Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes, page 8
Chapter 12
Gizur of the Grýtings, foster-father of Angantýr, was with King Angantýr then, and he was very old. And when he heard Angantýr’s offer, he thought too much was being given away, and he said:
{47} “All this, to be received
by a slavewoman’s son?
He’s a slavewoman’s son,
even if fathered by a king!
A bastard son
sat on a grave mound
when a noble-born son
shared out his inheritance.”
Hlođ became extremely angry that he would be called a slavewoman’s son and a bastard, if he accepted his brother’s offer, and so he left immediately with all his men, going all the way to Hunland, to King Humli his kinsman. He told him that Angantýr his brother had not granted him a half share in the inheritance. Humli then learned all of what they had said, and he became extremely angry that his grandson Hlođ was called a serving-woman’s son, and he said then:
“We’ll remain here this winter,
and live happily,
we’ll judge, and we’ll drink
from precious cups.
We’ll teach the Huns
to hold their war-weapons,
weapons we’ll later lead them
boldly into battle holding.”
And then he said:
“Hlođ, we’ll prepare
an army for you well,
and we’ll bravely
make war,
the Huns will summon
an army, composed
of twelve-year-old boys,
and two-year-old foals.”
{48} During this winter, Humli and Hlođ sat quietly. During the spring, they assembled such a huge army that there was nothing left over of the fighting-age men of Hunland. All men twelve years old and older came, if they were able to fight with weapons, together with all the horses two years old or older. It was such a great gathering of men that it would have to be counted in the thousands, and in nothing less than thousands. And a chieftain was placed over each regiment, and a banner over each regiment, and there were 15,600 in each regiment, and each regiment had thirteen battalions, and in each battalion there were 160 men, and there were thirty-three such regiments. And when this army came together, they rode through the forest called Mirkwood that separates Hunland from the lands of the Goths. And as they emerged from the forest, there were large settlements and flat plains, and on the valley stood a fair city. And there Hervor, sister of King Angantýr, ruled, together with Ormar, her foster-father. They had been placed there in order to guard the land from the army of the Huns, and they had many troops there.
Chapter 13
It was one morning at sunrise that Hervor stood high on a certain castle over the city wall, and she saw a great cloud of dust kicked up by horses south toward the forest, so large that it hid the sun for a long while. Then she saw, glowing under the dust cloud as if she were looking at a piece of gold jewelry, beautiful shields inlaid with gold, gilded helmets, and bright coats of chainmail. Then she saw that it was the army of the Huns, and they were very numerous. Hervor went down quickly and called to a trumpeter, telling him to sound the alarm. And then Hervor said, “Take your weapons and get ready for battle! And you, Ormar, ride toward the Huns and offer them a battle below the southern wall of the city.” And Ormar said:
“I will certainly ride
holding the shield,
{49} and offer war on behalf
of the army of Goths.”
Then Ormar rode from the city toward the army. He called out loudly and told them to ride to the city, “and out below the southern wall of the city, that’s where I offer you battle. Let those who come first wait for the others’ arrival.”
Now Ormar rode back to the city, and Hervor was now prepared as was the whole army. They now rode out of the city toward the Huns, and a terrible battle began. But because the Huns had the much bigger army, the bulk of the casualties were in Hervor’s army, and in time she fell and much of her army fell around her. And when Ormar saw her fall, he fled, as did all the other survivors. Ormar rode day and night, as hard as he could, until he came to King Angantýr in Árheimar.
Now the Huns began to raid the whole land and burn it. And when Ormar came to King Angantýr, he said:
“I’ve come from the south
to tell you this,
the famous forest of Mirkwood
is all burned to cinders,
and all the Gothic warriors
are covered in men’s blood.
“I know that Hervor,
Heiđrek’s daughter,
your sister,
was bent to the earth,
it’s the Huns
who have felled her,
and many others
of your warriors.
