atli's mother the snake

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Valkyries, Midwives, Weavers, and Shape-Changers: Atli's Mother the Snake Author(s): James V. McMahon Source: Scandinavian Studies, Vol. 66, No. 4 (Winter 1994), pp. 475-487Published by: on behalf of the University of Illinois Press Society for the Advancement of

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Valkyries, Midwives, Weavers, and Shape-Changers:

AtlPs Mother the Snake James V. McMahon

Emory University

death of Gunnar in the SNAKE-rrr is described in several stories. Snorri Sturluson reports in Skdldskaparmdl:

Gunnari Ut hann [Atli] kasta i ormgarb, en honum var fengin leyniliga harpa ok sl6 hann nub tdnum, pvi at hendr bans vdru bundnar, en svd lek hann hurpuna, svd at allir ormarnir sojhuSu, nema su nabra, er rendi at honum ok hjd svdfyrirflagbrjdskat, at hon steypbi hefiinu inn iholit ok hangU hon d lijrinni, par til cr hann do. (J6nsson, Edda 182-3)

(He [Atli] had Gunnar thrown into a snake-pit, but he was secretly provided with a harp, and he plucked it with his toes, as his hands were tied. He played the harp in such a way that all the snakes went to sleep except for one adder that darted at him and struck at the bottom of his breastbone, burying its head in the hollow and hanging on to his liver until he died. [Faulkes 104])

The Vglsunga saga says that Gunnar played the harp so well in the snake pit that

allir sojhupu ormarnir, nema ein napra mikil ok illilig skreip til hans okgrdf inn sinum rana, par til er hon hjd hans hjarta, ok par Ut hann sitt lifmep mikilli hreysti. (Ranisch 70)

(all the snakes fell asleep, except for one large and ugly adder that crept up to him and dug him with its snout, so that it cut into his heart. And then he left his life, with great courage. [Anderson 129])

The brief account in the Eddie fragment caStedDrdp Nifluryja (Neckel/ Kuhn 223) is similar:

I am grateful to the anonymous reader for Scandinavian Studies for steering me to Sorensen's book.


476 Scandinavian Studies

Gunnar (var) settr i orrngarb. Hann sld hgrpo oc spafii ormana, enn nafira stacc hann til Ufrar.

(Gunnar was cast into the serpent's den. He smote on the harp and put the serpents to sleep, but an adder stung him in the liver. [Bellows 449] )

Gunnar's death is also described, without reference to any specific snake, in several Eddie poems, such as Sigurdarqvifia in scamma (strophe 59; Neckel/Kuhn 1, 216), Atlaqvida (strophe 31; Neckel/Kuhn 1, 245), Atlamdl (strophes 66-67; Neckel/Kuhn 1, 257) zndGudrunarhvgt (strophe 17; Neckel/Kuhn I, 267).

The story is much the same in all these accounts, until we come to OddrunargrAtr (strophe 32), which introduces a new and extraordinary element: the snake that kills Gunnar is actually Atli's mother.

In this poem, called in English Oddrun's Lament^ Oddrun tells of coming too late to rescue her beloved Gunnar. She had heard his music from across a body of water and tried to reach him before the snakes could kill him, but before she could get there,

Pa korn in arma ut suvandi mdbirAtla hon scyli morna! Oc Gunnari fr6ftil hiarta, svd at ec mdttipfac nuerom biarga. (Neckel/Kuhn I, 239)

(Then the wretched woman came along, Atli's mother [may she rot!], and bit into Gunnar's heart, so that I could not save that heroic man.)1

This strophe is usually taken to mean that Atli's mother, in the form of a snake, killed Gunnar, and I am going to take it that way as well. But there are some problems of text and interpretation that must be mentioned before that assumption can be made.

Henry Adams Bellows, in a note to his translation of this poem, suggests that the phrase "Atli's mother" may be a scribal error for "mother of serpents," meaning simply a very large snake (478). No one seems to have accepted this suggestion, presumably because neither Bellows nor anyone else ever found a plausible reason why a scribe might make such an error.

