Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes, page 15
“You are an exceptional man, farmer,” said Hrólf, “and I will take the advice you offer.”
Now they kept to the road which they had planned to take, and they told the farmer farewell. The king sent home half of his army.
Now they kept riding down the road, and soon another small farm appeared before them. Here they thought they recognized the same farmer who had hosted them the night before. They suspected something unusual might be happening.
This farmer greeted them well, and asked them why they came so often. The king said, “We certainly don’t know what kind of {114} magic tricks are getting played on us, but you must be called a true magician.”
The farmer said, “All the same, I can’t greet you less well this time.”
So they spent another night in good comfort. Sleep fell on them, but then they awoke with such a great thirst upon them that they found it nearly unbearable, and could barely move the tongues in their mouths. They stood up and went to where there was a large keg of wine, and they drank straight from it.
In the morning, the farmer, whose name was Hrani, said “I hope it is still true, my lord, that you will heed me. I think there is little grit in the men who had to take a drink during the night. They will have to put up with harder challenges when you visit King Ađils.”
And then a great storm struck up, and they stayed at this farm over the next day. The third night came, and a fire was made for them. It was very hot for those who sat near it. Most of them rushed out of the room that Hrani had given them, and they all got far away from the fire except King Hrólf and his champions.
Hrani said, “My lord, you must choose men from out of your army. It is my advice that you go on with only yourself and your twelve champions. Then there is some hope that you will come back, but none otherwise.”
“It looks to me, farmer,” said King Hrólf, “as if I’ll take your advice.” They had been there three nights, and then the king rode on with the twelve men, and sent all the rest of his troops back.
King Ađils heard about this and said it was good that King Hrólf wanted to visit him at home, “Because he certainly has business here, and it will be worth a story before we part.”
Chapter 40
After this, King Hrólf and his champions rode to the hall of King Ađils. All the common people of that place crowded into the highest towers of the city to look upon the glory of King Hrólf and his champions, because they were dressed in the finest clothes, and many thought that such noble riders were a very worthy sight. At first they {115} rode slowly and with magnificent grace, but when they had only a short way left to the hall, they struck their horses with their spurs and ran them toward the hall, so that everyone that stood before them shrank away in retreat.
King Ađils ordered them to be greeted with eager joy, and offered to have their horses seen to.
Bođvar said, in response to this: “See to it, stable-boys, that not a single hair from the forelock, or the tail, gets out of its place. And watch them well and thoughtfully, so that not a speck of dirt touches them.”
King Ađils was told how assiduously they had spoken about the care of their horses. Ađils said, “They show tremendous pride and insolence. Now listen to my words, and do as I say: Cut off their horses’ tails down to the bone, down where they grow from, near the anus. And cut off their forelocks down to the skin, and treat their horses as mockingly as possible in everything you do, and do everything else wicked short of killing them.”
Now Hrólf and his men were led to the doors of the hall, but not where they could see King Ađils as yet. Svipdag said, “They know me here from before, so I will walk in first because I have the clearest idea about what might be done to us, or what they might have prepared for us. Say not a word that suggests who King Hrólf is, so that King Ađils will not be able to know him from any other man in our group.” Then Svipdag walked in ahead of all of them, then his brothers Hvítserk and Beigađ after him, then King Hrólf and Bođvar, and then each of the rest of them in turn. No servants were there, since they had left after they had invited the Danes into the hall.
The champions had their hawks on their shoulders, which was considered a very proud thing to do in those times. King Hrólf himself had his hawk named Hábrók.
Svipdag continued to advance forward, and he looked carefully in all directions. He saw that much had changed in every part of the hall. They walked over several hindrances that had been placed there for them, and which it is not possible to describe. These became harder, as they progressed farther into the hall.
And now they came far enough into the hall that they saw where King Ađils sat puffed up in his throne. It seemed to the men in both {116} parties that this was a momentous occasion. Then they saw that the only easy path forward brought them before King Ađils, and by now they had come so near him and his men that they could make out each other’s speech.
Then King Ađils spoke: “And you also have come here, my old companion Svipdag! What is this champion’s errand? Could it not be, as it seems to me, that
“The arrow’s in the neck,
the eye’s left the head,
the scar’s in the brow,
and two cuts in the hand?
“And Beigađ, your brother, is weakened all over.”
Svipdag spoke with such a loud voice that all could hear, “Now I want to receive mercy from you, King Ađils. And in accordance with what our understanding once was, I want peace for all twelve of us men here.”
King Ađils said, “I will agree to this. Come into the hall swiftly and boldly, with a trusting heart.”
It seemed to them that trenches had been dug all around the hall on the inside of its walls, but testing what was there would not be cheaply done. And there was so much darkness over King Ađils that they could not see his face clearly. They also saw that the tapestries that were set up around the hall to adorn it, were let down in certain places, and they thought there were likely men with weapons behind them.
True to their suspicions, when the champions crossed over the trenches, an armored man rushed out from under each fold. King Hrólf and his champions put up a hard defense and chopped through their skulls down to the teeth.
