The Viking Legendary Sagas series includes:

The Sagas of Ketil Trout and Grim Hairy-cheek (Viking Legendary Sagas) by Anonymous and Gavin Chappell (8 Apr 2014)

The Saga of Hervor and Heidrek (Viking Legendary Sagas) by Anonymous, Peter Nicolai Arbo, Lorenz Frolich and August Malmstrom (23 Jan 2014)

The Saga of the Volsungs - A New Translation: and the Tale of Norna-Gest (Viking Legendary Sagas) by Anonymous, John Erling Blad and Gavin Chappell (15 Feb 2013)

The Saga of Arrow Odd (Viking Legendary Sagas) by Gavin Chappell

The Saga of Ragnar Shaggy-Breeches: And the Tale of Ragnar’s Sons (Viking Legendary Sagas) by Anonymous, Mårten Eskil Winge and Gavin Chappell

THE SAGA OF HROLF KRAKI AND HIS CHAMPIONS

Translated

By

Gavin Chappell

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PUBLISHED BY:

Thor’s Stone Press

The Saga of Hrolf Kraki and his Champions

Translation copyright © 2015 by Gavin Chappell

* * * * *

Introduction

The Saga of Hrolf Kraki and his Champions is notable particularly for its links with the Old English poem Beowulf, and it shows the close links between Anglo Saxon mythology and legend and those of the Vikings. Characters and locations are common to both the saga, a late work of the fourteenth century Icelandic literary tradition, and the poem, whose manuscript dates from the eleventh century (although it is said to have been composed in the seventh century). Both are set in Denmark and Sweden, c. 500 AD. The Hrolf of the saga is identical to the Hrothulf of the poem; the saga’s Hroar is the poem’s Hrothgar. Although there is no Beowulf in the saga, he has a counterpart in Bodvar Bjarki, a bear-like warrior who rescues the Danish king’s hall from a monster.

However, it is also a distinct work in its own right, the culmination of a storytelling tradition, no doubt mainly in oral form, which also appears in earlier writings such as the Danish historical works of writers such as Saxo Grammaticus and Sven Aggesen. Central to the saga are the exploits of the champions of the Danish king Hrolf Kraki, a group of heroes who, like King Arthur’s knights and Charlemagne’s paladins, who come to outshine their liege lord, who sometimes seems an oddly mild mannered ruler. Villain of the piece is Adils, king of Sweden, comparable to the Sherriff of Nottingham in his wickedness, his theft of Hrolf’s patrimony and his attempt to murder the king on his visit to the Swedish capital at Uppsala. Both this conflict and that which leads to Hrolf’s downfall, the battle of Skuld, have their origins in the sins of Hrolf’s father, Helgi, brother of Hroar (Beowulf’s Hrothgar), a warrior in the Viking mould who rapes queens, unwittingly marries his own daughter, and later sleeps with an elf woman, whose daughter—Hrolf’s half-sister—brings about the downfall of the kingdom.

As well as the magic and the mayhem of the saga, its author includes other touches. At several times characters from humble beginnings are seen triumphing over more powerful men, including the cowardly Hott, who Bodvar Bjarki, himself the son of a peasant, transforms into a fearless warrior. Another strand is the contemporary (14th century) Christian interpretation of heathen tradition; berserks are portrayed as ogre-like bullies, mainly there to be defeated by heroes; King Adils’ paganism is another mark against him; and finally we are told that King Hrolf did not worship Odin—he even renounces the pagan god’s gifts when he meets him in disguise—and that his only fault was that he did not know of his Creator.

It is a work of many strands, in some ways episodic, mixing pagan antiquity with Christian theology, heroism and cowardice, monsters and witches and villains. It is no surprise that in more recent times the saga has provided an inspiration to fantasy writers such as JRR Tolkien and Poul Andersen.

-Gavin Chappell

Contents

Frodi’s Yarn

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Helgi’s Yarn

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Svipdag’s Yarn

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Three

Bodvar’s Yarn

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Five

Chapter Twenty Six

Chapter Twenty Seven

Chapter Twenty Eight

Chapter Twenty Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty One

Chapter Thirty Two

Chapter Thirty Three

Chapter Thirty Four

Chapter Thirty Five

Chapter Thirty Six

Hjalti’s Yarn

Chapter Thirty Seven

Of Adils the Uppsala king and the Swedish Expedition of King Hrolf and his Champions

Chapter Thirty Eight

Chapter Thirty Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty One

Chapter Forty Two

Chapter Forty Three

Chapter Forty Four

Chapter Forty Five

Chapter Forty Six

Of Skuld’s Battle and the End of King Hrolf Kraki and His Champions

Chapter Forty Seven

Chapter Forty Eight

Chapter Forty Nine

Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty One

Chapter Fifty Two

Frodi’s Yarn

Chapter One

There was a man called Halfdan, and another named Frodi, two brothers, and sons of a king, who each ruled their own country. King Halfdan was merry and easy-going and good-natured, but King Frodi was the greatest of thieves. King Halfdan had three children, two sons and one daughter who was named Signy. She was the eldest and married Earl Saevil. This happened when his sons were young. One was named Hroar, the other Helgi. Regin fostered them, and he loved the young men greatly. An island lay close by. A man named Vifil lived there. He was an old friend of King Halfdan. Old man Vifil had two dogs, one named Hopp, the other Ho. The man was reasonably well off and knew much of the old wisdom, if it came down to it.
Now it is said that King Frodi stayed at home in his kingdom, and he was bitterly jealous of his brother, King Halfdan; he thought that he alone ought to rule Denmark, and the way things were did not seem so good. He gathered together a multitude of people, and made for Denmark and came there in the dead of night and burned and razed everything to the ground. King Halfdan could do little protect himself. He was seized and killed, but those who were able escaped. But all of the townsfolk had to swear oaths to King Frodi, or he had them tortured. Regin, foster father of Helgi and Hroar, took them out to the island of old man Vifil and mourned very much their loss. Regin said things would go badly if Vifil could not keep them safe from King Frodi. Vifil said: “We’re playing a hard game of tug o’ war with this one,” but added that he was obliged to help the young men. So he took them and put them in an earth house, and they stayed there at night, but during the day they wandered through the wood, because the island was partly covered in forest, and so they parted from Regin. Regin had great possessions in Denmark, children and a wife, and he saw no better course than to go to King Frodi and swear him loyalty. Now King Frodi conquered all Denmark and took all taxes and duties. Most submitted then because they were constrained to, for King Frodi was most unpopular of all men, and he also made Earl Saevil tributary.
After all this had been done, King Frodi thought he could do little if he could not find the young men, Helgi and Hroar. Now he kept a lookout for them on all sides, near and far, north and south, east and west, promising great rewards to anyone who brings any word of them, and where they were hiding, but also threatened torture for anyone who hid them, if they came to light, but no one can think anything to tell the king. Then he had witches and wise men come from throughout the land, and has them explore the land up and down, islands and outlying skerries, but they found no sign of them. And now he had brought wizards, who could see thoroughly into anything that they wished, but they told him that they were not being raised in this country, yet they are not far from the king. King Frodi said: “In many places did we seek them, and it seems to me highly likely that they are near here, but there is an island nearby where we have not really searched for them, and almost none live there, except one poor man lives there.” “Seek there first,” said the wizards, “because much fog lies over the island, and there was nothing there readily visible round the habitation of the man, but we think he’s clever, and not all that he seems to be.” The king said, “It shall be searched again, but it seems to me a marvel that the poor fisherman should keep these youths and so dare to hide people from us.”

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Chapter Two

It happened early one morning that old man Vifil awoke and said: “Much uncanniness is afoot and on the wing, and great spirits have come here to the island. Arise, Halfdan’s sons, Hroar and Helgi, and both of you remain in my woods today.” They ran into the wood. Now it happened, just as the man thought, that King Frodi’s messengers came to the island and searched everywhere that came to mind, and they found no boys. The man seemed to be rather suspicious, but they went away with matters as they stood and told the king that they could not find them. “You have searched badly,” said the king, “and the man is very cunning, and now go instead back the same way, so the man will not suspect and he won’t be able to conceal them, if they are there.” They must do now as the king commanded; now they went back a second time to the island. The man said to the boys: “It is not for you both to sit around, get to the wood as quickly as possible.” The two boys did so. After that the king’s men rushed in and demanded a search, and the man opened everything up for them, and they found the boys nowhere on the island, wherever they looked, and so they went back leaving matters as they were and told the king. King Frodi said, “Now, no more treading softly with this man. I myself shall go to the island early tomorrow,” and so it happened, the king went himself.

The man woke up and was distraught and now saw that they would soon have to think of something. He said to the brothers: “You must remember, if I call loudly to Hopp and Ho, my dogs. Race then to your earth-house and that’s your sign that danger has come to the island, and hide yourselves you both there. Frodi, your uncle, has now himself joined the search, but he will come after your lives with all kinds of wiles and trickery, and I do not know now whether I will be able to save you two.” The man then went to the shore, and the king’s ship arrived. He acted as if he does not see it, and pretended to be looking for his flock, so preoccupied that he did not see the king nor his men. The king commanded his men to seize the man, and so it was done, and he was brought before the king. The king said, “You are crafty and very sly. Tell me where the king’s sons are, because you know it.” The man said, “Hail, Lord. Please don’t keep me, because the wolf will tear apart my flock.” The man then called thus: “Hopp and Ho, help the flock, since I cannot save them.” The king said, “Who do you call now?” The man said, “My dogs are so called, but look you now, Lord, where you want, but I doubt that the king’s sons will be found here, and I am very much surprised that you think that I will hide men from you.” The king said, “You are a tricky man, but they cannot, however, be hidden here after this, if they were here before, and it is fitting that you are put to death.” The man said, “You can do it now, sire. If you do you’ll have achieved something on this island, rather than go empty-handed.” The king said, “It may be that I will kill you, but I think that it is inadvisable.” The king went home then, leaving things as they were. The man found the boys then and said that they might no longer stay there now. ”I will send you both to Saevil, your sister’s husband, and you will become famous men, if you live long.”

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Chapter Three

Hroar was twelve years old, and Helgi ten. He was the larger and braver. They then went away, and one of them was called Hrani, and the other Ham, wherever they went and found men to speak with. These boys came to Earl Saevil, and were there a week before they talked about staying with the Earl. He said: “I’m taking on little men, I think, with you two, but I will not refuse you food for the moment.” They were there for a while and were rather rowdy. No one could learn who they were or the name of their families. The Earl did not suspect them, because they did not give him any hints about their background. Some people said that they must have been born with leprosy, and make sport of them, because they always wore cowls and never took off their hoods, and many people thought it was because they had lice. They were there until the third winter.

And one time King Frodi invited Earl Saevil to a feast, and he suspected the Earl was sheltering the boys because they were relatives. The Earl then got ready to go and went with a big crowd. The boys prepared to go with him. The Earl said they would not go. Signy, wife of Earl, was also on the trip. Ham, who was Helgi in reality, got an unbroken horse to ride and rode along with them and sat looking back to the tail and behaved like a lunatic. Hrani, his brother, got another such beast but faced the right way. The Earl saw them going after him, and that they had no control over their horses, and the colt bolted under him and Hrani’s hood fell down. Their sister Signy saw this, and then she wept for him, and very bitterly. The Earl asked why she was crying. She recited this verse:

“All that is left
of the Skjoldung kin,
lords of Lund,
scattered limbs;
I saw my brothers
bareback riding,
but Saevil’s warriors
sat in saddles.”

The Earl said: “This is great news. Let it not get out.” He rode back to them and told them to go back, saying they are a great shame and not fit to be seen with good people. The boys both got off and walked. But he said this being guarded in his speech, so that no one could tell from his words who the boys were. They shot off now and would not turn back and so they rode in the second rank. Then they came to the banquet, and ran back and forward in the hall. And once they came to where Signy, their sister, was. She spoke to them rather low: “Do not stay in the house, because you have not grown much yet.” They did not pay attention to this. King Frodi started talking about how he wanted to find the sons of King Halfdan, and said he will give great honour to whoever can tell of them.

A seeress was there, named Heidi. King Frodi asked her to practise her arts, and learn what she could about the boys. He had a great entertainment prepared for her and set her on a high magic platform. The king asked her if she could see anything of note, “because I know,” he said, “that now many things will appear to you, and now I see a lot of luck in you, now answer me quick, spaewife.” She opened her chops and yawned, and then a verse came to her lips:

“Two are inside,
who I distrust,
sat by the fire;
fine fellows both.”

The king said, “Is it the boys, or those who harboured them?” She said:

“Those who were on Vifil’s Island
long hidden
the hounds,
Hopp and Ho.”

And Signy tossed her a gold ring. She was happy with the payment, and now wanted a break. “How did that happen?” she said, “and this is lies, what I’m saying, and now all my prophecies are very mistaken.” The king said, “You’ll be tortured into speaking if you do not get it right, and I know more now than before in this pack of people, what you’re saying, and why is Signy not in her place? It may be that here wolves plot with wargs.” The king was told that Signy had felt ill from the smoke that hung over the hearth. Earl Saevil asked her to sit up and bear up bravely, - “as it could save the boys’ lives, if that’s what you want. Let no one realise what you’re thinking, because we cannot lift a finger to help them.” King Frodi then urged the witch woman and demanded she tell the truth, if she would not be tortured. Then she gaped wide, and the seeing was hard, and then she sang a verse:

“I see, seated there,
the sons of Halfdan,
Hroar and Helgi,
recovered both;
Frodi they will
rob of life, -

“…unless they are quickly thwarted, but it will not happen,” she said. And after this she crept down from her magic-platform and said:

“Hateful the eyes
of Ham and Hrani,
they are Odlings
astonishingly bold.”

After that, the boys ran out to the woods in great fear. Regin, their foster father, recognised them and felt for them. But the seeress gave the advice that they should all flee, then she ran from the hall. And then the king told his men to be up and after them. Regin then doused all the lights in the hall, and some man grabbed others, because some people wanted them to get away, and so they came to the wood. The king said, “They went close now, and I’ll wager that some are plotting and colluding with them, and grimly shall this be avenged when there’s time. But we will now drink the evening long, because they will be happy that they have got away alive, and their first thought will be to run away.” Regin went to serve drinks to the men and poured the ale with enthusiasm and many others with him, his friends, so that the men fell down sleeping, one across the other.

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Chapter Four

The brothers now sat in the woods, as was said before, and when they had been there for a while, they saw a man ride there from the direction of the hall. They saw fairly clear that it was Regin, their foster father. They were glad to see him and greeted him well. He did not acknowledge them, but turned his horse back towards the palace. They wondered at this and discussed with each other what this could mean. Regin then turned his horse a second time and scowls unpleasantly, as if he would attack them. Helgi said: “I think I know what he wants.” He then went back to the hall, but they followed behind. “My foster father acts like this,” said Helgi, “because he would not break his oath to King Frodi, and would not speak to us, although he would gladly help us both.”

