Letters on demonology and witchcraft / [Sir Walter Scott].

  • Walter Scott
Date:
1841
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letters on demonology and witchcraft / [Sir Walter Scott]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    103/344 (page 101)
    The spectres of the dead, by name, and in order, as summoned, appeared on their being called, and muttering some regrets at being obliged to abandon their dwelling, departed, or vanished, from the as- tonished inquest. Judgment then went against the ghosts by default; and the trial by jury, of which we here can trace the origin, obtained a triumph un- known to any of the great writers who have made it the subject of eulogy.* It was not only with the spirits of the dead that the warlike people of the North made war without timidity, and successfully entered into suits of eject- ment : these daring champions often braved the in- dignation even of the superior deities of their my- thology, rather than allow that there existed any being before whom their boldness could quail. Such is the singular story, how a young man of high courage, in crossing a desolate ridge of mountains, met with a huge wagon, in which the goddess Freya, (i. e. a gigantic idol formed to represent her), together with her shrine, and the wealthy offerings attached to it, was travelling from one district of the country to another. The shrine, or sanctuary of the idol, was, like a modem caravan travelling with a show, screened by boards and curtains from the public gaze, and the equipage was under the imme- diate guidance of the priestess of Freya, a young, good-looking, and attractive woman. The traveller naturally associated himself with the priestess, who, as she walked on foot, apparently was in no degree displeased with the company of a powerful and handsome young man, as a guide and companion on the journey. It chanced, however, that the presence of the champion, and his discourse with the priestess, was less satisfactory to the goddess than to the par- ties principally concerned. By a certain signal the divinity summoned the priestess to the sanctuary * Eyrbiggia Saga. See Northern Antiquities. 12