I began my investigation on the connection of the anthropological stories in Rigsthula and Oera Linda Book with a quote from Dr. Rydberg’s Teutonic Mythology (Undersokningar i Germanisk Mythologi) (ch.25):
 “It is possible that both the older patriarchs were regarded as the founders and chiefs of the whole human race rather than of the Teutons alone.”

 This statement led me on the journey to find the reasons Rydberg had come to this conclusion. To my amazement, I found enough evidence in the Eddaic tale, then found even more in the text we are looking at which Rydberg seems to have never looked at- this being, of course Oera Linda Book, that there is certainly some validity to this statement and that it forms a link between the Scandinavian and Frisian Sagas. Not only could O.L.B. illuminate some of the tale in Rigspula, but this connection could change the way we look at, and investigate both of the narratives.

 What is most striking to the story, at first glance in O.L.B. (pg.5), is the similarity it has with the creation of the first couple of the Teutonic race-Askr and Embla. In the Seidr Paradigms it states that “Ask and Embla Odin and Frigga formed”. To many this may seem to be a puzzling statement, since it is well known that the three Gods Odin, Hoenir and Lodur are the ones who play the roles in this creation in Voluspa (st. 18). How could Frigga have played a part in this as well? To begin answering this we look again to Rydberg (ch.95), who is discussing the several elements of humans per the Teutonic anthropological lore, comparing the divine gifts with the earthly matter:

 “The two lowest factors, the earthly material and the vegetative force, were already united in Ask and Embla when the three gods found them ‘growing as trees‘. These elements were able to unite themselves simply by the course of nature without any divine interference.”

 Again, this statement may puzzle someone who is not familiar with the lore since saying that Odin and Frigga formed Ask and Embla and then saying that they were already developing when the gods found them, to give our race the divine gifts (Odin gave ond- spirit, Hoenir gave odur - the kernel of our personality, and Lodur gave la- blood with laeti - the way in which a conscious being moves and acts, and litr goda- the image of the gods), “without any divine interference” seems like a contradiction. However, the lore corroborates this very idea when we look at how the earth came to be. Odin and his brothers Vili-Lodur and Ve-Hoenir slay Ymir and use his body, ground in the great world-mill Grotti, to create Midgard- our Earth. At some point in time Frigga is put in charge of the world itself, which is fitting because she is closely connected to all three of the brothers and has as her primary husband All-Father Odin himself. She is the daughter of Hoenir-Fjorgyn and is the sister of Njordr, god of the sea. It is probable that these were the first twins born in the divine clan. We know she is queen of our world from her epithets Nerthus, Erde, Jord, Terrae Mater, and Fjorgynn, all of which have the significance of “Mother Earth”. That Odin fathered Embla (who becomes an aspect, by misconception of course, of Frya in O.L.B., see below) with Earth, Frigga, is found in the idea that the first human couple, Ask and Embla, were born of trees and given life by Odin (and his brothers). If Odin is their father, Frigga, his wife, must be their mother, and that may be how she came to obtain this title of Earth Mother. So Odin and Frigga have taken some role in the birth of the natural forms Askr and Embla hold in their creation and regulation of the processes that led to their development.

 We find this story of human development in O.L.B. which parallels and confirms the above (pg. 5):

 “Wralda (Odin), who alone is good and everlasting, made the beginning, then came time; time wrought all things, also Earth. Earth bore all grasses, plants and trees, all lovely animals and all bad animals. All what is good and dear, brought she forth by day and what is evil brought she forth in the night. After the twelfth Yulefest, bore she three maids. Lyda was out of glowing, Finda was out of hot, Frya out of warm stuff.

 “When they came naked, Wralda fed them with his breath, to the end that mankind should be bound to him. As soon as they were ripe, they took joy and pleasure in the dreams of Wralda...”

 Elsewhere in the text we find that (pg. 94):
 “Wralda gave child to the mothers of the human race, then laid he speech upon all tongues and upon all lips.”

