SUPERSTITIONS. SHAPE-CHANGING. 



names, prepared .in a special manner and with incantations, 

 which were supposed to possess special properties. For these 

 magical drinks, which were believed to have great power, many 

 things were mixed, and runes were used, partly as formularies 

 over the drink, or carved on trees or bones which were thrown 

 into it 1 ; in the latter case this was done to excite love for the 

 one in whose behalf the potion was given. Chief among these 

 drinks was the drink of oblivion ( Uminnisveig), a drink pre- 

 pared to remove sorrow from the mind. 



Gudrun went from Denmark home to her mother Grimhild 

 who gave her the drink of oblivion. 



Grimhild brought to me 



A cup to drink, 



A cold and bitter one ; 



I forgot my sorrows ; 



It was mixed 



With the might of the earth, 



With ice-cold sea-water, 



With sacrificed blood. 



In the horn were 



All kinds of letters 



( 'arved and painted in red ; 



1 could not read them ; 



A long ling-fish, 



The unreaped corn-ear, 



The bowels of beasts. 



Man}' evils 



Were mixed in that beer ; 



The herbs of every forest, 



Burnt acorns, 



The soot of the hearth, 



Sacrificed bowels, 



A boiled swine-liver, 



For it soothes the sorrows. 



(Volsunga, c. 32.) 



After taking this drink of oblivion she forgot all her 

 sorrows, and married King Atli, who afterwards murdered her 

 brother at a feast where they were invited by him. Gudrun 

 revenged herself by killing the children she had by Atli, and 

 then had him murdered. 



1 By magical drink, poisonous drink is 

 often memit (Heimskr Harald Fairhair, 



41). See Gudriinarkvida ii., stanzas 21, 

 22, 23, 24. 



