The Guests of Odin

by Gavin Chappell

  One night when King Halfdan was going to a meeting of kings, Sorli moored off Rugen. Halfdan was aboard his dragon-headed longship Skrauti. When Sorli awoke, he saw several ships including Halfdan’s dragonship. He parleyed with the man aboard and learnt that he was King Halfdan, who he knew had slain Sorli’s uncle, Agnar the Rich. He offered Halfdan the choice to surrender his ship Skrauti. Halfdan was angry about this and he ordered his men to make ready for battle.

  The fight broke out and all Sorli’s ships were cleared and sunk, although Halfdan lost three of his own. With King Halfdan was a boy named Thorir, son of Jarl Thorfinn. When Sorli saw his own ships were being destroyed, he leapt up onto Skrauti where Bork and Bolverk joined him. Sorli spared no one who attacked him while Bork and Bolverk fought Thorir. Halfdan attacked Sorli and they fought long and hard. But now King Halfdan was an old man and Sorli was young. When Halfdan began to weaken Sorli urged him to accept a truce and the king taunted him for his faint heart. They began to fight a second time and again Sorli offered his enemy a truce, but Halfdan refused, preferring to lay down his life with boldness rather than accept the offer. Sorli slew him, and took the ship.

  Meanwhile Thorir had cut down Sorli’s men like brushwood but seeing this Bork attacked him but his sword caught in the sail boom. Thorir swung his sword at Bork and shattered his skull. Then Bolverk came at him, striking him across the shoulders so he would have been killed were it not for his mail. Thorir attacked Bolverk, grabbed him by the legs and slammed him to the deck, breaking his skull too. The deck was heaving with Sorli’s men and Thorir saw that he could not prevail against them. Seeing that his king had fallen he swam to the land ruled by Halfdan’s old comrade Sigurd.

  Now Sorli took the dragonship Skrauti and all King Halfdan’s treasure and he sailed back to Norway and a joyful reunion with his father and friends, who all marvelled at the dragonship he had won.

  King Erling spoke to Sorli and told him that he should be prepared for trouble from Halfdan’s sons and they prepared the kingdom for attack.

  Meanwhile, Thorir had swum to Sigurd’s country where he told him about King Halfdan’s death. Sigurd gave Thorir a ship and men and sent him to Rugen to tell Hogni and Hakon about their father’s death. In Rugen Thorir learnt that Hogni had gone to visit Astro, Duke of England. He went to Hakon and told him what had happened. When Halfdan’s queen heard this, she died of grief. She was buried splendidly in a mound with many treasures.

  Hakon sent a message to Hogni and Duke Astro in England. When Hogni received the message, he set forth as soon as he could with a great army. Before he went, he told his sister Marsibil, Astro’s husband, of their father’s death and she swooned. When she recovered, she urged Hogni to avenge them.

  Sorli decided that he would go to the brothers and seek reconciliation. He sailed away for Rugen, leaving his father and brother to guard the kingdom. As he sailed past the island of Most, he unwittingly passed Hogni, who was heading towards Norway. Sorli came to Rugen and pitched his tents outside the town. Meanwhile Hogni sailed round Norway and weighed anchor at the harbour closest to Upland. As he approached he saw forty ships at anchor, and to his wrath, he recognised his father’s dragonship among them.

  He parleyed with the man on Skrauti, giving him the option of yielding the ship or defending it with his life. The man on the ship accepted the second option and a fierce battle broke out. Hogni and one of his men, named Sval, cut their way through the opposition. Sval encountered Ivar, the man in control of the dragonship, who cut him down, but as he lay on the deck, Sval seized Ivar’s legs and brought him down so hard he cracked his skull on the timbers. Hogni gained control of the dragonship and sailed it into the harbour, then pitched his tents outside King Erling’s town.

  At dawn, Hogni sent twelve men to King Erling’s hall, led by Sval. When they reached the hall, Sval greeted the king and said, “Hogni wants you to know that he offers battle to Sorli, if he is there, or to Erling himself if Sorli is elsewhere, to avenge his own father.”

  Erling assented and sent the messengers back to tell Hogni that they would come out to fight them.

