Stories and Ballads of the Far Past Part 34

_The Saxons_ inhabited a large part of north-west Germany and Holland; but the name _Saxland_ is often used in a wider sense, i.e. the German part of the Empire.

_Nornagest_, i.e. 'Gest (or guest) of the Norns.' The Norns were represented in Scandinavian mythology as women with the power of shaping human destiny. See _Helgakvia Hundingsbana_, 1, str. 2; _Gylf.a.ginning_, chs. 15, 16; Saxo Grammaticus, _Dan. Hist._, p. 223; the _Saga of Burnt Njal_, ch. 156. Similar beliefs occur in Greek stories about the Fates ([Greek: Klothes]) e.g. the late Greek legend of the birth of Meleager. Cf. p. 13 above.

XII. _Three hundred._ I have used round figures here as elsewhere.

Strictly the Norse 100 is 120.

THE THaTTR OF SoRLI

I. _Vanakvisl._ The opening sentence may be compared with _Ynglingasaga_, ch. 1, in the _Heimskringla_. From this it appears that Vanakvisl is the River Don, though strictly _kv[vi]sl_ means the fork (delta) of a river.

_aesir and Vanir_, two sets of Scandinavian deities; but the references to the River Don and Asia are due to the learned speculations of later times, suggested partly by the resemblance of _Asia_ and _aesir_.

According to _Ynglingasaga_, chs. 1-4, there was war between the aesir and the Vanir, which was concluded by an exchange of hostages. The Vanir gave to the aesir three of their leading people--Njorth and his children Frey and Freyja. Othin made Njorth and Frey temple-priests, and Freyja a temple-priestess. What is said about Freyja here is not mentioned in _Ynglingasaga_; but from the poems of the _Edda_ it is clear that she was the Aphrodite of northern mythology.

_Asgarth._ For a description of Asgarth, the home of the aesir, see _Gylf.a.ginning_, chs. 2, 9, 14, etc.

_Men in Asia called Alfregg_, etc. For Dvalin, cf. the _Saga of Hervor and Heithrek_, ch. 2 and note.

_Lived in a rock_; cf. _Voluspa_, str. 48.

_Necklace._ For the _Brisingamen_, Freyja's treasure, see _Thrymskvia_, str. 12, etc. Cf. also _Beowulf_, l. 1199.

II. _Nal_, i.e. 'Needle.'

_Loki._ See _Gylf.a.ginning_, ch. 33; and the _Edda Poems_, pa.s.sim.

_So much favoured by the great good fortune of his lord._ Cf. _Laxdaela Saga_, ch. 40 'Mun konungr [i.e. Olaf Tryggvason] vera giftudrjugr ok hamingju-mikill.'

III. _Frithfrothi_, the mythical peace-king of the Danes. See _Skaldskaparmal_, ch. 43. He is often split up into two different characters, as by Saxo Grammaticus. (See especially _Dan. Hist._, Book v, which gives an account of the great Frothi.)

_Erling and Sorli._ Their story is told in the _Saga of Sorli the Strong_ (_Fornaldar Sogur_, III.).

_Skerries of the Elf._ Rocky islands near the mouth of the Gota Elv not far from Goteborg.

IV. _Halfdan_, surnamed Bronufostri. See the _Saga of Sorli the Strong_, ch. 11, where he is represented as King of Sweden.

_Roeskilde_, the old capital of Sjaelland, now the ecclesiastical capital of Denmark.

_Ellithi._ See the _Saga of Thorstein Vikingson_ (pa.s.sim), and the _Saga of Frijof the Bold_ (pa.s.sim).

_Gnoth._ The ship Gnoth belonged to asmund, who was called after it 'Gnoar-asmund.' Cf. the _Saga of Egil and Asmund_, ch. 17; and the _Saga of Grim Loinkinni_, ch. 3. See also the _Saga of Hromund Greipsson_, ch. 1.

_Long Serpent_, i.e. the warship of Olaf Tryggvason.

_As is told in the poem_, etc. The poem is now lost.

_The poem of which he is the subject._ The Saga here quotes a difficult and obscure stanza which I have omitted.

