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Aegir

The Saxon pirates used to sacrifice one tenth of their captives to Aegir. Once they had done this they were so convinced of his good favour that they were no longer afraid of storms. In fact they saw them as gifts, a way of surprising their enemies.

Aegir had nine daughters whose names all mean 'wave'. At one time Ruad Rigdonson noticed that his three ships were not adavancing as they should be. He went down into the sea to find out what the problem was and discovered three of the daughters hanging on to each keel. The sea maidens captured him and took him to their palace where he was forced to spend a night with each of them before they would release him and his ships. The sea maidens then collectively mothered a son, the god Heimdall.

Aegir gave feasts to the gods and so was also known as 'Alebrewer'.

 

Adapted from 'A guide to the Gods' by Richard Carlyon

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