The hall in which Menglad lives, and that part of the wall-surrounded domain which belongs to her, seems to be situated directly in front of the gate, for Svipdag, standing before it, asks who is the ruler of the domain which he sees before him, and Fjölsvin answers that it is Menglad who there holds sway, owns the land, and is mistress of the treasure-chambers.
The poem tells us in the most unmistakable manner that Menglad is an asynje, and that one of the very noblest ones. "What are the names," asks Svipdag, "of the young women who sit so pleasantly together at Menglad's feet?" Fjölsvin answers by naming nine, among whom are the goddess of healing, _Eir_ (Prose Edda, i. 114), and the dises _Hlif_, "the protectress," _Björt_, "the shining," _Blid_, "the blithe," and _Frid_, "the fair." Their place at Menglad's feet indicates that they are subordinate to her and belong to her attendants. Nevertheless they are, Fjölsvin assures us, higher beings, who have sanctuaries and altars (str. 40), and have both power and inclination quickly to help men who offer sacrifices to them. Nay, "no so severe evil can happen to the sons of men that these maids are not able to help them out of their distress." It follows with certainty that their mistress Menglad, "the one fond of ornaments," must be one of the highest and most worshipped goddesses in the mythology. And to none of the asynjes is the epithet "fond of ornaments" (Menglad) more applicable than to the fair owner of the first among female ornaments, Brisingamen--to Freyja, whose daughters _Hnoss_ and _Gersami_ are called by names that mean "ornaments," and of whose fondness for beautiful jewels even Christian saga authors speak. To the court of no other goddess are such dises as _Björt_, _Blid_, and _Frid_ so well suited as to hers. And all that Fjölsvinnsmal tells about Menglad is in harmony with this.
Freyja was the goddess of love, of matrimony, and of fertility, and for this reason she was regarded as the divine ruler and helper, to whom loving maids, wives who are to bear children, and sick women were to address themselves with prayers and offerings. Figuratively this is expressed in Fjölsvinnsmal with the words that every sick woman who walks up the mountain on which Menglad sits regains her health. "That mountain has long been the joy of the sick and wounded" (str. 36). The great tree whose foliage spreads over Menglad's palace bears the fruits that help _kélisjúkar konur_, so that _utar hverva that thær innar skyli_ (str. 22). In the midst of the fair dises who attend Menglad the poem also mentions _Aurboda_, the giantess, who afterwards becomes the mother-in-law of Freyja's brother, and whose appearance in Asgard as a maid-servant of Freyja, and as one of those that bring fruits from the world-tree to _kélisjúkar konur_, has already been mentioned in No. 35. If we now add that Menglad, though a mighty goddess, is married to Svipdag, who is not one of the gods, and that Freyja, despite her high rank among the goddesses, does not have a god for her husband, but, as Gylfaginning expresses it, _giptist theim manni er Ódr heitir_, and, finally that Menglad's father is characterised by a name which refers to Freyja's father, Njord,[3] then these circumstances alone, without the additional and decisive proofs which are to be presented as this investigation progresses, are sufficient to form a solid basis for the identity of Menglad and Freyja, and as a necessary consequence for the identity of Svipdag and _Ódr_, also called _Óttarr_.