Chapter I: Front Matter

STORIES AND BALLADS
OF THE FAR PAST

TRANSLATED FROM THE NORSE
(ICELANDIC AND FAROESE)
WITH INTRODUCTIONS AND NOTES

BY

N. KERSHAW

CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1921

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

Preface

Very few of the _Fornaldar Sˆgur Northrlanda_ have hitherto been translated into English. The _Vˆlsungasaga_ is of course well known, but with this exception the 'Stories of Icelanders,' and the 'Stories of the Kings of Norway' are probably the only sagas familiar to the majority of English readers. Of the four sagas contained in this volume only one--the _Th·ttr of Sˆrli_--has appeared in English before, though the poetry which they contain has frequently been translated, from the time of Hickes's _Thesaurus_ (1705). So far as I am aware no version of any of the Faroese ballads has appeared in English. Out of the great number which were collected during the 18th and 19th centuries I have chosen a few which deal with the same stories as the sagas translated here; and for purposes of comparison I have added a short extract from one of the Icelandic _RÌmur_, as well as a Danish ballad and part of the Shetland _Hildina_.

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.

To Professor Thuren of Christiania I am indebted for kindly allowing me to print the melodies from his son's _Folkesangen paa FÊr¯erne_. I have also to thank many friends in St Andrews and Cambridge for help which they have kindly given to me in various ways, including Professor Lawson, Dr Maitland Anderson and the staffs of the two University Libraries, and Mr B. Dickins. Especially I wish to thank Professor Chadwick to whom I am indebted for constant help and advice throughout the book.

N. K.

_2 November, 1920._

Table of Contents

PART I

SAGAS
PAGE
General Introduction 3
The Th·ttr of Nornagest 11
The Th·ttr of Sˆrli 38
The Saga of Hromund Greipsson 58
The Saga of Hervˆr and Heithrek 79
Appendix to Part I (The Combat at Sams¯
and Hjalmar's Death Song) 144

PART II

BALLADS

General Introduction 153
GrÌplur 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 (G·tu RÌma) 212
The Shetland Ballad of Hildina 217

Notes 220
List of editions and translations 254

TO MY SISTER