“She found it easier to go to war
than to speak to suitors,
or to sit and drink
on her wedding day.”
{50} King Angantýr grinned when he heard this. He paused a long time before speaking, and then he said:
“You were treated unbrotherly,
you excellent sister.”
And then he looked over his shoulder, and there were not many troops with him. He said:
“There were many of us
when we drank mead,
and now we are fewer
when we ought to be more.
“I don’t see a single man
in my army
who would ride
and bear the shield,
and seek out the fighters
of the Huns
(although I might ask,
and I might pay him with rings).”
Gizur the Old said:
“I will ask you
for not one coin,
not one jingling
piece of gold.
But I will ride
and bear the shield,
and offer war
to the Hunnish troops.”
{51} It was a law of King Heiđrek, that if an army was in the land and the enemy king staked out a valley and chose a battlefield, then the invaders could not raid until they had a battle. Gizur armed himself with good weapons and leapt onto his horse like a young man. Then he said to the king:
“Where shall I show
the Huns our battlefield?”
Angantýr said:
“You remember
the slaughter
at Dúnheiđ, under the
Jassar Mountains.
There the Goths
have often made war
and famously
won victory.”
Now Gizur rode away until he came to the Hunnish army. He did not ride any nearer than he needed to be heard by them. Then he called out in a high voice and said:
“Your army is frightened!
Your king is doomed!
Battle-flags overshadow you,
Óđin will be fierce to you.”
And then:
“I offer you
a slaughter at Dúnheiđ,
a battle, under the
Jassar Mountains.
{52} You’ll each be raw flesh
in those high places!
Now may Óđin let the spear fly
in accord with what I say!”
When Hlođ had heard the words of Gizur, he said:
“Capture Gizur
of the Grýting people,
that man of Angantýr
who’s come from Árheimar!”
King Humli said:
“We won’t do harm
to messengers,
those who travel
all alone.”
Gizur said, “The Huns will not make us afraid, nor will your bows made of horn.” Then he spurred his horse and rode to King Angantýr and went before him and he greeted him well. The king asked whether he had met the kings. Gizur said, “I spoke with them, and I summoned them to a battlefield at Dúnheiđ in the valleys of slaughter.” Angantýr asked how large an army the Huns had. Gizur said, “Their numbers are great,
“There are six
regiments of men,
and in each regiment
five battalions;
in each battalion
thirteen squadrons;
in each squadron
the men are quadrupled.”
{53} Angantýr now knew about the Hunnish army, and so he sent his men away in every direction, summoning every man to come who would help his army and knew how to use weapons. Then he went to Dúnheiđ with his army, and that was an incredibly large army. And then the Huns came against them, and they had an army half again as large.
Chapter 14
On the second day, they began their battle, and they fought all day, and in the evening they went into their tents. They fought in this way for eight days, and the chieftains remained uninjured, though no one knew the count of how many men fell.
By both day and night, new troops arrived for Angantýr from every direction, and thus it came to be that he had no fewer men than he had at first. And the battle grew yet fiercer all the time. All of the Huns were thoroughly vicious, and they now understood the stakes, which did not include keeping their lives if they did not win the battle. They knew there would be no point in begging the Goths for mercy.
For their part, the Goths guarded their freedom and their homeland from the Huns, and they stood firm and encouraged one another. And when the day had advanced, the Goths attacked so hard that the troops of the Huns bent like stalks of grass before them. And when Angantýr saw this, he came forward from his shield-wall and entered the front of the fighting force and had Tyrfing in his hand, and he swung it at both men and horses. The shield-wall of the Kings of the Huns broke then, and Angantýr exchanged blows with his brother Hlođ. Then Hlođ fell, and King Humli, and then the Huns broke out into retreat, but the Goths killed them and felled so many men that the rivers were dammed up and overflooded their banks, and the valleys were full of dead horses and men and blood. Then King Angantýr went to inspect the fallen, and he found Hlođ, his brother. Then he said:
“Brother, I offered you
an undiminished inheritance—
{54} money, and a horde of jewels—
which befit you as a king.
