Parallel Myths (30 page)

* * *

We have presented four parallel myths here, one from the Blackfoot Indians of the North American plains, one from Egypt, another from Greece, and the Bible story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. All four have the same basic plot.

It is easy to argue that the Egyptian, Greek, and Hebrew stories may be examples of interborrowing; all three nations were on the shores of the Mediterranean and connected through trade. However, it is difficult to explain the parallel between these myths and the Blackfoot story.

(Norse/Germany)

The story of Siegfried is ancient and corresponds with hero myths in many other cultures, such as the myths of Herakles (Hercules), Perseus, and Theseus in Greece; Quetzalcoatl in Mexico; and others in virtually every culture. Siegfried is one of the best known mythical heroes, especially famous for his place in the “Ring” cycle of operas by Richard Wagner.

This myth, like all myths concerning heroes, presents an allegory of the trials all humans face. Siegfried’s story is all the more poignant in that he defies the gods and heroically faces his own inevitable death. It is a good example of the hero myth because it contains all the key elements of that kind of tale.

The version of the Siegfried myth given here is based on several sources including the Norse
Volsungasaga
, in which Siegfried is called “Sigurd,” as well as the German epic, the
Niebelungenlied
. The treatment of the story is derived from such German writers as Karl Goedeke (1814-1887) and August Tecklenburg (1863-1930), as well as the poet Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862). This narrative resembles the story of the Wagnerian opera (whose libretto Wagner wrote himself) with some minor differences in detail. The Norse
Brynhild is the German Brünnhilde; the Norse Oithinn or Odin is the German Wotan; the Norse Gunnar is the German Gunther; and Krimhild or Kriemhild becomes Griemhild in German, as she is named in the Wagnerian opera. The Norse Gudrun is Gutrune in German.

S
iegfried, whose name means “Victory-Peace,” was the son of the warrior hero Siegmund (“Victory-Mouth”) and his wife, Sieglinde (“Victory Linden Tree”). Siegmund was the great champion of the Niebelungen and their king, Alberich.

Alberich had a Ring in his possession which gave its owner mastery of the world. He had the potential power to defeat even Wotan, the king of the gods. As king of the Niebelungen (dwarves who lived beneath the earth, working as miners and metalworkers), Alberich was master of a vast treasure of underground gold.

A giant, Fafner, guarded the treasure of the Niebelungen, including the Ring, in the form of a fierce dragon. Wotan’s interests were served by having the Ring in the hands of a giant and not in the hands of his opponents, the dwarves. Fafner and Wotan both knew that their days were numbered, that a hero would be born with a sacred mission to cause their downfall.

When Siegmund was killed in battle, the dying Sieglinde gave birth to her son, Siegfried, entrusting him to a dwarf named Mime. Mime raised the lad as his own son, knowing the prophecy that Siegfried would be the Walsung (“world”) hero who would redeem the Niebelungen treasure and recover the Ring.

As young Siegfried grew to manhood, there were many questions about his true identity. Since his earliest days, Siegmund had called Mime “Father,” but the tall young hero was certainly not a Niebelung. Mime had always hidden the truth from Siegfried in the hope that he, Mime, and neither Wotan nor Alberich, would be the possessor of the Ring and the treasure. Finally, Siegfried grew tired of the inconsistencies in Mime’s story and threatened the dwarfs life in order to force a true account.

One day Wotan, the one-eyed king of the gods, was wandering on earth and came to the home of Siegfried and Mime. He wore a traveler’s cloak to hide his missing eye and conceal his true identity. In his hand he carried a walking stick carved with sacred runes and made from a branch of the ash tree, Yggdrasil, that supported the entire universe. The runes were the laws that governed all who lived in the universe, whether man, dwarf, giant, or god.

Wotan had lost an eye by giving one of them up at Mimir’s well of wisdom in exchange for a drink of the sacred waters. With his dearly bought wisdom, Wotan knew of the inevitability of the Twilight of the Gods, when his rule of the universe would be overthrown. Wotan also knew that the mission of the young Siegfried would only hasten the Twilight.

