HID 



RUXES. 



Kngland, being the earliest and most important of flic 

 Northern colonies, possesses many monuments and objects with 

 runes ; among them a large knife, now in the British Museum, 

 found in the bed of the Thames, the blade of which is orna- 

 mented with gold and silver, and an inscription in runes. 1 



From the sagas we learn that runes were traced on staves, 

 rods, weapons, the stem and rudder of ships, drinking-horns, 

 iish bones, and upon the teeth of Skipnir, &c. 



In Knnatal (Odin's liune song), or the last part of Havamal, 

 there is a most interesting account of the use that could be 

 made of runes. It shows plainly that in earlier times they 

 were not used by the people in general for writing; that they 

 \\ero mystic, being employed for conjurations and the like, 

 and therefore regarded with a certain awe and superstition; 

 just as to-day writing is looked upon by certain savage tribes, 

 who cannot be made to understand how speech can be trans- 

 mitted and kept on paper for an indefinite period. 



In this song, Odin is supposed to be teaching some one, 

 and giving advice; he reckons up his arts thus: 



I know tliat I hung 

 On the windy tree 

 Nine 2 whole nights, 

 Wounded with a spear, 

 Given to Odin, 

 Myself to mysc-h ; 

 On the tree 



Of which no one knows 

 Kn>m what roots it comes. 



They gave me no food 

 Nor a horn (drink) ; 



I peered downward, 

 I caught the runes, 

 Learned them weeping; 3 

 Thence 1 fell down. 



Nine songs of mi^ht 



1 learnt from the famous 



Son of Bdlthorn, father of Best la; 



And I got a draught 



Of the precious mead, 



Taken out of Odrerir. 5 



1 In the Royal Library at Copenhagen 

 there exist three most remarkable manu- 

 scripts in runic characters, showing the 

 late period at which these still were in 

 use. Tin- first of these manuscripts, 

 heaving the date of' 1543, was written 

 as a journal by Mo^ens Gyldenstjerne (a 

 Danish noble) of Stjernholm. during a 

 voyage into the North Sea undertaken by 

 him in that year. The second bears the 

 date <>f l.~>47, and is written as a note on 

 a vou<;h draft of a power of attorney 

 by P.ille of I'.re^entved, another Danish 

 noble. The third is a notice about the last- 

 mentioned estate, also containing a line 



in runic characters. 



The Runic codex containing the Scnnian 

 law also contains, in a different hand, a 

 list of Danish kings, and among these 

 one Ambruthe as having been king in 

 Jutland. The time of this codex can be 

 approximately fixed at about the year 

 1 300. 



! The sacred or mystical number. 



3 We see that Odin had to go through 

 a terrible ordeal to learn the runes. 



1 lioltliorn and Bestla are nowhere 

 rise mentioned in the earlier Edda. 



5 Song-rouser, one of the vessels hold- 

 ing the sacred mead. 



