Stories and Ballads of the Far Past Part 33

_The Ancient Wiles of Guthrun._ It is generally believed that this is the name of another lost heroic poem. But the t.i.tle may possibly mean _The Adventures of Guthrun_, in which case the poem referred to may be the well-known _Ancient Lay of Guthrun_ (_Gurunarkvia hin forna_).

This latter poem is alluded to in ch. 9 below under the t.i.tle of _Gurunarraea_.

IV. _The Land of the Franks_, the Rhineland. As far back as the fifth century the Franks occupied that region--to the north of the Burgundians.

_Sigurth the son of Sigmund._ The story of Sigurth the Volsung is related in _Volsunga Saga_.

_Hundingsbani_, i.e. 'Slayer of Hunding.' See _Volsunga Saga_, ch. 9.

V. _It chanced one day that_, etc. Chapters 5 and 6 are mainly taken from the poem _Reginsmal_ of which strophes 13-26 are quoted in our text. _Reginsmal_ is the first poem of a trilogy dealing with the early adventures of Sigurth. The two remaining poems _Fafnismal_ and _Sigrdrifumal_ are used only in the last two sentences of ch. 6.

_Yngvi_ is a name of the G.o.d Frey, from whom the kings of Norway and the early kings of Sweden were believed to have sprung.

_Fafnisbani_, i.e. 'Slayer of Fafnir.' Cf. ch. 6 _infra_. See also _Volsunga Saga_, ch. 18.

_The Imperial Power had not_, etc. This may mean either the refounding of the Western Empire by Charlemagne, A.D. 800, or possibly the gaining of the Imperial throne by Otto I, King of the Germans, in 962.

VI. _Sigurth prepared for battle_, etc. An account of this battle is given in _Volsunga Saga_, ch. 17.

_The sea-king's steed._ The text has _Raefils hestum_, lit. 'Raefil's horses.' Raefil was a legendary sea-king. The names of such characters are frequently used in 'kennings' (i.e. poetic circ.u.mlocutions) like this.

_Hnikar_, a name of the G.o.d Othin in the _Grimnismal_ (str. 47) and elsewhere.

_The Moon's sister._ The text has _systur Mana_, 'Mani's sister,' i.e.

the sun. _Mani_, the old word for the moon, is preserved in Iceland only in a mythological sense, the ordinary word in use for moon being _tungl_. _Mani_ and _Sol_ (the sun) were brother and sister. See _Vafrunismal_, str. 23; also _Gylf.a.ginning_, ch. 11, 12.

_Order their array_, lit. 'draw up a wedge-shaped column'--a favourite battle-formation, the origin of which was ascribed to Othin.

_Stumbling is bad luck_, etc. So Wilken (gloss. _s.v. fyrir_, 2.) Vigfusson and Gering transl. 'It is an ill thing to outrun one's luck.'

_Friesland._ In early times the Frisians occupied a much greater extent of coast than now, reaching from the boundary between Holland and Belgium on one side to beyond the mouth of the Weser on the other--apart from the Frisians inhabiting the west coast of Slesvig.

_The 'blood-eagle'_ was a form of vengeance practised by the heathen Scandinavians in battle when anyone captured the slayer of his father.

The ribs were cut in the shape of an eagle, and the lungs torn out through the opening. The Northumbrian King Ella (aella) is said to have been put to death in this way by the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok. Cf. the _Saga of Ragnar Lobrok and his sons_, ch. 18; also the _Thattr of Ragnar's Sons_, ch. 3.

_Hugin and Munin_ were Othin's attendant ravens who gave him information. See _Grimnismal_, str. 20; _Gylf.a.ginning_, ch. 38; _Ynglingasaga_ (_Heimskringla_), ch. 7.

_The story of Sigurth Fafnisbani._ The whole story of the loves of Sigurth and Brynhild is related in the _Volsunga Saga_, ch. 20-32. It is uncertain whether the reference here is to the _Volsunga Saga_ as we have it or to an earlier form of the story.

