By: Hugin

It’s interesting to see the contempt with which many of the great Norse warriors viewed the Berserkers.  This final section of The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki begins with Bodvar criticising Hrolf for becoming a coward when dealing with his Berserkers.  Bodvar and Hott agreed that the Berserkers should be put in their place and so, when the Berserkers asked them if they believed they could equal their strength, Bodvar and Hott replied that they could not only equal it, but beat it as well.  When the Berserkers realised that they weren’t as strong as Bodvar and Hott, they became enraged.  Hrolf, however, said that any man who caused a rift between his followers would pay with their life and, once he had said that, the hall became peaceful again.

Hrolf had become one of the greatest kings to have ever ruled but, according to Bodvar, one thing still stopped him from being the greatest.  This was the fact that King Hrolf had never retrieved the treasure that King Adils had promised to Helgi.  Although Hrolf knew that Adils was a cruel and cunning man, Bodvar successfully persuaded him to try and claim the treasure.

As Hrolf and his followers journeyed to the kingdom of Adils they met with an old farmer, Hrani, who invited all of them to stay at his house.  Hrani looked after them all very well, despite appearing to be nothing more than a poor farmer.  On the first night, the temperature in Hrani’s house was very cold and not all of Hrolf’s company could stand it.  In the morning, Hrani explained that anyone who could not stand the cold could not face King Adils.  The men were duly sent home.

The following day, on their travels, King Hrolf and his men met with the same farmer at a different farm.  Although they were unsure what to make of this, they accepted his offer of hospitality and spent the night at the farm.  During the night, all the men were hit by a sudden thirst and some of them got up to take a drink.  Hrani told Hrolf that those men should also be sent home.  There was a great storm on the following day, so Hrolf and his men spent another night with the farmer.  The fire that had been lit for them made all the men feel extremely hot and all but Hrolf and his champions moved away.  In the morning, Hrani told Hrolf to drop the men who had been unable to cope with the heat.  Hrolf agreed and he and his champions stayed with the farmer for another three days.

When Hrolf and his champions reached Adils, the evil King received them with a great deal of graciousness, although he was very cruel towards Svipdag who took it upon himself to be the “go-between” for the two kings.  When Hrolf and his champions entered the hall, a group of Adils’ men rushed out and began attacking them.  However, Hrolf’s group was too quick for them and Adils watched, “swollen with rage”, as he watched his men being killed by Hrolf’s superior warriors.

Adils ordered his men to make a fire in the hall, apparently to create comfort for his “guests”.  However, he ordered the fire to be constantly fuelled and Hrolf’s men soon began to overheat.  In retribution for this Bodvar and Svipdag threw two of Adils’ men onto the fire. Adils escaped by running to Yrsa’s (his wife) chamber where she told him that he was the cruellest and most terrible man for first killing Helgi and then trying to kill her son.

Adils used sorcery to create a troll that took the form of a boar.  However, Hrolf’s dog, Gram, mauled the boar by tearing its ears off and the boar retreated.  After realising that his sorcery had failed, Adils set fire to the building where Hrolf and his champion were locked in. However, Hrolf’s men threw themselves against the wooden walls and escaped by literally breaking out of the building.  A short battle followed, but Adils’ men were no match for Hrolf and his champions and so those who were left alive surrendered quickly.  Adils disappeared, and Yrsa gave her son all the treasure that was rightfully his, and some that wasn’t!  After that, they parted company and Hrolf headed back to his kingdom.

On the journey back, Hrolf threw a valuable gold ring down on the ground and Adils appeared and bent down to pick it up.  As he did so, Hrolf killed him.  Another interesting thing that happened on their journey home was that they met with the farmer, Hrani, who offered them some weapons.  They looked old and worthless so Hrolf did not accept the offer.  However, the following day Hrolf realised that Hrani must have been Odin, the chief god, and Bodvar advised Hrolf that they should not take part in many more battles after offending Odin by refusing to take his offer of weapons.

