Note 220 — Chapter VI · THE KING.

There is a tradition among the Swedes that if the gods expressed their anger with the people by scarcity, or ill success in war, the most acceptable offering to them was the King. See Yngling, Sag. c. xviii. (Laing, i. 230); again, c. xlvii. (vol. i. p. 256), where the scene is laid in Norway: because, says the Yngl. Sag., the Swiar were wont to attribute to their kings the fruitfulness or dearth of the seasons. Yet they did not interfere with the succession in the son of the sacrificed king. See Geijer, Hist. i. 404.