".s IHih'AM. 4f>9 



" One night when King- Ivar slept in the ]iji>tni<f (upper 

 deck) on his dragon-ship, it seemed to him that a great 

 dragon flew Out of the sea. Its colour was golden, and it 

 glowed in the air as if sparks were flying from the hearth of 

 a forge, and shone over all the lands nearest it. Behind 

 it flew all the birds that he knew of in the northern lands. 

 He saw a great cloud rising in the north-east, followed by such 

 a rain-storm that it seemed to him all the forests and the 

 whole land were floating in the water which had fallen: this 

 \\as accompanied by thunder and lightning. When the large 

 dragon flew towards the land, he met the rain-storm, and such 

 a darkness arose that he could see neither the dragon nor the 

 birds, but only heard the loud sound of the thunder and the 

 tempest. This passed south and west over the land, and all 

 over his realm. Then it seemed to him all his ships had been 

 changed into whales, and swam out to sea. At this he awoke 

 and called his foster-father, Hord, told him his dream, and 

 asked him to interpret it. Hord said he was so old he could 

 not understand dreams. He stood on a rock near to one end 

 of the gangway, but the king lay in the lypting, and was un- 

 fastening the lower border of the tent as they talked. The 

 king was in a bad humour, and bade Hord go down on the 

 ship and interpret his dream. Hord answered that he would 

 not, and said, ' I need not interpret thy dream ; thou must 

 know thyself what it means. It is likely it will not be long 

 before others rule Sweden and Denmark. Now a greediness 

 foreboding death has come upon thee, as thou wantest to 

 conquer for thyself every realm, and dost not know that on 

 the contrary thou wilt die and thy foes take thy realm.' The 

 king said. ' Come here and tell thy evil prophecies.' Hord 

 said", 'I shall stand here and tell them.' The king said, 'To 

 whom of the Asar was Halfdan the Valiant like?' Hord 

 answered, 'He was as Baldr was with the Asar, over whom all the 

 gods wept, and not like thee.' The king said, ' That is good. 

 Come here and tell it.' Hord answered, ' I will stand here and 

 tell.' The king replied : ' To whom of the Asar was Hra-rek 

 like?' 'To HaBiiir, who was the greatest coward of the Asar, 

 though he was less cowardly than thou art,' The king asked, 

 'To whom of the Asar was Helgi the Sharp like?' Hord replied, 

 'He was as Hermod, who was very bold, and did harm to thee.' 

 The king said, ' To whom of the Asar was Gudrod like ? ' 

 Hord : ' He was as Heimdal, who was the most foolish of all 

 the Asar, and nevertheless a lesser fool than thou.' The king : 

 ' To whom of the Asar am I like ? ' ' Thou resemblest the 



1 S,-e Vol. II., p. 14-J. 



