Book One
At that time there was a man called Odin who was believed throughout Europe, though falsely, to be a god. He had the habit of staying more frequenly than anywhere at Uppsala, deigning to live rather more constantly there either because of the inhabitants' torpor or the beauty of the countryside. The kings of the north, eager to honour his divinity with more enthusiastic worship, executed a representation of him in gold, the arms thickly encircled with heavy bracelets, and as an expression of their devotion sent it with the utmost show of piety to Byzantium. Delighting in his celebrity, Odin avidly greeted the donors' affection. His wife, Frigg, desiring to walk abroad more bedizened, brought in smiths to strip the statue of its gold. Odin had them hanged and then, setting the image on a plinth, by a marvellous feat of workmanship made it respond with a voice to human touch. Subordinating her husband's divine honours to the splendour of her own apparel, Frigg submitted herself to the lust of one of her servants; by his cunning the effigy was demolished and the gold which had been devoted to public idolatry went to serve her personal pleasure. This woman, unworthy of a deified consort, felt no scruples about pursuing unchastity, provided that she could more speedily enjoy what she coveted. Need I add anything but to say that such a god deserved such a wife? Men's intelligence was once made ridiculous by gullibility of this kind. Consequently Odin, wounded by both his wife's offenses, grieved as heavily over the damage to his likeness as the harm to his bed. Stung by the double embarrassment he took to exile replete with an honest shame, thinking he would thereby obliterate the stain of his disgrace.
Book Eight
Famine strikes Denmark and it is decided that, since there is not enough food for all the people, some must leave the land.
Everyone's fate was thrown into the urn and all who were marked out by lot were pronounced exiles. In the end those who had been unwilling to bow to necessity of their own accord were forced to obey the dictate of chance. First they voyaged to Blekinge, then sailed to Möre and put in at Gotland where, according to Paul the Deacon, prompted by the goddess Frigg, they are said to have adopted the name of Langobards, whose race they later founded. Eventually, they steered their way to Rügen, left the boats and began to journey overland; they traversed a great extent of the earth, fighting and plundering as they went and, after spreading carnage far and wide, sought a home in Italy. There they changed the ancient name of the people for their own.
