In those early days of creation, anyone walking the enchanted lawns of Asgard would have missed certain of the gods and goddesses. Niord, god of the sea, his daughter Freya, goddess of love and his son Frey, god of fertility, had not as yet come to live there. . . .

Branston 1978:42

kings to battle. The giants also desired to marry Freyja, and the story of the recovery of Thor's hammer, when the god took her place and pretended to be a bride, depends for its humour on this. Sif, with her hair of gold, who was the wife of Thor, appears to be another manifestation of the same goddess. As always, the goddess was linked with earth and with the realm of the dead, and sometimes she appears in the form of the daughter of a giant from the underworld, like the maid Gerd who was wooed by Freyr.

The mother goddess

One aspect of this powerful figure is that of the mother goddess. Frigg, who is represented as the wife of Odin, seems to occupy this place, since she is queen of heaven. We hear comparatively little of her, however, and what we are told suggests that she too may be identified with Freyja. It is Frigg who tried to preserve Balder from harm and who wept at his death, leading all created things in lamentation. But Freyja also is called a weeping goddess, shedding tears of gold. Both Frigg and Freyja were called on by women in labour and were connected closely with the birth and naming of children. At the beginning of the saga of the Volsung family, we are told that King Rerir and his wife longed for a child and prayed to Odin and Frigg. Frigg heard their prayers, and sent the daughter of Hrimnir the giant down to earth with an apple, which she dropped into the lap of the king as he sat on a mound. He shared it with the queen, who not long afterwards bore a son.

Another myth about the wife of Odin (here called Frija) has been preserved by an eighth century historian of the Lombards, Paul the Deacon, who took it from an earlier history. Frija called on her husband Wodan to give a new name to the tribe of the Winniles, whom she favoured, and to grant them victory in battle. Wodan, who was supporting the Vandals, was unwillng to do this, and so Frija tricked him. She told the Winniles to come out at sunrise and to bring with them their wives with their long hair hanging over their faces. She then turned Wodan's bed round so that he would see them when he woke. His first words were: 'Who are these Longbeards?', and so the tribe of the Langobards or Lombards got their name, and with the granting of the name went the favour of Odin.

Idun and the apples of youth

Another mythological figure who seems to represent one aspect of the same goddess is Idun, a mysterious character said to be the wife of the god Bragi. Bragi is called the god of poetry, but may be no more than a doublet for Odin himself, since one of Odin's names is Bragi, 'leader'. Idun's function was to guard the golden apples of the gods, the apples which gave them eternal youth, and these, like the other treasures of Asgard, were coveted by the giants. One day when three of the gods, Odin, Loki and Hoenir, were travelling together, they attempted to roast an ox under an oak for their dinner, but the meat would not cook. An eagle sitting on the oak offered to cook it for them, if they would let him share their meal, but to their great indignation he took nearly the whole carcase. Loki attacked him with a stick, but the eagle retaliated by carrying off both stick and Loki through the air, and refused to let Loki go until he had promised to bring Idun and her apples into the land of the giants. When Loki returned to Asgard, he lured out Idun on some pretext, and the giant Thjazi, in his eagle form, swooped down and bore her away. Since the gods could no longer eat the apples of youth, they became wrinkled and grey. At last they discovered the part Loki had played in the theft, and threatened him with death if he did not bring Idun back.

Loki borrowed the falcon shape of Freyja, and flew off to the hall of the giant, where he found Idun alone. He changed her into a nut, and carried her away in his claws, but he was soon pursued by the eagle. As Loki flew into Asgard, the gods set fire to a heap of wood shavings ready by the wall. The fire singed Thjazli's wings so that he fell into Asgard and was slain. It was as compensation for his death that Thjazl's daughter Skadi was allowed to marry Njord.

Apples as a symbol of eternal youth and release from the tyranny of time are also found in Celtic legends of the gods, and the fruit has some connection with the kingdom of death. Apples were offered to Gerd if she would leave the underworld and wed Freyr. The expression 'apples of death' is used in an eleventh century poem in a context implying that apples are the food of the dead. Nuts are a recognised symbol of fertility, and both apples and nuts have been found in graves. In the Oseberg ship-burial there was not only a bucket of wild apples, but also nuts, seeds and wheat, all of which appear to be symbols of the goddesses of fertility. Another example of apples associated with a goddess of plenty was found at the shrine of the goddess Nehalennia, who was worshipped in the early centuries A.D. on the island of Walcheren in Frisia. Her shrine, covered by the sand, has been excavated to reveal a number of carved stories erected in her honour. Nehalennia was associated with the sea, and travellers invoked her help for a safe passage over to Britain. But she was also a goddess dispensing plenty, and in one carving she is shown with a bowl of what appear to be apples on the ground beside her.

The goddesses of plenty

There are many links between Freyja and the Mothers of the Roman period, those goddesses who dispensed gifts to men and who may be seen, usually as seated figures, on many altars of the Roman period in Germany, The Netherlands and Britain. Besides the goddess as a single figure, there are groups of goddesses mentioned in Norse literature. Such figures are connected with the giving of names, the presentation of gifts, and the blessing of children and young people. Saxo has a story of a king of the Danes who took his three-year-old son into the house of the gods to pray to three maidens sitting on three seats, who prophesied about the boy's future. Such figures are sometimes identified with the Norns, who decided the fates of men, and were said to dwell near the spring of fate from which Odin drank. They were called Urd, Verdandi and Skuld, Fate, Being and Necessity. There are also stories about groups of women whom Snorri associates with Freyja. They visited houses to bring good luck, and would foretell the future of children and sometimes hold divination ceremonies.

One of the names given to Freja is Gefn, a name which must be connected with giving and also with that of the Danish giantess Gefion. There is a myth about how Gefion gave the Danish island of Zealand to her people. She was said to be the wife of Scyld or Sciold, one of the ancestor kings who brought the land prosperity. In her search for more territory she went to the king of the Swedes, Gylfi, who offered her as much land as she was able to plough. She visited a giant and had four sons by him, which she turned into huge oxen and with them ploughed round Zealand, separating it from the Swedish mainland so that it became an island. In this story the goddess may be seen in her character as a giver, and linked with the divine ruler of the golden age, the founder of the dynasty. She is also associated with the plough and with the fertility of the land. Two interesting traditions remembered about Freyr in the Icelandic sagas are that a field was associated with the god which was particularly fertile and had the name of 'Certain Giver', and that Freyr protected one of his worshippers from snow and frost after death, by keeping cold away from the mound where he was buried.

The symbols of Freyja

Both boar and horse were associated with Freyja as with Freyr. She is said to have permitted one of her lovers, the hero Ottar, to take the form of her golden boar and Journey as her steed to the land of the dead, so that he might discover his ancestry from one of the wise giantesses of the Other World. Her boar is called not only Goldbristles, but also Hildisvin, Swine of Battle, the same name as that given to one of the great boar helmets said to be treasured by the Swedish kings. This suggests that a boar helmet or mask may have been worn by the king at divination ceremonies linked with Freyja's cult. She is also associated with a mare. This connection seems to be a more sinister one, linked with the goddess in her terrible aspect and with the darker side of her cult.

H.R. Ellis Davidson 1969:90-92