The Book of the Sagas by Alice S Hoffman - first published 1913.pdf

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The Book of the Sagas
THE BOOK OF
THE SAGAS
by
Alice S. Hoffman
Illustrated by
Gordon Browne
London
1913
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CONTENTS
Foreword ……………………………………………. 9
The Story of Odin and the Gods …………………….. 13
The Story of the Adventures of Thor ………………. 28
The Story of Baldur ………………………………..... 46
The Story of Frey and Gerda ……………………….. 56
The Story of the Goddess Iduna …………………….. 62
Of the Punishment That Fell On Loki ………………. 67
The Story of Harald Hairfair ………………………... 72
The Story of King Olaf Tryggvison ………………... 84
The Story of Harald the Hardredy ………………….. 140
The Song of the Mill ………………………………... 169
The Story of Volund …………………………………. 173
Stories of Iceland Folk ………………………………. 185
The Story of the Volsungs …………………………… 215
9
FOREWORD
Look at the map of Europe. In the north-west you will see the island
of Iceland. The great oceans are wide around it on every side; its northern
coast is just touching the Arctic circle. How far off and apart from all the
world it seems! How out of touch with the enterprise, the commerce, the
strife, with all the activities that make up our ideas of a living national life!
To most people the Iceland of to-day is little more than a name, and
the Iceland of the past is entirely unknown. Yet the little island in the far
north has a special claim upon all Northern peoples, for she has preserved a
Literature which is the record of a race whose blood runs in their own veins,
and which was written in the language that was in the days long past
common to all of them. In the course of years this one language developed
into many languages, through the influence of different conquering races in
the different lands; but the little island still kept the old language untouched
by foreign invaders, for the rigours of her climate and the wide seas around
her made her unattractive and dangerous, and thus protected her. And not
only was she able to preserve the old language, but also the character and
traditions of her people. And language, character, and traditions were
enshrined in a Literature which in beauty and in human interest is as rich as
any of the classic literatures of the world.
Let us see how this Literature arose. It was not until the end of the
ninth century that Iceland became the home of a settled population. Before
then it was probably uninhabited,
10
except for some few holy men who came from Ireland seeking peace and
solitude in the lonely island, and for a few fishermen who came yearly from
Ireland and Scotland and dwelt, during the summer season, on its coasts
pursuing their industry.
But towards the end of the ninth century, many chiefs with their
families and all their followers came over from Norway and settled in the
land. Before this time Norway had been broken up into many small
kingdoms and these chiefs had been as kings, and had ruled their own little
kingdoms, but the mighty Harald Hairfair, himself a King over one of these
kingdoms, had fared through the length and breadth of the land warring
against all who opposed him, until he had made himself master and sole
King of the whole of Norway. And many of the chiefs bowed before him
and became his men, but many there were who went to death or exile rather
than bend the knee to the overbearing Harald.
Some of the chiefs who escaped, having heard from adventurous
seamen of an unpeopled island in the West, set sail for Iceland, and made it
their home. They did not mind the ice and snow, for they had been used to
these in their own land; and fair and smiling was the little island in the
summer season, pleasant with pasture lands, and rich in fish. And for more
than sixty years after the first families had settled there, there was a constant
stream of chieftains, noble men and yeomen, who fled from the tyranny of
Harald. And each chief took a part of the island, and ruled his own people,
just as he had done in his own land of Norway, and they prospered and
multiplied. Simple they were in their domestic life; well-ordered in their
public affairs; brave and adventurous when they fared forth a-warring as far
as the world was then known.
And in the new life and land they did not forget the old life and the
old country. In the long dark nights of winter
11
they sat by their fires and, while the men made nets, and the women wove or
spun, one of the household would tell or sing the old stories of their gods
and kings and heroes. And the children listened, and learnt the stories by
heart, and when they were grown to manhood and womanhood, they told
and sang the same stories to their children. And so the past was kept alive.
And not only with regard to the past was this done, but the deeds of
each chieftain and each hero in each community were kept on record in the
same way, so that an almost complete history of the people and the land was
made.
And the years passed on and the stories and songs were at last written
down, most of them between the years 1140 and 1220. Some have been lost,
but many still remain, and it is from these that the stories in this book have
been taken.
In one group you will read of the ideas held by this ancient people
regarding the making of the world, the wonders of nature, and the mysteries
of life. In those early days they were not Christians, but worshipped many
gods, of whom Odin, the All-Father, was the chief.
Other stories deal with their chieftains, with the Kings of Norway, and
with their heroes, both actual and legendary. Perhaps the greatest of the
legendary-heroic stories is the Story of the Volsungs. The story of its hero,
Sigurd, is found in many forms in many Northern lands: in Germany it is the
subject of Richard Wagner’s great music drama of “Siegfried.”
The stories that are collected in this book are few in comparison with
the many that still exist, but it is hoped that they may arouse an interest in
this old and wonderful Literature, in the people who produced it, and in the
land which has preserved it.

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