The Book of Were-Wolves | Page 8

was not
proper that she should be there by him, for by day he was a beast, and
by night a man.
"Hring returned from his harrying, and he was told the news, of what
had taken place during his absence; how that Björn, his son, had
vanished, and also, how that a monstrous beast was up the country, and
was destroying his flocks. The queen urged the king to have the beast

slain, but he delayed awhile.
"One night, as Bera and Björn were together, he said to her:--'Methinks
to-morrow will be the day of my death, for they will come out to hunt
me down. But for myself I care not, for it is little pleasure to live with
this charm upon me, and my only comfort is that we are together; but
now our union must be broken. I will give you the ring which is under
my left hand. You will see the troop of hunters to-morrow coming to
seek me; and when I am dead go to the king, and ask him to give you
what is under the beast's left front leg. He will consent.'
"He spoke to her of many other things, till the bear's form stole over
him, and he went forth a bear. She followed him, and saw that a great
body of hunters had come over the mountain ridges, and had a number
of dogs with them. The bear rushed away from the cavern, but the dogs
and the king's men came upon him, and there was a desperate struggle.
He wearied many men before he was brought to bay, and had slain all
the dogs. But now they made a ring about him, and he ranged around it.,
but could see no means of escape, so he turned to where the king stood,
and he seized a man who stood next him, and rent him asunder; then
was the bear so exhausted that he cast himself down flat, and, at once,
the men rushed in upon him and slew him. The Carle's daughter saw
this, and she went up to the king, and said,--'Sire! wilt thou grant me
that which is under the bear's left fore-shoulder?' The king consented.
By this time his men had nearly flayed the bear; Bera went up and
plucked away the ring, and kept it, but none saw what she took, nor had
they looked for anything. The king asked her who she was, and she
gave a name, but not her true name.
"The king now went home, and Bera was in his company. The queen
was very joyous, and treated her well, and asked who she was; but Bera
answered as before.
"The queen now made a great feast, and had the bear's flesh cooked for
the banquet. The Carle's daughter was in the bower of the queen, and
could not escape, for the queen had a suspicion who she was. Then she
came to Bera with a dish, quite unexpectedly, and on it was bear's flesh,
and she bade Bera eat it. She would not do so. 'Here is a marvel!' said

the queen; 'you reject the offer which a queen herself deigns to make to
you. Take it at once, or something worse will befall you.' She bit before
her, and she ate of that bite; the queen cut another piece, and looked
into her mouth; she saw that one little grain of the bite had gone down,
but Bera spat out all the rest from her mouth, and said she would take
no more, though she were tortured or killed.
"'Maybe you have had sufficient,' said the queen, and she
laughed."--(Hrolfs Saga Kraka, c. 24-27, condensed.)
In the Faroëse song of Finnur hin friði, we have the following verse:--
Hegar íð Finnur hetta sær. When this peril Finn saw, Mannspell var at
meini, That witchcraft did him harm, Skapti hann seg í varglíki: Then
he changed himself into a were-wolf:
Hann feldi allvæl fleiri. He slew many thus.
The following is from the second Kviða of Helga Hundingsbana
(stroph. 31):--
May the blade bite, Which thou brandishest Only on thyself, when it
Chimes on thy head. Then avenged will be The death of Helgi, When
thou, as a wolf, Wanderest in the woods, Knowing nor fortune Nor any
pleasure, Haying no meat, Save rivings of corpses.
In all these cases the change is of the form: we shall now come to
instances in which the person who is changed has a double shape, and
the soul animates one after the other.
The Ynglinga Saga (c. 7) says of Odin, that "he changed form; the
bodies lay as though sleeping or dead, but he was a bird or a beast, a
fish, or a woman, and went in a twinkling to far