Some runic stones. 39 



APPENDIX. 



THE FORSA RING 

 IN HELSINGLAND, SWEDEN. 



It is now more than a dozen years ago, when real Runology was 

 so young and we were all so inexperienced in this new archasological- 

 philological science, that I hastily workt out my short paper ') on the 

 Forsa Ring. This remarkable piece, on whose iron surface a cunning 

 rune-smith has puncht-in 245 staves, I had never seen, nor have I to 

 this day. But it had been examined and carefully copied by Prof. Carl 

 Save, at that time the greatest living Runologist. The only transcript 

 that could come into competition with his, was that by Arendt (1806). 

 But it is no secret that all the older runic drawings are usually more or 

 less doubtful, often lamentably incorrect, and the general excellence of 

 Arendt's work was then not suspected^). No authority was at that time 

 equal to Säve's as a working runologist, one used to handling real stones 

 and other runic old-laves, not mere printed copies. I therefore adopted 

 Save's text. Just so now with Sophus Bugge. He has become an illus- 

 trious rune-man, and has icorkt on the Ring itself. So I now follow him 

 loyally and blindly, as I then did Save. And this the more as, in his 

 treatment and translation, he of course has the advantage of building' 

 on all who have gone before, making usé of their good »hits)i and 

 avoiding their mistakes, as every wise man man does. 



Not only has Prof. Bugge shown that there were some serious 

 errors (no fewer than 10) in the copy I followed (Säve's) ■'), but I went 

 on a false principle, that the Ring was a heatJien relic. This was the 

 universal belief then, and misled me. Bugge has made it clear that this 



') The Old-Novthern Runic Jlonuments of Scandinavia and England. 2 vols, 

 folio. See vol. 2, pp. 684 — 9. 



-) Arendt's drawing of the Ring is so good that, as compared with Prof. 

 Bugge's, it has only 3 faults. 



^) Save could only give some fitv hours to the Ring, as it hung on the door, 

 and had then never seen Arendt's beautiful copy. Buqge had the Ring for many 

 days in his oivn hands, and was familiar with Arendt's drawing. 



