Produced by Lesley Halamek, Ted Garvin and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
STORIES AND BALLADS
OF THE FAR PAST
TRANSLATED FROM THE NORSE
(ICELANDIC AND FAROESE)
WITH INTRODUCTIONS AND NOTES
BY
N. KERSHAW
CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1921
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
Preface
Very few of the _Fornaldar Sˆgur Northrlanda_ have hitherto been
translated into English. The _Vˆlsungasaga_ is of course well known,
but with this exception the 'Stories of Icelanders,' and the 'Stories
of the Kings of Norway' are probably the only sagas familiar to the
majority of English readers. Of the four sagas contained in this
volume only one--the _Th·ttr of Sˆrli_--has appeared in English
before, though the poetry which they contain has frequently been
translated, from the time of Hickes's _Thesaurus_ (1705). So far as
I am aware no version of any of the Faroese ballads has appeared in
English. Out of the great number which were collected during the
18th and 19th centuries I have chosen a few which deal with the same
stories as the sagas translated here; and for purposes of comparison I
have added a short extract from one of the Icelandic _RÌmur_, as well
as a Danish ballad and part of the Shetland _Hildina_.
In accordance with general custom in works of this kind I have
discarded the use of accents, unfamiliar symbols, etc., except in a
few Norse words which can hardly be anglicised.
My thanks are due to the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press for
undertaking the publication of this book, and to the staff for their
unfailing courtesy.
To Professor Thuren of Christiania I am indebted for kindly allowing
me to print the melodies from his son's _Folkesangen paa FÊr¯erne_. I
have also to thank many friends in St Andrews and Cambridge for
help which they have kindly given to me in various ways, including
Professor Lawson, Dr Maitland Anderson and the staffs of the two
University Libraries, and Mr B. Dickins. Especially I wish to thank
Professor Chadwick to whom I am indebted for constant help and advice
throughout the book.
N. K.
_2 November, 1920._
Table of Contents
PART I
SAGAS
PAGE
General Introduction 3
The Th·ttr of Nornagest 11
The Th·ttr of Sˆrli 38
The Saga of Hromund Greipsson 58
The Saga of Hervˆr and Heithrek 79
Appendix to Part I (The Combat at Sams¯
and Hjalmar's Death Song) 144