TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

424 WISE WOMEN.
a b 107 ). Before this MengloS, nine virgins kneel, sit, and sing;
sacrifice is
a
offered to them all (lll ) ; conf. ch. XXXVI. Then
Vebiorg skialdmcer appears in Fornald. sog. 1, 384. And vrd
Babehilt, whom Dietrich finds at a fountain, asleep (as Sigurd found
Brynhild), and who gives him healing salves, and foretells his fate
(Ecke 151 160), must also be reckoned among norns or valkyrs.
The valkyrs bestowed on their favourites, as Staufenberger s lover
did on him (p. 419), victory and protection in battle (Sigrun hlifSi
honom opt siSan i orrostom, Ssem. 142 b
) ; this relation is technically
expressed by verja (tueri 134a
); they hide their heroes ships (Svava
145 a b , Sigrun 153 b ). The above-mentioned Hildr too, the daughter
of king Hogni (Hagene), was Heoln s betrothed. The memory of
these shield-maidens has filtered down even into modern folk
songs : in Arvidsson 1, 189, Kerstin skoldmo with her 8000 maids
redeems her betrothed from captivity ; at other times it is a sister
that rescues her brother, by which is not meant a sister by birth,
but a valkyr again, for these higher beings are everywhere called
sisters, and fraternize with their proteges (Arvidsson 2, 120-1-2.
Nyerup 4, 38-9). Now those women in our medieval poetry, the
sight of whom nerves to victory, whose name need only be uttered
to bring them to one s side as quickly as a wish can be formed and
accomplished, are evidently shield-women of this kind (see Suppl.).
OSinn then admitted into his band of valkyrs mortal maidens
of kingly race, deified women standing by the side of the deified
heroes.; yet I do not suppose that all valkyrs were of such lineage,
but that the oldest and most famous were, like the norns, descended
from gods or elves. It is also worth noting, that Kara and her
Helgi were looked upon
as a second birth of Svava and the elder
Helgi, Ssem. 148b 169. In the VolundarqviSa three other valkyrs
make their appearance together: ffladguffr svanhvit, Hervor alvitr,
and Olrun, the first two being daughters of king LoSver, the third
of Kiar.; they unite themselves to Slagfiftr, Volundr and Egill, live
with them seven years, ,and
their old trade of war again.
then escape, at vitja viga/ to pursue
On the whole, it seems the union of
these half-goddesses with heroes turned out detrimentally to both
parties : the heroes came to an early death or other harm, as
Staufenberger s example teaches ; and c
Sigrun varS skammlif, she
grew scant of life, Ssem. 169 a . Perhaps we should be right iu
assuming that promotion to the valkyr s office took place under an