12 



MAEEIAGE. 



disguised as Freyja, and sent as a bride to Thryni ; he got 

 hold of the hammer, and crushed Thryni and the jotnar. 



Then said Thor, 



The mighty As, 



The Asar will me 



Effeminate call 



If I let myself 



Be tied in bridal linen. 



Then they tied Thor 

 In the bridal linen, 

 And the great 



Brisinga-necklace ; l 

 Let keys hang 

 Prom his belt, 

 And woman's clothes 

 Hang round his knees, 

 And broad stones 2 

 Be on his breast, 

 And fastened the cloth 3 

 On his head with skill. 



(Thrymskvida.) 



We have nothing to show positively that marriage was 

 celebrated with religious ceremonies, but certain forms may 

 have taken place. In the later Edda we have the goddess Vdr, 

 who hears the vows of men and women. In Helgi Hjorvardson 

 there are also vows called by her name, and it seems that she 

 was solemnly invoked at weddings, and the sign of the hammer 

 of Thor made over the bride. 



Then said Thrym, 

 The chief of Thursar : 

 Carry in the hammer 

 To consecrate the bride, 

 Lay Mjollnir 

 In the maiden's lap. 

 Wed us together 

 With the hand of Far. 



The mind laughed 

 In the breast of Hlorridi 4 

 As the hard-minded one 

 Saw the hammer ; 

 Thrym killed he first, 

 The lord of Thursar, 

 And thrashed 

 The Jb'tun's whole kin. 

 (Earlier Edda; Thrymskvida.) 5 



Marriage without betrothal proceedings and dowry was called 

 skyndibnldlilaup (hasty wedding), or lausa-brudlilaup (loose 

 wedding). Such an union was illegal, and the children be- 

 gotten thereby had no right of inheritance. 



" Bjorgolf, a landed man in Halogaland, once in his old age 

 was at a feast with Hogni, a rich bondi, and saw his daughter 

 Hildirid, whom he liked well. 



" The same autumn Bjorgolf the old left on his skuta with 



1 This necklace had been made 

 Dvergar, and belonged to Freyja. 



2 Stones to make a false breast. 



3 Cf. also Rigsmal, 23. 



4 Thor. 



by 



5 For the whole story of Thor and 

 Thrym, as translated from the Earlier 

 Edda, see Anderson's Mythology, pp. 

 328-335 ; and especially, in connection 

 with this, pp. 331, 332. 



