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STORIES AND
BALLADS OF THE FAR PAST, Nora Kershaw
APPENDIX TO PART I
THE COMBAT AT SAMSØ AND
HJALMAR'S DEATH SONG
The following passage is taken from an early text of the Saga of Hervör and Heithrek (MS. 2845 in the Royal Library at Copenhagen) where it occurs immediately after the earl's speech ("The death of mighty men" etc.) on p. 92.
When the brothers came home they made ready to go to the combat, and their father accompanied them to the ship and gave the sword Tyrfing to Angantyr, saying:
"I think that you will have need of good weapons now."
He then bade them farewell, and so they parted.
And when the brothers came to Samsø they saw two ships lying in a harbour which was called Munarvag. The ships were of the kind called 'Ash.' The brothers concluded that these must be the ships of Hjalmar and Odd the Far-travelling, who was called Örvar-Odd. The sons of Arngrim then drew their swords and gnawed the rims of their shields and worked themselves up into the berserks' fury. Then they sallied forth, six against each 'Ash,' but so brave were the men whom they encountered on board that they all drew their weapons, and not one fled from his post, and not one spoke a word of fear. And
THE COMBAT AT SAMSØ AND HJALMAR'S DEATH SONG 145
the berserks made their way up one side of the ship and down the other and slew them all. Then they landed and began to howl.
Hjalmar and Odd had landed on the Island to find out if the berserks had come. And as they made their way from the forest to join their ships, the berserks were leaving the ships with bloody weapons and drawn swords. But by this time the berserk fury had passed away from them, and at such times their strength is reduced like that of people who are recovering from illness of some kind.
Then said Odd:
I never knew aught of terror
Till today when the berserks came.
They have sailed to this isle in their ashen ships,
All twelve devoid of shame,
And landed with many a whoop and yell,
Those wretches of evil fame
Then said Hjalmar to Odd: "Do you see that all our men are fallen? It is my belief that we shall all be Othin's guests tonight in Valhalla."
—And it is said that that was the only word of fear ever uttered by Hjalmar.
Odd replied: "My advice would be that we should make off to the wood; for we shall never be able to put up a fight, being only two against twelve— and twelve too who have slain the twelve bravest men in Sweden."
Then said Hjalmar: "We will never flee from our foes. Rather will we suffer the worst that their weapons can inflict. I am going to fight against the berserks."
"Not so," replied Odd; "I have no mind to visit Othin tonight. It is all these berserks who must perish before evening comes; but you and I will be left alive."
146 THE SAGAS
An account of their dialogue is found in these verses which Hjalmar chanted:
Twelve berserks hasten onward,
Inglorious warriors;—
Leaving their warships on they come;
And when night's shadow lowers
We two shall feast in Othin's hall,
Leaving them conquerors.
But Odd replied;
This is the answer I give thee:—
In Othin's hall tonight,
Twelve berserks shall feast,
Every one as a guest,
While we shall live on in the light.
Hjalmar and Odd saw that Angantyr had Tyrfing in his hand, for it flashed like a sunbeam.
Hjalmar said: "Will you fight against Angantyr alone, or against all his eleven brothers?"
"I will fight against Angantyr," replied Odd; "He will give mighty strokes with Tyrfing; but I have more faith in the protection of my shirt than in that of your mail-coat."
Then cried Hjalmar: "When did you and I ever go to battle and you took the lead of me? You want to fight Angantyr because you hold that to be the deed of greater prowess. I am the leader in t his combat, however, and far other was the vow I made to the daughter of the King of Swedes than to let you or anybody else come before me in the fight. It is I who am going to fight Angantyr.
And with that he drew his sword and stepped forth to meet Angantyr and they commended one
THE COMBAT AT SAMSØ AND HJALMAR'S DEATH SONG 147
another to Valhalla. Hjalmar and Angantyr then made ready for the combat, and mighty strokes fell thick and fast between them.
Odd called to the berserks, saying:
Man to man should a warrior fight
Who would win a well-fought day,—
Unless it be that his courage fail,
Or his valour has ebbed away.
