion and morality. These were looked upon as being for all time, and of equal importance to the life hereafter. Together with physical runes with magic power--that is, runes that gave their possessors power over the hostile forces of nature--we find runes intended to serve the cause of sympathy and mercy.

27.

SORCERY THE REVERSE OF THE SACRED RUNES. GULLVEIG-HEIDR, THE SOURCE OF SORCERY. THE MORAL DETERIORATION OF THE ORIGINAL MAN.

But already in the beginning of time evil powers appear for the purpose of opposing and ruining the good influences from the world of G.o.ds upon mankind. Just as Heimdal, "the fast traveller," proceeds from house to house, forming new ties in society and giving instruction in what is good and useful, thus we soon find a messenger of evil wandering about between the houses in Midgard, practising the black art and stimulating the worst pa.s.sions of the human soul. The messenger comes from the powers of frost, the enemies of creation. It is a giantess, the daughter of the giant _Hrimnir_ (Hyndlulj., 32), known among the G.o.ds as Gulveig and by other names (see Nos. 34, 35), but on her wanderings on earth called _Heidr_. "Heid they called her (Gulveig) when she came to the children of men, the crafty, prophesying vala, who practised sorcery (_vitti ganda_), practised the evil art, caused by witchcraft misfortunes, sickness, and death (_leikin_, see No. 67), and was always sought by bad women." Thus Voluspa describes her. The important position Heid occupies in regard to the corruption of ancient man, and the consequences of her appearance for the G.o.ds, for man, and for nature (see below), have led Voluspa's author, in spite of his general poverty of words, to describe her with a certain fulness, pointing out among other things that she was the cause of the first war in the world. That the time of her appearance was during the life of Borgar and his son shall be demonstrated below.

In connection with this moral corruption, and caused by the same powers hostile to the world, there occur in this epoch such disturbances in nature that the original home of man and culture--nay, all Midgard--is threatened with destruction on account of long, terrible winters. A series of connected myths tell of this. Ancient artists--forces at work in the growth of nature--personifications of the same kind as Rigveda's Ribhus, that had before worked in harmony with the G.o.ds, become, through the influence of Loke, foes of Asgard, their work becoming as harmful as it before was beneficent, and seek to destroy what Odin had created (see Nos. 111 and 112). Idun, with her life-renewing apples, is carried by Thja.s.se away from Asgard to the northernmost wilderness of the world, and is there concealed. Freyja, the G.o.ddess of fertility, is robbed and falls into the power of giants. Frey, the G.o.d of harvests, falls sick.

The giant king Snow and his kinsmen _Thorri_ (Black Frost), _Jokull_ (the Glacier), &c., extend their sceptres over Scandia.

Already during Heimdal's reign, after his protege Borgar had grown up, something happens which forebodes these terrible times, but still has a happy issue.

28A.

HEIMDAL AND THE SUN-DIS (Dis-G.o.ddess).

In Saxo's time there was still extant a myth telling how Heimdal, as the ruler of the earliest generation, got himself a wife. The myth is found related as history in _Historia Danica_, pp. 335-337. Changed into a song of chivalry in middle age style, we find it on German soil in the poem concerning king Ruther.

Saxo relates that a certain king Alf undertook a perilous journey of courtship, and was accompanied by Borgar. Alf is the more n.o.ble of the two; Borgar attends him. This already points to the fact that the mythic figure which Saxo has changed into a historical king must be Heimdal, Borgar's co-father, his ruler and fosterer, otherwise Borgar himself would be the chief person in his country, and could not be regarded as subject to anyone else. Alf's ident.i.ty with Heimdal is corroborated by "King Ruther," and to a degree also by the description Saxo makes of his appearance, a description based on a definite mythic prototype. Alf, says Saxo, had a fine exterior, and over his hair, though he was young, a so remarkably white splendour was diffused that rays of light seemed to issue from his silvery locks (_cujus etiam insignem candore caesariem tantus comae decor asperierat, ut argenteo crine nitere putaretur_). The Heimdal of the myth is a G.o.d of light, and is described by the colour applied to pure silver in the old Norse literature to distinguish it from that which is alloyed; he is _hviti a.s.s_ (Gylf.a.g., 27) and _hvitastr asa_ (Thrymskvida, 5); his teeth glitter like gold, and so does his horse. We should expect that the maid whom Alf, if he is Heimdal, desires to possess belongs like himself to the divinities of light. Saxo also says that her beauty could make one blind if she was seen without her veil, and her name Alfhild belongs, like Alfsol, Hild, Alfhild Solglands, Svanhild Guldfjaeder, to that cla.s.s of names by which the sundises, mother and daughter, were transferred from mythology to history. She is watched by two dragons. Suitors who approach her in vain get their heads chopped off and set up on poles (thus also in "King Ruther"). Alf conquers the guarding dragons; but at the advice of her mother Alfhild takes flight, puts on a man's clothes and armour, and becomes a female warrior, fighting at the head of other Amazons. Alf and Borgar search for and find the troop of Amazons amid ice and snow. It is conquered and flies to "Finnia," Alf and Borgar pursue them thither.

