Six Sagas of Adventure

by Ben Waggoner (trans)

  Framar said, “It’s now a day’s journey there.”

  “That’s a very long way,” said Guttorm.

  Framar said, “How long have you traveled like this?”

  Guttorm said, “Two days, before we met.”

  Framar said, “There’s quite a difference in valor between us. I was bemoaning a maiden and didn’t get her, and I haven’t gotten into any battles, but I can see that you’re walking with your guts hanging out.[63] But I want you to get me into her bower, if she’ll accept you.”

  “So be it—if I can,” said Guttorm.

  Now they traveled the same way that Framar had gone before, until they came to the fence. There was little hope for a man in Guttorm’s condition. When they arrived, Framar went away. At that moment, one of the maidservants had gone out into the yard to pee. She saw this man whose intestines were hanging out, and she went back into the bower and told the king’s daughter what a state the man was in. The king’s daughter wasted no time. She and her other maidens, twelve all together, came to the gate. The king’s daughter saw this wretched man and how terribly far gone he was, with his intestines falling out. She asked him his name. He said that he was named Guttorm.

  “Are you a sworn brother of King Sturlaug?” she said.

  “The very same,” he said, “and I would like to ask you to grant me some help.”

  She said, “How could I get closer to Sturlaug than to heal his sworn brother? But don’t trick me.”

  After that, they carried him into the bower. The king’s daughter had a small house of healing, and it was very delightful inside for poor sick creatures to be next to such compassionate ladies with soft hands. Guttorm was in the king’s daughter’s house of healing for some time, and he was treated very well. The king’s daughter herself and her maidservants were there for a long time, and they healed Guttorm with their skill and care, as she had done so often, curing and making whole many wealthy and poor people, women as well as men.

  One day, the king summoned his daughter. She went straight to the hall with her maidservants. The bower was left open, and the fence was shut, but the gate wasn’t locked. Framar was waiting for this, and Guttorm came there and led him into the bower and into the house of healing, and he stood there behind the tapestries. The day passed until the king’s daughter came into the bower, and at once she went to Guttorm and loosened the bandages from the wound, and it was much better. “You’ve been outside today,” said the king’s daughter, “and you must have deceived me.”

  And as they were talking, Framar leaped out from behind the tapestries and put one hand under her chin and the other under her neck and gave her a kiss. She took this badly and ordered them to go away at once. “I don’t want you two to be killed here before my eyes, as you deserve. Guttorm has been here for a while, and he’s lucky to have Sturlaug, because you would have earned the loss of your lives for this scheme of yours—except that I think well of Sturlaug, because of his accomplishments.”

  They left, as she had ordered them. Framar went away immediately to his ships and set his course for Sweden. He told King Sturlaug how his dealings had gone, and he asked him now for help.

  CHAPTER XXVII

  Sturlaug was pleased, and had forces mustered throughout his kingdom. He readied a great fleet: three hundred ships, well prepared for anything. They sailed directly to Russia with great good cheer and splendor. And when they landed, their forces rushed onto the land. They slaughtered and killed, fire-raising and burning men and cattle. When this had gone on for a while, they became aware that their opponents had summoned their forces, and that Snaekoll and King Ingvar were aware of them. Each side prepared to meet the other.

  When they met, there was the fiercest battle, and each side launched harsh attacks against the other. Sturlaug advanced without armor, as was his custom. The sworn brothers did many brave and warlike deeds. The battle lasted for three days, with a terrible slaughter of men. King Ingvar and Snaekoll fell together before Sturlaug in this battle. Hvitserk[64] managed to flee, and many men with him. Sturlaug then had the peace-shields lifted up and went to Ladoga with all his forces. There was much merriment and cheering and clamor of victory shouts in Sturlaug’s ranks, and all the town was in their power. All the folk in the town sued for peace and put themselves into Sturlaug’s hands.

  CHAPTER XXVIII

  Sturlaug gave the king’s daughter Ingigerd to Framar. The feast was splendid in every way that was needful, and after the feast the foremost men were sent away with fine gifts. Thus they parted, and each one returned to his own home. Then Sturlaug gave the town of Ladoga to Framar, with all the wealth that King Ingvar had owned, and along with that the title of king. Framar settled down with his lands and riches, and ruled his kingdom with the best counsel in the land. From Framar and Ingigerd are descended a large family and many great men, although they are not told of in this saga.

