[51] Skapraun, lit. test of condition.

[52] Translated in [Appendix], [Note B].

[53] "Tell me what faith you are of," said the earl. "I believe in my own strength," said Sigmund (Færeyinga Saga).

[54] It is summarised in Dasent's Njal, i. p. xx., and translated in Sephton's Olaf Tryggvason (1895), pp. 339-341.

[55] Harðar Saga, c. xi.

[56] The pathos of Asdis, Grettir's mother, comes nearest to the tone of the old English laments, or of the Northern elegiac poetry, and may be taken as a contrast to the demeanour of Bjargey in Hávarðar Saga, and an exception to the general rule of the Sagas in this respect.

[57] Vide supra, [p. 140], and infra, [p. 295].

[58] Pp. [96], [113], above.

[59] Then Brynhild laughed till the walls rang again: "Good luck to your hands and swords that have felled the goodly prince" (Brot Sgkv. 10; cf. [p. 103] above).

[60] Vide supra, [p. 193] (the want of tragedy in Víga-Glúms Saga).