r 



bered all that had passed before his eyes, and told it to his 

 lather, who asked him to tell it to Hjalti Skeggjason. I It- 

 went to Hjalti and told him. ' Thou hast seen a gandreid,' * 

 said Hjalti, 'and it always forebodes great tidings" (Njala. 

 c. 125).' 



Before the burning of Njal the following omen, whieli 

 proved true, appeared at his farm Bergtliorshval : 



" Bergthora (his wife) carried food to the table. Njal said : 

 ' Strange does this look to me now ; I think I look all over the 

 room, and that both the gable-walls are off', and the table and 

 the food all covered with blood.' All except Skarphedin were 

 startled at this. He asked them not to grieve or look sorrowful 

 so that people would talk of it " (Njala, c. 127). 



" It happened when Gunnar and Kolskegg rode to wan Is 

 Rang;! that blood fell on the halberd of Gunnar. Kolskegg 

 asked why this was so. Gunnar answered that when this 

 happened in other countries it was called blood-rain, and 

 Olver bondi in Hising said that this usually foreboded great 

 tidings " (Njala, c. 72). 



Among these omens must be reckoned the so-called Urtlr- 

 indni (the moon of Urd), a peculiar kind of appearance of the 

 moon which foreboded the death of many people. 3 There were 

 also natural omens, good and bad. It was considered a good 

 omen if a warrior saw a raven follow him when going to fight 

 the interpretation probably being that the raven followed a 

 victor in order to eat the corpses of the enemy ; it was also a 

 good omen to see or meet two men conversing, or to hear 

 a wolf howl. When a man who was slain by any kind of 

 weapon fell on his face it was thought to be an omen that he 

 would be revenged, and the vengeance would come down upon 

 the man who stood just in front of him when he tell ; 3 but to 

 stumble when going to light, or to hear the croaking of ravens, 

 was considered a bad omen. 



The second song of Sigurd Fafnisbani relates how Sigurd was 

 going to make war on the sons of Hunding. As he sailed aloii-- 

 the coast a man stood on a rock and asked him who they wen-. 

 They answered, and when they asked who he was he said 



1 Gandreid = wolf ride, wizard or 

 witches' ride. 



2 Eyrbyggja, 5'2, where the moon 



moves all round along the wall. 



3 



Egil, 24. 



