Stories and Ballads of the Far Past Part 38

Schrter took down the first two verses as follows:

A ballad there is of Nornagest,-- _You dare not give counsel in trouble_-- In manly virtues among the best.-- _Let every lad do so!_ Twelve oxen were led to the Market Square, And onward thence to a castle fair.-- _Grani bore gold from the heath._

The King he thought to hew them to earth,-- _You dare not give counsel in trouble_-- With courage and joy does he sally forth,-- _Let every lad do so!_ The King he struck such a mighty blow, That the blood from the wounds did swiftly flow.

_Grani bore gold from the heath._

10. _The mightiest champion_, etc. In Lyngbye's version 10 and 11 are transposed. Hammershaimb's is no doubt the correct order.

15. _Was Hogni_, etc. Lyngbye here inserts a stanza:

Hogni was a mighty man: Swarthy of hue was he as I ween.

16. _Rich, brave_, etc. The Suder version of the ballad here subst.i.tutes at the beginning of the line: "They were old and grey."

31. _The saddle-buckle_, etc. In Lyngbye's version of the _Ballad of Regin the Smith_, v. 131 (omitted by Hammershaimb) the following stanza is found:

[Grani] sprang across the pool And his saddle-buckle brake.

And as I ween that saddle-buckle Nornagest did take.

In the _Ballad of Regin the Smith_ we are told that the accident to Grani occurred when Sigurth was on his way home from Gnitahei after slaying Fafnir. Grani was heavily laden with treasure and Sigurth also was mounted on him, so that the accident there appears perfectly natural.

_In days_, etc. So Hammershaimb. Lyngbye has:

In days gone by full far have I strayed In search of my candle and span of days.

_In the land._ Here Lyngbye has:

In the Land of the Franks is a lake broad and wide: O there does my span of life abide.

O there does my span of life abide: And so for long I have wandered far and wide.

But he adds a version corresponding to Hammershaimb's in a footnote and states that it is frequently sung so.

42. _The courteous man._ According to Lyngbye, by a 'courteous man,'

the Faroese mean a _Scotsman_ and says that the origin of the word (_kurtis_) is unknown. It is of course the same as the Icelandic _kurteis_ which is a French loan-word.

According to Lyngbye it was still part of popular Faroese legend in his day that Nornagest kept his candle in a little leaden casket which was sunk in a lake. Lyngbye says that Nornagest was regarded as the 'Nestor' of the Faroes, which is quite in accordance both with his "three hundred years" mentioned in the saga, and with the unusually long span of life often a.s.sociated with the External Soul of folklore.

THE BALLAD OF HJALMAR AND ANGANTYR

1. _In a high oak-tree._ In the version of this ballad obtained by Hammershaimb at Sumb the first line runs 'A man there lived on (lit.

'in') an island high,' whereas in the _Ballad of Arngrim's Sons_, v. 3, we are told that Arngrim and his sons lived 'under' an oak.

Possibly the first line of our text is a confusion of these two versions. The error is made more comprehensible by the fact that there are no trees on the Faroes, and so the phrase must have been a meaningless jingle of words to the singers.

_Arngrim's sons from Africa._ The text has 'Arngrim's sons from Blaland,' by which the Faroese ballads and the _Fornaldar Sogur_ generally mean Africa. Here, however, we should more naturally have expected 'Norway,' and it is very probable that, as Hammershaimb suggests, we here have the refrain in a corrupt form as so often happens. Probably 'from Blaland' (_af Blalandum_) should be 'from Bolmland' (af _Bolmlandi_), i.e. from the Island of Bolm, but the Faroese may have subst.i.tuted the more familiar name for that of the island with which they were unacquainted.

2. _The champions Hjalmar_, etc. The Sumb version has:

He has eleven sons so dear; The twelfth is the warrior Angantyr, and also inserts immediately following a verse giving reasons for the voyage:

News then came to Angantyr That a man there was had a daughter fair.

4. _They hoisted their sail_, etc. Cf. _Sigmundar Kvaei_, str. 13, 28, 48.

