Home of the Eddic Lays
Chapter 14
This influence was exerted the more readily because the Norsemen themselves had from early times been familiar with just such conceptions; and several of the peculiarities in the description of the battle-maidens in the Helgi poems are apparently derived from this native material. On the one hand, Germanic women (particularly when unmarried) from primitive times often wore armour and went into battle, even in companies; and so also in the Viking era, young women appear as warriors in a number of historical instances. (26) On the other hand, Tacitus informs us that in his time the Germanic races thought women holy and half divine, ascribing to them marvellous prophetic powers. One of the German Merseburg lays tells of supernatural women (itisi) who alight on the earth (probably after flying through the air) and bind a hostile army with words of magic. The Anglo-Saxons, too, seem to have known supernatural women who could fly through the air, to whom were ascribed the power of bringing victory. In England we hear also of divine, demoniac valkyries (wćlcyrigean), i.e. women who elect the slain, women who know how to work magic to slay men in battle. These AS war-furies have been compared with the classical Erinnyes and Gorgons; (27) but it does not seem improbable that they were influenced by Irish beliefs.
Certain other things in the story of Sigrún remind us of Irish motives, without our being able to prove historical connection. In 'the Old Lay of the Völsungs' Sigrún comes to Helgi, kisses him, and says that she had loved him before she saw him (H. H., II, 14-18). He takes her away with him, and thereby brings on himself a war, in which her father falls. In the Irish tale, 'The Festival of Bricriu,' Cuchulinn sets out on an expedition. He meets Findchoem, the daughter of Eocho Rond. She says of Cuchulinn to his men: 'I have loved him because of what I have heard of him' (and these are words which are often put into the mouths of women in Irish tales). She goes to Cuchulinn, lays both hands on his neck and gives him a kiss. He takes her with him to his home. Her father, king of a people called Ui Mane, follows Cuchulinn with many men and attacks him, but is taken prisoner. Peace is finally made, and Findchoem remains with Cuchulinn. (28)
When in the First Helgi lay Sigrún and her maidens come riding to Helgi, 'a gleam of light broke forth from Flame-fells, and from that gleam came lightning flashes; [then rode three times nine maidens] high, helmet-decked, in the plain of heaven. Their birnies were stained with blood, and from their spears darted rays [of light].' (29)
Irish tales often speak of the gleams which flash from armed riders. When Findchoem's father, the king of Ui Mane, armed with a spear, comes riding with his company to the place where Cuchulinn is, the scout says: 'I see a glitter of fire from ford to mountain'; and the queen, to whom he speaks, remarks: 'That is the sparkling of the armour and the eyes of the Ui Mane on the track of their daughter.'
I have already pointed out (pp. 18, 33) that the flying swan-maidens in the Lay of Wayland are connected with Sigrún and her maidens in the Helgi lay. I have also tried to show that there are points of contact between Sigrún and Atalanta, Meleager's love. But this is not all. Our accounts of Sigrún and of Sváfa (who is similar in character to Sigrún) can be shown to owe something to still other influences.
In a prose passage, the swan-maidens of the Wayland lay are called valkyries. (30) The same expression is applied to Sváfa and her maidens in the prose account of Helgi Hjörvarthsson; (31) and in another prose passage to Sigrún and her maidens. (32) But the word valkyrja is never thus used in the ancient lays: there it always signifies one of those maidens of Odin whose home is in Valhöll. In H. H., I, 38, the valkyrie at the All-father's dwelling, for whose sake all the einherjar would fight, is an entirely different being from Sigrún and her maidens. (33) Since, then, the word valkyrja is used in the prose of other parts of the Edda in a different and less original way than in the First Helgi lay, it is evident that the prose passages in the Lays of Wayland and Helgi were not written down in the same form by the author of the First Lay.
