Oclih-usclilacgcr's Hakoii Jarl 3 



the Gaulish Bretons, and gave the flesh of the Flemings to the raven. 

 The young king waged war against the English, and made a slaughter of 

 the Northumbrians. He destroyed the Scots far and wide. He held a 

 sword-play in Man. The archer-king brought death to the Islanders (of 

 the Western Islands) and Irish; he battled with the dwellers in the land 

 of the British (Wales), and cut down the Cumbrian folk." 



Oehlenschlaeger's reason for Olaf's appearance in Norway is not 

 historical. He was not on his way to Russia as the play states, but came 

 to christianize his native land and incidentally to claim his birthright to 

 the throne. He succeeded in ridding the land of Hakon Jarl and in 

 planting permanently the Christian faith. After five years in the midst 

 of his activities he was overtaken by his enemies and fought his last light 

 at Svold. 



So far as ascertained no complete translation of Hakon Jarl is ex- 

 tant. Mention should be made of a certain Mr. Gillies, probably Robert 

 Percy Gillies of literarj'^ fame, who is spoken of in an unsigned article on 

 Hakon Jar! in Blackzi'ood's Ma;4acinc, 1S20, vol. 7, p. 73, as having made — • 

 presumably from the German version— a translation of the play. Samp- 

 son Low's Englisli Cafalognr of Books (IS.To-lS^i;;) mentions a transla- 

 tion published by Hookam in 1S40, but the translator is not named. 

 Whether either of these translations was complete can not, from present 

 means, be ascertained. For the chief sources, from which the author 

 constructed five characters in the play, consult Vigfusson and Powell's 

 Corpus Pocticum Borcalc. which has been used, in definite citation, in 

 references above made. The present translation is made from the text 

 of F. L. Liebenberg, Copenhagen, 1895. 



41 



