Þorbjörg’s Visit: A Household Seeks Answers

Then answered Gudrid, "I am not skilled in deep learning, nor am I a wise-woman, although Halldis, my foster-mother, taught me, in Iceland, the lore which she called Weird-songs." "Then art thou wise in good season," answered Thorbjorg; but Gudrid replied, "That lore and the ceremony are of such a kind, that I purpose to be of no assistance therein, because I am a Christian woman." Then answered Thorbjorg, "Thou mightest perchance afford thy help to the men in this company, and yet be none the worse woman than thou wast before; but to Thorkell give I charge to provide here the things that are needful." Thorkell thereupon urged Gudrid to consent, and she yielded to his wishes.

Poetic account: a saga written long after the events tells of a seeress hosted by a farming household in a hungry winter, and it is a literary scene about seiðr, not a record of a Freyja ceremony.

In Eiríks saga rauða there is a great dearth in Greenland. A woman named Þorbjörg, a seeress called Lítilvölva, “little sybil”, goes round the settlement in winter, and people invite her who want to know the season or their fate. The chief farmer Þorkell asks her to his house and receives her with ceremony. She is given a high seat and a cushion, wears a blue mantle, a lambskin hood and ermine gloves, carries a knobbed staff, and is served porridge of kid’s milk and cooked hearts. She asks for women who know the songs her work needs. None come forward, until Guðríðr, a young Christian woman, says her foster-mother taught her. After hesitating, she sings.

What is recorded: a famine, an invited seeress, a prepared seat, her clothing and staff, a hesitant Christian singer who yields to her host, a ring of women, and a promise that the dearth will ease with spring. The seeress also tells Guðríðr that she will make an honourable match in Greenland, that it will not last, and that her line will be numerous in Iceland.

What is not recorded: the words or tune of the song, which the saga does not give, and any god being named in the rite. No Freyja ceremony is described. The saga calls the practice enchantments and heathen worship from a Christian author’s viewpoint, and whether it matches any real practice is not known from this text.