Wade (Old English Wada [wɑdɑ]), is the English name for a common Germanic mythological character who, depending on location, is also known as Vadi (Norse) and Wate (Middle High German).
Contents
Overview
The earliest mention occurs in the Old English poem Widsith. According to the Þiðrekssaga, he was born between king Vilkinus and a mermaid. His famous son is Wayland, and grandson Wudga. Though not explicitly given as such, Egil and Slagfin may be Wade's sons, since they are Wayland's brothers according to the Poetic Edda.
The medieval English romance about Wade once existed, for Chaucer alluded to the "Tale of Wade" in one of his works, Troilus and Criseyde and used the phrase "Wade's boat" (Middle English: Wades boot), meaning some sort of trickery, in The Merchant's Tale. The tale and the boat was apparently familiar, at the end of 16th century, to an editor of Chaucer's works Thomas Speght, who remarked that Wade's boat bore the name Guingelot. To the Angles, Wade was the Keeper of the Ford, and acted as both ferryman and protector.
Thidrekssaga
Wade has always had a strong association with the sea or water. In the saga about Wade's family, the Vilkina saga (also known as the (Þiðrekssaga), it is said that Wade (Vadi; Old Norse: Vaði) was born between King Vilkinus and a mermaid (gen. Old Norse: siokononar lit. "sea woman").
Wade first apprenticed his son Wayland (Old Norse: Völundr) to Mimir, from age 9 to 12, and later to two dwarfs living in mount Kallava. He went from his home in Sjoland (=?Zealand) to Grœnasund sound (in Denmark), and finding no ship sailing out, he waded across the sound in waters nine ells deep while carrying his young son Wayland on his shoulder. After the boy studied for two stretches of 12 months, Wade came to fetch his son from the reluctant dwarfs, and was killed in a landslide caused by an earthquake.
In the aftermath, the son (Wayland) slays the dwarfs and sets off in a boat he crafts, windowed with glass, reaching the land of king Nidung.
Wades boat in Chaucer
In Chaucer's, Merchant' Tale occurs the following reference to Wade's boat:
It is clear that, in this context, Wade's boat is being used as a sexual euphemism. However, it is debatable whether this single indirect reference can be taken to demonstrate fertility aspects are a part of his character.
Guingelot
Thomas Speght, an editor or Chaucer's works from the end of 16th century, made a passing remark that "Concerning Wade and his bote called Guingelot, and also his strange exploits in the same, because the matter is long and fabulous, I pass it over" There may have been widespread knowledge of Wade's adventure in his time, but it has not been transmitted to the present day, and Speght's omission has been deplored by subsequent commentators. "Wingelock" is Skeat's reconstructed Anglicized form of the boat's name.
Old English fragment of Wade
In the 19th century, three lines from the lost Old English Tale of Wade was found, quoted in a Latin homily in MS. 255 in the Library of Peterhouse, Cambridge:
On the same passage, Gollancz gave the following alternate translation: "We may say with Wade that [all creatures who fell] became elves or adders or nickors who live in pools; not one became a man except Hildebrand"
The context of the quote has been variously conjectured. Rickert speculated that the situation resembled the scene in the Waldere fragment, "in which Widia, Wate's grandson, and Hildebrand rescue Theodoric from a den of monsters". Karl P. Wentersdorf stated that "Wade is here boasting of his victorious adventures with many kinds of creatures". Alaric Hall ventures that some antagonistic force has magically "sent" (and other beings) to beset Wade is beset by monsters, though he cautions that the fragment is too short for certitude.
Folklore
Stones at Mulgrave near Whitby were said to be the grave of the dead sea-giant (they were known as "Waddes grave"). A tale was told of Sleights Moor in Eskdale, North Yorkshire. During the building of Mulgrave Castle and Pickering Castle Wade and his wife Bell would throw a hammer to and fro over the hills (the Roman road that was called "Wade's Causey" or "Wade's Wife's Causey" locally, was also said to have been built in this manner). One day Wade's son grew impatient for his milk and hurled a stone that weighed a few tonnes across Eskdale to where his mother was milking her cow at Swarthow on Egton Low Moor. The stone hit Bell with such force that a part of it broke off and could be seen for many years until it was broken up to mend the highways.