fertility Frey "the Skipper of the Air," who next

The marks indicative of Frey individually are now more prominent. With the exception of the cross, which perhaps, like the sacred symbols in general,

originally arose from a combination of the tokens of fertility, they have direct reference to the cultivation of the earth, and are namely the sickle and pitchfork. In striking similarity to undoubted images of gods in

11

India and Gaul, Frey appears to have been depicted on a number of bracteates as seated with his legs bent in under him. His hand with outstretched thumb is known to be a special mark of virility. Among his other attributes are the sheaf of ears, or corn, the goose the hog the horse the stag (fig. 14), - the antlers of which remind us by their recurrent growth of nature's perpetual renewal,-and finally his clinker-built ship of the Air Skithladnir (fig. 15), so ingeniously con

trived, we are told, that it could hold all the gods, and yet be carried in a pouch. The ornaments of Frey consist of the square formed of the four-armed cross in rich variety, also the sickle and plaited blades or ears of corn.

Just as Thor is represented by the side of Frey, so Frey is now and then placed with Freya the goddess of love and fertility. Besides the hawk the cat and the hog, which are seen upon other contemporary orna

ments, Freya's chief attribute on the bracteates is her brooch the Brisingamen. Her sign, which strongly recalls the Indian symbol of fertility Linga and Yoni, is a round dot enclosed in one or more circles, the outermost often developed in the form of a star (Freya's Star). As in the preceding signs, Freya's circle-ornaments are composed entirely of this particular sign. As a special mark of her sex presumably, this sign appears with a human foot attached to it. Many of the bracteates, especially those with pictures of Frey and Freya, distinctly hint at a worship in the North, as in most other lands in ancient times, of the symbols of fertility. This confirms and agrees with Adam of Bremen's later accounts of what passed at the great sacrificial festivals in Upsala.

Freya's mark, as indicating the Source of all things, is also frequently contained in the middle of Odin the All-father's three-armed cross or triskele. The marks and the ornaments arising from it, with which some peculiar spiral ornaments are possibly connected, is found almost universally among the other marks and ornaments on the bracteates. But undoubted pictures of Odin himself, especially of him alone, are extremely rare. He appears in fact distinctly only on one bracteate, which was found in Norway (fig. 16). Here he is mounted on Sleipner and fully armed, fighting his last battle on the Last Day (Ragnarok) with the Fenriswolf and the Worm of Midgarth. The same struggle between Odin and the Fenris-wolf is depicted on a

Fig. 16.

bronze plate from the close of the Middle Iron-Age found in Öeland.12 Odin is here on foot with a golden helm fitted with large horns and ear-lappets. Over his shoulder he has the gold ring Dröpner, round his waist a double ring, by his side a sword, and in each hand a spear. Three plates found with this represent Thor, with his axe and he-goat, arming himself for battle, Frey with a hog on his helmet, also with sword and lance, and Tyr fighting, like Odin, his last contest before Ragnarok with a sword in each hand against a couple of wolves or hounds, one of which he kills, but, according to the Edda, is slain by the other. Some bracteates discovered in Denmark also show us a man armed with helm and sword, most probably Tyr again, fighting the same doubtful battle with two figures of beasts.

Other gold ornaments give pictures of the goddess Hel with dishevelled hair, her hand on the door to the Under-world, along with the Fenris-wolf and many monsters; also pictures partly of man's creation from a tree, with which is seen Freya's mark and other symbols of fertility, partly of the Ash Yggdrasil,13 surrounded by rich cruciform interlacings, denoting that the boughs of the tree reach from earth to heaven. This also has the sacred signs of Odin Frey Freya and the trinity.

Similar signs, especially Frey's sickle-mark with dots punched on it, appear on the large rings and other gold trinkets which are frequently found in connexion with gold bracteates, hidden away, like the large buried treasures of the Bronze and Stone-Ages in bogs or fields,

12 In Volospá it is Odin's son Thor who fights the Worm.

13 Volospá, i. 44. The whole poem should be read in this connexion.

L