JJUJHALS. 



As we read the Sagas we get a vivid and impressive idea of 

 the grand and solemn pageant that must have taken place 

 when the body of a great warrior was put on the funeral pile, 

 and his companions in arms, relatives or former foes bid him 

 happy speed to Valhalla, as the names ascended high up 

 towards the sky, or the ship sailed from the land in a lurid 

 blaze, while the purifying fire was consuming the corpse. 

 Then followed the ceremony of carefully gathering the charred 

 bones, which were sacredly preserved in an urn or valuable 

 vessel. 1 



The first duty to the dead was to close the eyes and mouth 

 and pinch together the nostrils, which ceremony was called 

 nabjargir. 



Ninthly I advise thee 



To take care of corpses 2 



Wherever on earth thou findest them : 



Whether they die from disease, 



Or are drowned, 



Or killed in battle, 



Let a bath be made 3 



For those who are dead ; 



Wash their hands and head, 



Comb and dry them 



Ere they are laid in the coffin, 



And bid them sleep happily. 



(Sigrdrifumal.) 



It appears to have been a case of outlawry not to cover 

 a body with mould, and if a slayer maimed the body of his 

 enemy when dead he was fined. The body seems to have 

 been left on a cover until they could lay it in the mound. 



" No man shall have a dead man longer than five days in 

 his house except in a necessity, such as if there is impassable 

 ice or a snowstorm. Then it shall be taken to an outhouse 

 and covered with timbers or straw, and removed as soon as the 

 weather is good " (Eidsivathing law II. 41). 



If the deceased had during life been a wild and unruly man, 

 fierce in temper, who it was feared might after death, as a 



1 There seem to have been special 

 places built for the burning of the dead. 

 On the island of Kyen, not far from 

 Broholm, and about 1,200 yards from 

 the numerous graves, are two sites of 

 pyres, round in shape, aboiit 120 yards 

 distant from each other. The pavement, 

 about 7 inches in thickness, is made of 

 cobble stones of the size of a man's fist 

 set very close together, and broken into 

 sharp angles. The stones, especially 



those in the middle, have been exposed 

 to the action of fire, but have been pre- 

 served by being covered with earth that 

 had gathered over them brought by wind 

 and rain in the course of centuries. 



2 Nabjargir. 



3 In Sigrdrifumal the texts have in 

 stanza 34 fc(M<7 = bath, and /iau<:/ = mound. 

 The letters h and / being very like in the 

 manuscripts, we can choose whichever 

 we like best of the two. 



