MAGICAL SLEEP. It!:; 



and let the boy drink from the water. Then you shall 

 make him sing. Though he is struck by sleepiness and 

 yawning, you shall not let him sleep, but take him to where 

 the king has rested himself, and let him fall asleep there, and 

 then it is most likely that a dream will appear to him.' She 

 did all as she had been told, and her son slept there a while ; 

 and when he awoke he smiled and said, ' I dreamed, mother. 

 It seemed as if the Kings Magnus and Harald came to me, ami 

 each spoke in one of my ears.' ' Rememberest thou, my son,' 

 asked she, ' what each one of them said ? ' 'I do,' he said. 

 'King Magnus said, "Be as good as you can." Not louir 

 after, King Harald said, "Be most quick at learning, and 

 retain in your memory what you learn as best you can." This 

 boy afterwards became a remarkable man." 



"King Halfdan (the Black) never dreamt. He sought 

 advice from Thorleif the Wise what to do. The latter told 

 the king what he himself used to do when he wanted to know 

 something beforehand. He used to lay himself to sleep in a 

 pigsty, and was then always sure of a dream. The king in 

 consequence did the same, and also had a dream " (Halfdan 

 the Black, c. 7). 



There was supposed to be a kind of magical sleep which 

 came over any one who was stung by a sleep-thorn (svefn- 

 thorn) placed in the ear. This magical sleep could not be 

 broken until the sleep-thorn fell out of the ear of , the person 

 under the spell. 



" The king (Helgi) had drunk so heavily that he at once 

 fell asleep on the bed, and the queen seized her opportunity 

 and stung him with a sleep-thorn ; when all was quiet she rose, 

 shaved off all his hair and besmeared him with tar, then she 

 took a leather bag and put some cloth in it in which she 

 wrapped him up, and bade some men take him down to his 

 ships. She roused his men, saying that their king had gone 

 on board and wished to sail, as there was a fair wind. They 

 all jumped up as quickly as they could, but as they were 

 drunk did not know what they were doing ; they went to the 

 ships, and saw no king but a very large leather bag. They 

 wanted to see what was in it and wait for the king, as they 

 thought he would come later on. When they untied it they 

 found the king inside. The sleep-thorn dropped down and he 

 awoke from a bad dream, and was enraged with the queen " 

 (Hrolf Kraki's Saga, c. 7). 1 



Cf. also Sigrdrifumal. 



