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Stanza 16. ABOUT SACRIFICES.


Sigurd, earl of Hlader, was one of the greatest men for

sacrifices, and so had Hakon his father been; and Sigurd always

presided on account of the king at all the festivals of sacrifice

in the Throndhjem country. It was an old custom, that when there

was to be sacrifice all the bondes should come to the spot where

the temple stood and bring with them all that they required while

the festival of the sacrifice lasted. To this festival all the

men brought ale with them; and all kinds of cattle, as well as

horses, were slaughtered, and all the blood that came from them

was called "hlaut", and the vessels in which it was collected

were called hlaut-vessels. Hlaut-staves were made, like

sprinkling brushes, with which the whole of the altars and the

temple walls, both outside and inside, were sprinkled over, and

also the people were sprinkled with the blood; but the flesh was

boiled into savoury meat for those present. The fire was in the

middle of the floor of the temple, and over it hung the kettles,

and the full goblets were handed across the fire; and he who made

the feast, and was a chief, blessed the full goblets, and all the

meat of the sacrifice. And first Odin's goblet was emptied for

victory and power to his king; thereafter, Niord's and Freyja's

goblets for peace and a good season. Then it was the custom of

many to empty the brage-goblet (vows were made at this time); and then the guests emptied a goblet to the memory of departed friends, called the remembrance goblet. Sigurd the earl was an open-handed man, who did what was very much celebrated; namely, he made a great sacrifice festival

at Hlader of which he paid all the expenses. Kormak Ogmundson

sings of it in his ballad of Sigurd: --


"Of cup or platter need has none

The guest who seeks the generous one, --

Sigurd the Generous, who can trace

His lineage from the giant race;

For Sigurd's hand is bounteous, free, --

The guardian of the temples he.

He loves the gods, his liberal hand

Scatters his sword's gains o'er the land-"



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