Egil’s Saga (47 page)

9
S
TAVE
. ‘Bough…ling-firth mackerel’ (lyngs fjarþǫlna ljósheims bǫrr), ‘ling’s firth’—
land;
‘mackerel’ (ölun) of that—a serpent or
worm
; the ‘shining home’ (ljósheim) of that—
gold;
the ‘bough of gold’—a
man
. ‘Bedfellow of Bor’s Son’ (beþja Bors niþjar), i.e. of Odin: His ‘bedfellow’—the
earth. ‘
I have given the earth a bloody head-dress.’

10
A
LL
WRATHFUL
(allrei
ð
r). The berserk rage, probably. The violence of this scene is immeasurably enhanced by the tense quietude of the narrative.

11
S
TAVE
. ‘War-flame’ (vígleiptr)—
sword
. ‘Saplings of ocean-moon’ (þollar lagar mána), i.e. of ‘ocean-brightness’, i.e. of
gold
(cf. the familiar Rheingold story, which is based on the far older Volsung story,
C.P.B.
vol. I, p. 31)—
men
.

12
S
CORN-POLE
(níðstöng). See special note, p. 249.

13
S
TAVE.
See special note, p. 247.

CHAPTER LVIII

1
This little conversation between father and son is highly illuminating and diverting to the onlooker.

2
S
KALLAGRIM’S DEATH
. Cf. the similar incident in Eb. 33, of Arnkel’s burial of his wicked old father, Thorolf Haltfoot: “Now Arnkel went into the fire-hall, and so up along it behind the seat at Thorolf’s back, and bade all beware of facing him before lyke-help was given to him. Then Arnkel took Thorolf by the shoulders, and must needs put forth all his strength before he brought him under. After that he swept a cloth about Thorolf’s head, and then did to him according to custom. Then he let break down the wall behind him, and brought him out thereby, and then were oxen yoked to a sledge, and thereon was Thorolf laid out, and they drew him up into Thors-water-dale”. Magnússon in his note on this (Eb. p. 282) says, “It would seem that in those times it was customary to teach him who was supposed to be likely to walk again a way to the house which did not lead to the door of it, but to the obstructing wall—a custom which seems to trace its origin to the imagination that ghosts being brainless were devoid of initiative”. Skallagrim’s grave was excavated some years ago by the late Síra Einarr Friðgeirsson, the learned parson at Borg. No human remains were found (they had probably been shifted to consecrated ground after the change of faith), but horses’ bones and other relics were dug up, and Síra Einarr showed me a tooth which no doubt belonged to Skallagrim’s horse, who, as the saga tells us, was buried with him.

CHAPTER LIX

1
H
AKON
A
THELSTANE’S-FOSTERLING.
Also called Hakon the Good, a name which he seems to have deserved: reigned 934–60. He was privately a Christian, and tried to christen Norway, but without success (Hak. 15–20). For the story of his birth and fostering with King Athelstane, see Har. Hfr. 40–43. He fell,
æt
.
circ.
40, in the moment of victory, at the battle of Fitiar in Stord.

2
E
RIC
B
LOODAXE IN
N
ORTHUMBERLAND.
There is disagreement as to the date of Eric’s rule in Northumberland, and some will have it not earlier than 948. There are reasons (see note, p. 280 on ‘Wina-heath’) for putting Egil’s visit to York in 937. That Eric ruled in York, and that the events here narrated are substantially historic, there is no reason to doubt.

3
F
ASHION OF A LITTLE MAN.
Icel. ‘lítilmannligt’.

4
G
ARTH.
See note, p. 267.

5
S
TAVE. ‘
Rope-core of Harald’s hard-spun line’ (snarþátt Haralds áttar), lit. ‘the hard-spun cord of Harald’s line’ (
ætt
—family).

6
N
IGHT-SLAYINGS ARE MURTHERS
(náttvíg eru morðvíg). Cf. D. s.v.
morð
, where it is explained that in ancient times
murder
(morð) and manslaying (víg) were distinguished. To slay a man and give notice of the fact forthwith was
víg
, and might (if those in charge of the resulting blood-feud were willing) be atoned for by paying boot. But stealthy and secret killing was murder, and the doer of it became ‘morðvargr’, ‘murder-wolf’, and was out of the pale of the law.