A grove stood near the palace, the king’s property, and when they arrived there, Regin said to himself, “If I had a quarrel with King Frodi, I would burn this grove.” He said no more. Hroar said: “What does that mean?” “That he wants,” said Helgi, “us to go to the hall and set it on fire except for one exit.” “What can we do, two youths, against such overwhelming odds?” “So we shall do, though,” said Helgi, “and we will have to risk it, if we’ll be able to avenge our losses.” And so they did. Then Earl Saevil and all his men came out. He said: “Let’s kindle a blaze and help these boys. I have no obligation towards King Frodi.” King Frodi had two smiths who were as good as Wayland Smith at handicrafts, and both were called Var. Regin led his people out of the hall door, his friends and relatives.

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Chapter Five

King Frodi woke up now in his house and gasped for air, and said: “I have dreamed a dream, boys, and not a nice one. I will relate it; I dreamed that I was being called upon, and these were the words: “Now you come home, King, and your people.” I think I answered, rather crossly, “Home where?” The voice called so close to me that I could just feel the breath of he who called. “Home to hell, home to hell,” said the man who called, and with that I awoke.” And at that point they heard that foster-father Regin says from outside the hall door:

“Rain[1] is outside
and Halfdan’s riders,
tough bastards;
let Frodi know.
Var[2] made a nail,
and Var the heads,
but someone who knows
struck a note of warning.”

Then the king’s men who were inside said that this was small news, though rain was there or the royal craftsmen were building, whether they made nails or something else. The king said, “You think that no news? We’re not buying that. Now Regin has told us of some danger, and he has made me a warning gesture, and he will be with us sly and shifty.”

The king walked then to the hall door and saw that an enemy was outside. The palace began to burn. King Frodi asked who was responsible for the fire. They said that it was Helgi and Hroar, his brother. The king offered a deal with them, and asked them to set the terms - “and it is unfitting between kinsmen, that a relative should kill another relative.” Helgi said: “No one can trust you, and will you betray me any less than you did Halfdan, my father? And so now you’ll pay for that.” King Frodi turned from the hall to the entrance to the underground tunnel, hoping to flee to the wood. When he came into the tunnel, there was Regin waiting for him and not very friendly. The king then turned back and was burnt inside, and many people with him. Sigrid was burned inside, Helgi and Hroar’s mother, because she would not come out. The brothers thanked their relative Earl Saevil for his help, and Regin, their foster father as well, and all their people and gave them many good things and took control of the kingdom, and all the wealth that Frodi had been king of, land, and riches. They were contrasting in mood, the brothers. Hroar was a happy man, and good-natured, but Helgi was a great warrior, and seemed the greater of them, and that was the way for a while. And now here ends the yarn of Frodi, but it is the start of the yarn of Hroar and Helgi, Halfdan’s sons.

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Helgi’s Yarn

Chapter Six

There was a king named Nordri. He ruled part of England. His daughter was called Ogn. Hroar was with King Nordri a long time, defending his land, and they were the greatest friends, and at last Hroar went to marry Ogn and stayed there in England with King Nordri, his father-in-law, but Helgi ruled Denmark, their father’s legacy. Earl Saevil ruled his own realm with Signy. Hrok was their son. King Helgi Halfdan’s son, in Denmark, was unmarried. Regin took sick and died. It seemed a great loss to the people, because he was popular.

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Chapter Seven

A queen ruled in Saxony at that time whose name was Olof. She had the manner of a king. She bore a shield and armour and a sword and wore a helmet on his head. So she was: attractive in looks but arrogant and fierce in temper. Men said that she was the best match in that time who had been heard of in the northern lands, but she wanted no man. Then King Helgi heard of this haughty queen and he thought he would earn great glory if he could get this woman, whether she was be willing or not. And one day he went there with a great army. He came ashore in the land that this rich queen ruled, and came without warning. He sent his men to the hall and told them to tell Olof the queen that he would accept a banquet from her with his host. The messengers repeated this to the queen, and took her by surprise, and there was no chance of gathering men. She took the best option of inviting King Helgi to a feast with all his followers. Then King Helgi went to the banquet, and sat in the throne with the queen; now both drank through the evening, and lacked for nothing, and he could see no sign of gloominess in Queen Olof. King Helgi said to the Queen: “This is what I am thinking,” he said, “I reckon that we drink our wedding feast. Now here are plenty of people for that, and we will both share a bed tonight.” She said: “Too soon, sire, this thing seems to me, but it seems to me no other man is more courteous than you, if I do have to take a husband, and I hope that you do not intend to act shamefully.” The king said that it would be fitting for her pride and arrogance, - “that we both now remain together as long as I like.” She said: “We would prefer to have more friends here, but I cannot do anything about that now, and you will make the decision, and I am sure you will act honourably.” There was heavy drinking that evening and long into the night, and the queen was very merry, and no one saw anything else in it but that she planned to marry him. And at last, he was led to the bed, and she was there. The king had drunk so much that he fell down on the bed asleep. The queen now took the opportunity to stab him with a sleep thorn.[3]

Now that all men are gone away, the queen gets up. She then shaved all the hair off him and covered him in tar. Then she took a sleeping bag, and packed it with some clothes[4]. After that, she took the king, and tied him up inside the sleeping bag. Then she got some men and to carry him to his ships. She woke up his men and told them that the king had gone back to the ships and wanted to sail, because there was already a good sailing wind. They jumped up, as quick could be, but were still drunk and not quite knowing what they did. So they came to the ship and saw no king, just a sleeping bag that someone had brought there. They wanted to see what was in it, and waited for the king, believing he would come a little later. But when they untied it, they found their king there who someone had treated disgracefully. Then the sleep thorn dropped out, and the king awakened then and not from a good dream and he was now in an evil mood with the queen. But elsewhere, it is said, Queen Olof mustered her men in the night, and there was no lack of troops, and King Helgi now saw no chance of getting to her. They heard the horns now blowing the call to arms up on the shore. The king saw that it would be best for him to go away quickly. There was also a good sailing wind. King Helgi now sailed to his own kingdom with this shame and disgrace and was full of resentment and thought often how he might get revenge on the queen.

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Chapter Eight

Queen Olof stayed now in her kingdom for a while, and her pride and arrogance had never been greater than now. And she kept a strong guard round her after the feast which she prepared for King Helgi. This was heard of around the world. It was thought the most monstrous disgrace that she should have made a mockery of such a king. And not much later Helgi put his ship out to sea, and on this trip he took his ship to Saxony, where Queen Olof had her dwelling. And she had numerous followers there. He put his ship into a hidden bay and then said to his men that they should wait until his third sunrise, but to go their way if he did not come back then. He took with him two chests full of gold and silver. He got some rags to wear over his clothes.

Then he went his way into the wood and hid the treasure, he went away and approached the palace of the queen. He met one of her thralls outside it, and asked him news of the country. He said things are well, that thrall, and asked who he was. He said he was a beggar man, “but I have found a great treasure in the field, and it seemed to me advisable that I show you where the treasure is,” now they go back to the wood, and he shows him the treasure, and it seems very impressive to the thrall, how much luck had come his way. ”How eager for gold is the queen?” said the beggar man. The thrall said she was most eager for gold of all women. “Then she’ll like this, too,” said the beggar man, “and she will think that this money, which I have found here, should be hers because this is her land. Good luck will not turn bad here, and I shall not conceal this money, and the queen will reward me however she wants, and what will be most befitting me, but will she want to come here to get the treasure?” “I think so,” said the thrall, “if it is done secretly.” “Here’s a necklace and a ring, which I will give you,” said the man, “if you come out here with the queen into the wood, and I shall be there with a plan, if she is angry with you.” This they agreed and settled.

The thrall went home and told the queen that he had found a lot of money in the wood, enough for many people, and asked that she hurriedly go with him after the gold. She said: “If this is true, as you say, then you will be well rewarded, otherwise it’ll be your ruin, but before that I have found you a faithful man, so I will believe in this that you say.” She then showed how eager she was for gold, and went with him secretly by night, so that no one knew except the two. When they came into the wood, Helgi was there and he grabbed her hand and told her what a fortunate meeting it is for him to avenge his shame. The queen said she has done evil to him, - “and I will make it up to you now, and you may wed me honourably.” “No,” he said, “you shall not have that option. You will go with me to my ships in a moment, as I wish, because I am in no mood not to avenge myself, so disgraceful was the game played with me.” “You will now have your own way,” she said. The king slept with the queen for many nights. And after that the queen went home, and this was now the vengeance was gained which was just said, and she was extremely resentful about the way he had treated her.

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Chapter Nine

After that King Helgi went out warring, and was a famous man. And as time went on, Olof gave birth to a child. It was a girl. She did not care about the child. She had a dog who was called Yrsa, and she named the girl after it, so she was also called Yrsa. She was pretty. When she was twelve years old, she was set to herding and never knew anything but that she was a daughter of a peasant man and woman, because the queen had been so secretive about this thing that few people knew that she had been with child and had given birth.

So it went on, until that girl was thirteen years old. Then it happened that King Helgi came ashore, curious about the news of the country. He was dressed like a beggar man. He saw a big flock on the edge of a wood, where a woman kept watch, young in years and so beautiful that he thought he had not seen a more beautiful woman. He asked what her name was and what family she was from. She said: “I am a peasant’s daughter, and I am called Yrsa.” “You don’t have thrall’s eyes,” he said, and he fell in love with her and he said that it was fitting that a beggar man should have her, since she was a peasant’s daughter. She prayed that he would not do it, but he took her as before and took her to the ships and sailed home to his kingdom. Queen Olof was deceitful when she found out and kept quiet. She pretended that she did not know what was going on, and she had this in mind, that it would bring King Helgi grief and shame, but no fame nor happiness. King Helgi married Yrsa and he loved her dearly.

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Chapter Ten

King Helgi had a ring that was widely praised, and the two brothers wanted both to have it as did Signy, their sister. Once King Hroar came to the domain of King Helgi, his brother. King Helgi prepared a magnificent banquet for him. King Hroar said, “You are the greater man, but because I have settled down in Northumbria, I will grant you this realm which we both own, if you will share with me a little treasure. I want the ring that is the best of all your riches and that we both desire.” Helgi said, “It is fitting, kinsman, and you may have the ring.” They both rejoiced at these words. Now King Helgi gave King Hroar, his brother, the ring. King Hroar went away and home to his kingdom, and settled in peace.

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Chapter Eleven

They heard that Saevil, their sister’s husband, had died, and Hrok, his son, took the kingdom after him. He was a fierce man, and very greedy. His mother tells him much about the ring that the brothers had, “and it seems to me,” she said, “it would be better if the brothers remembered us in some way, because we supported them in their revenge for their father, and they have not acknowledged it for your father’s sake or mine.” Hrok said: “What you say is clear, and is shameful, and now I will go to them, and see what honour they will give me there.” He went to King Helgi and demanded a third of the kingdom of Denmark or the good ring, for he did not know that Hroar had it. The king said, “You talk very daringly and exceedingly arrogant. We won this realm with courage, by risking our life with the support of your father Regin, my foster-father, and other good men who wanted to help. Now we will certainly reward you, if you will accept it, because of our kinship, but this realm has cost me so much that I shall in no wise give it up. Besides King Hroar has now taken the ring, and I doubt that he will come your way.”

With this Hrok went away and was resentful with everyone, and he set out then to meet King Hroar. He received him well and honourably, and Hrok stayed with him for a while. And once when they sailed from the land and lay at anchor in a fjord, Hrok said, “It seems to me it would be to your honour, kinsman, and it would look good if you gave me your good ring and so acknowledged our kinship.” The king said: “As I have given up much to get this ring, I won’t let it go at all.” Hrok said: “Can you allow me to see the ring, because I have the greatest curiosity to know whether it is as much of a treasure as is said.” “That is a small request,” said Hroar, “and I shall surely do that,” and gave him the ring. Hrok thought the ring for a while and said that it couldn’t be praised too much, - “and I have not seen such a treasure, and it is no wonder why you think it is so wonderful. It would be best now that neither of us enjoy it and no one else,” then flung the ring out to sea, as far as he could. King Hroar said, “You’re a very bad man.” He then had Hrok’s feet cut off and sent him back to his kingdom like this. He soon recovered, so that the stumps grew over.

Then he gathered his forces and he wanted to avenge his shame. He got a large force and came suddenly to Northumberland where King Hroar was feasting with a few men. Hrok attacked at once, and had some hard fighting, and the numbers were very uneven. King Hroar fell, but Hrok conquered the land. He took the name of king. Then he asked to marry Ogn daughter of King Nordri, who had previously married King Hroar, his kinsman. King Nordri was now in a bad position because he was an old man unfit to fight, but he told his daughter how things were, and that he would not refuse to fight, though he was old, if the marriage was against her liking. She said with great sorrow, “Surely this is against my will, but I see that your life is at risk, so I will not refuse him, as long as it is granted that some space of time is given, because I am pregnant, and this is the child King Hroar had with me.” Now this issue was put to Hrok, and he agreed to a postponement, if he should more easily get the realm and the marriage. Hrok thought he’s done well on this trip, because he had killed so famous and rich a king. But at this point Ogn sent messengers to the king and told Helgi that she would not go to bed with Hrok if she had any choice and she was unwilling, - “because I am pregnant to King Hroar.” The messengers came and said what they had been told. King Helgi said: “This is a good thought on her part, because I will avenge Hroar, my brother.” But Hrok did not suspect this.

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Chapter Twelve

Queen Ogn gave birth to a son now, and he was named Agnar. He was soon big and promising. But when King Helgi heard this, he gathered his forces and went to meet Hrok. There was a battle, and so it ended up that Hrok was captured. Then King Helgi said, “You’re a very bad leader, but I will not kill you; you shall have greater shame living in pain.” Then he had his men break his legs and arms, and so sent him back to his kingdom, crippled.

When Agnar Hroarsson was twelve years old, they thought they had never seen such a person, and in every way he surpassed others. He became so great and famous a warrior that it is widely said in old sagas that he was the greatest warrior in past or present. He asked where the fjord was where Hrok had slung the ring overboard; many had searched after it with all kinds of tricks and had not got it. It is said that Agnar went to this fjord in his ship and said: “It now seems a smart feat to seek after this ring, if people here have a clear bearing on it.” They told him where it had been cast into the sea. Then Agnar prepared himself and dived into the depths and came up and he did not have the ring. He went down a second time and he had not got it when he came up. Now he said, “I have searched idly so far,” and he went down a third time and came up with the ring. For this reason he became renowned and more famous than his father, King Hroar. He stayed now in his domain in winter, but went overseas in the summer and became a famous man, and greater than his father.

King Helgi and Yrsa loved each other greatly and had one son, called Hrolf, who became a very famous man.

