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SIGURD THE DRAGON-SLAYER, E.M. Smith-Dampier
GRIMILD'S REVENGE
AS 'Kinship's Vengeance' follows the Northern tradition, so 'Grimild's Revenge' follows the German-is based, that is to say, on the popular songs which formed the foundation for the 'Niebelungen Lied.' That these were familiar in Denmark during, and doubtless long before, the life-time of Saxo Grammaticus, who wrote between 1170-1202, appears from his story ('Gesta Danorum,' Bk. XII) of Knud Lavard, to whom a minstrel conveyed warning of treachery by singing the 'well-known' song of Krimhild's vengeance on her brethren. (Hungarian Ballads on the same theme are mentioned by a twelfth-century Hungarian historian.)
I have translated A. S. Vedel's recension of two earlier MSS., because, taken as a whole, it combines the best features of both; though it is difficult to imagine why he omits the Dream of Hogen's mother, whence, in Version A, she draws the significant moral 'Thy sister will betray thee.' (The warning in B is merely general, of 'scathe for many men.') In matters of restoration, however, Vedel, like Walter Scott and some others, had an elastic conscience; and, being apparently much intrigued by the 'Hvenske Chronicle'—a rifacimento of popular German legends-he al-
186 SIGURD THE
DRAGON-SLAYER
tered hedenske to Hvenske throughout, and localized the story on the Island of Hveen. The detailed account of his methods, as of the 'Chronicle' itself, should be studied in Dg.F[*Danmarks Gamle Folkeviser], Vol. I.
Far from brilliant, poetically speaking, this Ballad affords much fine confused illustration of popular medieval dealing with Heroes; Folkvor Spillemand, for instance.
Far from brilliant, poetically speaking, this Ballad affords much fine confused illustration of popular medieval dealing with Heroes; Folkvor Spillemand, for instance.
Folkvor Spillemand (possibly Volkêr d'Alzei, a Burgundian court-minstrel, whose coat-of-arms bore a ‘ viol ’) plays a conspicuous part both in the Didrik Cycle and in the Niebelungen Lied. Compare with v. 32:
‘ Volker the battle-eager from his place at the table sprang;
His viol-bow was his war-glaive, and loud in the hands it rang
Of that valiant minstrel of Gunther. . . .
Also:
'Ha, how were the helmets cloven by the arm of Volker the Strong!
To the clash of that deadly music King Gunther turned him about:
Hear'st thou the tunes, oh Hagen, that Volker beateth out
On the heads of the Huns? . . .
Hogen in version A represents himself as having fought before Troy—a performance which shames
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George IV's conviction that he had taken part in the battle of Waterloo. Yet, as Professor Arthur G. Brodeur has kindly pointed out, Ekkehard, in his 'Waltharius,' refers to Hogen as 'of Trojan seed'; while Holz thinks that the epithet 'Van Tronje,' applied to Hagen in N.L., is a confused reminiscence of a tradition associating him with Troy—or New Troy (Hirchheim).
On the delicate question as to how far 'Grimild's Revenge' may be indebted to the Faroëse 'Høgni' Ballad, or vice versâ, each student can form his own opinion. Direct borrowing, on one side or the other, there may have been—must have been, in the case of the 'Mermaid' verses. But when we come to the Storm, so full in the Faroëse version of vivid sea-faring detail, so amateurish and commonplace in the Danish, let us remember that the Ballad convention was a ready-made garment; and that, given certain traditional incidents, together with the exigencies of metre and rhyme in two languages closely allied, a certain superficial resemblance is more easily accounted for than so marked a difference in workmanship. Each minstrel, I would submit, took his storm and worked it out independently.
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