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STORIES AND
BALLADS OF THE FAR PAST, Nora Kershaw
INTRODUCTION TO THE THÁTTR
OF SÖRLI
This story, like the last, is taken from the long Saga of Olaf Tryggvason contained in the Flateyjarbók, VOl. I, pp.275-283. Its connection, however, with the story of that King is of the slightest. According to the opinion of Finnur Jónsson the story in its present form dates from the first half of the fourteenth century.
This story, like the Tháttr of Nornagest, shows evidence of a definite structural plan and falls into three distinct parts. In the first two chapters the scene is laid among the gods, and the story is set in motion by the forging of a necklace for the goddess Freyja by some dwarfs. This is stolen by Loki and given to Othin, who refuses to restore it to Freyja till she promises to bring about a perpetual battle between two mighty kings.
Then in chs. III and IV we have and account of the adventures of a Viking prince named Sörli, from whom the story takes its (somewhat inappropriate ) title. Sörli comes into contact (first as an enemy, then as a friend) with another prince called Högni, and this leads up to the main theme—the friendship and subsequent quarrel of Hethinn and Högni, in
THE THÁTTR OF SÖRLI 39
whose tragic fate Freyja's promise is fulfilled. The perpetual battle between these two heroes is finally ended by one of Olaf Tryggvason's men, and it is through this that the story comes to be introduced into his Saga.
The story of Hethin and Högni was a favourite one in the North. It is told in Skáldskaparmál, ch. 49, and in Saxo Grammaticus' Danish History, Book V (Elton, pp.195-198). The earliest Norse reference to it is to be found in Bragi's Ragnarsdrápa, str. 3-7. The story must also have been well known in the Orkneys, since we find the following verses in the Háttalkill by Jarl Rögnvald (1136-58) and an Icelandic skald Hall who flourished 1140-48.
Who planned to carry off Hild?
Who fight all day long?
Who will be reconciled at last?
Who incited the kings?
Hethin planned to carry off Hild;
The Hjathningar are always fighting;
They will be reconciled at last;
Hild incited the host.
Who reddens the keen blades?
Who chops meat for the wolf?
Who makes showers of helmets?
Who stirred up strife?
Harold reddened the keen blades;
The host chops meat for the wolf;
Högni makes the shower of helmets;
Hjarrandi stirred up strife!
In the Shetlands the story survived down to modern times in the form of a ballad known as
40 THE SAGAS
Hildina, which was taken down by George Low from the recitation of an old man on the Isle of Foula in 1774. The Norwegian dialect (Norn) in which it is composed is so obscure as we have it in Low's script as to be almost untranslatable, though a serious attempt at its interpretation has been made by Dr M. Hægstad in Skrifter udgivne af Videnskabsselskabet i Christiania, 1900 (Historisk-Filosofisk Klasse, II), with a very full discussion of all the linguistic difficulties involved. According to Low, "The subject is a strife between a King of Norway and an Earl of Orkney, on account of the hasty marriage of the Earl with the King's daughter in her father's absence." Further on he gives the substance of the ballad at greater length:
An Earl of Orkney, in some of his rambles on the coast of Norway, saw and fell in love with the King's daughter of the country. As their passion happened to be reciprocal he carried her off in her father's absence, who was engaged in war with some of his distant neighbours. On his return, he followed the fugitives of Orkney, accompanied by his army, to revenge on the Earl the rape of his daughter. On his arrival there, Hildina (which was her name) first spied him, and advised her now husband to go and attempt to pacify the King. He did so, and by his appearance and promises brought the King so over as to be satisfied with the match.
After this, with the introduction of a courtier Hiluge the story proceeds in a form totally different from anything found in the tháttr, through an attempt
THE THÁTTR OF SÖRLI 41
has been made to connect it with the second part of the German poem Kudrun.