 Parallels of this are found in both Eddaic versions of the tale and in the run poems’ strophes for Ansuz or As. The Icelandic and Norwegian run poems inform us that this is the rune of Odin, “Asgard’s chieftain and the leader of Valhall.” The Anglo-Saxon rune poem’s term for “God” thus can only be Odin. So we can say that “Odin (god) is the source of all language; a pillar of wisdom and a comfort to wise men, a blessing and a joy to every knight.” From this we can conclude that when the three gods gave humans the divine gifts Odin’s gift of önd “Spirit”, gave them the ability to speak the divine tongue and to dream as well. (see below)

 On pg. 63 we see a description of the elements given to us:
 “When Wralda created us, has he through his wisdom-brain, lent us sense, memory and many good traits. Herewith might we consider his creatures and laws. Thereof might we teach and thereof might we speak, all and only for our own well-being. Had Wralda give us no sense, so should we wit of nothing and we should be yet more irredeemable than a jellyfish, which is driven through ebb and through flood.”

 In order to fully grasp the relation O.L.B.’s narrative has to the original Nordic heathen lore we should look at some of the latter as it is seen in Fädernas Gudasaga (ch. 9):

 “Odin, Hoenir and Lodur went to the lovely Midgard that they had created and wandered there about. There was much to see and delight themselves with but something was still missing: beings who could enjoy themselves in Midgard, which would be their well decorated home, and give thanks to those who gave them the home. The gods walked all along the strand of the Northern Sea, where this stretches itself out south around the Aurvangaland (“The Land of Clayey Plains”, the southernmost part of the Scandinavian peninsula). There they saw on the strand two trees and decided to transform them into their likeness with the shape they themselves had and to make them into conscious beings. The first was named Ask, the second Embla. Lodur loosened them from their connection to the earth and gave them the ability to move and conduct themselves with an inner mainspring; he transformed their cold saps into warm blood and changed them into images of the gods. Hoenir gave them the human ego with consciousness and will. Odin gave them the greatest gift- the spirit. So was created the first human pair: Ask, the man, and Embla, the woman.

 “Beautiful to behold, but naked and shy stood they before the gods. Then Odin undressed himself of his own splendid clothes and with them clothed Ask and Embla. And they thought themselves stately when they received these garbs.”

 Later, in the same chapter, it says:
 “...for them to cultivate and strengthen their disposition for the good, for them to enlighten them and bind them to themselves with holy bonds the gods made for this purpose the decision to send them (the humans) an educator and teacher.”

 The entire heathen lore did not extend the origin from the gods to the entire human race, but rather remained within the borders of Europe. It would not be until later that the gods came into contact with other peoples, which will be explained later. It should come as no surprise that our highest god, Odin, the bringer of the runes to the gods who is particularly recognized in his connection to them, would be the one who gave language to our earliest people. though it is stated that it is Lodur’s gift of odur which gives us “understanding, memory, fancy, and will” (Teutonic Mythology ch. 95) it is obviously Odin’s gift which allows for these to be manifested through spoken language (written language would have come later with the arrival of Heimdall). In O.L.B. a form of ‘emaculate conception’ takes place (see below) later with one of Wralda’s daughters (and presumably all of them) which we are sure that our ancestors would have looked upon as a freakish act the true explanation would be that the gifts of the gods made the primordial maiden very fertile. Perhaps it is that these gifts, which are believed to still be given to women today, are less potent in their later distribution or we can simply see our own present social circumstances as that which keeps us from even trying to have twenty-four children, as Frya is said to have (O.L.B. pg. 5). From all of this we can see how closely O.L.B.’s anthropology correlates to that in Voluspa with the story of Ask and Embla.

 Now we shall examine the characteristics of the “Frya” personage in full and its relation to Embla and the dawn of our folk; we should remember that “Frya” in the old Teutonic tongues was a generic term for “lady” (cp. O.N. Freyja, G. Frau). This title seems to signify the aspects of three characters from the Eddaic lore rolled into one, as we shall witness.

 To begin the investigation on the aspect of Embla as represented by the “Frya” title we look further on in the text (pgs. 63-64) where she (they) began to learn the lessons of nature:

 “When Frya was born, stood she naked and bare, unsheltered against the rays of the sun. No other might she ask and there were none who might lend her help. Then went Wralda to and wrought in her mind inclination and love, fear and dread.”