There is one incident which seems to have been carried over to the Helgi lay from the story of Helgi, the son of Halfdan: Sigrún, to escape marriage with her hated suitor Höthbrodd, seeks aid from Helgi, who for her sake makes war on Höthbrodd, and overcomes him. So in the saga of Hrólf Kraki, (34) Ögn, in order to avoid marrying her hated suitor Hrók, seeks aid from Helgi, who attacks and conquers Hrók. (35) This Hrók corresponds to Höthbrodd, not only in being the hated suitor of a woman whom Helgi aids, but also in killing Hroar; for, according to Saxo, it is Hothbrodus who slays Roe. (36) I have shown that Hrókr was earlier called Hrrikr; and in the Skjöldungasaga in Arngrim, Hroar is killed by the sons of Ingjald, Hrrik and Frodi. In Béow., however, Ingeld is king of the Heathobards. We have, therefore, another support for the theory that Höthbrodd is the representative of the Heathobards. (37)
The relation between Sigrún and Helgi Hundingsbani is not, however, the same as that between Ögn and Helgi the son of Halfdan, for Ögn is married to Hroar, and not to Helgi. The surroundings in which Ögn is placed differ also in other respects from those ascribed to Sigrún.
In the story of Helgi the son of Halfdan, as we have seen, Helgi makes war on Höthbrodd for a woman's sake. The introduction of this feature into the story brought it about that the conception of Sigrún was influenced by the account of Hild in the story of the Hjathnings. (38) Hethin carries off Högni's daughter Hild, i.e. the battle-maiden. Högni pursues Hethin, and a battle takes place, in which both Högni and Hethin fall. Hild goes about on the battlefield and wakes the fallen to life, that they may fight again. It is in imitation of this story that the Helgi poet makes Sigrún a daughter of Högni. In both the First and Second Lays she is called Högni's daughter; and in the Second Lay we read of a fight between Högni and Helgi (just as in the Hild story there is a fight between Högni and Hethin), Sigrún having followed Helgi without her father's consent. In that battle the father falls, and Sigrún goes about on the battlefield.
We have a direct reference to the story of the Hjathnings in H. H., II, 29, where Helgi says to Sigrún: because she has occasioned the strife between her lover and her relatives; and Sigrún answers: 'I would choose to bring to life those who are dead if I could nevertheless hide myself in thy bosom.' (39) Here the poet is thinking of Hild, who went about on the battlefield during the battle of the Hjathnings and by her magic brought to life those who had fallen. (40)
In the poem which the Edda-collector called Völsungakviđa in forna, i.e. the Old Lay of the Völsungs (or, the one composed by a heathen poet?), the first meeting between Sigrún and Helgi is a love-meeting. Sigrún seizes Helgi's hand, kisses him, and declares that she loved him before she had seen him. Then he is filled with love for her (H. H., II, 14-15). Here we have a bond of union with the Danish Hild story, for Saxo tells (what is at variance with Old Norse tradition) that Hethin and Hild loved each other before they had met. In Saxo we read also that at their first meeting they could not take their eyes from each other. (41)
The influence of the Hild story shows itself more clearly in the Old Lay of Völsungs and in the concluding portion of the Second Helgi lay than in the First Lay. (42) In the First Lay, Helgi's fight with Höthbrodd is the main subject; Högni is almost lost sight of; and the relations between Sigrún and Helgi are not those of love. The account of the meeting of the lovers Helgi and Sigrún in the Old Lay of the Völsungs (H. H., II, 14-18) is quite different. Here it is Sigrún's father Högni and her relatives whom Helgi has to fear in carrying off Sigrún, while Höthbrodd is only mentioned casually. In the ensuing battle, moreover, Sigrún's father and others of her relatives are Helgi's chief opponents.
From the relations just pointed out, and from the resemblance in certain points between Saxo's version of the Hild story and the account of the first meeting of Helgi and Sigrún in H. H., II, 14-18, we may, I think, conclude that the latter is a working over of verses in a Danish poem on Hild composed in England, with only such changes as were made necessary by the introduction of the names Sigrún and Höthbrodd.