Now you have neither
bright rings, nor even
your lands, at the end,
as the wages of your battle.”
And then:
“We two are cursed, brother,
and I have become your killer.
This will be remembered forever,
and the judgment of the Norns is evil.”
Chapter 15
Angantýr was king of Reiđgotaland a long time. He was a powerful and great warrior, and many families of kings are descended from him. His son was Heiđrek Wolf-skin, who afterward was king for a long time in Reiđgotaland. He had a daughter named Hild, who was mother of Hálfdan the Clever, who was the father of Ívar the Wide-conquering. Ívar the Wide-conquering came to Sweden with an army, as it says in the sagas of kings, and King Ingjald the Evil-advised feared his army and burned himself in his home with all his guards at the settlement called Ræning. Ívar the Wide-conquering then took all Sweden as his domain, and he also conquered the Danish kingdom and the Baltic shore, as well as Saxony and Estonia and all the east as far as the Rus kingdom. And he ruled West Saxony and won a part of England called Northumberland. Ívar placed all of the Danish kingdom under his control and then made Valdar king over it, and gave him his daughter Álfhild as wife. Their sons were Harald War-tooth and Randvér, who fell in England. Valdar later died in Denmark, when Randvér took Denmark as his own and became king over it. But Harald War-tooth took the title of king in Götaland, and later {55} he brought under himself all the kingdoms earlier mentioned, those that King Ívar the Wide-conquering had owned. King Randvér was married to Ása, daughter of King Harald the Red-whiskered from the north in Norway. Their son was Sigurđ Ring. King Randvér died suddenly, and Sigurđ Ring took the kingdom in Denmark. He fought with King Harald War-tooth at Brávellir in eastern Götaland, and there King Harald fell and much of his army with him. These battles have been the most famous in old sagas, and they were the scenes of the greatest loss of life, together with the battle that Angantýr and his brother fought at Dúnheiđ. King Sigurđ Ring ruled the Danish kingdom until his dying day, and his son Ragnar Lođbrók ruled after him.
The son of Harald War-tooth was named Eystein the Evil-advised. He took Sweden after his father and ruled it until the sons of King Ragnar killed him, as it says in his saga. The sons of King Ragnar then took over the rule of Sweden, and after the death of King Ragnar, his son Bjorn Ironside took over the rule of Sweden, and Sigurđ took the Danish kingdom, and Hvítserk the east, and Ívar the Boneless took England.
The sons of Bjorn Ironside were Eirík and Refil. Bjorn was a war-king and a sea-king, and King Eirík ruled Sweden after his father and lived only a short time. Then Eirík, son of Refil, took the kingdom. He was a great warrior and a very mighty king. The sons of Eirík, son of Bjorn Ironside, were Onund from Uppsala and King Bjorn. Then Sweden came once again to be divided among the brothers when they took over the kingdom from Eirík Refilsson. King Bjorn took the settlement called Haug, and he was called Bjorn at Haug. Bragi the poet was with him. Eirík was the son of King Onund who took over the kingdom at Uppsala after his father. He was a mighty king.
In his time, Harald Fair-hair came to the throne in Norway, the first man of his family who ruled Norway as one kingdom. Bjorn was a son of King Eirik in Uppsala. He took over the reign of the kingdom after his father and ruled a long time. The sons of Bjorn were Eirík the Victorious and Óláf; they took the dominion and the kingdom after their father. Óláf was the father of Styrbjorn the Strong. In their time, King Harald Fair-hair died.
Styrbjorn fought with King Eirík, his father’s brother, at Fýrisvellir, and Styrbjorn died there. Then Eirík ruled Sweden until his death-day.
