Stories and Ballads of the Far Past Part 32

23. "O well do I know thy riddle, And well it shall be spoke; The hammer is raised in every smithy, And falls with even stroke."

24. "O well do I know thy riddle, Though thereof no boast make I.

It is Othin who rides upon his steed, By land and eke by sea.

25. "O well do I know thy riddle, Yet of wisdom I make no display.

Othin he rides upon his steed By night and eke by day."

26. Othin has turned into a wild fowl, And flown out from the hall; And therein King Heithrek has been burnt, He and his n.o.bles all.

27. Othin has turned into a wild fowl, And has flown far out to sea; He has burnt King Heithrek in his hall, And all his company.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SHETLAND BALLAD OF HILDINA

This ballad has been discussed above, pp. 39 and 164 f. It was taken down by George Low in the course of a visit made by him to the island of Foula in the Shetlands in 1774. He was entirely ignorant of the language, and had apparently no idea as to the meaning of the actual words, though the general drift of the ballad was explained to him by the islander, William Henry, from whom he obtained it (cf. p. 164).

As very few remains of the dialect have been preserved, apart from the ballad, the interpretation presents great difficulties. The following translation of the first twelve stanzas is made from the corrected text given by Dr M. Haegstad in his edition of the _Hildina_ contained in _Skrifter udgivne af Videnskabsselskabet i Christiania_, 1900 (_Historisk-Filosofiske Kla.s.se_, II).

THE SHETLAND BALLAD OF HILDINA

1. It was the Earl from Orkney, And counsel of his kin sought he, Whether he should the maiden Free from her misery.

2. "If thou free the maid from her gleaming hall, O kinsman dear of mine, Ever while the world shall last Thy glory still shall shine."

3. Home came the king, Home from the ship's levy The lady Hildina she was gone, And only her stepmother there found he.

4. "Be he in whatever land, This will I prove true, He shall be hanged from the highest tree That ever upward grew."

5. "If the Earl but come to Orkney, Saint Magnus will be his aid, And in Orkney ever he will remain-- Haste after him with speed."

6. The King he stood before his lady, And a box on her ear gave he, And all adown her lily white cheeks The tears did flow truly.

7. The Earl he stood before Hildina, And a pat on her cheek gave he,-- "O which of us two wouldst thou have lie dead, Thy father dear or me?"

8. "I would rather see my father doomed, And all his company, If so my own true lord and I May long rule in Orkney.

9. "Now do thou take in hand thy steed, And ride thou down to the strand; And do thou greet my sire full blithely, And gladly will he clasp thy hand."

10. The King he now made answer-- So sore displeased was he-- "In payment for my daughter What wilt thou give to me."

11. "Thirty marks of the red gold, This to thee will I give, And never shalt thou lack a son As long as I may live."

12. Now long stood the King, And long on the Earl gazed he:-- "O thou art worth a host of sons; Thy boon is granted thee."

It will be seen that up to this point, in spite of the loss of the names, there can be little doubt that the subject of the ballad is the story of Hethin and Hogni. After this however the narrative deviates from any other known version of this story. It would rather seem that--as in the German Kudrun--two stories, originally distinct, have been brought together in one poem.

NOTES

The numbers refer to chapters (sagas) and strophes (ballads, etc.)

THE THaTTR OF NORNAGEST

_The Thattr of Nornagest._ A _thattr_ is a portion (episode) of a longer saga, in this case the _Saga of Olaf Tryggvason_ which is found in the _Flateyjarbok_.

I. _King Olaf Tryggvason_, one of the most famous kings of Norway (_r._ 995-1000). He compelled the country to accept Christianity. For accounts of his life and times, see the _Story of Olaf Tryggvison_ in the _Heimskringla_, vol. I, pp. 221-378; and also the longer _Saga of King Olaf Tryggwason_, translated by Sephton.

_Trondhjem_, originally the name, not of a town, but of the entire district round the Trondhjem Fjord.

_A man came to him._ Cf. the _Saga of Olaf Tryggvason_ (_Heimskringla_), ch. 71.