  After that, Sturlaug went back to Sweden and stayed in his own kingdom, wise and wealthy. Sturlaug was always at peace with the High King of Sweden, and the king found him to be a staunch man in all trials, because his sworn brothers kept their friendship and loyalty to him as long as they all lived.

  Sturlaug and Asa had two sons. One was named Heinrek, and the other was Ingolf. They were both great and promising men and enter into many sagas.[65] They took up all sorts of skills and sports at a young age. They were both kings after Sturlaug, their father, and many great families are descended from them. Sturlaug died of old age, after the death of Peace-Frodi.[66]

  Here ends this saga.

  [1] This is a brief summary of the Learned Prehistory, a euhemerization of old Norse mythology in which the gods were seen as humans who had migrated from Asia and ruled Scandinavia. (See Note 1 to Bósa saga.) This opening paragraph of the saga is suspected of being a later addition to the text (Sanders, “Sturlaugs saga”, p. 2, p. 6).

  [2] Kaupangr is Norse for “market”; the word is fairly common in place names. In manuscript AM 335 4to, Jarl Hring is said to live at Hamarkaupangr (“cliff market” or “rocky hill market”), which is the modern town of Hamar in Hedmark, in southeastern Norway near the Swedish border (Zitzelberger, The Two Versions of Sturlaugs saga starfsama, p. 8.6). However, Trondheim is on the North Sea, a long distance north and west of Hamar—and it was originally named Kaupangr. Since the other locations in this chapter seem to be near Trondheim, presumably this is meant here. That said, Icelandic sagas are not always reliable guides to geography; recensions of this saga were composed at a time when Icelanders’ contacts with Norway were growing rarer.

  [3] Naumudælafylki, “the shire of Namdalen,” is just north of modern Trondheim.

  [4] The modern form of the name is Skarstad. There are several Skarstads in Norway; the one meant here may be the one northeast of Trondheim and Namsos, near the village of Høylandet in Nord-Trøndelag county.

  [5] Njarðey means “island of Njörðr”, the god of ships and the sea. Presumably present-day Nærøy, north of Trondheim.

  [6] Tunglaheimr means “heavenly-body home”, possibly “moon home.” It is probably the present-day Tinglem, north of the Trondheimsfjord, between the present-day towns of Malm and Namsos.

  [7] Loka may be the modern Lokøy or Lokøyna, an island west of Bergen, although this is some distance south of the Trondheim region. The island of Urga has not been located.

  [8] A woman named Vefreyja is briefly introduced at the end of Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar. Like Vefreyja in this saga, she is said to be wise and slightly uncanny (her mother is a princess transformed into an ogre), but it’s not certain whether the two sagas refer to the same person.

  [9] Vé can mean “estate; mansion”, but more usually means “temple”. Freyja means “lady”, and Vefreyja’s name could be interpreted as “lady of the estate.” Freyja is al
so the name of a goddess, and so Vefreyja could mean “lady of the temple” or “goddess of the temple”. It might be tempting to interpret Vefreyja as a euhemerized goddess.

  [10] Expressions in the sagas like “knowledgeable about many things” (margvíss, margfróðr) are often euphemisms for having magical knowledge.

  [11] It’s a commonplace in the legendary sagas that the “good guys” only raid and plunder robbers and other “bad guys,” leaving innocent farmers and merchants in peace. See Göngu-Hrólfs saga ch. 6; other examples include Þórsteins saga Víkingssonar ch. 22; Friðþjófs saga inn frækna ch. 11; Örvar-Odds saga ch. 9.

  [12] Kalinké (Bridal-Quest Romance, pp. 25-33) points out that the same plot device appears in Völsunga saga (ch. 11, trans. Byock, p. 52) and in Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar (ch. 1): An elderly widower king (Sigmund/Gautrek) seeks to marry a young woman (Hjordis/Ingibjorg). In the other two sagas, a young king (Lyngvi/Olaf) also seeks the woman’s hand, and when her father (Eylimi/Thorir) allows her to make her own choice, she chooses the older man for his fame and renown, while the rejected younger man prepares to attack his rival. Here, Harald’s villainous actions break the expected pattern—probably another example of the writer burlesquing the expected conventions of the romantic sagas.