For a long time, they lived peacefully.  However, Skuld, Hrolf’s half-sister, became angry that her husband was forced to be answerable to her brother and tried to create war between them.  When her husband refused, she took it upon herself to rid them of Hrolf.  Skuld led an army against Hrolf at Yule.  During the battle, it was noticed that Bodvar was not present but a great bear was protecting the king.  When Hott woke Bodvar, the latter explained that he would be of less help to the king awake and, at the same time, the bear disappeared.

An enormous boar came out of Skuld’s ranks, shooting arrows from each of its bristles.  By the end of the battle, Hrolf and all his champions were dead, and Skuld had taken the kingdom by force.  However, as he had promised, Elk-Frodi avenged his brother’s death and killed Skuld and all of her followers.  As for Hrolf, he and each of his champions were given a burial mound and each was buried with his own weapon.

“And here ends the saga of King Hrolf Kraki and his champions.”

Here, in the final section of the Saga, the themes that have previously been introduced rise to the fore.  Revenge and justice knit together until any difference becomes too difficult to decipher.  Is it really justice that causes Bodvar and Svipdag to throw men onto a fire simply because they were too hot?  If indeed it is, then why do I get the feeling that Skuld is the enemy for “avenging” the fact that she and her husband were tricked into serving Hrolf?  As with Hvit in the last section, Skuld is definitely the villain of the piece; a woman is bad enough, but an elvish woman is clearly like hell on Earth if you’re a Norseman!  Adils is almost like a pantomime villain, not helped by the fact that (in the original saga) his death is brought about by Hrolf slicing off his buttocks!  Not only this, but he fled his own battle, making him laughable to any Norseman with their specific ideas about honour.

Magic and sorcery is once again important in the everyday way of life.  Both Adils and Skuld use sorcery to try and defeat King Hrolf, the evil Queen being the successful one of course.  As well as this, we saw the entrance of the Chief of the Norse gods, Odin.  Although in the saga (written in Christian times and probably by Icelandic monks) he is referred to as an evil spirit, he is certainly anything but to Hrolf, whose victory he secures by separating the weaker men from the champions.  He loses his temper, however, when Hrolf refuses his offer of weapons and, in doing so, seals his own fate at the hands of his half-sister.

The importance of numerology in this part is also notable.  The number three plays a vital role in the Saga: Odin sets Hrolf’s men three challenges and then invites them to stay for a further three nights.  In Norse mythology, the numbers nine and three were both of great importance, cropping up several times in most myths, legends and sagas.

By: Hugin

This week the section of The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki is split into two sections.  Once again, Hrolf plays a relatively minor part, the protagonist of the first section being Svipdag and the second being Bodvar.

Svipdag was the son of a wealthy farmer, Svip, and his brothers were called Beygad and Hvitserk.  Svipdag, tired of his farming life with his father, mother and brothers, decided to join the followers of King Adils.  Svip counselled against the decision, but when he realised that his son’s mind was made up, he gave Svipdag armour, a horse and a fine axe before farewelling him with some words of wisdom.

Svipdag made it to the stronghold of King Adils, where he impressed the king with his strength and confidence and, when the berserkers challenged him to a fight, he agreed to take them on one at a time, killing four of them.  Yrsa was exceptionally pleased by this and, when Adils demanded Svipdag’s life in payment for those he had taken, Yrsa told Adils that he would be better off taking Svipdag’s offer of service.  Later, Svipdag picked a fight with the berserkers, who were subsequently outlawed for being unable to kill a man on his own.

The berserkers began to raid Adils’ kingdom and, even after Svipdag had led one successful force against them, they kept returning.  Whilst Svipdag fought them, Svip was awoken from a dream and instructed his other two sons to go and help Svipdag, who he knew was gravely wounded.  Although the brothers successfully defeated the berserkers, Svipdag was left with only one eye and many serious wounds.  Queen Yrsa nursed him back to health, after which he left the king’s service, telling Adils that he thought the king ought to have honoured him more for his hard work.  He also knew that Adils had hidden in the forest whilst Svipdag was fighting the berserkers, as the king did not care who won.

