CHAPTEK XXVI. 



RELIGION. ^EGIR AND RAN. 1 



iEgir the god of the sea His wife Kan The origin of wind and fire 

 Figurative names of the sea, the wind, ice, rocks, clouds, hail, and rain 

 Ean's net The nine daughters of ^Egir and Kan Superstitions connected 

 with Ran. 



seems to have been one of the earlier gods worshipped 

 in the North as the god of the sea. His worship must have 

 been deeply implanted in the hearts of the people, and he was 

 worshipped to the end of the pagan era. He was believed to 

 govern the wind and the sea, and with his wife Ran to receive 

 all shipwrecked people. He is fabled to have lived in the 

 island of Lsesso, was the son of the Jotun Fornjot, who ruled 

 over Jotland, and had two brothers, Wind and Fire. 



" ' How is the wind called ? ' ' The son of Fornjot, the 

 brother of /Egir and of the Fire.' * How is the fire called ? ' 

 'The brother of the wind and of JUgir' (Skaldskaparmal, 

 cc. 27, 28). 



" Then Gangleri said, ' Whence comes the wind ? He is so 

 strong that he moves large oceans and stirs up the fire, but 

 however strong he is he cannot be seen, so he must be 

 strangely shaped.' Har answered, ' I can tell thee easily. 

 On the northern end of heaven there sits a jotun called 

 Hrcesvelg in an eagle's shape ; when he flaps his wings the 

 winds rise from under them ' ' (Gylfaginning, c. 18). 



The Sagas teem with poetical and allegoric expressions about 

 the sea, the wind, fire, ships, &c., &c. The sea is oalled- 



Ymir's blood. The land of JSgir's daughters. 



Kan's husband. The land of the ships. 



Hjorvardsson, 18; Helgi Hundingsbani, 

 i. 3 ; Egil's Saga, &c. 



1 The name of ./Egir is found in 

 Hundingsbani i., st. 30: in Lokaseinia ; 



in Hymiskvida; that of Ran, in Helgi 



2 T> 2 



