Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes, page 10
Jarl Sævil ruled over his domain with Signý. Hrók was the name of their son.
King Helgi, the son of Hálfdan, king of Denmark, was unmarried.
Regin became ill and died. This seemed a great shame to men, because he was so popular.
Chapter 7
A queen named Ólof ruled over Saxony in that time. She led her life in the way of war-kings; she went around with a shield and armor, with a sword in her belt and a helmet on her head. This was her way: she was beautiful in appearance, but grim and arrogant in behavior. It was said by men that, of all women anyone had heard tell of during that time in the Northlands, she would be the best choice in marriage, but she wanted to marry no man.
Now King Helgi learned of this arrogant queen, and he thought that his fame would increase a great deal if he could marry her, whether she was more or less willing to marry him.
On one occasion he traveled with a great army. He came to the land where this powerful queen ruled, and did so with her unaware. He sent men to her hall and told them to say to Queen Ólof that he wanted to be treated to a feast there with his army. The messengers told the queen this, and it came upon her by surprise, and she had no chance to assemble her own defensive force. So she chose what was better, and she invited King Helgi and all his army to a feast.
{70} Then King Helgi came to the feast and took a throne near the queen, and they drank together during the evening. There was no shortage of anything, and no trace of unhappiness on Queen Ólof’s face. King Helgi told her, “It so happens that I want us to celebrate our wedding together this evening. There is enough of a crowd here for it, and the two of us will share one bed tonight.”
She said, “This seems done too soon, lord, though I don’t think any other man is nobler than you (if I must compare men). But I think that you will not want to do this with dishonor.”
King Helgi said that she would deserve it on account of her arrogance and pride, “That we now dwell together for whatever length of time I like.”
She said, “I would choose to have more of my friends here, but I can do nothing. You will have to decide. You will do honorably to me.”
Then there was a great deal of drinking during the evening and long into the night, and the queen was very cheerful, and no one could see any sign from her except that she was very happy with the decision. And later when King Helgi was guided to bed, she was already there. The king had drunk so much that he immediately fell asleep when he lay down. The queen was pleased with this, and stung him with a sleep-thorn.
And when all the men had left them there, the queen stood up. First she shaved all of Helgi’s hair off and rubbed him all over with tar, then she took a bag made of animal hide and put some of his clothes in it, and then took the king and stuffed him inside of this bag among the loose clothing. Then she went to her men and had them take King Helgi to his ships. Then she woke up Helgi’s men and told them that their king had gone to his ships and wanted to sail, because a good wind had come up. They leapt up as fast as they could, and they were all very drunk and barely knew what was going on. Then they went to the ships and did not see the king, but they did see that there was a large, ugly bag made of animal hide. They were curious as to what might be in the bag, yet they waited for the king, thinking he would come a little later. But when they finally did open up the bag, they found inside of it their king, and they saw how treacherously he had been betrayed.
{71} Then one of them flicked the sleep-thorn away. The king awoke now, and not from a good dream. He felt great malice for the queen.
As to Queen Ólof, she assembled her army during the night, and she did not lack for troops, and King Helgi saw that this was not his opportunity to attack her. Now they heard a trumpet blow and the sound of a summons for the army up on the land, and the king saw that the most prudent option was to get away as fast as possible. There was also a good breeze. So King Helgi sailed away home to his kingdom with disgrace and shame, and he liked this very little.
Helgi often thought about how he might get his revenge on the queen.
Chapter 8
Now Queen Ólof sat for a while in her kingdom, and her arrogance and pride had never been greater than now. She kept a strong force of men stationed around her to watch at all times, after the feast that she had given King Helgi.
This was told widely across all lands. Everyone thought that it was truly appalling that she had mocked such a king.
Not much later, King Helgi sailed his ship from home, and on this journey he came to Saxony where Queen Ólof ruled. She had a large army gathered to defend the coastline. But Helgi sailed his ship into a hidden cove and then told his men that they were to wait for him there until the third sun had come, and then they were to leave if he had not come back. He had with him two treasure chests full of gold and silver. He then put poor clothing on over his own.
Helgi went alone into the forest and there he stashed his money, and then he went to the proximity of the queen’s hall. He met a slave of hers there and asked him the news, saying that he had come from other lands. The slave told him that there was peace in the land, and he asked who this man was. He said he was a beggar, “but it so happens that I have made a great discovery of money out in the forest, and I thought it would be advisable to let you know where that money is.” Then he went back to the forest and showed the slave where the money {72} was, and the slave thought this was worth a great deal, whatever else had happened in his life.
“How greedy is the queen?” asked the beggar.
The slave said she was the greediest of all women.
“Then she will like this,” said the beggar, “and she will decide she owns this money, because this is her land. Now I don’t want to make my good luck into bad—I won’t hide this money, and the queen will give me what she thinks I deserve out of it. And that will be the best thing for me. Will she want to come see this money here herself?”
“I think so,” said the slave, “If everything is done secretly.”
