Of the poems contained in the saga, the first is romantic, the second gnomic, the third heroic--and the prose narrative itself is not less varied in character. The conclusion of the saga appears to be purely historical; indeed it is generally regarded as one of the most important authorities for early Swedish history. Elsewhere also historical elements are probably not wanting, but they are interwoven in a network of romance and folklore. Thus whoever King Heithrek may have been, the part which he has come to play in the saga is chiefly that of linking together a number of folk-tales and illustrating popular saws. As regards chronology, the war described in ch. 12-15 must belong to a period nearly seven centuries before the incidents related at the close of the saga. Still more strange is the fact that the victor in this war, the younger Angantyr, would seem to have lived some four or five centuries before his great grandfather and namesake who perished at Sams¯--if indeed the latter story rests on any genuine tradition. In spite of these and similar inconsistencies, however, the saga is on the whole perhaps the most attractive of all the _Fornaldarsˆgur_. [Footnote 1: This MS. is identical with the one referred to as _A_ in the Introduction to the _Th·ttr of Nornagest_ (cf. p. 11 above).] [Footnote 2: Quoted by Heusler, _Eddica Minora_ (Dortmund, 1903), p. vii.] [Footnote 3: _Fornaldarsˆgur Northrlanda_ (Copenhagen, 1829), Vol. I; _AntiquitÈs russes_ etc. (Copenhagen, 1850-2), Vol. I.] [Footnote 4: _Oldnorske og Oldislandske Litteraturs Historie_, Vol. II, p. 839 f.] [Footnote 5: _Eddica Minora_, pp. 106-120.] [Footnote 6: Cf. _Forord_ to N. M. Petersen's edition of _Hervarar Saga ok Heithreks Konungs_ (published by the 'Nordiske Literatur-Samfund,' Copenhagen, 1847).] [Footnote 7: See _Fornaldarsˆgur Northrlanda_ (ReykjavÌk, 1891), Vol. I, pp. 309-360.] [Footnote 8: Copenhagen, 4th edition, 1889.] [Footnote 9: _Oldnorske og Oldislandske Litteraturs Historie_, Vol. I, p. 201.] [Footnote 10: _Geschichte der Norwegisch-Isl‰ndischen Literatur_ (Strassburg, 1904), p. 605.] THE SAGA OF HERV÷R AND HEITHREK Here begins the Saga of King Heithrek the Wise. I. It is said that in the days of old the northern part of Finnmark was called Jˆtunheimar, and that there was a country called Ymisland to the south between it and Halogaland. These lands were then the home of many giants and half-giants; for there was a great intermixture of races at that time, because the giants took wives from among the people of Ymisland.