7
A
MAN TO BE MOCKED AND TEASED
(ertingamaðr). From
erta
, ‘to taunt, tease, provoke’.

8
B
RAGI.
F.J. says he is the earliest historic Norse skald we know by name: fl. circ. 800–50. He was Arinbiorn’s great-grandfather on the mother’s side.

9
S
HAPE-CHANGER
(hamhleypa). Or ‘skin-leaper’; one who leaps from his (or her) own human skin into that of, e.g., a
swallow
. Cf. note on ‘Shape-strong’, p. 245.

CHAPTER LX

1
H
ÖFUĐLAUSN.
The rush and tumult of this great war-song can hardly be attained by a translation: unless indeed we find a poet to translate it who is, in a manner of speaking, Egil born again. I give the first stave as it reads in the original, with a literal translation, so as to help the reader to form an idea of the metre and movement of the poem and (as one compares a portrait with the sitter) to gather the
principle underlying the present version and the mark it has aimed at but never fully attained:

The stave consists of four couplets; within each couplet the lines rhyme and are also related by alliteration. The structure of the poem is symmetrical: 16 eight-line staves, like the above, arranged thus: 5: 2: 2: 2: 5; and 4 four-line verses which, coming in at the divisions (:), form a changing burden.

St. 1. ‘West over sea’; the British Isles were still ‘West over sea’ to Icelanders, who still looked at the world with their mind’s eye pointing from Norway. ‘God’s wish-strand’s spray’—
poetry
.

St. 2. ‘Odin’s drink’—
poetry.

St. 4. Last four lines:

Þar heyrþesk þá,

þaut mækes á

malmhríþar spá,

sús mest of Iá.

Lit. ‘There was heard then the song of the iron-storm, the sword-river whistled (þaut), which ran most in spate’.
Mestr of liggja
of a river in spate is idiomatic in Icel. to-day.

St. 5. Last four lines:

þars í blóþe

í brimels móþe

vǫllr of þrumþe

und véom glumþe.

Lit. ‘The field of the seal thundered in wrath under the banners, there where it wallowed in blood’.

St. 7. Third couplet:

œxto under

jǫfra funder.

I have throughout this book translated
jöfurr
‘war-lord’. Its primary (but very rare) meaning is a ‘wild boar’: its metaphorical and common meaning, in poetry, probably arises from kings and lords in early times wearing boar’s-head helms.

St. 8. Second couplet:

beit bengrefell,

Þat vas blóþrefell.

Blóðrefill
is a curious word. It means the point of a sword; query, with original reference to its coming out at the other side of your enemy after a good thrust. (
D
. says, “Does ‘refill’ here mean a
snake!
”)

‘The sword-belt’s ice’ (fetelsvell)—i.e. the
sword
. ‘Odin’s oaks’—
men.

St. 9 (
Burden
). Original:

Þar vas odda at

ok eggja gnat.

Orþstír of gat

Eiríkr at þat.

St. 10. ‘Night-hags’ horses’ (flagþs gote); cf. Thorvald Hialtison’s stave on the battle of Fyrisfield where Styrbiorn the Strong fell in 983:

Fari til Fyrisvallar folka tungls hverr es hungrar,

verðr at virkis garði vestr kveld-riðo hesta.

‘Fare to Fyrisfield whosoever of the moon-folk (i.e. wolves) hungereth: food at the western garth for
night-riders’ stallions
’ (
C.P.B.
vol. 11, p. 62).

Last couplet:

Traþ nipt Nara

náttverþ ara.

Lit. ‘Nari’s sister (i.e. the Goddess Hell) trod the night-meal of eagles’.

St. 12 (
Burden
). Text is obscure in first couplet. I read:

Kom gnauþar læ

á Gjálfa skæ.

Bauþ ulfom hræ

Eiríkr of sæ.

‘Gjalfi’, a sea-king; his ‘steed’—a
ship.
Last couplet, lit. ‘Eric offered wolves carrion by sea’. Sea-fights were commonly fought near enough to land to enable the wolf to enjoy the leavings.

St. 13:

Lætr snót saka

sverþ-Freyr vaka,

en skers Haka

skíþgarþ braka,

brusto broddar

en bito oddar,

báro hǫrvar

af bogom ǫrvar.

Lit. ‘Frey of the Sword (i.e.
Odin
, God of Battles; or, possibly, by a not uncommon poetic licence,
Eric
) lets wake the Lady of Sakes
or
Quarrels (i.e. the Valkyrie), and lets break the wooden fence (i.e.
bulwark
) of the skerry of Haki (i.e. of the
ship
, Haki being a sea-king)’; etc. This stave and the next bring the battle-picture to its climax, where the rush of imagery, borne up by every technical device of which the metrical form is capable, makes the poetry like a leaping flame.

