Soon shall increase
The band of the gods:
To Odin's feast
Hakon is bidden.
The king beheld
The beautiful maids
Sitting on their horses
In shining armor,
Their shields before them,
Solemnly thoughtful.
The king heard
The words of their lips,
Saw them beckon
With pale hands,
And thus bespoke them:
Mighty goddesses,
Were we not worthy
You should choose us
A better doom?
Skogul answered:
Thy foes have fallen,
Thy land is free,
Thy fame is pure;
Now we must ride
To greener worlds,
To tell Odin
That Hakon comes.
An interpretation of the valkyries is not necessary. The god of war sends his thoughts and his will to the carnage of the battle-field in the form of mighty armed women, in the same manner as he sends his ravens over all the earth.
Ethically considered, then, Odin symbolizes the matchless hope of victory that inspired the Norsemen, and from which their daring exploits sprang; and we know that this hope of victory did not leave the hero
