The Saga Of King Hrolf Kraki Part 7

Bodvar said, 'Listen to my words. I have fought in twelve pitched battles. Always I have been called fearless and have never given way to a berserker. It was I who encouraged King Hrolf to seek out King Adils in his home. We were met with deceit, but that was nothing compared to this foulness. My heart is now so gripped by these events that my eagerness to continue the fight has diminished. A short while ago, in the earlier clash, I was up against King Hjorvard. We were face to face, and neither of us threw insults at the other, although we exchanged blows for a time. He gave me a blow that I found heavy, while I, for my part, hacked off a hand and a foot. I landed another blow on his shoulder, slicing him down his side, for the length of his spine. His reaction was not even to sigh. It was as if he dozed for a time, and I thought him dead. Few men like him are to be found, for he fought afterward no less boldly than before, and I cannot say what it is that is driving him. a.s.sembled here against us are many men, rich and powerful, pouring in from all directions, so that there is no defence. I do not recognize Odin among them, although I strongly suspect that this foul and unfaithful son of the evil one will be hovering in the background and causing us harm.81 If someone would only point him out to me I would squeeze him like a detestable puny mouse. That vile, poisonous creature would be shamelessly treated if I could just get my hands on him. Who would not have bitterness in his heart if he saw his liege lord as ill treated as we now see ours.'

Hjalti answered, 'It is not possible to bend fate, nor can one stand against nature.' At this point they ceased their talk.

34. The Death of King Hrolf Kraki King Hrolf defended himself well, fighting resolutely and with more courage than has been told of any man. He was attacked relentlessly, and a select company of King Hjorvard's and Skuld's warriors formed a ring around him. Skuld now entered into the fray. She fiercely incited her rabble to attack King Hrolf because she saw that the champions were no longer close beside him. Bodvar Bjarki sorely grieved that he was unable to a.s.sist his lord. The other champions felt the same regret. All of them were now as willing to die with King Hrolf as they had been to live with him, when they were in the full vigour of their youth.

By now all of the king's bodyguard had fallen. Not one of them was left standing, and most of the champions were mortally wounded.

'And events turned out as expected,' said Master Galterus.82 'Human strength cannot withstand such fiendish power, unless the strength of G.o.d is employed against it. That alone stood between you and victory, King Hrolf,' said the Master; 'you had no knowledge of your Creator.'

Such a storm of enchantments now descended upon them that the champions began to fall, one across the other. King Hrolf managed to emerge from behind the s.h.i.+eld wall, but he was nearly dead from exhaustion. There is no need to draw out the tale. King Hrolf fell gloriously, together with all his champions. They made so much of a slaughter there that words alone are inadequate to describe it. King Hjorvard and all his army fell, save only a few s.h.i.+rkers who, together with Skuld, were still on their feet.

Skuld took all of King Hrolf's realm under her power, but she ruled poorly and for only a short time. Elk-Frodi set out to avenge his brother Bodvar Bjarki as he had promised to do. He was joined by King Thorir Hound's Foot, as is told in Elk-Frodi's tale. The brothers were supported by a strong contingent sent from the Swedish kingdom by Queen Yrsa, and men say that Vogg served as the commander. All of these forces sailed for Denmark, and Skuld was taken by surprise. They seized and held her in such a way that she was prevented from working any witchcraft. They killed all of her rabble and tortured her in different ways. The kingdoms returned to the rule of King Hrolf's daughters. When all this had been accomplished, everyone went home.

A burial mound was raised for King Hrolf, and the sword Skofnung was laid in the mound with him. A mound was raised for each of the champions, and they likewise were buried with their weapons.

And here ends the saga of King Hrolf Kraki and his champions.

Notes.

The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki is an unusually rich cultural doc.u.ment. These notes are designed for the reader who wants additional information on sorcery and magic, the meaning of Old Norse terms and the relations.h.i.+p between Hrolf's Saga and other medieval Scandinavian and English texts treating related characters and events.

1. King Halfdan is known from several medieval sources. His name, meaning 'Half-Dane', corresponds to that of the Danish king Healfdene, who is mentioned in the Old English poem Bowulf as the son of an early king called Beowulf the Dane, who is not to be confused with the epic's hero, Beowulf. In the Latin Saga of the Skjoldungs Halfdan, identified as Frodi's son, is slain by his brother, Ingialldus (Old Norse Ingjaldr), who corresponds to the Old English Ingeld.

