Anon (Hálf) 2^VIII (Hálf 5)

This is yet another prophetic stanza spoken by a supernatural being, in this case a mountain in the shape of a huge man, who plays no further part in the saga narrative. However, the elements of his prophecy are fulfilled in the same sequence in the saga as they occur in the stanza, thus providing a pattern for the remainder of Hjǫrleifr’s life history, and suggesting that his aggressive and womanising behaviour is out of tune with the natural world, whose messengers convey a series of prophecies of doom, a subliminal message also expressed in Hálf 3 and 4.

Ek sé Hringju         haug um orpinn,
en Hera hníga         hvátinn spjóti.
Sé ek Hjörleifi         haptbönd snúin,
en Hreiðari         höggvinn gálga.

Ek sé haug um orpinn Hringju, en Hera hníga hvátinn spjóti. Ek sé haptbönd snúin Hjörleifi, en gálga höggvinn Hreiðari.

I see a burial mound thrown up for Hringja and [see] Heri fall dead, pierced by a spear. I see captive bonds twisted for Hjǫrleifr and gallows hewn for Hreiðarr.

Mss: 2845(33v) (Hálf)

Readings: [2] haug um: haugum 2845    [3] hníga: hingat 2845    [6] haptbönd: ‘hauptbaund’ 2845

Editions: Skj AII, 257, Skj BII, 277, Skald II, 145, NN §2380; Hálf 1864, 8-9, Hálf 1909, 81, FSGJ 2, 100-1, Hálf 1981, 111-12, 173; Edd. Min. 90.

Context: Attending a kings’ meeting at Konungahella (Kungälv, Bohuslän), Hjǫrleifr makes friends with King Hreiðarr of Sjáland (Sjælland) and his son Heri. Urged by Heri, Hreiðarr invites Hjǫrleifr to his home. There Hjǫrleifr sees Hreiðarr’s daughter Hringja and marries her; then he sets out to travel back to Norway with his bride. The stanza is introduced by the words: Í Jótlandshafi lá Hjörleifr í lognrétt, ok er hann fór í sólarupprás, sá hann í norðr koma upp ór sjónum mikit fjall ok jafnt vaxit sem mann. Þat kvað … ‘In the Jutland sea [Kattegat and/or Skagerrak] Hjǫrleifr lay becalmed, and when he went forth at sunrise, he saw a big mountain come up from the sea in the north, shaped just like a man. It said …’.

Notes: [1] Hringju ‘for Hringja’: The daughter of King Hreiðarr, to whom Hjǫrleifr is very briefly married. Shortly after the mountain man’s recital of this stanza, the party’s ships will not move, so men take to their oars. For reasons unspecified, Hringja falls ill and dies; her coffin is thrown overboard and travels very quickly back south to Denmark. Heri expresses the opinion that King Hjǫrleifr must have murdered Hringja, thus providing a motive for the hostilities that follow between the two parties. — [3] Hera ‘Heri’: The son of King Hreiðarr, killed by being thrust through with a spear (Hálf 1981, 176). — [3] hníga ‘fall dead’: Most previous eds, following Hálf 1864, have emended the ms. hingat ‘hither, [to] here’ to hníga, as it is difficult to fit hingat into the sense or syntax of the helmingr. However, in NN §2380 Kock argues that the ms. reading hingat makes perfect sense, as hingat can be synonymous with hér, and that the emendation hníga spoils the symmetrical structure of the stanza. His retention of the ms. reading here has not met with favour (cf. Hálf 1981, 111). — [5-6] ek sé haptbönd snúin Hjörleifi ‘I see captive bonds twisted for Hjǫrleifr’: This alludes to the same incident as is touched on in Hálf 4/5-8, in which Hjǫrleifr is captured, tied up with his own shoe thongs and placed between two fires (Hálf 1981, 176). For the idiom snúa e-m haptbǫnd ‘to twist captive bonds for sby’, see Gautr 11/8 and Note. — [7-8] en gálga höggvinn Hreiðari ‘and gallows hewn for Hreiðarr’: After Hjǫrleifr has been freed from his bonds by Hildr, he takes his revenge on the sleeping Hreiðarr by stabbing him in the chest and then stringing him up on a gallows meant for himself (Hálf 1981, 176).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
5. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
6. Hálf 1981 = Seelow, Hubert, ed. 1981. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. RSÁM 20. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
7. Hálf 1864 = Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1864. Saga af Hálfi ok Hálfsrekkum. Norrøne Skrifter af sagnhistorisk Indhold 1. Christiania (Oslo): Det Nordiske Oldskriftselskab.
8. Hálf 1909 = Andrews, A. Le Roy, ed. 1909. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. ASB 14. Halle: Niemeyer.
9. Internal references
10. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 11 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 257.
11. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 13 (Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 316.
12. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 4 (Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 307.