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Poetic Edda

Letting fire the homes  of heroes eat,Who evil deed  had never done thee.
11. "Yet Hrothmar still  the hoard doth hold,The wealth that once  our kinsmen wielded;Full seldom care  the king disturbs,Heir to dead men  he deems himself."

Hjorvarth answered that he would give Helgi a following if he fain would avenge his mother's father. Then Helgi got the sword that Svava had told him of. So he went, and Atli with him, and they slew Hrothmar, and they did many great deeds.[1]

(III)

He slew the giant Hati, whom he found sitting on a certain mountain. Helgi and Atli lay with their ships in Hatafjord[2]. Atli kept watch during the first part of the night. Hrimgerth[3], Hati's daughter, spake:

12. "Who are the heroes  in Hatafjord?The ships are covered with shields;

    victory over King Hrothmar, who had killed his mother's father (cf. prose after stanza 5). It has been suggested, in consequence, that stanzas 10-11 may be a separate fragment. The verse tells nothing of the battle, merely giving Helgi's reproaches to his father for having left Svafnir's death and the burning of Svavaland unavenged.

  1. Prose. The manuscript does not indicate any break, but the episode which forms the basis of the Hrimgertharmol (stanzas 12-30) clearly begins with the slaying of the giant Hati ("The Hateful").
  2. Hatafjord: "Hati's Fjord."
  3. Hrimgerth: "Frost-Shrouded" (?).

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