seems to correspond to Eric in Saxo p. 190 f. It has been suggested
that he is Othin in disguise.
_Hazle stakes._ Cf. the _Th·ttr of Nornagest_, ch. 7 (note).
XIV. _They rode forthwith ... against the Huns._ It has been suggested
by Heinzel that this battle between the Goths and the Huns was the
great battle fought on the Catalaunian Plain in 451 A.D.; but the
passage in _Widsi_ cited on p. 238 points rather to Poland.
_Drew ... lips_, lit. 'drew back his moustache.'
_Dunheith_ and the other place names are unknown.
XV. _The Goths were defending_, etc. Cf. _Widsi˛_, l. 121 ff.
XVI. _Ivar Vithfathmi._ For Ivar Vithfathmi and his family, see
_Ynglingasaga_, chs. 44, 45, and the first fragment of _Skjˆldunga
Saga_ (printed in the _Fornaldar Sˆgur_, I, p. 285 ff.), chs. 1-3.
_Harold Hilditˆnn._ The fullest account of Harold Hilditˆnn is that
given by Saxo Grammaticus, _Dan. Hist._, p. 296 ff. See also the
fragments of the _Skjˆldunga Saga_, ch. 4 ff.
_Gautland_, i.e. the Land of the _Geatas_ in _Beowulf_, the modern
Gˆtaland (whether Vestergˆtland or ÷stergˆtland or both), comprising
roughly speaking the southern portions of Sweden, exclusive of the
Danish districts (Skaane etc).
_Harold of the Red Moustache._ He was King of Agthir. A daughter of
his, also called ¡sa, was married to Guthrˆth, King of Vestfold--the
_Godefridus_ who fought against Charlemagne and died in 810. See
_Ynglingasaga_, ch. 53. Their son was H·lfdan the Black, the father of
Harold the Fairhaired.
_Sigurth Hring._ See the _Th·ttr of Nornagest_, ch. 7 and note.
_Battle of Br·vˆll._ The chief accounts of this battle are to be found
in the second fragment of the _Skjˆldunga Saga_, ch. 8 f. (see above);
and in Saxo Grammaticus, _Dan. Hist._, pp. 309 ff.
_The Sons of King Ragnar._ For Ragnar LothbrÛk and his sons, see the
_Th·ttr of Nornagest_, ch. 9 and note.
_A sea-king._ Cf. the _Saga of Olaf the Holy (Heimskringla)_, ch. 4.
_The Sons of Eric Bjˆrnson were ÷nund and Bjˆrn._ These are probably
to be identified with the Swedish kings Bern and Anoundus mentioned
in Rembertus' _Life of St. Ansgar_, chs. 11 and 19, in connection with
the saint's missionary visits to Sweden (_c._ 830).
_Bragi Skald_ was the great grandfather of Arinbjˆrn the friend of
Egil SkallagrÌmsson. In the _Saga of Egil SkallagrÌmsson_, ch. 59,
he is said to have saved his life by composing in one night a poem
in honour of King Bjˆrn. Some fragments of his poems have been
preserved--the earliest datable Norse poems which have come down to
us.
_King Harold the Fairhaired._ See the _Th·ttr of Nornagest_, ch. 10,
and note.
_Eric the Victorious._ The battle won by Eric the Victorious over
Styrbjˆrn at Fyrisvellir seems to have taken place between 980
and 985. Several Runic inscriptions contain references to it. The
statement that Harold the Fairhaired died in Eric's time can hardly be
correct; for Harold is believed to have died in 933.
_Fyrisvellir_, on the banks of the FyrisÂ, close to the site of the
modern town of Upsala.
_Olaf the Swede._ The traditional date of his conversion is 1008.
_Olaf the Saint_, ex-King of Norway, whence he had been expelled in
1028, was killed at the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030 in an attempt to
recover the throne.
_He tried to put an end to_, etc. An interesting account of the
heathen ceremonies of the Swedes, dating from shortly after the middle
of the eleventh century, is given by Adam of Bremen in his _History of
the Church of Hamburg_, Book IV., ch. 26 f.
_The sacred tree._ The sacrificial tree in question is presumably that
mentioned in schol. 134 to Adam of Bremen as standing beside the great
temple of Upsala.
_Eymund_, _c._ 1050-_c._ 1060.
