Rolfs sidste kamp - Louis Moe (17009) - cropped

Bödvar Bjarki ( non, Bǫðvarr Bjarki ), meaning 'Warlike Little-Bear', is the hero appearing in tales of

Hrólfr Kraki Hrólfr Kraki (Old Norse: ), ''Hroðulf'', ''Rolfo'', ''Roluo'', ''Rolf Krage'' (early 6th century) was a semi-legendary Danish king who appears in both Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian tradition. Both traditions describe him as a Danish Scylding, ...

in the ''

Hrólfs saga kraka Hrólfs saga kraka, the ''Saga of King Rolf Kraki'', is a late legendary saga on the adventures Hrólfr Kraki, a semi-legendary king in what is now Denmark, and his clan, the Skjöldungs. The events can be dated to the late 5th century and the 6t ...

'', in the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

epitome to the lost ''

Skjöldunga saga The ''Skjöldunga saga'' (or, in another standardised Old Norse spelling, ''Skjǫldunga saga'') was an Old Norse legendary saga. Dating from c. 1180 – 1200, the saga was lost in its original form. The saga focused on the Danish dynasty of Scyl ...

'', and as ''Biarco'' in

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. ...

' ''

Gesta Danorum ''Gesta Danorum'' ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark an ...

''.

Legend

Bjarki's father, Björn (which means "bear"), was the son of Hring, a King in Norway. After Björn's mother died, Hring married a much younger

Sámi The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are a Finno-Ugric-speaking people inhabiting the region of Sápmi (formerly known as Lapland), which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Murmansk Oblast, Ru ...

woman called Hvit. Björn became a tall, strong young man, and he and a young woman named Bera were in love. At a time when Hring was away, Hvit tried to seduce Björn, but he rejected her. She cast a spell that made him a bear by day and a man only by night. He fled to the area near Bera's father's farm, where he lived by killing livestock. He brought Bera to live with him. Urged by Hvit, the king took his hunters to kill the bear. Björn foresaw his death and told Bera that she was pregnant, telling her what to do after his death. The hunters killed him, and Bera went to the celebration, where his carcass was cooked. Despite his instruction not to eat any of the meat, Hvit pressured her into eating one bite. Bera had triplets, all boys. The first to be born,

Elgfróði In Germanic heroic legend, (Elk-Fróði) is the half-man, half-elk elder brother of the hero Bödvar Bjarki and Thorir Houndsfoot. The name is also used to describe mythical creatures with his perceived form, which have been seen as a Norse variant ...

(Elk-Frodi), had the body of a

Eurasian elk The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

from the waist down. The second, Thorir, had the feet of a hound. Bödvar Bjarki was the third, and he was normal. All three grew exceptionally big and strong. At the age of twelve, Frodi got into trouble for fights in which he injured people and killed one of the king's men, and he left to become a robber. Thorir became the king of Gautland (Geatland). Bjarki, the last to leave his mother, killed Hvit in revenge for his father's death. When Hring died, Bjarki succeeded him. After a time, he left the court and visited Elk-Froði, not revealing his identity. Frodi challenged him to wrestle. Bjarki did much better than Frodi expected, but when Frodi recognized him, he thought Bjarki was still not strong enough, so he had Bjarki drink some of his blood, which increased his strength greatly. On Frodi's advice, Bjarki visited Thorir in Gautland and then went to King Hrolf Kraki's court at

Lejre Lejre is a railway town, with a population of 3,127 (1 January 2022),berserker warriors challenged Bjarki. Bjarki killed him and expelled his berserker companions. From then on he was considered Denmark's greatest champion. He became a trusted adviser of the king as well as a leader in battle, and married the king's daughter, Drifa. He advised Hrolf to go to

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

to reclaim the treasure of Hrolf's father from King

Adils Eadgils, ''Adils'', ''Aðils'', ''Adillus'', ''Aðísl at Uppsölum'', ''Athisl'', ''Athislus'' or ''Adhel'' was a semi-legendary king of Sweden, who is estimated to have lived during the 6th century. ''Beowulf'' and Old Norse sources present ...

