Northern mythology

220 XORTHERX MYTHOLOGY,
looked towards the interior of the country, and set a horse^s
head on the stake, while he uttered the following malechction
:
" Here raise I a nith-stake, and turn this ' nith '
against King Eric and Queen Gunnhild—at the same time
turning the head towai'ds the country. .Ind I tui'n this
•
nith ' against the ' land-viettii- ' that abide in this land,
so that they may wander about, \\-ithout finding house or
habitation, until they shall have di-iven King Eric and
Queen Gunnhild from the country ^"^ He then di'ove the
stake fast down in a cleft of the mountain, and cut i-unes
on it containing the same malediction ^ In perfect accordance
-^-ith this is the law of Lifliot-, that no one might
sail towards the land with a ya^Tiing head at
the stem, in
order not to terrify the land-vtettu*, or guardian deities.
In other narratives we find that a himian head of wood
was set in the breast of the slaughtered horse. Another
species of nith was performed with rimes, which in some
way or other must be conveyed to the enemy or his property
: for this piu'pose the operator cut runes on wood,
smeai'ed them "^-ith his blood, uttered * galder * over them,
and walked round them against the smi, then cast them
into the sea, with the wish that they might be drifted to
the object against whom the nith was directed "\
But as misfortime and lasting calamity could be caused
to others by imprecations, so could one individual, by good
wishes, impart to others good fortune and happiness ; and
the belief was general, that the fathers luck could continue
to operate on the life of the son, and of generous, kind
relatives on that of succeedins: srenerations, and that the
^ Gunnhild had at a banquet caused a poisoned drink to be presented
TO Egil. who having cause for suspicion, scratched runes on the horn with
his knife, wounded himself in the palm, and smeared the runes with blood,
when the horn burst asunder and the liquor was spilt. Hence his enmity.
- The first lawgiver of I.celand. He lived in the 10th centurv.
'
Saio, p. 203 ; Egilss. c, 00 ; Vamsdaiias. c. 31, 36, etc.