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For a Swarm of Bees

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For a Swarm of Bees is an Anglo-Saxon metrical charm intended to keep honey bees from swarming. Towards the end of For a Swarm of Bees, the swarming bees are referred to as "victory-women" (Old English sigewif):

Settle down, victory-women,
never be wild and fly to the woods.
Be as mindful of my welfare,
as is each man of eating and of home.[1]

The term "victory women" has been sometimes referred to as pointing to an association with valkyries. The notion has alternately been theorized as a simple metaphor for the "victorious sword" (the stinging) of the bees.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Greenfield (1996:256).

References

  • Greenfield, Stanley B. Calder, Daniel Gillmore. Lapidge, Michael (1996). A New Critical History of Old English Literature. New York University Press. ISBN 0814730884
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