Six Sagas of Adventure

by Ben Waggoner (trans)

“He has to have all he can stand,” he said, “for I often find that he’s unmanageable when he doesn’t get to drink as much as he wants.”

  He set to doing what he liked, and then they rested. The farmer’s daughter wondered where the wetness in her crotch had come from, because the whole bed underneath her was lathered. She said, “Could it be that your foal has drunk more than was good for him, and he’s thrown up more than he’s drunk?”

  “Something or other’s affecting him,” he said, “because he’s as soft as a lung.”

  “He must be sick from drinking ale,” she said, “like other drunkards.”

  “That’s certain,” he said.

  Now they amused themselves as they pleased, and the farmer’s daughter took turns on top and underneath. She said that she’d never ridden a more steady-paced foal than this one.

  After plenty of fun and games, she asked who he was. He told her the truth, and asked in return what was happening in the land. She said that the latest news was that the brothers Hraerek and Siggeir had captured the king’s sister Hleid and killed King Hring in Gautland. “They’ve become so famous from this expedition that no one in the Eastern realms can compare to them, and the king has betrothed his sister to Siggeir, though it’s quite against her will. The wedding has to be held within three nights. But they’re so cautious that they have spies on every road and in every port, and they can’t be taken unawares. They don’t believe they can ever rule out that Herraud and Bosi might come after the maid. The king has had a hall built, so large that in it are a hundred doors, with the same distance between all of them: a hundred men can sit comfortably between each door. There are two door-wardens at each door, and no one can come in who isn’t recognized at one of the doors. Whoever isn’t recognized at any of the doors is taken into custody until it is shown who he is. A bed stands in the center of the hall, and to reach it you have to go up five steps. The bride and groom are to lie there, and all the household has to keep watch all around, and no one can come upon them unawares.”

  “What people are with the king whom he esteems most?” said Bosi.

  “The one called Sigurd,” she said. “He’s the king’s counselor, and such a master at playing musical instruments, especially the harp, that you’d never find his equal, though you were to search far and wide. He’s gone to see his concubine. She’s the daughter of a farmer here, near the woods. He has her sew his clothes as he tunes his instruments.”

  Their conversation ended, and they slept through the night.

  CHAPTER XII

  Early in the morning, Bosi came to Herraud and told him what he had found out that night, and at once they prepared to leave the farmer’s home. Bosi gave the farmer’s daughter a gold ring. They traveled according to her directions, until they saw the farm where Sigurd was. They saw him walking with a servant, heading home to the hall. They got onto the path ahead of Sigurd. Bosi ran him through with a spear, and Herraud strangled the servant to death. Bosi then flayed the skin off them both and went to the ship at once, and told Smid what they had accomplished. Now they made their plan. Smid put a mask made from Sigurd’s face onto Bosi, and wore the servant’s face himself. He dressed in the clothes that the servant had worn, and Bosi wore those that Sigurd had worn. They told Herraud everything that he was to do, and they went to the fortress and came to the doors of the hall, with King Godmund standing before them. He thought he recognized Sigurd, and welcomed him warmly and led him in. Sigurd took charge of the king’s treasuries and ale-vessels and cellars, and decided which ale would be served first, and told the cup-bearers ahead of time how keen they should be to pour the drink. He said that it was most important that the men should get as drunk as possible on the first evening, because the effects would last longest that way. Then the chieftains were arranged on their seats, and the bride was led in and seated on a bench, and many courtly maidens with her.

  King Godmund sat in the high seat with the bridegroom by his side. Hraerek served the bridegroom. The tale doesn’t say how the chieftains were placed, but it’s said that Sigurd played the harp before the bride and her ladies. When the ale for the memorial toast was brought in, Sigurd played so well that men said that his like would never be found, but he said that it wasn’t worth notice at the beginning. The king asked him not to quit. And when the ale blessed to Thor was brought in, Sigurd struck up a tune again. Everything that was loose began to stir, knives and dishes and everything that no one was holding. Many men jumped out of their seats and danced on the floor, and this went on for a long time.[29]

  Then the ale hallowed to all the gods was brought in. Sigurd began playing again and tuned his harp to such a pitch that the echo resounded in the hall. Everyone inside stood up, except for the bride and groom and the king. Everything moved around throughout the hall, and it went on like this for a long time. The king asked if he knew some other tunes, and he said there would be some ditties later, and asked the people to rest first. The people sat down to drinking. He played “Song of the Ogress”, “The Braggart,” and “The Lay of Hjarrandi.”

