12 billing’s daughter
them to fetch water from the spring, Byrgir, in the
pail, Saegr, on the pole, Simul.
While the story and names of Bil and Hjuki
seemed to early scholars of Norse mythology to be
a creation of 13th-century poet and historian Snorri
Sturluson, recent scholars have suggested that
Snorri knew of a very old riddle poem in which Bil
was the waning (shrinking) Moon and Hjuki was the
waxing (growing) Moon.
In his book Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, the
19th-century British scholar Sabine Baring-Gould
claimed that the popular nursery rhyme about Jack
and Jill, who “went up the hill to fetch a pail of water,”
had its origin in the tale of Bil and Hjuki.
See also “Sun and Moon” under creation.
B illing ’ s
daughter or B illing ’ s girl
The maiden featured in a section of the poem H ava -
mal that tells of Odin’s lust for a young woman and
her cunning rejection of him.
When Odin encounters a beautiful human
maiden, whom he refers to as “Billing’s daughter,”
asleep in a camp, he immediately falls in love with
her and pursues an intimate union with her. The
girl tells Odin to wait and come back at night when
she will give herself to him. However, when the god
returns, he finds the camp lit up brightly and all of
the warriors who guard the maiden up and about.