Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes, page 7
and knees higher than its belly.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“That is a spider.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“What kind of wonder
did I see outside,
before Delling’s doors?
It had its head
pointing Hel-ward,
but its feet turned to the sun.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“Your riddle is good, Gestumblindi, and I’ve guessed it. That’s an onion. Its head is planted in the earth, but it branches out as it grows up.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“What kind of wonder
did I see outside,
before Delling’s doors?
{33} It was harder than horn,
blacker than a raven,
whiter than a shield,
and straighter than a spear.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
Heiđrek said, “Your riddles are getting worse, Gestumblindi. Why would I need to sit over this one long? It’s obsidian, and a sun-ray shines on it.”
Then Gestumblindi said,
“Very blonde brides,
two serving-women,
brought ale to a room.
It wasn’t molded by hands,
nor forged by a hammer,
yet the one that made it
sat upright outside,
by some islands.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“Your riddle is good, Gestumblindi, and I’ve guessed it. Those were swan-brides who went to their nest and laid eggs. The shell of the egg is not molded by hands nor forged by a hammer. And a male swan, who fathered their eggs, sat upright outside by some islands.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“Who are these ugly women
on a remote mountain:
a wife has a child by a woman,
and that one has a son,
and those wives have no husbands?
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
{34} “Your riddle is good, Gestumblindi, and I’ve guessed it. Those are two celery plants, and there’s a shoot of a new one between them.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“I saw an earth-dweller
from the soil,
a worm sat on a corpse.
A blind one rode a blind one
to the wave-filled sea,
on a horse without breath.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“Your riddle is good, Gestumblindi, and I’ve guessed it. There you found a dead horse on an ice floe, and a dead worm on the horse, and all of it was being carried along in the current of a river.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“Who are those men
who ride to the assembly
together, all at peace,
sent by their leader
over other lands
to build a residence?
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“Your riddle is good, Gestumblindi, and I’ve guessed it. That’s Ítrek and Andađ, when they sit playing board games.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“Who are those brides
who surround their lord,
a man who is weaponless?
The brunettes defend
{35} all their days,
and the blondes travel.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“Your riddle is good, Gestumblindi, and I’ve guessed it. That’s the board game hnefatafl; the darker pieces defend the king piece, and the white pieces attack it.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“Who is that one
who sleeps in the ashes,
and arises from stone?
Eager to be handsome,
he has no father nor mother
when he is born.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“That is fire hidden in a hearth, and it is lit from a flint.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“Who is that great one
who passes over the earth,
swallowing wood and water?
He fears wind,
but never men,
and sings blame at the sun.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“Your riddle is good, Gestumblindi, and I’ve guessed it. It is fog; it passes over the earth so that nothing can be seen through it, not even the sun. But it disappears when a wind strikes it.”
{36} Then Gestumblindi said:
“What kind of animal
kills men’s cattle [or money]
and has an iron shell?
It has eight horns [or corners],
but no head,
and many follow it.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“That is the the húnn-piece in the hnefatafl game.” [This riddle relies on some homonyms in Old Norse: húnn is a bear cub, but also a playing piece in the hnefatafl game. The identical words for “horn” and “corner” in Old Norse (both horn) also give the playful sense that a dangerous animal is being talked about rather than a game piece.]
The Gestumblindi said:
“What kind of animal
protects Danes,
has a bloody back,
and saves men,
meets spears,
gives life to some,
and lays its body
against a man’s palm?”
“That is a shield. It is often bloody in battles, and it protects men well if they are skilled with it.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“Who are those girls
who pass over lands
to spy for their father?
They keep a white shield
{37} in the wintertime,
but a black one in summer?”
“Those are ptarmigans; they’re white in winter, but black in summer.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“Who are those girls
who walk, sorrowing,
to spy for their father?
They have done injury
to many men,
and that’s how they live.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“Those are the daughters of Ægir, the waves, that’s what they’re called.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“Who are those girls
who walk, in a large group,
to spy for their father?
They have blonde hair,
the white-clothed girls,
and those wives have no husbands.”
“Those are waves, that’s what they’re called.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“Who are those widows
who walk, in a large group,
to spy for their father?