Svipdag and his brothers returned to their father for a time, who suggested that they join the company of the good, brave and generous King Hrolf.  The brothers offered their services to Hrolf, who admitted that he had not thought to have allies amongst Adils’ men.  Svipdag nearly got into a fight with one of Hrolf’s berserkers but, unlike Adils, Hrolf stood between them and forbade their fighting, saying that they were both his friends.

Hrolf told his mother that he wanted the treasure that King Adils had offered Helgi before having him killed, and Yrsa agreed that he should have it, although she warned him that King Adils would not willingly let it go.  In the meantime, Hrolf met with his brother-in-law, Hjorvald (the husband of Skuld), and asked him to hold his sword while he undid his belt.  He then quoted an old adage that claimed that he who holds the sword of a man undoing his belt is the lesser of the two, thereby tricking Hjorvald into being his underking.  Hjorvald and Skuld were furious, but were unable to do anything but deliver the due tribute to Hrolf.

Some years previously, a king called Hring ruled Norway.  His son was called Bjorn, and when Bjorn’s mother died, Hring was encouraged to remarry.  The wife his subjects chose for him was Hvit, the illegitimate daughter of the King of the Lapps.  Hring consented, although his new wife was many years his junior.

Bjorn meanwhile had fallen in love with his childhood playmate, Bera, and intended to marry her.  However, one day when Hring was away, Hvit came to Bjorn and offered herself to him, to which he responded by giving her a slap.  Furious at not getting her own way, Hvit turned Bjorn into a bear and forced him to spend the rest of his life as a menace to his father’s land.

When Bera saw the bear, she recognised the eyes as Bjorn’s and followed him back to his cave, where he became a man.  Bjorn and Bera repeated the meeting for many nights until Bjorn told her that he felt the next day he would be killed.  He said that Bera would have three sons and told her how to name them and that he had also ensured an inheritance for them.  He warned her that Hvit would try and make her eat the bear-meat and, if she did so, the effect would be visible in her children.  The following day, Bjorn was killed and, despite Bera’s protests, Hvit managed to force her to eat the bear-meat.

When she had her children, she saw the effects that Bjorn had warned about.  The first, Elk-Frodi, was a man above the navel but an elk below.  The second, called Thorir, had dog’s feet but was otherwise very handsome.  The third – and Bera’s favourite – was Bodvar, who looked normal!

When they were still young, Elk-Frodi decided to leave and Bera told him about his inheritance; which was some treasure and one of the weapons in a rock in Bjorn’s cave.  Although he tried to get the long sword and then the axe, he could only retrieve a short sword, which made him very angry.  He left his mother in order to become a footpad high in the mountains.  When Thorir left, he was unable to take the sword, but the axe came easily to him.  Elk-Frodi suggested that Thorir became a king of the Gauts, and this he did.

Bodvar found out about his father’s story and killed Hvit in revenge.  A short while later, King Hring died and Bodvar inherited the title.  After giving his mother in marriage to an earl, Bodvar took his inheritance – treasure and a long sword – and went to find adventure.  First he went to see his brothers and Elk-Frodi suggested that he go and join the company of King Hrolf.  Elk-Frodi also made a vow to avenge Bodvar’s death if it was in combat.

When he reached Denmark, Bodvar was disgusted to find that some of Hrolf’s men had been bullying a weak man, Hott, by throwing bones at him.  Bodvar threw one of the bones back, killing the original thrower.  Hrolf was furious when he found out what his men had been doing.  He also asked Bodvar to join his company and Bodvar accepted, providing he would not be separated from Hott.  That Yule, Bodvar secretly took Hott with him to slay a dragon that had been terrorising Hrolf’s kingdom.  Bodvar slew the beast and then told Hott to drink its blood, which would make him strong and brave.  When Hrolf asked about the beast, Hott was able to prove himself by pretending to kill it.  Both Hott and Bodvar then became welcome members of King Hrolf’s group of champions.

Once again, The Saga Of King Hrolf Kraki centres around tales of revenge.  Twice the outlawed beserkers attempted to avenge their dismissal, albeit unsuccessfully.  Again, however, the cruellest revenge is by a woman and, once again, it is a queen.  Hvit’s cruellest act is perhaps not even turning Bjorn into a bear, but forcing Bera to eat the bear-meat, causing deformity in two of her sons.  The underlying theme to this is the fear and uncertainty with which even bold Norse warriors viewed women, especially those with power, and as well as this, women were considered to be associated with the supernatural.  The example of Queen Hvit is definitely revenge and not justice, as Bjorn was punished for refusing the advances of his father’s wife.

Although the most obvious form of magic in this part of the saga is Hvit turning Bjorn into a bear (which is undeniably strong and dark sorcery) there have also been two other examples that I have picked out from this section.  Both involve the gift of seeing something distanced either by time or by physical space.  The first is Svip’s knowledge that Svipdag is in trouble.  Although in the original saga Svip is said to be a master of the magical arts, it seems to me that this could be the natural “magic” that binds a parent to their child.  The second is a reference to foresight, when Bjorn predicts his death and the number of children he will have with Bera.  For me, these last two examples do not show ‘conventional’ sorcery but, as I said before, a natural “magic” that exists as part of a bloodline, or as a part of love.

Once again there are many references within the saga that can be linked to other stories and literary works.  Each weapon that Bjorn leaves for his children can only be retrieved by the right son drawing the right weapon from the stone.  This has clear resonance with what is possibly the most famous aspect of Arthurian legends.  Just as with the last extract, there is also a clear link with the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, who also had a man who could turn into a bear, called Beorn, who appears in The Hobbit.  Finally, I cannot shake off thoughts of a fragment of Roald Dahl’s “The Witches” in which we are told that some witches in America turned children into hamburgers and fed them to their parents!  This can clearly be seen as a reflection of Hvit feeding Bera the bear-meat, and Dahl’s own Norwegian heritage may be able to explain that link.

Still we have learnt little of King Hrolf Kraki, aside from his noble ideas of hospitality and the treatment of weak men.  However, from this part of the saga we can learn the importance of judging a man by the company that he keeps.  The next instalment of the story is the final one, and I promise you that Hrolf plays a bigger role in that!

By: Hugin

Notable ancestry seems to have been obligatory for Norse heroes. The first time that I read The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, I was surprised that the first chapter introduces no one called Hrolf. Instead, it tells of how a good king, Halfdan, was murdered in cold blood by his brother, Frodi. It is written in the saga that Frodi came in the middle of the night, burning everything.

Halfdan’s sons, Helgi and Hroar, were saved by their foster-father, Regin. They were smuggled on to an island belonging to a fisherman and sorcerer, Vifil. When Frodi came to the island looking for the boys, Vifil concealed the princes and then sent them to stay elsewhere – with their sister’s husband, Jarl Saevil.

However, even there the boys were not safe, as a seeress revealed their identities to a visiting Frodi and, in a trance, told the murderous king that the princes would go on to “rob Frodi of life”. Helgi and Hroar were – once again – rescued by Regin and went on to fulfill the prophecy and kill their Uncle. Hroar, the milder of the two, married an English princess, and Helgi took control of Denmark.

Helgi wished to marry the beautiful and powerful, but cruel, Queen Olof. However, she bewitched the king, using a ‘sleep thorn’ to induce a charmed sleep, and ran away. To take his revenge, Helgi tricked the queen into coming to meet him and impregnated her. The child, Yrsa, was disowned by her mother, and her father – who did not know of her existence – married her after they fell in love at first sight.
Hroar, living in Northumberland with his wife, Ogn, had been granted a beautiful ring by his brother. However, their nephew, Hrok, also desired to own the ring and tricked Hroar into allowing him to hold it, whereby he threw it into the sea. Furious, Hroar ordered Hrok’s foot to be chopped off and sent him away. Hrok, however, came back, killed Hroar and tried to marry Ogn who was forced to agree, providing the wedding was delayed. This was because, as Ogn informed Helgi, she was pregnant with Hroar’s child. When her son, Agnar, was born, Helgi took his revenge on Hrok by breaking his arms and legs and sending him back to his kingdom, in agony and shame. Agnar grew up to be a very powerful warrior, and he even retrieved his father’s ring from where it had been thrown by Hrok.

