12. Now long stood the King,
And long on the Earl gazed he:—
"O thou art worth a host of sons;
Thy boon is granted thee."
It will be seen that up to this point, in spite of the loss of the names, there can be little doubt that the subject of the ballad is the story of Hethin and Högni. After this however the narrative deviates from any other known version of this story. It would rather seem that—as in the German Kudrun—two stories, originally distinct, have been brought together in one poem.
NOTES[°]
The numbers refer to chapters (sagas) and strophes (ballads, etc.)