Marriage with alien wives, which in the case of the Mastermaid story
has been postulated as means of transmission and as the one possible
explanation of its nearly universal diffusion, may perhaps with more
simplicity be assumed as the common basis in custom for independently
arising myths of this type. The attempts of the bride's kindred to
prevent the marriage, and of the bridegroom's to undo it, would be
natural incidents in such a story, and the magic powers employed by
and against the bride would be the mythical representatives of the
mutually unfamiliar customs of alien tribes. This theory at least
offers a credible explanation of the hero's temporary oblivion of
or unfaithfulness to his protectress, after their successful escape
together.
In the Valkyrie-brides, Brynhild and Sigrun, with their double
attributes of fighting and wisdom, there is an evident connexion
with the Germanic type of woman preserved in the allusions of Caesar
and Tacitus, which reaches its highest development in the heroines
of the Edda. Any mythical or ideal conception of womanhood combines
the two primitive instincts, love and fighting, even though the woman
may be only the innocent cause of strife, or its passive prize. The
peculiarity of the Germanic representation is that the woman is never
passive, but is herself the incarnation of both instincts. Even
if she is not a Valkyrie, nor taking part herself in the fight,
she is ready, like the wives of the Cimbri, to drive the men back
to the battle from which they have escaped.
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