Wilhelm Grimm also believed that the reference to Atli's mother the snake was a mistake:

1 Translations not otherwise attributed are by the author.


Atli's Mother the Snake 477

Atles mutter, die, in cine schlange verwandelt, dent Gunnar das herz abnagty verdankt ibr dasein einem misverstandnis: cine schlangc groszer als dieiibrifcnistfcmeint. (361)

(Atli's mother, who, having changed into a snake, gnaws at Gunnar's heart, owes her existence to a misunderstanding; a snake larger than the others is meant.)

Grimm treats this question in a chapter discussing elements of various heroic stories which are found only in a single account and are suspect for that reason. Thus the reference to Atli's mother the snake is suspect because it appears only in Oddninargrdtr. This argument is easily re- futed: the author oiOddrunargrdtr certainly knew the traditional story of Gunnar's death, and the idea that Atli's mother could turn into a snake must have either been part of that tradition (though not mentioned in any other extant source) or compatible with it in the sense that there must have been some stories about the strange powers of Atli's family. If his sisters have magic powers (and we will see that they do), it is not at all far-fetched to claim that their mother may have had equally great or greater powers.

Another explanation is that of Robert Petsch. In an article entitled "Gunnar im Schlangenturm" he relates the story of Gunnar's death to a folk-tale that appears in various places about a sorcerer who can kill all the snakes in an area except the white queen snake, over whom he has no power. On being assured that no white snake has been seen in the region, he goes to work. All the snakes are charmed into a fire and burned, but one of them turns out to be the queen snake after all, and she bites him fatally before dying herself. Petsch postulates that in the Eddie version most of the story has been forgotten; all that remains is the idea that the sorcerer (here Gunnar) can put all the snakes to sleep except one, who kills him. The poet ofOddninarjjrdtr, however, aware that the story as he knew it gave no motive for the killer snake, inserted the idea that the fatal snake was Atli's mother. This provided the necessary conflict for the story: Oddrun loves Gunnar and Atli's mother hates him; two women struggle over the life of one man.

If we take the text of Oddninargrdtr literally, we find that Gunnar is certainly in a snake pit when he dies, and he is certainly slain by Atli's mother, but we need not conclude that Atli's mother had taken the form of a snake. It is possible that Atli's mother slew Gunnar in her human form. The verb form sexvandi is glossed by Neckel/Kuhn as follows:



scaeva (ad; got. skewjan) swv. sich fortbewegen, von der schlange (Od. 32), dem schiffe (AM. 98), von einer durch die luft: fliegenden walkiire (H H. H 4) und ciner frau (Akv. 35). (II, 179)

In implying that this verb is used to describe the motion of a snake, Neckel/Kuhn, like some translators of the text, are assuming that this strophe refers to a snake, but the rest of the gloss shows clearly that it need not be translated as "slithered" or by any other word suggesting the movement of a snake. It simply means something like "move" or ccgo" forward and is used elsewhere to refer to a ship, a flying valkyrie, and a woman. Fritzner's definition of skeva is simply: "bevaege sig fremad" (Ordbqg over detgamle norske Sprqg III, 415). He cites this passage in Oddrunargratr, but with no mention of a snake. The Gothic skewjan, cited by Neckel/Kuhn, translates the Greek 68ottollv meaning simply "to make a path for oneself, to make one's way" (Streitberg Teil 2, 123; Liddel/Scott 1026). There is no compelling reason why it could not also refer here to a woman, namely Atli's mother. So it is possible to read this strophe as saying simply that Gunnar was slain by Atli's mother while he was in the snake pit. She need not have taken on the form of a snake herself.

However, this interpretation is mentioned only to be dismissed, for it conflicts with the other versions of the story, all of which state clearly that Gunnar was killed by being bitten by a snake. With that as a given, the obvious interpretation of this strophe is that Atli's mother, whoever she may have been and whatever her motives, had taken on the form of a snake in order to kill Gunnar.

On the other hand, it is also possible that shape changers did not actually change their shape. According to Margaret Murray, what was called shape-changing may have been only a kind of hypnosis. The witches who claimed to be able to change shape merely declared themselves changed, or put on a skin or a symbol of the animal into which they "changed." They may have felt themselves to be changed, and their fellow witches and those who believed in them may even have regarded them as changed, but the change was only symbolic (The Witch-Cult in Western Europe 230-5). Jeffrey Burton Russell, in Witchcraft in the Middle Ages ', cites Augustine as maintaining that "God does not grant power to demons to make things what they are not. He does allow them the power to delude men's minds, however, and shape shifting may be considered this kind of illusion" (56-7). So it is possible that a woman, presumably Atli's mother, stabbed Gunnar while claiming or appearing



to be a snake. But whether Atli's mother was a real snake or a woman acting like a snake, she was a witch with unusual powers and a murderer. As far as this text is concerned, a real snake and a witch who can convince onlookers that she is a snake are the same thing.

