Page:Norse mythology or, the religion of our forefathers, containing all the myths of the Eddas, systematized and interpreted with an introduction, vocabulary and index.djvu/249

 Funen and Jutland with united strength tore Zealand from Sweden. This would then be a historical interpretation.

The derivation from gefa, to give, has also been suggested, and there is no doubt that the plowing Gefjun is the goddess of agriculture. She unites herself with the giants (the barren and unfruitful fields or deserts) and subdues them, thus preparing the land for cultivation. In this sense she is Frigg's maid-servant. Gefjun, the plowed land, develops into Frigg, the fruit-bearing earth; hence she is a maid, not a woman. The maid is not, but shall become fruitful.

Eir is the goddess of the healing art, and this is about all that we know of her; but that is a great deal. A healer for our frail body and for the sick mind! what a beneficent divinity!

SECTION XII. RIND.

This goddess was mentioned in Section IX. It is the third form of earth in its relation to Odin. Thus the lay of Vegtam, in the Elder Edda:

Rind a son shall bear In the wintry halls, He shall slay Odin's son When one night old. He a hand will not wash, Nor his hair comb, Ere he to the pile has borne Balder's adversary.

Odin's repeated wooing of this maid is expressed in Hávamál, of the Elder Edda, as follows:

The mind only knows What lies near the heart;