  When Hogni heard this message he put on his mailcoat, girded himself with Dainsleif, and led his forces to the battle. Erling came out of the town with all his forces, including King Harald and Sigvald. King Erling’s standard bearer was a Finn named Sverri and when Hogni cut him down, he returned later in the form of a lion and knocked Hogni from his horse.

  Hogni hacked at the lion with Dainsleif but to no avail, so he flung it down and wrestled the creature. He killed it but in the process, it spewed out such venom that Hogni collapsed unconscious on top of it. Then Erling saw him lying there and struck three blows between his shoulders but the sword did not bite because of Hogni’s mail. He told one of his men to beat Hogni to death with a club but when Sval saw what was happening he rode up to knock Erling from his saddle with his lance so that the king was flung more than forty feet and every bone in his body was broken. Gellir attacked Sval and they wrestled.

  When Sval felled Gellir, he called upon the troll woman who had fostered him. She came invisibly and dragged Sval away, whereupon Gellir leapt upon Sval. But then Hogni regained his senses and he cut Gellir in two with Dainsleif. Then King Harald struck Hogni across the shoulders so that he was almost slain. Hogni turned on Harald and split him in half with a single blow of Dainsleif. Then he attacked Sigvald, decapitating him with one blow. The remaining Norwegians now retreated to the town where they told the queen what had happened.

  The next day Hogni entered the town and he went to the king’s hall but found it deserted except for thralls.

  He asked, “Where is the queen?”

  ‘She has gone to her daughter’s bower,” the thralls told him.

  When he reached the plank wall that surrounded the bower, a mist came down and he and his men could see neither the fence nor the bower. They found a river before them and tried to cross it and climb up the cliffs on the far side, which took them all night. But when morning came, they saw that there was no river and they had been clawing at the fence. Hogni told them to break down the gate and when it was done he entered to find no one in there, he had the treasure chests broken into and took away all the treasure and fine clothes and went away.

  Looking back as he did so, he saw an old woman and a fair maiden standing on the walls. Sval thought that it was Erling’s daughter Ingibjorg and her foster mother but he advised against return after the trouble they had had already. They returned to the tents and broke camp, embarking their ships, including Skrauti and sailed away to Rugen.

  Sorli sent messengers to the hall in Rugen and Sverri led them. They offered a settlement for Halfdan’s death, along with friendship and sworn brotherhood. When Hakon heard this, he was angry and told Sverri to prepare for war. Sorli readied his forces and faced Hakon and Thorir as they rode out from the town. Battle broke out and Sorli repeatedly broke Hakon’s ranks. Hakon encountered two of Sorli’s men, Fal and Frodel, both Finns. He cut at Frodel who vanished into the earth. When Hakon tried to drag Frodel back out Fal came up behind him, stabbed him in the belly, and slew him. Thorir saw this and retreated into the town with his surviving men.

  Sorli moved his camp closer to the town and tried to break down the walls but Thorir’s men poured boiling pitch and brimstone down on them. Then Sorli moved his lines farther away from the town. Meanwhile Duke Astro came from England with a vast force and attacked Sorli. The battle went on for two days and neither side gained the upper hand.

  On the third day, more ships were sighted. Leading them was the dragonship Skrauti, and men guessed that these were the forces of Hogni. Sorli realised what must have happened and grieved for the fate of his people in Norway. Hogni weighed anchor and pitched his tents. When Duke Astro and Thorir saw this, they rode to his camp and greeted him joyfully. They told Hogni all that had happened, including Hakon’s death, then rode to the town and remained there.

  The next day Hogni sent men to Sor
li’s camp, told him to ready himself for further fighting, and assured him that it would mark the end of their contest. Sorli led his army forth and a fierce battle ensued, during which Thorir slew Karmon and Sorli pursued him. He encountered Hogni who said it would be better for them to fight single combat.

  They rode against each other and fought fiercely but both wore excellent armour and they barely wounded each other. Then Sorli flung away his sword and grappled Hogni. They wrestled and Sorli tried to fling Hogni into a nearby brook, but Hogni escaped this trick and pinned Sorli.

  Hogni observed, “Dainsleif lies somewhere on the battlefield and if you are a courageous man you would lie here until I return with my sword.”

