Wade (folklore)

Wade (from the Old English Wada ) sometimes Waetla 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). Few details have survived to the present day, with most of the surviving information about him coming from the Poetic Edda, Chaucer, and the Brothers Grimm. His heritage is uncertain - he is referred to as giant, dwarf, demi-god (with some parallels to both Woden and Thunor) or king - but he is always associated with water.

Family

As a widespread character, Wade in his different guises has a number of differing family trees; however, the attributes remain virtually identical: he was born from a sea-dwelling being and an elevated being of the land, had two or three sons. Details of his wife are always sketchy, however. His most famous son is Wayland.

Mythology and Folklore

Wade has always had a strong association with the sea, which is entirely due to his parentage. This is most obviously demonstrated in a story related by the Brothers Grimm, where he waded over the Grœnasund in Denmark, through water nine yards deep, while carrying his young son Wayland. This ability is one which is also ascribed to Thunor, and was the cause of a friendship which grew up between them. To the Angles, he was the Keeper of the Ford, and acted as both ferryman and protector. He was also a powerful warrior of the sea, and had a ship called "Guingelot" (modern Standard English) or "Wingelock" (northern English).

In Chaucer's Merchant's Tale, Wade is alluded to:

And bet than old boef is the tendre veel...       And better than old beef is tender veal...          
And eek thise old wydwes, God it woot,            and also these old widows, God did wot,
They konne so muchel craft on Wades boot,         They can play so much craft on Wade's boat,
So muchel broken harm, whan that hem leste,       So much harm, when they like it,
That with hem sholde I nevere lyve in reste...    That with them should I never live in rest....
1.209-14

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.

Likewise, Wade is also alluded too in another of Chaucer's works, Troilus and Criseyde:

Tr 1 1013 With sobre chere, although his herte pleyde:
Tr 1 1074 And in the feld he pleyde tho leoun;  
Tr 3 614 He song; she pleyde; he tolde tale of Wade. 
Tr 5 509 But natheles, he japed thus, and pleyde, 
Tr 5 1112 And on the walles of the town they pleyde,    
Tr 5 1174 " From haselwode, there joly Robyn pleyde,       
  

These references shows that the tale of Wade and his boat were well-known at Chaucer's time and it has been suggested that Wade and his boat were synonymous with trickery.

In Northern England the tale of Wade and his boat Wingelock surivived into early modern times, at least until the restoration and Wade was remembered locally in North East England until much later. 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.

References and further reading

1. Branston, "The Lost Gods of England", 1957
2. Chaucer, "Troilus and Criseyde"
3. Ellis Davidson, H. R. "Gods and Myths of the Viking Age", 1996
4. Jordsvin, "Wayland Smith", Idunna, Fall 2004
5. Poetic Edda, Völundarkviða