_Guest._ Here a pun is intended, the word _Gestr_ in Icelandic signifying a 'guest' as well as a 'stranger.'

_The Contentious._ The word in the text, '_ingbitr_,' seems to mean 'sharp in debate,' and to refer to his ready wit and astuteness in litigation.

_Guest said that he had been prime-signed._ To 'prime-sign' signified to make the _prima signatio_ or sign of the Cross over a person, preliminary to baptism. People so 'prime-signed' were admitted to certain parts of the Ma.s.s and to social intercourse in Christian communities. See the _Saga of Egil Skallagrimsson_, ch. 50 "King Athelstan [of England] was a good Christian.... He asked Thorolf and his brother to let themselves be prime-signed; for this was a common practice with both merchants and soldiers who took service under Christians. Men who were prime-signed had free intercourse with both Christians and heathens, and followed whatever religion they liked best. Thorolf and Egil did as the King asked them, and both were prime-signed."

_Svein Forkbeard_, King of Denmark from 986 (?) to 1014, and of England also during the last year of his life.

_The Emperor Otto_, i.e. Otto II, 973-983.

_Dane-work_, i.e. the Danish Wall still partially preserved, which divided Jutland from the land of the Saxons and stretched from near the city of Slesvig to the marsh-land along the River Treene.

_King Harold Gormsson_ appears to have reigned for about fifty years and to have died probably in 986. He was nick-named Harold 'Bluetooth'

(or perhaps 'Blacktooth'). About 974 he fought the Emperor Otto II, and Earl Haakon of Norway aided him. Both Harold and Haakon were forced to accept Christianity, but Haakon afterwards renounced it.

_Earl Haakon the Heathen_, i.e. Earl Haakon the Great, or the Bad, who ruled over Norway, 975-995.

_Guthmund._ Cf. the _Saga of Hervor and Heithrek_, ch. 1. See also Saxo Grammaticus, _Dan. Hist._, pp. 346-349, where Guthmund is described as a magician dwelling in the land of the Perms. But see _Glasisvellir_, below.

_Glasisvellir._ Cf. the _Saga of Hervor and Heithrek_, ch. 1. For the name of the tree or grove called _Glasir_ beside Othin's abode in Valhalla, see _Skaldskaparmal_, ch. 34: "Glasir stands with golden foliage before the halls of the G.o.d of Victory." See also _Bjarkamal in Forna_, str. 3.

II. _Ulf the Red_ was standard-bearer to Olaf Tryggvason at the Battle of Svold (cf. the _Saga of Olaf Tryggvason, Heimskringla_, ch. 56), where he slew great numbers of the enemy.

_The Bay_, i.e. Christiania Fjord and the adjacent coasts.

_King Half._ See _Halfssaga_, ch. 10; and _Flateyjarbok_, 11, pp. 136, 137. King Half had a chosen band of warriors numbering about sixty, who were subject to strict discipline and rules which Professor Craigie (_The Icelandic Sagas_, p. 94) suggests were modelled on those of the Jomsvikings. For instance, "It was one of their customs always to lie off the ends of promontories. Secondly, they made a rule of never pitching tents on their ships and never clewing up the sail on account of bad weather." The incident referred to in the text is not mentioned in the Saga.

_No halls had been built in Norway._ The writer probably means to contrast the stone halls of his own day with the wooden structures of earlier times.

_The Harping of Gunnar_, a lost poem. The legend here referred to is told in _Volsunga Saga_, ch. 37 (and elsewhere), doubtless from an old lay.--'King Attila had Gunnar cast into a pit full of snakes ... and his hands were tied. Guthrun sent him a harp, and he was so skilful in harping that he could play it with his toes; and he harped so well that hardly anyone had ever heard such skilful playing, even with the hand. So beautifully did he play that all the snakes were lulled to sleep except one horrible big adder which crept up to him and stung him to the heart. Thus he perished with great courage.'

Gunnar, the son of Gjuki, is the central figure both of the Norse story and of the German _Nibelungenlied_, in which he is called Gunther. In reality, he was overthrown and killed by the Huns in 437, after which the Burgundians moved from the Rhine to the district now known as Burgundy.