Hjúki and Bil

Lore & Background

In chapter 11 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, the enthroned figure of High states that Hjúki and Bil were fathered by Viðfinnr. Once while the two were walking from the well Byrgir—both carrying on their shoulders the pole Simul that held the pail Sæg between them—Máni took them from the Earth, and they now follow Máni in the heavens, 'as can be seen from the earth.' Hjúki is otherwise unmentioned, but Bil receives recognition. In chapter 35 of Gylfaginning, both Sól (the personified Sun) and Bil are listed together as goddesses 'whose nature has already been described.' Bil appears twice more in the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál: in chapter 75 within another list of goddesses, and in chapter 47 in a kenning for 'woman.'

Reader's Guide

Hjúki and Bil are significant primarily as the only surviving Norse mythological account of the Man in the Moon, a figure widespread in Germanic folklore. Scholars debate whether they represent the Moon's craters or its phases. Jacob Grimm argued they represent craters, noting that Swedish folk tradition still sees two persons carrying a bucket on a pole in the Moon's spots. He also traced a Christian adaptation where the Moon-man is a wood-stealer punished for working on Sunday. The names of the objects in the tale—Byrgir, Simul, Sæg—are obscure, leading Rudolf Simek to suggest Snorri derived them from a folktale. The story's similarity to the English nursery rhyme 'Jack and Jill' has prompted theories of a connection, though this remains speculative. Bil has been identified with the Bilwis, a polymorphous figure in German-speaking folklore that evolved from a goddess into a malevolent witch, a demon, and finally a grain spirit. The village of Bilsby in Lincolnshire, England, has been proposed as named after Bil. Overall, Hjúki and Bil offer a rare glimpse into how pre-Christian lunar mythology was preserved and transformed in medieval Iceland and later European folklore.

Did You Know?

• Hjúki and Bil are solely attested in the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson.
• Their names may mean 'the one returning to health' (Hjúki) and 'instant' (Bil).
• Jacob Grimm argued that Hjúki and Bil represent the craters of the Moon, not its phases.
• Bil has been identified with the Bilwis, an agriculture-associated figure in German folklore.