_Steinkel_, 1060-1066.
_Haakon the Red_, 1066-1079?
_Ingi I_, d. _c._ 1110. He, Hallstein and BlÛtsvein were all reigning
in 1081.
_Philippus_, d. 1118.
_Ingi II_, d. 1125.
GRIPLUR I
10. _Gnoth-¡smund_, etc. For notes on people mentioned in the
_GrÌplur_, see notes to the _Saga of Hromund Greipsson_, p. 231 ff.
above.
13. _Draupnir's beautiful blood_, a _kenning_ for 'gold rings.'
Draupnir was the name of Othin's ring which was made by the smith
Eitri and sent to Othin by his brother Brokk. Its special value lay in
the fact that every ninth night, eight gold rings dropped from it. Cf.
_Sk·ldskaparm·l_, ch. 35. Cf. also _Vˆlusp·_, str. 15, where Draupnir
is mentioned in the list of dwarfs.
THE FAROESE BALLAD OF NORNAGEST
_Refrain._ According to Lyngbye the refrain should be:
_You dare not give counsel in trouble_, etc.
Others have it
_Let them have help in trouble._
Schr¯ter took down the first two verses as follows:
A ballad there is of Nornagest,--
_You dare not give counsel in trouble_--
In manly virtues among the best.--
_Let every lad do so!_
Twelve oxen were led to the Market Square,
And onward thence to a castle fair.--
_Grani bore gold from the heath._
The King he thought to hew them to earth,--
_You dare not give counsel in trouble_--
With courage and joy does he sally forth,--
_Let every lad do so!_
The King he struck such a mighty blow,
That the blood from the wounds did swiftly flow.
_Grani bore gold from the heath._
10. _The mightiest champion_, etc. In Lyngbye's version 10 and 11 are
transposed. Hammershaimb's is no doubt the correct order.
15. _Was Hˆgni_, etc. Lyngbye here inserts a stanza:
Hˆgni was a mighty man:
Swarthy of hue was he as I ween.
16. _Rich, brave_, etc. The Suder¯ version of the ballad here
substitutes at the beginning of the line: "They were old and grey."
31. _The saddle-buckle_, etc. In Lyngbye's version of the _Ballad
of Regin the Smith_, v. 131 (omitted by Hammershaimb) the following
stanza is found:
[Grani] sprang across the pool
And his saddle-buckle brake.
And as I ween that saddle-buckle
Nornagest did take.
In the _Ballad of Regin the Smith_ we are told that the accident to
Grani occurred when Sigurth was on his way home from GnÌtahei after
slaying Fafnir. Grani was heavily laden with treasure and Sigurth
also was mounted on him, so that the accident there appears perfectly
natural.
_In days_, etc. So Hammershaimb. Lyngbye has:
In days gone by full far have I strayed
In search of my candle and span of days.
_In the land._ Here Lyngbye has:
In the Land of the Franks is a lake broad and wide:
O there does my span of life abide.
O there does my span of life abide:
And so for long I have wandered far and wide.
But he adds a version corresponding to Hammershaimb's in a footnote
and states that it is frequently sung so.
42. _The courteous man._ According to Lyngbye, by a 'courteous man,'
the Faroese mean a _Scotsman_ and says that the origin of the word
(_kurtis_) is unknown. It is of course the same as the Icelandic
_kurteis_ which is a French loan-word.
According to Lyngbye it was still part of popular Faroese legend in
his day that Nornagest kept his candle in a little leaden casket which
was sunk in a lake. Lyngbye says that Nornagest was regarded as the
'Nestor' of the Faroes, which is quite in accordance both with his
"three hundred years" mentioned in the saga, and with the unusually
long span of life often associated with the External Soul of folklore.
THE BALLAD OF HJALMAR AND ANGANTYR
1. _In a high oak-tree._ In the version of this ballad obtained by
Hammershaimb at Sumb¯ the first line runs 'A man there lived on (lit.
'in') an island high,' whereas in the _Ballad of Arngrim's Sons_,
v. 3, we are told that Arngrim and his sons lived 'under' an oak.
Possibly the first line of our text is a confusion of these two
versions. The error is made more comprehensible by the fact that
there are no trees on the Faroes, and so the phrase must have been a
meaningless jingle of words to the singers.
