GROWTH OF HAIR— GUNNAR'S BOWSTRING 341 



Do the Sagas or other ancient Scandinavian literature, in 

 which descriptions of fishing frequently figure, allude to such 

 use of dead men's hair ? Two of the foremost Scandinavian 

 scholars could recall none. The Kalevda — the great Finnish 

 epic — yielded no help. 



Nearest comes the account of " Gunnar's Slaying " in 

 Story of the Burnt Njal. ^ After his bowstring has been cut by 

 his foe, Gunnar said unto his wife, Hallgerda, 'Give me two 

 locks of thy hair, and ye two, my mother and thou, twist them 

 together into a bowstring for me.' ' Does aught lie on it ? ' 

 she says. 'My life lies on it,' he said; 'for they will never 

 come to close quarters with me, if I can keep them off with my 

 bow.' ' Well,' she says. ' Now will I call to thy mind that 

 slap in the face thou gavest me,' and refused him her hair. 



Gunnar, just ere he falls, sings : 



" Now my helpmeet, wimple hooded. 

 Hurries all my fame to earth. 

 Woman, fond of Frodi's flour 

 Wends her hand, as she is wont." 2 



The passage containing the Greek words quoted in the 

 article was eventually discovered on p. 82 of Fayum Towns and 

 their Papyri, by Grenfell, Hunt, and Hogarth. 



Kol Srj xOova hvcTTTpd-mXov (pdacra^ 

 aa)(y]fiova<; riX6e Trap' ypvas 

 €v6ev 8k Tfirpav KaOicra^ ore 

 KoiXafxoy /X6V ^S-qcrev vexpa Tpi\t 

 Se'Xeap Se Xa/SoiV kol \^iiifx.L(Ta<; 

 ayKKTTpov ayriy\ fivOei (3v6(^ 



0)5 8' ovSev oXws TOT kXafJifievov.^ 



published, and many people believe that such growth does take place. Erasmus 

 Wilson pronounces that " the lengthening of the hairs observed in a dead 

 person is merely the result of the contraction of the skin towards their bulb." 



^ Blakey, op. cit., 207, states an engraving \vas found at Herculaneum 

 " representing a little Cupid fishing with the ringlets of her {sic) hair for lovers." 

 So far I have failed to track this hermaphroditic representation, nor is Sir C. 

 Waldstein aware of its existence. 



^ Translated by Dasent. Frodi's flour — gold. 



3 Professor Grenfell tells me that 2t€ here has no connection, unless the 

 main verb came in Une 16, where there is a lacuna, but the traces do not 

 suggest any verb. He also approves my rendering of ^ufiitras having the 

 sense of " baiting the swim " with bits of debh from the corpses. 



