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Read Ebook: A Gentleman of Courage: A Novel of the Wilderness by Curwood James Oliver Stewart Robert W Illustrator
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Ebook has 1121 lines and 88476 words, and 23 pages
STORIES AND BALLADS OF THE FAR PAST
TRANSLATED FROM THE NORSE WITH INTRODUCTIONS AND NOTES
N. KERSHAW
CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1921
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
In accordance with general custom in works of this kind I have discarded the use of accents, unfamiliar symbols, etc., except in a few Norse words which can hardly be anglicised.
My thanks are due to the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press for undertaking the publication of this book, and to the staff for their unfailing courtesy.
N. K.
Table of Contents
PART I
SAGAS PAGE General Introduction 3 The Th?ttr of Nornagest 11 The Th?ttr of S^rli 38 The Saga of Hromund Greipsson 58 The Saga of Herv^r and Heithrek 79 Appendix to Part I 144
PART II
BALLADS
General Introduction 153 Gr?plur I 171 The Faroese Ballad of Nornagest 176 The Faroese Ballad of Hjalmar and Angantyr 182 The Danish Ballad of Angelfyr and Helmer 186 The Faroese Ballad of Arngrim's Sons 193 The Faroese Riddle Ballad 212 The Shetland Ballad of Hildina 217
Notes 220 List of editions and translations 254
TO MY SISTER
PART I
SAGAS
THE SAGAS
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
It happened one morning at sunrise that as Herv^r was standing on the summit of a tower over the gate of the fortress, she looked southwards towards the forest and saw clouds of dust, arising from a great body of horse, by which the sun was hidden for a long time. Next she saw a gleam beneath the dust, as though she were gazing on a mass of gold--fair shields overlaid with gold, gilded helmets and white corslets.
INTRODUCTION TO THE TH?TTR OF NORNAGEST
The saga itself dates from about 1300. It is derived from tradition, mainly Icelandic; but the various stories contained in it differ greatly from one another in their historical value. This episode is probably to be regarded as legendary in part; and it would seem also to contain a good deal of conscious fiction.
THE TH?TTR OF NORNAGEST
The King answered: "You shall be guest here, whatever you are called."
Guest said: "I have told you my name truly, Sire, and I will gladly receive your hospitality if I may."
The King told him he could have it readily. But since the day was far spent, the King would not enter into conversation with his guest; for he was going soon to vespers, and after that to dinner, and then to bed and to sleep.
Now on that same night King Olaf Tryggvason was lying awake in his bed and saying his prayers, while all the other men in the hall were asleep. Then the King noticed that an elf or spirit of some kind had come into the hall, though all the doors were locked. He made his way past the beds of the men who were asleep there, one after another, and at last reached the bed of a man at the far end.
Then the elf stopped and said: "An empty house, and a mighty strong bolt on the door! People say that the King is the wisest of men. If he were as clever in things of this kind as they say he would not sleep so soundly."
After that he vanished through the door, locked as it was.
Early next morning the King sent his servant to find out who had occupied that bed over night, and it proved to have been the stranger. The King ordered him to be summoned before him and asked him whose son he was.
He answered: "My father's name was Thorth. He was a Dane and was called 'The Contentious,' and lived at a place called Groening in Denmark."
"You are a well set-up man," said the King.
Guest was bold of speech, and bigger in build than most men. He looked strong but was somewhat advanced in years. He asked the King if he might stay for a while in his retinue. The King asked if he were baptised. Guest said that he had been prime-signed but not baptised. The King said that he was free to remain in his retinue, but added:
"You will not remain long unbaptised with me."
The reason for the elf's remark about the bolt was that Guest had crossed himself, that evening like other men, but was in reality still a heathen.
The King said: "Can you do anything in the way of sport or music?"
He replied that he could play the harp and tell stories which people enjoyed.
Then said the King: "King Svein has no right to let unbaptised men leave his kingdom and wander about from one country to another."
Guest replied: "You must not blame the King of the Danes for this, for it is a long time since I left Denmark. In fact it was a long time before the Emperor Otto burnt the Dane-work and forced King Harold Gormsson and Earl Haakon the Heathen to become Christians."
The King questioned Guest about many subjects and he always gave him good and intelligent answers. Men say that it was in the third year of King Olaf's reign that Guest came to him.
In this year also there came to him two men called Grim who were sent by Guthmund from Glasisvellir. They brought to the King as a present from Guthmund two horns which were also called 'Grim.' They had also some further business with the King which we will return later.
As for Guest, he remained with the King, and had a place at the far end of the visitors' seats. He was a man of breeding and had good manners, and was popular and much respected by everyone.
Ulf had many fine treasures to bring to the King, which he had got during the summer, and one gold ring in particular which was called Hnituth. It was welded together in seven places and each piece had a different colour. It was made of much finer gold than rings usually are. The ring had been given to Ulf by a landowner called Lothmund, and before that it had belonged to King Half, from whom the Halfsrekkar take their name. The ring had come to them as forced tribute from King Halfdan Ylfing. Lothmund had asked Ulf in return for it that he would guard his home with the support of King Olaf, and Ulf had promised to do so.
Now King Olaf was keeping Yule in magnificent style at his court in Trondhjem; and it was on the eighth day of Yule that Ulf gave him the gold ring Hnituth. The King thanked him for the gift as well as for all the faithful service which he had constantly rendered him.
The ring was passed round the building in which the drinking was going on.--As yet no halls had been built in Norway. Now each man showed it to his neighbour and they thought that they had never seen such fine gold as that of which the ring was made. At last it came to the guest-table, and so to the guest who had just arrived. He looked at the ring and handed it back on the palm of his hand--the hand in which he had been holding his drinking horn. He was not much impressed with the treasure, and made no remarks about it, but went on jesting with his companions. A serving-man was pouring out drink at the end of the guest-table.
"Do you not like the ring?" he asked.
They said; "We all like it very much except the new-comer. He can't see anything in it; but we think he can't appreciate it simply because he doesn't care for things of this kind."
The serving-man went up the hall to the King and told him exactly what the guests had said, adding that, the new-comer had taken little note of the treasure, valuable as it was, when it was shown to him.
Then the King remarked: "The new-comer probably knows more than you think: he must come to me in the morning and tell me a story."
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