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SIGURD THE DRAGON-SLAYER, E.M. Smith-Dampier
SIVORD SNARENSVEND
FOUND in two sixteenth-century MSS., of which Vedel's version is an amalgam. A Swedish MS., dating from the early eighteenth century, omits most of the salient features—Sigurd's farewell to his mother, his wild ride, and the leap over the castle turret. The hero's name is Sibol; he serves eight years for the King's daughter, and inherits the kingdom.
Rough, far from distinguished, this Ballad seems, at first sight, a mere reductio ad absurdum of the original Legend. Such as it is, however, it smacks strongly of the North—Sivord is a Norse, not a German, form of Sigurd; in the abrupt reference to the stepfather (a libel on good King Hjálprek) we have probably a confused reminiscence of Regin; the steed is the mother's gift; and the visit to the uncle recalls the meeting with Grípir. It is curious, moreover, to find Gram(Grane) associated with flame, though the flame is dissociated from the marvellous leap. Here is a confusion in name: Gram, here applied to the steed, is really the name of
Sigurd's sword. Unlike France, Germany, and the Faroës, Denmark had little taste for epic, ballad-cycle, or family chronicle. Her minstrels contented themselves with selections from the old sources, sometimes single episodes tom from their context, with a reckless disregard for both context and proper names.
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* Anders Sørensen Vedel's version of this is entitled "Siuard Snaren Suend" and is included in his Hundredevisebog ["Hundred-Song-Book](1591). |