Owing to its sadly confused state and faulty preservation—in the huge manuscript codex called the Flatisland Book (Flateyjarbók), written in Iceland toward the end of the fourteenth century—this poem has given rise to the most varying of interpretations. One thing is clear: its didactic purpose to impart information about the genealogy of a certain Óttar. It has been suggested with some plausibility that this may have been Óttar Birtingr, a Norwegian of lowly origin who rose to a position high enough to marry King Harald Gilli’s widow, and that our poem was composed to endow him with a pedigree. This Óttar was assassinated in 1146.
The story within which this lore is framed is not made out without difficulty. As the text is handed down to us, the following interpretation seems plausible, making the tangle of relationship more intelligible. The goddess Freya, riding on her boar, awakens the wise giantess Hyndla (compare with the situation in “Baldrs draumar” and “Grógaldr”) and invites her to mount her wolf to ride to Valholl with her. There, Óthin and Thór are to grant success to Freya’s protégé, Óttar: he has wagered with Angantýr, another hero, and staked his all that he is of nobler descent than the other. On the way, so Freya proposes, they are to match their genealogical lore. Notwithstanding Freya’s denial the giantess knows that the boar is Óttar in disguise, and addresses to him the information desired; whereupon Freya demands, still further, that she give him the “memory ale” to drink, so that he may keep in his mind until the third day what has been told him. This, the giantess refuses, but is compelled by the threat of encircling fire. Her curse on the drink is neutralized by Freya’s blessing.
Many minor and major alterations have been proposed to render the action more plausible. Most radically, Finnur Jónsson claims that Stanzas 31-34, should precede 11 to furnish the compulsion to make the giantess divulge her lore; and, indeed, this rearrangement would eliminate a number of difficulties.
As to the genealogies of Óttar’s race, three groups may be discerned: that of the kings of Horthaland, to which he belongs by immediate descent; the line of Halfdan the Old, mythical ancestor of many kings of Norway; and famous legendary heroes whose kinship is claimed. To be sure, no two scholars are agreed as to what is to be regarded as genuine or what as interpolated in these lists. That they seemed authentic to learned Icelanders of the thirteenth century is attested by the fact that they are drawn on, both by Snorri in his “Skáldskaparmál” (Chap. 64), and in the story entitled “How Norway Was Settled” (“Hversu Nóregr bygðist”).2
To most scholars, the poem has the earmarks of rather late and learned Icelandic origin, say, the end of the twelfth century; but it must be acknowledged that some elements do point to a much earlier time, perhaps the end of the tenth century.
(Freya said:)
1. “Awake, good maiden, awake, my friend,
sister Hyndla,3 who sleepest in cave;
’tis darkest night,4 so now let us ride
hence to Valholl,5 the hallowed stead.
2. “Let us ask Óthin our errand to speed:
he gives and grants gold to his followers.
To Hermóth6 gave he helm and byrnie,
to King Sigmund, the sword of victory.7
3. “He gives riches to some, to some, victory,
word skill to wights, wisdom to others,
breezes to sailors, song-craft to skalds,
gives manfulness to many a warrior.
4. “I shall worship Thór, and this ask of him
that he shall not ever do ill to thee,
though else he love not etin women.
5. “Take one of thy wolves8 from his wonted stall,
with my boar let him leap on our way.
(Hyndla said:)
“Slow runs thy boar9 on the road to Valholl,
nor will I weary my worthy steed.
6. “False art, Freya, to befriend me now;
thine eye seemeth to say to me
thou leadest thy lover on his last journey,10
Óttar the Young, Innstein’s son.
7. “Dull art, Hyndla, and dreamest, ween I,
to believe my lover on his last journey:
my boar gleameth, golden-bristled,
Hildisvíni,11 by smiths twain fashioned
of dwarfish kin, Dáin12 and Nabbi.
8. “Let us strive13 as we sit astride our saddles,
match our lore of lines of lordly races,
of the kin of kings who came from gods.14
9. “Wagered have they for Welsh gold,
Óttar the Young and Angantýr:15
the young hero to help I am bound,
lest he fail to get his father’s share.
10. “He a high altar made me of heaped stones—
all glary16 have grown the gathered rocks—
and reddened anew them with neats’ fresh blood;
for ay believed Óttar in the ásynjur.17
11. “Reckon up in order the oldest sib,
and call to mind the kin of men:
a Skjoldung who, a Skilfing18 who,
(an Othling who)19 an Ylfing who?
Who a landholder, who of lordly stock,
Who of most worth are in the world of men?”