  [13] The betrothed bride who has to wait for three years for her marriage appears in several sagas of Icelanders (Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu ch. 5, Bjarnar saga hitdælakappa ch. 2). In these sagas there is generally a narrative reason for the three-year wait; here, the wait seems to be arbitrary, except perhaps as a send-up of the convention.

  [14] “Hewing-spear” (höggspjót) was one of several names for weapons that were probably polearms with long blades, something like the glaive later medieval Europe. The word is usually, if not quite accurately, translated as “halberd.”

  [15] The name Kolr krappi is literally “Kol the Crafty”. However, other sagas have very similar troll-like villains named Kolr (“Swarthy”) with a nickname derived from kroppi, “hunchbacked”. Kolr kroppinbakr (Crooked-Back) appears in Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar; Kolr kryppa (Hunch), appears in Vilmunds saga viðútan (Loth, Late Medieval Icelandic Romances, vol. 4). Thus it’s possible that krappi was originally kroppi; I hedged my bets by translating the name with a word which could mean either.

  [16] Hall suggests that the story told in chapters 6-13 in Sturlaugs saga shares ancestry with the story of chapters 2-3 of the R recension of Heiðreks saga. In Sturlaugs saga, Kol demands to marry Asa, whom Harald has already claimed, but Sturlaug becomes Harald’s champion, gains a magic sword, and defeats Kol. In Heiðreks saga, Hjalmar demands to marry Ingjald’s daughter, whom Hjorvard has already claimed, but Angantyr becomes Hjorvard’s champion, gains a magic sword and defeats Hjalmar.

  [17] A proverb. Literally, er eigi í hættu um gamlan mann, “there’s nothing at stake for an old man.”

  [18] The word for a judicial combat is hólmganga, literally “going to the island.” Such duels did not necessarily take place on a literal island, although they often did. It’s not clear exactly where the duel is taking place in this saga, but since the setting is on the banks of a river, I have assumed that a literal island is meant here.

  [19] Judicial duels in Icelandic society were governed by a legal code (the holmgöngulög). The dueling ground was circumscribed by a spread-out cloak or hide, and/or a ring of stakes; anyone who stepped out of bounds was judged to have lost. Formal combats in the sagas of Icelanders usually end at first blood. See Kormaks saga ch. 10 for a description.

  [20] The chivalric saga Hrings saga ok Tryggva has a somewhat similar plot: the heroine Brynhild is betrothed to Hring, but when a raider tries to win her hand by attacking her father’s kingdom, her father is forced to betroth her to Tryggvi as a condition for his help (Kalinké, Bridal-Quest Romance, pp. 199-201).

  [21] In Hauks þáttr Hábrokar in Flateyjarbók (trans. Bachman, Forty Old Icelandic Tales, p. 14), a giantess undresses and feels the hero and declares him “lucky”, implying that he will survive an upcoming battle and possibly giving him magical protection. “Wise women” do the same for their favored heroes, usually their foster-sons, in several sagas of Icelanders (Kormaks saga ch. 1; Heiðarvíga saga ch. 23; Reykdæla saga ch. 5).

  [22] A parody of Völsunga saga ch. 29, in which Sigurd (disguised as Gunnar) lies next to Brynhild with a naked sword between them; and/or a parody of the Tristan legend (known in Norse translation as Tristrams saga og Ísöndar; chs. 65-66, trans. Schach, pp. 102-103), in which Tristan and Isolde place a sword between them when they sleep together in the woods. See also Göngu-Hrólfs saga ch. 24, note 49.

  [23] This cape plays no role in the saga, but capes made by Vefreyja appear in the “sequel” Göngu-Hrolfs saga (ch. 4; trans. Pálsson and Edwards, p. 37). They are impervious to both weapons and venom.