The story of Hethin and Högni however was not confined to Norway and its colonies; indeed it seems to have been popular throughtout the whole Teutonic world. It forms the subject of the first part of the mediaeval German poem Kudrun, and characters from the story are mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon poems Widsith, l.21, and Deor, l.36ff.
For a treatment of the different versions of the story as it was known to men of old, the reader may be referred to Miss Clarke's Sidelights on Teutonic History during the Migration Period (Cambridge, 1911), p.190ff., and to Chambers' Widsith, p.100ff. It may be mentioned here that in the main points of the story—the carrying off of Hild and the subsequent pursuit by the father—all the versions are agreed. The German version, however, differs in many respects from those of the North (except that of Hildina)—especially in the fact that the combatants become reconciled. The various Scandinavian versions of the story also differ somewhat in detail among themselves. The story translated below is the only one which mentions the slaying by Hethin of Högni's wife, and it is only here that Hethin iss described as being of foreign origin. Moreover this is the only version in which the goddess Freyja is made responsible for the Unending Battle. Indeed the supernatural element, and especially the influence of charms and spells, is more prominent in the version than in any of the others. It is only here, too, that we find the story of Göndul and the "potion of forgetfulness." On the other hand our version
42 THE SAGAS
contains no reference to the statement made in Skáldskaparmál and Saxo that it was Hild who by her magic spells restored the dead to life each night.
In our version of the story the character of Hild is left wholly undeveloped. Indeed the writers of the Romantic Sagas are always so much more interested in incident than in character that highly individulised personality is rare. Even when, as in the case of Hervör, the very nature of the story presents an interesting and somewhat unusual personality, we are sometimes left with the feeling of dissatisfaction and a conviction that the writer did not realize the full merits and possibilities of his material. Högni is the usual type of hot-headed implacable sea-rover. The character of Hethin, however, presents some interesting features and strikes us as more modern in conception. Natuarally gentle of disposition, he had been forced by malignant powers into a situation foreign to his nature. Hardly characteristic of Viking chief are his genuine regret for the harm he had done and his anxiety that the men of Högni and himself should not be called upon to forfeit their lives for his "crimes and misdeeds." The conventional Viking, clear-eyed and purely material in his view of life, would have stayed to brave out the consequences. Hethin only wished "to go away somewhere a long way off, where he would not each day have his wicked deeds cast in his teeth." His remorse had broken him down. —"You will find it an easy matter to slay me when I am left alive last of all!"
The motif of the Everlasting Battle is not confined
THE THÁTTR OF SÖRLI 43
to the story of Hethin and Högni. Parallels can be found in many literatures, both ancient and modern.
This tháttr has been translated into English under the title of The Tale of Hogni and Hedinn in Three Northern Love Stories by W. Morris and Eiríkr Magnússon, London, 1875.
For a full bibliography of MSS., translations, and the general literature dealing with this saga, cf. Islandica, Vol. V, pp. 41, 42.
THE THÁTTR OF SÖRLI
[* Only proper names are picked out. The Englisth translation mentioned above by Morris & Magnússon is available online at the Northvegr site.]
I.
To the East of Vanakvisl in Asia was a country called Asialand or Asiaheim. Æsir Asgarth Othin Njörth Frey Freyja Alfregg Dvalin Berling Grer
II.
Farbauti Laufey 'Needle' Loki, Loki the Sly,
III.
Frithfrothi, Erling, Highlands of Norway, Sörli the Strong, Erlend, Sindri son of Sveigir son of Haki, Skerreis of the Elf.
IV.
Halfdan, Roskilde, Hvethna the elder, Högni, Haakon,
Ellithi, Gnöth, Long Serpent,
Sævar (fo'c'sle-man, marshal, standard-bearer). Odinsø,
V.
Hjarrandi, Serkland, Hethin, Göndul,
VI.
Hervör, Hjörvarth (the son of Heithrek Ulfham), Hild,
VII.
VIII.
Halfdanarnaut, Hoy, Olaf Tryggvason,
IX.
Ivar the Gleam, Jarnskjöld, Thorstein,
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