Alfaleith.org - Rydberg's Teutonic Mythology

But in one respect Ari Fróði or his authority has paid attention to the genuine mythic tradition, and that is by making the Vana-gods the kinsmen of the descendants of Yngvi. This is correct in the sense that Scef-Yngvi, the son of a deity transformed into a man, was in the myth a Vana-god. Accordingly every member of the Yngling race and every descendant of Scef may be styled a son of Freyr (Freys áttungr), epithets applied by Thjodulf in Ynglingatal in regard to the Uppsala kings. They are gifts from the Vana-gods - the implements which point to the opulent Njord, and the grain sheaf which is Frey's symbol - which Scef-Yngvi brings with him to the ancient people of Scandia, and his rule is peaceful and rich in blessings.

Scef-Yngvi comes across the ocean. Vanaheim was thought to be situated on the other side of it, in the same direction as Ægir's palace in the great western ocean and in the outermost domain of Jörmungrund (see 93). This is indicated in Lokasenna 34, where Loki in Ægir's hall says to the Van Njord: "You were sent from here to the East as a hostage to the gods" (Þú vart austr héðan gísl um sendr at goðum). Thus Njord's castle Nóatún is situated in the West, on a strand outside of which the swans sing (Gylfaginning 23). In the faded memory of Scef, preserved in the saga of the Lower Rhine and of the Netherlands, there comes to a poverty-stricken people a boat in which there lies a sleeping youth. The boat is, like Scef's, without sails or oars, but is drawn over the billows by a swan. From Gylfaginning 16 we learn that there are myths telling of the origin of the swans. They are all descended from that pair of swans which swim in the sacred waters of Urd's fountain. Thus the descendants of these swans that sing outside of the Vana-palace Nóatún and their arrival to the shores of Midgard seem to have some connection with the coming of the Van Scef and of culture.

The Vans most prominent in the myths are Njord, Freyr, and Heimdal. Though an Asa-god by adoption, Heimdal is like Njord and Freyr a Vana-god by birth and birthplace, and is accordingly called both áss and vanr (Þrymskviða 15). Meanwhile these three divinities, definitely named Vans, are only a few out of many. The Vans have constituted a numerous clan, strong enough to wage a victorious war against the Asas (Völuspá). Who among them was Scef-Yngvi? The question can be answered as follows:

(1) Of Heimdal, and of him alone among the gods, it is related that he lived for a time among men as a man, and that he performed that which is attributed to Scef - that is, organised and elevated human society and became the progenitor of sacred families in Midgard.

(2) Rígsþula relates that the god Heimdal, having assumed the name Rig, begot with an earthly woman the son Jarl-Rig, who in turn became the father of Konr-Rig. Konr-Rig is, as the very name indicates and as Vigfússon already has pointed out, the first who bore the kingly name. In Rígsþula the Jarl begets the king, as in Ynglingasaga the judge (Dómarr) begets the first king. Rig is, according to Ynglingasaga 17, grandfather to Dan, who is a Skjoldung. Heimdal-Rig is thus the father of the progenitor of the Skjoldungs, and it is the story of the divine origin of the Skjoldungs Rígsþula gives us when it sings of Heimdal as Jarl's father and the first king's grandfather. But the progenitor of the Skjoldungs is, according to both Anglo-Saxon and the northern sources above quoted, Scef. Thus Heimdal and Scef are identical.

These proofs are sufficient. More can be presented, and the identity will be established by the whole investigation.

As a tender boy, Heimdal was sent by the Vans to the southern shores of Scandinavia with the gifts of culture. Hyndla's Lay tells how these friendly powers prepared the child for its important mission, after it was born in the outermost borders of the earth (við jarðar þröm), in a wonderful manner, by nine sisters (Hyndluljóð 35 = Völuspá in Skamma 7; Heimdallar Galdr in Gylfaginning 27; compare No. 82, where the ancient Aryan root of the myth concerning Heimdal's nine mothers is pointed out).

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