Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes, page 9
There was an island that lay not far from the town. A man lived there who was named Vífil, an old friend of King Hálfdan. Vífil had two dogs; one was named Hopp and the other Hó. Vífil was wealthy and he could call up a great deal of ancient wisdom when he needed it.
Now it is said that King Fróđi sat in his kingdom and he envied his brother King Hálfdan that he had the rule of Denmark on his own, but he thought his own destiny had not turned out as good. Thus, he assembled a crowd, very many people, and went to Denmark and came {60} there under the darkness of night, burning everything and setting it to the torch. This came upon King Hálfdan with little warning. Fróđi had him captured and killed, and those who were near Hálfdan fled. But all the people of the town had to swear an oath of faithfulness to King Fróđi, or otherwise he would have them tortured in various ways.
Regin, the foster-father of Helgi and Hróar, got them away and brought them to an island belonging to Vífil. The boys mourned for their father Hálfdan’s loss.
Regin told Vífil the boys would have no other hiding places left, if Vífil could not keep them from King Fróđi. Vífil said, “Here is a difficult task,” but said he would do a great deal to help the boys. So he welcomed them there, and hid them in a turf-house, and they were usually inside it overnight. But in the day they would wander Vífil’s woods, because the island was half covered in forest. And in this way they parted from Regin.
Regin had great property in Denmark, and a wife and children, and thus Regin saw no other option but to submit to King Fróđi and swear the oath of loyalty to him. Now King Fróđi put all of the Kingdom of Denmark under his control with taxes and duties. For the most part people did not submit willingly, because King Fróđi was an unpopular man, and his taxes fell also on Jarl Sævil.
And after all of this had passed, King Fróđi continued to be anxious that the boys Helgi and Hróar had not been found. He ordered men to watch for them on all sides, near and far, north and south, east and west, and promised great rewards to anyone who could tell him anything about them, and tortures to anyone who discovered them but didn’t say anything to the king. Then he had his men search for seeresses and wise men from all over the realm, and he ordered them to search the shores and beyond, in all the islands and skerries, and yet still the boys were not found.
Now Fróđi ordered wizards brought to him, sorcerers who could find out the truth about anything. And they told him that though these two boys were not being raised in Fróđi’s own realm, they were not very far from the king regardless. King Fróđi said, “We have searched for them widely, and I think it is implausible that they are near here. But there is an island close by, which we have not searched much. And it is hardly inhabited, though one poor man lives there.”
{61} “Look there first,” said the wizards, “Because a great fog and bewilderment lies over that island, and thus we cannot easily see the house of that poor man, and we think he must be wise, and must be something more than he seems.”
The king said, “Then the island will be searched. Yet it would seem strange to me if such a poor fisherman were the one keeping these boys, and dared to hide anyone from me.”
Chapter 2
It was early one morning that the poor man Vífil woke up and said, “There are many strange things journeying and flying, and many mighty spirits have come to this island. Stand up, Hróar and Helgi, sons of Hálfdan! Keep yourselves in the forest today.” They ran into the forest.
Now it so happened that Vífil knew that King Fróđi’s messengers had come onto the island and were searching for the two boys in every place it occurred to them to look.
They never found the boys, and yet they thought Vífil seemed suspicious. They left after searching the island, and told the king that they could not find them. “You must have searched badly,” said the king, “and I think this man is magically talented. Go back now to that place. Take the same route, so that the man will least expect you, and he won’t be able to hide them quickly if they are there.”
Now they did as the king told them, and they went back a second time to the island. Vífil said to the boys, “You can’t rest yet—go into the forest as fast as you can!” The boys did so, and just after this the king’s men rushed to Vífil and ordered him to let them search, and he let them see everything. Yet they found nothing on the island, wherever they looked, and thus they went back after this and told the king.
King Fróđi said, “Now this man won’t be treated with leniency any longer. I myself will go to the island first thing in the morning.” And the king did as he told, and personally went to the island the next morning. Vífil awoke in some pain and saw that he would have to come up with a new plan soon. He then said to the brothers, “You {62} must respond if I call you Hopp and Hó, the names of my dogs. Now go to your turf-house and keep in mind that no more peace will come to this island, and you will not be safe here longer, because your kinsman Fróđi is one of the searchers and he intends to end your lives with all kinds of schemes and tricks, and I do not know whether I will be able to keep you here.”
Then Vífil went to the shore, and the king’s ship had already arrived there. He acted as though he didn’t see it, and pretended to be looking for his cattle so hard that he never looked in the direction of the king and his men. The king told his men to capture the man, and this was done and he was brought before the king.
King Fróđi said, “You are a great trickster and very deceptive. Tell me where the king’s sons are, because you know that.”
Vífil said, “Hail, my lord! Don’t hold me here, because the wolf will tear my cattle apart!” Then he shouted loudly, “Hopp and Hó, help the cattle! Now I can’t help them!”
The king said, “What are you calling now?”
“My dogs are named that. But search now, my lord, as much as you like. I don’t expect that the king’s sons are here, and I am surprised that you think I would hide people from you.”
