Viking Tales of the North
The Saga of Thorstein Viking's Son
Chapter 1
HERE BEGINS THE SAGA OF THORSTEIN,
VIKING’S SON.
I
The beginning of this Saga is, that a king named Loge ruled that country which is north of Norway. Loge was larger and stronger than any other man in that country. His name was lengthened from Loge to Haloge, and after him the country was called Halogeland (Hálogaland, i.e. Haloge’s land). Loge was the fairest of men, and his strength and stature was like unto that of his kinsmen, the giants, from whom he descended. His wife was Glod (Glöð, glad), a daughter of Grim of Grimsgard, which is situated in Jotunheim in the north; and Jotunheim was at that time called Elivags (Elivágar in the north). Grim was a very great berserk; his wife was Alvor, a sister of Alf the Old. He ruled that kingdom which lies between two rivers, both of which were called Elfs (i.e. Elbs), taking their name from him (Alf). The river south of his kingdom, dividing it from Gautland, the country of King Gaut, was called Gaut’s Elf (i.e. Gaut’s River, the river Gotha in the southwestern part of th present Sweden); the one north of it was called Raum’s Elf, named after King Raum, and the kingdom of the latter was called Raum’s-ric. The land governed by King Alf was called Alfheim, and all his offspring are related to the Elves. They were fairer than any other people save the giants. King Alf was married to Bryngerd, a daughter of king Raum of Raum’s-ric; she was a large woman, but she was not beautiful, because her father, king Raum, was ugly-looking, and hence ugly looking and large men are called great “raums.” King Haloge and his wife, queen Glod, had two daughters, named Eisa (glowing embers) and Eimyrja (embers). These maids were the fairest in the land, on account of their things took their names from the above-named maids. There lived with Haloge two jarls, named Vifil and Vesete, both of whom were large and strong men, and they were the warders of the king’s land. One day the jarls went to the king, Vifil to woo Eimyrja and Vesete to woo Eisa; but the king refused both, on which account they grew so angry that they soon afterward carried the maids off, fleeing with them out of the land, and thus putting themselves out of his reach. But the king declared them outlaws in his kingdom, hindered them by witchcraft from every again becoming dwellers in his land, and, moreover, enchanted their kinsmen, making these also outlaws, and deprived them of hte benefit of their estates forever. Vesete settled in an island or holm, which hight Borgund’s holm (Bornholm), and become the father of Bue and Sigurd, nicknamed Cape. Vifil sailed further ot the east and established himself in an island called Vifil’s Isle. With his wife, Eimyrja, he got a son, Viking by name, who in his early youth became a man of great stature and extraordinary strength.
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