TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

98
PRIESTS.
stands here for volvu, or the claim of the older form Vala may he
asserted ; to each of them would correspond an OHG. Walawa or
Wala, which suggests the Walada above, being only
derived in a
different way. In the saga Eiriks raufta we come upon ThorUorg,
the little Vala (Edda Sseni. Hafn. 3, ty.HeicFr is the name not
conf.
b 118 ) but also of the
only of the volva in the Edda (Sa3m. 4b ,
one in the Orvarodssaga (conf. Sagabibl. 3, 155). Hyndla (canicula)
is a prophetess that rides on wolves, and dwells in a cave. I guess
also that the virgins Thorger&r and Irpa (Fornm. sog. 2, 108. 3, 100.
11, 134-7. 142. 172), to whom all but divine honours were paid,
and the title of horgabruSr (nympha lucorum) and even the name
of guS (numen) was accorded, Nialss. cap. 89, are not to be excluded
from this circle. So in the valkyrs, beside their godhood, there
resides somewhat of the priestly, e.g. their virginity (see ch. XVI
and SuppL).
We shall return to these gleg and wise women (and they
have other names besides), who, in accordance with a deeply
marked feature of our mythology, trespass on the superhuman.
Here we had to set forth their connexion with sacrifice, divination
and the priesthood.