''Åsmund Frægdegjevar'' is a medieval Norwegian legend and ballad (classification: TSB E 145) with several variations all detailing the adventures of a hero by the same name who is hired by the king to rescue a princess. It is based on a

fornaldarsaga A legendary saga or ''fornaldarsaga'' (literally, "story/history of the ancient era") is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the settlement of Iceland.The article ''Fornaldarsagor'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (199 ...

Summary

The story begins as many fairytales do: the fair princess has been captured and imprisoned in a faraway castle, and the King commissions a hero, in this case Åsmund, to rescue her. He and his brothers take the King's flagship Ormin Lange to the castle of the ogre Skomegyvri, where the princess is imprisoned. However, his brothers will not enter with him, so he goes alone. He finds the princess with relative ease walking through the castle, and immediately falls in love with her. But she is under a spell of the

ogre An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world ...

, and believing that Skomegyvri is her mother, will not leave with him. He then takes her by force. On his way out, the ogre appears. They fight a long battle both physically and with curses and spells, but Åsmund eventually kills Skomegyvri. The princess being free from the spell, they plunder the castle and return home with all the ogre's treasure.

Parallels

The ballad tells a similar story to an

Icelandic saga The sagas of Icelanders (, ), also known as family sagas, are a subgenre, or text group, of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives primarily based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early elev ...

(''Ásmundar saga flagðagæfu'', extant only as the fragmentary ''Ásmundar

rímur In Icelandic literature, a ''ríma'' (, literally "a rhyme", pl. ''rímur'', ) is an epic poetry, epic poem written in any of the so-called ''rímnahættir'' (, "rímur meters"). They are rhymed, they alliterative verse, alliterate and consist of ...

flagðagæfu''), where the hero is known as Ásmundur Flagðagæfa.

Recordings

Åsmund Frægdegjevar ''Åsmund Frægdegjevar'' is a medieval Norway, Norwegian legend and ballad (classification: The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad, TSB E 145) with several variations all detailing the adventures of a hero by the same name who is hired by ...

'' by

Lumsk Lumsk is a Norwegian folk metal band from Trondheim. The band combines traditional Norwegian folk music and folklore with rock, progressive rock and metal. The group has both male and female vocals with violin, guitar and drums. History After ha ...

is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

based on the ballad.

Jan Inge Rasmussen Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

recount the ballad in his version of the song "Åsmund Frægdegjæva" on the album from 1975 '' Rasmusikk''

Gåte (; ) is a band from Trøndelag, Norway playing Norwegian folk music bred with metal and electronica. Their style has been referred to as progressive folk-rock. The band was put together by Sveinung Sundli (violin, keyboards) in 2000 and ori ...

recount the ballad in their song "Åsmund Frægdegjæva" on the album ''

Svevn ''Svevn'' is the third studio album by the Norwegian band Gåte. The album was released in 2018. It was the band's first studio album since 2004's '' Iselilja''. Track listing # "Kom no disjka" ( Alf Hulbækmo, Gåte, Ronny Janssen) # "Bannlys ...

''.

English Translations

English translations of this ballad have been published: *"Åsmund Frægdegjeva" in ''The Faraway North'' (2016) by Ian Cumpstey. * (from the summary ''Inntak úr söguþætti af Ásmundi flagðagæfu'': Tale of Asmund Ogre-Lucky, pp. 151-164)

References

External links

Åsmund Frægdegjevar variations in original Norwegian
Norwegian folk songs Year of song unknown Songs with unknown songwriters {{Norway-stub