12. “Thou art, Óttar from Innstein sprung;
but Innstein was born to Álf the Old,
and Álf to Ulf, Ulf to Sæfari;20
Sæfari’s father was Svan the Red.
13. “Was your father’s mother a fair-dight maiden;
I ween she was hight Hlédís21 the Priestess;
was Fróthi her father, Fríaut her mother:
this race was wholly ranked with the highest.
14. “Of old was Authi22 among earth’s greatest;
before lived Hálf dan,23 highest of Skjoldungs;
many wars in the world waged the bold one,
to the welkin were wafted his works abroad.
15. “Befriended by Eymund, foremost among men,
he slew Siggtrygg with the sword’s edge,
and home led Álmveig,24 the most highborn woman—
they issue had of eighteen sons.
16. “Thence the Skjoldungs, thence the Skilfings,
thence the Othlings, thence the Ynglings,
the landholders thence, the lords’ stock thence,
who of most worth are in the world of men:
thy sib all these, silly Óttar!
17. “Her mother,25 hold I, was Hildigunn,
the child of Sváva26 and of Sækonung;
thy sib all these, silly Óttar!
Thou needs must know this— wilt know still more?
18. “Dag27 married Thóra, mother-of-heroes;
in that kin were born the best of men:
Frathmar and Gyrth, and the Freki brothers,
Ám, Jofurmar, and Álf the Old;
thou needs must know this— wilt know still more?
19. “Was Ketil28 their kinsman, Klypp’s oldest son,
your own mother’s mother-father;
before Kári, Fróthi lived,
and Álf the hero to Hild was born.
20. “Then was Nanna born, Nokkvi’s daughter;
her son your father’s sister did wed;29
of forefathers old still further I tell:
thy sib all these, silly Óttar!
21. “Isolf and Ásolf, Olmóth’s sons these,
and Skúrhild’s eke, Skekkil’s daughter,30
among them are with many heroes;
thy sib all these, silly Óttar!
22. “Gunnar Midwall, Grím the Hardy,
Iron-Shield Thórir, Ulf the Gaping,
Brodd and Horvir— both I knew them—
they housecarls were with Hrólf the Old.31
23. “Hervarth, Hjorvarth, Hrani, Angantýr,32
Búi and Brami, Barri and Reifnir,
Tind and Tyrfing, and the two Haddings:33
thy sib all these, silly Óttar!
24. “In Bolm in Eastland were born these twelve,
the sons of Arngrím and Eyfura;
the blare of these berserks,34 their baleful deeds,
like wildfire swept over sea and land:
thy sib all these, silly Óttar!
25. “I knew both of them, Brodd and Horvir
both heroes were Hrólf’s followers.
… .. ….. … …. .. ….
35King Jormunrekk’s kinsmen all—:
he was Sigurth’s sib— what I say heed thou—
the folk-ruler’s, who Fáfnir slew.
26. “Was Svanhild’s sire the son of Volsung
and of Hjordís, of Hrauthung’s36 kin—
she Eylimi’s, the Othling’s37 daughter:
thy sib all these, silly Óttar!
27. “Gunnar and Hogni were Gjúki’s sons,
of the same sib was their sister Guthrún;
but Guthorm was not of Gjúki’s kin,
though a brother to both his sons:38
thy sib all these, silly Óttar!
28. “Harald Wartooth39 was to Hrœrek40 born,
the sower-of-rings: he the son was of Auth;
Auth41 the Deep-Minded was Ivar’s42 daughter;
Ráthbarth was Randvér’s43 father:
were given to the gods44 these goodly men,
thy sib all these, silly Óttar!”45
(Freya said:)
29. “To my boar bring thou, that he bear all in mind,
a cup46 so he can keep all these words,
and think of them on the third morning,
when the twain shall tell of their kin.’”
(Hyndla said:)
30. “Wend thy way now, I wish to sleep;
but little good wilt get from me,
in the night who runnest— thou noble friend—47
in her heat as Heithrún48 the he-goats among.
31. “Wert ever eager with Óth49 to lie:
under thy apron still others have crept,
in the night who runnest— thou noble friend—
in her heat as Heithrún the he-goats among.”
(Freya said:)
32. “The evil hag I hedge with fire:
unscathed shalt not escape from hence.”
(Hyndla said:)
33. “A fire see I burn, flameth the earth:
he who loveth his life will release himself gladly:50
in the beaker bear thou the beer to Óttar,
with venom brewed: may it work thy bane!”
(Freya said:)
34. “Thy wicked wish shall work no harm
though, etin woman, thou evil threatenest;
for drink shall he the goodly draught:
may all gods then lend Óttar help!”