The reproaches which Guthmund and Sinfjötli exchange in H. H., II, 19-24, unlike the other strophes in the Second Lay, do not mention Sigrún as the cause of the war, but seem to hint that Helgi's expedition to the land of the sons of Granmar has some connection with earlier feuds with Granmar's race. Here, moreover, Högni is not named as Helgi's enemy, but only Höthbrodd and his kin. As Detter has rightly observed, this is really the same form of the saga as that which Saxo gives in his story of Helgi, the only difference being that Helgi in this part of the Lay is associated with Sinfjötli. Strophes 19-24 do not appear, therefore, to have been composed by the author of the other strophes of the Second Lay.
26. Golther, Der Valkyrienmythus, pp. 7 ff. Back
27. Kögel, in Sievers, Beit., XVI, 407; Golther, pp. 17 f. Back
28. See Fled Bricrend, ed. with translation by Windisch, in Irische Texte, II, i, pp. 173 ff. Back
29. þá brá ljóma / af Logafjöllum, / en af þeim ljómum (ljóma?) / leiptrir kvámu;...... / en af geirum / geislar stóðu (I, 15). Back
30. In my edition, p. 163a. Back
31. Pp. 191 b, 193 a, 194 a. Back
32. Pp. 173 a, 173 b, 176 a. Back
33. In the prose bit in II, between sts. 18 and 19, we read of Helgi's sea-expedition: 'They experienced on the sea tempestuous weather. Then lightnings flashed over them, and gleams stood into (illumined) the ships. They saw nine valkyries ride through the air, and they recognised Sigrún. Then the storm subsided, and they came safe to land.' This description seems to have arisen from a fusing of H. H., I, 15, where Sigrún comes with her maidens after the fall of Hunding's sons, with I, 28-30, where Sigrún protects Helgi's ship in the storm. Yet the words valkyrior nío appear to show that the text of the MS. in I, 15, is not complete. The text probably once read as follows: en af þeim ljóma / leiptrir kómu / þá [riðu meyjar / þrysvar níu] / hávar und hjálmum / á Himinvanga. Cf. þrennar níundir meyja, H. Hj., 28, while the prose bit in H. Hj., p. 173 a, reads: valkyrjur níu. Back
34. Fornaldarsögur, I, 25 f. Back
35. This combination is suggested by Detter in Sievers, Beit., XVIII, 100. Back
36. So Detter in place cited, and Olrik. Back
37. But in Beow., Hrêðrîc is the name of Hrôthgâr's son. Back
38. Cf. Simrock, Handbuch d. deut. Mythol., p. 314. Back
39. Simrock (Handbuch, p. 394), and Edzardi (Germania, XXIII, 166), are right in giving to Sigrún the following words: Lifna munda ek nú kjósa / er liðnir eru / ok knœtta ek þér í faðmi felask, and in finding in them a reference to Hild of the Hjathning story, who wakes the dead. Kjósa is not merely 'to wish.' Lifna (acc. pl. ) kjósa means 'to bring to life by incantations'; cf. kjósa mœðr frá mögum, Fáfn., 12; and Old Swed. kiusa, Old Dan. kyse, 'to bewitch, charm.' Back
40. In the First Lay men come in hundreds to Helgi from Hethin's Isle. Possibly this name was introduced, most likely among the Danes in England, from the Danish form of the Hjathning story; for in Saxo (ed. M., Bk. II, p. 242) Högni and Hethin fight their last battle in Hethin's Isle (Hiddensee). Back
41. Nondum invicem conspectos alterna incenderat fama. At ubi mutuae conspectionis copia incidit, neuter oblutum ab altero remittere poterat; adeo bertinax amor oculos morabatur (Saxo, Bk. V, p. 238). Back
42. Cf. Detter in Arkiv f. nord. Fil., IV, 64 f; cf. IV, 70. Back
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