  Sorli did so and when Hogni returned with Dainsleif, he was so impressed that he offered Sorli life, friendship, and sworn brotherhood. Sorli accepted and they made a firm pact.

  Sorli sailed away. He later died while fighting Vikings in the Baltic. When Hogni heard of this he sailed to the Baltic and harried widely, laying the kings of its shores under tribute, until twenty kings accepted him as their overlord. Later Hogni married Hervor the daughter of Hiarvard, and they had a daughter named Hild.

  3. The Eternal Battle

  A king of Glommen in Norway named Hiarrandi had a son called Hedin who lived the life of a Viking, raiding widely until twenty kings paid him tribute. One winter, when Hedin was at home in the land of Glommen, he went into the forest with his retainers, and it happened that in a clearing he found a woman sitting on a chair. He asked her name and she said she was called Gondul. She asked him about his achievements and he told her of all his battles and raids. She told him that he had no equal except Hogni, king of Rugen. Hedin resolved to go and test which of them was the greater.

  That spring he set out in a dragon ship with three hundred men. When he reached Rugen, King Hogni welcomed him and arranged a feast. He asked Hedin why he had come, and Hedin replied, “I think that we should test ourselves against each other.”

  Hogni agreed, and the next day they went against each other in swimming matches and archery and other feats of prowess, and soon saw that they were equally matched. They swore brotherhood.

  Shortly afterwards, Hogni went out raiding and he left Hedin behind as his landwarden. One day, Hedin and his men were out hunting in the woods when Hedin met Gondul again in a clearing. She gave him a drink from a horn she bore, and he drank it. As soon as he had done so, he forgot their first meeting. They talked, and she asked if he had tried himself against Hogni.

  Hedin said, “I have, and we are equal in all things.”

  “Not so,” Gondul said, ‘since Hogni has a queen and you are unmarried.”

  Hedin said, “Hogni would give him his daughter if I was to ask.”

  Gondul said, “It is not the way of a man as mighty as you to beg for favours.”

  She added that he should take the girl without asking, and that he should sacrifice Hogni’s queen while he did so.

  Hedin returned to his men and they went to prepare Hogni’s ship Skrauti, since he said he was going home. Then Hedin went to the bower where Hild and her mother were, and he carried them off.

  Hild told him, “If you were to ask my father for my hand then he would gladly grant it,” but Hedin said, “I will not beg for you.”

  Then Hild said, “If you bear me away, my father will come after me and you will fight and kill each other, and yet that will not be the worst of your fate.”

  Then Hedin took Hervor, and placed her beneath the keel of his ship and launched it, killing her as they launched. They sailed across the sea and later Hedin went ashore alone, and in the forest, he met Gondul again, and she cast a spell over him so he fell asleep. When he awoke, he realised the shamefulness of his deeds and he sailed away hastily.

  When Hogni returned, he learnt the truth and he sailed angrily after Hedin. When Hedin was aware of this, he dropped anchor after the island that was later called Hedinsey (Hedin’s Isle). He spoke with Hogni when the king reached him, and told him how Gondul had bewitched him, but now he only wanted to return Hogni’s daughter and his ship.

  However, Hogni still wanted revenge for the killing of his queen, and he had drawn his sword Dainsleif and it thirsted for blood. So they went ashore with all their men and fought each other, and that was the beginning of the everlasting Battle of the Hiadningar. At the end of the first day, the two kings went back to their ships but Hild used witchcraft to revive the dead and they fought again in the morning. The battle went on day after day, and all who fell turned to stone. But the next day they rose and fought again.

  It is said that this battle will continue until the twilight of the gods.

  Hrolf Kraki

  1. Frodi and his Mill

  Odin’s son Skjold ruled over the Danes, and the family that descended from him was called the Skjoldung dynasty. Skjold’s son Fridleif succeeded to the throne, and in turn was succeeded by his own son Frodi.

  A man named Hengkjopt gave Frodi a hand-mill named Grotti, whose millstones were so huge no one could use them, although it was known that they would grind anything the miller wanted. At that time, Fjolnir, son of Frey, ruled Sweden. There was great friendship between the two kings and they often visited each other.

