Scene 1

HELGI HIORVARDSSON is sitting on a burial mound.

SVAVA enters.

SVAVA It’ll be a long time, Helgi, before you can distribute rings,

Apple-tree of strife, or rule over Rodulsvoll

—early shrieked the eagle—if you are always silent,

Even if, prince, you have a stern temperament.

HELGI What will you give me with the name Helgi,

Bright-faced lady, since you have bestowed it?

Consider well before you answer!
I won’t accept it unless I can have you also.

SVAVA I know of swords lying on Sigarsholm,

Four less than fifty;

One of them is better than all the rest,

The evil one among battle-needles, its hilt inlaid with gold.

There’s a ring on the hilt, there’s courage in the middle,

And terror in its point, for him who manages to own it;

A blood-dyed snake lies along the edge

And on the boss a serpent chases its tail.

Scene 2

ATLI IDMUND’S SON guards Helgi’s ship, moored at Hatafjord.

HRIMGERD rises out of the water.

HRIMGERD Who are those men in Hatafjord?

Shields are hanging outside your ships;

You’re acting rather boldly, I don’t think you’re afraid of much;

Tell me the name of the king!

ATLI Helgi is his name, and you can never

Bring harm to the prince;

There are iron plates on the prince’s ships,

No troll-women can attack us.

HRIMGERD What is your name, mighty warrior,

What do men call you?

The prince trusts you, since he lets you watch

In the pleasant prow of the ship.

ATLI Atli I’m called, atrocious I shall be to you,

I am most hostile to ogresses;

I’ve often stayed at the dew-washed prow

And tormented night-riding witches.

What is your name, corpse-greedy hag?

Troll woman, name your father!

You ought to be nine leagues underground

With fir-trees growing from your breast!

HRIMGERD Hrimgerd I’m called, Hati is my father,

The most terrible giant I know of;

Many brides he’s taken from their dwellings,

Until Helgi hacked him down.

ATLI Ogress, you stood before the prince’s ships

And blocked the fjord mouth;

The king’s men you were going to give to Ran,

If a spear hadn’t lodged in your flesh.

HRIMGERD Deluded you are now, Atli, I reckon you must be dreaming,

You’re scowling with drooping brow;

It was my mother who lay in front of the prince’s ships,

I drowned Hlovard’s sons in the ocean.

You’d neigh, Atli, if you hadn’t been gelded,

Hrimgerd’s raising up her tail;

I think your heart, Atli, is in your hindquarters,

Though you have a stallion’s voice.

ATLI I’d seem like a stallion to you if you wanted to try it,

If I came on land from this ship;

I’d lame every part of you if I were in earnest,

You’d drop your tail, Hrimgerd!

HRIMGERD Atli, come on land, if you trust in your strength,

And let’s meet at Varins-bay!

Warrior, you’d get your ribs straightened out,

If you got into my clutches.

ATLI I can’t come before the warriors awake

And they keep watch for the king;

Nor should I be surprised if, you witch, you came close,

And bobbed up from under the ship.

HRIMGERD Wake up, Helgi, and give Hrimgerd compensation,

Since you struck down Hati;

If for one night she can sleep with the prince,

Then she’ll have redress for her wrongs.

HELGI enters.

HELGI Shaggy is the name of the one who’ll have you, you’re hideous to humankind,

That monster lives on Tholley;

A very wise giant, but the worst of the lava-dwelling ogres,

He’s a fitting mate for you.

HRIMGERD You’d rather have her, Helgi, the one who was spying out the harbours

The other night with the men;

The sea-golden girl surpassed me in strength

Here she landed from the ship

And moored your vessel so.

She alone is preventing me from destroying

The prince’s men.

HELGI Listen now, Hrimgerd, if I give redress for your grief,

Answer the prince directly:

Was it just one creature who protected the lord’s fleet,

Or many journeying together?

HRIMGERD Three times nine girls, but one girl rode ahead,

White-skinned under her helmet;

The horses were trembling, from their manes

Dew fell into the deep valleys,

Hail in the high woods;

Good fortune comes to men from there;

All that I saw was hateful to me.

HELGI Look east now, Hrimgerd! Since Helgi has struck you with fatal runes,

Both on land and sea the prince’s ships are safe

And so are the prince’s men.

It’s day now, Hrimgerd, Atli has kept you talking

Until you laid down your life;

As a harbour-mark you look ridiculous,

There transformed into stone.

Scene 3

HEDIN and FETCH are in a southern forest.

FETCH offers HEDIN her company. He refuses. FETCH withdraws, but remains onstage.

HELGI enters. Neither he nor HEDIN can see the FETCH.

HELGI Welcome, Hedin! What news

Do you bring from Norway?

Why, prince, have you left your country

And come alone to meet us?

HEDIN A terrible crime has come upon me:

I have chosen that royally born

Bride of yours with the pledging-cup.

HELGI Do not reproach yourself! For both of us, Hedin,

What’s said over ale must come true;

The prince has challenged me to an island duel,

In three nights’ time, I shall go there;

I have my doubts as to whether I’ll return;

It may turn out well if I don’t.

HEDIN You’re saying, Helgi, that Hedin deserves from you

Good will and the greatest of gifts;

It would be more fitting to bloody your sword on me

Than to grant peace to your enemies.

FETCH exits.

HELGI recognizes her as she leaves.

HELGI She rode on a wolf, as it grew dark,

That lady who offered you company;

She knew that Sigrlinn’s son

Would be killed at Sigarvoll.

Scene 4

SVAVA is at home.

SIGAR enters.

SIGAR Helgi has sent me here to you, Svava,

To speak to you in person;

The lord says he wants to see you

Before the splendidly born man draws his last breath.

SVAVA What has happened to Helgi, Hiorvard’s son?

A terrible fate has been sought out for me;

If the sea has washed over him, or the sword has bitten into him,

I shall wreak vengeance on men.

SIGAR He fell here in the morning at Frekastein,

The prince who was best under the sun;

Alf has achieved total victory,

Though there was no need for it to have happened.

Scene 5

HELGI and HEDIN are on the battlefield. HELGI is dying.

SVAVA enters.

HELGI Greetings, Svava! You must steady your feelings,

This will be our last meeting in the world;

The prince has been made to bleed below,

A sword has pierced close to my heart.

I beg you, Svava—bride, do not weep!—

That you will listen to what I say,

That you will share a bed with Hedin

And live in love with the young prince.

SVAVA I said in my dear homeland,

When Helgi chose me, gave me rings,

That I would not willingly, if my lord were gone,

Hold a prince of no reputation in my arms.

HEDIN Kiss me, Svava! Never will I come

To see Rogheim or Rodulsfiall

Until I’ve avenged the son of Hiorvard,

He was best of princes under the sun.