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Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar

named Hymling.[1] King Hjorvarth had made a great vow to have as wife whatsoever woman he knew was fairest. He learned that King Svafnir[2] had a daughter fairer than all others, whose name was Sigrlin[3]. Ithmund was the name of one of his jarls; he had a son called Atli[4], who went to woo Sigrlin on behalf of the king. He dwelt the winter long with King Svafnir. There was a jarl called Franmar, Sigrlin's foster-father; his daughter was named Alof[5]. The jarl told him that the maiden's hand was denied, and Atli went home. Atli, the jarl's son, stood one day in a certain wood; a bird[6] sat in the branches up over him, and it had heard that his men called Hjorvarth's wives the fairest of women. The bird twittered, and Atli hearkened to what it spoke. It said:

    there are two men of that name mentioned in the mythical-heroic genealogies of the Hyndluljoth (stanzas 23 and 28), and Hjorvarth appears in the Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I (stanza 14) and II (prose after stanza 12) as a son of Hunding. This particular Hjorvarth is called by the annotator, but not directly so in the verse, a king of Norway. The name means "Sword-Guardian."

    Four wives: polygamy, while very infrequent, appears occasionally in the Norse sagas.

    Alfhild: "Elf-Warrior."

    Hethin: "Fur-Clothed" (?).

    Særeith: "Sea-Rider."

    Sinrjoth: "Ever-Red."

  1. ↑ The fourth wife, not here named, may be Sigrlin. It has been suggested that Særeith and Sinrjoth may be northern and southern forms of the same name, as also Humlung and Hymling, their sons.
  2. ↑ Svafnir: the annotator calls him king of Svavaland, apparently a place on the mainland which could be reached from Norway either by land or by sea.
  3. ↑ Sigrlin: "The Conquering Serpent."
  4. ↑ Atli: Norse form of the Gothic Attila (Etzel).
  5. ↑ Alof: perhaps a feminine form of Olaf.
  6. ↑ A bird: compare the counsel given by the birds to Sigurth after the slaying of Fafnir (Fafnismol, stanzas 32-38). This is one of the many curious resemblances between the Helgi and the Sigurth stories.

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