''Sörla þáttr eða Heðins saga ok Högna'' is a short narrative from the extended version ''
Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta
''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta'' or ''The Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason''
is generically a hybrid of different types of sagas and compiled from various sources in the fourteenth century, but is most akin to one of the kings' sagas. It ...
'' found in the ''
Flateyjarbók
''Flateyjarbók'' (; "Book of Flatey, Breiðafjörður, Flatey") is an important medieval Iceland, Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name ''Codex Flateyensis''. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and p ...
'' manuscript,
[Lindow (2002:280-281).] which was written and compiled by two
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
s, Jon Thordson and Magnus Thorhalson,
[ Rasmus B. Anderson, Introduction to the '' Flatey Book''. Norræna Society, London (1908). ''"The priest Jon Thordson wrote the story of Erik Vidforle and both the Olaf Sagas; but the priest Magnus Thorhalson wrote what follows and also what goes before, and revised the whole, thus dedicating the work: "May God Almighty and the Virgin Mary bless both the one that wrote and the one that dictated!"''] in the late 14th century.
The narrative begins 24 years after the death of
Fróði Fróði (; ; Middle High German: ''Vruote'') is the name of a number of legendary Danish kings in various texts including ''Beowulf'', Snorri Sturluson's ''Prose Edda'' and his ''Ynglinga saga'', Saxo Grammaticus' ''Gesta Danorum'', and the ''Gro ...
, and takes place in the 9th and the 10th centuries. It is a composite tale containing a story of how
Freyja
In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...
acquired a necklace from the
Dwarves, how that led to a bloody war, and how Olaf Tryggvason brought peace to the land.
The story parallels elements of earlier stories such as ''
Heimskringla'' (euhemerization of gods), parts of the poem ''
Lokasenna
''Lokasenna'' (Old Norse: 'The Flyting of Loki', or 'Loki's Verbal Duel') is one of the poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki. It is written in the ljóðaháttr metre, typical for wisdom verse. ''L ...
'' (Loki's accusation of
Gefjun sleeping with a boy for a necklace), parts of the ''
Húsdrápa'' poem (
Loki
Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...
stealing the necklace
Brísingamen
In Norse mythology, ''Brísingamen'' (or ''Brísinga men'') is the torc or necklace of the goddess Freyja, of which little else is known for certain., st. 13, "necklace of the Brisings"; endnote: "..frequently mentioned in connection with Freyja, ...
), and the eternal battle ''
Hjaðningavíg
Hjaðningavíg (the 'battle of the Heodenings'), the ''legend of Heðinn and Hǫgni'' or the ''Saga of Hild'' is a Germanic heroic legend about a never-ending battle which is documented in ''Sörla þáttr'', ''Ragnarsdrápa'', ''Gesta Danorum'', ...
'' (various earlier sources). In the end of the story, the arrival of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
dissolves the old curse that was traditionally to endure until
Ragnarök
In Norse mythology, (also Ragnarok; or ; ) is a foretold series of impending events, including a great battle in which numerous great Norse mythological figures will perish (including the Æsir, gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdall, a ...
.
The story has been described as "post-classical" due to elements such as the descriptor of Loki as "cunning" without apparent irony, featuring Freyja and Loki as court retainers, and the open representation of Freyja's sexuality that it features.
19th century scholar
Benjamin Thorpe
Benjamin Thorpe (1782 – 19 July 1870) was an English scholar of Old English language, Anglo-Saxon literature.
Biography
In the early 1820s he worked as a banker in the House of Rothschild, in Paris. There he met Thomas Hodgkin, who treated hi ...
referred to Freyja's role in the tale as "rather awkward".
[Thorpe (1866:63).]
Synopsis
Freyja and the Dwarves
The tale begins in Asia, and a land called Asialand, saying that Odin was the King there; and relates that
Freyja
In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...
was the daughter of
Njord and
Odin
Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...
's concubine, whom Odin loved very much.
Then it introduces four dwarves named
Álfrigg,
Dvalinn (Dwalin), Berlingr and Grérr and since they were dwarves they were skilled craftsmen and lived in a large stone. But in those days, they mingled more with people than they do today.
One day, Freyja saw that the Dwarves were making a beautiful collar and she offered them both gold and silver in exchange for it. But, the Dwarves would only sell it to her in exchange for one night each with her. Freyja agreed and after four nights with the Dwarves, she returned with the beautiful collar.