2. In Beowulf, Healfdene's unnamed daughter marries the Swedish king Onela, who corresponds to Ali in Old Norse tradition. Ali, though not mentioned in Hrolf's Saga, appears in other Scandinavian versions of these events.

3. The genealogy of Halfdan and his sons was also recorded by the thirteenth-century Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus in his History of the Danes. Old English literature attributes three sons to Healfdene: Heorogar, Hrothgar and Halga. Hrothgar, the king in Beowulf, and Halga clearly correspond to the Old Norse Hroar and Helgi. Heorogar, however, is not mentioned in the Scandinavian sources.

4. Fosterage was the custom of having a child raised in another household in order to extend kins.h.i.+p bonds or to form political alliances.

5. The term karl denotes a freeman. Depending on usage, it can mean a freeholding farmer, similar to an English yeoman, as here in the instance of Vifil. Later in the saga the term is used to denote lower social cla.s.ses, particularly servants and poor farmers, unsuitable to marry into a king's family.

6. Vifill, meaning 'beetle', was a name commonly given to slaves or freedmen.

7. Old Norse jarhus means 'earth house' or 'underground house', i.e. some form of a dugout or perhaps originally a cave.

8. Volur (sibyls or seeresses) and visindamenn (soothsayers or wise men) were persons whose 'wisdom' or supernaturally obtained knowledge was derived from mastery of ancient lore, including songs, spells and incantations. Such people, especially women, often practised seir, a form of magic involving rituals and trances with many shamanistic elements. A characteristic of seir was that it allowed the pract.i.tioner to divine the future and to see into the hidden.

9. Galdramenn (sorcerers) were magicians and wizards. Galdr was a type of magic based on spells, whether spoken, sung or carved in runes. It was distinct from the more shamanistic seir, which involved ecstatic trances. These 'sorcerers' should be differentiated from the soothsayers (wise men) mentioned earlier.

10. Fylgjur (fetches) were usually conceived of as guardian spirits attached to individuals or families. They often appear in dreams or at the moment of death. Here they are more akin to the 'sendings' of later Icelandic folklore: malevolent spirits under the direct control of a master magician or sorcerer. They may be seen as shadows of the sorcerer himself.

11. Hrani, which means 'bl.u.s.terer', occasionally occurs as a personal name in thirteenth-century Iceland. It is also, as in chapter 26 of this saga, one of the many names used for the G.o.d Odin. Ham, meaning 'shape' or 'skin', can metaphorically be interpreted as 'frame of mind'.

12. A complex verse, meaning that the trunk of the tree, that is the father, has been taken away, leaving only limbs, that is the children.

13. Heid is a volva who will practise seir. Heid is also the name of the Sibyl in the Eddic poem Voluspa, 'The Sibyl's Prophecy'.

14. The seihjallr (trance platform) was a platform or scaffold, usually built of timber, on which the Sibyl would sit to perform her seir. The most complete description of a seir ceremony is found in The Saga of Eirik the Red, but it does not mention a seihjallr; instead, the Sibyl sits in the host's high seat.

15. The phrase is literally 'wolves among the wolves' (vargar me ulfum). Vargr (wolf) was a term applied to dangerous outlaws, who could be hunted down like wolves.

16. Hroar thus takes an English wife. In Beowulf, Hroar's equivalent Hrothgar is said to have married Wealhtheow, whose name suggests that she, like Ogn, was of foreign origin.

17. Translated here as 'lands', the word riki has the connotation of independent state or kingdom.

18. Old Norse olof is the feminine form of the common (masculine) personal name Olaf. Although not otherworldly, this warrior queen has some of the characteristics of the legendary s.h.i.+eld-maidens or Valkyries, supernatural female warriors mentioned in other Scandinavian sagas and poems.

19. Kurteisi (courtesy) was a thirteenth-century borrowing from Old French. The concept was originally foreign to Scandinavia.

20. The name Yrsa, unusual in medieval Norse narrative, may derive from Latin ursa (she-bear). Saxo gives her name as 'Vrsa'. In the Lejre Chronicle (c. 1170) she has the Latin name 'Ursula'. Although the name does not appear in Anglo-Saxon sources, many scholars change the text of Beowulf, line 62a, where the ma.n.u.script is defective, to read, 'I heard Yrse was Onela's queen.' The addition is based largely on Hrolf's Saga.

