when the were-wolf fit went off him--he then felt the exhaustion
consequent on the fight, and he was so completely 'done up,' that he
was obliged to take to his bed."

In like manner Skallagrim had his fits of frenzy, taking after his
amiable father.

"Thord and his companion were opposed to Skallagrim in the game, and
they were too much for him, he wearied, and the game went better with
them. But at dusk, after sunset, it went worse with Egill and Thord,
for Skallagrim became so strong that he caught up Thord and cast him
down, so that he broke his bones, and that was the death of him. Then
he caught at Egill. Thorgerd Brák was the name of a servant of
Skallagrim, who had been foster-mother to Egill. She was a woman of
great stature, strong as a man and a bit of a witch. Brák
exclaimed,--'Skallagrim! are you now falling upon your son?' (hamaz þú
at syni þínum). Then Skallagrim let go his hold of Egill and clutched
at her. She started aside and fled. Skallagrim. followed. They ran out
upon Digraness, and she sprang off the headland into the water.
Skallagrim cast after her a huge stone which struck her between the
shoulders, and she never rose after it. The place is now called Brak's
Sound."--(c. 40.)

Let it be observed that in these passages from the _Aigla_, the words
að hamaz, hamrammr, &c. are used without any intention of conveying
the idea of a change of bodily shape, though the words taken literally
assert it. For they are derived from _hamr_, a skin or habit; a word
which has its representatives in other Aryan languages, and is
therefore a primitive word expressive of the skin of a beast.