Back Aa

Frithiof Saga

Close

<div class="fig">> <ANTIMG class="cover" id="coverpage" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="The Frithiof Saga" width-obs="500" height-obs="696" /></div> <div class="fig"> id="pic1"> <ANTIMG src="images/p0.jpg" alt="" width-obs="600" height-obs="426" /> Frithiof’s sea journey </div> <div class="box"> Life Stories for Young People <h1>THE FRITHIOF SAGA</h1> Translated from the German of Ferdinand Schmidt BY GEORGE P. UPTON Translator of “Memories,” “Immensee,” etc. With Four Illustrations <div class="fig">> <ANTIMG src="images/p1.jpg" alt="A. C. McCLURG & CO." width-obs="200" height-obs="199" /></div> CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1907 </div> Copyright A. C. McClurg & Co. 1907 Published September 21, 1907 The University Press, Cambridge, U. S. A. <div class="pb" id="Page_v">v</div> <h2 class="oneline">Translator’s Preface</h2> Iceland is the home of the Saga, a form of literature which includes the telling of the story of a hero’s life and adventures in a fixed, regular form, and which is usually intended for recitation, though the Saga is never set in the customary versified style of poetry. A large number of these Sagas, relating to Iceland, Greenland, North America, and the Norse countries, still remain, and among them the Frithiof Saga, narrating the stirring adventures of that hero of the Northland and Viking of its seas, is one of the most beautiful. Its subject is noble, heroic, and free from exaggerated description or overwrought sentiment. Frithiof is a splendid type of the old Norse hero, invincible in battle upon the land, fearless of Nature’s wrath as he sails the seas in his dragon ship, impulsive yet just, swift in punishment yet quick in forgiveness. The central motives of the Saga are his love for King Bele’s daughter, Ingeborg; the refusal of her brothers to sanction their marriage because the hero is not of royal birth; her unwilling marriage to the old King Ring; Frithiof’s exile, and his final union with Ingeborg after the death of her husband and reconciliation with her brother. Interwoven with the narrative itself, which is full of dramatic situations, are some of the old myths, than which none is more beautiful than the death of the gentle god Balder. The very breath of the North sweeps through the stately story which the German author has told with so much skill. Those who wish to come in closer contact with the Saga itself can do so by consulting Bishop Tegner’s masterly translation. G. P. U. Chicago, June, 1907. <div class="pb" id="Page_vii">vii</div> <h2 class="oneline">Contents</h2> <dt class="jr">Chapter Page I Frithiof and Ingeborg 11 II The Death of Balder 15 III King Bele and Thorsten 26 IV Frithiof’s Inheritance 33 V Frithiof’s Wooing 40 VI King Ring 44 VII Frithiof at Chess 48 VIII Frithiof goes to Ingeborg 50 IX The Parting 52 X Frithiof’s Voyage 59 XI Frithiof at the Court of Augantyr 62 XII Frithiof’s Return 68 XIII The Burning of the Temple 74 XIV Frithiof in Exile 78 XV Frithiof’s Viking Life 81 XVI Frithiof comes to King Ring’s Court 84 XVII The Sledge Excursion 89 XVIII Frithiof’s Temptation 91 XIX Death of King Ring 97 XX The Election to the Kingdom 100 XXI The Reconciliation 102 <div class="pb" id="Page_ix">ix</div> <h2 class="oneline">Illustrations</h2> <dt class="jr">Page Frithiof’s Sea JourneyFrontispiece Frithiof’s Wooing42 Frithiof’s Wrestle64 King Ring’s Death98 <div class="pb" id="Page_11">11</div> <h2 class="oneline">The Frithiof Saga</h2> <h2 id="c1">Chapter I Frithiof and Ingeborg</h2> In olden times there ruled in Norway a King of great renown called Bele, whose wife died early, leaving him two sons and a daughter. When the latter had reached her sixth year, the King said to Thorsten, his brother-in-arms and lifelong friend, “My rosebud, Ingeborg, is the joy of my heart, but none the less I must send her away and entrust her to the guardianship of Hilding the Wise, so that, far from the turmoil and distractions of a court, the light of true knowledge shall be hers. But lest she should miss the companionship of her beloved playfellow, I pray thee permit