CANTO I.
Stanza 1. Hilding was a yeoman or bonde (see note, canto 2: 1) of Sogn in Norway and fosterfather of Fritiof and Ingeborg. In viking times the children of kings and great warriors were often entrusted to the care of less influential and less wealthy friends to be trained by them, thus removing the young from the temptations and disturbing influences of court life and warfare. This practice would also remove them from the danger of being pampered by fond parents or sycophantic servants.
1. Ej Norden förr sett två så sköna. The auxiliary har is omitted. Such omissions are common in subordinate clauses and in poetry.
6. Såg. Subjunctive past, regular form såge.
6. i Frejas Hus. Freja, or Fröja, wife of Öder, was the goddess of beauty and love. In her abode, Folkvang, were gathered all the lovers who had been faithful to each other unto death.
7. älvkungen. Älvor or alfer were ethereal beings of great beauty and with voices that had the clearness of silver. During moonlight nights especially they danced in dales and groves. Ljusalfer, light elves, personified the benign influences in nature, especially as they manifest themselves in the realms of light and air. Svartalfer, black elves, lived in the earth and personified the silent forces that operate beneath its surface. They are perhaps identical with the dwarfs. The elves are here thought of as having kings and queens just as human beings.
8. En Kung var ej som han i ära. A king was not honored as he.
8. runan. The runes were the characters of the early alphabet of the Germans, Anglo-Saxons, and Scandinavians. Runic inscriptions were generally cut into wood, bone or rock.
9. fick han Ingborg lära. Fick may mean either that he was permitted to teach Ingeborg or that he must do it because of an irresistible desire to do so.
10. båd', både.
12. Det första ax, vars guld blev moget. A striking metaphor meaning "the first head of grain that ripened and assumed a golden color."
13. innan kort, before long.
14. drog på jakt. Idiomatic expression for "went hunting."
17. Valhall(a), the home of the gods and the palace of Oden. Hither one half of the heroes that fell in battle were carried by the valkyrs. Here they spent their time in feasting and fighting.
18. ett kornland, som för vinden går. A field of grain that waves before the wind.
19. Idun(a), wife of Brage and keeper of the golden apples of youth.
20. Frigg(a), the wife of Oden and queen of the goddesses. She was the goddess of conjugal and motherly love.
21. Gerd(a), wife of Frej, was the daughter of a giant, but nevertheless renowned for her wonderful beauty.
22. Nanna, wife of Balder, personified pure and tender love. Balder was the fair god who loved light and lived a life of purity and innocence. The evil Loke induced Balder's blind brother, Öder, to throw an arrow of mistletoe at him and he fell dead. When Nanna saw the body of her dead husband carried out to the funeral pyre, her heart burst with grief.
23. Hel(a), goddess of death and ruler of nine worlds in Nifelhem. She received all that died of sickness or old age, but it seems that others also came to her abode. In the deepest abyss of her kingdom was a place of punishment for the wicked. From her name comes the word "hell" and Swedish ihjäl (att slå ihjäl, to kill).
32. Oden, oldest and highest god of the Northern races. His spirit pervaded everything. He is the source of the higher forms of life.
33. Allfader, Oden. He is so called because he was supposed to be the father of men and of gods.
33. till smycke, as an ornament. This use of till is very common in Swedish.
34. Beles dotter. Ingeborg's father was Bele, king of Sogn in western Norway.
35. Till Oden … uppstiger hennes ättartal. The royal families were supposed to have descended from the gods (see note, canto XXIV: 237).
36. Torstens son. Fritiof was the son of Torsten Vikingsson, a viking chief.
37. Observe the numerous expressions of the defiant spirit of Fritiof prior to his going into exile. Note also in stanzas 37 and 38 his ingenuity in proving his own high rank.
38. Tor, god of thunder and of war, the strongest of the gods. All noble human strength came from him. He was the friend of man and the enemy of the giants with whom he had many hard conflicts. His abode, Trudvang, was marvelously beautiful. When he journeyed forth from Trudvang, driving a span of he-goats, to meet the giants, thunder and lightning arose.