Paul B. Du Chaillu - The Viking Age (Vol. 1&2)

When the burning did not take place, the warrior was buried with his weapons and entire equipment. Sometimes he slept with his sword under his head. Angantyr’s shoulders rested upon the famous sword Tyrfing , and Angrim’s sons were buried there in that manner. Many of the weapons placed with them were very famous and supposed to possess special or supernatural qualities, and mounds were sometimes broken for the sake of getting.

“A little after she (the Amazon Hervör) left by herself in a man’s dress and weapons and went to Vikings, and was with them for awhile, and was called Hervard. A little after the chief of the Vikings died, and Hervard got the command of them. Once they came to Sámsey. Hervard went up on land, and none of his men wanted to follow him, for, they said, it would not do for any man to stay out there at night. Hervard said that much property was likely to be in the mounds, and went up on the island near sunset. They lay in Munarvag. She met a herd-boy there, and asked him about news. He said, ‘Dost thou not know the island? Come home with me, for it will not do for any man to stay out here after sunset; I am going home at once.’ Hervard replied: ‘Tell me; where are the mounds of Hjörvard?’ The boy said: ‘Thou art unwise, as thou wantest to search for that at night which few dare search for at mid-day; burning fire plays on the mounds after sunset.’ Hervard replied he would certainly go to the mounds. The shepherd said: ‘I see that thou art a bold man, though thou art unwise. I will give thee my necklace if thou wilt come home with me.’ Hervard answered: ‘Though thou wouldst give me all thou ownest thou couldst not hinder me from going.’ When the sun set they heard hollow noises in the island, and the mound fires appeared. The shepherd got frightened and took to his feet, and ran into the forest as quickly as he could, and never looked back.”

As she comes by the mound she sings:—

Awake, Angantyr!

Hervör thee rouses,

The only daughter

Of thee and Svafa;

Yield to me from the mound

The sharp sword

Which the Dvergar

For Svafrlami forged.

Hjörvard! Hervard!

Hrani! Angantyr!

I awaken you all

Beneath the tree-roots,

Who are clad in

Helmet and coat of mail

With shield and sharp sword,

And reddened spear.

Sons of Arngrim!

Much harm doing,

Much have you

The mould increased,

As no one

Of the sons of Eyfura

Will speak to me

At Munarvag.

Hjörvard! Hervard!

Hrani! Angantyr!

So be the mind

Of you all

As if you were rotting

In an ant-hill

Unless ye yield

The sword forged by Dvalin;

It is not fit for ghosts

Costly weapons to hide.

Angantyr.

Hervör, my daughter!

Why callest thou thus

Full of baneful words;

Thou art going to fare badly;

Mad hast thou become

And out of thy senses,

Mind-bewildered,

As thou awakenest the dead.

Neither father buried me

Nor other kinsmen;

The two who lived

Kept Tyrfing ;

Although at last

One became its owner.

Hervör.

Thou dost not tell me truth;

The As shall leave thee

Unharmed in the grave-mound

If thou hast not Tyrfing;

Thou art unwilling

To give the heritage

To thy only child.

Then the mound opened and looked as if it were all on fire and flame.

Angantyr sang:

Ajar is the gate of Hel;

The mounds are opening,

All the island-coast

Looks as if on fire;

Outside all

Is awful to behold;

Hasten thee, maiden, if thou canst,

To thy ships.

Hervör.

Ye can not light

Such a flame at night

That I would

Fear your fires;

The mind-town of thought 204

Of the maid does not quail

Though she sees a ghost

Standing in the door.

Angantyr.

I will tell thee, Hervör,

Listen the while,

Wise daughter,

What will happen;

This Tyrfing will,

If thou canst believe it,

All thy kin,

Maiden, destroy.

Thou shalt beget a son

Who afterwards will

Tyrfing carry

And trust to his own strength;

This one will the people

Heidrek call,

He will be the mightiest born

Under the tent of the sun.

Hervör.

I thus spellbind

The dead champions

That you shall

All lie

Dead with the ghosts,

Rotting in the mound,

Unless thou yieldest me, Angantyr,

The slayer of Hjalmar, 205

The one to armours dangerous,

Out of the mound. …

Angantyr.

Young maiden, I say,

Thou art not like man

As thou art strolling about

Among mounds in the night

With inlaid spear

And the Goth’s metal,

With helmet and mail-coat

Before the hall-door.

Hervör.

I thought hitherto I was

A human being

Ere I called

At your halls;

Hand me from the mound

The hater of mail-coats, 206

It will not do for thee

To hide the Dvergar’s smithying.

Angantyr.

The slayer of Hjalmar

Lies under my shoulders;

All around it is

Wrapped in fire;

No maiden I know

Above the mould

That dares this sword

Take in her hand.

Hervör.

I will hold

And take in my hands

The sharp mœkir

If I may have it;

I do not fear

The burning fire;

At once the flame lessens

When I look at it.

Angantyr.

Foolish art thou, Hervör,

Though courage owning,

As thou with open eyes

Into the fire rushest;

I will rather yield thee

The sword from the mound,

Young maiden!

I cannot refuse it to thee.

Then the sword was flung out into the hands of Hervör.

Hervör.

Thou didst well,

Kinsman of vikings,

When thou gavest me

The sword from the mound;

I think, king!

I have a better gift

Than if I got

The whole of Norway.

Angantyr.

Thou knowest not,

Thou art wretched in speech,

Imprudent woman,

At what thou art glad.

This Tyrfing will,

If thou canst believe it, 207

All thy kin,

Maiden, destroy.

Hervör.

I will go down

To the steeds of the sea; 208

Now is the king’s daughter

In a good mind;

I fear little,

Kinsman of chiefs,

How my sons

May hereafter quarrel.

Angantyr.

Thou shalt own it

And enjoy it long,

But hidden keep

The slayer of Hjalmar;

Touch thou not its edges,

Poison is in both,

This doomer of men

Is worse than disease.

Farewell, daughter,

I would quickly give thee

The vigour of twelve men

If thou would’st believe it; 209

The strength and endurance,

All the good

That the sons of Arngrim

Left after themselves.

“Then she went down to the sea, and when it dawned she saw that the ships had left. The vikings had been afraid of the thunderings and the fires in the island” 210(Hervarar Saga, c. 10).

Burial in ships. —The mode of burial in ships would appear to have belonged exclusively to the North, where it seems to have been in much favour, and shows in a remarkable manner the seafaring character of the people.

Until recently few descriptions have been more ridiculed by persons who did not believe in the Saga literature, than those which gave accounts of burials of chiefs, warriors, and others in ships. Here again archæology has come to our aid to prove the truthfulness of the Sagas, and in such a perfect manner as to settle the question beyond controversy; for we find ships in which the body of the dead warrior was not burned, and other ships which have been used as a pyre. The earliest account of such burial is in Voluspa, amplified in the later Edda, which gives us a vivid description of the funeral of Baldr, the son of Odin.