ABSTRACT
Although most of Scandinavia’s myths focus on the deeds of those two great gods Óðinn and þórr, nevertheless there are at least two female figures who play a fairly prominent role in the Eddas: Freyja and Frigg. The two of them seem to have little in common: Frigg appears as Óðinn’s wife, patroness of the home, and a relative model of social virtue. It might be somewhat rash to state that Frigg is the Mother Goddess of the north, but she is certainly a maternal figure in the myth in which she plays the most active part-the story of Balder’s death, where she tries to protect him from all harm. The kenning Friggjar niðjar (descendants of Frigg) is used for the gods in general in Egill Skalla-Grímsson’s Sonatorrek-written in the mid-to late tenth century-so her maternal character is clear (Jónsson 1967-73: B I, 34). Freyja, on the other hand, is sexually very free and active. Many of her activities, such as the practice of seiðr (magic), put her firmly outside the sphere of normal society; she might be called the ‘wild woman’ of Northern myth.
