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*HE jESIE as objects OS" WOESHIP. 177
press of the goodness and innocence of which he
was himself the emblem.
Of the worship of Forseti among the Northmen,
we have, indeed, no very positive information ; but
we find that this god was zealously worshiped by
the Frisians, and that he had a very holy temple on
an island which was called after him Foseteslant,
the Helgoland of the present day.*
To Bragi the heathen Northmen consecrated the
replenished horn, called Bragi's Horn (Bragarfulli),
which was emptied at the great festivals while
solemn vows were nJade. Bragi, the god of the
Skaldic art, was to hear the vows relating to the
great deeds, whose memory was to be delivered to
posterity through the mouth of the Skald.
Only a few traces of the worship of the Asynjur,
or Goddesses, are to be found in the ancient poems
and Sagas. Concerning a certain Otar, it is stated
in the Eddaic poem HyndluljoS, that he always put
his trust in the Asynjur. The Yalkyrja Sigrdrifa,
when she awakes from her enchanted sleep, salutes
the JEsir and Asynjur.f Borgny, a king's daughter,
calls upon Friga and Freyja torreward Oddr^, who
had been with her during severe pangs of childbirth
and had assisted iat her delivery.;]: When King
Eerer and his wife called upon the Gods for off-
spring, Friga and Odin, it is stated, heard their
prayers and presented them with a son.§ Signy,
* J. Grimm : Dent. Myth. pp. 210, 212.
t Tie 0. Edda: SigrdrifumSl, 4.
X lb.: Oddriinargr4tr, 10.
§ Volsfinga S. 2.