The king said, “You are certainly a liar, but the boys won’t be spared a second time, not even if they have been before. It would be fitting if I killed you.”
Vífil said, “You have that right. Then at least you’d get something done on this island, rather than leave with things as they are.”
The king said, “I’m not ordering you killed, though I think it is probably ill-advised that I don’t.” Now the king went home.
Vífil found the boys and told them that they couldn’t remain there any longer. “I will send you to Sævil, your brother-in-law, and you will become famous men, if you live long.”
Chapter 3
Hróar was twelve winters old at this time, and Helgi ten, but Helgi was bigger and bolder. Now they went away, and Hróar called himself Hrani and Helgi called himself Ham wherever they went or found {63} men to speak to. These boys came to Jarl Sævil and remained there for a week before they talked about their presence with the jarl. He said, “I think there is little promise in you, but I won’t deny you food for the time being.” They stayed there a while and were fairly unsociable. No one knew what boys they might be, nor did anyone know their family. The jarl did not suspect the truth either, and in no way did they let him guess their true situation. Some men said that they had been born with scabies, and made fun of them because they were always dressed in hooded garments and never took the hoods off. Many suspected that they were covering up their scabs. They were there through a third winter.
On one occasion, King Fróđi invited Jarl Sævil to a feast. Fróđi strongly suspected now that Sævil was hiding the boys, on account of his relationship to them. The jarl prepared for the journey with a large crowd of men. The boys asked to go with him, but the jarl said they could not. Signý, the jarl’s wife, was also along on the journey. Ham, who was really Helgi, found himself an untamed colt to ride. He ran now after the troop and rode backward, looking over the horse’s tail and in every way acting foolishly. His brother Hrani got a horse of similar quality, but rode looking in the right direction.
Now the jarl saw that they were coming behind him and that they couldn’t control their horses. The shaggy colts kept shying this way and that underneath them, and the cloak fell from Hrani’s head. Their sister Signý was able to see this, and she recognized them immediately and wept very hard. The jarl asked why she cried, and she spoke this poem:
“The whole family-tree
of the Skjoldungs,
of the king of Lund,
is reduced to firewood.
I saw my brothers
riding bareback,
but Sævil’s men
had saddles.”
{64} The jarl said, “This is some important news. Don’t let it be revealed.” Then he rode back to the boys (both of them had fallen off their mounts now) and told them to go back, as they would only be humiliated in the company of good men. And he said this because he had learned who these boys were, but he wanted no one to guess the truth from the way he spoke to them. The boys now acted as if they were going back, but they didn’t intend to return to Sævil’s realm, and so they continued to ride on somewhat behind the jarl’s group.
The boys now came to the feast and ran back and forth around the hall. And one time they did this near where their sister Signý was. She said to them very quietly, “Don’t be in this hall, because you are not old enough.” They did not pay her any attention.
King Fróđi began saying that he wanted the sons of Hálfdan searched for, and he said that great honor would be given to anyone who could give him some information about them.
A certain seeress [vǫlva] named Heiđ had arrived there. King Fróđi asked her to use her power to find out what she could say about the boys. Then he gave her a great feast and set her up on a high scaffold for dark magic [seiđhjallr]. The king then asked her what kind of news she could see, “because I know,” he said, “that much will be revealed to you now, and I see a great gift in you. Answer me as fast as you can, witch.” Then her jaws were forced wide open and she gasped loudly, and then this song came from her mouth:
“There are two inside
(I don’t trust either),
they sit by fires,
they are glorious.”
The king said, “Is it the boys, or the ones who have protected them?”
She said:
“It’s the ones who stayed
on Vífil’s island a long time,
where they were known by
{65} the names of dogs:
Hopp and Hó.”
And at that moment Signý tossed the seeress a golden ring. The seeress was glad for the gift, and wanted to stop her performance. “Why did that happen?” the seeress said. “After all, this is only lies I have said, and now all my gift of prophecy departs from me.”
The king said, “You will be tortured into talking, if you won’t accept fine gifts. And now here I am before this crowd, and I don’t know any better than before what you’re talking about, or why Signý isn’t in her seat, and it may be that here the wolves are in counsel with the wolves.”
Someone told the king that Signý was sick from the smoke that came from the oven. Jarl Sævil asked her to sit up and carry herself proudly, “because there are many who can kill the boys if they want to. Act as though it’s the last thing you’d think about, because we may not be able to help them with things as they are.” King Fróđi now turned his attention strongly upon the witch and told her to tell the truth if she did not want to be tortured. She then opened her mouth very wide, and the dark magic became difficult, and then she said this stanza:
“I see where the sons
of Hálfdan are sitting,
Hróar and Helgi,
in good health,
they will take
the life of Fróđi,
“. . . unless they are quickly killed, but that will not be,” she said. And after this she vaulted herself down off the scaffold and said:
“Ham’s and Hrani’s eyes
are snake-like and fierce;
those boys are princes, and
wonderfully brave.”
