Sörla þáttr - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sörla þáttr is a short narrative from a later and extended version of the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason found in the Flateyjarbók
Flateyjarbók
The Flatey Book, is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name Codex Flateyensis.- Description :...

manuscript, which was written and compiled by two Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

s, Jon Thordson and Magnus Thorhalson, in the late 14th century.
The narrative begins 24 years after the death of Fróði

Fróði

Fróði is the name of a number of legendary Danish kings in various texts including Beowulf, Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda and his Ynglinga saga, Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, and the Grottasöngr. A Danish king by this name also appears as a minor character in the Middle High German epic Die...

, and takes place in the 9th and the 10th centuries. It is a composite tale containing a story of how Freyja acquired a necklace from the Dwarves, how that led to a bloody war, and how Olaf Tryggvason brought peace to the land.

The story parallels elements of earlier stories such as Heimskringla
Heimskringla
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...

(euhemerization of gods), parts of the poem Lokasenna
Lokasenna
Lokasenna is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki....

(Loki's accusation of Gefjun sleeping with a boy for a necklace), parts of the Húsdrápa
Húsdrápa
Húsdrápa is a skaldic poem partially preserved in the Prose Edda where disjoint stanzas of it are quoted. It is attributed to the skald Úlfr Uggason. The poem describes mythological scenes carved on kitchen panels...

poem (Loki

Loki

In Norse mythology, Loki or Loke is a god or jötunn . Loki is the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. By his wife Sigyn, Loki is the father of Nari or Narfi...

stealing the necklace Brísingamen

Brisingamen

In Norse mythology, Brísingamen is the necklace of the goddess Freyja.-Beowulf:...

), and the eternal battle Hjaðningavíg (various earlier sources). In the end of the story, the arrival of Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

dissolves the old curse that was traditionally to endure until Ragnarök

Ragnarök

In Norse mythology, Ragnarök is a series of future events, including a great battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures , the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water...

.

The story has been described as "post-classical" due to elements such as the descriptor of Loki as "cunning" without apparent irony, featuring Freyja and Loki as court retainers, and the open representation of Freyja's sexuality that it features. 19th century scholar Benjamin Thorpe

Benjamin Thorpe

Benjamin Thorpe was an English scholar of Anglo-Saxon.-Biography:After studying for four years at Copenhagen University, under the Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask, he returned to England in 1830, and in 1832 published an English version of Caedmon's metrical paraphrase of portions of the...

referred to Freyja's role in the tale as "rather awkward".

Freyja and the Dwarves

The tale begins in Asia, and a land called Asialand, saying that Odin was the King there; and relates that Freyja was the daughter of Njord

Njord

In Norse mythology, Njörðr is a god among the Vanir. Njörðr is father of the deities Freyr and Freyja by his unnamed Van sister, was in an ill-fated marriage with the goddess Skaði, lives in Nóatún and is associated with sea, seafaring, wind, fishing, wealth, and crop fertility.Njörðr is attested...

and Odin

Odin

Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....

's concubine, whom Odin loved very much.

Then it introduces four dwarves named Álfrigg, Dvalin

Dvalin

In Norse mythology, Dvalin is a dwarf who appears in several Old Norse tales and kennings. The name translates as "the dormant one" or "the one slumbering"...

n (Dwalin), Berlingr and Grérr and since they were dwarves they were skilled craftsmen and lived in a large stone. But in those days, they mingled more with people than they do today.

One day, Freyja saw that the Dwarves were making a beautiful collar and she offered them both gold and silver in exchange for it. But, the Dwarves would only sell it to her in exchange for one night each with her. Freyja agreed and after four nights with the Dwarves, she returned with the beautiful collar.

Loki

is then introduced and reveals that he was the son of Fárbauti

Fárbauti

In Norse mythology, Fárbauti is the jötunn husband of Laufey or Nál and the father of Loki, and possibly also of Helblindi and Byleistr. He is attested in the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the poetry of Viking Age skalds...

and his wife Laufey

Laufey

Laufey or Nál is a figure from Norse mythology, the mother of Loki. Eddic poetry refers to Loki by the matronym Loki Laufeyjarson rather than with a patronymic....

, who was called needle because she was so slender. Loki became very popular with Odin

Odin

because of his gift for providing information.

When Loki told Odin of Freyja's collar, Odin asked him to fetch the collar or never to return, so Loki transformed himself into a fly and found a way into Freyja's bower. When he found her, he saw that she had the collar on and lay on her back. He turned into a flea and bit her whereupon she turned so he could unlock the collar and steal it. Then he returned to Odin and gave him the collar.

When Freyja woke up, she learned that Odin had got hold of the collar and asked to have it back. Odin said that he knew how she had acquired the collar and that he would only let her have it back on the condition that she enchanted two kings and twenty subordinate kings so that they would fight each other every night, die and rise again, until a Christian

Christian

lord entered the battle and defeated them all. Freyja promised that so would be done and got the collar back.

King Erling and Sörli

King Erlingr was a king of Oppland

Oppland

is a county in Norway, bordering Sør-Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The county administration is in Lillehammer. Oppland is, together with Hedmark, one of the only two landlocked counties of Norway....

and he had a queen and the sons Sörli and Erlendr. Sörli and Erlendr went pillaging as Vikings as soon as their age permitted and one day they began to fight Sindri Sveigisson, the grandson of Haki

Haki

Hake, Haki or Haco, the brother of Hagbard, was a famous Scandinavian sea-king, in Norse mythology. He is mentioned in the 12th century Gesta Danorum, and in 13th-century sources including Ynglinga saga, Nafnaþulur, Völsunga saga...

at Elfarsker (the islands outside modern Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/lp/e2.html). The battle ended with the death of both Sindri and Erlendr, after which Sörli sailed into the Baltic sea

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

(Eystra salt) to harry.