They’re seldom cheerful
when they meet people,
{38} and they must wake in the wind.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“Those are Ægir’s widows, that’s what waves are called.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“A certain goose
was once quite large;
she wanted children,
and built a home.
Hay-destroyers
defended her,
and a drink’s wilderness
loomed over her.”
“There a duck built her nest between a cow’s jawbones, and the skull lay over her.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“Who is the great one
who rules many,
and is halfway turned to Hel?
It protects men
and seeks earth,
if he has a trusted friend.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“Your riddle is good, Gestumblindi, and I’ve guessed it. That’s an anchor with a good rope. If it’s in the seafloor, then it protects.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“Who are those brides
who walk in seaside skerries
{39} and journey along a fjord?
Those white-clothed women
have a hard bed,
and they play little in good weather.”
“Those are waves, and their beds are skerries and stones, and they are not often visible in good weather.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“In the summer, I saw
very unhappy people,
around sunset—
I said good-bye.
Silent jarls
drank ale,
but the ale-keg
stood screaming.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“There you saw piglets drinking from a sow, and she squealed in reaction.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“What kind of wonder
did I see outside,
before Delling’s doors?
It had ten tongues,
twenty eyes,
forty feet—
and that creature walked.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
{40} The king said then, “If you are Gestumblindi, like I thought, then you are wiser than I anticipated. Now you’re talking about the sow out in the yard.”
Then the king ordered the sow killed, and it had nine piglets [inside it], like Gestumblindi said. Now the king suspected who this man must be. Then Gestumblindi said:
“Four hang,
four walk,
two show the way,
two fight off the dogs,
one droops behind
and is always dirty.
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
“Your riddle is good, Gestumblindi, and I’ve guessed it. That’s a cow.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“I sat on a sail,
I saw dead men
holding bloody flesh
in bark from a tree.”
“There you sat on a wall [veggr, also meaning “sail”] and watched a falcon [valr, also meaning “men dead in battle”] take a duck to the cliffs.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“Who are the two
who have ten feet,
three eyes,
and one tail?
King Heiđrek,
consider the riddle!”
{41} “That is when Óđin rides Sleipnir.”
Then Gestumblindi said:
“Tell me this last,
if you are wiser than every king:
What did Óđin say
in Baldr’s ear,
before he put him on the funeral pyre?”
King Heiđrek said, “Only you know that, you vile creature.” And then Heiđrek drew Tyrfing and struck at him, but Óđin turned into a falcon and flew away. But when the king struck a second time he cut off his tail-feathers, and this is why the falcon has been so short-tailed ever since.
Then Óđin said, “For this, King Heiđrek, that you drew a weapon on me, and wished to kill me without cause, you will be killed by the worst slaves.” And after this, they parted ways.
Chapter 11
It is said that King Heiđrek had some slaves, captured by him when he raided in the west. There were nine of them altogether, men of high families who thought poorly of being slaves. And it was on one night when King Heiđrek lay in his bedroom with few men near him that the slaves took weapons for themselves and went before the king’s door and killed first the guards on the outside. Then they went to the king’s door with fierce energy, and broke it, and killed King Heiđrek and all the others who were inside. They took the sword Tyrfing and all the treasure that was within, and they went away.
At first no one knew who had done this or where vengeance could be sought. Then Angantýr, son of King Heiđrek, summoned a council, and at this council he was taken for king over all the domains that King Heiđrek had ruled. At this council he swore an oath that he would never sit in his father’s throne before he had avenged him.
{42} A short time after this, Angantýr disappeared on his own and searched widely for these men. One evening he came to a lake while following the river that is called the Graf River. There he saw three men on a fishing boat, and in short order one of the men caught a fish and called to another, asking him to get him the fishing knife so that he could cut its head off. But this one said the knife couldn’t be loaned out right then. So the first said, “Take the sword from under the headboard and get that for me,” and took it from the other and drew it and cut the head from the fish, and then he said:
“By the mouth of the Graf,
a pikefish has paid
for when Heiđrek was killed
under the Carpathian range.”