21. In The Saga of the Skjoldungs, Agnar's story is somewhat different. He is the son of Ingjald, hence a cousin (rather than son) to Hroar and half-brother (rather than cousin) to Hrok. He is later killed by Bjarki, a retainer of Hrolf, and the ring returns to Yrsa.

22. Concerning Hrolf, see the Introduction. Hrolf appears in Beowulf as Hrothulf who shares the Danish kingdom with Hrothgar.

23. In Beowulf Adils appears as Eadgils and is identified as the nephew of Onela (Ali), the husband of Healfdene's unnamed daughter. According to Snorri Sturluson's Saga of the Ynglings (Ynglinga Saga), Adils carried off Yrsa, the daughter of Olof. Helgi subsequently recaptured her from Adils, but she returned to Adils when the incest was revealed.

24. Yule, the pre-Christian winter feast later a.s.similated to Christmas, was an occasion for drinking bouts, swearing of oaths and general merrymaking. In Scandinavia the event is frequently a.s.sociated with supernatural encounters.

25. Elves (alfar) were supernatural beings a.s.sociated with the fertility G.o.ds. In Scandinavia they were often portrayed as human-sized, attractive beings with sometimes vindictive natures. The story here is reminiscent of late Icelandic folk traditions.

26. Berserkers (berserkir) are frequently mentioned in the sagas. Scholars disagree as to whether berserkers existed or were primarily a literary creation, and no consensus exists regarding the word's etymology. Berserkers are discussed in the Introduction.

27. The word fiolkyngi, here translated as 'sorcery', literally means 'very cunning' and also refers to 'the black arts' and 'witchcraft'. The word often had negative connotations, especially when contrasted with the more neutral galdr, even though the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. The author of Hrolf's Saga, a Christian writing for a Christian audience, tends to use such terms pejoratively.

28. Svipdag is elsewhere given as a name for Odin. In Hrolf's Saga many traits commonly a.s.sociated with Odin are attributed to Svipdag, although it is not clear that the author intended Svipdag to be positively identified with the G.o.d. It is possible that the underlying connection reflects an older form of the story.

29. One of the sons of the legendary warrior Ragnar Hairy-Breeches was also called Hvitserk, meaning 'White-s.h.i.+rt'.

30. This statement resembles advice given in the Eddic poem Havamal, 'The Sayings of the High One'.

31. These games were usually tests of strength, such as lifting compet.i.tions, single combat or tug-of-war.

32. The saga employs the word holmganga, one of several forms of single combat with strict rules. The term means 'island going' because a small delineated s.p.a.ce, often an island, was chosen as the site for such combats.

33. Old Norse herspori (war-spur) seems to be a kind of caltrop, a ball with four spikes protruding from it in such a way that no matter how it is dropped three spikes form a base while the fourth points upward.

34. Svipdag thus resembles Odin, who had only one eye, having sacrificed the other for wisdom and power. The attribute also connects Svipdag with the legendary Swedish king Svipdag the Blind from The Saga of the Ynglings.

35. Modern Lejre. See Introduction.

36. Hjorvard corresponds to Beowulf's Heoroweard, the son of Heorogar and Hrothulf's cousin. In Beowulf, Heoroweard had a strong claim to the throne, one cause for the enmity between him and Hrothulf. This element is lacking in the saga.

37. Uppdalir means inland, often highland, valleys. There are several places in Norway that this might refer to, among them a region near Trondheim and a region north of Oslo Fjord.

38. Bjorn (Bear) was, and still is, a common personal name.

39. Finnmark, 'the Borderland of the Finns', is modern Lapland. The people known as Finns to the Old Norse speakers were the ancestors of the modern Saami, and they had a reputation for magic and witchcraft. The name 'Finn' is often used synonymously with 'sorcerer'.

40. Bera means 'She-bear'.

41. Skin gloves were often part of the paraphernalia of a sorceress. The sibyl in The Saga of Eirik the Red is said to have had gloves made of white catskin.

