_The Sons of King Ragnar._ For Ragnar LothbrÛk and his sons, see the _Th·ttr of Nornagest_, ch. 9 and note. _A sea-king._ Cf. the _Saga of Olaf the Holy (Heimskringla)_, ch. 4. _The Sons of Eric Bjˆrnson were ÷nund and Bjˆrn._ These are probably to be identified with the Swedish kings Bern and Anoundus mentioned in Rembertus' _Life of St. Ansgar_, chs. 11 and 19, in connection with the saint's missionary visits to Sweden (_c._ 830). _Bragi Skald_ was the great grandfather of Arinbjˆrn the friend of Egil SkallagrÌmsson. In the _Saga of Egil SkallagrÌmsson_, ch. 59, he is said to have saved his life by composing in one night a poem in honour of King Bjˆrn. Some fragments of his poems have been preserved--the earliest datable Norse poems which have come down to us. _King Harold the Fairhaired._ See the _Th·ttr of Nornagest_, ch. 10, and note. _Eric the Victorious._ The battle won by Eric the Victorious over Styrbjˆrn at Fyrisvellir seems to have taken place between 980 and 985. Several Runic inscriptions contain references to it. The statement that Harold the Fairhaired died in Eric's time can hardly be correct; for Harold is believed to have died in 933. _Fyrisvellir_, on the banks of the FyrisÂ, close to the site of the modern town of Upsala. _Olaf the Swede._ The traditional date of his conversion is 1008. _Olaf the Saint_, ex-King of Norway, whence he had been expelled in 1028, was killed at the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030 in an attempt to recover the throne. _He tried to put an end to_, etc. An interesting account of the heathen ceremonies of the Swedes, dating from shortly after the middle of the eleventh century, is given by Adam of Bremen in his _History of the Church of Hamburg_, Book IV., ch. 26 f. _The sacred tree._ The sacrificial tree in question is presumably that mentioned in schol. 134 to Adam of Bremen as standing beside the great temple of Upsala. _Eymund_, _c._ 1050-_c._ 1060. _Steinkel_, 1060-1066. _Haakon the Red_, 1066-1079? _Ingi I_, d. _c._ 1110. He, Hallstein and BlÛtsvein were all reigning in 1081. _Philippus_, d. 1118. _Ingi II_, d. 1125. GRIPLUR I 10. _Gnoth-¡smund_, etc. For notes on people mentioned in the _GrÌplur_, see notes to the _Saga of Hromund Greipsson_, p. 231 ff. above. 13. _Draupnir's beautiful blood_, a _kenning_ for 'gold rings.' Draupnir was the name of Othin's ring which was made by the smith Eitri and sent to Othin by his brother Brokk. Its special value lay in the fact that every ninth night, eight gold rings dropped from it. Cf. _Sk·ldskaparm·l_, ch. 35. Cf. also _Vˆlusp·_, str. 15, where Draupnir is mentioned in the list of dwarfs. THE FAROESE BALLAD OF NORNAGEST _Refrain._ According to Lyngbye the refrain should be: _You dare not give counsel in trouble_, etc. Others have it _Let them have help in trouble._ Schr¯ter took down the first two verses as follows: