General Introduction 153 GrÌplur I 171 The Faroese Ballad of Nornagest 176 The Faroese Ballad of Hjalmar and Angantyr 182 The Danish Ballad of Angelfyr and Helmer 186 The Faroese Ballad of Arngrim's Sons 193 The Faroese Riddle Ballad (G·tu RÌma) 212 The Shetland Ballad of Hildina 217 Notes 220 List of editions and translations 254 TO MY SISTER PART I SAGAS THE SAGAS GENERAL INTRODUCTION The following stories are taken from the _Fornaldarsˆgur Northrlanda_, or 'Stories of Ancient Times relating to the countries of the North'--a collection of Sagas edited by Rafn in 1829-30 and re-edited by Valdimar ¡smundarson in 1886-1891. The stories contained in this collection deal almost exclusively with times anterior to Harold the Fairhaired (c. 860-930) and the colonisation of Iceland, and stop therefore where the better known stories relating to Iceland and the historical kings of Norway begin. Some of them relate to persons and events of the ninth century, while others are concerned with times as remote as the fourth or fifth centuries. Their historical value is naturally far inferior to that of the _Õslendinga Sˆgur_, or 'Stories of Icelanders' and the _Konunga Sˆgur_, or 'Stories of the Kings.' From the literary point of view also the 'Stories of Ancient Times' are generally much inferior to the others. The 'Stories of Icelanders' are derived from oral tradition, which generally goes back in more or less fixed form to the time at which the characters in the stories lived, and they give us a vivid picture of the persons themselves and of the conditions of life in their time. In the 'Stories of Ancient Times,' on the other hand, though there is some element derived from tradition, often apparently of a local character, it is generally very meagre. More often perhaps the source of the stories is to be found in poems, notable instances of which will be found in _Hervarar Saga_ and in _Vˆlsunga Saga_. In many cases, however, the stories without doubt contain a large proportion of purely fictitious matter.