42. Humanlike eyes were a sign that animals either were enchanted humans or were possessed by the spirits of the dead.

43. Troll had a broader meaning in Old Norse than it does in Modern English usage. It designated a variety of harmful supernatural creatures, including fiends, ghosts, witches and giants.

44. Runes were the alphabet used by the Germanic peoples for writing on bone, wood, metal and stone. In addition to practical uses, runes had magical properties.

45. Elk-Frodi (Elgfroi) means 'Elk-wise'.

46. Bodvar means 'warlike', and Bjarki means 'little bear'. See the Introduction. According to Saxo's version of the Lay of Bjarki, Bjarki won the epithet 'warlike' as a result of killing Agnar.

47. In the Icelandic rhymed poem Bjarkarimur, Bodvar is said to have been born with a bear's claw on his toe.

48. The Old Norse word is hildr, a poetic term for battle and also a Valkyrie's name. The poet is playing on this double meaning, drawing attention to the Valkyrie's work, that is warfare. Hild is a common element in Germanic women's names.

49. The Gauts correspond to the Geats of Beowulf. Beowulf himself was a Geat and later became their king.

50. Stories featuring less than affectionate stepmothers were well known to medieval Icelanders, who referred to them as 'stepmother tales'.

51. Though sounding modern, street (strti) was an Old Norse word, referring to a road within a town. Probably of Latin origin, the word was in current usage by the twelfth century and perhaps earlier. It may have been a borrowing from Old English.

52. This sword, if difficult to control (see chap. 23, where Bodvar has difficulty drawing his weapon), has many otherwise typical attributes of magic swords in Old Norse legend. In The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise, for example, the blows of the sword Tyrfing would never go astray and the sword could never be drawn without bringing about the death of a man; it was cursed to cause three hateful acts. In the Prose Edda, Snorri mentions a sword with similar properties, called Dainsleif, 'Dain's heirloom'.

53. The proper term for the now functionless digit on the foot of some animals is 'dewclaw'.

54. Throwing bones was apparently one of the rowdier games played at feasts, and killing by bone-throwing is specifically listed as an offence in a number of medieval Scandinavian law codes. Sven Aggesen, who wrote in the twelfth century, reports that, according to the law of the Danish King Knut, any bodyguard who broke the law was required to sit lower than the other bodyguards, thus allowing the others to pelt him with bones.

55. According to Saxo's History, this episode took place at the wedding of Hrolf's sister to Agnar Ingjaldsson.

56. Much as no weapon can injure the dragon which ravages Hleidargard each Yule, Grendel, in Beowulf, cannot be killed with a sword.

57. This episode shows close parallels with both Beowulf and the fight between Grettir and Glam in Grettir's Saga. The motif of the monster who is impervious to human weapons is common in legends and folktales, as well as in the sagas, and its presence in both Beowulf and Hrolf's Saga does not necessarily imply a direct connection between the texts.

58. The same phrase, mesta troll (greatest troll), was earlier applied to Bodvar's treacherous stepmother, Hvit. Elsewhere in this current episode, the monster is referred to simply as a dr (animal or beast). The wings of the monster may represent an innovation on the part of the saga's Icelandic author.

59. Eating a part of an animal or drinking its blood in order to acquire its nature, whether good or bad, is a common motif. The same belief lies at the root of two earlier episodes in the saga: Bodvar's acquisition of strength and prowess through drinking the blood of his brother Elk-Frodi (chap. 23) and the animal-like attributes of Bera's children as a result of her eating bearmeat while pregnant (chap. 20). The present episode is thematically similar to one in The Saga of the Volsungs, in which Sigurd gains wisdom by drinking the blood and eating the heart of the dragon Fafnir. There are also Irish parallels, among them the many stories of Fionn mac c.u.mhail.

60. The Old Norse name for the sword is Gullinn-hjalti (Golden Hilt). The sword that Beowulf finds in the underwater lair of Grendel's mother is referred to as gylden-hilt, although it is unclear whether this is meant as a proper name. The word 'hilt' refers in Old English and Old Norse to different parts of the sword. In English it is the part which one grasps, whereas in Old Norse it refers either to the guard piece between the hilt and the blade or to the boss or k.n.o.b at the end of the sword's hilt. Hrolf usually carried a different sword, named Skofnung.