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Chapter Thirteen

Queen Olof learnt that the Helgi and Yrsa loved each other very much and were enjoying their marriage. This did not make her happy, and she went to meet them. And as she went ashore, she sent word to Queen Yrsa. And when they met, Yrsa invited her home to the hall with her. She said she did not want to, and that she had no distinction to pay King Helgi. Yrsa said, “You treated me unworthily when I was with you. But can you tell me something about my father’s house, who my kin are, because I believe that it is not possible that I should be the daughter of a peasant and his wife?” Olof said: “It is not unlikely that I could tell you something about it. It was the reason for my errand here, I wanted to tell you about it, but are you happy in your marriage?” “Yes,” she said, “and I may well be content, because I am married to a renowned king and the most famous.” “It is not as good as you think,” Olof said, “because he is your father, and you’re my daughter.” Yrsa said, “My mother, I think, must be the worst and most vicious, because this monstrous disgrace will not die down for years.” “You have compensated Helgi’s crimes and my wrath,” said Olof, “but now I offer to keep you with me in dignity and respect, and I’ll treat you in every way there as I know the best.” Yrsa said, “I am not sure how that would turn out, but I will not stay here when I know of this monstrous disgrace.”

She met with King Helgi and told him that heavy news had come. The king said, “You have a very brutal mother, but I would prefer matters to stay as they are.” She said that with matters as they are they must stay apart from now on. Yrsa went with Queen Olof to Saxony for a while. This wounded King Helgi so much he took to his bed, and he was very unhappy. None thought there had been a better match than Yrsa, but kings were slow to ask for her, and the main problem was they never knew how likely it was that Helgi would come after her and show his displeasure if she were married to another.

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Chapter Fourteen

Adils was the name of a king, who was powerful and greedy. He ruled in Sweden and he had his seat at Uppsala. He heard of this woman, Yrsa, and prepared his ships. He went to meet with Olof and Yrsa. Olof prepared a banquet for King Adils and received him with all cunning and courtesy. He asked for Queen Yrsa as his wife. Olof answered, “You will have heard of how it is with her, but we will not object as long as she is agreeable.” The news was now brought to Yrsa. She said that she did not think it would go well, - “because you’re an unpopular king.” It went ahead, however, whether she said more words or less, and Adils went off with her, and King Helgi was not told, for Adils thought himself the greater king. King Helgi did not hear anything about this until they came home to Sweden. The king prepared a fitting banquet for her wedding. And now King Helgi heard of this, and he now felt much worse than before. He slept in an outbuilding and with no company. Olof is now out of the story. So it went for a while.

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Chapter Fifteen

But it is told that one Yule Eve when King Helgi had gone to bed, and there was bad weather, that someone knocked at the door rather feebly. It came to his mind that it would be unkingly if he left some poor wretch out there, if he could save them; he went there now and opens the door. He saw that a poor and tattered thing had come there. It said, “Well have you done, O king,” and then it went inside. The king said, “Put on yourself this straw and bearskin, so that you do not freeze.” It said, “Let me share your bed, sire, and I will sleep with you, because my life is at stake.” The king said: “I can’t stand the thought of you, but if it is as you say, then sleep here on the edge in your clothes, and that will not harm me.” She did that. The king turned away from her. Light grew in the house. And after a while, he glanced back at her. Then he saw that there rested a woman so gracious that he thought no one had ever seen a more beautiful woman. She wore a silk robe. He turned swiftly to her, fondly. She said, “Now I will go away,” she said, “and you have saved me from a curse, my stepmother’s work, and I have frequented many kings of the world, so don’t be humbled now by any shamefulness. I wish now to be here no longer.” “No,” said the king, “There is no possibility that you will go now, and we will not part in this way. We shall now make a quick wedding, I fear, because I like you greatly.” “It is at your disposal, sire,” she said, and so they slept together that night. But in the morning she takes to say, “You have had what you want of me, but you must know this, that we’ll have a baby. Do as I say now, king; visit our child at your boatsheds next winter about this time or you will pay if you do not.” After this, she went away.

King Helgi was now a bit merrier than before. Time passed, and he forgot what he’d been told. And three years passed, and three people rode to the same house in which the king slept. It was about midnight. They came with a girl and put her down there by the house. The woman who brought the child spoke: “You must know this, O king,” she said, “that your family will pay, because you did not do that which I commanded you. But you will benefit, because you rescued me from a curse, and know this, that this girl named Skuld. She’s our daughter.” After that, these people rode away. It had been one of the elf women. The king saw nothing of this woman again. Skuld grew up there and was soon vicious in temper. It is said that one time that King Helgi planned a sea voyage and forgot his grief that way. Hrolf, his son, was left behind. He now harried far and wide and did many great deeds.

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Chapter Sixteen

King Adils was then at Uppsala. He had twelve berserks, and they were there to defend his land from all danger and war. King Helgi went on a journey to Uppsala to carry off Yrsa. He came ashore. And when the king learnt that King Helgi had come ashore, he asked Queen Yrsa how she wanted to welcome King Helgi. She said, “You will decide, but you know already that there is not a man that I owe more to by kinship than him.” And it seemed fitting to King Adils to offer him to a banquet, but he did not intend that this should all he would do. The King acknowledged Helgi, who went to the banquet with a hundred people, but the majority stayed down by the ship. King Adils welcomed him with open arms. Queen Yrsa meant to reconcile the kings, and treated King Helgi honourably. King Helgi was so glad to see the queen that he thought of nothing else. He wanted to talk to her all the time, whenever he could, and so they sat at the banquet.

It happened that King Adils’ berserks came home. And when they had come ashore, King Adils went to meet them, so that no one else would know. He asked them to go to the wood which was between the stronghold and King Helgi’s ships, and told them to ambush King Helgi when he went to his ships. ”I will send a force to assist you, and they will come at his back, so that they will caught in a pincer manoeuvre, because I want to make sure that King Helgi does not escape, because I understand that he deeply loves the queen, so I do not want to risk what he’ll do.”

King Helgi then sat at the feast and the plot was closely kept from him and from the queen. Queen Yrsa told King Adils that she wants to give King Helgi splendid gifts, gold and treasures. He gave his word, but meant to enjoy them himself. King Helgi went away, and King Adils and the queen followed him to the road, and they then parted company with the queen and king on quite good terms. And not much later, when King Adils had gone home, King Helgi became aware of the enemy, and he began fighting. King Helgi went well and fought bravely, but because of the overwhelming odds stacked against him, King Helgi fell with glory and many great wounds, and some of King Adils’ men attacked from behind, and they were thus between hammer and anvil. Queen Yrsa only learnt that King Helgi was dead when the battle had ended. Helgi fell there with all the men who had gone with him, but the others fled home to Denmark. And here we wind up King Helgi’s yarn.

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Chapter Seventeen

King Adils boasted of his victory then, and felt he had gained great renown by killing a king as famous and well known as Helgi. Queen Yrsa said: “You should not be boasting if you have betrayed the man that I am most obliged to, and who I love the most, and for this same reason I’ll never be loyal to you if you ever encounter King Helgi’s kinsmen. I’ll have your berserks killed when I can, if anyone is brave enough to do this for my sake and their honour.” King Adils asked her to threaten not himself nor his berserks, - “because it shall not benefit you. But I will compensate you for his death with splendid gifts of much plunder and great treasures, if you will accept it.” The queen backed down at this and accepted recompense from the king. However, she was grim in spirit from then onwards, and she sat often pondering how to do the berserks hurt and shame. No one found the queen merry or in a good mood after the fall of King Helgi, and more people quarrelled in the hall than had done previously, and the queen preferred not to serve the king if she could avoid it. King Adils then thought himself very famous, and it seemed then any man with him and his men was mighty. Now he stayed for a while in his realm, and thought no one would raise a finger against himself and his berserks. King Adils was the greatest man for sacrifices and full of magic.

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Svipdag’s Yarn

Chapter Eighteen

There was a farmer named Svip. He lived in Sweden, far away from other people. He was a wealthy man and had been a great warrior, and was not entirely what he seemed, and he knew a lot about magic. He had three sons, who are named here. One was called Svipdag, Beigad the second, and the third Hvitserk. He was the eldest. All of them were big, strong, and good looking. And when Svipdag was eighteen years old, he said to his father one day, “The life we lead up here in the mountains and in this wilderness all the time and to never see other people while no others come to see us is dull. It would be a smart feat to go to King Adils and join his retinue of champions, if he wanted to take us.” Old man Svip answered, “It seems to me that this is not advisable, because King Adils is a fierce man, and not sound, although he acts fairly, but his men are envy-filled, if a stalwart lot, but certainly King Adils is a rich man and famous.” Svipdag said, “You must start somewhere, if you want to prosper, and you cannot know until you try where your luck will take you, and surely I will not linger here, whatever else lies ahead.” And when his mind was made up, his father gave him an axe, beautiful and sharp. He said to his son, “Do not be envious of others, don’t behave arrogantly, because you will get a bad name, but protect yourself if you are attacked, since it is a great man who doesn’t boast, but does great deeds if he is tested.” He gave him armour of high quality and a good horse.

Svipdag rode off now, and came to the stronghold of King Adils in the evening. He saw that games were being played before the hall, and King Adils sat in a great golden throne and his berserks were with him. And when Svipdag came to the stockade, the gates were locked, because it was then the custom to ask for leave to ride inside. Svipdag did not care about that, but broke down the gate and so rode into the yard. The king said, “This man goes carelessly, and this has not been tried previously. It may be that he is very tough, and not concerned that he tried it.” The berserks scowled at once, and it seemed that he was behaving arrogantly. Svipdag rode to the king and greeted him well; he knew the arts of courtesy. King Adils asked who he was. He introduced himself. The king recalled his father, and all thought he must be a great warrior and extraordinary. The game had not finished yet. Svipdag sat on a log and watched. The berserks gave him dirty looks, but then they spoke to the king, saying that they will test him. The king said: “What I think is that he is by no means a woman, but it seems well to me, if you test whether he is as he thinks he is.”

Then men hurried into the hall. The berserks walked up to Svipdag and asked whether he was a mighty warrior, since he acted so arrogantly. He said he was so mighty that he could take any one of them. And with these words of his they just grew angry and eager to fight, but the king told them to be quiet that evening. The berserks scowled and bellowed and said to Svipdag: “Do you dare to fight with us? If so, you’ll need more than big words and insolence, and we will test you for how tough you are.” He said, “I will fight you one at a time, and that way I’ll know if anyone else wants to try.” The king thought it was fine that they should test each other. Queen Yrsa said, “This man should be welcome here.” The berserk said to her, “We know that you want us all in hell, but we are too tough to drop dead at words or ill will.” The queen said why then did the king want to test them, to see what warriors he had, - “if he believes in you so much.” The berserk, who was their leader, said: “I shall frustrate your wishes and humble your pride, so that we shall have no reason to be afraid of him.”

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Chapter Nineteen

And in the morning there was a fierce fight, and no lack of hard hitting. They all saw that this newcomer could use a sword with great strength and make it bite, and the berserk backed off before him, and he slew him there. And the second wanted to kill him to avenge his fellow, and he got the same treatment, and there’s no stopping until Svipdag had killed all four. Then King Adils said, “Great harm you have done to me, and so now you’ll pay,” and ordered his men to stand up and kill him. At the same time the queen got men of her own to help him and said the king he could see that there was much more excellence in this one than all the berserks. Now the queen made peace between them, and it seemed to all that Svipdag is a man of great achievements. He then sat on the bench opposite the king, at the suggestion of Queen Yrsa.

And as night fell, he looked about and still thought he had been too light on the berserks and wanted to provoke a fight with them, and it seemed to him that if they saw him alone, they would turn on him. And it was just as he expected, because they attacked him at once. And then the king came after they had fought for a while, and parted them. After that the king sent the berserks into exile, those who were left, as they had not been able to beat one man alone, and he had not seen previously that they were so feeble, only big in words and no more. They now had to go away, but they threatened to harry the king’s country. The king seemed not to care about their promises and said these bitches had no guts. They went away in shame and disgrace. But in fact King Adils had egged them on first to go at him and kill him when they saw Svipdag walk out of the hall, and take revenge so that the queen would not notice. Svipdag had killed one, though, when the king came to part them. Now King Adils asked Svipdag to provide him with as much help as he had got from the berserks before, - “all the more as the queen wants you to replace the berserkers.” There Svipdag stayed some time.

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Chapter Twenty

A while later, the king heard the news that berserks had now got up a strong force and were attacking his country. King Adils now asked Svipdag to march against the berserks and called it his duty, and said he would give him as many troops as he needed. He did not like being the leader of the army, but would happily go with him where he wanted. The king would not settle for anyone else but he had to be the man. Svipdag said, “Then I want you to give me the lives of twelve men when I want.” The king said, “I accept this.” After that Svipdag went to this battle, while the king stayed at home. He had a large force. Svipdag had caltrops made and cast down where the battlefield had been marked out, and he prepared many other tricks. Then battle began, and there was hard fighting, and the Vikings’ force was driven back, and things went ill for them when they reached the caltrops. One berserk was killed there and many men, but the rest fled to their ships, and so they got away.

Svipdag now came home to King Adils and he had a victory to boast of. King Adils thanked him for his successful and daring defence of the country. Queen Yrsa said, “Certainly, that seat is better filled when such a mighty man as Svipdag sits in it, than your berserks.” The king agreed with that. The berserks gathered their forces now, those who escaped, and again raided the lands of the king. And again the king called on Svipdag to go up against them, and said he would give him a fine army. Svipdag went to battle, and then he had one-third less than the berserks’ force. King Adils sworn to come and join him with his retainers. Svipdag responded even more quickly than the berserks anticipated. And then they met, and a fierce battle ensued. King Adils gathered his forces and intended to attack the berserks’ flank by surprise.

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Chapter Twenty One

It is now time to go back to old man Svip. He woke up one day out of his sleep, sighed tiredly and said to his sons: “I think now you should join your brother Svipdag, for he’s fighting a battle not far from here and is outnumbered, and he has lost his eye and has many other wounds as well, but he has killed three berserks, and now another three are left.” The brothers react quickly and armed themselves to go where the battle was, and the Vikings[5] outnumbered them two to one. Svipdag had done great deeds and was badly wounded and missing an eye. Many of his men had been killed, but the king did not come to join him. And his brothers came to the battle, then they charged forward and fought their way to where the berserks are. Thus when they had played with them, the berserks fell before the brothers. Now the slaughter turned quickly against the Viking force, and those who wanted life yielded to the brothers. And after this they went to meet King Adils and told him the news. The king thanked them kindly for their deeds. Svipdag had received two wounds on his arms. He had a big wound on his head and was one-eyed for life. He lay for a while with these wounds, and Queen Yrsa healed him.

But when he was completely well, he told the king that he wanted to go away from there. “I wish to join a king who will show us greater distinction than you, O king. You have badly rewarded me for guarding your country and for such a victory as we have won for you.” King Adils asked him to stay and said he would treat the brothers well and would rate no one higher than them. Svipdag wanted nothing else than to ride off and mostly for this reason, that King Adils had not joined the battle until it had ended, since he wasn’t sure who would win, Svipdag or the berserks. The king had been in the woods alone, and had watched their play from there and had the opportunity to come whenever he wanted, but it was all the same to him if Svipdag had been defeated and killed.

