416 



RELIGION. SACRIFICES TO THE ALFAR, ETC. 



(fylgja-kona), and said : " I declare myself altogether sundered 

 from thee.' She asked, * Wilt thou, Thorvald, receive me ? ' 

 He replied he would not. Then Halfred the young (a son of 

 the poet Halfred) said, ' I will receive thee ; ' she then 

 vanished. Then Halfred said : ' I will give to thee, my son, 

 the sword of the king, but the other things shall be laid in my 

 coffin if I die on board the ship.' He sang (' God rules ; I fear 

 hell ; every man must die '). A little after he died, and was 

 laid in a coffin with his things, a cloak, a helmet, and a ring, 

 and then thrown overboard" (Halfredar Saga, c. 11). 



The chief Hall of Sida had a feast. In the night Thidrandi 

 his son heard some one knocking repeatedly at the door, and 

 went out with a sword in his hand. 



" He heard the sound of horses' feet from the north, and saw 

 nine women 1 riding in black clothes with drawn swords in their 

 hands. He also heard horse-feet from the south, and saw nine 

 women all in white clothes on white horses. He wanted to go 

 in and tell this vision to people, but the black-dressed women 

 were quicker and attacked him, while he defended himself 

 valiantly. 



" A long while after Thorhall (one of the guests) awoke 

 and asked if Thidrandi was awake, and got no answer. He 

 said it was too late. They went out. The moon shone and 

 the weather was frosty. They found Thidrandi lying wounded " 

 (Fornmanna Sogur). 



" One summer King Ivar Yidfadmi went with his host west 

 from Sweden to Reidgotaland, and landed in Selund. He 

 sent word to his son-in-law Hroerek to come to him ; he told 

 this to And his wife, who asked if he intended to go to meet 

 his kinsman and invite him to a feast on shore. In the evening, 

 when King Hrcerek retired, And had prepared a new bed with 

 all the clothes in it new, and placed it on the middle of the 

 floor ; she requested him to sleep therein, to remember what he 

 dreamt, and tell it her in the morning ; and she made herself 

 another bed. In the morning, when asked about his dream, 

 ' I dreamt,' he said, " that I was standing near a forest, beside 

 a fine level field, and there saw a stag. Then a wild beast, 

 with a mane like gold, ran out of the forest ; the stag thrust its 

 horns under the shoulder of the beast, and it fell dead. There- 



1 The nine women in black had been 

 the Disir of the family, which was going 

 to forsake the old belief; the Disir 

 wanted to take with them the best 

 member of the family before they left. 

 Therefore they slew Thidrandi, whom the 

 nine white Disir try in vain to defend. 



The nine white Disir were to be the 

 guardian spirit of the family after it had 

 adopted the new belief. From this we 

 can see that the new religion could not 

 entirely overthrow the old superstition 

 and belief. 



