Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 22, 2025
In all that belongs peculiarly to the story about Hroar and Helgi, the account in the Skjọldungasaga is identical with the account in the Hrólfssaga. The essential difference between the story as it is in the Skjọldungasaga and as it is in the Hrólfssaga is that, in the Skjọldungasaga, Ingjald is said to be the brother of Halfdan; while in the Hrólfssaga, Frothi is Halfdan's brother.
In those days there were found in Denmark two quern-stones of such a size, that no one was able to move them, and these mill-stones were endued with such virtue, that the quern in grinding produced whatever the grinder wished for. The quern was called Grotti. King Frothi caused these slaves to be brought to the quern, and ordered them to grind gold, peace, and prosperity for Frothi.
The features in which it chiefly varies from the version in the Hrólfssaga are as follows. Envy and the quarrelsomeness of Frothi's wife and Harald's wife cause Frothi to engage men to murder Harald. Frothi tries to avoid suspicion of being the author of the crime, but in vain; the people believe he is guilty.
But the conception of him that excludes him from the list of ancient kings of Denmark seems to have been shared by Snorri Sturlason; for in Snorri's Ynglingasaga, where Frothi, Halfdan, Helgi, Hrolf Kraki, and other early Danish kings are mentioned, and where one would expect something to be said about Hroar also, his name does not occur and there is no reference to him whatever.
As the Frothi who appears in the Hrólfssaga becomes, in the Skjọldungasaga, the father of Halfdan, and Ingjald becomes Halfdan's slayer, Frothi, Ingjald's son, is, as a consequence, assigned the rôle of joining his brother Hrörik in slaying his half-brother Hroar.
Other examples of richly ornamented swords are King Arthur's sword, Excalibur, whose "pommel and haft were all of precious stones"; Roland's sword, Durendal, which had a golden hilt; and the sword of Frothi II, which also had a golden hilt.
Hroar and Helgi belong to the most famous group of ancient kings in Denmark and appear repeatedly in old Scandinavian literature. The account of them in the Fróðaþáttr which introduces the Hrólfssaga, is, briefly summarized, as follows. Halfdan and Frothi were brothers, the sons of a king, and each was the ruler of a kingdom.
B. Symons takes the story of Bjarki's fight with the winged monster to be a fusion of the story of Beowulf's fight with Grendel and that of his fight with the dragon. R.C. Boer identifies Bjarki with Beaw. In the West-Saxon line of kings, Beaw succeeded Scyld; in the poem Beowulf, Beowulf, the Danish king, succeeded Scyld; in Saxo's account, Frothi I succeeded Scyld.
The story as we have it in the Skjọldungasaga is, therefore, plainly an artificial amalgamation designed principally to harmonize conflicting stories about Frothi. It will be observed that the following changes have been made to produce the family relationship as we find it in the Skjọldungasaga.
The statements at an earlier stage of the story in the Hrólfssaga, while the boys are still on the island, that soothsayers and wise men are called in from all over the land to tell where the boys are, and that wizards, who are also summoned, warn Frothi to beware of the old man Vifil on the island, remind us of the statement by Holinshed that Macbeth "had learned of certeine wizzards, in whose words he put great confidence ... how that he ought to take heed of Macduffe."
Word Of The Day
Others Looking