Faith placed in dreams—Revelations of the gods in dreams—Their interpretation an important gift—Absence of dreams considered a misfortune—Magical sleep.

The faith of the Northmen in dreams^[434] was almost as great as that which they placed in their gods; like the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Jews, and other earlier nations, they believed that by them they were informed of coming events. Instances frequently occur in the Sagas of men wishing to dream in order to know the future. Those dreams which were of greatest importance were believed to be influenced by the revelations of the gods to the sleeper. Odin in a dream showed King Eirik the Victorious how it would go in the battle against StyrbjÖrn.^[435]

The place where any one dreamt was considered important, especially if the dream was in a new house; the interpretation of dreams consequently was considered an important gift, and men and women who could explain them were called draum-spekingar (dream-wise),^[436] amongst whom the Queens Ingigerd and Thyri had great renown.

“Harald was a Jarl who ruled over Holtsetaland (Holstein); he was nicknamed Klakkharald. He was a wise man, and had a daughter Thyri, who was the wisest of women, and interpreted dreams better than others. She was also handsome. The Jarl looked to her for the rule of the land, consulted her in everything, and loved her much. When Gorm had grown up and had taken the kingship, he left, and intended to ask for the hand of Harald Jarl’s daughter, or else attack him. When Harald Jarl and his daughter heard of King Gorm’s journey and of his intentions, they sent messengers to invite him to a grand feast. This he accepted, and sat with them at the feast in good friendship and honour. Then he announced his errand to the Jarl, who said that his daughter should decide for herself, as she was much wiser than he. His suit was brought before her, and she said: ‘It shall not be decided forthwith, and thou shalt return with good and honourable gifts. If thou thinkest much of me, thou shalt, when thou comest home, quickly cause to be built a house large enough for sleeping in. It must stand where no house has stood before. Therein shalt thou sleep the first night of the winter, and three nights together; and remember if thou dreamest anything. And thou shalt send men to tell me of thy dreams, if thou hast any, and I will then say whether I will marry thee or not. But do not send if thou dost not dream.’ After this talk, King Gorm remained but a short time at the feast, and made ready to go home, as he was anxious to try her wisdom. He left with much honour and suitable gifts. When he returned home, he did in all things as she had told him: had the house built, and went into it as directed. He left three hundred fully-armed men near the house, and bade them watch and guard, as he thought there might be some treachery connected with it. He lay down on the bed which had been made in the house, and fell asleep and dreamt; and there he slept three nights, and then sent men and writings to Holtsetaland to the Jarl.

“The messengers arrived and told Harald Jarl and his daughter of King Gorm’s dreams, and their errand to Thyri. When she had heard the dreams, she said: ‘You may stay here as long as you like, but you shall tell your king that I will marry him.’ They returned and told the king, who was very glad.

“He made his journey to Holtsetaland with many and well-dressed men. Harald Jarl heard of it, and had a splendid feast and grand entertainment prepared for him; and now they were married and loved each other well. At the feast Gorm entertained them by telling his dreams. ‘I dreamt the first night, and all the three nights which I slept in the house, that I was outside and overlooked my whole realm. I saw the sea recede from the land so that all islands, sounds, and fjords were dry. After that I saw that three oxen went out of the sea upon the land where I was, and bit off all the grass closely where they walked, and then went away.

“‘The second dream was very like the first, for it seemed as if three oxen again came up from the sea; all were red, with large horns; they bit off the grass as closely as the previous ones, after which they returned.

“‘In the third dream, which was like the others, I saw three oxen come up again; they were all black, and much larger horned than the others; after a while they returned to the water. After that I heard such a terrible crash that I thought it must be heard all over Denmark, and I saw that it was caused by the sea returning toward the shore. Now,’ he said, ‘I want thee, queen, to interpret the dream for the entertainment of those present, and thus show thy wisdom.’ She consented, and interpreted the dream as follows: ‘When three white oxen went up out of the sea on the land, that must mean three severe winters, when so much snow will fall that the season will be bad. When thou sawest three other red oxen, that means there will come three snowless winters, but yet not good ones, for they bite the grass off the ground. The three black oxen signify that there will come three winters, which will be so bad that none have ever seen the like, and such a black and bad season and famine will come over the land that it will be unexampled. That thou sawest them with large horns means there will be many outcasts who will lose all their property; that they went again into the sea means that the bad season will leave the land like they did; and that thou heardest a loud crash when the sea again came back on the shore means the war of powerful men, who shall meet here in Denmark, and have fights and great battles. It seems to me likely that some of the men in some of the wars will be near kinsmen to thee. If thou hadst first dreamt those things that were last, then these wars would have taken place in thy time, but now this will do no harm; and I would then not have gone with thee if thou hadst dreamt as I have before said. I can hinder all these dreams about the famine from being fulfilled.’ After this feast King Gorm and Queen Thyri went home to Denmark, and had many ships loaded with corn and other food, and transported this to Denmark; the same was kept up every year until the arrival of those severe years which she had foretold. When the hard time came they wanted for nothing on account of their preparations, and there was no want in Denmark, for they distributed much grain among the people. Thyri was thought to be the wisest woman that had ever been in Denmark, and was called Thyri DanmarkarbÓt (Denmark’s helper, saver)” (FlateyjarbÓk, vol. i.).

