'l(\'l HALLS AND BUILDINGS. 



When Fjolnir assisted King Frodi in Denmark, he was given 

 a loft-room as a sleeping apartment; in an adjoining loft-room 

 the flooring had been removed, in order to fill the large mead- 

 vat standing in the tmdir-skemma. During the night Fjolnir 

 went out, and as he had to return along the svalir to his room, 

 lie made a mistake as to the door, and fell -down into the 

 mead -vat. 1 



The beds (hvila, relJcja) were placed round the walls, 

 inside the benches, and consisted of straw, the covering being 

 the clothes worn in the daytime, and over the head a feld 

 (fur cloak) was placed. 



The buildings had windows, sometimes called light-holes, 

 covered with a membrane, instead of glass, sufficiently large to 

 enable a man to creep through them. The material used was 

 the after-birth membrane, enclosing the fetus of the cow, which 

 was stretched over the light-hole. This when dried is almost 

 as transparent as glass, and can, for a certain time, resist the rain. 

 It is still in use in some out-of-the-way places in Iceland ; in 

 the Sagas it is called SJy'ctH, and the window is called Skja. 



"Also if men sit in houses with skjd (light-holes) in them, 

 it is so light inside that all men indoors recognise each other " 

 (Konungs Skuggsja, p. 47). 



There was no ceiling within the roof ; the smoke from the 

 open hearths on the floor, which covered the inside with soot, 

 escaped through the Ljori, of which there was at least one, and 

 which also admitted light. 2 



" Olaf Tryggvasun burnt the hall of the seid-man Ey vind 

 Kelda who escaped through the Ljori (the light-hole in the 

 roof) " (Olaf Trygg. c. 69). 



We find that turf was occasionally used as fuel. 



" Einar sailed westward to Shetland, and many men joined 

 him. After that he went southward to the Orkneys, against 

 Kalf Skurfa and Thorir (Treskegg). There a great battle was 

 fought, and both the Vikings were slain. 



' He gave Treskegg to the Trolls ; 

 Torfeinar slew Skurfa: 

 He conquered the islands.' 



1 Yngl. Saga, c. 14. | 2 Ynglinga Saga, 34. 



