. The Victoria history of the county of Cumberland. Natural history. A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND lene with the alabastron or ' box of ointment'—a figure which seems to indicate an English origin, as in an Irish cross there would be a soldier holding up the sponge. Underneath is a snake twisted up in itself, with heads at each end of its body, one attacking the other. Over the crucifix is a headless row of the Scandinavian chain-pattern, and above is a figure holding a spear in one hand and with the other hand and one foot wrenching open the jaws of the great dragon above. If this figure were merel
. The Victoria history of the county of Cumberland. Natural history. A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND lene with the alabastron or ' box of ointment'—a figure which seems to indicate an English origin, as in an Irish cross there would be a soldier holding up the sponge. Underneath is a snake twisted up in itself, with heads at each end of its body, one attacking the other. Over the crucifix is a headless row of the Scandinavian chain-pattern, and above is a figure holding a spear in one hand and with the other hand and one foot wrenching open the jaws of the great dragon above. If this figure were merely entering the \\ -^.-^'^-^^ dragon's mouth it would be easily t|* i igkal recognized as the usual representa- '- tion of Christ's descent into hell, but it is something more. It really illustrates a passage in the Vafthrudnis-mdl, a poem of the Edda, which tells how Vidar the Silent, one of the Norse gods, should avenge the death of Odin by rending open ' the cold jaws of the wolf—the dragon wolf, off- spring of Loki the evil one. The south side has, beside dragons and a horseman with spear, the favourite device, seen already in part at Penrith, of the stag, em- blem of Christ or the Christian, I'f >f' chased by the dog or wolf. The western side is pure Edda. At the bottom it contains a group which Mr. Calverley was the first to explain as represent- ing the punishment of Loki. It is told in the prose Edda, and there are references to it in the poem called Vsluspd in the earlier Edda, how the gods, tired of Loki's misdeeds, caught him after a long struggle and bound him with three bonds in an underground cave over sharp rocks. Above his head they hung a serpent from whose mouth venom dripped on his face, but his faithful wife Sigun attended him and held a cup to catch the drops. ' When the cup was full she had to turn aside and empty it ; then the venom dropped on Loki so that he writhed in agony.' 268. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page image
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnatural, bookyear1901
