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176 BELiaiON OF THE NOETHMEN.
had a brown horse, called Frey-faxi (Frey's horse),
whieh lie loved so highly that he made a solemn
vow to slay the man who should ride this horse
against his will, a vow which he also fulfilled,* An-
other Icelander, Brand, had a horse also called
Frey-faxi which he made so much of that he was
said to believe in it as in a Divinity .f
It was the same case with the swine, perhaps, as
with the horse. The Boar GuUinbursti, with which
Frey drove, has been ^.Iready- alluded to ; and the
story of the fabulous king HeiSrek, who on Yuleeve
made solemn vows upon the Atonement-Boar
(Sonar-^oUtr),:]: sacred to Frey and Freyja, appears
to refer to an. actual custom of heathen antiquity
for we find also, in one of the prose supplements to
the ancient Eddaic poem of Helgi Hjorvar8sson,
that the Sonar-goUtr is mentioned, as being led out
on Yule-eve, in order that they might, with hands
laid upon it, make solemn vows.§
The worship of Baldur we find spoken of only in
Frithjof's Saga, which relates that in Baldur's grove, in
Sokn, there was a great temple to many gods, among
whom, however, Baldur was chiefly worshiped. So
great was the sanctity of the place, it is stated, that
not any violence whatever should be done to man
or beast, nor could there be any sexual intercourse
there. II Baldur's
worship therefore bore the im-
» Eafnk. Freysg. S. pp. 4, 6, 11.
t Vatnsd. S. 34.
X Hervarar S. 14.
§ " Um kveldit 6ru heitstrengingar ; var framleiddr s6iiarg611tr>
16g6u menn ];ar 4 hendr sinar, ok strengSm menn i heit at
bragarfulli." The 0. Edda: HelgakviSa Hj6rvar6s-Bonar, 30.
II Fri8>j&fs S, 1.
;