Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar

There was a kind named Hiörvard, who had four wives, one of whom was named Alfhild, their son was named Hedin; the second was named Særeid, their son was Humlung; the third was named Sinriód, their son was Hymling. King Hiörvard made a vow that he would have to wife the most beautiful woman he knew of, and was told that King Svafnir had a daughter of incomparable beauty, named Sigrlinn. He had a jarl named Idmund, whose son Atli was sent to demand the hand of Sigrlinn for the king. He stayed throughout the winter with King Svafnir. There was a jarl there named Franmar, who was the foster-father of Sigrlinn, and had a daughter named Alöf. This jarl advised that the maiden should be refused, and Atli returned home. One day when the jarl’s son Atli was standing in a grove, there was a bird sitting in the boughs above him, which had heard that his men called the wives which King Hiörvard had the most beautiful. The bird talked, and Atli listened to what it said. The bird said:

1.
Hast thou seen Sigrlinn,
Svafnir’s daughter,
of maidens fairest,
in her pleasant home?
though fair
the wives of Hiörvard
seem to men
in Glasis-lund.

Atli
2.
With Atli,
Idmund’s son,
sagacious bird!
wilt thou further speak?

Bird
I will if the prince
will offer to me,
and I may choose what I will
from the king’s court.

Atli
3.
Choose not Hiörvard
nor his sons,
nor the fair
daughters of that prince,
nor the wives
which the king has.
Let us together bargain;
that is the part of friends.

Bird
4.
A fane I will chose,
offer-steads many,
gold-horned cows
from the chief’s land,
if Sigrlinn
sleep in his arms,
and unconstrained
with that prince shall live.

This took place before Atli’s journey; but after his return, when the king asked his tidings, he said:

5.
Labour we have had,
but errand none performed;
our horses failed us
in the vast fell;
we had afterwards
a swampy lake to ford;
then was denied us
Svafnir’s daughter
with rings adorned,
whom we would obtain.

The king commanded them to go a second time, and also went himself. But when they had ascended a fell, and saw in Svavaland the country on fire, and a great reek from the horses of cavalry, the king rode down the fell into the country, and took up his night-quarters by a river. Atli kept watch, and crossed the river, and came to a house, on which sat a great bird to guard it, but was asleep. Atli shot the bird dead with an arrow. In the house he found the king’s daughter Sigrlinn, and Alöf daughter of Franmar, and brought them both away with him. The jarl Franmar had taken the form of an eagle, and protected them from a hostile army by sorcery. There was a king named Hrodmar, a wooer of Sigrlinn: he had slain the king of Svavaland, and ravaged and burnt the country. Hiörvard obtained Sigrlinn, and Atli Alöf. Hiörvard and Sigrlinn had a son tall and comely: he was taciturn and had no fixed name. As he was sitting on a mound he saw nine Valkyriur, one of whom was of most noble aspect. She said:

6.
Late wilt thou, Helgi!
rings possess,
a potent warrior,
or Rödulsvellir,
– so at morn the eagle sang –
if thou art ever silent;
although thou, prince!
a fierce mood mayest show.

Helgi
7.
What wilt thou let accompany
the name of Helgi,
maid of aspect bright!
since that thou art please to give me?
Think well over
what thou art saying.
I will not accept it,
unless I have thee also.

Valkyria
8.
Swords I know lying
in Sigarsholm,
fewer by four
than five times ten:
one of them is
of all the best,
of shields the bale,
with gold adorned.

9.
A ring is on the hilt,
courage in the midst,
in the point terror
for his use who owns it:
along the edge
a blood-stained serpent lies,
and on the guard
the serpent casts its tail.

There was a king named Eylimi; Svava was his daughter; she was a Valkyria and rode through air and water. It was she who gave Helgi that name, and afterwards often protected him in battle. Helgi said:

10.
Hiörvard! thou art not
a king of wholesome counsel,
leader of people!
renowned though thou mayest be.
Thou has let fire devour
the homes of princes,
though harm to thee
they none have done.

