Page:Book of Were-wolves.djvu/38

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE WERE-WOLF IN THE NORTH.
17

goes on gandreið, or wolf's-ride, he is full of the rage and malignity of the creatures whose powers and passions he has assumed.

I will give a few instances of each of the three methods of changing bodies mentioned above. Freyja and Frigg had their falcon dresses in which they visited different regions of the earth, and Loki is said to have borrowed these, and to have then appeared so precisely like a falcon, that he would have escaped detection, but for the malicious twinkle of his eyes. In the Vælundar kviða is the following passage:—

I.Meyjar flugu sunnanMyrkvið igögnumAlvitr ungaOrlög drýgja;þær á savarströndSettusk at hvilask,Dró sir suðrœnarDýrt lín spunnu.
II.Ein nam þeirraEgil at verjaFögr mær fíraFaðmi ljósum;Önnur var Svanhvít,Svanfjaðrar dró;En in þriðjaþeirra systirVar i hvítanHáls Völundar.
I.From the south flew the maidensAthwart the gloom,Alvit the young,To fix destinies;They on the sea-strandSat them to rest,These damsels of the southFair linen spun.
II.One of them tookEgil to press,Fair maid, in herDazzling arms.Another was Svanhwit,Who wore swan feathers;And the third,Their sister,Pressed the whiteNeck of Vœlund.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.