  Then the ale for the toast to Odin was brought in. Sigurd opened up the harp, which was so large that a man could stand up straight in its belly; it was all worked with gold. He picked up white gloves, embroidered with gold. He struck up the tune called “Headdress Blower”, and the headdresses flew off the women and danced above the cross-beam.[30] The women and all the men jumped up, and not a thing there stayed still.

  When that toast was drunk, the ale that was blessed to Freyja came in, and that one had to be drunk last. Sigurd touched the string that lay across the other strings,[31] and told the king to prepare for “The Powerful Tune.” This startled the king so much that he leaped up, and so did the bridegroom and the bride. No one danced more nimbly than they did, and this went on for a long while. Smid took the bride’s hand and danced more nimbly than anyone. He took the table settings from the tables, whenever he saw one within reach, and tossed them into a bedsheet.

  Concerning Herraud, we may relate that he had his men damage all the ships that were moored by the sea, so that none was seaworthy. He had some go to the fortress, and they brought the gold and treasures to the shore which Smid had ready for them. Now it was quite dark. Some were up on the hall roof, watching what was going on inside, and they hauled out of the window what had been tossed into the bedsheet. Some carried it to their ship and turned their prow away from the land.

  CHAPTER XIII

  As they were dancing most merrily in the hall, a strange new thing happened: a man walked into the hall. This man was tall and handsome, wearing a scarlet tunic and a silver belt and a gold band around his forehead. He was unarmed, and he went dancing like the others, until he came before the king. Then he raised his fist and punched the king in the nose so fast that three teeth flew out of his mouth. Blood gushed from the king’s nose and mouth, and he collapsed unconscious.

  Sigurd saw that. He flung the harp up into the bedsheet, and drove both fists between the shoulders of the man who had just come, but turned and ran. Sigurd ran after him, along with Siggeir and everyone else, although some people stayed and fussed over the king. Smid took the bride by the hand and led her up into the bed-sheets and locked her inside the belly of the harp,[32] and the men outside hauled her out of the window along with Smid. They brought them to the ships and boarded. The man who’d struck the king had already arrived. Sigurd also ran out onto the ship that he’d reached, and Siggeir came after him with a drawn sword. Sigurd turned to face him and pushed him overboard; his men had to haul him to land, nearly dead. Smid cut the moorings, and the men hauled up the sail and set to both sailing and rowing and got to sea as fast as they could. Hraerek rushed to his ship with many more men, but when the ship was launched, the deep blue sea flooded in, and they had to make for land. They just had to deal with it, since everyone was completely befuddled from drinking.

  The king came
to now, but he had little strength. People tried to nurse him, but he was quite weak. The festivities had turned to sadness and sorrow. But when the king recovered his strength, they made plans, and they agreed to not let the crowd of people scatter, but to prepare as quickly as possible to pursue the sworn brothers.

  We’ll let them make their preparations, but turn the story back to Bosi and Herraud’s company. They sailed until they reached the point where the paths diverge, and one led to Bjarmaland. Bosi asked Herraud to sail home to Gautland, but he said that he had a mission in Bjarmaland. Herraud said that he wouldn’t part with him—“but what is your mission there?” He said that that would become clear later. Smith offered to wait for them for five nights. Bosi said that that would suit them well.

  The two of them together sailed to shore in a boat, and they concealed the boat in a hiding place. They went to a house where an old man and woman lived; they had a beautiful daughter. They were well received, and were given good wine to drink that evening. Crooked Bosi kept looking and smiling at the farmer’s daughter, and she kept making eyes at him in return.