, bringing about the well-known episode in which Hrolf and his men scattered the treasure to slow their pursuers and Hrolf humiliated Adils. On the way back, Hrolf angered a man who he later realized was

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

in disguise. Bjarki advised Hrolf to avoid war from then on, since he had lost the favor of the god of victory. When Hrolf's half-sister and her husband rebelled and attacked Lejre, Bjarki stayed in the hall in a trance. Meanwhile, a monstrous bear did heavy damage to the rebels' army. Hjalti, disturbed that Bjarki was not fighting, went to the hall and roused him. But the bear was Bjarki's spirit or

fetch Fetch may refer to: Books * ''Fetch'', a 2012 book by Alan MacDonald and David Roberts * ''The Fetch'', a 2006 book by Chris Humphreys * ''The Fetch'', a 2009 book by Laura Whitcomb * ''The Fetch'', a 1991 book by Robert Holdstock * ''Fazbear ...

, and disappeared. Bjarki went out to fight, but not as effectively as the bear. The rebels overwhelmed the defenders and killed Hrolf, Bjarki, and all Hrolf's other warriors.

''Bjarkamál''

The Old Norse poem ''

Bjarkamál ''Bjarkamál'' (''Bjarkemål'' in modern Norwegian and Danish) is an Old Norse poem from around the year 1000. Only a few lines have survived in the Icelandic version, the rest is known from Saxo's version in Latin. The latter consists of 298 hex ...

'' (of which only a few stanzas are preserved but which

presents in the form of a florid Latin paraphrase) is understood as a dialogue between Bödvar Bjarki and Hjalti which begins with Hjalti again and again urging Bödvar to awake and fight for King Hrólf in this last battle in which they are doomed to defeat. As mentioned above, this caused the disappearance of Bjarki's spirit-bear, which was helping Hrolf much more than Bjarki could. As Bjarki puts it on awakening, "You have not been so helpful to the king by this action of yours as you think".

Beowulf, folk-tales, and ''The Hobbit''

Some think Bjarki and the hero

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...

in the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

poem ''

'' were originally the same personage, and others instead accept some kinship between the two, perhaps pointing to the same distant source. Unlike Beowulf, Bjarki is a

shapeshifter In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ...

, and he is also said to have been

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

, which may be explained by the fact that his story was written by

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic authors who were mostly of Norwegian descent. However, his brother was the king of Geatland and, like Beowulf, Bǫðvarr Bjarki arrived in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

from Geatland. Moreover, his killing of the monster that has been terrorizing the court at

Yule Yule, actually Yuletide ("Yule time") is a festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples, later undergoing Christianised reformulation resulting in the now better-known Christmastide. The earliest references to Yule are by way of indig ...

for two years is comparable to Beowulf's killing of

Grendel Grendel is a character in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem '' Beowulf'' (700–1000). He is one of the poem's three antagonists (along with his mother and the dragon), all aligned in opposition against the protagonist Beowulf. Grendel is feared by a ...

. The name "Beowulf" may have originally meant "bee-wolf", a

kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English po ...

for "bear",Sweet, Henry. (1884) ''Anglo-Saxon Reader in Prose and Verse'' The Clarendon Press, p. 202. though other etymologies have been proposed. Like Beowulf, Bödvar Bjarki has been linked to the folktales categorized as the

Bear's Son Tale "Bear's Son Tale" (german: link=no, das Märchen vom Bärensohn, Bärensohnmärchen) refers to an analogous group of narratives that, according to 's 1910 thesis, represent the fairy tale material reworked to create the Anglo-Saxon poem ''Beowulf' ...

Tom Shippey Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...

has noted that the character of Beorn in ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the '' ...

'', by

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

, has "a very close analogue" in Bödvar Bjarki.

Legend

''Bjarkamál''

Beowulf, folk-tales, and ''The Hobbit''

See also

References

Further reading