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Chapter Twenty Two

Then the brothers got ready to go away, and nothing could hinder them. King Adils asked where they intended to go. They said they had not made up their minds - “but we will leave at once. I now want to learn the customs of other people, and kings, and not grow old here in Sweden.” They then went to their horses and thanked the queen well for the honour she had done Svipdag, then they mounted their horses and rode all the way until they came to their father and asked him to advise what course shall be taken, - “and what will we turn to?” He said that the greatest fame was to be found with King Hrolf of Denmark and his champions - “and there you can hope for fame to sate your pride, because I have heard that all the greatest champions of the northern lands have gone there.” “What is he like?” said Svipdag. His father said: “Of King Hrolf I am told that he is open-handed and generous, dependable, and looks after his friends, so that his match is not to be found. He saves no gold nor treasures, giving them to all who will accept them. He is short in stature to look at, but no weakling and makes a real impact when it comes down to it, the most handsome of men, haughty with the wicked, but sweet and gentle with afflicted people and to all those who do not challenge him, the most modest of men, having a kind answer for the poor or the rich. So excellent a man that his name will not fade while the world stands, and he has made all those kings that are near him tributary, because everyone wants to serve him willingly.” Svipdag said, “Here you have a tale to tell, and I have decided to meet King Hrolf with all of my brothers, if he wants to take us.” Farmer Svip said, “You will decide your actions, though it seems best to me that you should stay home with me.” They said that it was no use asking that.

Then they bade their father farewell, and also their mother, and they went on their way until they came to meet King Hrolf. Svipdag went to the king at once and spoke to him. The king asked him who he was. Svipdag told him his name, and the names of all of them, and said he had been with King Adils for a while. King Hrolf said, “Where did you go before here, for there is great friendship between us and our people?” Svipdag said: “I know that, sire. But I will strive to become your man, if it is possible, and all my brothers, though you may think we will amount to little.” The king answered: “I never meant to make friends of King Adils’ men. But since you have sought me out, then I will take you all on, because I think that it will go better for the man who doesn’t turn you away, because I see that you are fine and fearless champions. I have heard that you have won great glory; killed King Adils’ berserks and done many other deeds.” “Where would you prefer me to sit?” said Svipdag. The king said: “Sit with the man who called Bjalki, and leave space for twelve men further in from you.” Svipdag had sworn to King Adils to return to him before he went away. Now the brothers went to the places which the king had assigned them. Svipdag asked Bjalki why the space was empty further in from them. Bjalki said that the king’s twelve berserks sit there, when they come back. They were then at war.

Skur was the name of one of King Hrolf’s daughters, the other was called Drifa. Drifa lived at home with the king and was most courteous of all women. Drifa treated the brothers well and generally was rather well inclined towards them.

So it went through the summer until the berserks came home to court in the autumn. And following their custom when they came into the hall, they went to each person and asked him if he was just as brave as him, and the men searched for several different ways to seem most respectful, and it could be heard in the words of each man that no one felt himself just as tough as them. And then he went to Svipdag and asked whether he thought he was just as brave. Svipdag popped up and brandished his sword and said in no way was he less brave than him. The berserk said, “Hit me on the helmet.” Svipdag did so, and his sword did not bite on it, and then they wanted to fight. King Hrolf jumped in between them and told them not to clash and promise they should be called equals from now on - “and both my friends.” And after that they agreed and were always equal in one council, went to war together, and gained the victory wherever they went.

King Hrolf sent messengers to Sweden to Queen Yrsa, his mother, and asked her to send the goods that his father King Helgi had owned and which King Adils had taken to his house when King Helgi was killed. Yrsa said that was fitting, if she would arrange it, if it was a possibility for her, - “and if you come yourself after the goods, I’ll be faithful with you, my son, but King Adils is so greedy a man for gold that he never cares how he obtains it,” and so she asked them to say that to the king and sent them back with fitting gifts.

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Chapter Twenty Three

King Hrolf went then to the wars, and this delayed his meeting with King Adils. He then gathered under himself a great army, and all the kings he encountered, he made tributaries under him, and it happened mostly because most champions wanted to be with him, and would serve no other, for he was much more generous with money than other kings. King Hrolf established his seat, which was named Hleidargard. It was in Denmark and was a great stronghold, and strong, and sturdy, and more splendid than anywhere else, and in all manner of magnificence it was unrivalled.

Hjorvard was a mighty king. He married Skuld, daughter of King Helgi, and sister of King Hrolf. It was done by the consent of King Adils and Queen Yrsa and Hrolf, her brother. And one time King Hrolf commanded Hjorvard to come to a banquet. One day, when he was at the feast, it came to pass that they were outside, the kings, and King Hrolf took off his breeches belt and gave King Hjorvard his sword to hold. And when King Hrolf had fastened his breeches belt again, he took back the sword, and said to King Hjorvard, “We both know,” he said, “that it has long been said that he who takes the sword of another while he takes off his breeches belt should be his subordinate ever since. Now you are my under-king and you’ll have to tolerate it as well as the others.” Hjorvard became furiously angry at this, however, he had to let it stand, so he went home feeling resentful with his lot, but paid tribute to King Hrolf like his other under-kings, who had to be obedient to him. And here ends Svipdag’s yarn.

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Bodvar’s Yarn

Chapter Twenty Four

It is now told that north in Norway, in the Uppdales, ruled a King who was named Hring. He had a son named Bjorn. It is said that the queen died, and it is seemed very much a source of grief to the king, and to many others as well. His countrymen and councillors asked him to marry again, and so he sent men south to other countries to search for a wife. But against them came strong headwinds and big storms, and then they had to turn the ship to stay ahead of the weather, and the upshot was that they were chased north to Finnmark and stayed there for the winter.

One day they went ashore and came to a house. There sat two women, good looking. They welcomed them and asked where they came from. They explained everything about their journey and what their errand was. They asked what kind of women they were, and why they lived alone here, and so far from other people, women so fair and beautiful. The elder said, “There is a reason for everything, lads, we are here because a mighty king asked for my daughter but she did not want him, but he took hard measures in return, and so I keep her here in secret until her father comes home, as he is away at the wars.” They asked who her father was. Her mother said: “She is the daughter of the Lapp King.” They asked what their names were. The eldest said, “My name is Ingibjorg, but my daughter is called Hvit; I’m the king’s concubine.” A maid was there to serve them. The king’s men liked them, and it was their plan to ask if Hvit would go with them and marry King Hring; he took up the matter with her, who was leader of the king’s messengers. She did not answer this quickly, but turned, however, to the judgement of her mother. “It is said that out of every trouble will come gain,” said her mother, “and it seems bad to me that her father will hear this as old news, but it is a risk we’ll have to take if she’ll get anywhere.” After this, she got ready to go with them. So they went on their way, and came to King Hring, and when the messengers arrived they asked whether the king would marry this woman or send her back the same way. The king liked the woman and he married her. He did not care that she was not rich. The king was growing old, as soon could be seen from the queen’s behaviour.

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Chapter Twenty Five

One man had a farm close by the king. He was married and had a daughter who was called Bera. She was quite young, and good looking. The king’s son Bjorn and Bera the peasant’s daughter played games together, and got on well with each other. The farmer was wealthy and had spent a long time in warfare at an early age and was a hero. Bera and Bjorn loved each other greatly, and they often met.

Time passed now with nothing worthy of note. Bjorn grew up to be a promising man, and he became both big and strong. He was well bred and skilled in all sports. King Hring was often out of the country at the wars, but Hvit stayed home and ruled the land. She was not beloved by people, but she was very merry with Bjorn, yet he accepted it poorly. And once, when the king was going away, the queen spoke to King Hring, saying Bjorn, his son, should stay at home with her to govern the land. The king thought it advisable. Now the queen became haughty and arrogant. The king told his son Bjorn that he should stay home and look after the country with the queen. Bjorn said he cared little for the idea, and that he disliked the queen. The king said that he would be left behind. Then the king left the country with great army.

Bjorn went home after talking to his father, and it seemed to each that the other was wrong. He went to his bed and was rather unhappy and his face was red as blood. The queen went to talk with him and wanted to cheer him up, and asked for his friendship. He asked her to go away. She did so at once. She came to him often though and said that it was the perfect opportunity for them to go to bed together while the king was away, and said their union would be much better than her being with an old man like King Hring. Bjorn took this matter badly and struck her on the cheek and told her to be off with her and pushed her away. She said that she was not used to being hit or beaten, - “and it seems to you better, Bjorn, to cuddle a peasant’s daughter instead, and that is fitting, as might be expected, and much more disgraceful than to enjoy my love and affection, and it is not so unlikely that you will get something in return for your pig-headedness and stupidity.” She hit him now with a wolf skin glove and said that he should be a cave bear, mad and fierce, - “and have nothing to eat other than your father’s beasts. You shall have to kill them for food in unheard of numbers, and you’ll never be free of this curse, and you shall find it worse than anything.”

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Chapter Twenty Six

After that Bjorn vanished away, and no one knew what had happened to him. And when they missed him, then a search was made, and they found him nowhere, which was thought to be incredible. And they then said that the king’s cattle was being killed in large numbers, and a grey bear was responsible, both big and fierce.

One evening it occurred that the peasant’s daughter saw this brutal bear. The bear went to her and acted very merrily. She thought she could make out the eyes of the king’s son in this bear, and she did not flee. The animal then went away from her, and she went after it and all the way until it came to a certain cave. And when she came to the cave, a man was there and he greeted Bera, the peasant’s daughter. She saw that it was Bjorn Hringsson, and there was a very joyful meeting there. They stayed in the cave for a while, because she did not want to part with him while she had a choice. He called it unseemly that she should be there with him, because he was an animal in the day, although a man by night.

King Hring now came home from war, and he was told the news of what had been happening while he had been away, the disappearance of Bjorn, his son, and also of that huge animal which had come into the land, and which mostly attacked his own herds. The queen egged him on to slay the animal, but he put it off for a while. The king said little about this and it seemed a strange business.

One night when Bera was in bed with Bjorn, Bjorn began to speak, and he said: “I believe that my death day will be tomorrow and they will catch me, and it seems to me there is no pleasure in life with the curse that is on me, except that one thing is dear to me, that we are both together, but it will now end. I will give you the ring that is under my left arm. You will see men coming tomorrow to attack me, and when I’m dead, go to the king and ask him to give you that which is under the bear’s left shoulder, and he will grant you that. The queen will suspect you, when you want to be away, and she will offer you the animal’s flesh to eat, but you should not eat that because you’re pregnant, as you know, and you will give birth to three boys who will be our children, and it will show if you eat of the slaughtered animal, but the queen is the worst of trolls. Then go home to your father, and there you will give birth to the boys. One, however you will think the worst. If you cannot handle them due to their bad tempers and reckless deeds then come here to the cave with them. Here you will see a chest with three compartments. It will have runes carved by them there saying what each of them should have. Three weapons will be in the rock, and each should have that which is meant for him. The one who comes first, our son, shall be named Elk-Frodi, the second Thorir, the third Bodvar, and it seems to me likely that they will not be little men, and their names will be long remembered.”

He told her many things, and then the bear-form came upon him, and the bear went out and she went after him and looked around, and then she saw a large group in front of the shoulder of the mountain, and many dogs going in front of the group. The bear ran from the cave and along the mountainside. Now the dogs and the people of the king came against him, and he was difficult to catch. He hurt many people before he was overpowered, and killed all the dogs. In the end they gathered about him, and he paced within the ring and saw how things stand, he would never escape. He then turned where the king stands, and snatched the man who stood next to him, and tore him asunder. The bear was so tired, he threw himself down flat. They ran swiftly him to kill him. The peasant’s daughter saw this. She went to the king and said, “If you are willing, sire, give me whatever is beneath the left shoulder of the bear.” The king agreed to this, said that nothing would be there that he couldn’t give her in honour. The king’s men had flayed much of the bear. Bera went up and took the ring off and kept it, but no one saw what she did, because it was not asked after. The king asked who she was, because he did not recognise her. She said to him what seemed best and but it was not true.

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Chapter Twenty Seven

The king then went home with Bera among his companions. The queen was very merry, and welcomed her and asked who she was. She replied as before, not telling the truth. The queen then made a great feast and had the bear meat prepared to treat the people. The peasant’s daughter was in the queen’s bower and could not go away, because the queen suspected who she must be. And the queen went there with a hot dish of bear meat, and told Bera to eat. She would not eat. “This is ill-mannered,” said the queen, “that you refuse a treat that the queen herself deigns to offer you, so eat up quick, or you’ll get worse.” She carves off bits for her, and in the end she eats the pieces. The queen cut another and put it in her mouth, and a little went down but then she spat the rest out of her mouth, and said she would eat no more, though she was tortured and killed her. The queen said, “Maybe it’s been effective already,” and laughed at her. Then Bera went away and returned to her father. She had an uncomfortable pregnancy. She then told her father all the facts about her marriage, how it was.

And soon after she had entered labour she gave birth to a boy, but he was a bit strange. He was male, but an elk down from the navel. He was known as Elk-Frodi. The second boy came next and was called Thorir. He had dog legs from the instep down and so he was called Thorir Dogfoot. Otherwise he was a man of handsome appearance. The third boy came, and he was the most promising. He was called Bodvar, and there was nothing ugly about him. She loves Bodvar the most. They then grew up like grass. And when they were at play with other people, they were fierce and unyielding about everything. People had hard games with them. Frodi hurt many king’s supporters, and killed some altogether.

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Chapter Twenty Eight

So it went on for a while, until they were twelve years old. They were then so strong that no king’s men would encounter them, and they could not be at games.
Frodi told his mother that he would go away - “and I may not compete with people, because they are all fools and get injured immediately, as soon as they’re touched.” She told him he was not fit for the company of people due to his roughness. His mother went with him to the cave, and showed him the wealth that his father had left for him, because Bjorn had specified what each should have. Frodi would take more, and could not, because his was the smallest portion. And then he saw where the weapons stick out of the rock. First he took hold of the hilt, and the sword was stuck fast, so he could not remove it. Then he pulled at the axe, and it was not any looser. Then Elk-Frodi said: “It may be that he who has put these objects here decided that the weapons sharing is to go after the other wealth sharing,” and he tugged at the third haft then, and it came straight out. It was a short sword. He looked at the short sword for a while and then said: “He has been unfair who had these treasures to share,” now he thrusts it into the rock with both hands and wanted to break it, and the short sword plunged into the rock, so that it was in up to the haft but it was not broken at all either. Then Elk-Frodi said: “What does it matter how I use this vile thing, because it surely knows how to bite?” After that, he said farewell to his mother. Frodi went on the mountain road and became a robber and killed people for money and built himself a hut and settled down.