VII. _Gjuki_ is mentioned under the form _Gebica_ in the _Lex Burgundionum_ (_c._ 500 A.D.). Nothing more is known of him from historical sources; but he is mentioned in _Skaldskaparmal_, ch. 41, _Volsunga Saga_ ch. 25, and in the _Edda Poems_, as the father of Gunnar and Guthrun. His name appears also (as _Gifica_, _Gib.i.+.c.ho_, etc.) in the Anglo-Saxon poem _Widsi_, the Latin poem _Waltharius_, and in several early German poems.

_Sigurth Hring_, a legendary king of Sweden and Denmark, and the father of Ragnar Lobrok. His story is related at length in a fragment of the _Skjoldunga Saga_; and he is probably identical with the _Sigifridus_ who is mentioned in several Frankish Chronicles under the year 812 as carrying on hostilities against another Danish King _Anulo_.

_The sons of Gandalf_ were in constant hostility with King Harold the Fairhaired and his father. They owned Alfheimar and Vingulmork along the Swedish coast of the Kattegat. Cf. the _Story of Halfdan the Black_ (_Heimskringla_), ch. 1, 4; also the _Story of Harold the Fairhaired_ (_Heimskringla_), ch. 1 etc.

_Gunnar and Hogni._ The story of the relations of Gunnar and Hogni with Sigurth is told in _Volsunga Saga_, ch. 26 f.

_Jarnamotha._ The locality is unknown. There were large forests in Holstein in the Middle Ages called 'Iarnawith' and 'Isarnho'; cf.

Mullenhoff, _Deutsche Altertumskunde_, v, p. 122.

_hazlewood poles had been set up_, etc. The verb _hasla_, used in the sense of 'to challenge (to a pitched battle),' means, lit. 'to enhazle' a battlefield, i.e. to mark out the s.p.a.ce reserved for a pitched battle with hazel poles. Cf. the _Saga of Egil Skallagrimsson_, ch. 52.

_The Kurir_ were the people of Courland (perhaps Lithuanians). The _Kvaenir_ were the Finnish inhabitants of the northern portion of what is now Sweden. King Alfred, in his translation of _Orosius_, inserts an original account of Norway and the neighbouring regions which was given to him by a Norwegian called Ohthere. It is there stated that beyond the mountains which bound the northern part of Norway was 'the land of the Cwenas.' Cf. also the _Saga of Egil Skallagrimsson_, ch.

14.

_Starkath_, the ideal warrior of old time in the North. Probably originally a historical figure, he became the centre of much legendary matter, and, as often happened in such cases, he was even credited with the composition of many poems, notably that on the Battle of Bravoll--an event which probably took place long after his time. In Saxo Grammaticus, _Dan. Hist._, pp. 246-258, he corresponds to the unnamed "Old Warrior" mentioned in _Beowulf_, l. 2041 ff.

_Fenhring_, in Horthaland in Norway, not far from Bergen.

_Lund_, the old ecclesiastical capital of Denmark, situated in Skaane in the extreme south of Sweden. Not only Skaane, but also the neighbouring provinces (Halland, etc.) belonged in early times to Denmark.

VIII. _Starkath had committed a foul murder._ For this story see Saxo Grammaticus, _Dan. Hist._, p. 314 ff. Saxo says that the rule of King Ali or Ole was so hateful to the Zealanders that twelve of their generals resolved to put him to death, bribing Starkath to join them.

Although a personal friend of Ole, Starkath agreed to do so, and murdered him in his bath. He afterwards repented bitterly, "and to atone for his crime slew some of those who had inspired him to it."

_Travels._ I have followed the reading _fera_, 'travels,' adopted by Wilken, not _fraenda_, as in the _Fornaldar Sogur_, ed. by asmundarson.

The latter would read: "The King wanted him to tell him much more about the history of his relatives."