  A little later, people went to bed. Bosi came to the farmer’s daughter’s bed. She asked what he wanted. He asked her to put a ring around his stump. She asked where the ring might be. He asked whether she didn’t have one. She said that she had none that would suit him.

  “I can expand it, even if it’s narrow,” he said.

  “Where’s your stump?” she asked. “I know pretty well what I can expect from my ring’s bore.”

  He asked her to take it between her legs. She pulled back her hand and said to hell with his stump.

  “What does it feel like to you?” he asked.

  “The balance arm of my father’s farmyard scales, but with the ring broken off.”

  “You keep finding fault,” said Crooked Bosi. He slipped a gold ring from his hand and gave it to her. She asked what he wanted in return.

  “I want to push a stopper into your wineskin,” he said.[33]

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

  “Lie with your legs spread as widely as you can,” he said.

  She did as he asked. He got between her legs and thrust up into her belly, all the way up under her ribs. She gave a start and said, “You forced the stopper right through the bunghole, man.”

  “I’ll get it back out,” he said. “How was it for you?”

  “I’m as dizzy as if I’d been drinking fresh mead,” she said. “You keep mopping the hole, as fast as you can.”

  He didn’t hold back, until she felt so hot all over that she was about to be sick, and she asked him to stop. They took a rest, and she asked who he might be. He told her the truth and asked whether she might be at all friendly with the king’s daughter Edda. She said that she often went into the king’s daughter’s bower and was well received there.

  “I’ll take you into my confidence,” he said, “and I’ll give you three marks of silver for you to bring the king’s daughter to me in the forest.”

  He took three walnuts out of his purse. They looked like they were made of gold. He gave them to her and asked her to tell the king’s daughter that she knew of a certain grove in the forest where such nuts were plentiful. She said that the king’s daughter wouldn’t be readily taken, and said that a eunuch always went with her—“his name is Skalk[34] and he’s so strong that he has the strength of twelve men, whatever test he’s put to.”

  Bosi said that he didn’t care, as long as those were the only hazards to watch out for.

  Early in the morning, the girl went to find the king’s daughter and showed her the golden walnuts. She said that she knew where plenty of such nuts could be found. “Let’s go there right away,” said the king’s daughter, “and the slave can go with us.” And they did so.

  The companions went into the forest and came upon them. Bosi greeted the young maid and asked why she was here all alone. She said that it wasn’t dangerous. “This is how it’s going to be,” said Bosi. “Do whichever you want: come with me willingly, or I’ll marry you quickly right here in the forest.”

  The slave asked what insanely rash ruffian this was, to be babbling such threats. Herraud ordered that foul-smelling oaf to shut up. The slave swung a huge club at Herraud, but Herraud brought up his shield. The blow was so heavy that the shield shattered. Herraud rushed under the slave’s grip, but the slave quickly spun to face him. They wrestled powerfully, and the slave never went back on his heels. Bosi came up and yanked the slave’s feet out from under him, and they put a rope around his neck and hanged him on an oak tree. Then Bosi lifted the king’s daughter in his arms and carried her to the ship, and they set out from land and traveled until they found Smid. The king’s daughter was dejected, but as soon as Smid had a word with her, all her despair left her. They sailed home to Gautland.

  CHAPTER XIV

  While this was happening, the brothers Hraerek and Sigurd had completely readied their forces, and they had countless men. But Herraud’s punch had been so hard on King Godmund that he was in no shape to make this journey, and the brothers had to take on both the glory and the responsibility. They sailed from Glaesisvellir with forty ships, and increased their fleet with still more ships that joined up along the way. They came to Bjarmaland and met their father King Harek, just as Herraud and Bosi had left. King Harek was fully aware that they had taken his daughter away. He had readied his forces and had fifteen great ships. Now he joined the brothers on their journey, and all together they had sixty ships. They sailed towards Gautland.