People were often forewarned of death in their dreams:—

“One night when King Ivar slept in the lypting^[437] (upper deck) on his dragon-ship, it seemed to him that a great dragon flew out of the sea. Its colour was golden, and it glowed in the air as if sparks were flying from the hearth of a forge, and shone over all the lands nearest it. Behind it flew all the birds that he knew of in the northern lands. He saw a great cloud rising in the north-east, followed by such a rain-storm that it seemed to him all the forests and the whole land were floating in the water which had fallen: this was accompanied by thunder and lightning. When the large dragon flew towards the land, he met the rain-storm, and such a darkness arose that he could see neither the dragon nor the birds, but only heard the loud sound of the thunder and the tempest. This passed south and west over the land, and all over his realm. Then it seemed to him all his ships had been changed into whales, and swam out to sea. At this he awoke and called his foster-father, HÖrd, told him his dream, and asked him to interpret it. HÖrd said he was so old he could not understand dreams. He stood on a rock near to one end of the gangway, but the king lay in the lypting, and was unfastening the lower border of the tent as they talked. The king was in a bad humour, and bade HÖrd go down on the ship and interpret his dream. HÖrd answered that he would not, and said, ‘I need not interpret thy dream; thou must know thyself what it means. It is likely it will not be long before others rule Sweden and Denmark. Now a greediness foreboding death has come upon thee, as thou wantest to conquer for thyself every realm, and dost not know that on the contrary thou wilt die and thy foes take thy realm.’ The king said, ‘Come here and tell thy evil prophecies.’ HÖrd said, ‘I shall stand here and tell them.’ The king said, ‘To whom of the Asar was Halfdan the Valiant like?’ HÖrd answered, ‘He was as Baldr was with the Asar, over whom all the gods wept, and not like thee.’ The king said, ‘That is good. Come here and tell it.’ HÖrd answered, ‘I will stand here and tell.’ The king replied: ‘To whom of the Asar was HrÆrek like?’ ‘To HÆnir, who was the greatest coward of the Asar, though he was less cowardly than thou art.’ The king asked, ‘To whom of the Asar was Helgi the Sharp like?’ HÖrd replied, ‘He was as HermÓd, who was very bold, and did harm to thee.’ The king said, ‘To whom of the Asar was GudrÖd like?’ HÖrd: ‘He was as Heimdal, who was the most foolish of all the Asar, and nevertheless a lesser fool than thou.’ The king: ‘To whom of the Asar am I like?’ ‘Thou resemblest the worst of all serpents existing, the Midgardsorm.’ The king answered in great anger: ‘If thou tellest me I am death-doomed, I can tell thee thou shalt live no longer, for I know thee, thou great Thurs. Now come nearer, thou Midgardsorm, and let us try our strength.’ The king rushed from the lypting, and was so angry that he jumped out under the lower edge of the tent. HÖrd plunged into the sea from the rock, and the men on the watch on board the king’s ship saw neither of them come up on the surface afterwards” (SÖgubrot, c. 3).

“He (GjÚki) had three sons, Gunnar, HÖgni, and Guttorm. GudrÚn, his daughter, was a most famous maiden.... GjÚki was married to GrÍmhild, the witchcraft-knowing. King Budli was more powerful than GjÚki, though both were powerful. Atli, the brother of Brynhild (Budli’s daughter), was a cruel, large, swarthy man, but of an imposing look, and the greatest warrior. GrÍmhild was a woman of fierce mind. The GjÚkungs flourished much, mostly because of their children who surpassed most others. Once GudrÚn told her maidens that she could not be merry. A woman asked her what was the reason. She answered: ‘We did not get good luck in dreams, and the sadness of my heart thou didst ask about is caused by a dream.’ The woman said: ‘Tell me, and let it not sadden thee, for dreams often forbode the weather.’ GudrÚn said: ‘This one does not. I dreamt that I saw a fine hawk on my hand; its feathers had a golden colour.’ The woman said: ‘Many have heard of your beauty, wisdom, and courtesy; the son of some king will ask thee in marriage.’ GudrÚn said: ‘Nothing did I think better than the hawk, and I would rather have lost all my property than lose it.’ The woman said: ‘Thy husband will be a great man, and thou wilt love him much.’ GudrÚn said: ‘It grieves me that I do not know who he is; let us go to Brynhild, she will know it.’ They made ready with gold and great beauty, and went with their maidens till they came to Brynhild’s hall, which was adorned with gold, and stood on a mountain. When they were seen, Brynhild was told that many women in gilded waggons^[438] drove towards the burgh. She replied: ‘That must be GudrÚn, GjÚki’s daughter; I dreamt of her this night; let us go out and meet her; handsomer women (than she) cannot visit us.’ ... GudrÚn said: ‘I dreamt that many of us walked together from the skemma and saw a large hart which far surpassed other deer; its hair was of gold. We all wished to catch it, but I alone succeeded, and I loved it above all other things. Then thou didst shoot it at my knees, which was such a sorrow to me that I could scarcely bear it. Then thou gavest a wolf’s cub to me, which besprinkled me with the blood of my brothers.’ Brynhild answered: ‘I will explain what will happen. Sigurd, whom I chose for my husband, will come to you; GrÍmhild will give him a mixed mead which will cause heavy trials for all of us; thou wilt marry him and quickly lose him; thou wilt marry King Atli; thou wilt lose thy brothers and slay Atli.’ GudrÚn said: ‘A sore sorrow is it to us to know such things.’ They went away home to King GjÚki” (Volsunga, c. 25).

