Gripla - 20.12.2018, Page 311

311FOLKLORISTICS, MYTH, AND RELIGION
spirit – and in the people’s belief and poetry, in its customs, in its whole
life.”4
this statement comes close to including pre-Christian myth and re-
ligion within the purview of nordic philology, and that must have been
Grundtvig’s view, given the existence in the nordic countries of ballads ap-
parently based on Þrymskviða (or the myth it encapsulates) and Grundtvig’s
role as the great editor of Danish ballads. In his monumental and funda-
mental ballad edition, Grundtvig ordered this ballad (tord af Havsgaard)
first of the 539 types in the collection (and it remains first in the standard
catalog of nordic ballads). Grundtvig explained his thinking thus:
If not the only one of the ancient myths of the north that has
survived on the lips of the people until today – for of these are
several, also about Þórr’s battle with the jǫtnar, although for the
most part transferred to Christian heroes, namely to the norwegian
King Saint olav – , this ballad is the only one of its kind: the only
purely mythical eddic poem that has entirely gone over into a
medieval popular ballad, distributed throughout all Scandinavia. It
therefore is entitled to special attention and justifies its position as
the first in the order.5
thus, in Grundtvig’s view, myth was clearly part of the “spirit of the peo-
ple,” and indeed the oldest part.
the inclusion of myth and religion in the blended product of folk-
lore and medieval material goes right back to the founding father, Jacob
Grimm. Although his Deutsche Mythologie did not appear until 1835, a few
decades later than the pioneering works of folklore and medieval texts
he published with brother Wilhelm, it is common knowledge that the
brothers’ interest in the tales was sparked to some degree by an interest
4 Quoted in Jørn Pio, “Svend Grundtvig,” Leading Folklorists of the North, ed. Dag Strömbäck
(oslo: universitetsforlaget, 1971), 222.
5 “Om end ikke det eneste af det gamle Nordens Gudesagn, der har bevaret sig i Folkemunde
indtil vore Dage – thi af saadanne findes der flere, ogsaa om thors Kampe med Jætterne,
skjøndt for det meste overførte paa christelige Heroer, navnlig paa den norske Konge
Hellig-olav, – saa er denne Vise dog den eneste i sit Slags: det eneste rent mythiske
Eddadigt, der heelt og holdent er gaaet over i en middelalderlig Folkevise, udbredt over hele
Skandinavien. Den fortjener derfor en særlig opmærksomhed og forsvarer sin Plads som
den første i rækken.” Svend Grundtvig, Danmarks gamle folkeviser, vol. 1 (Copenhagen:
Forlaget af samfundet til den danske litteraturs fremme, 1853), 1.