Sprogundervisning ... (Danish Edition)

She seems to be a Danish goddess connected with the plough and with agriculture, who married Skiold, or Scyld, one of the traditional god-kings who came across the sea bringing peace and prosperity to Denmark (page 104). She shows resemblances to Freyja, one of whose names was Gefn, and the names Gefion and Gefn bear a significant likeness to the names of the Mothers in the Roman period, linking up with their powers of giving. Gefion, like Freyja, had a necklace said to have been given to her by a fair youth in exchange for her favours, and she was thought to have some links with the dead, since Snorri stated that unmarried girls went to her after death. The memory of a goddess who was open-handed in her gifts to men, associated with the earth, survived in Anglo-Saxon England, and has left traces in an old English charm to make the land fertile. This poetic charm is long and complicated in the form in which it was written down, and has obviously been subjected to Christian editing. The following passage however remains as part of the invocation: I stand facing the East; I pray for favour ...»