“Here is a necklace and a ring that I want to give you,” said the man, “If you can bring her into the forest here alone. And I will help you out, if she doesn’t like you at first impression.” They agreed to this and the deal was made.
Then the slave went home and told the queen that he had found a great deal of money in the forest, so much that it would be a comfort for many men, and he asked her to go with him in haste to the money. She said, “If what you say is true, then your prize will be either your fortune or your decapitation. But because I have previously known you to be a truth-telling man, I will trust what you say.” In this way she showed how greedy she was.
Now the queen went with him in secret during the dark of night, so that no one knew except these two. And when they came into the forest, there was Helgi before them and he grabbed the queen in his hands and said this would be a fitting occasion to avenge her betrayal.
The queen admitted that she had behaved evilly toward him, “And now I want to make it up to you, King Helgi. And for your part, marry me with honor.”
“No,” he said, “you won’t have any choice in this. You will go to my ships with me and stay there a while, as long as I like, because for the sake of my good name I don’t want you to get away with this unpunished, as evilly and mockingly as you treated me.”
“It will have to be you who decides this, as you please,” she said.
The king slept with the queen many nights. And after this the queen went home. Her wrong deeds had been avenged in the way just told, and she was very displeased with her situation.
{73} Chapter 9
After this, King Helgi went raiding. He was a great man.
And after some time had passed, Queen Ólof gave birth to a girl. She treated the girl with great indifference, and named her Yrsa after a dog she had owned named Yrsa.
The girl was, however, beautiful. And when she reached twelve years old, she was forced to herd sheep, and she never knew that she was anything other than the daughter of a poor farmer and his poor wife, because the queen had concealed her pregnancy such that only a few men knew that she had even given birth to a child at all.
Things proceeded in this way until the girl was thirteen years old. Then it so happened that King Helgi came to the land and was curious to hear some news of the place. He traveled again in a beggar’s clothing. In a certain forest he saw a large flock of sheep, and it was herded by a very young girl who was so beautiful that he thought he’d never seen a more beautiful woman. He asked her what she was named and what family she was from.
She said, “I am a farmer’s daughter, and my name is Yrsa.”
“You don’t have peasants’ eyes,” he said, and he was consumed with desire for her and said that it would be fitting if she became a beggar’s wife, if she was a poor farmer’s daughter.
She asked him not to do this, but he took her captive and brought her to his ships, as he had Queen Ólaf before, and then sailed home to his kingdom.
Queen Ólof’s intent was deceitful and unwholesome in all of this. She acted as if she did not know what had happened, and it occurred to her that this might bring King Helgi sorrow and disgrace, and certainly no fame or joy.
Now King Helgi married Yrsa, and loved her very much.
Chapter 10
King Helgi had a famous ring. He and his brother Hróar both wanted it, as did their sister Signý.
{74} One time King Hróar came to the kingdom of his brother Helgi, and King Helgi greeted him with a splendid feast.
King Hróar said, “You will be the more important man of the two of us, but because I have established myself in Northumberland, I won’t grudge you the rule of this kingdom that we hold together here, as long as you will share some more movable property with me. I want the ring, which is the best treasure you own, and the two of us will both always desire it.”
Helgi answered, “Nothing is appropriate, kinsman, except to let you have that ring.”
And after these remarks, they both became more cheerful, and King Helgi gave his brother King Hróar the ring. And now King Hróar went away to his kingdom and sat there in peace.
Chapter 11
The time came that their brother-in-law Sævil died, and Sævil’s son Hrók took over his kingdom after him. He was a tough man and very ambitious. His mother told Hrók much about the ring that the brothers Helgi and Hróar owned. “And I don’t think,” she said, “that it’s unlikely at all that the brothers will repay us with some part of their wealth, because we assisted them when they avenged our father. But thus far they have repaid neither your father nor me.”
Hrók said, “You speak the absolute truth, and this is a shameful matter. And now I will find out what honor they’ll give us for this.”
Then Hrók journeyed to visit King Helgi, and asked him for a third of the kingdom of Denmark, or for that good ring—because he did not know that Hróar had it.
Helgi said, “You speak very arrogantly, dangerously so even. We won your kingdom for you with heroic actions, and we laid our lives down as wagers with the assistance of your father, and my foster-father Regin, and other good men who wanted to join us. Now we certainly would wish to give you gifts, if you can accept them, because of our kinship. But this kingdom has cost me so much that I will not give it {75} up for any reason. And it’s Hróar who has the ring now, and I don’t think that he’s careless with it.”
With this, Hrók went away feeling very unhappy, and he went to meet King Hróar. Hróar greeted him well with honor, and Hrók stayed there a while with him. And one time, when they left the land and were in a certain fjord, Hrók said, “It seems to me that it would give you honor, kinsman, if you gave me the good ring and in this way remembered our kinship.”
King Hróar said, “I have given so much in order to own this ring, that nothing will make me give it up.”
Hrók said, “Then you must promise to let me see the ring, as I have an immense curiosity to know whether it is as good a treasure as it is said to be.”
