CHAPTER XXIV. 



RELIGION. THE NORNIR AND VALKYRIAS. 



The shaping of man's future at his birth The three Nornir Their dwelling- 

 place Their kin Good and Evil Nornir They water the ash Yggdrasil 

 The maids of Odin They determine the issue of battle Choose the 

 warriors for Valhalla Figurative names They ride through the air 

 Their appearance They help warriors in battle Their sojourn among 

 men The first and second songs of Helgi. 



IT was believed by the Northmen that the future life of all 

 men was shaped at their birth by genii called Nornir, who 

 preordained the fates of men and all that happened in the 

 world. The gods themselves seem to have been under their 

 control. 



There were three Nornir, called Urd, the past ; Verdandi, 

 the present ; and Skuld, the future, they dwelt by Urd's well, 

 situated at the foot of the ash Yggdrasil, whose roots they 

 watered with their wisdom and the experience of the past: 1 

 they spun the threads of fate at the birth of every child, and 

 measured the boundaries of his doings, and the days of his 

 life. 2 



The names of these three Nornir were to those men of old 

 the embodiment and philosophy of life. They could not have 

 existed without their fathers before them, hence Urd was the 

 symbol of the great past. 



Verdandi, the present, symbolised the present life itself, con- 

 sequently was closely connected with Urd. 



1 Of. also Sigrdrifumal, 17 ; Helgi 

 Hundingsbani ; NornaGest; Flateyjar- 

 b6k ; Fornaldar Sogur, i. Later Edda ; 



Orkneyinga; Egil's Saga; Havamal ; 

 Atlakvida. 



8 Helgakvida Hundingsbana. 



VOL. I. 2 C 