Sörli kills king Halfdan

The king of Denmark was called Halfdan

Halfdan

Halfdan was a late 5th and early 6th century legendary Danish king of the Scylding lineage, the son of king named Fróði in many accounts, noted mainly as the father to the two kings who succeeded him in the rule of Denmark, kings named Hroðgar and Halga in the Old English poem Beowulf and named...

and he resided in Roskilde

Roskilde

Roskilde is the main city in Roskilde Municipality, Denmark on the island of Zealand. It is an ancient city, dating from the Viking Age and is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network....

(Hróiskelda) and was married to Hvedna the old. Their sons were named Högni and Hakon and they were great warriors.

When Sörli arrived in Denmark he saw a great longship

Longship

Longships were sea vessels made and used by the Vikings from the Nordic countries for trade, commerce, exploration, and warfare during the Viking Age. The longship’s design evolved over many years, beginning in the Stone Age with the invention of the umiak and continuing up to the 9th century with...

, which king Halfdan was about to board in order to attend a royal meeting. Sörli decided to kill the king and appropriate the great ship, in spite of his marshal Sævar's warnings about Högni and Hakon. Halfdan fought heroically, but was slain and Sörli sailed away with the dragon ship.

Sörli later learnt that Högni had returned from an expedition and was moored at Odense

Odense

The city of Odense is the third largest city in Denmark.Odense City has a population of 167,615 and is the main city of the island of Funen...

, and so he sailed to meet Högni and tell him about his father's demise. He wanted to offer Högni and Hakon recompensation and to become foster-brethren, but the two brothers would have none of it. After a battle in which Hakon, Sævar and Erlingr died, and finally Sörli fell. However, Högni healed Sörli and agreed to enter sworn brotherhood.

After some time Sörli died in the East, an event for which there is a poem http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/sorl.html. When Högni learnt of this he went east, won many victories and finally became king there with twenty kings as paying vassals. He was famous from the land of the Finns to Paris.

Hedinn and Högni

In Serkland

Serkland

In Old Norse sources, such as sagas and runestones, Særkland or Serkland was the name of the Abbasid Caliphate and probably some neighbouring Muslim regions....

, there was a king named Hjarandi, who had a son named Hedinn. This son was a great sea-king and he pillaged all over the Mediterranean until twenty kings paid tribute to him. One day he met a beautiful woman sitting on a chair who called herself Göndul

Göndul

In Norse mythology, Göndul is a valkyrie. Göndul is attested in Heimskringla, Sörla þáttr, and a 14th century Norwegian charm...

. She told him of Högni, and agitated him to test his strength against the northerner. Hedinn took three hundred men, and sailed both a summer and a winter until he arrived in Denmark in spring.

When the two men met they tested each other's strength and entered sworn brotherhood. As Hedinn was unmarried, Högni betrothed him to his daughter Hildr, his only child. Hildr's mother was Hervor, the daughter of Hjörvard who was the son of Heidrek Ulfhamr of the Hervarar saga
Hervarar saga
Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks is a legendary saga from the 13th century combining matter from several older sagas. It is a valuable saga for several different reasons beside its literary qualities. It contains traditions of wars between Goths and Huns, from the 4th century, and the last part is used as...

. Hedinn soon met the beautiful woman again who asked him about what had happened since the last time. She gave him a magic potion and told him to crush Högni's wife with the prow of his ship and to kidnap Hildr. He did so and met the beautiful woman again. She gave him a new horn to drink and he fell asleep. In his dream, he heard Göndul say that she put him, Högni and their men under spells according to the wishes of Odin.

Högni hunted Hedinn and found him on an island named Hoy

Hoy

Hoy is an island in Orkney, Scotland. With an area of it is the second largest in the archipelago after the Mainland. It is connected by a causeway called The Ayre to South Walls...

. Hedinn offered to give everything back to Högni and to sail away to Serkland and never come back. Högni, however, declared that nothing could atone the betrayal that Hedinn had committed.

The two armies started to fight and even though they cut each other all over, they stood still fighting and fighting for 143 years, so strong were the spells of Göndul, until Olaf Tryggvason arrived at the island.

Deliverance

Olaf and his crew grew concerned about the number of men who went to the island but never came back. Ivar Gleam-bright took his sword that he had got from Thorstein, the son of Iron-shield, the former owner, and went into the island. There he met a big and bloodied man of sorrowful contenance. It was Hedinn who told Ivar of the curse. Hedinn said that in order to be delivered from the curse, a Christian

Christian

army had to fight with them, and every man who was slain by a Christian

Christian

would remain dead. However, Hedinn advised Ivar not to look Högni in the face because Högni wore the Horror helmet (ægishjálmr). Instead Hedinn would fight Högni and Ivar would kill Högni from the behind. Ivar did so, and killed all the men until only Hedinn was left and was slain. Ivar went to see Hildr, but she had vanished.

Ivar went to see the king in the morning and told everybody of the event. The king and the men followed him to the battle ground, but everything had vanished and there was nothing to be seen. Only the blood on Ivar's sword testified to what had taken place.

External links

The original version in Old Norse

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