1. The King of Svávaland (see the Prose following St. 5), which is to be identified, it seems, with the original home of the Suevi, now Brandenburg. Sváfnir's daughter is here called Sigrlinn, but the name is probably to be interchanged with that of Sváva. The Prose following had to be somewhat rearranged, to make sense.

2. As to his name, see St. 15, Note 20.

3. The bird is evidently the same Earl Fránmar in disguise who later, for reasons of his own, opposes both Hjorvarth's and Hróthmar's suits. After the latter invades Sváfnir's lands, Atli surprises and slays Fránmar. See the prose after St. 5.

4. "The Home of Love" (?); one of the many names which are probably symbolic occurring in the Helgi lays. Glasir, "the Resplendent."

5. Atli, by the restrictions he places on possible demands, is intent on saving his king from the plight of Jephthah.

6. It was not unusual to gild the horns of favorite animals. See
Þrymskviða, St. 23.

7. Custom demanded that the more important the errand, the longer the guest remained before broaching the matter to his host. The refusal of the suit is typically regarded as an insult, provoking hostilities.

8. Possibly, because the name given him at birth did not suit the nature of the indolent (?) and tongue-tied youth. He sits "on a hill," here as a shepherd, being regarded as an "ashiepattle."

9. "The Hallowed"; that is, one dedicated to the gods.

10. Eagles screaming early betoken the birth of a hero. See Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, St. 1.

11. He who bestowed a name or cognomen, whether on a child or an adult, was expected to add a gift. This custom off "name-fastening" is frequently attested in the Northern monuments.

12. "Sigar's Island."

13. The hilts of swords were often gilded or wound with gold wire. "Wand-of-wounds" is a kenning for sword.

14. Accepting Grundtvig's emendation.

15. The red snake annulation probably indicates demascening. The other properties are given the sword by the appropriate magic runes engraved on it.

16. "The Hateful"; the firth is named after him.

17. To be on the alert the warriors sleep under their shields instead of under the awnings usually covering undecked warships at night for the crew to sleep under.

18. Probably not to be taken literally: the iron-clad beak of the ships and the iron bosses of the shields were taken to be sufficient protection against evil spirits.

19. The stafnbúi, or forecastleman, on a man-of-war had the place of greatest responsibility and honor as leader in battle and as spokesman. See Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, St. 33.

20. In the original, there is a play on the supposed meaning of Atli's name, "the Grim, "the Awful."

21. That is, witches riding on sticks. See Hávamál, St. 155.

22. Compare the curses in "Skírnismál."

23. The sea god Ægir's wife. She gathers up the drowned in her net.

24. Nothing further is known of them. A stanza seems missing here in which Atli likens Hrímgerth to a mare, a term of particular opprobrium in the North.

25. Accepting Bugge's emendation, there would be a pun in the original here.

26. "Hairy."

27. "Pine Island."

28. Sváva, who, unbeknown to Helgi, had guarded him against malignant powers.

29. It would seem that these lines had crept in from some description of the valkyries, as in Voluspá, St. 30.

30. At the rising sun which transforms a dwarfs and trolls into stone. See Alvíssmál, St. 35.

31. The above is a concise description of the pagan Yuletide feast, celebrated at the time of the winter solstice. This was the occasion for making vows for the coming year. The boar, symbol of fertility, is sacred to Frey. See Hyndluljóð, Sts. 5-7. See the same source for the wolf as the mount of witches. The troll woman proves to be Helgi's wraith; se the Prose following St. 34.

32. Supplied, following Bugge.

33. The single combats were fought on holms ("river islands"), in plain view of the hostile armies.

34. The meaning probably is, "Cut me off, do not weakly forgive me!"

35. That is, Helgi's. According to northern belief, every person was bornwith a fylgja, an accompanying tutelary spirit (here translated by "wraith") which left him when he was "fey,"choosing another person to follow and protect.

36. "Wolf Stone."

37. A kenning for "battle."

38. As Helgi the Hunding-Slayer and Sigrún. See the Introductory Prose of Helgakviða Hundingsbana II.

 It is obvious that this poem is not of a piece, but consists of fragments of lays joined together by the Collector whose Prose is here even more awkward, rambling, and absentminded than is usual with him. By the relative copiousness of its Prose, the poem forms a transition stage, as it were, between the heroic lay on the one hand and the legendary saga on the other. In the latter one may often doubt whether the interspersed stanzas and lays
are meant to serve as an authentication of the narrative, or the narrative, to explain and connect these stanzas or lays.
 The first two fragments are in no sense notable efforts. The almost elegiac note, which distinguishes the stanzas on Helgi´s death in fragment IV, reminds one, in a way, of Hjálmar's Death Song in the Hervarar saga, but there is too little imaginative energy, and the main figures are too faintly outlined to awakn our sympathy. A late (thirteenth century?) origin is likely for this part.
 Internal evidence makes it rather certain that the "flyting," or word-duel, of Atli with the giantess Hrímgerth (Fragment III), which also stands out by the different metre (ljóðaháttr), is of a later date than the other fragments. It may be well to remind the reader that here, as in the Lokasenna, however offensive its coarseness to the more delicate taste of a later age, the genre
as a whole is not devoid of a certain interest, showing as it does the animal side of the Viking Age, as contrasted with the frequently stilted and stereotyped idealisations of Heroic Poetry. In this particular case, a robustious, though low, humor redeems what elsewhere degenerates into a mere scolding match.


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