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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.
- ↑ Elm: a not uncommon word for "man." Blood-flecked: i.e., won in battle.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Storm, etc.: war.
- ↑ Logafjoll ("Flame-Mountain"): a mythical name. Frothi:
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