_Arngrim's sons from Africa._ The text has 'Arngrim's sons from
Bl·land,' by which the Faroese ballads and the _Fornaldar Sˆgur_
generally mean Africa. Here, however, we should more naturally have
expected 'Norway,' and it is very probable that, as Hammershaimb
suggests, we here have the refrain in a corrupt form as so often
happens. Probably 'from Bl·land' (_af Bl·landum_) should be 'from
BÛlmland' (af _BÛlmlandi_), i.e. from the Island of BÛlm, but the
Faroese may have substituted the more familiar name for that of the
island with which they were unacquainted.
2. _The champions Hjalmar_, etc. The Sumb¯ version has:
He has eleven sons so dear;
The twelfth is the warrior Angantyr,
and also inserts immediately following a verse giving reasons for the
voyage:
News then came to Angantyr
That a man there was had a daughter fair.
4. _They hoisted their sail_, etc. Cf. _Sigmundar KvÊi_, str. 13, 28,
48.
5. _Their anchor they cast_, etc. Cf. _Magna Dans_ (_Icelandic
FornkvÊi_) v. 3, with which this is practically identical.
6. _Angantyr eagerly_, etc. The lit. transl. of the text is 'Angantyr
was the first to step,' etc.; but the following v. has 'Hjalmar was
the first to step!' The Sumb¯ version, which is undoubtedly better
here, has
_Angantyr loypur so tungliga · land_
Angantyr leapt so heavily to land,
instead of
_Fyrstur steig Angant˝r fÛtum · land_
Angantyr was the first to step with his feet to land.
10. _Here sittest thou_, etc. In the Sumb¯ version, Hjalmar's request
is not recorded. The repetition of Angantyr's request in our text, if
it has any significance at all, implies that both Hjalmar and Angantyr
made the proposal.
18. _O franklin, lend me_, etc. The Sumb¯ version here inserts an
additional verse.
Angantyr is so vile a troll,
So are his kinsfolk and followers all.
19. _Forth of the hall._ In the Sumb¯ version the fight took place
outside the hall, and only Angantyr is credited with the troll-like
bellowing. Indeed one feels throughout the Sumb¯ version a more
clearly defined hostility to Angantyr on the part of the balladist,
whereas the Westmanhavn version is more detached in its attitude.
THE DANISH BALLAD OF ANGELFYR AND HELMER
1. _Offue he dwelt in Uthiss-kier_, so MS. A. MS. B has "_Alff ...
Odderskier_." MS. C. has "_Ulff ... Oderskier_." MS. D has "_Alff ...
OdderskiÊr_." Axel Olrik, however, in the version which he prints in
_Danske Folkeviser i Udvalg_, p. 105 f. has "Alf ... OdderskÊr." He
explains (Introduction, p. 78) Alf to be 'a combination of Arngrim the
father of the berserks and Hjalmar's foster-brother ÷rvarodd.'
7. _Gold shone on his hand._ The phrase is not quite clear. It may
possibly refer to some personal ornament, but in view of the following
line, would seem more probably to indicate that Angelfyr offered money
to the King of Upsala.
11. _He is half a troll_, So A, which is in accordance with Angelfyr's
ancestry as told in the _Saga of Hervˆr and Heithrek_, ch. I. B and
D, however, like the Faroese, have 'He is so vile a troll.' A gives
little sense, considering the second half of the verse, and the whole
becomes a meaningless formula in all the versions in which Angantyr
and Hjalmar are described as brothers.
18. _Whom he himself will have._ Possibly _han_, 'he,' is a misprint
for _hÛn_, 'she,' which is what we should expect. Cf. the _Saga of
Hervˆr and Heithrek_, ch. 3. One hardly expects a cynical touch like
this in an authentic ballad. But the whole of the latter part of B may
be a later version than the original.
THE FAROESE BALLAD OF ARNGRIM'S SONS
_Refrain._ I have adopted the refrain given in Hammershaimb's version
of the Ballad, taken down on Sand¯ in 1848 and published in the
_Antiq. TÌdss._, 1849-1851, rather than Svabo's version which he
afterwards adopted, but which is very obscure and possibly corrupt.