5. _Their anchor they cast_, etc. Cf. _Magna Dans_ (_Icelandic Fornkvaei_) v. 3, with which this is practically identical.

6. _Angantyr eagerly_, etc. The lit. transl. of the text is 'Angantyr was the first to step,' etc.; but the following v. has 'Hjalmar was the first to step!' The Sumb version, which is undoubtedly better here, has

_Angantyr loypur so tungliga a land_ Angantyr leapt so heavily to land,

instead of

_Fyrstur steig Angantr fotum a land_ Angantyr was the first to step with his feet to land.

10. _Here sittest thou_, etc. In the Sumb version, Hjalmar's request is not recorded. The repet.i.tion of Angantyr's request in our text, if it has any significance at all, implies that both Hjalmar and Angantyr made the proposal.

18. _O franklin, lend me_, etc. The Sumb version here inserts an additional verse.

Angantyr is so vile a troll, So are his kinsfolk and followers all.

19. _Forth of the hall._ In the Sumb version the fight took place outside the hall, and only Angantyr is credited with the troll-like bellowing. Indeed one feels throughout the Sumb version a more clearly defined hostility to Angantyr on the part of the balladist, whereas the Westmanhavn version is more detached in its att.i.tude.

THE DANISH BALLAD OF ANGELFYR AND HELMER

1. _Offue he dwelt in Uthiss-kier_, so MS. A. MS. B has "_Alff ...

Odderskier_." MS. C. has "_Ulff ... Oderskier_." MS. D has "_Alff ...

Odderskiaer_." Axel Olrik, however, in the version which he prints in _Danske Folkeviser i Udvalg_, p. 105 f. has "Alf ... Odderskaer." He explains (Introduction, p. 78) Alf to be 'a combination of Arngrim the father of the berserks and Hjalmar's foster-brother orvarodd.'

7. _Gold shone on his hand._ The phrase is not quite clear. It may possibly refer to some personal ornament, but in view of the following line, would seem more probably to indicate that Angelfyr offered money to the King of Upsala.

11. _He is half a troll_, So A, which is in accordance with Angelfyr's ancestry as told in the _Saga of Hervor and Heithrek_, ch. I. B and D, however, like the Faroese, have 'He is so vile a troll.' A gives little sense, considering the second half of the verse, and the whole becomes a meaningless formula in all the versions in which Angantyr and Hjalmar are described as brothers.

18. _Whom he himself will have._ Possibly _han_, 'he,' is a misprint for _hon_, 'she,' which is what we should expect. Cf. the _Saga of Hervor and Heithrek_, ch. 3. One hardly expects a cynical touch like this in an authentic ballad. But the whole of the latter part of B may be a later version than the original.

THE FAROESE BALLAD OF ARNGRIM'S SONS

_Refrain._ I have adopted the refrain given in Hammershaimb's version of the Ballad, taken down on Sand in 1848 and published in the _Antiq. Tidss._, 1849-1851, rather than Svabo's version which he afterwards adopted, but which is very obscure and possibly corrupt.

2. _Bjarnaland_, so sing the Faroese according to both Svabo and Hammershaimb. By _Bjarnaland_ they mean Norway. Contrast, however, the _Saga of Hervor and Heithrek_, ch. 2, where we are distinctly told that Angantyr's mother was Eyfura who had been carried off by Arngrim from _Bjarmaland_ (i.e. the land of the Perms) where her father was king. See also the note on this pa.s.sage. The Faroese have no doubt confused the unfamiliar name with one more familiar to themselves.

3. _Beneath oak trees live they_--a common ballad formula with no real significance. It is interesting, however, as a touch indicating the literary origin of this and other stories told in the Faroese ballads.

As has been remarked (see p. 247 above) there are no trees on the Faroes. On the other hand farm houses in Scandinavian lands stand frequently beneath the shadow of a large oak. For a discussion of this subject, see Chadwick, _Cult of Othin_ (Cambridge, 1899), p. 72 ff.

Compare the Scottish Ballad of _Rose the Red and White Lily_, v. 38:

Then out and spak' the King again, Says, "Bonny boy, tell to me Who lives into yon bigly bow'r, Stands by yon green oak-tree?"