Loki
Loki
Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...
is then introduced and reveals that he was the son of
Fárbauti and his wife
Laufey Laufey may refer to:
Mythology and fictional characters
* Laufey (mythology)
Laufey or Nál is a figure in Norse mythology and the mother of Loki. The latter is frequently mentioned by the matronymic ''Loki Laufeyjarson'' (Old Norse 'Loki Laufey' ...
, who was called ''needle'' because she was so slender. Loki became very popular with
Odin
Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...
because of his gift for providing information.
When Loki told Odin of Freyja's collar, Odin asked him to fetch the collar or never to return, so Loki transformed himself into a fly and found a way into Freyja's bower. When he found her, he saw that she had the collar on and lay on her back. He turned into a flea and bit her whereupon she turned so he could unlock the collar and steal it. Then he returned to Odin and gave him the collar.
When Freyja woke up, she learned that Odin had got hold of the collar and asked to have it back. Odin said that he knew how she had acquired the collar and that he would only let her have it back on the condition that she enchanted two kings and twenty subordinate kings so that they would fight each other every night, die and rise again, until a
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
lord entered the battle and defeated them all. Freyja promised that so would be done and got the collar back.
King Erling and Sörli
King Erlingr was a king of
Oppland
Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The ...
and he had a queen and the sons Sörli and Erlendr. Sörli and Erlendr went pillaging as
Vikings
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
as soon as their age permitted and one day they began to fight Sindri Sveigisson, the grandson of
Haki at
Elfarsker (the islands outside modern
Gothenburg
Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
). The battle ended with the death of both Sindri and Erlendr, after which Sörli sailed into the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...
(Eystra salt) to harry.
Sörli kills king Halfdan
The king of Denmark was called
Halfdan and he resided in
Roskilde
Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 53,354 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...
(''Hróiskelda'') and was married to Hvedna the old. Their sons were named Högni and Hakon and they were great warriors.
When Sörli arrived in Denmark he saw a great
longship
Longships, a type of specialised Viking ship, Scandinavian warships, have a long history in Scandinavia, with their existence being archaeologically proven and documented from at least the fourth century BC. Originally invented and used by th ...
, which king Halfdan was about to board in order to attend a royal meeting. Sörli decided to kill the king and appropriate the great ship, in spite of his marshal Sævar's warnings about Högni and Hakon. Halfdan fought heroically, but was slain and Sörli sailed away with the dragon ship.
Sörli later learnt that Högni had returned from an expedition and was moored at
Odense
Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...
, and so he sailed to meet Högni and tell him about his father's demise. He wanted to offer Högni and Hakon recompensation and to become foster-brethren, but the two brothers would have none of it. After a battle in which Hakon, Sævar and Erlingr died, and finally Sörli fell. However, Högni healed Sörli and agreed to enter sworn brotherhood.
After some time Sörli died in the East, an event for which there is a poem.
When Högni learnt of this he went east, won many victories and finally became king there with twenty kings as paying vassals. He was famous from the land of the Finns to Paris.
Hedinn and Högni
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 of the ''
Hervarar saga''. Hedinn soon met Göndul 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 Göndul then gave him a new horn to drink, and he fell asleep. In his dream, he heard Göndul reveal that she was a
valkyrie
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ( or ; from ) is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become ('single fighters' or 'once fighters').Orchard (1997:36) and Li ...
and 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
Olaf Tryggvason (960s – 9 September 1000) was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken ( Vingulmark, and Rånrike), and, according to later sagas, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, first King ...
arrived at the island.
Deliverance
Olaf and his crew grew concerned about the number of men who went to the island but never came back. Ivar Gleam-bright took his sword that he had got from Thorstein, the son of Iron-shield, the former owner, and went into the island. There he met a big and bloodied man of sorrowful countenance. It was Hedinn who told Ivar of the curse. Hedinn said that in order to be delivered from the curse, a
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
army had to fight with them, and every man who was slain by a
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
would remain dead. However, Hedinn advised Ivar not to look Högni in the face because Högni wore the Horror helmet (''ægishjálmr''). Instead Hedinn would fight Högni and Ivar would kill Högni from the behind. Ivar did so, and killed all the men until only Hedinn was left and was slain. Ivar went to see Hildr, but she had vanished.
Ivar went to see the king in the morning and told everybody of the event. The king and the men followed him to the battle ground, but everything had vanished and there was nothing to be seen. Only the blood on Ivar's sword testified to what had taken place.
Notes
References
*
Lindow, John (2002). ''Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs''.
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
.
*
Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1866) ''The Elder Edda of Saemund Sigfusson''.
Norrœna Society.
External links
Modern Icelandic version
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorla Thattr
Works set in the 9th century
Works set in the 10th century
14th-century literature
Þættir
Legendary sagas
Freyja