{66} After this, the boys ran out into the woods with great fear. Regin, their foster-father, recognized them and realized this was a crucial moment. But the seeress had given them sound advice, when she said they ought to hide themselves, and then she ran out along the hall. And now the king told his men to rise and search for them. Regin then put out all the lights in the hall, and now the men disagreed, because some thought they’d gotten away into the forest, and amid all this the boys did manage to reach the woods. The king said, “They are very near now, and there are people here who must be allied and complicit with them, and this will be avenged fiercely when there is time. But now we will drink through the night. The boys will be happy that they got away, and the first thing they’ll try to do is conceal themselves.”
Regin went to serve drinks, and he energetically served the ale. So did many other men, friends of his, so that before long all the men were falling crossways over each other asleep.
Chapter 4
The brothers remained in the forest for now, as has been told, and when they’d been there for a while they saw that a man was riding toward them from the hall. They thought it was Regin, their foster-father, coming. They were happy to see him and greeted him well. He did not acknowledge their greeting, but turned his horse back around toward the hall. They thought this was strange and talked about what this might be about.
And now Regin turned his horse back toward them and had an unfriendly look, as if he were about to attack them right there. Helgi said, “I think we ought to hurry, whatever he intends.” Then Regin went home to the hall, and they followed him. “Thus my foster-father shows,” said Helgi, “that he doesn’t want to break his oaths to King Fróđi, and that’s why he won’t speak with us, but he still wants to help us.”
There was a grove near the hall that the king owned, and when they reached this place, Regin said to himself: “If I had great differences with King Fróđi, I would burn this grove down.” He said nothing further.
{67} Hróar said, “What does this mean?”
“It means,” said Helgi, “that he wants us two to go to the hall and set it on fire except for one exit.”
“How could we do that, two boys, as overpowered as we’d be?”
“It will be done, nevertheless,” said Helgi, “and we must always be ready to take risks, if we’re going to be able to get vengeance for our grievances.” And so they did it, and soon after Jarl Sævil emerged from the burning hall with all his men.
Sævil said, “Let’s build up the fire now and give some help to these boys. I have no obligation to King Fróđi.”
Chapter 5
King Fróđi had two craftsmen, who were veritable Volunds in their skill, and both were named Var.
Regin helped his people, both his friends and his kinsmen, get out of the hall. King Fróđi woke up now inside the hall and he breathed hard and said, “I’ve had a dream, boys, and not a good one. I’ll tell it to you. I dreamed that a loud voice called to us, and someone said this: ‘Now you’ve come home, king, you and your men.’ I thought I answered, and not kindly: ‘Home to where?’ Then the voice came so near to me that I could feel the breath of the speaker: ‘Home to Hel, home to Hel,’ said the one who spoke, and I woke up to that.”
And at that moment they heard Regin speaking this poem outside the hall doors:
“Regin is outside,
with Hálfdan’s sons,
tough enemies—
tell it to Fróđi!
Var made the nails,
Var hammered,
but Var struck
nails made by Var.”
{68} Then the king’s men who were inside said that this was not big news, that Regin was outside or that the king’s craftsmen would work at building, whether they made nails or other tools. The king said, “Do you think this isn’t news? It might not be for us. Now Regin has told us about a certain fear, and he has given me a warning, and he will be crafty and sly in dealing with us.”
Then the king went to the hall doors and saw that there were ominous events outside. Then the whole hall began to burn. King Fróđi asked who started the fire. They told him that the brothers Helgi and Hróar set it. The king asked them to accept a peaceful settlement and to speak about it among themselves, “And this is an evil thing to happen between kinsmen, that one of us would be the killer of another.”
Helgi answered, “No one can trust you. Wouldn’t you have betrayed us no slower than you did my father Hálfdan? Now you will pay for that.”
King Fróđi turned away from the hall doors and into the mouth of his turf-house and he intended to go there into the forest to hide himself. And as he entered the turf-house, he found Regin there in front of him and not in a friendly mood. The king then turned back and was burned to death inside, and many of his troops along with him. Sigríđ, the mother of Helgi and Hróar, burned there, because she did not want to go out.
The brothers thanked Jarl Sævil, their brother-in-law, for his good help, as well as their foster-father Regin, and they thanked all the men and gave them good gifts. They now took over the kingdom and all the property, land, and money that King Fróđi had owned. In their temperament, the brothers were not alike. Hróar was a mild and kind man, and Helgi was a great warrior, and he seemed better at everything. And now time passed for a while. And here ends the Tale of Fróđi, and here begins the tale of Hróar and Helgi, the sons of Hálfdan.
{69} Part 2: The Tale of Helgi
Chapter 6
A king was named Norđri, and his daughter was named Ogn. Norđri ruled over a certain part of England. Hróar spent a long time with King Norđri, assisting him with guarding and strengthening his land, and there was great friendship between them. And later Hróar married Ogn and became co-ruler with King Norđri, his father-in-law, while Helgi ruled Denmark, which was the inheritance from their father.