  [24] Though it’s not expressly stated here, Kol probably has the ability to blunt weapons with his gaze. Several villains in Saxo’s History of the Danes have this ability: Visinn (VI.187, p. 173); Grimmi (VII.223, p. 207); and Hildiger (VII.244, p. 223). So does Thororm in Gunnlaugs saga (ch. 7) and Thorgrim in Vatnsdæla saga (ch. 29). In Hávamál in the Poetic Edda (148; transl. Orchard, p. 37), and in Ynglinga saga (ch. 6, transl. Hollander, Heimskringla, p. 10), Odin has the ability to blunt his enemies’ weapons by magic, as do the berserks Sorkvir and Brynjolf in Göngu-Hrólfs saga (ch. 2)

  [25] The Norse reads herjans syni, “to [the mind of] a rascal’s son.” Herjan was once a name of the god Odin, but by the time this saga was written, herjan had become an epithet, meaning something like “fiend”.

  [26] An expression meaning “I shall never accept money as compensation for my brother’s death, but will always seek vengeance.” See also Grettis saga ch. 22.

  [27] Blámenn, “black men”, is the name used for black Africans in historical sagas (e.g. Orkneyinga saga ch. 88, trans. Pálsson and Edwards, p. 172). However, the “black men” of the legendary sagas are stock villains, hideous and supernaturally powerful, whose primary narrative function is to be killed by the hero after an exciting battle scene. They appear in geographically incongruous places—Snorri Sturluson places them in Siberia (Ynglinga saga ch. 1 in Heimskringla, trans. Hollander, p. 6)—but still belong to a tradition in Norse literature of attributing uncanny powers to ethnic outsiders. See Lindow, “Supernatural and Ethnic Others”.

  [28] The name Jökull means “glacier”; Frosti, of course, means “frost.” As noted in footnote 17 to Bósa saga, the word for “to harden” (herða) also means “to encourage; to test in battle” when applied to a person; this wordplay is not quite translatable. Two men named Jökull and Frosti are paired up in Þorsteins þáttr bæjarmagns (ch. 6).

  [29] Finnr in Norse sagas usually means a Saami (“Lapp”). “Finns” often appear in the sagas as wielders of powerful magic.

  [30] There are a number of instances of fights between humans who have shapeshifted into animal form (Hrólfs saga kraka ch. 33; Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis ch. 11; Landnámabók S350/H309, Jakob Benediktsson, ed. Íslenzk Fornrit vol. 1, pp. 355-356; Svarfdæla saga ch. 19). In most accounts, however, a shapeshifter (hamrammr) is asleep or unconscious, as his or her consciousness leaves the body and takes animal form; in the Landnámabók account, the battle is only visible to someone with second sight. Usually, a person takes on only one animal form (although the god Odin was said to be able to take on many forms; see Ynglinga saga ch. 7). This saga’s account is unusual in depicting shape-shifting of the total body in broad daylight, while the fighters are awake, each into more than one animal form.

  [31] The author of the saga has a kite-shaped shield in mind, rather than the round shields of the historical Viking era.

  [32] Austrvík mean
s “eastern bay”. Presumably this is the White Sea, which is more usually called Gandvík, “Magic Bay”. Like Austrvik, Gandvík is often described as the haunt of giantesses and sorcery.

  [33] Hornnefja means “horn nose.” Several giantesses in the fornaldarsögur have names that imply that their noses are bizarre: Járnnef (“iron nose”), Arinnefja (“eagle nose”), Skinnnefja (“leather nose”), Skellinefja (“rattle nose”).

  [34] Giants and giantesses are often depicted wearing hides, instead of more “civilized” clothing of woven cloth; Saxo’s Danish History mentions one man who dresses entirely in hides and is taken for a giant (I.13-17; Ellis Davidson and Fisher, transl., pp. 16-19). Zoe Borovsky has pointed out that Hrolf’s costume resembles the costume of men who dressed in hides and skins and impersonated giantesses in medieval folk dramas and guising, such as the Grýla tradition in Iceland. (“Folk Dramas, Farce, and the Fornaldarsögur”; see also Gunnell, The Origins of Drama in Medieval Scandinavia, pp. 160-178)