Northern mythology

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116 NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY.
that when Thorsten Oxefod was yet a child of seven years,
he once came runnmg into the room and fell on the floor
whereat the wise old man Geiter burst into a laugh. On
the boy asking what he saw so laughable in his fall, he
said, ^^ I saw w^hat you did not see. When you came into
the room, a young white beards cub followed you and ran
before you, but on catching sight of me, he stopt, and as
you came running you fell over him.''^ This was Thorsten^
s own Fylgia.
If a person is desirous of knowing what animal he has
for a Vardogl, he has only to wrap a knife in a napkin,
with certain ceremonies, and to hold it up while he names
all the animals he knows of. As soon as he has named
his Folgie, the knife will fall out of the napkin.
Our old divines assumed, in like manner, that every
person has an attendant or guardian genius.
In the Jernpostil
(edit. 1513, p. 142) it is said :
" The moment any
man is born in the world, our Lord sends an angel to preserve
his soul from the devil, and from all other evil ;
appealing, for support of the proposition, to the testimony
of St. Jerome and St. Bernard ^
Dis (pi. Disir) is a generic name for all female, mythic
beings, though usually applied to a man's attendant spirit
or Folgie. Of these some are friendly, others hostile.
The tutelar or friendly Disir are likewise called Spadisir,
i. e. prophetic Disir : Scotice spae, as in spae-^\ife, a prophetess,
fortune-telle7\
In Norway the Disir appear to have
been held in great veneration. In the Sagas frequent
mention occurs of Disa blot, or offerings to the Disir.
part of their temples was denominated the Disa-sal (Disarsalr)^.
is
ViETT (V^TTR, pi. ViETTiR) in its Original signification
neither more nor less than thing, being, wight, though in
Scandinavia (particularly Norway and Iceland) it is used
^
Faye, p. 76 sqq. • Keyser, p. 74.
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