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184: RELIGION Ol' THE NOETBMEN.
loved the most, share equally with the other sons
against their will, he bestowed upon him, besides a
few costly treasures, his own and his kinsmen's
Good Luck (gipta) ; he knew very well, he added,
that it had already taken its place with Olaf.*
When the ]^orwegian King Olaf Haraldsson sent
his chief marshal Bjorn into Sweden, on a difficult
errand, Bjorn's companion, the Icelander Hjalti
Skeggjason, though a Christian, begged the king to
bestow upon them his hamingja upon their journey
and the king replied that he would do so if it were
really of any importance.!
The expressions kynfylgja (family attendant) and
settarfylgjur, which sometimes occur in the Sagas in
signification of the cleverness or power which was
peculiar to some family,:]: refer to the belief in at-
tendant and guardian spirits as the origin of the
predominating qualities of that family.
The belief in this kind of Disir or protecting Goddesses
being so universal among the heathen Northmen,
nothing could be more natural than that they
should endeavor by worship to gain over and
strengthen the, favor of these beings. This was
doubtless the object of the so-called Disa-blot or
Disa Sacrifices, which are mentioned in many places
in the sagas, and which appear to have been held
chiefly in autumn upon "Winter-night. Of the Kings
Helgi and Halfdan of Sokn, the sons of Bele, it is
stated, that they were gone to attend the Disa-bl6t in
* LaxdiEla S. 26.
t Snor.: 01. Hel. S. 68.
t Vblsunga S. 4; for?. HreS. S. 8.
;