In fact, several texts indicate that all the women in Atli's family, his mother and his three sisters, may have had magic powers of various kinds.

His mother is also mentioned in strophe 96 ofAtlamdl, where Atli reproaches Gudrun with the words:

Svaro Uztupina sitia opt grdtna. (Neckel-Kuhn I, 261) (you often made your mother-in-law sit and weep.)

As for the three sisters, Atli is everywhere called the son of Budli, and Brynhild is often called Budli's daughter and Atli's sister. Oddninargrdtr says that Oddrun's father died when she was only five years old, but before he died he ordered that Oddrun should marry "Grimhild's son" and that Brynhild should be a Valkyrie. Thus it is clear that Oddrun and Brynhild are sisters. Finally, the Vglsunga saga says that Atli, Brynhild and Oddrun have another sister, Bekkhild, who marries Heimir, the foster-father of Brynhild. (Atlamdl also mentions that Atli had three brothers, but only the female family members seem to have any magic powers.)

The sibling-relationship between Atli and Brynhild is of particular interest. Theodore Andersson, in The Legend of Brynhild^ reminds us that these two had no connection in the earliest versions of their respective stories and were probably brought together in literature because of their common antagonism toward the Burgundians (35) . In any case, they are related only in the Scandinavian versions of this great set of stories.

The idea of shape-changing is not unusual in Old Norse stories. As H. R. Ellis Davidson says in "Hostile Magic in the Icelandic Sagas," there are many examples in the sagas where a witch makes an attack in animal form (29). Chapter five of the Vglsunga saga tells of the mother of Siggeir, who changed herself into a wolf and killed nine of Sigmund's brothers, and chapter seven of the same story tells how a beautiftd witch exchanged shapes with Signy, enabling her to sleep with her brother Sigmund and conceive a child, Sinfjdtli.

If Atli's mother had the ability to change her shape, what magic powers might she have passed on to her children? We find, in fact, that



while Atli seems to have inherited from his mother only a bad disposi- tion, the sisters Brynhild and Oddrun clearly had extraordinary powers typical of medieval witches. Brynhild, as is well known, was a valkyrie, stronger than any man and able to fly, while Oddrun was a famous midwife, able to use magic chants to assist in difficult births. Oddninargratr begins when Oddrun is summoned to help her former friend Borgny, who is having trouble giving birth. She has promised to use her gifts for the benefit of all, so despite her dislike for Borgny, she comes to her assistance and uses magic spells and charms to facilitate the birth of twins (strophes 1-9; Neckel/Kuhn I, 234-235).

All we know of Bekkhild, the third sister, comes from chapter 23 of the Vglsunga saga. Her name is Bekkhild (from bekkr "bench") because she, unlike Brynhild, stayed at home and did hannyrp. This hannyrp could be any kind of fine hand- work usually done by women, such as embroidery or weaving; the same usage occurs in the Second Lay of Gudrun (strophe 15; Neckel/Kuhn I, 226). It is interesting that in the next chapter of the Vglsunga saga Brynhild is seen first weaving the deeds of Sigurd into a tapestry and then predicting his and her future (though her tapestry shows only his past). If Brynhild is a weaver, would not her sister Bekkhild, whose name implies that such work was her special province, have learned that art as well? The reason weaving is significant in this context is that weaving was also associated with witchcraft. Valerie I. J. Flint, in The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe , speaks of weaving as one of the "magic arts" sometimes forbidden by the Church: "Eligius objected to women who, when occupied at the loom, . . . sought to exercise supernatural power, apparently through naming the unfortu- nate persons they sought to involve" (226). Flint also says: ccWeaving may have drawn upon itself especial condemnation because it could be associated with the ligaturas^ plaits and bindings familiar to non-Chris- tian magic (medical magic especially) and with those magical knots and binding-and-loosing charms and curses apparently common in ancient non-Christian magical practices" (228). Finally, Flint points out that "the capacity to weave binding fates for persons was one possessed by Valkyries and Norns" (229). Thus what seems on the surface to be simply domestic work can also be seen as a form of magic, and although we have no other stories involving Bekkhild, there is a good possibility that she too, like her sisters, possesses magic powers.