The following dream foreboded the death of Gisli, who fell after one of the most memorable defences recorded:—

“Gisli laid himself down and tried to sleep, while they (Aud and Gudrid) were awake; and a sleep came over him. He dreamt that two birds came to the house and fought by stealth; they were rather larger than cock ptarmigans, and screamed rather loudly; they were dyed all over in blood. He awoke after this. And (his wife) asked if he had dreamt anything: ‘Thy sleep-journeys are not good now,’ said she. He sang a song (describing what he had dreamt)” (Gisli Sursson’s Saga, p. 95).

When the brothers Gunnar and Hogni were invited on a visit by King Atli, by whom they were afterwards slain, their wives dreamt bad dreams. Kostbera, Hogni’s wife, tells her dream to her husband, and GlaumvÖr afterwards to hers, in order to dissuade them from going.

Never to dream was considered a misfortune.

“It happened that the son of a high-born woman lost his memory, as if he was insane. His mother came to King Harald, and asked him for good advice. The king advised her to go and see King Magnus, for he knew there was none better in the land, and he would give counsel. She went to King Magnus accordingly, who said, ‘Did you not see King Harald?’ ‘I did,’ answered she, and told him what he said. King Magnus added, ‘Nobody is wiser than King Harald in this land, and he can give some advice if he have the will.’ King Harald, on hearing this, said: ‘Then I shall give some. I think I see what ails thy son: he is draumstoli,^[444] for it is not the nature of a man that he dream not. I advise thee to go to where King Magnus has washed his hands, and let the boy drink from the water. Then you shall make him sing. Though he is struck by sleepiness and yawning, you shall not let him sleep, but take him to where the king has rested himself, and let him fall asleep there, and then it is most likely that a dream will appear to him.’ She did all as she had been told, and her son slept there a while; and when he awoke he smiled and said, ‘I dreamed, mother. It seemed as if the Kings Magnus and Harald came to me, and each spoke in one of my ears.’ ‘Rememberest thou, my son,’ asked she, ‘what each one of them said?’ ‘I do,’ he said. ‘King Magnus said, “Be as good as you can.” Not long after, King Harald said, “Be most quick at learning, and retain in your memory what you learn as best you can.”’ This boy afterwards became a remarkable man.”

“King Halfdan (the Black) never dreamt. He sought advice from Thorleif the Wise what to do. The latter told the king what he himself used to do when he wanted to know something beforehand. He used to lay himself to sleep in a pigsty, and was then always sure of a dream. The king in consequence did the same, and also had a dream” (Halfdan the Black, c. 7).

There was supposed to be a kind of magical sleep which came over any one who was stung by a sleep-thorn (svefn-thorn) placed in the ear. This magical sleep could not be broken until the sleep-thorn fell out of the ear of the person under the spell.

“The king (Helgi) had drunk so heavily that he at once fell asleep on the bed, and the queen seized her opportunity and stung him with a sleep-thorn; when all was quiet she rose, shaved off all his hair and besmeared him with tar, then she took a leather bag and put some cloth in it in which she wrapped him up, and bade some men take him down to his ships. She roused his men, saying that their king had gone on board and wished to sail, as there was a fair wind. They all jumped up as quickly as they could, but as they were drunk did not know what they were doing; they went to the ships, and saw no king but a very large leather bag. They wanted to see what was in it and wait for the king, as they thought he would come later on. When they untied it they found the king inside. The sleep-thorn dropped down and he awoke from a bad dream, and was enraged with the queen” (HrÓlf Kraki’s Saga, c. 7).^[445]