When the winter winds blow and the Yule fires are lit, from the north of Scandinavia down to Switzerland, and into Britain it is best to stay indoors, safely shut away from the dark forest paths and the wild heaths. Those who wander out by themselves during the Yule-nights may hear a sudden rustling through the tops of the trees -- a rustling that might be the wind, though the rest of the wood is still. But then the barking of dogs fills the air, with the hunters behind whooping "Wod! Wod!" a man's voice cries from above, "Midden in dem Weg!" and the host of wild souls sweeps down, fire flashing from the eyes of the white ghostly hounds and hooves of the equally ghostly white horses. The wise traveller falls down at once in the middle of the road, face down. If he is lucky, he will take no harm other than the cold feet of the white dogs running over his body. More foolish folk are swept up, coming to earth far from home or left dead behind the furious host. Those who join in the Hunter's cry may get as their share of the booty a piece of human flesh. This is the Wild Hunt. It is known by many names -- Wutan's or Wuet's Army in the southern parts of Germany, the family of Harlequin in France, the Oskorei in Norway, Odensjakt in Denmark and Sweden -- but the basic description is always much the same. A great noise of barking and shouting is heard; then a white rider on a white, or gray horse, storming through the air with his hounds, followed by a host of Faery warriors, is seen. The rider is sometimes headless, and in Britain goes by the name of Adaman Briona and is the consort of the Faery Queen and does her bidding. The faery warriors show signs of battle-wounds or death by other forms of mischance. Fire spurts from the hooves and eyes of the beasts in the procession. The horses and hounds may be two- or three-legged. Often the newly dead can be recognized in the train. The furious host is always a peril to the human being who comes into its way, though sometimes it leaves rewards as well.