The _Nornir_ seem to have appeared during the night that followed a child’s birth, which among the high-born was attended with a great deal of ceremony. The newly-born infant was placed on the floor, and remained there without being touched by any one, until taken up and put in the folds of his cloak, by his father, or in his absence by the nearest of kin, who by this ceremony acknowledged the legitimacy of his offspring. After he had received the child in his arms he looked at it, and from its appearance judged of its temper, proportions, fortune, luck in war, &c., and decided if the newly-born infant should live or be exposed and left to die—a custom similar to that of the Spartans. Then if the child was to live, a religious or sacred rite called _Ausa Vatni_,[44] which seems to have consisted either in pouring or sprinkling water over the child, was performed, a custom so common that we are not told how the water was poured or sprinkled over, though it may have been with the hand. This ceremony was considered a most sacred rite, and was an integral part of the Asa creed, and consequently of great antiquity, antedating Christian baptism, and most binding among the ancestors of the English-speaking peoples: to expose a child after this ceremony was considered murder. It was once, no doubt, practised by the Franks who belonged to the Northern tribes; and certain forms of Christian baptism of the present day may be based upon this earlier form, which was only changed in name by the earlier Christian missionaries. That the heathen or Asa baptism was not recognised by the Christians we have ample proofs in the Sagas. The Asa form was, as we have seen, called _Ausa Vatni_, and the Christian, _Skirn_.[45] “It was then the custom to choose the best men to _water-sprinkle_ or give names to the children of high-born men. When the time came at which Thora expected to bear her child, she wished to go and find King Harald. He was then north at Sœheim, while she was at Mostr; she went northward on Sigurd Jarl’s ship. During the night they lay to near the shore, and Thora bore a son upon the rock at the end of the bridge. Sigurd Jarl _water-sprinkled_ the boy, and called him Hákon, after his father, Hakon Hlada Jarl” (Harald Hárfagr’s Saga, c. 40). “Harald Fairhair when he began to get old gave to his sons the rule of Norway. He made Eirik king over all his sons, and when he had ruled for seventy winters, gave the kingship into his hands. At that time Gunnhild (Eirik’s wife) bore a son, and Harald _water-sprinkled_ him and gave him his own name, therewith declaring that he should be king after his father if he should live”[46] (Egil’s Saga, c. 59).