Heimskringla | Page 4

rest the foundations of our story principally upon the songs which were
sung in the presence of the chiefs themselves or of their sons, and take
all to be true that is found in such poems about their feats and battles:
for although it be the fashion with skalds to praise most those in whose
presence they are standing, yet no one would dare to relete to a chief
what he, and all those who heard it, knew to be a false and imaginary,
not a true account of his deeds; because that would be mockery, not
praise.
OF THE PRIEST ARE FRODE
The priest Are Frode (the learned), a son of Thorgils the son of Geller,
was the first man in this country who wrote down in the Norse
language narratives of events both old and new. In the beginning of his
book he wrote principally about the first settlements in Iceland, the
laws and government, and next of the lagmen, and how long each had
administered the law; and he reckoned the years at first, until the time
when Christianity was introduced into Iceland, and afterwards reckoned
from that to his own times. To this he added many other subjects, such
as the lives and times of kings of Norway and Denmark, and also of
England; beside accounts of great events which have taken place in this
country itself. His narratives are considered by many men of
knowledge to be the most remarkable of all; because he was a man of
good understanding, and so old that his birth was as far back as the year
after Harald Sigurdson's fall. He wrote, as he himself says, the lives and
times of the kings of Norway from the report of Od Kolson, a grandson
of Hal of Sida. Od again took his information from Thorgeir Afradskol,
who was an intelligent man, and so old that when Earl Hakon the Great
was killed he was dwelling at Nidarnes -- the same place at which King

Olaf Trygvason afterwards laid the foundation of the merchant town of
Nidaros (i.e., Throndhjem) which is now there. The priest Are came,
when seven years old, to Haukadal to Hal Thorarinson, and was there
fourteen years. Hal was a man of great knowledge and of excellent
memory; and he could even remember being baptized, when he was
three years old, by the priest Thanghrand, the year before Christianity
was established by law in Iceland. Are was twelve years of age when
Bishop Isleif died, and at his death eighty years had elapsed since the
fall of Olaf Trygvason. Hal died nine years later than Bishop Isleif, and
had attained nearly the age of ninety-four years. Hal had traded
between the two countries, and had enjoyed intercourse with King Olaf
the Saint, by which he had gained greatly in reputation, and he had
become well acquainted with the kingdom of Norway. He had fixed his
residence in Haukadal when he was thirty years of age, and he had
dwelt there sixty-four years, as Are tells us. Teit, a son of Bishop Isleif,
was fostered in the house of Hal at Haukadal, and afterwards dwelt
there himself. He taught Are the priest, and gave him information about
many circumstances which Are afterwards wrote down. Are also got
many a piece of information from Thurid, a daughter of the gode
Snorre. She was wise and intelligent, and remembered her father Snorre,
who was nearly thirty-five years of age when Christianity was
introduced into Iceland, and died a year after King Olaf the Saint's fall.
So it is not wonderful that Are the priest had good information about
ancient events both here in Iceland, and abroad, being a man anxious
for information, intelligent and of excellent memory, and having
besides learned much from old intelligent persons. But the songs seem
to me most reliable if they are sung correctly, and judiciously
interpreted.

HALFDAN THE BLACK SAGA.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
Of this saga there are other versions found in "Fagrskinna" and in
"Flateyjarbok". The "Flateyjarbok" version is to a great extent a copy of
Snorre. The story about Halfdan's dream is found both in "Fagrskinna"
and in "Flateyjarbok". The probability is that both Snorre and the
author of "Fagrskinna" must have transcribed the same original text. --
Ed.

1. HALFDAN FIGHTS WITH GANDALF AND SIGTRYG.
Halfdan was a year old when his father was killed, and his mother Asa
set off immediately with him westwards to Agder, and set herself there
in the kingdom which her father Harald had possessed. Halfdan grew
up there, and soon became stout and strong; and, by reason of his black
hair, was called Halfdan the Black. When he was eighteen years old he
took his kingdom in Agder, and went immediately to Vestfold, where
he divided