ory
or myth, appearing as fairies or witches, as, for instance, in the
tale of "the Sleeping Beauty," and Shakespeare's tragedy of Macbeth.

"1st Witch. When shall we three meet again,
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

2nd Witch. When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won:

3rd Witch. That will be ere the set of sun."

Macbeth (Shakespeare).

The Vala

Sometimes the Norns bore the name of Vala, or prophetesses, for they
had the power of divination--a power which was held in great honour
by all the Northern races, who believed that it was restricted to
the female sex. The predictions of the Vala were never questioned,
and it is said that the Roman general Drusus was so terrified by the
appearance of Veleda, one of these prophetesses, who warned him not
to cross the Elbe, that he actually beat a retreat. She foretold his
approaching death, which indeed happened shortly after through a fall
from his steed.

These prophetesses, who were also known as Idises, Dises, or Hagedises,
officiated at the forest shrines and in the sacred groves, and
always accompanied invading armies. Riding ahead, or in the midst
of the host, they would vehemently urge the warriors on to victory,
and when the battle was over they would often cut the bloody-eagle
upon the bodies of the captives. The blood was collected into great
tubs, wherein the Dises plunged their naked arms up to the shoulders,
previous to joining in the wild dance with which the ceremony ended.

It is not to be wondered at that these women were greatly
feared. Sacrifices were offered to propitiate them, and it was only in
later times that they were degraded to the rank of witches, and sent to
join the demon host on the Brocken, or Blocksberg, on Valpurgisnacht.

Besides the Norns or Dises, who were also regarded as protective
deities, the Northmen ascribed to each human being a guardian spirit
named Fylgie, which attended him through life, either in human or
brute shape, and was invisible except at the moment of death by all
except the initiated few.

The allegorical meaning of the Norns and of their web of fate is too
patent to need explanation; still some mythologists have made them
demons of the air, and state that their web was the woof of clouds,
and that the bands of mists which they strung from rock to tree,
and from mountain to mountain, were ruthlessly torn apart by the
suddenly rising wind. Some authorities,