St. 15 (
Burden
). ‘Wound-bees’ (unda bý)—
arrows.

St. 16. The second half of this stave is obscure, and probably corrupt:

Verpr ábrǫndom

en jǫforr lǫndom

heldr hornklofe,

hann’s næstr lofe.

The meaning of
Hornklofi
is conjectural. I have taken it as meaning the raven, and referring to Eric’s banner.

St. 17. ‘Wristglow’ (bógvite)—
gold rings.
‘Hawk-strand
’—the hand
; ‘ore’ of that—
gold.
‘Frodi’s flour’ (Fróþa mjǫl), lit. ‘meal’; again—
gold;
F.J. quotes the story of Frodi, the Dane-King, and his magic mill.

St. 18. ‘Spear-guard’ (broddflǫtr)—
shield
. ‘Seat of rings’—
hand.
Last two couplets:

Þróask hér sem hvar,

hugat mælek þar,

frétt’s austr of mar,

Eiríks of far.

St. 19. ‘Odin’s sea’—
poetry
.

St. 20. ‘Words’ measure’, etc. meaning, ‘I know when to stop’. ‘Hold of cheer’ (hlátra ham), lit. ‘skin of laughter’—i.e. the
breast
.

CHAPTER LXI

¹
S
TAVE
. ‘Helm-crag’ (hjalma klett)—
head.
‘Lofty-minded son’ is Eric: the ‘all-wielding’ father, Harald Hairfair.

²
S
TAVE
. Hugin is one of Odin’s two ravens: the raven’s ‘rest-day’ (várar, pl.) is lit. his ‘pledge’ or ‘peace’—when he is gorged and so perforce rests from his banquet; the ‘hastener’ (mǫgnoþr, lit. ‘one who makes strong with a spell’) of that satiety—a
warrior
. The ‘hereditary stool of the hat of Ali’ (Ála hattar arfstóll), i.e. of the hat of the sea-king, i.e. of the helm—is the
head
. ‘Lord of battle-adders’ (rógnaþra reginn)—the
King
.

CHAPTER LXII

¹
A
FTERWARDS CALLED
T
HORASON
. See note, p. 260.

CHAPTER LXIII

¹
A
STONE BEYOND THY STRENGTH.
Icel.:
at þú, Egill
,
munir hafa kastat steini um megn þér.

CHAPTER LXIV

¹
H
OD …
B
LINDHEIM.
F.J. notes this as one of the very few inaccuracies of
Egla
in Norse topography: Blindheim is not in fact in the island of Hod but in the island of Vigr.

²
S
TAVE.
‘Land-hankerer’ (landbeiþoþr); he who seeks or desires the land (? Norway)—
King Eric.

Second couplet:

Syngrat gaukr, ef glamma
gamm veit of sik þramma.

Lit. ‘Sings not cuckoo if he knows vulture of yelping (
glamma
—properly a tinkling, or noise generally) lumbers along (þramma; cf.
D.
) after him’. Another reading is ‘sigrat’ (
sinks
not) for ‘syngrat’, meaning the cuckoo does not settle. F.J. remarks, with justice, that it is very difficult to understand, but seems to embody a proverb. ‘Bear of eagle’s stall-stone’ (arnstalls sjǫtolbjǫrn), a pun on Arinbiorn’s name—‘Biorn of the Hearth’. The text of the last couplet is obscure and possibly corrupt, but the meaning is fairly clear.

³
This little episode is related in the characteristic method of the sagas: appearances are noted in their order as they appear to the onlooker, without explanation or comment, and (as in real life) their significance is revealed only when the different threads are suddenly gathered together and the fact drawn up to daylight, as here in Gyda’s speech to E. on the following page. The dramatic effect is very great. It demands attention, it is true, on the part of the reader or listener; but some will think it reasonable, in the presence of a masterpiece, that they should be required to attend.

⁴
L
JOT THE
P
ALE.
Ljótr (‘Ugly’) is not uncommon as a proper name, and more particularly as a name of a
berserk.
Cf. the late and unreliable
Svarfdœla Saga
, where a berserk is called Ljot the Pale. Some critics have on this ground thrown doubt on the present episode, but the natural inference is that
Svarfdœla
borrowed from
Egla.