{56} He was married to Sigríđ Great-advisor. Their son was named Óláf, who was taken as king in Sweden after King Eirík. He was a child then, and the Swedes carried him after themselves, and for this reason he was called Óláf Tax-king, and later Óláf the Swede. He was a mighty king for a long time. He was the first of the Swedish kings to accept Christianity, and during his rule Sweden was called Christian. Onund was the name of the son of King Óláf the Swede, who ruled after him and died of sickness. In his time, King Óláf the Holy [of Norway] died at Stiklastad. Eymund was the name of the second son of Óláf the Swede, who ruled after his brother. In his time, the Swedes were not good Christians. Eymund was king for a short time.
Chapter 16
Steinkel was the name of a powerful man of noble birth in Sweden. His mother was Ástríđ, the daughter of Njál Finnsson the Squinter from Hálogaland [in Norway], and his father was Rognvald the Old. Steinkel was the highest jarl in Sweden, and after the death of King Eymund the Swedes took him as their king. It was thus that, at this time, the rule of Sweden passed out of the hands of the descendants of the ancient kings.
Steinkel was a great chieftain. He married a daughter of King Eymund. He died of sickness in Sweden around the same time as King Harald [Hard-ruler, of Norway] died in England. Ingi was the name of a son of Steinkel who became king of the Swedes after Hákon. Ingi was king there for a long time, and he was popular and a good Christian. He ended the practice of sacrifices in Sweden and told all the people to convert to Christianity, but the Swedes had too much false belief in the heathen gods and held on to their ancient rituals. King Ingi wanted to marry a woman named Mey [Girl], whose brother was named Svein [Boy]. King Ingi liked no man as much as he did Svein, and he became the most powerful man in Sweden. But the Swedes thought King Ingi broke the old laws of the land when he opposed the practices that Steinkel had allowed to continue. At a certain meeting that the Swedes had with King Ingi, they gave him two choices: either {57} to hold the old laws or to give up the kingship. Then King Ingi said he would not cast off the faith that was right. Then the Swedes screamed and they pelted him with stones and drove him away from the meeting grounds. Svein, the brother-in-law of the king, remained behind at the meeting. He offered to make a sacrifice on the Swedes’ behalf, if they would give him the kingship. They all agreed to that, and Svein was taken as king over all of Sweden. Then a horse was brought to the meeting and cut apart. They ate it, and smeared the sacrifice-tree with its blood. They forsook Christ, made sacrifices, and drove Ingi away to West Götaland. Svein was king of the Swedes for three winters.
King Ingi went with his guards and a small body of soldiers, only a tiny army. He rode east through Småland and into East Götaland and then into Sweden. He rode both day and night, and came upon an unexpecting Svein early in the morning. They trapped all the people inside the house and struck up a fire and burned them. A certain man with land was named Thjóf, who burned inside; he had followed Svein before. Sacrifice-Svein emerged from the house and was immediately killed. Ingi then took the Kingdom of the Swedes for his own and led them into the true faith of Christianity, and ruled there until his death-day when he died of sickness. Hallstein, the son of King Steinkel, the brother of King Ingi, was king along with his brother King Ingi. The sons of Hallstein were Philippus and Ingi, and these two took over ruling Sweden after King Ingi the Old. Philippus married Ingigerđ, the daughter of King Harald Sigurđarson. He was king only a short time.
{59} The Saga of Hrólf Kraki and His Champions
(Hrólfs saga kraka ok kappa hans)
Part 1: The Tale of Fróđi
Chapter 1
A man was named Hálfdan, and another was Fróđi. They were brothers and sons of a king, and each of them ruled a kingdom. King Hálfdan was gentle and forgiving and cheerful, but King Fróđi was a great wild man. King Hálfdan had three children, two sons and a daughter named Signý. She was the oldest, and was married to Jarl Sævil.
These events happened when his sons were still young. One of them was named Hróar, and the other Helgi. Their foster-father was named Regin, and he loved the boys very much.