 The story goes on to explain how she learned to use the natural materials around her and establish a home. She then teaches her twelve sons and twelve daughters (see pg. 5) how to work once she realized how difficult it was to do on her own. But we mustn’t believe that she was all alone. In fact, this may be yet another proof that the author of O.L.B. had their Christian upbringing influencing their presentation of these tales. The concept of a sexless birth, or ‘emaculate conception’ was considered a trait of monsters to the ancient heathens: in Scandinavia these were known as the Jotuns. Ymir begat Mimer, Beistla, and Thrudgelmir without the pleasure of a maid (cp. Vafthrudnismal 32 on how Ymir had these children without a woman to O.L.B. pg. 102 on how Frya had her children “without the intercourse of a man”) and only Thrudgelmir and the race of Jotuns descended from him are said to have continued propagating in this way ( see Teut. Myth. ch. 86). “Frya” probably retained these aspects of Ymir because she was to be presented as a “primordial being” like him. Through an understanding of the pre-Christian Teutonic beliefs we must conclude that Frya-Embla did have a husband (Askr), in fact,  all three of her aspects had husbands in the Norse tales. The need to have her perform these miracle births most likely came from the connection given to her with the virginal goddesses found elsewhere, whom we shall look at later.

 In Havamal (str. 49) there is a description of Askr and Embla that coincides with what is told above from O.L.B. on Frya, let’s look at Dr. Rydberg’s comment on the strophe (Teut. Myth. ch. 20):

 “The passage explains that when the Asa-god (Odin) saw the modesty of the new-made human pair he gave them his own divine garments to cover them. When they found themselves so beautifully adorned it seems to indicate the awakening sense of pride in the first human pair. The words are: “In the field (velli at) I gave my clothes to the two wooden men (tviem tremonnum). Heroes they seemed to themselves when they got clothes. The naked man is embarrassed.” ”

 Compare this to the above quoted passage from O.L.B. (pg. 63) when Wralda is said to give Frya “inclination and love” when she stood “naked and bare, unsheltered against the rays of the sun.”

 Finally, in this connection of part of Frya’s personality with Embla, we find on page 5, already quoted above, that Wralda “breathed” life into Frya, whereas Odin is said to do the same in the Icelandic literature to Embla and her husband. The foundation of the idea that Odin gave this “breath of life” in the Scandinavian texts is based upon the fact that the word “önd” can be either translated as “spirit” or “breath”, which we can compare to the translation of the Ansuz or As rune as “god” or “mouth”. Therefore the strophe in Voluspa (19) that describes the gifts of the gods to humans can be seen as representing the idea that Odin gave the first Teutonic couple spirit or he gave them breath. Either interpretation can be proven as valid, especially in the light of O.L.B., so it would be best to simply say that when Odin gave his gift of önd or spirit that this gave the humans their first breath, which would be a logical conclusion even without the ambiguous interpretation of the word. We can also speculate that the önd, which by Rydberg’s definition is “that by which a human being becomes a participator in the divine also in an inner sense, and not only as to form” (Teut. Myth. ch. 95), has its parallel phenomenon in O.L.B. in the statement “...as soon as they were ripe (my emphasis, this word reminds us of Ask and Embla, who were found “growing in trees” by the divine brothers), they took joy and pleasure in the dreams of Wralda.” All of these proofs point to the conclusion that this part of Frya’s aspect is identical to Embla’s.

 The second part of “Frya’s” aspects cannot have been representative of the original Teutonic couple, if we believe that her first aspect is identical to Embla’s, which I think has been well established. Again, Rydberg explains why:

 “The oldest history of man did not begin with a paradision condition. Some time has elapsed between the creation of Ask and Embla, and Heimdall’s coming among men. As culture begins with Heimdall, a condition of barbarism must have preceded his arrival. At all events the first generations after Ask and Embla have been looked upon as lacking fire; consequently they have been without the art of the smith, without metal implements, and without the knowledge of agriculture. Hence it is that the Vana-child comes across the western sea with fire, with implements, and with the sheaf of grain. But the barbarous condition may have been attended with innocence and goodness of heart. the manner in which the strange child was received by the inhabitants of Scandia’s coat, and the tenderness with which it is cared for... seem to indicate this.”

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