There is a new conflict. Borgar strikes the helmet from Alfhild's head.

She has to confess herself conquered, and becomes Alf's wife.

In interpreting the mythic contents of this story we must remember that the lad who came with the sheaf of grain to Scandia needed the help of the sun for the seed which he brought with him to sprout, before it could give harvests to the inhabitants. But the saga also indicates that the sun-dis had veiled herself, and made herself as far as possible unapproachable, and that when Heimdal had forced himself into her presence she fled to northern ice-enveloped regions, where the G.o.d and his foster-son, sword in hand, had to fetch her, whereupon a happy marriage between him and the sun-dis secures good weather and rich harvests to the land over which he rules. At the first glance it might seem as if this myth had left no trace in our Icelandic records. This is, however, not the case. Its fundamental idea, that the sun at one time in the earliest ages went astray from southern regions to the farthest north and desired to remain there, but that it was brought back by the might of the G.o.ds who created the world, and through them received, in the same manner as Day and Night, its course defined and regularly established, we find in the Voluspa strophe, examined with so great ac.u.men by Julius Hoffory, which speaks of a bewilderment of this kind on the part of the sun, occurring before it yet "knew its proper sphere," and in the following strophe, which tells how the all-holy G.o.ds thereupon held solemn council and so ordained the activity of these beings, that time can be divided and years be recorded by their course.

Nor is the marriage into which the sun-dis entered forgotten.

Skaldskaparmal quotes a strophe from Skule Thorsteinson where Sol[12] is called _Glenr's_ wife. That he whom the skald characterises by this epithet is a G.o.d is a matter of course. _Glenr_ signifies "the shining one," and this epithet was badly chosen if it did not refer to "the most shining of the Asas," _hvitastr asa_--that is, Heimdal.

The fundamental traits of "King Ruther" resemble Saxo's story. There, too, it is a king who undertakes a perilous journey of courtship and must fight several battles to win the wondrous fair maiden whose previous suitors had had to pay for their eagerness by having their heads chopped off and fastened on poles. The king is accompanied by Berter, identical with Berchtung-Borgar, but here, as always in the German story, described as the patriarch and adviser. A giant, Vidolt--Saxo's Vitolphus, Hyndluljod's _Vidolfr_--accompanies Ruther and Berter on the journey; and when Vitolphus in Saxo is mentioned under circ.u.mstances which show that he accompanied Borgar on a warlike expedition, and thereupon saved his son Halfdan's life, there is no room for doubt that Saxo's saga and "King Ruther" originally flowed from the same mythic source. It can also be demonstrated that the very name Ruther is one of those epithets which belong to Heimdal. The Norse _Hrutr_ is, according to the Younger Edda (i. 588, 589), a synonym of _Heimdali_, and _Heimdali_ is another form of _Heimdall_ (Isl., i. 231).

As _Hrutr_ means a ram, and as _Heimdali_ is an epithet of a ram (see Younger Edda, i. 589), light is thrown upon the bold metaphors, according to which "head," "Heimdal's head," and "Heimdal's sword" are synonyms (Younger Edda, i. 100, 264; ii. 499). The ram's head carries and is the ram's sword. Of the age of this animal symbol we give an account in No. 82. There is reason for believing that Heimdal's helmet has been conceived as decorated with ram's horns.[13] A strophe quoted in the Younger Edda (i. 608) mentions Heimdal's helmet, and calls the sword the _fyllr_ of Heimdal's helmet, an ambiguous expression, which may be interpreted as that which fills Heimdal's helmet; that is to say, Heimdal's head, but also as that which has its place on the helmet.

Compare the expression _fyllr hilmis stols_ as a metaphor for the power of the ruler.

[Footnote 12: Sol is feminine in the Teutonic tongues.--TR.]

[Footnote 13: That some one of the G.o.ds has worn a helmet with such a crown can be seen on one of the golden horns found near Gallehuus. There twice occurs a being wearing a helmet furnished with long, curved, sharp pointed horns. Near him a ram is drawn and in his hand he has something resembling a staff which ends in a circle, and possibly is intended to represent Heimdal's horn.]