11.
But Hródmar shall
of the rings dispose,
which our relations
have possessed.
That chief recks little
of his life;
he thinks only to obtain
the heritage of the dead.

Hiörvard answers, that he will supply Helgi with an army, if he will avenge his mother’s father. Helgi thereupon seeks the sword that Svava had indicated to him. Afterwards he and Atli went and slew Hródmar, and performed many deeds of valour. He killed the Jötun Hati, as he sat on a crag. Helgi and Atli lay with their ships in Hatafiörd. Atli kept watch in the first part of the night. Hrímgerd, Hati’s daughter, said:

12.
Who are the chieftains
in Hatafiörd?
With shields are
your ships bedecked;
boldly ye bear yourselves,
few things ye fear, I ween:
tell me how
your king is named.

Atli
13.
Helgi is his name;
but thou nowhere canst
to the chief do harm;
iron forts are
around the prince’s fleet;
giantesses may not assail us.

Hrímgerd
14.
How art thou named?
most powerful champion!
How do men call thee?
Thy king confides in thee,
since in the ship’s fair prow
he grants thee place.

Atli
15.
Atli I am named,
fierce I shall prove to thee;
towards giantesses I am most hostile.
The humid prow
I have oft occupied,
and the night-riders slain.

16.
How art thou called?
corpse-greedy gigantess!
hag! name thy father.
Nine rasts shouldst thou
be underground,
and a forest grow on thy breast.

Hrímgerd
17.
Hrímgerd I am called,
Hati was my father called,
whom I knew the mightiest Jötun.
He many women had
from their dwellings taken,
until him Helgi slew.

Atli
18.
Thou wast, hag!
before the prince’s ships,
and layest before them in the fiörd’s mouth.
The chieftain’s warriors
thou wouldst to Rán consign,
had a bar not crossed thee.

Hrímgerd
19.
Now, Atli! thou art wrong,
methinks thou art dreaming;
thy brows thou lettest over thy eyelids fall.
My mother lay
before the prince’s ships;
I Hlödvard’s sons drowned in the ocean.

20.
Thou wouldst neigh, Atli!
if thou wert not a gelding.
See! Hrímgerd cocks her tail.
Thy heart, methinks, Atli!
is in thy hinder part,
although thy voice is clear.

Atli
21.
I think I shall the stronger prove,
if thou desirest to try;
and I can step from the port to land.
Thou shalt be soundly cudgeled,
if I heartily begin,
and let thy tail fall, Hrímgerd!

Hrímgerd
22.
Just come on shore, Atli!
if in thy strength thou trustest,
and let us meet in Varinsvik.
A rib-roasting
thou shalt get, brave boy!
if in my claws thou comest.

Atli
23. I will not come
before the men awake,
and o’er the king hold watch.
It would not surprise me,
if from beneath our ship
some hag arose.

Hrímgerd
24.
Keep watch, Atli!
and to Hrímgerd pay the blood-fine
for Hati’s death.
If one night she may
sleep with the prince,
she for the slain will be indemnified.

Helgi
25.
Lodin is named he who shall thee possess,
thou to mankind art loathsome.
In Tholley dwells that Thurs,
that dog-wise Jötun,
of all rock-dwellers the worst:
he is a fitting man for thee.

Hrímgerd
26.
Helgi would rather have
her who last night
guarded the port and men,
the gold-bright maiden.
She methought had strength,
she stept from port to land,
and so secured your fleet.
She was alone the cause
that I could not
the king’s men slay.

Helgi
27.
Hear now, Hrímgerd!
If I may indemnify thee,
say fully to the king:
was it one being only,
that saved the prince’s ships,
or went many together?

Hrímgerd
28.
Three troops of maidens;
though one maid foremost rode,
bright, with helmed head.
Their horses shook themselves,
and from their manes there sprang
dew into the deep dales,
hail on the lofty trees,
whence comes fruitfulness to man.
To me all that I saw was hateful.

