Skáldskaparmál

189

their hosts. Then Hedinn called to Högni his father-in-law, offering him
reconciliation and much gold in compensation. But Högni answered: 'Thou hast
made this offer over-late, if thou wouldst make peace: for now I have drawn
Dáinsleif, which the dwarves made, and which must cause a man's death every
time it is bared, nor ever fails in its stroke; moreover, the wound heals not
if one be scratched with it.' Then said Hedinn: 'Thou dost boast in the sword,
but not in the victory; I call any sword good which is faithful to its lord.'
Then they began that famous battle which is called the Hjadnings' Strife, and
they fought all that day, but at evening the kings went to their ships. Now
Hildr went to the slain by night, and with magic quickened all those that were
dead. The next day the kings went to the battlefield and fought, and so did all
those that had fallen on the day before. So the fight went one day after the
other: all who fell, and all those weapons which lay on the field, and the
shields also, were turned to stone; but when day dawned, up rose all the dead
men and fought, and all weapons were renewed. It is said in songs that in this
fashion the Hjadnings shall continue unto the Weird of the Gods. Bragi the
Skald composed verses after this tale in Ragnarr Lodbrók's Song of Praise:

     And the beloved Maiden
     Of the veins' blood-letting
     Purposed to bring, for wrath's sake,
     The bow-storm to her father:
     When the ring-wearing lady,
     The woman full of evil,
     Bore the neck-ring of War-Doom
     To the Battler of the Wind's Steeds.


190

     That gory Wound-Amender
     To the glorious Monarch offered
     The necklace not for fear's sake,
     At the mote of fatal weapons:
     Ever as restraining battle
     She seemed, although she goaded
     Warriors to walk the death-road
     With the ravening Wolf's dire Sister.

     The Prince of Folk, the Land-God,
     Let not the fight, wolf-gladdening,
     Halt, nor slaughter on the sands cease,-
     Hate, deadly, swelled in Högni,
     When the stern Lords of Sword-Din
     Sought Hedinn with stern weapons,
     Rather than receive
     The necklet-rings of Hildr.

     And that baleful Witch of Women,
     Wasting the fruits of victory,
     Took governance on the island
     O'er the axe, the Birnie's Ruin;
     All the Ship-King's war-host
     Went wrathful 'neath the firm shields
     Of Hjarrandi, swift-marching
     From Reifnir's fleet sea-horses.

     On the fair shield of Svölnir
     One may perceive the onslaught;
     Ragnarr (1) gave me the Ship-Moon,
     With many tales marked on it.

1. See page 161.


191

Battle is called Storm of Odin, as is recorded above; so sang Víga-Glúmr:

     I cleared my way aforetime
     Like earls to lands; the word went
     Of this among the Storm-Staves,
     The men of Vidrir's Sword-Wand.

Here battle is called Storm of Vidrir, and the sword is the Wand of Battle; men
are Staves of the Sword. Here, then, both battle and weapons are used to make
metaphors for man. It is called 'inlaying,' when one writes thus.
"The shield is the Land of Weapons, and weapons are Hail or Rain of that land,
if one employs figures of later coinage.

L. "How should the ship be periphrased? Call it Horse or Deer or Snowshoe of
the Sea-King, or of Ship's Rigging, or of Storm. Steed of the Billow, as
Hornklofi sang:

     The Counsel-Stern Destroyer
     Of the pale Steed of the Billow
     When full young let the ships' prows
     Press on the sea at flood-tide.

Geitir's Steed, as Erringar-Steinn sang:

     But though to the skald all people
     This strife from the south are telling,
     We shall yet load Geitir's Sea-Steed
     With stone; we voyage gladly.



192

Sveidi's Reindeer:

     O Son of Sveinn strife-valiant,
     Thou comest with Sveidi's Reindeer,
     Long of seam, on the Seat of Sölsi;
     The Sound-Deer from land glided.

So sang Hallvardr. Here the ship is also called Deer of the
Sound; and the Sea is called Sölsi's Seat.
Thus sang Thórdr Sjáreksson:

     The swift Steed of the Gunwale
     Around Sigg veered from northward,
     The gust shoved GylfI's Stream's Mirth,
     The Gull's Wake-Horse, to southward
     Of Aumar, laying fleetly
     Both Körmt and Agdir's coastline
     Along the stern; by Listi
     The Leek's Steed lightly bounded.

Here the ship is called Steed of the Gunwale; and the sea is Gylfi's Land; the
sea is also called Gull's Wake. The ship is called Horse, and further, Horse of
the Leek: for 'leek' means 'mast.'
And again, as Marktis sang:

     The Stream's Winterling waded
     Stoutly the Firth-Snake's Snow-Heaps;
     The Tusker of the Mast-Head
     Leaped o'er the Whale's spumed House-Tops;
     The Bear of the Flood strode forward
     On the ancient paths of sea-ships;




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