It is Odin When riding along on Sleipnir; He has one eye, His horse two, The drösul[298] Runs on eight feet, Ygg[299] on two, The horse has one tail. _Gest._ Tell me that only, As thou seemest to be Wiser than any king; What did Odin say Into the ear of Baldr Before he was carried on the pyre? _Heidrek._ This is wonder and wickedness, And cravenness only, Jugglery and trickery only; But no one knows those words of thine Except thyself, Thou evil and wretched being. * * * * * The king burnt with anger, He drew Tyrfing[300] And wanted to strike Gest; But he turned himself Into the shape of a hawk, And thus saved his life. The hawk attempted To escape by the light-holes, But the king struck after him; He cut off the tip of his tail And shortened his feathers, Therefore the hawk has a docked tail. “The sword hit the tail, and took off what it touched, and therefore the hawk has a short tail ever after; then the sword hit a man of the hird, and he was at once slain. Odin then said: ‘Because thou, King Heidrek, drewest thy sword and wantedst to slay me, and thyself brokest the truce which thou hadst set between us, the worst of thralls shall be thy slayers.’ Then Odin flew away, and thus they parted” (Hervarar Saga, c. 15). [Illustration: Fig. 1349.—Gilt silver fibula, one-quarter real size—Zeeland. ] ----- Footnote 278: Skaldskap = scald-ship, derived from skald, a poet. The leading poets were:— Bragi Boddason the old (about 800). The earliest who appears within historical periods. Thjodolf of Hvin and Thorbjörn Hornklofi, Harald Fairhair’s scalds. Eyvind Skaldaspillir, Hakon the Good’s greatest poet. Egil Skallagrimsson. Kormak Ogmundsson, famous for love songs. Hallfred Vandrœdaskald, the troublesome scald, Olaf Tryggvason’s greatest poet. Sighvat Thordarson, St. Olaf’s greatest scald. Thjodolf Arnorsson, Harald Hardradi’s scald. The scalds who made songs on Knut the Great were: Thord Kolbeinsson, Sighvat Thordarson, Ottar the black, Thorarin Loftunga (praise-tongue), Hallvard Harekublesi, Bersi Skaldtorfuson. The greatest masterpiece of scaldic art was composed in 1222–23 by Snorri Sturluson on Hakon Hakonsson, King of Norway, and the jarl Skuli, Bard’s son. Hattatal (the list of metres) is its title, and of the 102 strophes each one is in a different metre. Footnote 279: Cf. mixing blood in foster-brotherhood. Footnote 280: Cf. Flateyjarbók, iii. Footnote 281: The harp is also mentioned in Atla Kvida, 31; Oddrunargrat, 29; Atlamal, 62; Bard’s Saga. Footnote 282: Hersir is called here a bondi.