For a while it continued like this, and the Swedes did not recognize which of them was King Hrólf, while they were falling down like pouring water.
Now King Ađils swelled with anger in his throne, when he saw that King Hrólf’s champions broke down his troops as though they were {117} so many dogs. And when he saw that the attack could not succeed, he stood up and said, “Who stands to gain from all this noise? You are terrible criminals, you men who are attacking King Hrólf and his champions, who have visited us here at home! Stop this immediately and sit down! Now Hrólf, my in-law, let us be together in joy, all of us.”
Svipdag said, “You don’t hold the peace well, King Ađils, and you are honorless in your words.” But they sat down after this, with Svipdag nearest King Ađils, and then Hjalti the Righteous, and then Bođvar and King Hrólf, because they did not want him to be recognized.
King Ađils said, “I see that you don’t seek the respect of men in an unknown land. Why does Hrólf my in-law not have more men?”
Svipdag said, “I see that you don’t hesitate to connive against King Hrólf and his men, and it’s a wonder he comes here at all—with few or with many.” And so their conversation ended.
Chapter 41
After that, King Ađils ordered the hall cleared out. The dead were carried away—and many of King Ađils’s men had been killed and a great many more injured. King Ađils said, “Let’s now start the fires in the center of the hall for our friends, and let’s serve these men seriously, so that all of us are well pleased.” Men were now sent to kindle fires for them. Hrólf’s champions sat with their weapons always at hand, and would not let go of them. The fire got going quickly, because there was no shortage of pitch and dry wood thrown in. King Ađils set himself and his elite bodyguards up on the other side of the fire from King Hrólf and his champions, and each side sat on long benches and spoke quite a bit among themselves.
King Ađils said, “It is no exaggeration what they say about your courage and toughness, Hrólf’s champions, and you think yourselves greater than all others. It is no lie what they say about your strength. Now stoke the fire, because I cannot tell which is the king, and I know that you will not flee the fire, though you might get a little warm.” It was done as he ordered, and he wanted to be sure where King Hrólf {118} was, because he thought that he would not be able to stand the heat as well as his champions, and he thought that it would be easier to seize him if he knew where he was, because he truly wanted King Hrólf dead. Bođvar understood this, as did some of the others, and they shielded him somewhat from the heat, as well as they could, but not so well that he would be easily picked out.
And when the fire was at its hottest, King Hrólf remembered what he had previously vowed, to flee neither fire nor iron. And he saw now that King Ađils wanted to make a test of this vow, by forcing them either to burn there or fail to heed the vow.
Then they saw that King Ađils’s throne had been carried out of the hall, and so had his men’s seats. Now the fire was burning through its fuel and was reaching an intense pitch, and they saw that the flames would touch them if they did nothing. Now their clothes were mostly burned away, and they threw their shields on the fire.
Bođvar and Svipdag said,
“Let’s stoke these fires
in Ađils’s city.”
Then each champion grabbed some of the men who were stoking the fire, and flung them into the flames and said, “Now enjoy this warmth as payment for your work and trouble, because we’re fully warmed up. Now you warm up, because you were so hard-working for a while when it came to warming us.” Hjalti grabbed a third man and flung him into the flames at his end of the fire, and did the same to all the rest of the men. There they burned to ash, and no one came to save them because all feared to get so close the flames. After this was done, King Hrólf said,
“The man who leaps the fire
is not a coward who flees it.”
And then they all flung themselves over the flames and intended to grab King Ađils. When King Ađils saw this, he elected to save himself and ran to a tree that stood in the hall with a hollow inside of it, and {119} thus he escaped the hall with his sorcery and magic spells. From there he came into the hall of Queen Yrsa, where he found her talking.
She greeted him roughly and spoke many harsh words to him. “First you had my husband, King Helgi, killed,” she said, “and treated him shamefully and kept property from the one who rightfully owned it, and now, with that behind you, you want to kill my son. You are a man much worse and much crueler than any other. Now I will do everything in my power to see that King Hrólf gets his property, and you will receive only dishonor, as you deserve.”
Ađils said, “Then it will go that way, and we won’t trust each other. From now on, I will not come within their sight.” And now their talk was ended.
Chapter 42
Then Queen Yrsa went to meet King Hrólf and she greeted him very well. He also received her greeting well. She summoned a man named Vogg to serve them properly. And when this man came before King Hrólf, Vogg said, “This man is thin and his face looks like a pole-ladder [kraki]. Is this really your king?”
King Hrólf said, “You’ve given me a name that will stick. What do you give me as a naming-gift?”
Vogg answered, “Everything I have, because I’m penniless.”
The king said, “Then the one who does have something must give to the other.” So he took a golden ring from his hand and gave it to this man.
Vogg said, “Be the healthiest of all men for your gift! This is the greatest of all treasures!”
And when the king saw the man valued it so much, he said, “It doesn’t take much to please Vogg.”
