Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/330

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Poetic Edda

9.[1] Mighty he grew  in the midst of his friends,The fair-born elm,  in fortune's glow;To his comrades gold  he gladly gave,The hero spared not  the blood-flecked hoard.
10.[2] Short time for war  the chieftain waited,When fifteen winters  old he was;Hunding he slew,  the hardy wightWho long had ruled  o'er lands and men.
11. Of Sigmund's son  then next they soughtHoard and rings,  the sons of Hunding;They bade the prince  requital payFor booty stolen  and father slain.
12.[3] The prince let not  their prayers avail,Nor gold for their dead  did the kinsmen get;Waiting, he said,  was a mighty stormOf lances gray  and Othin's grimness.
13.[4] The warriors forth  to the battle went,The field they chose  at Logafjoll;

  1. Elm: a not uncommon word for "man." Blood-flecked: i.e., won in battle.
  2. Fifteen: until early in the eleventh century a Norwegian or Icelandic boy became "of age" at twelve, and Maurer cites this passage as added proof of the poem's lateness. Hunding: the annotator (introductory prose to Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II) calls him king of Hundland, which shows no great originality. Saxo mentions a Hunding who was a Saxon king ruling in Jutland, probably the origin of Helgi's traditional foe.
  3. Storm, etc.: war.
  4. Logafjoll ("Flame-Mountain"): a mythical name. Frothi:

[294]