_Guthmund._ Cf. the _Saga of Hervˆr and Heithrek_, ch. 1. See also Saxo Grammaticus, _Dan. Hist._, pp. 346-349, where Guthmund is described as a magician dwelling in the land of the Perms. But see _Glasisvellir_, below. _Glasisvellir._ Cf. the _Saga of Hervˆr and Heithrek_, ch. 1. For the name of the tree or grove called _Glasir_ beside Othin's abode in Valhalla, see _Sk·ldskaparm·l_, ch. 34: "Glasir stands with golden foliage before the halls of the God of Victory." See also _Bjarkam·l in Forna_, str. 3. II. _Ulf the Red_ was standard-bearer to Olaf Tryggvason at the Battle of Svˆld (cf. the _Saga of Olaf Tryggvason, Heimskringla_, ch. 56), where he slew great numbers of the enemy. _The Bay_, i.e. Christiania Fjord and the adjacent coasts. _King Half._ See _H·lfssaga_, ch. 10; and _FlateyjarbÛk_, 11, pp. 136, 137. King Half had a chosen band of warriors numbering about sixty, who were subject to strict discipline and rules which Professor Craigie (_The Icelandic Sagas_, p. 94) suggests were modelled on those of the JÛmsvÌkings. For instance, "It was one of their customs always to lie off the ends of promontories. Secondly, they made a rule of never pitching tents on their ships and never clewing up the sail on account of bad weather." The incident referred to in the text is not mentioned in the Saga. _No halls had been built in Norway._ The writer probably means to contrast the stone halls of his own day with the wooden structures of earlier times. _The Harping of Gunnar_, a lost poem. The legend here referred to is told in _Vˆlsunga Saga_, ch. 37 (and elsewhere), doubtless from an old lay.--'King Attila had Gunnar cast into a pit full of snakes ... and his hands were tied. Guthr˙n sent him a harp, and he was so skilful in harping that he could play it with his toes; and he harped so well that hardly anyone had ever heard such skilful playing, even with the hand. So beautifully did he play that all the snakes were lulled to sleep except one horrible big adder which crept up to him and stung him to the heart. Thus he perished with great courage.' Gunnar, the son of Gj˙ki, is the central figure both of the Norse story and of the German _Nibelungenlied_, in which he is called Gunther. In reality, he was overthrown and killed by the Huns in 437, after which the Burgundians moved from the Rhine to the district now known as Burgundy. _The Ancient Wiles of Guthr˙n._ It is generally believed that this is the name of another lost heroic poem. But the title may possibly mean _The Adventures of Guthr˙n_, in which case the poem referred to may be the well-known _Ancient Lay of Guthr˙n_ (_Gur˙narkvia hin forna_). This latter poem is alluded to in ch. 9 below under the title of _Gur˙narrÊa_. IV. _The Land of the Franks_, the Rhineland. As far back as the fifth century the Franks occupied that region--to the north of the Burgundians. _Sigurth the son of Sigmund._ The story of Sigurth the Vˆlsung is related in _Vˆlsunga Saga_.