Home of the Eddic Lays
Chapter 22
In what precedes I have tried, then, to show: [1] that the man who composed the ballad of which 'Earl Brand' and 'Ribold and Guldborg' are different forms, knew the Eddic Lay of Helgi Hjörvarthsson (though, as appears from a single expression employed, in an older form than that now extant), and the Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbani; and [2] that this ballad was composed by a Dane in Northern England in the early Middle Ages (in the thirteenth century?).
If I am right in these conclusions, it follows that in the Lay of Helgi Hjör. and H. Hund., II, were known in the Middle Ages (about 1200, or in the thirteenth century?) among the Scandinavians in Northern England.
The ballad of Ribold and Guldborg, however, also shows resemblance to other poems known in England. Both Grundtvig and Child have observed (17) its resemblance to the story of Walter and Hildegund. This seems to me unquestionable. But I would go further. In my opinion, the Ribold ballad, in which the mystical motive of the hero's being called by his name is made the cause of the tragic conclusion, is, so far as its saga material is concerned, a combination of two different poems: [1] a ballad which contained a working over of the ON lay that corresponded to the so called Second Helgi lay and to the Lay of Helgi Hjörvarthsson; and [2] a ballad which was a working over of an old lay on Walter and Hildegund. I believe, further, that it can be shown that some of the different forms of the Ribold ballad have preserved more of the Walter story than others.
For the sources of our knowledge of the story of Walter and Hildegund I may refer to Heinzel's excellent dissertation, Über die Walthersage (Vienna, 1888). The oldest of these sources are [1] fragments of an AS poem in a MS of the ninth century, and [2] a poem composed in Latin in the South of Germany in the tenth century, which is preserved in a redaction of the eleventh century. Of the other sources I shall mention only that in the þiðrekssaga, which is based on Low German material.
Let us now compare the Ribold ballad with the Walter story. [1] Ribold is a king's son (Dan. A I, B I). He serves many years at the court of a foreign king (Dan. ø; Landstad, No. 33), where he converses in secret with Guldborg. This agrees with the situation in the story of Walter, who is a warrior in Etzel's service, and after a warlike expedition talks alone with Hildegund. [2] Walter's parents decide in his childhood that he shall marry Hildegund. The refrain in the Swedish form of the ballad points to a similar relation between the knight and the maiden: 'For that one to whom he has pledged himself in his youth'; in Norwegian (in Landstad, 33) thus: 'Thou art that one, thou art that one who was betrothed to me in my youth.' [3] In the ballad the knight asks the maiden if she will accompany him: 'To the land of my father I will take thee.' (18) Similarly, Walter says to Hildegund that he will gladly flee to his native land; but that he will not leave her behind. [4] Ribold tells Guldborg to collect her gold in a box. Walter tells Hildegund to fill two boxes with gold and jewels, and take them with her (or, in the þiðrekssaga, to take with her as much gold as she can bear with one arm). [5] In both the ballad and the Walter story the hero and the maiden ride away on one horse. In the ballad he lifts her up on the horse; in the Latin Waltharius he gives her the reins. [6] In the ballad they leave the court secretly while the people sleep and the dog lies in a trance. (19) Walter and Hildegund ride away while all the Huns sleep after a carousal in which Walter and Hildegund have managed to make them all drunk. [7] When Walter and Hildegund are riding into the land beyond the Rhine, they come to a difficult pass which lies between two cliffs, and is concealed by green foliage, bushes, and high grass. 'Let us rest here,' said Walter. He had been forced to go too long without sweet sleep. He laid aside his armour and rested his tired head in the maiden's lap. We have practically the same situation in the ballad: 'When they came into the green grove, Ribold desired to rest there. (20) They gathered twigs and leaves, from which they made themselves a bed. (21) So he laid his head in Guldborg's lap; he slept a sleep, and found it sweet.' (22) Both in the Walter story and in the ballad, the maiden wakes the hero and says that the enemies are near. [8] In the Waltharius, a ferryman whom the fugitives have met gives information about them to Guntheri, who is sitting at meat. The king bids his men put on their armour and pursue them. In the ballad a man who has met the fugitives reveals their flight to the king, who is sitting with his men in the hall and drinking. The king bids his men rise up and array themselves in steel. (23) [9] When their enemies draw near, the knight says to the maiden in the ballad: 'Be not so anxious, dearest!' (Dan. B, 29). Walter bids Hildegund not to be afraid. Before the last fight he bids her take the reins and drive the horse with the treasure away into the forest. Ribold says to Guldborg: 'Thou shalt hold my horse by the bridle. Thou shalt hold my horse, up under the oak, while I go into the sharp play' (B 34). [10] In Waltharius, the hero says before the last fight: 'I will choose me a place by the mountain's steep side.' In 'Erlinton' we read:
He set his back unto an aik,
He set his feet against a stane.
When their enemies come, Walter seizes his armour and puts it on. The knight of the ballad clothes himself in his armour (Dan. C 29). [11] In both poems the hero fights against odds, his opponents being numerous. [12] In both the enemies do not all come against him at once. In 'Earl Brand' they come one at a time, until he has slain fourteen men. Then the fifteenth attacks him from behind. According to the Danish versions, he kills the maiden's father and eleven of her brothers. Walter slays twelve men in single combat. [13] In the Norwegian ballad, Guldborg tries to bind up the wounds of the knight. In 'The Douglas Tragedy,' Margaret binds up those of her father. In Waltharius, Hildegund binds up the wounds of those who have suffered in the last fight.