Mime asked Wotan many questions, as the traveler exuded wisdom: “Who lives on the surface of the earth?” Wotan answered, “Human beings.” “Who lives beneath the earth?” Wotan responded, “The Niebelungen.” “Who lives above, in the heavens?” Wotan replied, “The gods, who rule the universe, Wotan, Donner [Thor, the thunder god], Freja [Freya, the goddess of beauty], and the rest. They are attended by the Walküre [Norse: Valkyries] who carry slain heroes from the battlefield into the feasting hall of the gods at Walhalla [“the hall of the slain”].”

Wotan could speak only the truth, and Mime persisted in his questions: “Who are the greatest and most beloved among human beings?” Wotan replied, “The Walsungs, Siegmund and Sieglinde, and their son, the world hero who is to come. Only a Walsung can slay the dragon Fafner and win the Ring. It is said that Wotan himself broke the sword Nothung that is the only means to slay this dragon. Fate decrees that he who reforges this sword will be the world hero.” Siegfried, listening carefully to the traveler’s words, now realized his own identity and what mission he was ordained to fulfill. Then the stranger slipped quietly into the deep forest.

As Wotan disappeared, Siegfried ordered Mime to reforge Nothung so that he, Siegfried, might fulfill his mission. Mime protested that even his great skill could not reforge the magic sword. So, pushing Mime aside, Siegfried himself took the shattered fragments of the
sword and began to reforge them at Mime’s anvil. He accomplished this with little difficulty. With the last stroke of the hammer, the anvil disappeared deep within Erde, the goddess of the earth. Erde was a goddess and the sister of Wotan; she was quick to tell her brother of what she had witnessed.

The next day Siegfried set out into the forest on the first of his tasks—to slay Fafner and reclaim Alberich’s treasure and the coveted Ring. He came to a glade where Fafner had coiled his tail around an ancient ash tree. Around the tree was a protective circle of fire. Fafner himself breathed flames and the blood of hapless victims dripped from his teeth. Siegfried fearlessly walked through the flames unharmed and Fafner then recognized who this brave mortal was. With one blow, Siegfried slew Fafner. As the dragon lay dying, he asked Siegfried who had reforged the magic sword, and was told, “It was I, Siegfried the Walsung.”

The blood of Fafner had dripped down the sword onto Siegfried’s hand, and he touched his lips to the blood. This enabled Siegfried to understand the prophetic language of the birds.

The birds told Siegfried that Alberich’s treasure was in a nearby cave. He went into the cave and, having no interest in the treasure, took the Ring as a souvenir of his exploit. Siegfried did not understand the full significance of his possession of this Ring, which made him master of the universe. But the Ring also bore a curse: Alberich had ensured that any holder of the Ring other than himself would be doomed to die through the treachery of another. Now Siegfried had unwittingly sealed his own tragic fate.

As Siegfried was preparing to leave, Mime and Alberich arrived on the scene. Now able to read the motives of Mime’s heart, he saw through his foster father completely. Mime’s words of flattery were merely a cover for his own evil plans. Siegfried knew that Mime intended to kill him and take the treasure for himself. With a blow of Nothung, Siegfried slew Mime. Alberich laughed cruelly and regained the treasure Siegfried was leaving behind. Remembering the curse that he, Alberich, had placed on the holder of the Ring, he allowed Siegfried to continue wearing it, confident of the hero’s impending destruction.

The birds then told Siegfried of another task. A beautiful maiden, not a mortal but a Walküre named Brünnhilde, had been put to sleep by her father, Wotan, for disobedience. She slept on a great rock, encircled by flames. Only a Walsung hero born without fear could rescue her, waking her with a kiss. Siegfried seized the opportunity for adventure.

What was Briinnhilde’s crime? Before the birth of Siegfried, his parents, Siegmund and Sieglinde, fought bravely as the champions of the Niebelungen against Wotan. After Siegmund was slain in battle, the then-pregnant Sieglinde begged Brünnhilde for help. The Walküre had whisked her out of danger. Although Brünnhilde had acted out of compassion, she had given comfort to her father’s enemies. Thus was Brünnhilde placed into a deep sleep. Wotan had ordered Loge, the trickster and god of fire, to make a circle of flames to detain mortals from rescuing her.

