Hedin and Högni
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Hedin and Högni or the Saga of Hild and Hedin is a Scandinavian legend from Norse mythology about a never-ending battle which is documented in Sörla þáttr, Ragnarsdrápa, Gesta Danorum, Skíðaríma and in Skáldskaparmál. It is also held to appear on the image stone at Stora Hammar on Gotland[1] (see illustration).
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[edit] Edda and Ragnarsdrápa
In the Skáldskaparmál and in Ragnarsdrápa, it's related that once when Högni was away a prince named Hedin kidnapped Högni's daughter Hildr, and when Högni came back he immediately started to search for her.He finally found her on the island of Hoy, Orkney where Hedin waited with his army.Hildr welcomed her father and offered him peace and a necklace on behalf of Hedin.
However, Högni had already unsheathed his sword Dáinsleif, which gave wounds that never healed and like Tyrfing always killed a man once it had been unsheathed.A battle ensued and they fought all day and many died.In the evening Hedin and Högni returned to their camps, but Hildr stayed on the battle-field.She resurrected them with incantations and the fallen soldiers started to fight anew, and this went on until Ragnarök.
[edit] Sörla Þáttr
In Sörla Þáttr, the story begins with an euhemerized variation of Freyja and the dwarves. Loki then steals Brisingamen for Odin who only hands it back to Freyja in return for making two armies fight until a Christian man arrives. It then tells the tale of Sörli and Högni, until Hedinn comes into the picture. Högni is here a king of Denmark who succeeded his father when Sörli killed him.
In Serkland, there was a king named Hjarandi, who had a son named Hedinn. This son was a great sea-king and he pillaged all over the Mediterranean until twenty kings paid tribute to him. One day he met a beautiful woman sitting on a chair who called herself Göndul. She told him of Högni, and agitated him to test his strength against the northerner. Hedinn took three hundred men, and sailed both a summer and a winter until he arrived in Denmark in spring.
When the two men met they tested each other's strength and entered sworn brotherhood. As Hedinn was unmarried, Högni betrothed him to his daughter Hildr, his only child. Hildr's mother was Hervor, the daughter of Hjörvard who was the son of Heidrek Ulfhamr of the Hervarar saga. Hedinn soon met the beautiful woman again who asked him about what had happened since the last time. She gave him a magic potion and told him to crush Högni's wife with the prow of his ship and to kidnap Hildr. He did so and met the beautiful woman again. She gave him a new horn to drink and he fell asleep. In his dream, he heard Göndul say that she put him, Högni and their men under spells according to the wishes of Odin.
Högni hunted Hedinn and found him on an island named Hoy. Hedinn offered to give everything back to Högni and to sail away to Serkland and never come back. Högni, however, declared that nothing could atone the betrayal that Hedinn had committed.
The two armies started to fight and even though they cut each other all over, they stood still fighting and fighting for 143 years, so strong were the spells of Göndul, until Olaf Tryggvason arrived at the island.
[edit] Skíðaríma
In Skíðaríma, the war threatens to destroy Valhalla itself, and so Odin sends Thor to fetch Skíði, a pathetic beggar, so that he can stop the war. Skíði manages to stop the fight by asking to marry Hildr and she consents.
[edit] Gesta Danorum
Saxo Grammaticus relates that Hedin was the prince of a Norwegian tribe and a small man. Hedin fell in love with Hilda, the daughter of Högni, a strongly built Jutish chieftain. Hedin and Hilda had in fact been so impressed with each other's reputation that they had fallen in love before meeting.
In spring, Hedin and Högni went pillaging together, and Högni betrothed his daughter to Hedin promising each other that they would avenge one another if anything happened.
However, evil tongues spread the rumour that Hedin had touched Hilda before the betrothal. Högni believed the false rumour and attacked Hedin, but Högni was beaten and returned to Jutland.
King Frodo of Denmark tried to mediate, but had to decide that the matter be settled in a holmgang. During the combat Hedin was seriously wounded, and started losing blood. Högni decided to have mercy on Hedin, because among the old Scandinavians it was consider shameful to kill someone who was weaker, and so Hedin was taken home by his men.
- For of old it was accounted shameful to deprive of his life one who was ungrown or a weakling; so closely did the antique bravery of champions take heed of all that could incline them to modesty. So Hedin, with the help of his men, was taken back to his ship, saved by the kindness of his foe. Saxo book 5,2
After seven years, the two men started to fight again but both died from their wounds. But, Hilda loved both so much, so that she used spells to conjure up the dead each night, and so the battle went on and on.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ The article Hild at the site of the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities, in Stockholm, retrieved January 19, 2007.
[edit] Sources
- Online publication of Gesta Danorum
- Henrikson, Alf: Stora mytologiska uppslagsboken.
- A translation of Sörla þáttr in English
- A translation of the legend from Skáldskaparmál
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