Vogg stood up with one foot on a stump and said, “I swear this oath, that I will avenge you if you are killed by men’s hands and I outlive you.”
The king said, “There are perhaps men more likely to accomplish that than you, but good will come of you, Vogg.”
{120} They understood that this man would be faithful and true, as far as that went with the little he could do. And though they thought that he couldn’t be counted on to do much, because he seemed like a worthless man, they hid nothing from him.
Now they intended to sleep, and they thought that they would be able to rest unafraid in the rooms that the queen gave them. Bođvar said, “Everything is suitably prepared for us here, and the queen wishes us well even if King Ađils wishes us all the evil he can. It would be well done for us to accept this offering.”
Vogg told them that King Ađils was a great maker of sacrifices, “Such as has no peer. He sacrifices to a boar, and I doubt that any other enemy so formidable exists. Be watchful of yourselves, because he is putting his every thought and resource into overcoming you in any way possible.”
“I think it’s more likely,” said Bođvar, “that he is thinking about the way he fled his own hall from us this evening.”
Vogg said, “But remember also that he will be deceptive and cruel.”
Chapter 43
They went to sleep after this, but awoke when they heard a noise outside that was so loud that the house they lay in seemed to tremble, as if someone huge were batting it around. Vogg said, “The boar must have been released. King Ađils must have sent it to get his vengeance on you, and it is such a terrible troll that no one can withstand it!”
King Hrólf had a large dog named Gram who was with him. He was a large dog, and very strong.
Now this troll in a boar’s shape appeared, and made a terrible noise. Bođvar sicced the dog on the boar, and the dog showed no fear but ran immediately at the boar. There was now a hard-fought battle, and Bođvar assisted the dog by swinging his weapon at the boar, though the blade would not bite the animal’s back.
This dog Gram was so mighty that he ripped the ears off the boar’s face and all the boar’s cheeks with them, and all of a sudden the boar disappeared down into the earth just as it had come.
{121} Then King Ađils arrived with a large following, and set the house on fire. When this occurred, King Hrólf and his men realized that there was no shortage of fuel for the flames. Bođvar said, “It’s a bad day for us to die, if we’re going to burn in here, and it would be a bad end for King Hrólf, if it ended this way. I’d choose instead to be killed by weapons on an open battlefield. I see no better course of action for us than to rush so hard at the walls that we break out of the house, if it can be done—and that will be no child’s play, since the house is strongly built. Then let each man fight the one in front of him, when he comes outside, and then the Swedes will fall back shortly.”
“This is excellent advice,” said King Hrólf, “and this will avail us well.”
Chapter 44
Now they all made the decision together to leap at one corner of the roof with such explosive force that it was foolhardy, and at last the walls of the burning house burst asunder before them, and King Hrólf and his comrades made their escape.
By this point the streets were crowded all around with armored men, and now began the most desperate kind of battle. King Hrólf and his comrades went forward with hate in their hearts, and where they stepped it was as though the field of enemy bodies had been plowed under. There was no man among their enemies so proud or so noble that he was not made to cower in his apprehension of their sword-blows.
Down into this storm of battle flew King Hrólf’s hawk, Hábrók, launching from a windowsill on the tower to settle on King Hrólf’s shoulders peacefully as though the hawk had all but the assurance of victory.
Bođvar said, “That hawk acts like he’s pulled off something heroic himself!” Little did they know that just then, one of the Swedes had rushed to his own king’s hawk-tower and found to his bewilderment that King Hrólf’s hawk had flown away, and all of King Ađils’s hawks were slain.
{122} No one could withstand King Hrólf and his champions, and now the battle ended with the killing of many men. But at this time King Ađils was nowhere to be seen, and no one could say what had become of him. The few Swedes who survived from among King Ađils’s men, begged for peace and were spared.
Now King Hrólf and his comrades went to the hall, and marched into it boldly. Bođvar asked on what bench King Hrólf would like to sit.
King Hrólf answered him, “I’ll sit on the king’s throne itself, and never one seat lower.” King Ađils never entered the hall, and they thought it was a burden to wait for him without receiving any hospitality, given how much they had done that day. But for a while they sat in peace and contentment, until Hjalti the Righteous spoke up.
“Wouldn’t it be a good idea,” he asked, “for someone to check up on our horses and find out if they’re missing anything they need?” And someone went to do as he said, and when the man came back from checking on them, he said the horses were being treated with villainous mockery, and he gave an account then of how their horses were being mistreated, as has been told. King Hrólf showed no sign that he had even heard, but he did remark that everything seemed to be heading in only one direction for the king named Ađils.
Now Queen Yrsa entered the hall and went before her son King Hrólf and greeted him in the artful and proper manner. He received this well, and she continued: “It is not as good a reunion as I’d hoped, kinsman, or as good as it ought to have been. But my son, you must not endure the inhospitality around here any longer, because there is a large army being prepared from all across Sweden, and King Ađils intends to use it to kill you and all your men. That is something he has meant to do for a long time, if only it had been doable, and I believe now that your strength is greater than his witchcraft.
