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206 RELIGION OF THE NOETHMEN.
lul)65, where Freyja- is introduced speaking to her
favorite Ottar
:
—
" A Horg he made me
Built up of stone,
— H^ow is the stone
Changed into glass
He sprinkled it over
With the fresh blood of oxen
Ottar trusted ever
To the Asynjur."*
Of Alfhild, a king's daughter, it is. said that she
was carried off by StarkaS one night while she was
sprinkling the Horg with. blood at a sacrifice to the
Disir.f We probably yet see the remains of such
Horgar in many of the stone-settings which are found
in Norway and the neighboring countries. Espe-
cially is it likely that the stone-circles, which consist
of large upright stones, somewhat pointed at the top
and placed at moderate intervals from each other,
belonged to this kind of. sacrificial places, and perhaps
the stones represented the statues of the Gods
there worshiped. The great simplicity of these
places of sacrifice, warrants the presumption that
they are a more ancient arrangement than the
actual temples.
The temples of the heathen Northmen were most
usually called hof; they were also called go5ahlis
(House of the Gods) or blothus (House of Sacrifice).
None of these buildings are left standing, so far as is
known, not even any ruins of them, which might
• The 0. Edda: HyndlnljbS 10.
t Herrarar S. 1.
;