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Chapter Twenty Nine

King Hring thought then he knew what sorcery was at the back of all this, and he said nothing in front of the people and let the matter rest, just as before. A little later Thorir Dogfoot asked to go away, and his mother shows him the cave and also the wealth which was left him, and spoke to him of the weapons and told him to take the axe, and said it was as his father had instructed. Thorir went away and bade his mother farewell. He tugged first on the hilt, but the sword was stuck. Then he took the axe haft, and then the axe came loose, because it was intended for him. Then he took his inheritance and went his way. First, he went to meet Elk-Frodi, his brother. He went into his hut and sat down in the seat and pulled his hood down over his face. A little later Frodi came home and looked not too kindly at the newcomer, brandished his sword and said:

“Shrieks the short sword,
as it slides from its sheath,
hand does not forget
the feats of war,”

and slammed it down on the bench beside him and became very fierce and ugly. Thorir said then:

“But I wander far
on another way
my axe
echoes as loudly.”

And then he concealed himself no longer, and his brother Frodi recognised him and offered him a half share of everything that he had gathered together, because there was no lack of wealth. Thorir did not want to take that. He stayed there for a while and then went away. Elk-Frodi directed him to Gautland and told him that their king was recently dead, and suggested he go to their domain. He told him many things: “It is the Gauts’ law that a great gathering is summoned and all Gauts headed there. A big chair is set up at the gathering, so big that two men may sit with plenty of room, and he who fills the space shall be king. But it seems to me that you will fill that space fully.” After that they parted, and each wished the other well.

Thorir went on his way until he came to Gautland to a certain Earl, and the Earl received him well, and he was there that night. Each man who saw Thorir said that he could well be the king of the Gauts because he was so big, and said that there would be few like him. And when the assembly had gathered, then it went as Frodi, his brother, had told him. A judge was there to settle this issue fairly. Many sat in this seat, but the judge deemed them unfit. Thorir went last, and he sat down in the chair. The judge said: “The seat fits you best, and you will be judged the one to rule here.” Then the people give him the name of king and then he was called King Thorir Dogfoot, and there are great stories told about him. He was popular and fought many battles and often had the victory. Now he sits in his kingdom for a while.

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Chapter Thirty

Bodvar was at home with his mother. She loved him dearly. Of all men, he was most able and most handsome in appearance. Not many people knew him to speak to. He asked his mother one day who his father was. She told him of his death and all the events and how he was cursed by his step-mother. Bodvar said: “We have harm to repay this ogress.” Then she told him how she was forced by the queen to eat the flesh of the bear, - “and it is now to be seen on your brothers, Thorir and Elk-Frodi.” Bodvar said, “No, it seems to me that Frodi has more of a duty to avenge his father on this coward ogress than to kill innocent people for their money and do evil, and it seems to me strange that Thorir should go away, when he did not give this troll a few reminders of our feelings, and I assume it would be best that I give her something to remember us by.” Bera said, “Ensure that she may not use her magic, so that you don’t come to harm.” He said it should be so.

After that, Bera and Bodvar went to the king, and then she told the king all, advised by Bodvar, and showed him the ring that she had taken from under the animal’s shoulder and which Bjorn, his son, had owned. The king said he did indeed recognise the ring. ”I have suspected that this would be caused by her plots, all this witchcraft that has come to pass, but because of my love for the queen I have kept the peace.” Bodvar said, “Let her go away now, otherwise we will avenge it.” The king said he would reimburse him with as much money as he wanted, if he kept quiet, and give him command of a realm and the title of earl right now, and after his death the kingdom, if only she would be unharmed. Bodvar said he did not want to be king, he said that he would rather be with him and serve him. “Are you so ensnared by this monster that you think hardly know your rights as king? But she will not thrive from now on.” Bodvar was so fierce then that the king was afraid of dealing with him. Bodvar went to the queen’s bower and he had a leather sack in his hand. The king went after him and his mother too. When Bodvar came into the chamber, he turned to Queen Hvit, and put the shrunken bag on her head and pulled it down round her neck. He struck her on the side of the head and beat her to death with various tortures and hauled her through all the streets. To many or most in the hall this was no worse than half what she deserved, yet the king took it very ill although he could do nothing. So Queen Hvit lost her worthless life. Bodvar was eighteen years old when this was going on.

Shortly after King Hring took sick and died. After that Bodvar succeeded to the realm and was content to rule there a little while. Then he summoned an assembly with the locals and said that he would go away. But he gave his mother away in marriage to a man called Valsleitr, who had previously been an earl, and Bodvar attended their wedding feast before he rode away.

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Chapter Thirty One

After that he rode off alone, and he did not have with him much gold or silver or other goods, except he was well endowed with weapons and clothes. He now rode his good horse to the cave on the suggestion of his mother. The sword comes loose when he took hold of the hilt. It was like this with the sword, that it could never be drawn without being a man’s bane. It might not be laid under the head or stood on its pommel. It could only be egged on into action three times in its entire lifetime, and at times no one could draw it at all, it was so difficult. That treasure all the brothers had wanted. Bodvar went to meet Elk-Frodi, his brother. He made a sheath of birch for the sword.

Nothing happened during his journey until in the eve of the day he came to a big hall. Elk-Frodi was master there. Bodvar stabled his horse and made himself at home and helped himself to all that he thought he needed. Frodi came home that evening and ran a disapproving eye over him. Bodvar paid this no attention and remained as he was. The horses fought too, and wanted to drive each other from the stall. Frodi spoke then and said: “This is an arrogant man who dares to sit in here without my leave.” Bodvar let his hood hang over his face and said nothing. Elk-Frodi stood up and brandished his short sword and then slammed it so it clanged on the sheath, and he did this twice. Bodvar did not flinch. The third time he brandished his short sword and struck at him, and he thought that this man did not know fear, and he intended to get the better of him. And when Bodvar saw what was going on, he did not want to not have long to wait, stood up and dashed in under his reach. Elk-Frodi was stiff in his grip, and they wrestled fiercely, and then Bodvar’s hood went down, and then Frodi recognised him and said, “Welcome, kinsman, we have been too long in this hurly-burly.” “No harm has been done,” said Bodvar. Elk-Frodi said, “You will be wary about fighting me in earnest, kinsman, and you’ll notice the difference of strength, if I fight you for real and not in sport.” Frodi asked him to stay there and offered him half of all he owned. Bodvar did not want that, and he thought it wrong to kill people for money alone. He went away after that. Frodi went with him and told him that he has given peace to many who were weak, and Bodvar rejoiced at that and said he it was good of him to do this, - “and you should let most go in peace, though you think you have something against them.” Elk-Frodi said, “I have acted badly, but it would be best if you went to meet King Hrolf, because all the best champions want to be with him, because he is better in his generosity and nobility than all other kings.” Then Frodi went and pushed him. Frodi said: “You are not so strong, kinsman, as you ought to be.” Frodi drew blood from his calf and told him to drink, and Bodvar did so. Then Frodi went at him a second time, and then Bodvar stood firmly. “You’re stronger now, kinsman,” said Elk-Frodi, “and I think the drink has done you good, and you will become the best of men for strength and bravery and all toughness and honour, and I give this to you gladly.” After this Frodi stamped his hoof in the rock beside him, to the pastern. Then Frodi said: “To this footprint I will come every day and see what’s in the mark; if it’s earth it will mean you will died of sickness, water, if you have died at sea, blood, if you died from weapons, and then I will avenge you, because I love you most of all men.”

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Chapter Thirty Two

They parted now, and Bodvar went his way, so he came to Gautland, and King Thorir Dogfoot was not at home. They looked so alike that no one could tell them apart, and the people thought that Thorir had come home, and he was set in the throne and served as well as the king in all things and put in bed with the queen, because Thorir was married. Bodvar refused to lie under the same bedcover that she did. It seemed strange to her, because she thought him truly her husband, but Bodvar told her everything, explaining how it was. She did not let the others know. And so they spent every night, and so they behaved until Thorir came home, and then the people had no choice but to know who each man is. There was a happy meeting between the brothers. Thorir said that there is no one else he would permit to lie with his queen. Thorir invited him to stay and have half of his riches. Bodvar said he didn’t want it. Thorir invited him to go with him wherever he wanted or to give him soldiers. He didn’t want that. Bodvar rode away, and Thorir came some way with him, and the brothers parted in friendship, and yet holding something back. And then nothing is told of his journeys until he came out in Denmark and not far from Hleidargard.

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Chapter Thirty Three

One day there was a lot of rain, and Bodvar got very wet, and his fast steed grew weary and tired under him, because he was riding hard, but the ground became exceedingly wet and the going was tough. Dusk fell, and the night was dark and rainy. And he knew nothing until the horse collided with some kind of obstacle. Bodvar climbed off, and looked about, and he realised that there was a house nearby, and he found the door. He knocked on it. A man came out. Bodvar asked to stay the night. The householder said he would not turn him away in the night, even if he didn’t know him. The farmer thought this man was imposing, from what he could see. There Bodvar spent the night in good cheer. He asked a lot of questions about King Hrolf and his champions and how far it was there. “No,” said the man, “it is now very near, but are you going there?” “Yes,” said Bodvar, “That is my intention.” The farmer said he would fit in there, - “for I see you are a big, strong man, but they think themselves great heroes.”

And this woman wept loudly when they mentioned King Hrolf and his champions at Hleidargard. “What are you crying for, old woman?” Bodvar said. The old woman said: “We had a darling son named Hott. And one day he went to the stronghold for games, but they taunted him, the king’s people, and he took that badly. They took him and put him in the bone heap. But it is a custom at mealtimes that when every bone is gnawed, then they throw them at him. Sometimes he is seriously hurt because of this, if one hits him, and I do not know whether he is dead or alive. But the reward I wish to have from you for my generosity is that you throw at him smaller bones rather than bigger, if he is not dead already.” Bodvar said: “I shall do as you ask, and it does not seem to me so heroic to hit people with bones or to hurt children or little men.” “You do well,” said the old woman, “because your hand seems mighty to me, and I know he could not withstand your shots, if you did not want to hold back.”

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Chapter Thirty Four

Bodvar went on his way. He came to the king’s dwelling. Bodvar then led his horse into the stall with the king’s horses beside his best steed and asked no one for permission, then he went into the hall, and only a few people were there. He sat near the entrance, and he had been there a little while when he heard the noise of someone moving about in the corner somewhere. Bodvar looked there and saw a man’s hand come up out of a great pile of bones that lay there. The hand was black. Bodvar went over and asked who was there in the bone pile. He was then answered, rather tentatively, “I am Hott, dear sir.” “Why are you here,” said Bodvar, “and what are you doing?” Hott said, “I make my shield wall, good man.” Bodvar said: “Your shield wall is pitiful.” Bodvar seized him and hauled him away from the bone pile. Hott cried aloud and said, “Now do you want me killed? Do not do that just when I have now got things settled, and now you have wrecked my shield wall, and I had built it so high around me that it has protected me from all your bones so that none has hit me for some time, though it was not as secure as I intended it should be.” Bodvar said, “You’ll not be making that shield wall any longer.” Hott wept and said, “Will you kill me now, dear sir?” Bodvar told him to keep quiet, took him up and carried him out of the hall and to some water, which was near, and few took notice of this, and washed him completely. Bodvar went to the seat he had already taken, and brought Hott along, and where he sat Hott sat with him, but he was so afraid that his limbs and joints shook. But he realized that this man would help him.

That evening, the men crowded into the hall, and Hrolf’s champions saw that Hott was sitting up on a bench, and it seems that the man who did that has shown some daring. Hott looked unhappy, when he saw his acquaintances, because he had had bad experiences with them. He wanted to live and would gladly go back to his bone pile, because he would not be as exposed to their blows as he is now if he could get himself over there, but Bodvar held him so that he could not get away. The retainers followed their usual custom and threw bones across the floor at Bodvar and Hott. Bodvar acted as if he did not see it. Hott was so frightened that he took neither food nor drink, and it seemed to him time and again that he would get hit. And now Hott said to Bodvar: “Dear sir, now a big knucklebone comes at you, and this is intended to hurt us.” Bodvar told him to be silent. He held out his palm and caught the knucklebone. The leg was still attached to it. Bodvar threw back the bone, flinging it at he who threw it at him with so hard a blow that he was killed. Great fear came over the retainers.

The news now came before the king and his champions up in the castle that an imposing man had come to the hall and killed one of his retainers, and they wanted to kill the man. King Hrolf asked whether the retainer had been killed without cause. “Nearly so,” they said. The king learnt the whole truth. King Hrolf said that the last thing they should do was kill the man. “You’ve got a bad habit here, hitting innocent people with bones. I am disgraced by it, and it is a great shame that you do it. I have spoken to you about it before, and you have taken no notice, and I think that this man will not be quite so easy to deal with for you, who you have now attacked, now summon him to me, so that I can find out who he is.” Bodvar went to the king and greeted him most fittingly. The king asked him for his name. “Your retainers call me Hott’s Guard, but I am named Bodvar.” The king said, “What compensation will you give me for my retainer?” Bodvar said: “He got what he was asking for.” The king said, “Would you be my man and take his place?” “I will not say no to being your man, but we will stay together as we are, me and Hott, and stay closer to you than this man was sitting, otherwise we will both go away.” The king said, “I cannot see any honour in him, but I will not refuse to give him food.”

Bodvar then went to the spot which he liked, but he did not want the seat of the man he had killed before. He found a place where three men sat and pulled them out of it, and then he sat down with Hott there in the hall, further in than where they were assigned. Men thought Bodvar hard to deal with, and they had the greatest resentment for him.

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Chapter Thirty Five

And as it turned towards Yule, the men grew depressed. Bodvar asked Hott why this was. He told him that an animal had come two winters in a row, big and terrible, - “and it has wings on its back, and it flies always. Two autumns now it has visited here and done great damage. No weapons pierce it but the king’s champions don’t come home, those who are greatest.” Bodvar said, “The hall is not as well appointed as I thought, if one animal can lay waste the realm and the property of the king.” Hott said, “It is not an animal, but is it the greatest of trolls.”[6] Now comes Yule Eve. The king said, “Now I wish that people be quiet and calm at night, and I forbid all my men to take any risks with this animal, but if the cattle goes, then it happens. I will not lose my men.” All promise faithfully to doing as the king commanded.

Bodvar crept away into the night. He made Hott go with him, and he does it unwillingly, and said he was been guided to his death. Bodvar said that it would not be that bad. They walked away from the hall, and Bodvar ended up carrying him, he’s so scared. Then they saw the beast. And then Hott shouted as much as he could and said the animal would swallow him. Bodvar told the dog to be silent and cast him down upon the moss, and there he lay, not completely unafraid. He dared not go home either. Now Bodvar went against the beast. It didn’t help him that the sword was stuck inside the scabbard, and then he urged his sword vehemently, so that the sword came out of the sheath, and he thrust it under the head of the beast so hard that it stuck in its heart, and the animal dropped down dead to the earth. After that, he went back to where Hott lay. Bodvar took him up and carried him to where the animal lay dead. Hott trembled wretchedly. Bodvar said, “Now drink the blood of the animal.” He was reluctant for a long time, but he dared not do anything else. Bodvar let him drink two large mouthfuls. He gave him to eat a slice from the animal’s heart. After this Bodvar attacked him, and they fought for some time. Bodvar said, “Now you’re getting stronger, and I do not expect that you will now fear the king’s retainers.” Hott said, “I will not be afraid of them, nor you from now on.” “It turned out well, friend Hood. Now we’ll go and lift the animal and set it up so that others think it alive.” Then they did so. After that, they went home and kept quiet, and no one knew what they had done.