Atli
29.
Look eastward now, Hrímgerd!
whether Helgi has not stricken thee
with death-bearing words.
By land and water
the king’s fleet is safe,
and the chief’s men also.

30.
It is now day, Hrímgerd!
and Atli has the detained
to thy loss of life.
A ludicrous haven-mark
‘twill, indeed, be,
where thou a stone-image standest.

King Helgi was a renowned warrior. He came to King Eylimi and demanded his daughter Svava. Helgi and Svava were united, and loved each other ardently. Svava remained at home with her father, but Helgi was engaged in warfare. Svava remained at home with her father, but Helgi was engaged in warfare. Svava was a Valkyria as before. Hedin was at home with his father, King Hiörvard in Norway. Returning home alone from the forest on a Yule-eve, Hedin met a troll-wife riding on a wolf, with serpents for reins, who offered to attend him, but he declined her offer; whereupon she said: “Thou shalt pay for this at the Bragi-cup.” In the evening solemn vows were made, and the són-hog was led forth, on which the guests laid their hands, and then made solemn vows at the Bragi-cup. Hedin bound himself by a vow to possess Svava, the beloved of his brother Helgi; but repented it so bitterly that he left home and wandered through wild paths to the southern lands, and there found his brother Helgi. Helgi said:

31.
Welcome art thou, Hedin!
What new tidings
canst thou give
from Norway?
Why art thou, prince!
from the land driven,
and alone art come
to find us?

Hedin
32.
Of a much greater crime
I am guilty.
I have chosen
a royal daughter,
thy bride,
at the Bragi-cup.

Helgi
33.
Accuse not thyself;
true will prove
words at drinking uttered
by us both.
Me a chieftain has
to the strand summoned;
within three nights
I must be there.
‘Tis to me doubtful
whether I return;
then may well such befall,
is it so must be.

Hedin
34.
Thou saidst, Helgi!
that Hedin well
deserved of thee,
and great gifts:
It would beseem thee better
thy sword to redden,
than to grant
peace to thy foes.

Helgi so spoke, for he had a foreboding that his death was at hand, and that his fylgiur (attendant spirit) had accosted Hedin, when he saw the woman riding on a wolf. There was a king named Alf, a son of Hródmar, who had appointed a place of combat with Helgi in Sigar’s plain within three days. Then said Helgi:

35.
On a wolf rode,
at evening twilight,
a woman who him
offered to attend.
She well knew,
that the son of Sigrlinn
would be slain,
on Sigar’s plain.

There was a great conflict, in which Helgi got his death-wound.

36.
Helgi sent
Sigar riding,
after Eylimi’s
only daughter:
he bade her quickly
be in readiness,
if she would find
the king alive.

Sigar
37.
Helgi has me
hither sent,
with thee, Svava!
thyself to speak.
Thee, said the king,
he fain would see,
ere the noble-born
breathes forth his last.

Svava
38.
What has befallen Helgi,
Hiörvard´s son?
I am sorely
by afflictions stricken.
Has the sea him deluded,
or the sword wounded?
On that man I will
harm inflict.

Sigar
39.
This morning fell,
at Frekastein,
the king who beneath the sun
was of all the best.
Alf has
complete victory,
though this time
it should not have been!

Helgi
40.
Hail to thee, Svava!
Thy love thou must divide;
this in this world, methinks,
is our last meeting.
They say the chieftain´s
wounds are bleeding.
The sword came
too near my heart.

41.
I pray thee, Svava! –
weep not, my wife! –
if thou wilt
my voice obey
that for Hedin thou
a couch prepare,
and the young prince
in thy arms clasp.

Svava
42.
I had said,
in our pleasant home,
when for me Helgi
rings selected,
that I would not gladly,
after my king’s departure,
an unknown prince
clasp in my arms.

Hedin
43.
Kiss me, Svava!
I will not return,
Rógheim to behold,
nor Rödulsfiöll,
before I have avenged
Hiörvard´s son,
who was of kings
under the sun the best.

Helgi and Svava were, it is said, born again.