I have shown (p. 311, above) that several forms of the hero's name in the ballad seem to point to Helgi. Other forms of his name seem to point to an ON *Valdarr, which would correspond to the name of Hildegund's lover, AS Waldere, OHG Waltari. He is called in Swedish C Kung Vallemo, in Danish ø (from Vendsyssel) Kong Valdemor (24) (where Kung possibly arose from ung). By the influence of Rikeball, Ribold, v was changed into b in Boldrik (Dan. Æ), herr Ballder or Ballerman (Swed. G). (25)
The first part of the name Hilde-gund seems to be preserved in Hile-bjør in a Norwegian form of the ballad from Fyresdal in Telemarken, (26) and in Ölle-ber in Landstad, No. 34.
The connection between the Ribold ballad and the Walter story supports the theory that the ballad was composed in England; for the fragments of the AS epic poem Waldere (27) show that the Walter story was known there. By this I do not mean that this particular poem is the definite source which we may presuppose for the ballad. We know too little of the epic poem to be able to make that assertion. But the ballad gives us, at any rate, important evidence as to the form in which the Waldere story was known in England.
The Scandinavian ballad of Herr Hjelmer (as Professor Moltke Moe has pointed out) is also connected with the Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbani.
The version of this ballad which, on the whole, is most complete is in Swedish, No. 21, in the collection of Arwidsson (from that of Verelius).
Hielmer (Hielmen, Hielm) serves several years at the king's court, and wins the love of the king's daughter. Her father, getting wind of this, has Hielmer brought to him, and says that it shall cost him his heart's blood if he is found speaking in private with the princess. Then Hielmer cuts off the king's right hand and his head. He does not follow the advice of his followers and flee from the land, but rides against the king's seven sons who are in the rose garden. When they refuse to accept recompense from him, he fights with them and kills six. Unfortunately he spares the seventh, and by him he is treacherously killed. The murderer rides to his sister's dwelling with Hielmer's head on his spear, and tells her that he has killed her betrothed. She invites him into her bower and gives him to drink; but when he raises the vessel to his lips, she stabs him to the heart. Then, full of joy, she exclaims: 'Well shall I bury my betrothed.'
Inferior Swedish versions are printed in Geijer and Afzelius (2nd ed., No. 47, 1 and 2). In 47, 2, Hjalmar has children with the little Kirstin. The youngest brother swears fidelity to Hjalmar.
The Hjelmer-ballad is also known in Denmark. A version from southern Zealand is to be found in Svend Grundtvig's Gamle Danske Minder, III, 81 ff. Here the maiden gives Herr Hjælm a splendid burial, and builds a church over his grave. She herself dies of grief. (28)
In a Norwegian version taken down in Fyresdal in Upper Telemarken, the youngest brother, 'Graasvennen,' who is spared, promises to be a faithful comrade of the hero; but he deceives him.
This ballad has the following motives in common with the Lay of Helgi's Death. The hero wins his loved one without her father's consent, and has children by her. The hero is attacked by his wife's father and brothers, all of whom he kills, with the exception of one brother, whom he spares. This brother swears fidelity to the hero, but later murders him treacherously. He comes to his sister's dwelling, and announces what he has done. In the ballad, she then kills her brother; in the lay, she curses him. In both, she dies of grief.
I conjecture that this ballad, like that of Ribold, spread from Denmark to Norway and Sweden, and that it came to Denmark from England, where it had been composed in imitation of some older work by a Danish poet.
The Hjelmer ballad in its essentials is independent of the Ribold ballad; but the two seem to have arisen in about the same surroundings, and to have had from early times points of contact with each other. In one respect the two ballads agree as opposed to the old poem: in several versions Hjelmer kills six of the brothers of his loved one. (29)
17. See Grundtvig, Danm. gl. Folkev., II, 340; Child, Ballads, I, 94, 106 f. Back
18. Danish B 2, E 2. Yet possibly the original reading was 'Til et feire Land' (i.e. to a fairer land), instead of 'Til mit fædrene land'; cf. D 2. Back
19. Landstad, No. 33. Back
20. Danish D 31; q 6; Æ 10. Back
21. Landstad, No. 34, v. 20. Back
22. Danish Æ II; q 7. Back
23. Landstad, No. 34; No. 33; Danish D, etc. Back
24. Cf. the change of Valdarr in Guthr., II, 19, to Valdamarr in the Völs. saga. Back
25. Somewhat differently in Grundtvig, Danm. gl. Folkev., II, 340. Back
26. Grundtvig, id., III, 854. Back
27. Cf. Binz, in Sievers, Beit., XX, 217 ff. Back
28. There is a version from Jutland in E. T. Kristensen, 100 gamle jyske Folkeviser (1889), No. 66. The Danish forms of the ballad, which have given up the tragic ending (in Peder Syv, IV, No. 82, and in other places) do not concern us here. Back
29. Certain slight resemblances in details between the Hjelmer ballad and forms of the English ballad which corresponds to that on Ribold, are perhaps not accidental. In Hjelmer (Arwidsson, v. 7) the king says: 'That shall cost [thee] thy heart's blood'; cf. Eng. F 2: 'My father says that he will not eat or drink before he has slain the Child of Ell, "and have seene his harts blood."' In the English from the father addresses the hero angrily as in the Hjelmer ballad. Hjelmer is killed (Arw., 25) by the murderer coming at him from behind, as in the English A 25. The version of the Hjelmer ballad given by Grundtvig, like 'The Douglas Tragedy,' represents flowers as growing up and interwining over the lovers' grave; but that is hardly an original agreement. These resemblances might be taken to support the theory that the Hjelmer ballad also arose first among Danes in England. It does not seem to have been influenced by the Walter story. The feature that Hjelmer, according to the opening of the ballad, serves at the court of a foreign king is so common that no one would venture to explain it by a reference to the Walter story. The hero was possibly called Hjelmer because Helgi in H. H., II, 7 and 14 is named hilmir, i.e. the king (who shelters his men). Back
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