The third part, which is perhaps the most interesting part of the _th·ttr_, is the passage in which Guest explains how he came by his name. There can be no doubt that here we are in the region of pure folk-tale. The story of the visit of the Norns shows a very remarkable resemblance to the Greek legend of Althaea and Meleager. The same motif appears to some extent in the mediaeval French romances of _Ogier the Dane_, and is familiar to everyone in a slightly different form as the first part of the German folk-tale, _Sleeping Beauty_, where the reference to spinning should be noted. The poetry contained in this _th·ttr_, unlike that in the _Hervarar Saga_, is all taken from the _Older Edda_. One of the poems, the _Hellride of Brynhild_, is given almost complete and there are long extracts from _Reginsm·l_. There are, however, some references to poems which no longer exist[9]. In many respects the story of Nornagest is among the most interesting of the Romantic Sagas. It gives a vivid picture of life in a northern court--the _naÔvetÈ_ and friendliness of the conversation; the personal interest that the King took in his men; the intimacy and directness and simplicity of the intercourse between them. There is something, too, of the same boyish indulgence--e.g. in King Olaf's attitude towards the wager--which one notices in Hrolf Kraki's talk with Vˆgg[10]. Yet combined with the amiability of both kings is a certain natural dignity which is very convincing. [Footnote 1: An abridged translation of the longer saga by J. Sephton is published in the _Northern Library_, Vol. II (London, 1898).] [Footnote 2: _Fornaldarsˆgur Northrlanda_ (Copenhagen, 1829), Introduction, pp. xix, xx.] [Footnote 3: Wilken, _Die Prosaische Edda nebst Vˆlsungasaga und Nornageststh·ttr_ (Paderborn, 1877), p. lxxxv ff.] [Footnote 4: _Norr¯ne Skrifter af Sagnhistorisk Indhold_ (Christiania, 1873).] [Footnote 5: _Op. cit._, p. lxxxviii.] [Footnote 6: See _Fornaldarsˆgur Northrlanda_ (ReykjavÌk, 1891), Vol. I, pp. 247-266.] [Footnote 7: The second edition follows the _Codex Regius_ in the text of the poems included in the _Th·ttr_ more closely than did the first edition.] [Footnote 8: Cf. Finnur JÛnsson, _Den Oldnorske og Oldislandske Litteraturs Historie_, Vol. II, p. 847; also Mogk, _Norwegisch-Isl‰ndischen Literatur_ (Strassburg, 1904), p. 822.] [Footnote 9: Cf. p. 19 below and note (p. 222).] [Footnote 10: Cf. _Sk·ldskaparm·l_, ch. 3; also _HrÛlfs Saga Kraka_, ch. 42.] THE TH¡TTR OF NORNAGEST I. The story goes that on one occasion when King Olaf Tryggvason was living at Trondhjem, it chanced that a man came to him late in the day and addressed him respectfully. The King welcomed him and asked him who he was, and he said that his name was Guest. The King answered: "You shall be guest here, whatever you are called."