thy son Frithiof to accompany her, that they may be reared together.” “Gladly will I do so,” replied Thorsten; “not alone to honor thy request, but because I know thou hast my son’s welfare also at heart in sending him as the companion of thine own child to be taught by the wise Hilding. My King’s will shall be done.” <div class="pb" id="Page_12">12</div> Hilding’s abode lay on the sea-coast, surrounded by gardens and wooded hills, and there Ingeborg and Frithiof spent the years of their childhood, faithfully taught and cared for by the good old man. Two rare blossoms of the Northland were these children, both richly endowed with gifts of mind and body: Ingeborg was like the swelling rosebud within whose heart the promise of the spring lies dreaming, while Frithiof grew up tall and strong as a young oak tree crowned with its crest of rustling leaves. So blessed by the gods were they with health and beauty that never had their like been seen in all the North. Now listening to the wondrous tales of their wise master, with clear eyes uplifted to his; now racing over the sunny meadows or dancing lightly under the dark boughs of the fir trees in the silvery moonlight, they were like the Light Fairies, whose appearance betokens blessing and fills the heart with anticipations of joy. <div class="pb" id="Page_13">13</div> Frithiof was but little older than Ingeborg, and when he first learned from Hilding to read the Runic signs, it was his delight to teach them in turn to his beloved playmate. Ofttimes they would sail out upon the wind-tossed sea, and when the shifting of the sail sent foam and spray dashing into the boat, Ingeborg would clap her small hands in glee. No tree was too high for the bold lad when he wished to capture a nest of young birds for the King’s child; even the osprey’s eyrie, high among the rocky crags, was not safe from his daring quest. ’Twas he that found for her the first pale blossoms of the springtime, the first ripe strawberry, the summer’s first golden ear of corn. Joyously they wandered together in the forest, Frithiof armed to protect his playmate in case of need; for he early strove to train himself in all a hero’s duties. Thus, like a beautiful dream, the happy days of childhood glided by. Ingeborg blossomed into maidenhood, and Frithiof became a stalwart youth. The King’s daughter spent more time in her own chamber now, learning the tasks of women, chief of which was the weaving of garments, while Frithiof was often abroad with the men in quest of game or booty. Inheriting not only his father’s strength and daring, but also his discretion and cheerfulness, he was beloved by all and soon aroused the wonder of his companions in the chase by the boldness with which he would attack the fiercest beasts, felling them with a blow from his spiky club, or piercing them through with the sharp-pronged spear. As in earlier days he had been wont to bring his playmate gifts of flowers or fruit as greetings of the season, so now he laid at her feet the trophies of his prowess—shaggy bears or grisly wild boars, often revealing upon his body bloody traces of the struggle. Admiringly Ingeborg’s gaze would rest at such times on the young hero, while her heart beat fast in terror for his life. <div class="pb" id="Page_14">14</div> And when on cold winter nights they sat together in the great hall by the blazing hearth fire listening to the legends old Hilding told them of the gods, or, when the King’s daughter would sing of the deeds of some great hero long at rest beneath his grassy mound, she seemed to Frithiof like a goddess sent by the great All-Father for a brief space to the darksome earth to awaken a foretaste of Valhalla’s delights. “Praises of Frigga’s golden hair are sung throughout the land,” he would say to himself, “but surely it can be no more beautiful than Ingeborg’s fair tresses.” And when he gazed into those soft eyes, so full of heaven’s own light and hue, he doubted Hilding’s declaration that the eyes of the goddess Frigga were the most beautiful in all the world. <div class="pb" id="Page_15">15</div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2