2. _Bjarnaland_, so sing the Faroese according to both Svabo and
Hammershaimb. By _Bjarnaland_ they mean Norway. Contrast, however,
the _Saga of Hervˆr and Heithrek_, ch. 2, where we are distinctly told
that Angantyr's mother was Eyfura who had been carried off by Arngrim
from _Bjarmaland_ (i.e. the land of the Perms) where her father was
king. See also the note on this passage. The Faroese have no doubt
confused the unfamiliar name with one more familiar to themselves.
3. _Beneath oak trees live they_--a common ballad formula with no real
significance. It is interesting, however, as a touch indicating the
literary origin of this and other stories told in the Faroese ballads.
As has been remarked (see p. 247 above) there are no trees on the
Faroes. On the other hand farm houses in Scandinavian lands stand
frequently beneath the shadow of a large oak. For a discussion of this
subject, see Chadwick, _Cult of Othin_ (Cambridge, 1899), p. 72 ff.
Compare the Scottish Ballad of _Rose the Red and White Lily_, v. 38:
Then out and spak' the King again,
Says, "Bonny boy, tell to me
Who lives into yon bigly bow'r,
Stands by yon green oak-tree?"
4. _Arngrim and the Earl's lady_, etc. So Svabo. In Hammershaimb's
version (_Antiq. TÌdss._ 1849-1851) she is described as the daughter
of Angantyr.
7. _Better than fighting_, etc. The incident of a _boy_ playing too
roughly with his companions and being told by them to go and avenge
his father instead of maltreating them is very widespread. Prof. Ker
notes its occurrence (_On the History of the Ballads_ 1100-1500,
p. 194) in the Irish Romance of Maelduin, in four Norwegian, five
Faroese, two or three Danish ballads, in a Literary History of the
Arabs and in New Guinea.
8. _Water she cast_, etc. The passage is obscure. It is not clear
if Hervik had actually been fighting with the 'lads,' so that the
cleansing of her armour was an actual necessity; or if she had only
been playing rather roughly. _Leika_ can mean both 'to play' and
'to fight'; and _leikvˆllr_ may mean both a 'playground' and a
'battlefield.' If Hervik had only been playing, the throwing of the
water on the armour was possibly a rite performed before undertaking
vengeance.
9. _Die on straw._ To 'die on straw' is the regular idiom in Faroese
and Icelandic for to 'die in one's bed,' of old age or sickness, as
opposed to death by the sword.
10. _Isan's Grove._ Hammershaimb suggests that by _Isan's Land_ here
and in vv. 20 and 21 below the Faroese mean _Sams¯_. On the other hand
there was a forest in Holstein in ancient times called _Isarnho_,
and some such name may possibly be preserved here. There was a King
_Isung_ mentioned in the Danish Ballad _De vare syv og syvsindstyve_,
as an opponent of King _Didrik_; but it is improbable that his land is
here indicated.
13. _She drew a shirt from out the chest_, etc.--a common ballad
motif. A verse almost identical with this is to be found in the _KvÊi
of Regin the Smith_, v. 47.
14. _Up then rose Hervik_, etc. vv. 14, 15, 16 and 20 are identical
with vv. 12-16 (inclusive) of _Olufu KvÊi_, the only change being
that 'Hugin the King' takes the place of 'Hervik the Earl's
daughter.' They are practically identical too with the _KvÊi of the
JÛmsvÌkingar_, vv. 6-8 (inclusive). Cf. also _Sjurar KvÊi_ (III
_Hˆgna T·ttur_, vv. 46-49), and _Ragnarlikkja_, vv. 40-48.
20. _Striped gold on a scarlet ground._ The text has _Gull vi reyan
brand_, which is probably a mishearing of the line _Gull vi reyan
rand_ ('with a gold stripe on a red ground'). Verse 39 of _Br˙sajˆkils
KvÊi_ (which is otherwise identical with the above) gives in the
second line _Gull vi r·um brann_ ('gold blazed on the yardarms'). In
Hammershaimb's version of our ballad, vv. 10, 72, the line is _Gulli
vovin vi rand_ ('woven with gold in stripes'), as also in v. 22 of
the _KvÊi of Ormar Torolvsson_. The line also occurs in the form
_Gull vi v·gum rann_ ('the margin of the ship was gold down to where
it touched the waves'). This is no doubt corrupt, but it is difficult
to conjecture as to which of all the variants was the original form of
the line.
