9 - Þórr and the Bear's Son

Summary

Se wæs moncynnes mægenes strengest

on þæm dæge þysses lifes,

æþele ond eacen.

‘He was the mightiest in strength of living men at that time,

noble and huge.’

Beowulf 196–8a

In Chapter 8 I outlined a pattern in which Þórr encounters one or more giantesses who represent a threat to human life, in particular that of the protagonist's close kinsman. These are examples of a story pattern whose common features are:

A supremely strong hero makes an expedition to fight a giant.

He has one or more companions, but they usually make no important contribution.

He and his companion(s) are badly received at their destination.

He is attacked by at least one giantess and at least one giant, who are related to each other, and destroys both; both fights include some wrestling.

Two other common features which do not emerge in the Geirrøðr myth are:

The ogress often tries to pierce the hero's flesh with her claws.

Later, the hero will perish, heroically facing overwhelming odds.

Turning to stories of this kind in which the hero is a human being rather than a god, one can distinguish two sub-types, which I shall call the ‘Þórr pattern’ and the ‘Bear's Son pattern’. The main features of the Þórr pattern are:

Þ1. The hero or his associate is tricked into making the visit.

Þ2. The hero is usually helped by a friendly giantess (occasionally a giant).

Þ3. The associate (or occasionally the hero) often has a sexual partner.

Þ4. They must cross a dangerous river which is a boundary between worlds.

Þ5. The fights against both ogres usually take place in their cave; the order of fights varies.

Þ6. The hero fights with his bare hands, or with very primitive weapons; he destroys the ogres by breaking their backs or skulls, or by fire.