IV.--Valkyrie

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PLATE V.
MAL LOMCHON CROSS, MICHAEL.

IV.--VALKYRIE.

A very beautiful cross at the Church gates, Michael (pl. V.), erected by Mal-Lomchon to Malworrey, his foster-mother, daughter of Dugald and wife of Athisl, bears the figure of a Harper seated, and approached by a long-robed figure offering a drinking horn. Significance lies in the fact that the harp was unknown among the Norsemen until their intercourse with the Irish. There is, however, a lost story of Viking age concerning a Harper, known only by one or two references, as, for example, in Voluspa--"There Eggtheow the gladsome, the Giantesses Harper, sat on a mound tuning his Harp!" By that time, therefore, not only was the instrument known to the Scandinavians, but they themselves became players, "Eggtheow the Glad-some"--what a charm lies in the epithet--being a Scandinavian name. And, if they enjoyed the harp at their earthly feasts we may be sure they would expect their heroes to be entertained by it in Valhall.

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Here, then, to the right of the cross, just below the circle, we have a figure of Eggtheow the gladsome.

The long-robed figure is one of the Valkyrie offering welcome to the musician as she would to a great hero.