Page:The Story of Egil Skallagrimsson.djvu/10

before us. We see the men at their banquets; mighty drinkings they held, with curious manners and rules. There are feasts at harvest, at Yule-tide; they exchange visits at each other's houses; hospitality is universal; weddings there are, burials. Of their halls, the arrangement thereof, their order of sitting, their armour hanging ready above the warriors, we can from scenes in this story form a complete idea. We witness their amusements, their trials of strength; a certain game at ball is described in detail.

Of their religion perhaps we do not read so much in the Egla as might be expected. They were still heathens, though Christianity was prevailing in the countries around. That the Norwegians and Icelanders were familiar with their own theology and mythology is, however, plain; their know- ledge of it is constantly assumed in the poetry. Of priests the Egilssaga tells us, and of temples, and one great religious gathering is described. There is not much of the marvellous or supernatural in this Saga: no ghost, as in Grettir's Saga. Some superstitions appear: a belief in magic and spells, in the force of runes graved rightly or wrongly. Several women are spoken of as possessing magic skill, especially queen Gunnhilda, who on one memorable occasion exercises all but fatally for. Egil her power of shape-changing. There is one remarkable instance of a solemn spoken and written curse, with very curious accompaniments. But upon the whole little happens that is beyond fair probability, or that does not spring from natural causes. Although, as we have seen, Egil and his comrades were not Christians, the Christian faith is incidentally mentioned as prevailing in England, and towards the end of the Saga we read that Thorstein, Egil's youngest son, became eventually a Christian.

The characters in the Egilssaga are well marked and forcibly drawn. In the house of Kveldulf, old Kveldulf himself, Thorolf the elder, Skallagrim, Egil, stand forth as real men with characters well-sustained throughout. Outside the family king Harold is well drawn, the able ruler, generous in much, but suspicious, as a tyrant must needs be. His son Eric is violent, but weaker, and swayed by his wife Gunnhilda, who is to him somewhat as Jezebel