TEE LIFE OF THE 1 1. 1 /,' HI OR \'.\\ 



this King Hrolf said : ' He flees not the fire who jumps (leaps) 

 over it.' Then they all leapt (on their shields) over the fire, and 

 wanted to take King Adils. When he saw this he saved his 

 life, and ran to the tree which stood in the hall, and was hollow 

 inside, and thus he got out with witchcraft and sorcery. He 

 came into the hall of Queen Yrsa and talked to her, and she 

 received him disgracefully, and spoke many big words to him : 

 ' Thou first didst slay my husband Helgi, and betray him and 

 keepest the property from its owner, and besides this thou 

 wantest to slay my son, and thou art much crueller and worse 

 than any other ; now I will in every way help Hrolf to get the 

 property, and thou wilt get shame as thou deservest.' Adils 

 answered : ' Here neither will trust the other, and hereafter I 

 shall not come before their eyes.' Thereupon they ceased to 

 talk " (Hrolf Kraki's Saga, c. 41). 



In those days of incessant warfare, the life of the warrior was 

 a magnificent drama from the beginning to the end; his de.it h 

 the closing of a grand career ; and his entrance into Valhalla 

 the reward for a life of bravery, in which he showed entire 

 disregard of death, and in which he often exhibited the highest 

 qualities of manhood. As he saw life ebbing away he sang 

 the deeds he had accomplished, and when his eye became dim, 

 and darkness was for ever to close from him the light of the 

 sun, he could hear resounding in his ears the lay of the scald 

 recounting the deeds of his life. 



No other literature that has come down to us from ancient 

 times describes so vividly and minutely as that of the Norm 

 the deeds of the grand heroes of old. We can imagine our- 

 selves on the battle-field, can hear the clatter of arms, and 

 the whistling of arrows and spears, the blows resounding 

 against helmet, shield, or coat-of-rnail, and the fierce on- 

 slaught ; and see before our eyes the boarding of vessels and 

 the carnage on deck. 



In the Sagas which speak of the earliest times we find a 

 magnanimous and chivalrous spirit, for the contest had to be 

 equal, ship against ship, man against man. In a great battle 

 chief was against chief, champion against champion, while the 

 combatants of both sides were looking on, and he who \\as 

 successful had to fight with the rest, himself at last falling 

 mortally wounded, or standing victorious over all. In these 