  Now we must tell how Herraud and Bosi summoned their forces as soon as they arrived at home. They wanted to be prepared in case they were pursued, and hold the wedding when they had the leisure for it. Thvari had ordered spears and axes and arrows to be made while they were away. A great multitude of men assembled. They had heard that King Harek and his sons had invaded their land, and they didn’t stay quiet about it. Herraud ordered the ships to sail out against them; he had a large and fine force, though much smaller than Harek and his sons had. Thvari’s son Smid steered his ships to face the king, but Bosi faced Hraerek, and Herraud faced Siggeir. There was no need to ask the reason; the fiercest of battles broke out between them, and both sides fought most furiously.

  The battle hadn’t gone on for long when Siggeir boarded Herraud’s ship and quickly started killing men. Herraud’s forecastleman was named Snidil. He flung a spear at Siggeir, who caught the spear in the air and flung it back at the thrower. The spear flew right through Snidil and so far into the ship’s prow that it pinned him against it. Herraud turned to face Siggeir and stabbed at him with a great spear, piercing his shield, but Siggeir twisted the shield so hard that Herraud lost his grip on the spear. Siggeir struck at Herraud, and the blow landed on his helmet and cut off a quarter of it, along with his right ear. But Herraud seized a large beam from the deck and smashed him in the nose, so that his helmet visor was driven into his face, his nose broken and all his teeth knocked out. He leaped backwards into his own ship and collapsed unconscious and lay there for a very long time.

  Smid was fighting bravely. King Harek boarded his ship with twelve men and mowed down anyone in his way. Smid turned to face him and struck at him with the knife that the old crone Busla had given him, because only charmed weapons would bite him. The blow hit him in the teeth and knocked all of them out, breaking his upper jaw and splitting both lips, and plenty of blood gushed from his mouth. He reacted to this blow so violently that he turned into a flying dragon and spewed poison over the ship, and many men died. He dived at Smid and gobbled him up and swallowed him down.

  Now the men saw a bird flying down from the land, the kind called a skerry-vulture. It has such a huge and hideous head that it’s compared with the devil. It rushed at the dragon, and their attack was terrifying. Their encounter ended when they both fell down; the skerry-v
ulture fell into the sea, but the dragon landed on Siggeir’s ship. By then Herraud had boarded the ship and was swinging his club left and right. He struck at Siggeir, and the blow landed under his ear and his entire skull was shattered. He was knocked overboard and never came up again. King Harek came to his senses and suddenly turned into a wild boar. He seized Herraud with his tusks and tore off all his armor, and sunk his teeth in his breast and ripped off both his nipples down to the bone. Herraud struck at the boar’s snout in return and cut it off in front of the eyes. Herraud was so exhausted that he fell on his back, and the boar trampled him underfoot, but couldn’t bite him because his snout was cut off. Then a huge and deadly bitch-hound with great big fangs came onto the ship. She tore a hole in the boar’s groin and pulled out his intestines and leaped overboard. Harek turned into human shape and plunged overboard after her. They both sunk to the bottom, and neither one came up after that. People think that that must have been the old crone Busla, because she was never seen again.

  CHAPTER XV

  Crooked Bosi now boarded Hraerek’s ship and fought most manfully. He saw his own father floating on a plank, completely worn out. He jumped overboard and helped him and got him up into his own ship. By then Hraerek had boarded the ship and killed many men. Bosi boarded the ship and was very weary, but all the same, he attacked Hraerek and struck his shield, splitting it completely in two and cutting off the front of his foot. His sword hit the windlass and split it down the middle. Hraerek struck back. Bosi spun on his heel and dodged the blow, but the sword slipped off his helmet and landed on his shoulders and completely ripped off his mailcoat, wounding him on the shoulder-blades. It kept going down his entire back so that all his clothes were ripped off, leaving him completely naked.[35] And it cut off his left heelbone. Bosi seized a beam, but then Hraerek wanted to jump overboard. Bosi cut him in two against the gunwale, so that each piece fell in a different direction.