  Fjolnir invited Frodi to a feast, and while he was there Frodi bought two huge bondmaids named Fenja and Menja, whom he took home with him and set to work the mill Grotti, grinding out peace and prosperity. He would not let them stop milling but forced them to work. Due to this, there was peace throughout the North during Frodi’s reign, so no man fought another and a gold ring could lie upon the ground at Jelling Heath without being stolen. Because of this, he was called Frid-Frodi, Peace-Frodi.

  Fjolnir visited Frodi in Denmark and there was a great feast. Frodi’s house was large, and in it he had a great barrel many feet high, standing in a lower room. Above the great barrel was a loft, which contained an opening through which mead was poured into the vessel. That night, Fjolnir and his retinue were taken to sleep in the loft nearby. During the night, Fjolnir felt the need to ease himself in the privy and he went outside to the gallery that led there. He was sleepy and had had much to drink. On the way back, he mistakenly went into the wrong loft, fell into the mead, and drowned.

  Meanwhile, Fenja and Menja continued to work at the mill. As they did so, they revealed themselves to be kin to the giant Thjazi who the gods killed. In revenge for Frodi’s treatment of them, they began to grind out war, and prophesied grim times for the Danes. That night a sea-king named Mysing came and attacked the Danes, killing Frodi and taking much plunder, including Fenja and Menja and the mill Grotti. He set them to grind salt. When midnight came, and they were off the shore, they asked him if he was not tired of salt, but he commanded them to continue their work. Shortly after, the ship sank, and where the sea poured into the centre of the mill there is now a whirlpool called the Maelstrom. That is how the sea became salt.

  2. Frodi the Brave

  Halfdan was the son of Frodi who took the Danish throne after his father’s death. He had several children, including a daughter, Signy, who married Saevil, an important earl in his kingdom, and two sons, Hroar and Helgi, who were fostered by a man named Regin.

  A man named Frodi the Brave gathered a large group of warriors and sailed for the Danes. On reaching the kingdom in the middle of the night, he laid waste to everything he could find. He took Halfdan prisoner and killed him, but some of the king’s men escaped. Regin helped Helgi and Hroar get away, and took them to stay with a wizard named Vifil, an old friend of Halfdan’s, who lived alone on an island.

  Meanwhile, Frodi lorded it over the kingdom, but he could not enjoy his conquest because Hroar and Helgi had vanished, and he feared their revenge. His spies searched for them throughout the kingdom and he offered a reward for information about them. Then he commanded witches and wizards to find them, and they suggested that the boys might be on Vifil’s island. Frodi sent his men to search the place.

  Vifil
foretold the coming of Frodi’s men and he hid the two boys before they came to the island. They searched as hard as they could but they found no sign of the boys. When the men returned to the king, he told them: “Vifil hid the boys with his magic.” He sent them back again. Once more, Vifil foretold their coming and hid the boys so Frodi’s men could not find them. When they returned to King Frodi, he decided that he would search the place himself.

  He came to Vifil’s island the next day and Vifil met the king on the shore while he was herding his sheep. The king demanded he give up the boys but with his usual cunning Vifil ensured that the boys were not found and Frodi left, defeated. Now Vifil sent the boys to stay with Earl Saevil, their sister’s husband.

  Although Hroar was eldest, Helgi was the bravest of the brothers. Now they left Vifil’s island, going under the names Ham and Hrani. They came to Earl Saevil’s lands, and after a week asked the earl for permission to remain. He agreed to give them food although he expected little in return from them. They wore hooded cloaks and some men mocked them, saying they had scurvy. They stayed there three years, mocked and ignored.

  King Frodi invited Earl Saevil to a feast. He thought the earl might be hiding the boys, and when Earl Saevil started out, he refused to bring Ham and Hrani along with him. However, they followed on unbroken colts, with Ham (Helgi) riding backwards. They spoke to their sister Signy in riddles from which she learnt their true nature, and she communicated it to Earl Saevil, who was delighted but said, “You should keep out of sight.”

  At Frodi’s hall, a seeress named Heid spoke concerning the boys. When she tried to tell Frodi where they were, Signy gave her a gold ring to buy her silence. Frodi demanded Heid speak or be tortured and she gave the boys away, whereupon they fled from the hall. Regin recognised them and when Frodi ordered his men to pursue the boys, he extinguished the lights in the hall. The king realised that men had been plotting against him.