IX. _Germans say_, etc. For the German story of the murder of Sigurth see the _Nibelungenlied_, str. 985 ff.

_Guthrunarraetha._ This is no doubt the poem commonly called _Gurunarkvia hin forna_, the opening of which narrates how Sigurth's horse came home riderless.

_Brynhild and the ogress chanted_, etc. The following lay is found in the _Edda Poems_ under the t.i.tle of _Helrei Brynhildar_ ('The h.e.l.l-ride of Brynhild').

_From the Land of the Romans_, lit. 'From Valland'--the 'land of the Valar,' i.e. the Celts or Romans. Here the reference is doubtless to the Roman territories on the west bank of the Rhine. In the _Nibelungenlied_, Gunther (i.e. Gunnar) is represented as reigning at Worms. Cf. p. 232 below.

_a.s.signed me a home_, etc. In the _Codex Regius_ of the _Edda Poems_ this pa.s.sage runs as follows: "The courageous king had my swan-form and those of my eight sisters carried beneath an oak."

_Hjalmgunnar._ See _Sigrdrifumal_, the prose following str. 4. "She (i.e. Sigrdrifa) said that two kings were fighting. One was called Hjalmgunnar. He was old at that time, but a very great warrior, and Othin had promised him victory; but the other was called Agnar, the brother of Autha, whom no being would protect. Sigrdrifa (who was a valkyrie) slew Hjalmgunnar in battle, but Othin pierced her with a sleep-producing thorn in punishment for this," etc.

_Fafnir_ was the serpent who guarded the gold h.o.a.rd on Gnitahei till Sigurth slew him and carried off the treasure.

_All too long_, etc. In the _Codex Regius_ of the _Edda Poems_ this pa.s.sage runs as follows: "For far too long a time (? for ever) will women and men be born into the world to overwhelming sorrow."

_The Sons of Lothbrok._ Ragnar Lothbrok was a famous king who flourished about the middle of the ninth century, and who, according to legend, obtained his name ('s.h.a.ggy Breeks') from the s.h.a.ggy trowsers which he wore when he went to attack a serpent. His various exploits are told in the _Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok_, and in the _Thattr of the Sons of Ragnar_, and also by Saxo Grammaticus, _Dan. Hist._, pp. 368-380, etc. Among his other adventures he is said to have invaded Northumbria, but he was defeated by King Ella (aella) and thrown into a snake-pit, where he "died laughing," as we are told in a late poem (_Krak.u.mal_ or the 'Death-song of Ragnar Lothbrok'). His death was afterwards avenged by his sons who invaded England in 866.

Practically nothing historical is known of Lobrok himself, though the achievements of his sons, both in the British Isles and on the continent, are of great historical importance.

_In the neighbourhood of the Alps._ In 856, Bjorn Ironside, a son of Ragnar Lothbrok, with Hastein his chief lieutenant, invaded France, and during the years 859-862 made expeditions to Spain, Africa, the south of France, and Italy, capturing Pisa, Luna, etc. There can be no doubt that in their invasion of Italy in 860 the real objective was Rome; but for some unknown reason they returned without approaching it. According to Scandinavian tradition, when they entered Luna they were under the impression that it was Rome, and returned satisfied that their aim was accomplished.

_Vifilsborg._ This place is identified by Wilken with the modern Avenches in the Canton Vaud (Switzerland).

_Make their way there_, lit. 'pa.s.s over (the mountains) thither.'

X. _Eric_, a famous King of Sweden in the time of Harold the Fairhaired, King of Norway, in the latter half of the ninth century.

He is frequently referred to in the Sagas and regarded as the typical great Swedish King of the past.

_Upsala_, i.e. Old Upsala, the ancient capital of the Swedish kingdom, a few miles from the modern city.

_King Harold the Fairhaired_, said to have been born _c._ 850 and to have succeeded as King of Vestfold _c._ 860. His conquest of Norway was practically completed at the Battle of Hafrsfjorth (_c._ 872). He is said to have retired in 930 and died _c._ 933.

_King Hlothver_, i.e. Louis I, King of the Franks and Emperor, 814-840.