“That is only a little favor to grant you,” said Hróar, “and I’ll certainly do that.” Now he brought him the ring. Hrók looked at the ring a little while and said that what men said about it was no exaggeration, “And I have never seen such a treasure, and it is very understandable that you think so much of the ring. It would be the wisest course of action, if neither you nor I enjoyed it, nor anyone else,” and he flung the ring from his hand and out into the sea, as far as he could.
King Hróar said, “You are a thoroughly bad man.” Then he had Hrók’s feet cut off, and ordered his men to carry him back to his own kingdom.
Hrók soon healed in such a way that the stumps grew over, and then he summoned an army and wished to avenge his shame. He put together a large force and attacked Northumberland by surprise, during a time when King Hróar was at a feast with only a few men. Hrók attacked directly, and there was a hard battle, though one side was much larger. King Hróar died there, and Hrók took over the kingdom.
Hrók now took the name of king, and he proposed for the hand of Ogn, the daughter of King Norđri and the widow of his kinsman King Hróar. King Norđri thought this was a difficult dilemma facing him, because he had grown old and now had little ability in battle. He told his daughter Ogn how things stood, and said he would not hesitate to offer battle in return, no matter how old he was, if this marriage would be against her wishes. She said, in agony, “This is certainly against my wishes, but I also see clearly that your life is at stake. Still {76} I will not refuse him as long as a little delay is allowed, because I am pregnant with the child of King Hróar. And first I must give birth to this child.” Now this answer was presented to Hrók, and he agreed to allow the delay, because he would become even richer in property and dominion after the marriage.
Hrók thought he had gained great fame in this journey, because he had killed such a famous king and won a kingdom.
And during this delay in time, Ogn sent messengers to King Helgi and told them to inform him that she would not come into the bed of Hrók, if she had her own choice and was not forced to do so, “Because I am pregnant with the child of King Hróar.”
The messengers went and told King Helgi what they had been instructed to say. King Helgi said, “She has spoken wisely, because I will avenge my brother Hróar.” And Hrók suspected nothing.
Chapter 12
Now Queen Ogn gave birth to a son named Agnar. He was soon big and promising. And when King Helgi learned this, he assembled an army and went to meet Hrók. There was a battle, and it ended with the capture of Hrók.
Now King Helgi said, “You are a thoroughly evil leader, but I will not kill you because it is a greater shame for you to live with such anguishing wounds. Then he had Hrók’s arms and legs broken, and sent him back into his own kingdom, capable of nothing.
And when Agnar, the son of Hróar, turned twelve years old, men said they had never seen such a man, as he was the superior of every man in every kind of undertaking. He became such an important and famous warrior that he is widely remembered in ancient sagas as the greatest champion then or now.
One time Agnar asked where the fjord was where Hrók had thrown the ring overboard. Many had searched for the ring with all kinds of tricks, and no one had found it. And it is said that Agnar arrived at this fjord in his ship and said, “It would be a good idea to look for the ring, if someone had a clear idea where to fish for it.”
{77} Then he was told where it had been cast into the sea. Agnar prepared himself and dived into the depths. When he came back up, he did not have the ring. Then he went down a second time, and again he did not have the ring when he came back up. Now he said, “I’ve been lazy about looking,” and he went down a third time and came back up with the ring. Because of this, he became extraordinarily famous, more so than his father King Hróar. Now Agnar stayed in his kingdom during the winters, and went on Viking raids during the summers, and became a legendary man, and he was considered greater than his father.
For their part, King Helgi and Yrsa loved each other very much and had one son named Hrólf, who later would become a man of great reputation.
Chapter 13
Now Queen Ólof learned that Helgi and Yrsa loved each other very much and were content with their lives, and she did not like this. She went to visit them, and when she came into the land she sent word to Queen Yrsa.
When Ólof and Yrsa met, Yrsa invited her home to the royal hall with her, but Ólof said she did not want to go there, because she came with no joy to repay to King Helgi.
Yrsa said, “You treated me unworthily, when I was with you. Can you tell me something of my ancestors—who are they? For I suspect that it might not be true that I am the daughter of a poor farmer and his wife, which is what I was told.”
Ólof said, “It’s not a surprise if I’m the one who can give you some of the answer. It was the most important part of my errand in coming here, to make you aware of it. Do you like the way you’re living now?”
“Yes,” said Yrsa, “and it’s sensible that I do, because I am married to the greatest and most famous of all kings.”
“It isn’t as sensible to be happy about this as you think it is,” said Ólof, “Because he is your father, and I am your mother.”
{78} Yrsa said, “I think my mother is the worst and the cruelest of all mothers, because there is no outrage equal to this, and it will be notorious forever.”
“You have repaid Helgi for his part in this,” said Ólof, “and satisfied my anger. Now I want to invite you home with me, to live in honor and grace, and I will treat you in the best manner possible, in every way.”
Yrsa said, “I don’t know how that will go, but I cannot remain in this home now that I know the evil that is part of it.”
