lets him have one of his daughters, because of the artistic pictures which the spirit has painted for him. The idea of a Bearskin is already given by Tacitus (Germ. 31), "et aliis Germanorum populis usurpatum raro et privata cujusque audentia apud Chattos in consensum vertit, ut primum adoleverint, crinem barbamque submittere nee nisi hoste caeso exuere votivum obligatumque virtuti oris habitum, ignavis et imbellibus manet squalor." Baldur's revenger also does not wash his hands, or comb his hair until he has cast Baldur's enemy into the flames (Völuspâ, 33).[1] According to Snorri, young Harald Harfager makes a vow not to cut or comb his hair until he has made the whole of Norway submit to him. Compare P. E. Müller, Ueber Snorris Quellen, p. 14, 15. The very unchristain aspect of hell, where the soldier learns music, is to be remarked, just as music lures people into the Venusberg. He only serves the Devil for a certain time, and then is free and happy. The saga assuredly dates from a remote antiquity. It even crops up in Ireland; in the Briefe eines Verstorbenen,[2] 1. 139, and following, we find, "I observed in Ireland on the summit of a high mountain a building like a church, and asked the clerk what that was. He replied in rude English that this was the King's Tabernacle, and that anyone who would neither wash himself, nor cut his nails, nor shave his beard for the space of seven years was allowed to live there free of expense, and after the seventh year had expired, he had the right to go to London, where the King was obliged to endow him amply, and make a gentleman of him. The man firmly believed this foolish tale, and swore to its truth." A story in Harsdörfer's Mordgeschichten (Hamb. 1662), p. 672, is allied. The Devil comes in the shape of a youth to a pious man who has three daughters, and wants to marry one of them. The father, however, tells him in answer that they were already promised to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost at their baptism. But the Devil by promising them great treasures, luxury, and magnificence, wins two of them over so far as to accept a betrothal-ring from him; the third drives him away. That enrages the Devil, and he brings an accusation against her and the father, but while he is about to read the accusation from his note, a pigeon flies to him and snatches the paper from him Then he is driven away to the two daughters who have promised to love him, and with them falls down to hell. Compare the following story.
