DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0757
682 The sword and the sacred tree at Rhegion
rites from the East Indies, Japan, Armenia, South Slavonia, Bulgaria,
Lesbos, Sicily, the Abruzzi, etc.3. A sample will serve:
' On Christmas Eve many a South Slavonian and Bulgarian peasant swings
an axe threateningly against a barren fruit-tree, while another man standing by
intercedes for the menaced tree, saying, " Do not cut it down ; it will soon bear
fruit." Thrice the axe is swung, and thrice the impending blow is arrested at
the entreaty of the intercessor. After that the frightened tree will certainly bear
fruit next year2.'
If this be the dromenon portrayed on our coins, it is obvious that they
need not have anything to do with Myrrha and her ' myrrh '-tree.
The sword left in the tree is a circumstance which occurs in the
tales of other nations also. The Volsung saga3, for example, tells
how king Rerir and his wife remained without a son till Ljod,
daughter of the giant Hrimnir, was sent in the form of a crow by
Freyia to bring them an apple. She let the apple fall into the lap
of the king as he sat upon a mound. He took it home and came to
the queen, who ate part of it. After a sickness lasting six winters
she was forcibly delivered of a man-child, great of growth from his
birth, who was called Volsung and became king of Hunland in the
room of his father. He married Ljod, Hrimnir's daughter, and had
by her ten sons and one daughter. Now king Volsung built his
hall in such a manner that it enclosed a big oak-tree. The trunk
stood in the hall ; the branches and blossoms4 spread out over the
roof. The tree was termed a barnstokk or 'child-tree' and also,
somewhat inconsequently, apaldr, an ' apple-tree.' At the marriage-
feast of king Volsung's daughter Signy and Siggeir king of Gothland
a huge one-eyed old man5, bare-footed but wearing a spotted cloak
and tight linen breeches, entered the hall. He drew his sword6 and
plunged it up to the hilts in the tree-trunk, declaring that whosoever
could pull it out might keep it for his own. This said, he took his
departure. Those present attempted to pull out the sword ; but
none succeeded save Sigmund, son of king Volsung.
Similarly in an Irish folk-tale7, when Fin and the Fenians were
at Fintra, a ship sailed into harbour with only one woman on board.
She saluted Fin and asked whether he would play a game of chess
1 Frazer Golden Bough'1': The Magic Art ii. 20—22.
2 Id. ib.'A : The Magic Art ii. 21. Cp. the parable of the barren fig-tree in Luke 13. 6—9.
3 Text and critical notes in E. Wilken Die prosaische Edda Paderborn 1877 i. 149 ft'.
(' Vokungasaga' chap. 1 f.); English translation by E. Magnvisson and W. Morris The
Slo?y of the Volsungs and Niblungs London 1870 p. 1 ff.
4 My friend Prof. H. M. Chadwick informs me that the Icelandic writer may mean
' leaves.' 5 Othin.
6 Cp. supra p. 547 n. 3 for the sword of Mars owned by Attila, lord of the Hunni.
7 Text unpublished; English translation by J. Curtin Hero-Tales of Ireland Boston
1894 p. 484 ff. (' Fin MacCool, Faolan, and the Mountain of Happiness').
rites from the East Indies, Japan, Armenia, South Slavonia, Bulgaria,
Lesbos, Sicily, the Abruzzi, etc.3. A sample will serve:
' On Christmas Eve many a South Slavonian and Bulgarian peasant swings
an axe threateningly against a barren fruit-tree, while another man standing by
intercedes for the menaced tree, saying, " Do not cut it down ; it will soon bear
fruit." Thrice the axe is swung, and thrice the impending blow is arrested at
the entreaty of the intercessor. After that the frightened tree will certainly bear
fruit next year2.'
If this be the dromenon portrayed on our coins, it is obvious that they
need not have anything to do with Myrrha and her ' myrrh '-tree.
The sword left in the tree is a circumstance which occurs in the
tales of other nations also. The Volsung saga3, for example, tells
how king Rerir and his wife remained without a son till Ljod,
daughter of the giant Hrimnir, was sent in the form of a crow by
Freyia to bring them an apple. She let the apple fall into the lap
of the king as he sat upon a mound. He took it home and came to
the queen, who ate part of it. After a sickness lasting six winters
she was forcibly delivered of a man-child, great of growth from his
birth, who was called Volsung and became king of Hunland in the
room of his father. He married Ljod, Hrimnir's daughter, and had
by her ten sons and one daughter. Now king Volsung built his
hall in such a manner that it enclosed a big oak-tree. The trunk
stood in the hall ; the branches and blossoms4 spread out over the
roof. The tree was termed a barnstokk or 'child-tree' and also,
somewhat inconsequently, apaldr, an ' apple-tree.' At the marriage-
feast of king Volsung's daughter Signy and Siggeir king of Gothland
a huge one-eyed old man5, bare-footed but wearing a spotted cloak
and tight linen breeches, entered the hall. He drew his sword6 and
plunged it up to the hilts in the tree-trunk, declaring that whosoever
could pull it out might keep it for his own. This said, he took his
departure. Those present attempted to pull out the sword ; but
none succeeded save Sigmund, son of king Volsung.
Similarly in an Irish folk-tale7, when Fin and the Fenians were
at Fintra, a ship sailed into harbour with only one woman on board.
She saluted Fin and asked whether he would play a game of chess
1 Frazer Golden Bough'1': The Magic Art ii. 20—22.
2 Id. ib.'A : The Magic Art ii. 21. Cp. the parable of the barren fig-tree in Luke 13. 6—9.
3 Text and critical notes in E. Wilken Die prosaische Edda Paderborn 1877 i. 149 ft'.
(' Vokungasaga' chap. 1 f.); English translation by E. Magnvisson and W. Morris The
Slo?y of the Volsungs and Niblungs London 1870 p. 1 ff.
4 My friend Prof. H. M. Chadwick informs me that the Icelandic writer may mean
' leaves.' 5 Othin.
6 Cp. supra p. 547 n. 3 for the sword of Mars owned by Attila, lord of the Hunni.
7 Text unpublished; English translation by J. Curtin Hero-Tales of Ireland Boston
1894 p. 484 ff. (' Fin MacCool, Faolan, and the Mountain of Happiness').