Helgi, however, was beginning to have serious problems of his own. Although Yrsa had given birth to a son, Hrolf, his joy was short-lived as the evil queen Olof came and informed Yrsa of her true parentage. Although she loved her husband and son, Yrsa left Helgi to go and live with her mother, who gave her hand in marriage to a powerful and greedy king, Adils.

King Helgi was heartbroken and became reclusive, sleeping alone in a small, detached building. One Yule night, Helgi was awoken by a knocking at his door and, when he opened it, he saw a loathsome woman. He let her in and gave her a bed out of pity, but she asked to sleep in his bed with him, to which he agreed when she said her life would otherwise be in danger. When he awoke from his slumber a short while later, Helgi found himself laying next to a beautiful young woman, who told him that he had freed her from her stepmother’s curse. When Helgi asked her to stay, she agreed and they spent the night together. In the morning, the woman told him that she would have his child and that, if he did not visit it the following winter, he would have to pay. He forgot the woman’s words and, three years later, the child was set down in front of Helgi, who was told that her name was Skuld (meaning “a debt”) and that Helgi’s kinsmen would pay for ignoring the woman’s earlier request. It was also revealed that the woman Helgi had slept with was of the elfin kind and Skuld is said to have had a vicious temperament from an early age.

A while later, Helgi decided to retrieve his beloved wife, Yrsa, from Adils. Yrsa told Adils that she loved Helgi more than any other man, and he decided to receive Helgi in a seemingly friendly way, putting on a feast and showering him with gifts. However, Adils instructed his twelve mighty berserkers to kill Helgi and, in a vicious battle, Helgi and his men were killed. Yrsa vowed vengeance on the berserkers and remained very subdued, despite Adils’ attention. King Adils, however, continued on his evil path, full of dark magic, and he also committed sacrifices.

Although perhaps the idea of revenge seems slightly barbaric to a modern audience, the importance of justice in the Norse society is undeniable: Hroar and Helgi are perfectly within their rights to kill their father’s murderer. However, more interesting is Helgi’s decision to allow Hrok to live, albeit completely maimed and humiliated. Although it may be controversial to describe this punishment as “enlightened”, personally I can see how it would be an improvement to the death penalty. After all, how can someone regret their actions when they’re dead? Hrok is described as being “utterly ruined” by Helgi’s revenge for his brother. He was forced to return to a place where he should have commanded respect but instead would have been ridiculed as a failure and a cripple.

Revenge in its cruellest form is found in the women of the saga, primarily in the evil queen, Olof, who disowns her (and Helgi’s) daughter and then allows her to marry her father, waiting for the moment when Yrsa is feeling happiest before telling her of her parentage and effectively ruining her life. Also, Helgi’s other child, Skuld, daughter of an elf, is given to the king as a punishment for forgetting to visit her as a baby. She comes not only as a problem to her wife-less father, but also as a curse to his relations.

The saga tells of events that apparently took place in fifth century Denmark, when sorcery was clearly at its most powerful. However, the saga itself was not written until the fourteenth century, when the author would certainly have been a Christian. This makes it difficult to know whether or not sorcery is linked with evil. After all, the only good magic-wielding character we have met so far is Vifil.

Many of the small stories within this saga have at least some resonance with others I have read. The idea of a ring that men are willing to kill and die for is clearly reflected in J. R. R. Tolkien’s most famous work, “The Lord of the Rings”, unsurprisingly as Tolkien drew much of his literary inspiration from the Norse sagas. Helgi’s experience with the elfish mother of Skuld can be linked to the very similar Arthurian legend of “Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady”, where the knight marries the loathly lady before discovering that she is really a beautiful woman under an enchantment.

As for Hrolf Kraki, although we are a third of the way through the book telling his story, he has only just become king, and I will leave you with the following quote from the saga:

“Here ends the tale of King Helgi” (!)