For gold thou bought’st Gymer’s daughter, And sold thy sword At the same time; But when the sons of Muspel Come riding from the dark woods, What hail thou, poor fellow, To rely upon? Frey has a servant by name BYGVER, who responds to Loke: Know that, were I born Of so noble a race As Ingun’s Frey, And had I So glorious a hall, I would crush the evil crow, Break his bones to the marrow! LOKE then turns upon Bygver, and calls him a little impertinent thing, that always hangs about Frey’s ears and cries under the millstone (can the reader help thinking at this moment of Robert Burns’ famous poem, _John Barleycorn?_); a good-for-nothing fellow, who never would divide good with men, and when the heroes fought they could not find him, for he was concealed in the straw of the bed. Frey’s maid-servant is Beyla, Bygver’s wife, whom Loke calls the ugliest and filthiest hag that can be found among the offspring of the gods. Of course Loke exaggerates and uses abusive language, but it was in truth a sorry thing for Frey that he traded his sword away, for it is to this fact he owes his defeat when he encounters Surt in Ragnarok. Frey’s wife was Gerd, a daughter of Gymer, and their son was Fjolner. Frey was worshiped throughout the northern countries. In the common formula of the oath his name was put first: HJÁLPI MÉR SVÁ FREYR OK NJÖRÐR OK HINN ALMÁTTKI ÁS! that is, So help me Frey and Njord and the almighty Asa (Odin). On Jul-eve (Christmas eve) it was customary to lead out a boar, which was consecrated to Frey, and which was called the atonement boar. On this the persons present laid their hands and made solemn vows; and at the feast, where the flesh of the sacrificed animal was eaten by the assembled guests, there was drunk, among other horns, a horn to Njord and Frey for prosperous seasons and for peace. Everything about Frey goes to show that he is the god of the earth’s fruitfulness. The sea, Njord, rises as vapor and descends in rain upon the land, making it fruitful. There has been much dispute about the etymological meaning of the word Frey. Finn Magnússon derives it from _frœ_, Norse _frö_, meaning seed. Grimm, on the other hand, thinks the fundamental idea is mildness, gladness (compare German _froh_, Norse _fryd_). A derived meaning of the word is man, masculine of Freyja (German _frau_), meaning woman. SECTION IV. FREY AND GERD.