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188 EELTGION OF THE NOETHMEN.
drawing near his dwelling to search for his nephews
Hroar and Helgi, whom Vifil had concealed from
his attempts : " Great and mighty Fylgjur have
come hither to the island ! "* The wise Icelander
Einar Eyjolfssbn dreamed that he saw a noble,
strong-horned ox walking up along Eyja-fj6r6 until
it came to the estate MoSmvell, when it went to
every house and at last to the High-seat, where it
fell down dead. Einar said that the dream was significant,
and that it was a man's Eylgja which had
made its appearance. On the same day his brother
Gudmund the Mighty came home from a journey to
his estate Mobrnvell, and died suddenly soon after
he had seated himself in the high-seat.f
The Fylgjur mostly appeared in dreams. In the
Eddaic poem, Atla-mal, where Kostbera relates her
evil-boding dream to her husband Hogni, she says
among other things : " Methought there flew an
eagle through the house ; it besprinkled us all with
blood ; it seemed by its threatening mien to be the
guise of Atli.":]: When Queen Au6 related to her
husband, King Eorek, that she had dreamed of a
Stag which was slain by a Dragon, Eorek said,
" Thou has seen the Fylgjur of Kings."§
The Fylgjur made their appearance more espe-
cially as the forerunners of the arrival of those to
whom they belonged, and a sudden irresistible
drowsiness was thought to herald the approach of
* Saga Hr61fs Kraka, 2.
f Lj6svetmiigaS. 21.
i The O. Edda: Atlam. 19.
§ Sogubr6t, 2.