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Chapter Thirty Six

In the morning the king asked what they knew of the animal, whether it had visited in the night. He was told that all the cattle were safe in their pens and unharmed. The king told his men to ask whether anyone had seen any signs of it having come. The guards did so and came back quickly and told the king that the animal was on its way and coming with much haste to the farm. The king asked the bodyguards to ready themselves and said that each man there should do as well as his courage permitted, and put an end to this monster. And it was done as the king commanded, that they prepared themselves to do this. The king looked at the animal and then said: “I see no movement from the beast, now who wants to take the chance and go against it?” Bodvar said, “That would curb the curiosity of the bravest man. Friend Hott, time you clear yourself of this slander, that men say you have no spirit nor doughtiness in you. Go now and kill the animal; you can see that there is no eagerness in the others.”

“Yes,” he cried, “I will do this.” The king said, “I don’t know where this bravery has come from, Hood, and you have changed much in a short time.” Hott said, “Give me the sword Gullinhjalti which you have, and I will then slay the animal or get killed.” King Hrolf said, “This sword is not for any man unless the person is both a good fellow, and brave.” Hott said: “It should be believed that I am him.” The king said, “Who knows, maybe more has changed about your nature, but it remains to be seen. But most people would not recognise you as the same man. Now take the sword, and it’s yours if it’s well done, best of men.”

Then Hott marched towards the animal very boldly and hacked at it when he came in range, and down fell the animal, dead. Bodvar said, “You see, sire, what he has done.” The king said: “Surely he has changed much, but then he hasn’t killed the animal alone, rather you have done it.” Bodvar said, “Perhaps that is so.” The king said: “I knew, when you came here, that few would be your peer, but it seems to me, however, your finest work is what you have done here making a champion of Hott who seemed so unpromising and unlikely to be very lucky. And now I wish that his name is Hott no longer, and we shall call his name Hjalti from now on. You shall be named after the sword Gullinhjalti.” And here ends this yarn of Bodvar and his brothers.

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Hjalti’s Yarn

Chapter Thirty Seven

Now the winter drew near to when King Hrolf’s berserks are expected home. Bodvar asked Hjalti about what the berserks are like. He said that it is their custom to go to each person, when they come to court, starting first with the king, and ask if he could be thought as brave as them. But then the king says: “That is said, with such valiant men as you are, who have distinguished yourself so well in battles and bloodshed with the various nations in the southern part of the world,” but the fact the king answers is more a sign of his nobility than of little courage, because he recognises their support, and they win great victories for the king and much wealth. Then they go away and ask the same of every man in the hall, but no one thinks themselves just as brave. Bodvar replied: “It is a small company of gallant men here with King Hrolf that everyone should speak cowardly words to the berserks.”

Now they stopped this talk, and Bodvar had now been one year with King Hrolf. And so now came the second Yule Eve, there was a time when King Hrolf sat at table, when the door of the palace sprang open, and in there came twelve berserks, all grey with iron, so that they were like shattered ice. Bodvar asked Hjalti quietly whether he dared to try any of them. “Yes,” he said, “not only one, but all of them, because I do not feel fear if I am overwhelmed, and not one of them frightens me.” Now firstly the berserks went along the hall, and they saw that the champions of King Hrolf had increased, then they went away, and considered the newcomers closely, it seemed that one would not be a pushover to them, and it is said that the leader responded a bit strangely. Now they went before the king according to custom and asked him the same question they were used to ask. And the king replied in the way he thought best, as usual, and they went to each person in the hall, but at last they went to those fellows, and asked Bodvar if he thought he was as brave as him. Bodvar said he was not just as brave, no, he was braver, however they tested it, and he need not go on about it like an old sow, a stinking mare’s son, and he leapt at the berserker and lunged in under him, where he stood all in armour, and threw him down with a nasty crack so that his bones were broken. Hjalti did much the same. Then there was a great uproar in the hall, and the king thought it looked risky, with his men knocking each other down. He jumped down from the throne and ran to Bodvar and asked him to make all quiet and return to being in good order, but Bodvar said the berserk would lose his life, unless he admitted that he was a smaller man. King Hrolf said it would easily be solved, and Bodvar let his berserker stand up and so Hjalti did the same after the king’s order. The men then sat each in his seat, but the berserks sat down feeling concerned. King Hrolf spoke very persuasively of how they could now see that it was not anything so good, strong or big, that its match could not be found. “I forbid you to provoke trouble in my halls, but if you defy me after this, then you must pay with your life, but be you as fierce as you can against my enemies, and gain honour and glory. I now have such a choice of champions that I need not depend on you.”

They all praised the king’s speech, and everyone agreed to a full settlement, and the men were placed in the hall so that Bodvar was the most valued and prized, and he sat at the right hand of the king and his second, then Hjalti the Gallant, and he gave him that name. Because he could well be called gallant, sitting every day with the retainers of the king who had once ill-treated him as has already been told, and did them no harm, even though he had now become a much greater man than they, but he thought it excusable if he had given them something to remember him by or killed some of them. But on the left side of the king sat the three brothers, Svipdag, Hvitserk and Beigad and, so they had become important, and the twelve berserks and the rest of the company of gallant men along the length of the castle, who are not mentioned. The king had his men practice all sorts of arts and play with all manner of games and entertainment. And Bodvar proved the greatest of all his champions, whatever needed proving, and he was in such great esteem with King Hrolf that he married his daughter Drifa. And so now things went that way for the moment, so they stayed in their domain and were the most famous of all men.

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Of Adils the Uppsala King and the Swedish Expedition of King Hrolf and his Champions

Chapter Thirty Eight

It is said that one day King Hrolf sat in his royal hall and with him all his champions and great men, and he held a great banquet. Now King Hrolf looked both left and right and said: “Much overwhelming odds are gathered here in one palace.” King Hrolf asked Bodvar if he knew of any king like him, and was so many champions. Bodvar said he did not to know, - “But there is one thing that I think lessens your royal dignity.” King Hrolf asked what it was. Bodvar said, “You lack this, sire, you do not go to Uppsala after your father’s inheritance, which King Adils, your in-law, keeps unjustly.” King Hrolf said that it would be difficult to get, - “because Adils is not a simple man but rather wise in the dark arts, sly, crafty, cunning, vicious and the worst to deal with.” Bodvar said: “It is still right for you, sire, to seek after your share, and meet with King Adils some day and see how he answers this matter.” King Hrolf said, “This is a great point you raise, because we must seek revenge for our father on King Adils the greedy and tricky, wherever he is, and we will have to risk it.” “I will not blame you,” said Bodvar, “for trying, some time, what stuff King Adils is made of.”

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Chapter Thirty Nine

King Hrolf then prepared to travel with a hundred and twenty men, in addition to his twelve champions and twelve berserks. Nothing is told of their journey until they came to a farmer. He stood there when they came, and invited them to stay there. The king said: “You’re a brave man, but do you have the means for this? Because we are not just a few people together, and it is not easy for a smallholder to keep us all.” He laughed and said, “Yes, sire,” he said, “I have seen as many people come my way sometimes, and you shall not lack drink or anything that you need to have for the night.” The king said, “Then we will stop here.” The farmer was happy with this. Their horses are now taken, and cared for. “What is your name, farmer?” said the king. ”Some people call me Hrani,” he said. There was such hospitality that they hardly remembered anywhere they had been better received, and the farmer was very cheerful, and there was nothing they asked him that he could not answer, and it seemed to them he was the wisest of men. They went to sleep. When they woke up, they were so cold that the teeth shook in their heads and they all huddled up together and pulled on their clothes and all that they could get hold of, except King Hrolf’s champions, who abided in the clothes that they had had on before. They stayed cold all night. The farmer asked them, “How did you all sleep?” Bodvar answered: “Well,” he said. Then the farmer said to the king, “I know that your retainers thought it rather chilly in the hall last night and so it was, but they cannot be expected to withstand the challenges King Adils at Uppsala will subject you to, if they thought it so hard, so send home, lord, half of your force if you want to stay alive, because you will not defeat the king with a crowd.” “There is much power in you, master,” said the king, “and this shall be done as you suggest.”

Now they went their way when they were ready, and bade the farmer farewell, and the king sent back half of his force. They rode on their way, and then a farm appeared before them, a little one. Here, it seemed, they recognised the same farmer that they had already stayed with. They now think this strange and surprising. The farmer received them well and asked why they came so often. The king said, “We don’t know what tricks we’re snared in, and it could be fair to say you’re a tricky man.” The farmer said, “It shall not go ill with you.” They spent another night with good fare and went to sleep and woke up to a thirst so great that they thought it near enough unbearable, so that they could hardly stir the tongues in their heads. They stood up and went where a vat stood filled with wine, and drank from it. In the morning, Farmer Hrani said: “Once more, Lord, you must listen to me, and it seems to me there is little endurance in those men who had to drink in the night. You will suffer greater challenges when you come to King Adils.” Suddenly a great storm hit, and they sat there all day and the third night came. But that evening a fire was made for them, and those who sat by the fire thought it extremely hot. Most fled from their seats that Farmer Hrani had placed them in, and everyone moved away from the fire except King Hrolf and his champions. The farmer said, “You may yet choose, sire, from your force, and it is my advice that only you and your twelve champions go, and then there is some hope that you will come back, but no one otherwise.” “It seems to me, master,” said King Hrolf, “that we will take your advice.” They were there for three nights. The king rode off with the twelve men, but sent back all the rest of his force.

King Adils has news of this and called it good that King Hrolf wanted to visit him at home, - “for he shall surely have such an errand here, that the story will be worth telling, before we separate.”

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Chapter Forty

After this King Hrolf and his warriors rode to the hall of King Adils and the townsfolk all crowded up in into the highest towers of the stronghold to see the splendour of King Hrolf and his champions, because they were arrayed magnificently, and many were impressed by the great worth of such chivalrous knights. First they rode slowly and grandly, but when they came close to the house they let the horses know the spur and galloped to the palace, so that everyone who was before them fled ahead of them. King Adils ordered a fine celebration with all friendliness and had their horses taken. Bodvar said, “Take care, lads, that you tangle neither forelock nor tail of a horse, and take care of them well and keep watch that they don’t dirty themselves.” It was soon told to the king, about what they had recommended for horses’ care. He said, “Very great is their pride and arrogance. Hear my advice, do as I command: hack off the tails close to the rumps and cut the forelocks, so that the skin peels off the forehead, and play out all the abuse you can, but let them cling to life.”[7] Then they were led to the hall door, but King Adils did not appear.

Then Svipdag said: “I know this place, and I will go in first, for I suspect the worst about how we will be treated or what’s been prepared. No one must say which of us King Hrolf is, so that King Adils not know him from the rest of the group.” Svipdag went ahead of all his brothers, and they went after him, Hvitserk and Beigad, and then King Hrolf and Bodvar and all the others. There were no serving men now, because they were gone who had led them into the hall. They had hawks on his shoulders, and this seemed very gallant in those days. King Hrolf had a hawk that was named Habrok[8]. Svipdag led them now and paid close heed to all things. He saw great changes everywhere. They came across so many obstacles which had been set for them that is not possible to describe them, and it was more difficult the further they went into the hall.

And now they went so far into the hall that they saw where King Adils sat bloated with pride on the throne, and the moment wasn’t lost on either side, when each looked on the other. They saw that it was not easy to get close to King Adils, but they came so close that they were within earshot. Then King Adils said, “And you are now here, Svipdag old friend, what will the hero’s errand be or will it not be as it seems to me:

Hewn in the neck,
out of the head, an eye,
an arrow wound in the brow,
and two blows to the arm? -

“And it is the same with Beigad, his brother, all twisted.” Svipdag said so loud that everyone could hear: “Now I will have safe conduct from you for the twelve men who are gathered here, King Adils, after what I agreed with you.” King Adils replied, “I will agree to this, now come out into the hall quickly and bravely with minds at ease.” It seemed they could see that pit-traps dug in the hall in front of them, and it didn’t look too welcoming, what had been prepared for them, but so great was the darkness lying over the king that they could not see his face clearly. They saw, too, that the tapestries that hung all round the inside of the hall had furled out, as if men might be hiding behind them with weapons. This was true enough, since armoured man burst out from them when they came over the pits, and King Hrolf and his champions made a hard fight of it and split the men down to the teeth.

So it went for a while, and the enemy couldn’t pinpoint King Hrolf, wherever he was, but people fell down in great slaughter. King Adils swelled now with rage on the throne when he saw Hrolf’s champions cut his force down like dogs, and when he saw this was getting him nowhere, he stood up, and said, “What is all this noise about? And these are the biggest rascals! What do you do, that you attack such outstanding men as have come to visit us, now stop quickly and sit down and let us enjoy good cheer, everyone together, kinsman Hrolf.” Svipdag said: “Little glory will you get, King Adils, and you’re not keeping your truce well.” They went to sit down after that; furthest in Svipdag, then Hjalti the Gallant, but Bodvar sat together with the king, because they wanted him to be recognised. King Adils said, “I see that you do not travel abroad with much dignity in a foreign country, or why does kinsman Hrolf have no larger force?” Svipdag said, “I see that you do not avoid plotting treachery against the king and his men, and it matters little whether he rode here with a small group or a crowd.” And thus they ended speaking.

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Chapter Forty One

After that, King Adils the hall cleared. There they carried away the dead, because many of the king’s men were killed there, and the number of wounded was great. King Adils said, “Now we shall make fires for our friends and let us show these people affection, so that we shall all be pleased.” Men were now fetched to heat up the fire for them. Hrolf’s champions sat with their weapons and would not let them leave their hands. The fire took quickly, because pitch and dry wood was not spared. King Adils sat on the other side of the fire with his guards, but King Hrolf and his champions sat on the other side and they sat on long benches on either side and talked very pleasantly to each other. King Adils said, “It is not too much that they say of your valour, champions of Hrolf, and your toughness, and you think you’re better than anyone, and it’s no lie what they say of your power. Stoke the fire,” said King Adils, “for I cannot see clearly who the king is, and you will not flee the fire, though you might be somewhat warm.” And it was now done, what he said, and because he would know who King Hrolf was, because he knew that he would not be able stand the heat like his champions, and he thought it would be easier to catch him when he knew where he was, because he truly wanted the king dead. Bodvar knew this, and so they shielded him from some of the heat, as much as they could, but not so that he would be noticed either. And as the fire blazed its fiercest, King Hrolf was determined to remember that he had already sworn to flee neither fire nor iron, and he saw now that Adils wanted to test this, that they would burn there or else should break their oath. They saw that King Adils’ chair had been moved back to the palace wall, and his men also. Now more fuel was flung on, and they saw that fire would burn them, unless they get something done. Much of their clothes were burned now, and they threw their shields on the fire. Then Bodvar and Svipdag said:

“Now let’s feed the fires
in Adils’ fortress.”