23. _Cast she down her anchor_, etc. vv. 23, 24 are the almost
invariable formula for the landing in the Faroese ballads. They are
practically identical with v. 46 of _Olufu KvÊi_ and vv. 24, 25 of
the _KvÊi of Ormar Torolvsson_. Cf. also _Sigmundar KvÊi_, v. 32;
_Br˙sajˆkils KvÊi_, v. 41 and the _KvÊi of Alvur Kongur_, vv. 24-26
and _Sjurar KvÊi_ (_Hˆgna T·ttur_, vv. 71-73).
25. _Herd and fee._ Either the word _jÊge_ or the word _fÊ_ seems to
have an unusual sense here.
28. _Though quake now fell and fold._ The original (_kyk gekk jˆr ·
fold_) is not clear. I have merely adopted Grundtvig's translation of
Hammershaimb's early text in the _Antiq. TÌdss_. 1849-1851. The 1855
ed. substitutes _hon_ for _jˆr_ which is better.
35. _All in the middle_, etc. There is obviously a lacuna or
transference of some kind here. For this and the following verses,
cf. _Olufu KvÊi_, vv. 26, 27, which are identical except the names.
Indeed it is a common formula in the Faroese and Danish Ballads, and
occurs in the _KvÊi of Ormar Torolvsson_, v. 26; and the _KvÊi of
Alvur Kongur_, v. 33.
36. _A hundred men and five_--a stock number in the Faroese ballads.
Cf. the _KvÊi of Ormar Torolvsson_, v. 27, where we are also told
that the King sat at the board 'with a hundred men and five.' Cf. also
_Olufu KvÊi_, v. 27.
37. _Mead or wine_, etc. Cf. _Sjurar KvÊi_ (III, _Hˆgna T·ttur_, v.
181).
52. Perhaps we should here again assume a lacuna or transposition.
_Uppland_ is the old name for the modern province of Upsala in Sweden.
60. _Her cheeks they are as red and white_, etc. Cf. the _KvÊi of
Finnur hin FrÌi_, v. 18. Cf. also the old Celtic romance of the _Fate
of the Sons of Usna_: "I should like," said Deirdre, "that he who is
to be my husband should have these three colours: his hair as black
as the raven: his cheeks red as the blood: his skin like the snow"
(Joyce's translation). Cf. also Grimm's story of _Little Snowdrop_.
68. _Forth then when his frigate_, etc. vv. 68-84 are found in almost
identical form in _Olufu KvÊi_, vv. 22-35.
69. _Angantyr was the first to light_, etc. A common ballad formula,
both Faroese and Danish.
88. _I would not that lady Ingibjˆrg hear_, etc. Lit. "the lady
Ingibjˆrg will learn that I fled." There is a suppressed condition.
"If I let you fight, the lady Ingibjˆrg would learn, etc."
Hammershaimb's text (_Antiq. TÌdss._) v. 37, has a negative and no
condition: "The lady Ingibjˆrg shall not learn," etc.
97. _O Hjalmar, give me now a drink._ This incident appears to be
taken from _Gunnlaugs Saga_, ch. 12.
THE FAROESE GATU RIMA
9. _Thunder is the red drum._ Probably _reya_ ('red') is a printer's
error for _reia_ ('angry'), though the same form occurs also in the
version of the ballad published in the _Antiquarisk TÌdsskrift_. In
v. 16, however, we find _skari_ whereas in v. 17 the word is written
_skari_, the form used in both verses in _Antiq. TÌdss._, and the
two words are obviously identical in both verses. Moreover in v. 21
_einir_ ('own,' 'single') which gives little sense, is surely an error
for _eingir_ ('no,' adj.) as in vv. 11, 17, 19. The negative is also
found in v. 21 in the version in the _Antiq. TÌdss._, in the form
_ei_, 'they have _not_ fathers or mothers.' Indeed the entire ballad
would seem to be somewhat carelessly printed in _FÊrˆiske KvÊer_.
HILDINA
5. _St Magnus_, Earl of Orkney, 1108 to 1116. A cathedral was built at
Kirkwall in his honour by one of his successors, Earl Ronald.
EDITIONS OF TEXTS USED FOR TRANSLATIONS