the waves dashed highest, and in
an incredibly short space of time they came to an island, where the
steersman motioned them to disembark. In awestruck silence the twelve
men obeyed; and their surprise was further excited when they saw the
stranger fling his battle-axe, and a limpid spring gush forth from
the spot on the greensward where it fell. Imitating the stranger, all
drank of this water without a word; then they sat down in a circle,
marvelling because the newcomer resembled each one of them in some
particular, but yet was very different from any one of them in general
aspect and mien.

Suddenly the silence was broken, and the stranger began to speak in
low tones, which grew firmer and louder as he proceeded to expound
a code of laws which combined all the good points of the various
existing regulations which the Asegeir had collected. His speech
being finished, the speaker vanished as suddenly and mysteriously as
he had appeared, and the twelve jurists, recovering power of speech,
simultaneously exclaimed that Forseti himself had been among them, and
had delivered the code of laws by which the Frisians should henceforth
be judged. In commemoration of the god's appearance they declared the
island upon which they stood to be holy, and they pronounced a solemn
curse upon any who might dare to desecrate its sanctity by quarrel
or bloodshed. Accordingly this island, known as Forseti's land or
Heligoland (holy land), was greatly respected by all the Northern
nations, and even the boldest vikings refrained from raiding its
shores, lest they should suffer shipwreck or meet a shameful death
in punishment for their crime.

Solemn judicial assemblies were frequently held upon this sacred isle,
the jurists always drawing water and drinking it in silence, in memory
of Forseti's visit. The waters of his spring were, moreover, considered
to be so holy that all who drank of them were held to be sacred, and
even the cattle who had tasted of them might not be slain. As Forseti
was said to hold his assizes in spring, summer, and autumn, but never
in winter, it became customary, in all the Northern countries, to
dispense justice in those seasons, the people declaring that it was
only when the light shone clearly in the heavens that right could
become apparent to all, and that it would be utterly impossible to
render an equitable verdict during the dark winter season. Forseti
is seldom mentioned except in connection with Balder. H