Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/473

Rh stature of Thorsteinn, though for a man he was a person of a very powerful frame. When, however, he said that he had a way of making himself invisible, Goᵭmundr consented to take him with him, and Thorsteinn proved the means of rendering Goᵭmundr and his men victors in all the contests in which Geirrœᵭr made them engage. Finally, Thorsteinn killed Geirrœᵭr and enabled Goᵭmundr to annex his kingdom; he also found himself a wife there called Gođrún, daughter of Agᵭi, who is described as the most demon-like of Geirrœᵭr's earls: among other things he had claw-like hands and a dark complexion. The maid was, however, beautiful, and he brought her and her treasures to king Olaf's court, where she was wedded to Thorsteinn. Old Norse tales make Goᵭmundr the king of a Teutonic Elysium, and represent him as a very great personage; but the Icelandic story gives him an antagonistic neighbour, over whom he is made to triumph by the aid of a stranger, who, looked at in the light of our Celtic stories, should be the Culture Hero, or his son the Solar Hero. The latter would seem best to suit the story of Thorsteinn, who, bringing Gođrún away with him to be his wife, cannot help reminding one a little of Cúchulainn carrying away his bride from her father, the coal-faced king Forgall. As to the rest, the conquest of Geirrœᵭr and the annexation of his realm to Goᵭmundr's recall the assistance given by Pwyỻ to Arawn king of Hades (p. 340), while the stone which rendered Thorsteinn invisible challenges comparison with the ring used with the same effect by Owein ab Urien (p. 351).