376 RELIGION. WOESHIP OF MEN, ANIMALS, ETC. 



him to stay outside and keep watch. Then Fridthjof went in, 

 and saw that few people were in the dtsar-hall. The kings 

 were at the disablot and sat drinking ; there was fire on the 

 floor, and their wives sat at the fireside and warmed the gods, 

 and some besmeared them with grease and wiped them with 

 a cloth " (Fridthjof s Saga, 9). 



When Sigmund was ready to star.t for an expedition to 

 avenge his father 



" The Jarl (Hakon) went out with him and asked, ' What 

 belief hast thou ? ' Sigmund answered, ' I believe in my 

 might and strength.' The Jarl replied, ' It must not be so ; 

 thou must seek for help where I put all my trust, which is in 

 Thorgerd Hordabrud. Let us go to her, and try to get luck 

 for thee from her.' Sigmund told him to do as he liked ; 

 they went to the woods, and then, by a little by-path, to an 

 open space in the forest where there was a house with a fence 

 around it ; this house was very fine, and the carvings were orna- 

 mented with gold and silver. Hakon and Sigmund entered 

 with a few men ; there were many gods, and so many glass- 

 windows, that there was no shadow anywhere. A splendidly 

 dressed woman was in the inner part of the house opposite 

 the entrance. The Jarl threw himself clown, and lay long 

 before her feet; then he rose and told Sigmund that they 

 must make her some sacrifice, and put silver on the stool 

 before her. ' But as a mark that she will accept, I want her 

 to let loose the ring she wears on her arm ; thou, Sigmund, 

 wilt get luck from that ring.' The Jarl took hold of the 

 ring, but it seemed to Sigmund that she clenched her 

 fist and he did not get it. He threw himself down a second 

 time before her, and Sigmund saw that he wept ; he rose, and 

 took hold of the ring, which then was loose, and gave it to 

 Sigmund, who promised not to part with the ring " (Fsereyinga 

 Saga, ch. 23). 



When Hakon Jarl, after having been baptized in Denmark, 

 had again adopted the practice of the pagan religion, 



" He heard of a temple which was the largest in Gautland, 

 while it was heathen. In that temple were one hundred gods. 

 Hakon took all the property which was in it. The men who 

 guarded the temple and the sacrificing-place fled, while some of* 

 them were slain ; Hakon went back to his ships with the pro- 

 perty and burnt and destroyed all that he met with on the 

 way, and had very much property when he came down. While 



