(2) There is an allusion in _Völuspa_ to the war which caused the
giving of hostages:

"Odin shot into the host: this was the first war in the world. Broken
was the wall of the citadel of the Aesir, so that the Wanes could
tread the fields of war."

(3) Loki taunts Njörd with his position, in _Lokasenna_:

"Thou wast sent from the east as a hostage to the Gods...."

_Njörd_. "This is my comfort, though I was sent from far as a hostage
to the Gods, yet I have a son whom no one hates, and he is thought
the best of the Aesir."

_Loki_. "Stay, Njörd, restrain thy pride; I will hide it no longer:
thy son is thine own sister's son, and that is no worse than one
would expect."

_Tyr_. "Frey is the best of all the bold riders of Asgard."

There is little doubt that Njörd was once a God of higher importance
than he is in the Edda, where he is overshadowed by his son. Grimm's
suggestion that he and the goddess Nerthus, mentioned by Tacitus,
were brother and sister, is supported by the line in _Lokasenna_; it
is an isolated reference, and the Goddess has left no other traces in
Scandinavian mythology. They were the deities, probably agricultural,
of an earlier age, whose adoption by the later Northmen was explained
by the story of the compact between Aesir and Vanir. Then their places
were usurped by Frey and Freyja, who were possibly created out of