These symbols of the
reproductive energies of nature, which give to the possessor
every good and perfect gift, illustrate the uncurbed belief in
the power of wish which the ancient man shared with modern
children. In the Norse story of Frodi's quern, the myth
assumes a whimsical shape. The prose Edda tells of a primeval
age of gold, when everybody had whatever he wanted. This was
because the giant Frodi had a mill which ground out peace and
plenty and abundance of gold withal, so that it lay about the
roads like pebbles. Through the inexcusable avarice of Frodi,
this wonderful implement was lost to the world. For he kept
his maid-servants working at the mill until they got out of
patience, and began to make it grind out hatred and war. Then
came a mighty sea-rover by night and slew Frodi and carried
away the maids and the quern. When he got well out to sea, he
told them to grind out salt, and so they did with a vengeance.
They ground the ship full of salt and sank it, and so the
quern was lost forever, but the sea remains salt unto this
day.
Mr. Kelly rightly identifies Frodi with the sun-god Fro or
Freyr, and observes that the magic mill is only another form
of the fire-churn, or chark. According to another version the
quern is still grinding away and keeping the sea salt, and
over the place where it lies there is a prodigious whirlpool
or maelstrom which sucks down ships.
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