_Hogni ... went raiding in the Baltic_, etc. In _Widsi_ l. 21, Hogni is said to have ruled the _Holmryge_, i.e., no doubt, the Rugii on the coast of Pomerania.

V. _Hjarrandi_ is the name of Hethin's father in all the Norse forms of the story; but originally this would seem to have been the name of Hethin's minstrel--the _Horant_ of _Kudrun_, and the _Heorrenda_ of _Deor_.

_Serkland_, i.e. Africa, 'Saracen Land.' It is only in this story that Hethin is said to come from here. Saxo Grammaticus calls him a Norwegian. Cf. also _Widsi_, l. 21, which gives the name of an unknown people.

_Gondul_, the name of one of the Valkyries. See _Voluspa_, str. 31; _Hakonarmal_, pa.s.sim; _Skaldskaparmal_, chs. 2 and 47.

VI. _Heithrek Ulfham._ For Heithrek Ulfham see the _Saga of Hervor and Heithrek_, ch. 16.

VII. _She asked him._ I have followed Rafn's text. The Reykjavik ed.

apparently has a misprint here--_hann_ for _hon_.

_He thrust the Queen down in front of the prow_, etc. The murder of the Queen is peculiar to this saga.

VIII. _This harrowing torment continued_, etc. A good deal has been written on the subject of the Unending Battle, which many writers believe to have been of mythological origin. Very often, however, it appears in local traditions. See Frazer's _Pausanias_, vol. II, p. 443 (the reference to the Battle of Marathon), where a considerable number of parallels are given. See also Panzer, _Hilde-Gudrun_, p. 328. Cf.

p. 43, note I above.

_Olaf Tryggvason._ See the _Thattr of Nornagest_, ch. 1 and note.

IX. _Jarnskjold._ Cf. _Fornmanna Sogur_, vol. III, p. 125 ff. (_Saga of Olaf Tryggvason_).

_Glance of his eye_, etc. Literally, "He has the _aegishjalmr_." This is a poetical expression for a glance inspiring terror.

THE SAGA OF HROMUND GREIPSSON

I. _Gnothar-Asmund_, i.e. Asmund of the Gnoth, who was so called from his ship 'Gnoth' (cf. p. 230 above). For an account of him see the _Saga of Egil and Asmund_ (in _Fornaldar Sogur_, vol. III), especially ch. 17. He is mentioned also in the _Saga of Grim Loinkinni_, ch. 2.

A different account of Olaf's family is given in _Gongu-Hrolfs Saga_, ch. 38.

_Garthar in Denmark._ The geography of the story is by no means clear.

Elsewhere in this saga Olaf's realm would seem to be situated in Sweden, while references in other works, e.g. _Landnamabok_, I, ch.

3, _Hversu Noregr Bygthist_, ch. 2 (_Fornaldar Sogur_, II, p. 7) etc., point to Norway, especially the provinces of Thelamork and Horthaland, as the home of Hromund and his family.

_Hromund._ According to _Landnamabok_, I, ch. 3, Ingolf and Leif, the first settlers in Iceland (A.D. 874) were the great grandsons of Hromund Greipsson. This would seem to show that he lived in the second half of the eighth century. See also the _Saga of Halfdan Eysteinsson_, ch. 1.

_Bild and Voli._ For these names, see Introduction to this saga, p.

59, and the note to _Mistletoe_ below.

_Ulfasker._ A corruption of _Elfasker_. Cf. _Griplur_, str. 25, and note to _Skerries of the Elf_, p. 229 above.

_Dragon_, a common term for a large type of warship in the Viking Age.

_Scoundrels._ The text has _Blamenn_, i.e. lit. 'Black men', negroes.

But in the Romantic Sagas, owing probably to the influence of stories relating to the Saracens, pirates are described as _Blamenn_, even in stories relating exclusively to the North. Cf. _The Ballad of Hjalmar and Angantyr_ (refrain), p. 184, above.

II. _I am going to be Othin's guest_, is a euphemism for 'be slain,'

and is equivalent to 'go to Valhalla,' the abode of slain warriors which belonged to Othin. See the _Saga of Egil Skallagrimsson_, ch.

81, where Thorgerth, Egil's daughter, says that she will have no supper till she "sup with Freyja."