[178] The identity of the two stories is shown by the fact that in both cases Hialti is made to drink the creature's blood—a custom known in Norway in comparatively recent times (cf. Olrik, op. cit., p. 118). The Biarkarímur tell of two encounters, the first with a she-wolf, the second between Hialti and a bear.
[179] Cf. the Cott. Gnomic Verses, 26 f.: draca sceal on hlaewe frod fraetwum wlanc.
[180] It is generally held that this person's original name was Beowa or Beaw. The latter is the form given in the genealogy in the Chronicle (ad ann. 855); but in view of the many corruptions which this genealogy has suffered it may very well be due to a scribal error for Beowa. This again may be a hypocoristic form for Beowulf, though on the other hand it is by no means impossible that the name of the son of Scyld has been assimilated to that of the hero of the poem. But in any case there does not seem to be any adequate ground for the commonly accepted view that the adventure with Grendel originally belonged to this person.
[181] In Skiöldunga Saga, Langfeðgatal etc. Halfdan's father is not Friðfróði (Saxo's Frotho I) but Fróði hinn froekni (Saxo's Frotho IV), the Froda of Beowulf.
[182] As regards Frotho's parentage—Saxo makes him son of Hadingus, son of Gram, son of Scioldus. In Skiöldunga Saga, Langfeðgatal etc. Friðfróði is son of Friðleifr, son of Skiöldr; while Fróði hinn froekni is son of Friðleifr, son of Danr.
Tantum pene uis celica pensat.
quippe unum e superis alieno corpore tectum
sacrilege necuere manus: sic numinis almi
interfector ades.
[184] We may compare the case of Apollo and the Python at Delphi, and possibly the story of Thor (Miðgarðs véurr) and Miðgarðsormr. Note should also be taken of the existence of a local tradition—going back apparently to the Middle Ages—to the effect that the Isefjord was formerly haunted by a monster which demanded a human victim from every ship that passed. It was finally expelled by the arrival of the relics of St Lucius, to whom Roeskilde cathedral is dedicated (cf. Sarrazin, Beowulf-Studien, p. 10 ff.). The traditional burial-place of Fróði the Peaceful is on the shore of the Roeskilde Fjord; but the two fjords have a common entrance.
[185] It does not of course remove all difficulties. The chief of these perhaps is the presence of Wiglaf, who seems clearly to belong to Beowulf, the son of Ecgtheow. The discrepancy between the names Beowulf and Fróði is of minor account, since the latter may very well have originated in a title (cf. Beow. v. 2928). On the other hand if this person is really a mythical national hero the name Beowa (perhaps for an earlier form Biowi) would seem more natural than Beowulf. Yet there may have been intermediate stages between the original hero and the person finally credited with the exploit.
[186] Thus upon some of these legends a good deal of light seems to be thrown by certain usages cited by Mr Frazer in his Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship, p. 180.