And where a cottage slopes down
By the water abide.
Poetizing founding builds the stairs for the descent of the heavenly. And this is why the poets themselves must be like what is below, the earth upon which the stairs are to be built:
. . . Und wie Hertha grün
Sind sie die Kinder des Himmels.
. . . And like Hertha green
They are the children of the heavens.
"Hertha" is the Germanic name for "Mother Earth," the Terra mater Nerthus, of which Tacitus in chapter 40 of his Germania reports:
Nec quicquam notabile in singulis. nisi quod in commune Nerthum, idest Terram matrem, colunt eamque intervenire rebus hominum, invehi populis arbitrantur. Est in insula Oceani castum nemus, dicatumque in eo vehiculum. veste contectum; allingere uni sacerdoti concessum. Is adesse penetrali deum intellegit vectamque bubus fominis multo cum veneratione prosequitur. Laeti tunc dies, festa loca, quaecumque adventu hospitioque dignutur. Non bella ineunt, non arma sumunt; clausum omne ferrum; pax et quies tunc tun tum nota, tunc tan tum amata, donee idem sucerdos satiatum mmoersatione mortalium deum templo reddat. Mox vehiculum et vestis et. si credere velis. numen ipsum secreto lacu ahluitur. Servi ministrant, quos statim idem lacus haurit. Arcanus hinc terror sanctuque ignorantia, quid sit illud, quod tantum perituri vident.
She is not honored among all Germans, but only among a community of Swabian tribes. who believe that she cares for human things and has traveled to be among the peoples. On an island of Oceanus there is a sacred grove with a sacrificial offering arranged in it, a carriage decked with a cloth. Only the priest is allowed to touch it. He recognizes the presence of the goddess in the sacred realm and. harnessing the cattle. he escorts the goddess with supreme reverence. Happy then are the days. and festive the locales that the goddess everywhere honors by her coming and being a guest. No wars are then conducted. No weapons seized. Iron too is closed away: peace and quiet now alone prevail. now alone find love - until the same priest. when the goddess has had enough of being together with mortals, returns her to her sacred realm. The carriage and the cloths and. if you will believe it. the presencing of the goddess herself are then immediately washed in a concealed lake. This service is carried out by slaves. who are then swallowed up by this same lake. From this there stems the hidden terror and the sacred ignorance concerning what it is that is seen b;,- only those who are doomed to death.