Refrain:— Ye well-born men!—
Till stiff and dead lay those champions twain.
Refrain:— Arngrim's Sons from Africa,
They fought, they fought on Samsø.
[Footnote 1:] Lied und Epos (Dortmund, 1905), p. 41 ff.
INTRODUCTION TO THE DANISH BALLAD OF
ANGELFYR AND HELMER THE WARRIOR
Four different versions of the Danish ballad of Angelfyr and Helmer the Warrior are given by Grundtvig in Danmarks Gamle Folkeviser, Vol. i, number 19 (Copenhagen, 1853). Two of these, closely allied, are found in a ms. written in the sixteenth century[1]. The version which Grundtvig has called A is the one adopted for translation below.
An interesting study in ballad composition is afforded by a comparison of this Danish ballad with the Faroese ballads of the Sons of Arngrim. According to Axel Olrik[2] the Danish ballad is founded on the Saga of Hervör and Heithrek. That the ultimate source of all the ballads of the Sons of Arngrim was the Saga there can be no doubt. But whether the Danish ballad is derived directly from the Saga or through some intermediate stage, Icelandic, Faroese or Danish, is problematical. A definite relationship between the Danish and the Faroese ballads would seem to be shown by several common features of the story which do not occur in the Saga itself, as well as by some striking verbal resemblances which have no foundation in the prose narrative.