Stories and Ballads of the Far Past / Translated from the Norse (Icelandic and Faroese) with Introductions and Notes

by Nora K. Chadwick

Unfortunately we have fewer data, whether philological or historical, for assigning dates to the Faroese ballads than we have for the Danish. There can be little doubt, however, that the ballads translated below had their origin in the Fornaldar Sögur composed in Iceland during the thirteenth century or in some fourteenth century Rímur derived from the sagas. That many of the Faroese ballads were literary in origin[²⁹], and were based on either Sagas or Rímur, is conclusively established by the opening lines of many of the ballads themselves, notably that of the Olufu Ríma:

Ein er ríman ur Íslandi komin,

Skrívað í bók so breiða.

("This story is come from Iceland, written in a book so broad.")

And Tröllini í Hornalandum:

Verse 1. Frøðíð er komið frá Íslandí

Skrívað í bók so víða etc.

Verse 2. Frøðið er komið frá Íslandi

Skrívað í bók so breiða etc.

Verse 3. Frøðið er komið frá Íslandi