Angantýr immediately recognized Tyrfing. Then he went away into the forest and waited there until darkness fell. And the fishermen rowed to land and went to their tent and lay down to sleep. Near midnight, Angantýr came to the tent and struck through it and killed all the nine slaves, and took the sword Tyrfing, which was a proof that he had avenged his father. Angantýr now went home.
Soon thereafter Angantýr had a great feast on the Dnieper at the settlement that is called Árheimar, to honor his father. At this time these kings ruled the lands, as it is told:
They say Humli
once ruled the Huns,
Gizur the Geats,
Angantýr the Goths,
Valdar the Danes,
Kjár the Foreigners,
and Alrek the Bold
ruled the English tribe.
Hlođ, son of King Heiđrek, grew up with King Humli, his mother’s father, and he was the handsomest of all men and the most courageous.
{43} And it was a saying of this time that a man was born either with weapons or horses. And what lay behind this was that either weapons were made at about the same time as the man was born, or on the other hand some kind of cattle, animals, steers, or horses were born at the same time as he was. And such things as these were all brought together to honor high-born men, as here it is said about Hlođ, son of Heiđrek:
Then Hlođ was born
in Hunland,
with a knife and a sword,
a long chainmail coat,
a ring-decorated helmet,
a sharp sword,
and a well-tamed horse
in the holy woods.
Now Hlođ learned of the death of his father Heiđrek, and along with it that Angantýr, his brother, had been taken for king over the whole domain that their father had ruled. Now King Humli and Hlođ wished that Hlođ might go to Angantýr to ask for his share of the inheritance, first by means of kind words, as it says here:
Hlođ, heir of Heiđrek,
rode from the east,
he came to the enclosure
where the Goths dwelled,
in Árheimar,
to demand his inheritance.
There Angantýr toasted
the fallen Heiđrek.
Now Hlođ came into Árheimar with a great army, as it says here:
Hlođ found a man outside,
in front of that high hall,
{44} late in the evening,
and he said:
“Go inside, man,
into that high hall,
tell Angantýr
we need to speak!”
The messenger went in before the king’s table and greeted King Angantýr well and then said this:
“Hlođ the Warlike,
Heiđrek’s heir,
your brother,
has come here.
That big young man
is on horseback,
and he wants to speak
with you, my lord.”
And when the king heard this, he threw his knife onto the table, and then flung the table over and threw his armor on and took his white shield in hand, and the sword Tyrfing in his other hand. Then there arose a great noise in the hall, as it says here:
There was a noise in the house,
the nobles stood up,
each wanted to hear
what Hlođ would say
and what Angantýr
would answer.
Then Angantýr said, “Welcome, Hlođ my brother, come in and drink with us, and let us drink mead together first in honor of our father, and then to dignify all of us in our pride.”
{45} Hlođ said, “I have come for a different reason than to get a drink in my belly.” Then he said:
“I want half of everything
that Heiđrek owned:
half the cows, half the calves,
half the whistling millstones,
half the needles, half the spears,
half the treasure,
half the slaves, men and women,
and half their children.
“Half the great forest
called Mirkwood,
half the holy graves
in the Goths’ lands,
half the lovely stone
which stands by the Dnieper,
half the armor
Heiđrek owned,
half the lands and men
and bright rings.”
Then Angantýr said, “You have not come lawfully to this land, and you want to make a crooked offer.” Then Angantýr continued,
“Brother, first
the white shield must break,
and the cold spear
meet another of its kind,
and many a man
kneel dead in the grass,
before I split Tyrfing
in two pieces,
before I give you, son of a Hun,
half the inheritance!”
{46} And Angantýr said further,
“I will offer you
bright spears, money,
a heaping portion of the wealth
that will please you most;
twelve hundred men,
twelve hundred horses,
twelve hundred servants
who each bear a shield.
“I will give each man
many other things,
better than he
has a right to have.
I’ll give each man
a young bride,
I’ll put a necklace
on every bride’s neck.
“I will measure out
silver for you while you sit,
and weigh you down
with gold while you stand,
so rings roll off you
in every direction,
and you will have the rule
of a third of the Goths.”
