Gefjon

The Goddess of the Plough

Gefjon is a Norse goddess associated with the plough, fertility, and the fruitfulness of the land. She is often linked with unmarried women, for it was said that those who die maidens come into her keeping.

Her most famous deed is the making of an island. The Swedish king Gylfi offered Gefjon as much land as she could plough in a single day and night. She took four oxen, who were her own sons by a giant, and set them to the plough.

So mightily did the oxen pull that they tore a vast piece of land loose and dragged it out into the sea, where it became the Danish island of Zealand. The hollow the plough left behind is said to be the great lake that remains in Sweden to this day.

Divine Powers