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Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar

This was before Atli went on his journey; but when he came home, and the king asked his tidings, he said:[1]

5.[2] "Trouble we had,  but tidings none,Our horses failed  in the mountains high,The waters of Sæmorn  we needs must wade;Svafnir's daughter,  with rings bedecked,She whom we sought,  was still denied us."

[3]The king bade that they should go another time, and he went with them himself. But when they came up on the mountain, they saw Svavaland burning and mighty dust-clouds from many steeds. The king rode from the mountain forward into the land, and made a night's stay hard by a stream. Atli kept watch and went over the stream; he found there a house. A great bird sat on the housetop to guard it, but he was asleep. Atli hurled his spear at the bird and slew it, and in the house he found Sigrlin the king's daughter and Alof the jarl's daughter, and he brought them both thence with him. Jarl Franmar had changed himself into the likeness of an eagle, and guarded them from the enemy host by magic. Hrothmar was the name of a king, a wooer of Sigrlin; he slew the

[4]

    are other references to gilding the horns of cattle, particularly for sacrificial purposes.

  1. ↑ Prose. The annotator contradicts himself here, as he had already stated that Atli was on his way home.
  2. ↑ Possibly the remains of two stanzas, or perhaps a line has been added. Sæmorn: this river is nowhere else mentioned.
  3. ↑ Prose.
  4. ↑ Sigrlin and Alof, protected by the latter's father, Franmar, have fled before the ravaging army of Sigrlin's rejected

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