Northern mythology

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NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY. 165
veyed Hading across the sca^ wrapping him in his mantle,
so that he could see nothing ^ It is on the same
white horse that he rides as the Wild Huntsman^. In
the later sagas (as in that of Hrolfr Kraki), we already
find it believed of Odin, that he was an evil and pei-fidious
being, who mingled in the tumult of battle, and caused
the fall of warriors.
In the middle age, this belief became
more and more prevalent. To the singular method, by
which, according to Saxo, one might " prsesentem cognoscere
Martem^," a corresponding tradition exists even in
the heart of Germany. We are told, that as some people
to feed his horse, took the bit from his mouth, and laid it on a huge block
of stone, which by the weight of the bit was split into two parts, that were
afterwards set up as a memorial. According to another version of the
story, Odin, when about to fight with an enemy, being at a loss where to
tie his horse, ran to this stone, drove his sword through it, and tied his
liorse through the hole. The horse, however, broke loose, the stone sprang
asunder and rolled away, making a swamp called Hogrumstrask, so deep
that although several poles have been bound together, they have not sufficed
to fathom it. Geijer's Schw. Gesch. i. 110. Abr. Ahlquist, Olands
Historia, i. 37 ; ii. 212, quoted by Grimm, D. M. p. 141.
A small water-fowl (tringa minima, inquieta, lacustris et natans) is to
the Danes and Icelanders known by the name of O^inshani, Odin's fugl.
In an Old High-German gloss mention occurs of an Utinswaluwe (Odiu's
swallow). lb. p. 145.
1
Saxo, p. 40. - Grimm, D. M. p. 880.
3 Saxo, p. 106; Grimm, p. 891. Biarco being unable to perceive Odin
on his white horse, giving aid in a battle to the Swedes, says to Ruta :
Et nunc ille ubi sit, qui vulgo dicitur Othin
Armipotens, uno semper contentus ocello .'
Die mihi, Ruta, precor, usquam si conspicis ilium .'
To which she answers
Adde oculum propius, et nostras prospice chelas.
Ante sacraturus victrici lumina signo.
Si vis praesentem tuto cognoscere Martem.
Whereupon Biarco replies :
Quantumcunque albo clypeo sit tectus et altum (/. album)
Flectat equum, Lethra nequaquam sospes abibit
Fas est belligerum hello prosternere divum.
Petersen, N. M., cites Or^ar Odd's Saga (c. 29) for a similar instance.