They snatched themselves men from those who had stoked the fire, and threw them into the fires and said, “Enjoy the warmth of the fire for your work and effort, because we are now fully baked. Now you all bake, because you worked so hard to build a fire for us.” Hjalti seized a third and threw him on the fire at his end, and so each of them who stoked the fires went the same way. There they burned to ashes, and no one saved them, because no one dared to come so close. After that was done King Hrolf said,

“He flees not the blaze,
who jumps over it.”

And after this all of them leapt over the fire, and headed for King Adils to seize him. And when the king saw that, he saved himself and jumped into the tree that stood in the hall, and it was hollow inside, and so he escaped the hall with his enchantments and magic. And so he came to the hall of Queen Yrsa and went to speak to her, and she scorned him and spoke many big words harshly to him: “First you killed my husband, King Helgi,” she said, “and acted shamefully towards him and kept property from those who owned it, and now you want to top this by killing my son, and you are a man much worse and more vicious than others. Now I will do all I may to make sure that King Hrolf gets his property, and you’ll receive a fitting disgrace.” King Adils said: “That’s the way it will go here, neither will believe the words of the other. I will not come into their sight from now on.” After that they ended their speech.

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Chapter Forty Two

Queen Yrsa then went to meet King Hrolf and greeted him very well. He welcomed her greeting. She got a man to serve them and give them good hospitality. And as this man came before the king, he said: “Thin-cheeked is this man and he has a face like a ladder, or is this your king?” King Hrolf said: “This name you have given me, it that will stick with me, or what will you give to me as a naming present?”[9] Vogg replied: “Noting at all have I to give you, because I am poor.” The king said, “Whoever has something must give.” He pulled a gold ring off his hand and give it to this man. Vogg said, “That’s the best gift ever given a man, and it is the greatest treasure.” And the king saw that he thought it of great worth, he said, “A small price makes Vogg glad.” Vogg said, putting one foot up on the footboard: “I make this vow that I shall avenge you, if I live longer, if you are defeated by men.” The king replied, “Well do you speak,” he said, “but it would be hard to think of anyone less likely to avenge me than you.”

They understood that this man will be true and faithful as far as he was able, as he may be, but they don’t think he could do much, for the man was paltry. Now they did not hide anything from him. Then they decided to go to sleep, and they knew that they could lie unafraid in the rooms the queen had given them. Bodvar said: “It is well we have been kept here, and the queen wishes us well, but King Adils wants to do us as much harm as he can. It would seem surprising if he left it at this.” Vogg told them that King Adils is the greatest man for sacrifices, “so that no one is like him. He sacrifices to a boar, and I am not aware that a mightier enemy exists, so be wary because he puts in every effort into overcoming you, in one way or another.” “It seems to me more likely,” said Bodvar, “that he will remember how he had to run out of the hall because of us tonight.” “So shall you think,” said Vogg, “he will be sly and vicious.”

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Chapter Forty Three

They fell asleep after that and woke up to so much of a rumble outside everything echoed, and they felt the house tremble and sway as if it was on soft earth. Vogg took up and said: ‘Now, the boar is coming and will be sent by Adils to get revenge on you all, and it is so great a troll that no one can resist it.” King Hrolf had a large dog called Gram. He was with them. He was outstanding in valour and strength. Then there came a troll in a boar’s likeness, and it groaned wretchedly like the monster it was. Bodvar set his dog on the boar, and he did not flinch and but attacks the boar. There was now a hard struggle. Bodvar assisted the dog and cuts at the boar, but his sword won’t bite on his spine. So the dog called Gram was so strong that he tore the ears from the boar, and thus all the skin of its cheeks, and immediately the boar went down from there from where he has come, and then King Adils came to the house with a large crowd and set fire to it. And at this King Hrolf and his champions were aware that there would be no lack of tinder. Bodvar said, “This is an evil death, if we burn in here, and I choose rather to fall to weapons on a level plain, and it will be an ill death for King Hrolf, if it comes down to it. Now I see no other option than to ram the walls so hard the planks are loosed, and break out from the house, if it works,” - but it was not child’s play, the house was strongly built, “- and then it’s every man for himself, as we come out, and they will lose morale quickly.” “This is excellent advice,” said King Hrolf, “and this will serve us very well.”

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Chapter Forty Four

Now they took this counsel, so they ran at the planks so hard and madly that they broke apart, and so they got out. The streets of the town were filled with armoured people. There was then the hardest battles, and King Hrolf and his champions advanced grimly. Their enemy proved weak. They met no men so proud or haughty that they will not bow before their great blows. And in this hard battle King Hrolf’s hawk came flying out of the fortress and settled on the shoulder of King Hrolf, looking as if he had won a great victory. Bodvar said: “He acts now as if he has won some fame.” The man who looked after King Adils’ hawks ran to the loft where the hawks were kept, and it seems strange that King Hrolf’s hawk is away, but he finds dead all King Adils’ hawks. The battle ended after they killed a large number of men, and none could stand against them. The king had disappeared then, and they did not know what had become of him. They beg for mercy, those remaining of King Adils’ men, and they grant them quarter.

After that they walked to the hall and entered boldly. Then Bodvar asked Hrolf at which bench he will sit. King Hrolf said, “We will sit down on the king’s dais itself and I will sit in the high-seat.” King Adils did not come to the hall, and he thought he had suffered heavily and had got a lot of shame, with all the trickery he had employed. They sat for a while now in peace and quiet. Then Hjalti the Gallant said: “Would it not be a good idea to visit the horses and see whether they lack anything that they need?” And they did so, but when he came back, he said the horses had been ill-used and told of how they had been treated, as it was described. King Hrolf did not react to this, but he said that all went one way with King Adils.

Queen Yrsa now came into the palace and went before the king and saluted him with art and skill. He took her greeting well. She said, “You have not been welcomed, kinsman, as I wished, and as you should be, and you should not stay here longer, my son, in such an unwelcoming place, because there is a great muster of troops all over Sweden, and King Adils intends to kill you all, which he has wanted to do long since, had he been able, and now your luck has more power than his witchcraft. And now here’s a silver horn which I want you to have, and kept inside is the finest of all King Adils’ rings, the one called Sviagris which he thought better than all else,” and with that she got him much gold and silver in other forms. This wealth was so great all together that one could hardly price it. Vogg was standing close by and he accepted much gold from King Hrolf for his good service. The queen had brought in twelve horses, all red in colour except one, which was white as snow, who King Hrolf was to ride. These were those who were best proved of all the royal horses, all fully armoured. She gave them shields and helmets and armour and other good clothes, the best available, because the fire had damaged their own clothes and weapons. She equipped them with all the things that they needed to have. King Hrolf said, “Have you given me all the treasure that I own by right, and my father had?” She said, “Many things, this is more than you had a claim to, and here you have won a great deal of fame, and your men. Ready yourselves now as best you can, so that no one can break through to you, because you will still be tested.” After this they mounted their horses. King Hrolf spoke fondly to his mother, and they left in tenderness.

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Chapter Forty Five

King Hrolf and his warriors rode their way down from Uppsala and to that plain called the Fyris Wolds and King Hrolf saw a great gold ring shining in the road, and it rattled as they rode over it. “It calls so loud,” said King Hrolf, “because it thinks it’s bad to be alone,” and he slipped off a gold ring and dropped it into the road with the other and said: “It shall not be said that I pick up gold even though it lies in the road, and let none of my men be so bold that he takes it up. It has been thrown down here to delay our journey.” They vowed that, and then they heard the horns calling from all directions. They saw a massive army coming after them. This host went with so much haste because each man was spurring his steed as fast as it could go. King Hrolf and his champions kept riding at the same speed. Bodvar said: “These men are following hard, and I certainly wish I could give them something to show for their errand, and they will surely want to meet us.” The king said, “We give little heed to that, they themselves will be hindered.” He reaches now to the horn where the gold was and Beigad rode alongside him and held it in his hand. He sows the gold across the road, where they rode across Fyris Wolds, so that the road glowed like gold.

But when the men who went after them saw that gold glows across the road, then they jumped from their horses and vied to see who could pick it up quickest, and there was much grabbing and scuffling, and he who was strongest got the most, and the pursuit was delayed. And, when King Adils saw this he went out of his mind, and reprimanded them with hard words, and said they are picking up lesser things but letting the bigger prize drop, and that this foul shame will be heard in every country, - “that you let only twelve men escape from us, so countless a number as I have now gathered together from all Swedish provinces.” King Adils raced ahead of them all, because he was angry, but the crowd of people hurried after him.

Now that King Hrolf saw King Adils riding nearby, then he took his ring Sviagris and cast it in the road. And as King Adils saw the ring, he said, “Whoever gave this has been more loyal to the king than me, as he has got this treasure, but all the same, I will enjoy it now, and not King Hrolf,” reached out the spear shaft to where the ring lay and wished to get it in any way; bending now low on his horse, he put down his spear into the hole of the ring. King Hrolf saw this now. Then he turned his horse round and said: “Now I make the greatest of Swedes stoop like a swine.” But King Adils tried to pull the spear shaft towards himself and hence the ring, then King Hrolf rushed in him at and cut off both his buttocks right down to the bone with the sword Skofnung, the best of all swords ever to have been borne in the northern lands. King Hrolf spoke to King Adils and told him to bear this shame for a while, - “and now you know Hrolf Kraki, and see who he is, who you have long searched after.” King Adils suffered from blood loss so that he grew faint, and now had to turn back the worse for his expedition, but King Hrolf took back Sviagris. They parted at once. It is not said that they met again. They also killed all the men who had ridden the furthest and had risked the most, because they had not long to wait for King Hrolf and his champions, and none of them thought themselves too good to serve them, and none of them argued with another when the opportunity became clear.

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Chapter Forty Six

King Hrolf and his men went on their way and rode almost that whole day. As the night came, they found a farm and came to the door. There was Farmer Hrani, and he offered them every generosity, and said that it had not gone very differently from how he expected for their journey. The king agreed with that and said he was not blinded by smoke. “These are weapons that I want to give you,” said Farmer Hrani. The king said, “Hideous weapons are these,” and it was a shield and sword and armour. King Hrolf did not want to receive these weapons. Hrani bristled at this and seemed almost angry and felt great shame about this. “You are not being so clever in this, King Hrolf,” said Hrani, “as you believe you are, and you are never as wise as you think you are,” and the farmer took this snub harshly. They would not have a night’s lodging now, and they wished to ride on their way, though the night was dark.  They could see from his face that Hrani was not smiling and he thought now he was despised, they accepted no gifts from him, and he didn’t stop them from riding off as they liked. Now they rode away with matters as they were, and there were no farewells.

And when they were not far gone, Bodvar Bjarki halted. He said: “Sense comes late to the minds of fools, and so it comes to me now. I suspect that we have not been very clever, because we have denied what we should have taken, and it looks like we’ve turned down victory.” King Hrolf said, “That I also suspect, because this will have been old Odin, and certainly the man was one-eyed.” “Let us go back now as quickly as possible,” said Svipdag, “and find out.” They went back, and then the farm and the man had disappeared. “No point looking for him,” said King Hrolf, “because he is an evil spirit.” They went on their way, and nothing is told of their journey until they came to Denmark and Hrolf’s kingdom, and settled down in peace.

Bodvar gave the king counsel that he should get into few battles after that. It seemed to him that it was likely that they wouldn’t be attacked if they stayed where they were, but he was afraid he did not know if the king would blessed with victory from now on, if he put it to the test. King Hrolf said, “Fate decides each man’s life, but not that evil spirit.” Bodvar said, “Leaving you is that last thing we want, if we had that option, but I still suspect that it is close, the time when dire things happen for us all.” There they stopped this talk, and they gained much fame from the expedition.

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Of Skuld’s Battle and the End of King Hrolf Kraki and His Champions

Chapter Forty Seven

Now a long time went by while King Hrolf and his champions stayed peacefully in Denmark. No one attacked them. All his tributary kings remained in obedience to him and paid tribute, and so did Hjorvard, his brother-in-law. Now there was one time when Queen Skuld spoke to King Hjorvard, her husband, with a heavy sigh, “It seems to me wrong that we should pay tribute to King Hrolf and suffer distress from him, and it should not continue long that you be his man.” Hjorvard replied: “It will serve us best to bear it as others do and keep things quiet.” “You are a little man,” she said, “since you would endure any shame that is done you.” He said: “It is not possible to fight the king, for none dares lift a shield before him.” “Why, you are all such little men,” she said, “with no spirit in you, and he has no equal who does not quit. Now you may not know until you try, whether the king can be hurt or his champions. But the way things have gone,” she said, “I believe he will not prevail against us, and it doesn’t seem unreasonable to try it, and if he is near me in blood, I shall not protect him, and that’s why he stays at home because he himself suspects that he will not be victorious. I shall now propose a plan if you will listen, and I will not spare the horses trying to succeed.” Skuld was the greatest sorceress, and was descended from elves on her mother’s side, and King Hrolf and his champions would pay for that. “First I will send men to King Hrolf and ask him that he let me pay no tribute over the next three years, and then I will pay up all at once, what he has a right to. Now it seems to me more likely that this trick will work, and if this goes well, we will stay at rest.” Now messengers went between them as the queen asked. King Hrolf agreed what was asked concerning the tribute.

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Chapter Forty Eight

At this point Skuld gathered together all the men who were toughest, and all evil folk of all of the surrounding provinces. Her treachery, however, was kept secret, so that King Hrolf would not know of this, and the champions did not suspect anything about it because it was achieved with the great spells and devices. Here Skuld deployed the greatest wizardry against the king, her brother, so that, accompanied by her elves and norns[10] and countless evil folk, so that human nature cannot resist this. But King Hrolf and his champions had a lot of fun and entertainment at Hleidargard, and all sorts of play, all that were known about, which they did with skill and courtesy. Each of them had a mistress for his pleasure.

And now it is said that when the army of King Hjorvard and Skuld was prepared, they went to Hleidargard with countless grim people and arrived there at Yule. King Hrolf had made great preparations for Yule, and his men drank hard that Yule Eve. Hjorvard and Skuld erected tents outside the fort. They were both wide and long, and with strange trappings. There were many wagons and all filled with weapons and armour.

King Hrolf did not pay attention to this. He thought more on his splendour and generosity and nobility and all valour that was in his chest, to provide for them all that had come, so his glory would spread all over, and he had all that might enhance a worldly king’s honour. But it is not said that King Hrolf and his race was ever worshiped gods; rather they believed in their own might and main, because the holy faith had not been preached in the northern lands, and they had little knowledge of their Creator, those who lived in the northern world.[11]

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Chapter Forty Nine

Then it is told that Hjalti the Gallant went into the house where his mistress is. He saw clearly that they have not come peacefully, those under the tents of Hjorvard and Skuld. However, he let things be and allowed nothing to show on his face, and lay now with his mistress. She was the fairest of women. And when he had been there for a while, he sprang up and spoke to his mistress: “Which do you think better, two twenty-two-year-olds or one of eighty?” She said: “Two twenty-two-year-olds seem better to me than an eighty years old man.” “You’ll pay for these words,” he said, “you whore,” and went to her and bit off her nose. “Blame me, if anyone fights over you, and I hope that few will see you as an ornament from now.” “You’ve acted badly to me and it is not deserved,” she said. “We all fail to see some things coming,” said Hjalti.