61. In Saxo's account, no similar name-change occurs. Hjalti remains Hjalti throughout the text.

62. Earlier in the saga (chap. 15), Hrolf is said to have two daughters, Skur and Drifa.

63. Adils is Hrolf's brother-in-law as well as his father-in-law.

64. The Saga of the Skjoldungs, Snorri in his Prose Edda and Saxo all give somewhat different reasons for Hrolf's expedition to Sweden. In Saxo's account, for example, Yrsa pretends to conspire with her husband, luring Hrolf to Sweden with gifts while desiring that Hrolf help her flee.

65. Hrani is an alias of Odin. In chapter 3 Helgi a.s.sumes the name Hrani to conceal his true ident.i.ty, although he has no apparent connection with Odin.

66. Terms of courtesy such as 'chivalrous knights' are of foreign origin, reflecting the literary influence of courtly romances from the Continent.

67. Kraki means 'pole ladder' or 'stake'. Saxo Grammaticus explains that the word refers to a tree trunk trimmed so that it can be used as a ladder. Both The Saga of the Skjoldungs and Snorri's Prose Edda report the name-giving incident and Hrolf's expedition to Sweden as two unrelated events. In The Saga of the Skjoldungs, the name kraki is explained as derived from the Danish krag, 'sea-crow'.

68. Gram (wrathful) is also the name of the sword reforged for Sigurd in The Saga of the Volsungs.

69. In Scandinavian mythology, the boar was sacred to the fertility G.o.d Freyr, who was considered the ancestor of the Swedish royal house, and the boar was used iconographically to represent both Freyr and Sweden. The boar was also a symbol of ferocity and virility, appearing as decoration on numerous artifacts, for example the boar helmets found at Sutton Hoo and Vendel.

70. Sviagris means 'Pig of the Swedes'. According to The Saga of the Skjoldungs, this ring had been taken from the Swedes as booty by one of King Hrolf's Danish forebears.

71. Snorri Sturluson relates this episode in the Prose Edda to explain why the phrases 'Kraki's seed' and 'the seed of the Fyris Plains' are used as metaphors or kennings for gold.

72. Although Odin is here treated as malevolent by the Christian scribe or author, his traditional pre-Christian function as the stranger who grants victory has not changed.

73. This again appears to be a Christian rationalization of the evil nature of pagan creatures.

74. The Christian writer may be building up Hrolf's pride as sinful conduct, blinding him from attending to matters at hand. Some of these Christian interjections may come from a later scribe.

75. Several saga characters, both historical and legendary, are said to have ignored pagan wors.h.i.+p and relied on their own 'might and main'.

76. This episode makes more sense in Saxo's version. There Hjalti does not see Skuld's army until after he has been with his mistress. He does not question her; rather, she asks him whether she should marry a young or an old man, if he is killed in the battle. The motivation for cutting off the nose is unclear. Probably he is punis.h.i.+ng her for holding his attention while he should be alerting Hrolf, but it may also reflect some sort of punishment for an adultery occurring in an earlier version of the story.

77. The long, stylized speeches in this chapter and the following one are apparently paraphrases of stanzas from the mostly lost poem Bjarkamal, 'The Lay of Bjarki'.

78. Bodvar is almost certainly in a shaman-like trance, carrying out the acts of the bear fighting beside King Hrolf.

79. Ghosts (draugar) in Icelandic tradition are not ethereal spirits, but rather corporeal creatures returned from the dead (see, for example, Grettir's Saga).

80. Valholl is mentioned in both The Prose Edda and The Poetic Edda. Warriors who die bravely in battle, whether on the winning or on the losing side, are taken by valkyries to Odin's hall, Valhalla. There they train for the final battle at Ragnarok, while enjoying perpetual feasting and celebration.

81. The term used is 'the Son of Herjan' (sonrinn Herjans). In the Poetic Edda, Herjan is a name for Odin meaning 'Lord of Hosts'. In later Icelandic usage Herjan came to mean 'the Evil One', a term of abuse, and Herjan's son meant a 'Devil's limb'.

82. Galterus is Walter of Chatillon (c. 1135-1203/04). He wrote a Latin epic on the life of Alexander the Great that was translated into Icelandic prose as Alexander's Saga. The author's or the scribe's reason for introducing this reference at this point in the story is unclear.

Genealogical Tables.

The Family of King Hrolf Kraki.