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Examples

  • He acquires consideration, however, by breaking open the barrow of Thorfinn's father, and not only bringing out treasures (which go to Thorfinn), but fighting with and overcoming the "barrow-wight" (ghost) itself, the first of the many supernatural incidents in the story.

    The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory (Periods of European Literature, vol. II) George Saintsbury 1889

  • There was a battle, first one, then the other gaining a slight advantage, but at last the barrow-wight fell over on his back with a huge din; whereupon Grettir drew his sword,

    The Book of Romance Andrew Lang 1878

  • Whatever we had in stock did sell, though, so perhaps having this last straggling figure isn't so much "the movie merchandise killed its sales" as "nobody wanted to buy the barrow-wight."

    Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin Mikester 2010

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  • The Valkyries, the Choosers of the slain, and the Norns who wove the fates of men at a ghastly loom were seen by living eyes. In the graves where treasures were hoarded the Barrowwights dwelt, ghosts that were sentinels over the gold: witchwives changed themselves into wolves and other monstrous animals, and for many weeks the heroes Signy and Sinfjotli ran wild in the guise of wolves.

    —Andrew Lang, 'The Sagas', in Essays in Little, 1891

    June 16, 2009