We must note again that Oddrun is at odds with her mother. She uses her gifts to benefit others, while her mother, at least in this instance, does



evil with her powers. It is not surprising that Oddrun should hate both her brother and her mother, for Adi had prevented her from marrying Gunnar, her lover, and her mother has slain Gunnar. Thus Oddrun refers to her own mother only as "Atli's mother" and wishes that she should perish (strophe 32; Neckel/Kuhn 1, 239) . Lee Hollander, in a note to his translation of this strophe, says : "The poet seems to forget here that Atli's mother is her own also" (329). But it is hard to imagine any poet "forgetting" such a relationship; it seems more likely that the reference is deliberate, and that Oddrun wishes to associate Atli and their mother in this crime, while distancing herself from both her mother and her brother.

Midwives were traditionally regarded as witches, having special knowl- edge and powers. Katherine Morris states: "The ancient Germans thought that women were especially threatened by demons during labor, and certain magic rituals were performed that were known only by women" (79). The article "Hebamme" by Jungwirth in the Handw'&rterbuch des deutschenAberglaubens also makes the same point. Though early sources are few, later texts associating midwifery and witchcraft are plentiful, and they clearly refer to a centuries-old tradition. In addition toOddninarjjrdtr, the theme is also treated in the eddic poems Fafnismdl (strophe 12; Neckel/Kuhn 1, 182), in which Sigurd asks Fafnir about the Norns that help women giving birth, and Sigrdrifomdl (strophe 9; Neckel/Kuhn I, 191), in which Sigrdrifa refers to "birthrunes" for helping women in labor (Morris 78-81).

Saxo Grammaticus, in his Gesta Danorum {History of the Danes) , writes of three kinds of preternatural beings that existed in ancient Scandinavia: giants, wizards, and the mixed offspring of the first two. He says:

Horum utrique per sutnmam ludificandorum oculorum periciam, proprios alienosque uultus, uariisrerum imaginibus adumbrare callebant, illicibusque fbrtnis ueros obscumre conspectus. Tercii aero generis homines, ex alterna superiorutn copula puUulantes, auctorum suorum nature, nee corporum magnitudine nee arciutn exercicio respondebant. His tamen apud delusas prestigiis mentes diuinitatis accessit opinio. (Holder 20)

(Both these types [giants and wizards], being dexterous in deceiving the eye, were clever at counterfeiting different shapes for themselves and others, and concealing their true appearance under false guises. The third class, bred from an intermingling of the other two, reflected neither the size nor the magic arts of their parents. Nevertheless minds deluded by their legerdemain believed in their divinity. [Fischer 19])



The legendary figures of Atli and his family might have been thought to belong to the second group, the wizards, or even to the third group, whose members had lesser powers, but could still practice enough "legerdemain" to deceive others. The idea that mixed-breed descendants have attenuated powers might explain why Brynhild, the valkyrie, loses her powers with her virginity, Oddrun seems to have only the powers of the midwife, and Bekkhild's powers, if she has any, are not mentioned explicitly in any extant text. It may be that each successive child inherits less of the family gift.

The fact that the historical Atli was a Hun may have contributed to the stories about the magic powers of his female relatives. The earliest extant accounts of the historical Attila contain the legend that the Huns were descended from witches.

Jordanes claimed to have taken his account of the origin of the Huns from Orosius, who reported that Filimer, king of the Goths,

reperit inpopulo suo quasdam magas mulieres, quaspatrio sermone Haliurunas is ipse cognominat, casque habens suspectas, de medio sui proturbat, longeque ab exercitu suofugatas in solitudinern, co'egit errare. Quas spiritus immundi per eremum vagantes dum vidissent, et earum se complexibus in coitu miscuissenty genus hoc ferocissimum edidere. (XXIV; Closs 93-94)

(found among his people certain witches, whom he called in his native tongue "Haliurunnae." Suspecting these women, he expelled them from the midst of his race and compelled them to wander in solitary exile afar from his army. There the unclean spirits, who beheld them as they wandered through the wilderness, bestowed their embraces upon them and begat this savage race. [Mierow 85])