Then Hjörvarth advanced, and he and Odd had a stiff encounter; but Odd's silken shirt was so strong that no weapon could pierce it . And so good was his sword that it cut through iron as easily as cloth; and few strokes had he dealt ere Hjörvarth fell dead.
Then Hervarth came on and the same thing happened;—then Hrani, then each of the others in turn. And with such force did Odd encounter them all that he slew every one of the eleven brothers. As for the combat between Hjalmar and Angantyr, the upshot was that Hjalmar was wounded in sixteen places, and then Angantyr fell dead.
Then Odd went over to where Hjalmar lay and cried:
O Hjalmar! Why has thy face grown pale
As the face of men who die?
Wide gape the rents n byrnie and helm,
And I fear that the end draws nigh;
And the strength of manhood has gone from thine arm,
And the light of life from thine eye.
148 THE SAGAS
Hjalmar made answer:
With sixteen wounds is my mailcoat rent,
And the world is fading fast.
Blindly I tread in the gathering gloom,
Pierced to the heart at the last
By Angantyr's sword with its pitiless point
And its edges in poison cast.
* I have given no cause to Ingibjörg
To hold my prowess light;
It shall never be said by our maidens at home
That I gave one thought to flight.
They shall hear how the battle was fought and won.—
How I wielded my sword in the fight.
Five manors were mine, all nobly appointed,
Where I might have tarried and made good cheer.
Ye t my heart was stirred by a restless longing
That urged me onward to Samsø here,
Where, pierced by the sword, with my life blood out pouring,
I shall linger and die on this island so drear.
In my mind I can see the henchmen
Drinking mead in my father's hall.—
A circle of gold is round every throat,
And joy is among them all.
My merry companions are drinking their ale,
Till thought and care are no more,
While I, torn with wounds from a murderous sword,
Perish here on this island shore.
The lofty halls of Sigtun,
I see them from far away;
And the maidens who sought to withhold us
As we hastened forht on our way.
THE COMBAT AT SAMSØ AND HJALMAR'S DEATH SONG 149
I shall never again see those maidens,
Or talk with the warriors bold,
Or drink fair ale in the King's high hall,
As I did in the day of old.
In my heart a voice still lingers,
The voice of a maiden fair,
Who rode with me forth to Agni's meads,
And bade farewell to me there.
And true, too true, were the words she spake
From the depths of her despair,
That never again should I touch her lips,
Or tangle her golden hair.
In my ear a song is ringing,
And echo from out the East—
I heard it from Soti's cliffs on the night
When I left my friends at the feast.
How could I know that never again
Should I hear the maiden's lay,
As I hastened forth with my heart aflame,
And my good ship sailed away?
* In token of what has befallen,
My helmet and corslet take,
And bear them forth to the King's high hall. —
'Tis the last request I make.
The prince's daughter, fair Ingibjörg,
Will be stricken with grief and pain
When she looks on my good shield hacked and rent,
And knows that her love was vain.
Draw from my arm this token,
This ring of gleaming gold;
And bear it to Ingibjörg the fair,
Lest she deem my love grown cold.
Young is the maid to bear the sorrow
Her heart must then endure,
When I ride not home to greet her,
When I keep not my tryst as of yore.
150 THE SAGAS
* I left the youthful Ingibjörg
Upon that fateful day,
When rashly we placed our fortunes
In the hands of Destiny.
O heavy will be the maiden's grief,
The sorrow she must endure
When she knows I have fallen in battle,
And will enter her hall no more.
From the tree tops away to the Eastward
There gather a loathly brood;—
Raven and eagle are swooping
To wet their bills in my blood.
Full many a feast has the eagle had
Of carrion slain by me:
I have fought my last fight,
And I pass to the night;
And now he shall feast on me.
Then Hjalmar died. Odd brought the tidings to Sweden; and the King's daughter could not bear to live after Hjalmar, so she took her own life. Anagantyr and his brothers were laid in a barrow in Samsø with all their weapons.
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