download - Sage's Lore Library

THE W0E8HIP OF THE DEAD. 23l'
increased the number of their Gods by admitting
among them—in consequence, it was said, of a reve-
lation from above—one of their departed Kings,
Eirik, to whom they dedicated a temple and in
whose service special priests were appointed.*
These deified spirits of the Dead were doubtless
mostly regarded as a kind of Land-guardians (Land-
vsettir).
An idolatry far more gross, according to our ideas,
was practiced by a few, who worshiped and put
their faith in natural objects, sometimes animate and
sometimes inanimate.
"We find it mentioned in a few places that living
men were worshiped, an idolatry which the Chris
tiaiis considered the most abominable of all, but
which was certainly of very rare occurrence.
Many traces, however, of the worship of animals
are to be found.
•
The faith which some placed in horses, has been
already alluded to.f This may be understood when
we remember that the horse was beyond all doubt
an animal sacred to Frey, and therefore may have
been worshiped as the symbol of that God.
The worship of oxen and cows is likewise men-
tioned. The Norse chieftain Harek, who lived in
Olaf Tryggvason's time, and dwelt at Eein, was ac-
cused of secretly sacrificing to an unusually large
and strong ox that he owned.;]; A certain King
Eystein of Upsala, who lived about the time of Eag-
* Eimbertus : Vita Ansgarii, cap. 28.
t
Chap. XVII.
i fidttr J)6rBt. Uxafats, 13, in Fornm. S. IH., p. 132.
-