This story was then taken up and repeated by many other historians, indicating that it was well known throughout Europe. The Hungarian Simon Keza, who wrote his history between 1282 and 1285, believed that the Huns were the direct ancestors of the Hungarians and wished to avoid a tainted heritage, so he claimed not to believe the story based on Orosius, who wrote that Filimer

mulieres, quae olio nomine Baiter anae nominantur, plures secum in exercitu suo dicitur deduxisse. Quae dum essent militibus infestissinuu, retrahentes plurimos per blandities a negotio militari, consilium regis ipsas fertur de consortio exercitus eapropter expulisse. Quae quidempervagantesper deserta, litorapaludisMeotidae tandem descenderunt. Ibique diutiusdum mansissent privatae solatio maritali, incubi demones ad ipsas venientes concubuisse cum



ipsis iuxta dictum Orosii referuntur. Ex qua quidem coniunctione dixit Hungaros oriundos. (141)

(is said to have brought with him in his army many women, who were also called by the name of Balternae. They were dangerous to the army, for by their caresses they induced many soldiers to withdraw from fighting, so the king is said to have expelled them from the army. Wandering in the desert, they finally came upon the shore of the Maeotic swamp. Orosius says that while they stayed there a long time, deprived of marital comfort, demons came and lay with them. He says the Hungarians arose from this union.)

Johannes de Thurocz, writing about 1486, changed the demons to pagan demigods and made the women sorceresses. Claiming as his source Antonine, archbishop of Florence, who had claimed to follow Sigilbert and Vincent, Thurocz says that Antonine says that when Filimer entered the land of Scythia with his people,

quasdam magas mulieres inpopulo reperisset, quassermone Gethyco aUrumnas vocassent, casque habens suspectas de medio sui perturbasset, longeque ab exercitu suo fugatas in solitudine coegisset err are. Quas tandem silvestres homines, quos nonnuUi faunos sicarios vocant, quod genus quondam sancto Anthonio, dum heremi pervagabatur solitudinem, obviasse legitur, cum desertiper devia errare vidissent, in illarum amplexus pariterque et coitum se comiscuissent. Exhincque hocferocissimum acpavendum et terribile bominum genus edidissent. (21)

(he found some sorceresses living among the people there, women who are called in Gothic "alirumnae," and because he suspected them he drove them from the midst of the people, forcing them to flee far away from his army and to wander in the desert. And some men of the forest, whom some call "murderous fauns'3 [faunos sicarios] (a race which, it is said, once encountered St. Anthony as he wandered in the desert as a hermit), when they saw these women wandering the byways of the desert, threw themselves into their embraces and had relations with them. From this came a fierce, dreadful and terrible race of men.)

Callimachus Experiens, writing between 1486 and 1489, repeated the legend, referring to "consecrated women" and ccfauns and satyrs55 but claimed more objectivity:

ScribuntpleriqueFUmirum Gothorum regem, sedrerum antiquarumperitiores memoriae proditum reliquere Idantirsum exercitu lustrato nonnullasfeminas (alinurnas Scythae vocant) ultra communem aliarum speciem corpore atque indole augustas Scytharum castris exclusisse casque subinde in solitudine



trans Maeotidem in Asia agitantes a Faunis et Satyris compressas Hunnos genuisse. (1)

(Some write that Filimer, king of the Goths, to purify his army, excluded from his camp some consecrated Scythian women (the Scythians call them "alinurnas") who were above normal in beauty and ability, and that these women, wandering about in Asia beyond Maeotis, were raped by fauns and satyrs and gave birth to the Huns. But those who are more familiar with these ancient things recall that this was done not by Filimer, but by Idantirsus.)

If such a legend was commonly known in the middle ages, it is no wonder that stories about the magic powers of Atli's family sprang up. It may seem odd that in the Norse stories magic powers are attributed to his mother rather than to his father, but apart from the fact that witchcraft is associated primarily with women, this may be because other legends were associated with his paternal ancestry. I have discussed elsewhere the legend that Atli was descended from canine ancestors on his father's side (McMahon).

