Women’s socks or hose were called _skoklædi_ (shoe clothes); they are still worn in Sœtersdal in Norway, and are often richly embroidered. Married women generally had their head covered with a _höfudduk_ (head-cloth). High-born women wore a gold band, or diadem of gold, round the head, a fashion occasionally adopted by men. “One day Án met Drifa, Karl’s daughter, and with her three women. She was handsome, and well dressed in a red kirtle with long sleeves, narrow below, and long and tight at the waist. She wore a band (_hlad_)[222] round her forehead, and her hair was very fine” (An Bogsveigi’s Saga, c. 5). One kind of head-dress was called _fald_ (fold); others were _sveig_, _motr_, and _krókfald_. The last word probably means a crooked head-dress, perhaps somewhat similar to those now worn in Normandy and Iceland. It must be concluded that the so-called _fald_ was often made of linen, and it was considered stately to wear this head-dress high. _Skupla_ was another head-dress, which fell down over the face. “Once when the famous chief and Saga-writer Snorri Sturluson was travelling, he met a woman who wore a blue jacket (_ólpa_) with a felt hood, which was fastened round her head; she wore it instead of a hat” (Sturlunga, iv., c. 36). Girls wore the hair, when long, wrapped round their belt; widows also wore their hair hanging down. Long yellow hair, and a delicate complexion, were considered essentials of beauty. Bui once went to Dofrafjöll (Dovrefjeld) on an errand for King Harald Fairhair, and there met a woman of large stature. “She was fair to look at, and dressed in a red kirtle, ornamented all over with lace; she wore a broad silver belt; she wore her long and fine hair loose, as is the custom of maidens; she had beautiful hands, and many gold rings on them” (Kjalnesinga Saga, c. 13). [Illustration: Fig. 1172.—Bone comb, a little less than ⅓ real size, found in a round tumulus, with an iron kettle, glass beads, charcoal, and burnt bones. ] Ermingerd, a queen in Valland, at a feast which she gave to Rögnvald jarl, “came into the hall with many women. She had in her hand a drinking-vessel of gold, and was dressed in the finest clothes; her hair was loose, as is the custom of maidens, and on her forehead she had placed a golden band” (Orkneyinga Saga, p. 280). “Helga was so beautiful, that wise men say she was the most beautiful woman in Iceland. Her hair was so long that it could cover her whole body, and was as fine as gold; no match was then thought equal to her in the whole of Borgarfjord and many other places” (Gunnlaug Ormstunga, c. 4). “Then Hallgerd was sent for, and came with two women. She wore a blue woven mantle (_vefjarmöttul_), and under it a scarlet kirtle with a silver belt; her hair reached down to her waist, on both sides, and she tucked it under her belt” (Njala, c. 13). When Gunnar went to the Althing he met the widow Hallgerd, daughter of Höskuld, who