He then grabbed his weapons, because he saw that the stronghold was surrounded by armoured people and banners were raised. He saw now that there was no need to hide it from himself any more, an enemy is near. He turned to the hall where King Hrolf sat with his champions. Hjalti spoke, “Watch, lord king, the enemy is in the yard, and there is a greater need to fight than to caress women, and it seems to me, little gold will increase in your hall from the tribute of Skuld, your sister, and she has the fierceness of Skjoldungs[12], and I tell you that this is no small army with hard swords and weapons of war, and they walk around the stronghold with angry swords, and King Hjorvard has not come on a friendly errand to see you, and he would not often henceforth be begging your leave to rule his realm.” “It is now,” Hjalti said, “that we will lead the army of our king, who resents us nothing. Let’s now make good our oaths that we defend well the most famous king who rules now in all the northern lands, and let word of it reach every country. We will repay him now for our weapons and armour, and much kindness as well, because this is no drudge work we do. Great omens have been seen here, though we ignored them a long while, and I suspect that great events will occur here and will be remembered a long time, and some will say what I say stinks of fear, but it may be that King Hrolf drinks now for the last time with his champions and men. Up now, champions all,” he said, “and be quick and say goodbye to your mistresses, for another business is now urgent, getting ready for what is coming. Up, champions all, move quickly, and arm yourself everyone.”

Then jump up Hromund the Hard[13] and Hrolf Quick Hand, Svipdag and Beigad and Hvitserk the Keen, Haklang the sixth, Hardrefil the seventh, Haki the Valiant the eighth, Vott the Strong the ninth, Starolf is named tenth, Hjalti the Gallant the eleventh, Bodvar Bjarki the twelfth, and he was so called because he drove off all King Hrolf’s berserks on account of their violence and unjust behaviour, but he killed some, so that none of them could hit him, because they were like women with him when they tried, they always thought themselves better and always conspired against him. Bodvar Bjarki immediately stood up and armoured himself and said that now the king needed proud boys, - “and head must not flinch and heart be brave, who stands behind King Hrolf.”

King Hrolf rose up and took to speech with no fear, “Take the drink that you prefer, and let us drink first and become happy and show what people we are, Hrolf’s champions, and let us work for one thing, that our prowess is remembered, because here have come the greatest champions of all countries that are in the vicinity, and the same as are boldest. Tell Hjorvard and Skuld and their lads, we will soak ourselves happy before we accept our tribute.” This was done as the king said. Skuld said, “King Hrolf, my brother, is unlike all others, and the loss of such men is tragic, but things shall reach a high point all at once.” So much was the king admired that he was praised by both his friends and enemies.

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Chapter Fifty

King Hrolf jumped down from the throne where he had already drank for some time with all his champions, left the good drink for the time, and all were outside in moments except Bodvar Bjarki. They saw him nowhere and were much surprised, and it seemed likely that he was a captive or killed.

And when they had come out, the monstrous fight began. King Hrolf himself charged forward with the banners and his champions beside him on both sides, together with the townsfolk, who were no small number, though they counted for little in the battle. There were seen mighty blows to helmet and armour, many a sword and spear could be seen aloft, and so many corpses that they covered all the ground. Hjalti the Gallant said: “Much armour is damaged and many weapons broken and many helmets smashed and many brave knights knocked from their steeds, and the king is in good spirits, because now he is as happy as when he drank beer deep and he slays with both hands, and he is most unlike other kings in battle, for it seems to me that he has twelve kings’ strength, and he has killed many fighting men, and King Hjorvard can see that the sword Skofnung bites, and it rings now loud in their skulls.” But Skofnung’s nature was that it sang aloud when it tasted bone. Now the battle grew so fierce, so that no one withstood King Hrolf and his champions. King Hrolf struck with Skofnung so it seemed a wonder, and now they laid into King Hjorvard’s army, and the foe fell in heaps.

Hjorvard and his men saw where a huge bear went before the king’s men, always nearest to where the king was. He killed more people with his paw than five other champions of the king. Blows and missiles glanced off him. But he burst beneath him both men and horses of King Hjorvard, and all that which came before him he crushed with his teeth, so that panic swept the ranks of King Hjorvard.

Hjalti looked now and could not see Bodvar, his companion, and he said to King Hrolf, “What can this mean that Bodvar shelters himself so and does not come near the king, such a champion as we thought him to be, and he has proved himself often?” King Hrolf said, “He’ll be where he’s most needed, aiding us, if he has any choice. Look to your pride, and courage, and do not backbite, because none of you is his equal, and I do not blame any of you, because you are all doughty champions.” Hjalti set off now and went home to the king’s hall and saw where Bodvar sat and did not rise. He spoke, “How long must we wait for the most famous of warriors, and this is a monstrous disgrace that you do not stand on your own two feet and try out your strong arms that are as strong as a bear’s. So arise, Bodvar Bjarki, my better, before I burn the house and you on it, and this is a crying shame, a champion like you are, that the king should put himself in danger for us, and now you’re ruining that great reputation of yours, that you’ve had all this time.” Bodvar stood up and sighed and said: “Do not try to scare me, Hjalti, because I am not still afraid, but now I’m ready to go. When I was young, I fled neither fire nor iron, and I have rarely tested fire, but iron I have endured many times, and yielded to neither, and you will truly say that I want to fight very well and King Hrolf has always called me champion before his men. I have much to repay him, first a wife and twelve estates that he gave me, with many treasures. I killed Agnar the berserk[14] and a king no less, and that work has been remembered,” tells him of his many great deeds he had performed and killed many men, and so he assured him that he would be unafraid to go into battle. “But I think here we’re dealing with something more marvellous, than we have already encountered. But you have not been so favourable to the king in this as you think, because it has now been almost decided which side would be victorious, but this was more through ignorance on your behalf, that you would not wish the king well, and none of his other warriors apart from you could have called me, except the king, and anyone else I would have killed, and now no plan will work, and what will be will be. I tell you truly, that now I can be many times less help for the king than it was before you called me up from here.” Hjalti said: “It is clear that I am concerned for you and the king, but it is hard to know what to do, when it falls like this.”

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Chapter Fifty One

After this goading from Hjalti, Bodvar rose up and went out to the battle. The bear had disappeared from the army, and now the battle was starting to go against them. Queen Skuld had used none of her trickery while the bear was in the ranks of King Hrolf, where she sat in her black tent on her magic platform. Now it changes like dark night coming after a bright day. Now the men of King Hrolf see, coming out from King Hjorvard’s ranks, a monstrous boar. He looked no smaller than a three winters’ old bull and was wolf grey in colour, and an arrow flew from each of his bristles, and he killed the king’s retainers like nothing on earth, felling them by the dozen.

Bodvar Bjarki rushed now into the fight and hacked with two hands, and thought about nothing else but to do the most damage before he fell, and now they fell on either side of him, and he had blood on both his shoulders and he slew so many they were piled on all sides around him. He charged like he was mad. But however many men he and the others of Hrolf’s champions killed, it is a monstrous disgrace but the numbers of the force of Hjorvard and Skuld are no smaller, and it was as if they were doing nothing, and they thought that they had never encountered such a wonder. Bodvar said, “The army of Skuld is huge, and I believe now that the dead move here and rise up and fight against us, and it will be difficult to fight with the undead, and so many limbs here are broken and shields shattered, helmets and armour hacked apart and however many chiefs we cut down, the fiercest to fight are the dead, and we do not have power to fight this, but where is the warrior of King Hrolf who most questioned my bravery and kept demanding I come out until I answered him? I cannot see him now, although I am not wont to criticise men.” Then Hjalti said, “You speak true, nor do you slander me. Here stands the man who is called Hjalti, and I have now some work ahead of me, and it is not far between us, and I need gallant boys, because my armour is hacked away, foster brother, and I think I am worn out by fighting, and now I cannot avenge all of my strokes, but I will not hold back now, if we’re staying in Valhalla tonight, and certainly we have seen nothing like this before, and it was predicted long ago, what has now happened.” Bodvar Bjarki said, “Listen to what I say, I have fought in twelve pitched battles, my daring has never been questioned and never gave way for any berserk. I urged the king to visit King Adils, and we met there some trickery, but that was nothing compared with this, yet now something weighs down on my heart, so I am not so glad to fight as before. I met King Hjorvard earlier in the first clash, so that we fought together, and neither of us cast insults at each other. We exchanged blows for a while. He gave me a cut, which to me stank of death, and I cut off his hand and foot, and struck another blow on his shoulder, and so I sliced down his side and along his spine, but he did not give so much as a sigh, and he fell asleep for a while, but I had thought him dead, and few such can exist, and then he fought no feebler than before, and I could never say what keeps him going. Here now have many people come together against us, noble and common, pressing in from every side, so that shields can hardly hold them back and I may not see Odin here yet. Though I strongly suspect that he is hovering here to meet with us, creeping and unfaithful devil[15] that he is, and if anyone could show him to me I would squeeze him like any other miserable little mouse, and that evil venomous thing would be played with disgracefully if I could take him captive, and who wouldn’t feel more hate if he saw his liege lord so played with as we see now?” Hjalti spoke, “It is not easy to bend destiny or stand against nature,” and so they stopped their speech.

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Chapter Fifty Two

King Hrolf defended well and valiantly, and with greater courage than any man in the tales. They pressed him hard, and he was ringed about him by Hjorvard’s and Skuld’s picked men. Skuld was now in the battle and she cheered on her evil folk at King Hrolf, because she saw that the champions were not very near him, and this was what grieved Bodvar Bjarki because he could not help his lord. And so were the other champions, because they were now willing to die with him as they had lived with him when they were in the prime of their youth. The king’s retainers were now fallen so that none remained standing, most of the champions were wounded to death, and this was to be anticipated. Master Galterus[16] says that human strength could not resist such evil power, unless the power of God could aid them, - “and one matter stood between you and victory, King Hrolf, that you had no knowledge of your Creator.” Such sorcery came at them that the champions fell, one across the other, and Hrolf found himself outside the shield wall and was almost prostrate with weariness. No need to speak any further, there King Hrolf fell and all his warriors with good glory.

But what a fight they gave there, it cannot be described in words. There fell King Hjorvard and all his people, but for a few people who lived on with Skuld. So she took the lands of King Hrolf under her and ruled them badly and only a little while, and Elk-Frodi avenged Bodvar Bjarki his brother as he had vowed, accompanied by King Thorir Dogfoot as it said in Frodi’s Yarn, and he got a large force in Sweden from Queen Yrsa, and it is said that Vogg was their lieutenant. The entire army sailed to Denmark and surprised Queen Skuld. They got her in their hands, so that she could use none of her devices, and killed all her evil folk, but tortured her and the kingdom came back to the daughters of King Hrolf, and sailed every man then each to his home.

A mound was made for the king and his sword Skofnung placed with him[17] and a pile for his warriors and their weapons with them. And here ends the saga of King Hrolf Kraki and his champions.

The Saga of the Volsungs and other stories

List Price: $12.99

by Gavin Chappell

The legendary sagas, or Fornaldarsögur, are a branch of medieval Icelandic literature, a subgenre of the sagas themselves, lengthy narratives that bear a superficial similarity to modern novels; the legendary sagas concern themselves with legendary times predating the settlement on Iceland in the tenth century AD.

While fantastic episodes are not unknown in sagas outside this bracket, such as Grettis Saga, and they abound in the Sagas of the Knights, (retellings of continental chivalric romances), the legendary sagas are the closest to the pagan world of Norse mythology, and also include parallels with poems such as the Old English Beowulf and the Middle High German Nibelungenlied.

Including:

=The Saga of the Volsungs

=The Saga of Ragnar Shaggy-breeches and his sons

=The Yarn of Ragnar's Sons

=The Yarn of Norna-Gest

=The Saga of Hervor and Heidrek

=The Saga of Ketil Trout

=The Saga of Grim Hairy-cheek

=The Saga of Arrow-Odd

=The Saga of An Bow-bender

[1] A play on Regin’s name.

[2] As well as being the name of the king’s craftsmen, this also mean “wary.”

[3] A magical thorn that induces sleep. A similar device is used by Odin in The Saga of the Volsungs.

[4] This is reminiscent of tarring and feathering, a punishment first attested in England in the reign of Richard I, later introduced into America during the colonial period.

[5] i.e. the raiders, the berserks and their supporters.

[6] This episode has clear parallels with Grendel’s attacks on Heorot in Beowulf.

[7] Similarly grisly treatment is meted out to the horses of Matholwch, king of Ireland, by the evil Efnissyen in The Romance of Branwen, daughter of Llyr, in The Mabinogion.

[8] Called ‘the best of hawks’ in a poem quoted in the Edda.

[9] Hrolf’s nickname kraki means a kind of ladder made from a tree trunk.

[10] Norn is the name given in the Edda to the three goddesses of fate, but it also states that there are other norns of different origin. In The Yarn of Norna-Gest, norn is used to refer to wandering fortune tellers (similar to fairy godmothers) similar to the seeress Heid who appears in this saga. The norns who march in Skuld’s army are presumably witches of some kind.

[11] Like the rest of the sagas, this is the work of a medieval Christian author, hence the disapproval of the pagan past. In Beowulf, the poet notes with similar disapproval how Hrothgar’s people vowed sacrifices at the ‘altars of devils’ in return for an end to Grendel’s raids.

[12] The royal dynasty of Sweden, descended from the mythical Skjold, son of Odin, in most accounts. Equivalent to the Old English Scylding

[13] The following are the twelve champions of Hrolf Kraki.

[14] This whole sequence is based on the lost poem known as Bjarkamal, so famous in the Viking Age that it was even recited before the Battle of Stiklestad, where St. Olaf, Norway’s evangeliser, died in battle like his heathen ancestors. The fight with Agnar the berserk and other adventures do not come into this saga. The reason why Bodvar Bjarki sits at home, apparently asleep, is because with magic he has sent out his spirit in the form of the bear that is aiding King Hrolf’s men. When Hjalti wakes him from his trance, the bear vanishes, and King Hrolf’s forces are weakened. The idea of a shapeshifter fighting in the form of a bear was used by JRR Tolkien in The Hobbit, consciously modelled on this scene.

[15] Although some of this spleen is attributable to the Christian author of the saga, it reflects a heathen tradition that Odin, god of war and the slain, is fickle and treacherous.

[16] Apparently this refers to Walter of Chatillon (1135-1203), a medieval French author, though it is not known that he commented on King Hrolf, or had even heard of the Norse hero.

[17] In later saga tradition the sword was retrieved from Hrolf’s tomb by Skeggi of Midfjord, an early settler of Iceland, and it appears in several of the Icelandic family sagas, including Kormaks Saga and Laxdoela Saga. Finally it was buried with its owner at Roskilde, a few miles east of Hleidargard (now Gammel Lejre).