The evidence shows that in this family only the women had magic powers. Whatever the source of those powers, it was much more common for women to have them than men. We can go all the way back to Tacitus for confirmation. Speaking of the role of women among the Germans in chapter 8 of his Germania, he wrote:

inesse quin ctiam sanctum aliquid et providum putanty nee aut consilia earum aspemantur aut responsa neglegunt. (Hutton 274, 276)

(Further they conceive that in woman is a certain uncanny and prophetic sense; they neither scorn to consult them nor slight their answers. [Hutton 277]).

In chapter 7 oiYnglinga, saga, Snorri reports that Odin possessed the magic called seidr:

en afpvi mdtti hann vita drlqg manna ok dordna hluti, svd ok at gem monnum bana eba dhamingju eba vanheilendi, svd ol at takafrd mgnnum vit eba afl okgefa obrum. (J6nsson, Heimskringla 1, 19)

(and by means of it he could know the fate of men and predict events that had not yet come to pass; and by it he could also inflict death or misfortunes or sickness, or also deprive people of their wits or strength, and give them to others. [Hollander 11])

But Snorri continues:



EnpessijJQlkyngi, crframiS er,jy1gfirspd mikil ergi, at eigipdtti karlmgnnum skammlaust viS at far a, ok vargybjunum kend su iprdtt. ( J6nsson I, 19)

The interpretation of this passage depends on several ambiguous words. Hollander translates it :

But this sorcery is attended by such wickedness that manly men considered it shameful to practice it, and so it was taught to priestesses, (11)

while Sorensen offers a translation in context, attempting to explain the concept of ergi:

"Perversity in sexual matters" is one branch of meaning in the ergi- complex. Another is "versed in witchcraft." Here we have to do with a derivative of the basic sense mentioned above [in a discussion of the root argr]. The practice of heathen witchcraft, sorcery, included (as far as we can see) sexual activities and taboo-breaking; among other things, men appeared as women. A remark in the opening chapters of Heitnskringla, where


society had magic powers, and that Atli, like all the Huns, was descended from female sorcerers.

People listening to the story of Gunnar's death had no difficulty in accepting the possibility that Atli's mother could turn into a snake and commit a murder. They knew from other stories that Gunnar had been killed by a snake at Atli's instigation, and the idea that the snake was really Atli's mother did not strain their credulity, since the association of women, and especially Atli's female relatives, with magic powers was well established. The author of the OMrunargratr introduced Atli's mother to provide a delicious little extra shiver of horror for his audience.

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Issue Table of ContentsScandinavian Studies, Vol. 66, No. 4 (Winter 1994) pp. 475-652Front MatterValkyries, Midwives, Weavers, and Shape-Changers: Atli's Mother the Snake [pp. 475-487]Occupation Theater: Ibsen's "Brand" in Performance in Norway, 1940-1942 [pp. 488-520]Rhetorical Manipulation in Maurits Hansen's "Luren" [pp. 521-532]Double-Voiced Discourse in Thorkild Hansen's "Jens Munk" [pp. 533-551]Hilma Angered-Strandberg and the Swedish American's Appearance in Swedish Literature [pp. 552-565]ReviewsReview: untitled [pp. 566-570]Review: untitled [pp. 570-572]Review: untitled [pp. 572-574]Review: untitled [pp. 575-576]Review: untitled [pp. 576-580]Review: untitled [pp. 580-583]Review: untitled [pp. 583-586]Review: untitled [pp. 586-589]Review: untitled [pp. 589-591]Review: untitled [pp. 591-593]Review: untitled [pp. 593-595]Review: untitled [pp. 595-597]Review: untitled [pp. 597-598]Review: untitled [pp. 598-601]Review: untitled [pp. 601-603]Review: untitled [pp. 603-607]Review: untitled [pp. 607-609]Review: untitled [pp. 609-611]Review: untitled [pp. 611-613]Review: untitled [pp. 613-615]Review: untitled [pp. 615-616]Review: untitled [pp. 616-618]Review: untitled [pp. 618-620]

ReportsThe Eighty-Fourth Annual Meeting: Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study: Theme Augustana College, Rock Island April 28-May 1, 1994 [pp. 621-634]Report of the President: The Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study April 24, 1993-May 1, 1994 [pp. 635-638]Report of the Secretary-Treasurer 199394 [pp. 639-643]

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atli's mother the snake

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