Jordanis tells the true history of Ermanaric, that great Gothic emperor whose rule from the Dnieper to the Baltic and Rhine and Danube, and long reign of prosperity, were broken by the coming of the Huns.

With him vanished the first great Teutonic empire.
Magic was powerful enough even to raise the dead, as was practised by the Perms, who thus renewed their forces after a battle.

In the Everlasting battle the combatants were by some strange trick of fate obliged to fulfil a perennial weird (like the unhappy Vanderdecken).
Spells to wake the dead were written on wood and put under the corpses' tongue.

Spells (written on bark) induce frenzy.
"Charms" would secure a man against claw or tooth.
"Love philtres" (as in the long "Lay of Gudrun) appear as everywhere in savage and archaic society.
"Food", porridge mixed with the slaver of tortured snakes, gives magic strength or endues the eater with eloquence and knowledge of beast and bird speech (as Finn's broiled fish and Sigfred's broiled dragon-heart do).
"Poison" like these hell-broths are part of the Witch or Obi stock-in-trade, and Frode uses powdered gold as an antidote.
"Omens" are observed; tripping as one lands is lucky (as with our William the Norman).

Portents, such as a sudden reddening of the sea where the hero is drowned, are noticed and interpreted.
"Dreams" (cf.