“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.
Kostbera.