Book V, e.g. in regard to the numbering of the Hunnish forces. _Gizur

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 KvÊi_, str. 13, 28, 48.

5. _Their anchor they cast_, etc. Cf. _Magna Dans_ (_Icelandic FornkvÊi_) 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 _KvÊi 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 KvÊi_, the only change being that 'Hugin the King' takes the place of 'Hervik the Earl's daughter.' They are practically identical too with the _KvÊi of the JÛmsvÌkingar_, vv. 6-8 (inclusive). Cf. also _Sjurar KvÊi_ (III _Hˆgna T·ttur_, vv. 46-49), and _Ragnarlikkja_, vv. 40-48.

20. _Striped gold on a scarlet ground._ The text has _Gull vi reyan brand_, which is probably a mishearing of the line _Gull vi reyan rand_ ('with a gold stripe on a red ground'). Verse 39 of _Br˙sajˆkils KvÊi_ (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 _KvÊi 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 KvÊi_ and vv. 24, 25 of the _KvÊi of Ormar Torolvsson_. Cf. also _Sigmundar KvÊi_, v. 32; _Br˙sajˆkils KvÊi_, v. 41 and the _KvÊi of Alvur Kongur_, vv. 24-26 and _Sjurar KvÊi_ (_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 KvÊi_, 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 _KvÊi of Ormar Torolvsson_, v. 26; and the _KvÊi of Alvur Kongur_, v. 33.

36. _A hundred men and five_--a stock number in the Faroese ballads. Cf. the _KvÊi 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 KvÊi_, v. 27.

37. _Mead or wine_, etc. Cf. _Sjurar KvÊi_ (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 _KvÊi of Finnur hin FrÌi_, 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 KvÊi_, 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 _reya_ ('red') is a printer's error for _reia_ ('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 _skari_, 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 KvÊer_.

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