Teutonic Mythology: The Gods and Goddesses of the Northland (Vol. 1-3). Viktor Rydberg

Helge makes war on Sigrun's father, on his rival, and on the kinsmen of the latter (Helge Hund., i., ii.). Halfdan-Gram slays Groa's father and betrothed, and many heroes who belonged to his circle of kinsmen or were subject to him (Saxo, 32). Helge kills Sigrun's father and suitors, and many heroes who were the brothers or allies of his rival (Helge Hund., ii.). Halfdan-Gram marries Groa (Saxo, 33). Helge marries Sigrun (Helge Hund., i. 56). Halfdan-Gram conquers a king Ring (Saxo, 32). Helge conquers Ring's sons (Helge Hund., i. 52). Borgar's son has defeated and slain king Hunding (Saxo, 362; cp. Saxo, 337). Helge has slain king Hunding, and thus gotten the name Hundingsbane (Helge Hund., i. 10). Halfdan-Gram has felled Svarin and many of his brothers. Svarin was viceroy under Groa's father (Saxo, 32). Helge's rival and the many brothers of the latter dwell around Svarin's grave-mound. They are allies or subjects of Sigrun's father. Halfdan-Gram is slain by Svipdag, who is armed with an Asgard weapon (Saxo, 34, to be compared with other sources. See Nos. 33, 98, 101, 103). Helge is slain by Dag, who is armed with an Asgard weapon (Helge Hund., ii.). Halfdan-Berggram's father is slain by his brother Frode, who took his kingdom (Saxo, 320). Helge's father was slain by his brother Frode, who took his kingdom (Rolf Krake's saga). Halfdan Berggram and his brother were in their childhood protected by Regno (Saxo, 320). Helge and his brother were in their childhood protected by Regin (Rolf Krake's saga). Halfdan Berggram and his brother burnt Frode to death in his house (Saxo, 323). Helge and his brothers burnt Frode to death in his house (Rolf Krake's saga). Halfdan Berggram as a youth left the kingdom to his brother and went warfaring (Saxo, 320 ff). Helge Hundingsbane as a youth left the kingdom to his brother and went warfaring (Saxo, 80). During Halfdan's absence Denmark is attacked by an enemy, who conquers his brother in three battles and slays him in a fourth (Saxo, 325). During Helge Hundingsbane's absence Denmark is attacked by an enemy, who conquers his brother in three battles and slays him in a fourth (Saxo, 82). Halfdan, the descendant of Scef and Scyld, becomes the father of Rolf (Beowulf poem). Helge Hundingsbane became the father of Rolf (Saxo, 83; compare Rolf Krake's saga). Halfdan had a son with his own sister Yrsa (Grotte-song, 22; mon Yrsu sonr vid Half-dana hefna Froda; sa mun hennar heitinn vertha börr oc bróthir). Helge Hundingsbane had a son with his own sister Ursa (Saxo, 82). The son was Rolf (compare Rolf Krake's saga).

      A glance at these parallels is sufficient to remove every doubt that the hero in the songs concerning Helge Hundingsbane is originally the same mythic person as is celebrated in the song or songs from which Saxo gathered his materials concerning the kings, Gram Skjoldson, Halfdan Berggram, and Halfdan Borgarson. It is the ancient myth in regard to Halfdan, the son of Skjold-Borgar, which myth, after the introduction of Christianity in Scandinavia, is divided into two branches, of which the one continues to be the saga of this patriarch, while the other utilises the history of his youth and transforms it into a new saga, that of Helge Hundingsbane. In Saxo's time, and long before him, this division into two branches had already taken place. How this younger branch, Helge Hundingsbane's saga, was afterwards partly appropriated by the all-absorbing Sigurdsaga and became connected with it in an external and purely genealogical manner, and partly did itself appropriate (as in Saxo) the old Danish local tradition about Rolf, the illegitimate son of Halfdan Skjoldung, and, in fact, foreign to his pedigree; how it got mixed with the saga about an evil Frode and his stepsons, a saga with which it formerly had no connection;—all these are questions which I shall discuss fully in a second part of this work, and in a separate treatise on the heroic sagas. For the present, my task is to show what influence this knowledge of Halfdan and Helge Hundingsbane's identity has upon the interpretation of the myth concerning the antiquity of the Teutons.

30.

      HALFDAN'S BIRTH AND THE END OF THE AGE OF PEACE. THE FAMILY NAMES YLFING, HILDING, BUDLUNG.

       Table of Contents

      The first strophes of the first song of Helge Hundingsbane distinguish themselves in tone and character and broad treatment from the continuation of the song, and have clearly belonged to a genuine old mythic poem about Halfdan, and without much change the compiler of the Helge Hundingsbane song has incorporated them into his poem. They describe Halfdan's ("Helge Hundingsbane's") birth. The real mythic names of his parents, Borgar and Drott, have been retained side by side with the names given by the compiler, Sigmund and Borghild.

Ar var alda; that er arar gullo, hnigo heilog votn af himinfjollum; thá hafthi Helga inn hugom stora Borghildr borit i Bralundi.	It was time's morning, eagles screeched, holy waters fell from the heavenly mountains. Then was the mighty Helge born by Borghild in Bralund.
Nott varth i bœ, nornir qvomo, ther er authlingi aldr urn scopo; thann batho fylci frægstan vertha oc buthlunga beztan ticcia.	It was night, norns came, they who did shape the fate of the nobleman; they proclaimed him best among Budlungs, and most famed among princes.
Snero ther af afli aurlaugthátto, tha er Borgarr braut i Brálundi; ther um greiddo gullin simo oc und manasal mithian festo.	With all their might the threads of fate they twisted, when Borgar settled in Bralund; of gold they made the warp of the web, and fastened it directly 'neath the halls of the moon.
ther austr oc vestr enda fálo: thar átti lofdungr land a milli; brá nipt Nera a nordrevega einni festi ey bath hon halda.	In the east and west they hid the ends: there between the chief should rule; Nere's[15] kinswoman northward sent one thread and bade it hold for ever.
Eitt var at angri Ylfinga nith oc theirre meyio er nunuth fæddi; hrafn gvath at hrafni—sat a hám meithi andvanr áto:— "Ec veit noccoth!	One cause there was of alarm to the Yngling (Borgar), and also for her who bore the loved one. Hungry cawed raven to raven in the high tree: "Hear what I know!
"Stendr i brynio burr Sigmundar, dœgrs eins gamall, nu er dagr kominn; hversir augo sem hildingar, sa er varga vinr, vith scolom teitir."	"In coat of mail stands Sigmund's son, one day old, now the day is come; sharp eyes of the Hildings has he, and the wolves' friend he becomes, We shall thrive."
Drótt thotti sa dauglingr vera quado meth gumnom god-ár kominn; sialfr gecc visi or vig thrimo ungum færa itrlauc grami.	Drott, it is said, saw In him a dayling,[16] saying, "Now are good seasons come among men;" to the young lord from thunder-strife came the chief himself with a glorious flower.

      Halfdan's ("Helge Hundingsbane's") birth occurs, according to the contents of these strophes, when two epochs meet. His arrival announces the close of the peaceful epoch and