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OEDEALS. 261
they, being, mostly his friends, declared with one
Toice that it would have turned out favorable if it
had not been disturbed. It was decided accordingly
and Thorkel took possession of the inheritance.*
This ceremony was sometimes accompanied with
the taking of oaths, as was the case, for instance,
when two or more persons swore fellowship (fostbrseS-
ra-lag) with each other. On this occasion they
sometimes passed under three such strips of turf.f
This ceremony was also employed as a symbol of
humility, in which case the first strip was to be
raised as high as the shoulders, the second should
reach the hips, the third as high as the middle of the
thighs.
Another kind of heathen ordeal may here be
mentioned in conclusion, which is spoken of in a
few places in the ancient Eddaic poems, namely, the
ceremony of clearing one's-self from an accusation
by taking up stones out of a boiling cauldron with
the bare hand, without injuring the hand. It is re-
lated of King Atli's Queen, GuSrtin, that when she
was accused of illicit intercourse with one Eang
Thjodrek, a guest at Atli's court, she desired to
prove her innocence by the mean^ here spoken of.
The ordeal was performed with great solemnities.
The seething cauldron was consecrated by a certain
King who was skilled in such things, who had been
sent for on the occasion, and seven hundred of King
Atli's men were present in the hall where the ordeal
* Laxd. S. 18.
t
Foatbr. a 1.
12*