As we have said, the young hero did not grasp the full meaning of his possession of the Ring, nor the significance of rescuing Brünnhilde in defiance of Wotan. As he approached the rock, Wotan—still in the disguise of a traveler—dissuaded him from rescuing Brünnhilde. This time Wotan did not carry a walking stick but a spear. Siegfried now knew that this stranger was none but Wotan. This spear was the very one that had shattered Nothung in the hands of his father, Siegmund. Wotan, however, knew that Siegfried had possession of the Ring and therefore he did not engage the hero in combat. Words were now the only weapons in the arsenal of Wotan, and Siegfried continued on toward the rock.

Siegfried arrived at the great rock and passed through the wall of flames. He saw what appeared to be a sleeping warrior in battle armor. But as he drew closer, he saw that it was the beautiful Brünnhilde. He kissed her and she awoke. However, in removing her helmet, Siegfried had transformed her from a Walküre into a mere mortal woman. Siegfried placed the Ring on her finger as a token of his love, and vowed to return for her.

Siegfried then rode to the land of the Giuchungen [Norse: Giukungur], who were ruled by the cowardly and treacherous King Gunther with the aid of his wicked mother, Griemhild, a sorceress.

Siegfried’s brave deeds were now well known throughout the world, and Griemhild knew who the young hero was. The sorceress wanted Siegfried to be the husband of her own daughter, Gutrune, and Brünnhilde would then be the bride of Gunther.

When Siegfried arrived, Gunther gave a great feast and swore an eternal oath of blood loyalty with Siegfried. Griemhild slipped a magic potion into Siegfried’s drink that made him forget about Brünnhilde. Then the young hero married Gutrune, per Griemhild’s plan. To complete her scheme, Griemhild enchanted Siegfried into assuming the appearance of Gunther, and sent him back for Brünnhilde. She thought that a new hero, and not Siegfried, had come to rescue her. Siegfried, as Gunther, spent three nights with the Walküre, his sword chastely separating them.

Siegfried brought Brünnhilde back to the palace of the Giuchungen, and he assumed his own appearance once again. Brünnhilde now believed that the cowardly Gunther had rescued her, not brave Siegfried, and she was bitter that Siegfried had “forgotten” his vow to her and married another.

In the course of a quarrel with Gutrune, however, Brünnhilde learned the truth: Gutrune let out that Siegfried had actually rescued her, but it was too late, as the hero was Gutrune’s husband now and Brünnhilde could never have him.

To create discord, Brünnhilde went to Gunther and told him that Siegfried had, in fact, made love to her during their three nights together. Brünnhilde demanded that Gunther kill Siegfried and defend her honor. Gunther replied that he could not do this, as he had sworn the eternal blood oath with the hero. However, he dispatched his brother, Hägen, to kill Siegfried. During the night, as Siegfried slept with Gutrune, Hägen stabbed the hero to death.

Now Brünnhilde had made certain that her Siegfried would never live with another woman. She had fulfilled the curse of Alberich. Brünnhilde threw herself on Siegfried’s funeral pyre to join him in eternity, and the flames engulfed the whole of Walhalla.

(Greece)

The myth of Theseus is an example of the power of the myth as an allegory of human life. Theseus must pass many tests and endure many trials before he faces his most significant challenge: defeating the bull-man Minotaur in the middle of the Labyrinth, a vast maze. Our own lives at times seem like mazes going nowhere. However, by knowing where he has been Theseus finds an escape from the maze. For us, myth is one way for modern man to know where he has been, and to work through the “maze” of our perplexing existence.

There is an intriguing historical perspective to this myth. During the 1890s, Sir Arthur John Evans excavated the royal palace at Knossos, Crete. There was, in 2000
B.C
., an enormous difference in the level of development on Crete in comparison to that in mainland Greece. Interestingly, Evans found flush toilets and advanced plumbing in the palace, advancements that would not come into common use in Western Europe until the end of the nineteenth century. More important to our investigations, the labyrinthine hallways of the palace, the many depictions of bullfights, and evidence of commerce with the mainland of Greece all add veracity to the story of Theseus, an early king of Athens.