Stories and Ballads of the Far Past Part 37

_King Itrek's Game._ The reference here seems to be to a game something like chess. The text (R) given by Heusler in his edition of the _Eddica Minora_, p. 118, reads: "That is Itrek and Andath when they sit at their game."

_Dead men_, etc. In this strophe there seems to be an elaborate play on words. The phrase 'dead men' (_dauar menn_) seems to be a disguise for _val_ which means 'the slain' as well as 'hawk.' So also 'channel of blood' seems to be a disguise for _aei_ which means 'vein' as well as 'eider-duck.'

_Sleipnir._ Othin's eight-footed horse. Cf. especially _Gylf.a.ginning_, ch. 42.

_Tell me lastly_, etc. In _Vafrunismal_, str. 54, Othin makes himself known to Vafrunir by the same question.

XII. _This pike_, etc. This verse is generally supposed to come from a lost poem on Heithrek.

_Mountains of Harvathi._ It is thought that _Harvathi_ may be the early Teutonic name for the Carpathians--a reminiscence of Gothic times.

_Humli and Hloth._ These names may be compared with _Humblus_ and _Lotherus_, two sons of Dan, the first kings mentioned in Saxo Grammaticus, _Dan. Hist._, p. 1. For the name _Hlo_ cf. also note to ch. 7, p. 238.

_Poem._ For this poem on the battle between the Goths and the Huns, see Heusler, _Eddica Minora_, p. vii ff., and notes. In part at least it appears to be very old.

_Myrkvith._ The forest _Myrkvith_ is mentioned also in _Atlakvia_, str. 3, 5, and 13; and in _Helgakvia Hundingsbana_, I, str. 53.

_Pillar_, lit. 'stone.' I do not know what is meant. Possibly _Gurunarkvia_ III, str. 3 may be compared.

_Danaper's Sh.o.r.e._ _Danpr_ is treated as a personal name in _Rigsula_, str. 49, but it is more likely to have been originally the name of the River Dnieper (mentioned by Jordanes, _The Origins and Deeds of the Goths_, ch. 5, 52, as _Danaper_), which was within the territories of the Goths in the fourth century.

XIII. _Gizur._ There appear to be reminiscences of this story in Saxo, Book V, e.g. in regard to the numbering of the Hunnish forces. _Gizur_ seems to correspond to Eric in Saxo p. 190 f. It has been suggested that he is Othin in disguise.

_Hazle stakes._ Cf. the _Thattr of Nornagest_, ch. 7 (note).

XIV. _They rode forthwith ... against the Huns._ It has been suggested by Heinzel that this battle between the Goths and the Huns was the great battle fought on the Catalaunian Plain in 451 A.D.; but the pa.s.sage in _Widsi_ cited on p. 238 points rather to Poland.

_Drew ... lips_, lit. 'drew back his moustache.'

_Dunheith_ and the other place names are unknown.

XV. _The Goths were defending_, etc. Cf. _Widsi_, l. 121 ff.

XVI. _Ivar Vithfathmi._ For Ivar Vithfathmi and his family, see _Ynglingasaga_, chs. 44, 45, and the first fragment of _Skjoldunga Saga_ (printed in the _Fornaldar Sogur_, I, p. 285 ff.), chs. 1-3.

_Harold Hilditonn._ The fullest account of Harold Hilditonn is that given by Saxo Grammaticus, _Dan. Hist._, p. 296 ff. See also the fragments of the _Skjoldunga Saga_, ch. 4 ff.

_Gautland_, i.e. the Land of the _Geatas_ in _Beowulf_, the modern Gotaland (whether Vestergotland or ostergotland or both), comprising roughly speaking the southern portions of Sweden, exclusive of the Danish districts (Skaane etc).

_Harold of the Red Moustache._ He was King of Agthir. A daughter of his, also called asa, was married to Guthroth, King of Vestfold--the _G.o.defridus_ who fought against Charlemagne and died in 810. See _Ynglingasaga_, ch. 53. Their son was Halfdan the Black, the father of Harold the Fairhaired.

_Sigurth Hring._ See the _Thattr of Nornagest_, ch. 7 and note.

_Battle of Bravoll._ The chief accounts of this battle are to be found in the second fragment of the _Skjoldunga Saga_, ch. 8 f. (see above); and in Saxo Grammaticus, _Dan. Hist._, pp. 309 ff.

_The Sons of King Ragnar._ For Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons, see the _Thattr of Nornagest_, ch. 9 and note.

_A sea-king._ Cf. the _Saga of Olaf the Holy (Heimskringla)_, ch. 4.

_The Sons of Eric Bjornson were onund and Bjorn._ These are probably to be identified with the Swedish kings Bern and Anoundus mentioned in Rembertus' _Life of St. Ansgar_, chs. 11 and 19, in connection with the saint's missionary visits to Sweden (_c._ 830).

_Bragi Skald_ was the great grandfather of Arinbjorn the friend of Egil Skallagrimsson. In the _Saga of Egil Skallagrimsson_, ch. 59, he is said to have saved his life by composing in one night a poem in honour of King Bjorn. Some fragments of his poems have been preserved--the earliest datable Norse poems which have come down to us.

_King Harold the Fairhaired._ See the _Thattr of Nornagest_, ch. 10, and note.

_Eric the Victorious._ The battle won by Eric the Victorious over Styrbjorn at Fyrisvellir seems to have taken place between 980 and 985. Several Runic inscriptions contain references to it. The statement that Harold the Fairhaired died in Eric's time can hardly be correct; for Harold is believed to have died in 933.

_Fyrisvellir_, on the banks of the Fyris, close to the site of the modern town of Upsala.

_Olaf the Swede._ The traditional date of his conversion is 1008.

_Olaf the Saint_, ex-King of Norway, whence he had been expelled in 1028, was killed at the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030 in an attempt to recover the throne.

_He tried to put an end to_, etc. An interesting account of the heathen ceremonies of the Swedes, dating from shortly after the middle of the eleventh century, is given by Adam of Bremen in his _History of the Church of Hamburg_, Book IV., ch. 26 f.

_The sacred tree._ The sacrificial tree in question is presumably that mentioned in schol. 134 to Adam of Bremen as standing beside the great temple of Upsala.

_Eymund_, _c._ 1050-_c._ 1060.

_Steinkel_, 1060-1066.

_Haakon the Red_, 1066-1079?

_Ingi I_, d. _c._ 1110. He, Hallstein and Blotsvein were all reigning in 1081.

_Philippus_, d. 1118.

_Ingi II_, d. 1125.

GRIPLUR I

10. _Gnoth-asmund_, etc. For notes on people mentioned in the _Griplur_, see notes to the _Saga of Hromund Greipsson_, p. 231 ff.

above.

13. _Draupnir's beautiful blood_, a _kenning_ for 'gold rings.'

Draupnir was the name of Othin's ring which was made by the smith Eitri and sent to Othin by his brother Brokk. Its special value lay in the fact that every ninth night, eight gold rings dropped from it. Cf.

_Skaldskaparmal_, ch. 35. Cf. also _Voluspa_, str. 15, where Draupnir is mentioned in the list of dwarfs.

THE FAROESE BALLAD OF NORNAGEST

_Refrain._ According to Lyngbye the refrain should be:

_You dare not give counsel in trouble_, etc.

Others have it

_Let them have help in trouble._