 Theories have been proposed that these figures are connected to valkyries . Richard North says that " though it is not clear what the poet takes these women to be , their female sex , riding in flight and throwing spears suggest that they were imagined in England as a female being analogous to the later Norse valkyrjur . " Hilda Ellis Davidson theorizes that Wið færstice was originally a battle spell that had , over time , been reduced to evoke " a prosaic stitch in the side " . Towards the end of For a Swarm of Bees , the swarming bees are referred to as " victory @-@ women " ( Old English sigewif ) : 
