"Udtalt i jævnere ord vil dette sige, at man i vikingetiden tog et gammelt sagnstof og deri fandt udtryk for sin tids store oplevelse, sammenstödet mellem Danmark og et mægtigt 'saksisk' rige.[178]

"Det eneste nye navn, vi möder, er betegnelsen 'Svertings sönner.' I ældre digtning (Béowulf) er 'Svertings ætling' Geaternes konge; men da bevidstheden on 'Geaterne' blegnede, er navnet vel sprunget over og er knyttet til en kendt folkestamme, Sakserne. Grunden dertil er muligvis kun, at det danner bogstavrim med Sakser, og at det sproglig har en biklang af sort, i.e., ond og listig, der gjorde det egnet til at bruges om Danernes fjender."[179]

The significance of this is, first, that in the Ingjald lay we are dealing with old material; secondly, that the account of the relationship in the Skjọldungasaga between Frothi and Swerting and their families is based on the Ingjald lay; thirdly, that when the nationality of Swerting and those associated with him is changed from Saxon to Swedish, it is merely another stage in the development of the story, quite in line with earlier changes made to keep the story in harmony with changing conditions.

Thus we have two stories, based on the same events (events first related in Beowulf and Widsith), that come down to posterity by two independent lines of transmission and suffer changes in the course of time that bring them into absolute conflict with each other. According to both stories, Frothi has become a Danish king. But in the story connected with the Ingjald lay, Frothi is slain, and is avenged by his son, Ingjald; while in the Hrólfssaga, Frothi is his brother's slayer, on whom vengeance is taken by the sons (Hroar and Helgi) of his victim (Halfdan). In the Skjọldungasaga, the conflict is obviated. It is done very deftly and with only such disturbances of the genealogical relations involved as seemed necessary to secure the desired result. As a consequence, the changes that have been made, for which, in most instances, the reasons are quite apparent, can be traced step by step. The story as we have it in the Skjọldungasaga is, therefore, plainly an artificial amalgamation designed principally to harmonize conflicting stories about Frothi.

The genealogy in the Skjọldungasaga is as follows:—

Swerting Frothi Jorund
| | | |
| | | daughter
| | |__________________________________________|
| | |
daughter Ingjald Sigrith Halfdan
| | | | | |
|________| |_____________| |_________________________|
| | | | | |
| | | |[180] | |
Agnar Hrörik Frothi Eng. Lady Hroar Helgi Signy Sævil
| | | | |
|________| | |_____|
|
Hrolf Kraki

Below is the same genealogy with the portions enclosed that, on the one hand, are taken from the Ingjald lay (Frothi, Swerting, etc.) and, on the other, from the Hrólfssaga (Halfdan, Sigrith, etc.). The names in italics are found in the Hrólfssaga, but, with the exception of Ögn, whose name is omitted altogether, are employed in another connection in the Skjọldungasaga (see the foregoing table):—

.—————————-.
¦Swerting Frothi ¦ Jorund
¦ | | | ¦ |
¦ | | | ¦ daughter
¦ | | |___¦______________________________________|
¦ | | ¦ |
¦ | | ¦ .———————————————————.
¦ | | ¦ ¦ | ¦
¦daughter Ingjald ¦ ¦Sigrith Frothi[181] Halfdan ¦
¦ | | | ¦ ¦ | | |____| | ¦
¦ |________| |__¦________¦_| |_________________________| ¦
¦ | | ¦ | ¦ | | | ¦
'—————————-' | ¦ | | | ¦
| | | ¦ | | | ¦
Agnar Hrörik Frothi ¦Eng. Lady Hroar Helgi Signy Sævil¦
¦ (Ögn) | | | | ¦
¦ |________| | |_____| ¦
¦ | | | ¦
¦ | | | ¦
¦ Agnar Hrolf Kraki Hrok ¦
'———————————————————'

It will be observed that the following changes have been made to produce the family relationship as we find it in the Skjọldungasaga. Frothi is removed as Halfdan's brother and becomes his father, a change suggested, probably, by the tradition related in Saxo's second book that Frothi was Halfdan's father, and facilitated by the fact that, in the Hrólfssaga, the father of Halfdan and Frothi is not mentioned, and, as a result, presents no impediment to the change. But to explain how Halfdan has become Frothi's son, a new relationship has to be invented, so Frothi is said to have the son Halfdan by the daughter of Jorund. According to the Hrólfssaga, Halfdan is slain by his brother. This idea, in the abstract, is retained. But, according to the new arrangement, Ingjald, Frothi's son, has become Halfdan's brother, i.e., half-brother; hence, Ingjald slays Halfdan. According to the Hrólfssaga, Halfdan's brother and slayer marries his widow, Sigrith.[182] This idea is also retained. In the Hrólfssaga, it is Frothi who slays his brother, Halfdan, and marries his widow, Sigrith. But, according to the new arrangement, Ingjald is Halfdan's brother and slayer; hence, it is now he who marries Sigrith. According to the Hrólfssaga, Agnar is Hroar's son; but this, apparently, is not according to current tradition. According to Saxo's second book, he is Ingjald's son and is slain by Bjarki. This conception of him occurs in the Hrólfssaga also, but towards the close, where Bjarki, in recounting his own achievements, mentions his having slain Agnar. This Agnar is not Hroar's son, but the Agnar of the Skjọldungasaga and of Saxo's second book. The Skjọldungasaga, therefore, properly retains him as Ingjald's son and omits him as Hroar's son. Hrok and Hrörik are the same person. According to the Hrólfssaga, he is the son of Sævil and Signy. Olrik has about a page of comment on him,[183] in which he shows that he (Hrethric, Hrothgar's son, in Beowulf) was originally regarded as Hroar's son, but, for reasons that need not here be rehearsed, became a fluctuating character. The Skjọldungasaga has made him the son of Ingjald. In the Hrólfssaga, Hroar is said to have married an English lady named Ögn. The Skjọldungasaga also says that Hroar married an English lady, but omits her name. Finally, Ingjald is given another son, Frothi. He corresponds to Frothi V in Saxo. In Saxo, however, Frothi is the slayer of his brother and corresponds to the Frothi who appears in the Hrólfssaga as the slayer of Halfdan. As the Frothi who appears in the Hrólfssaga becomes, in the Skjọldungasaga, the father of Halfdan, and Ingjald becomes Halfdan's slayer, Frothi, Ingjald's son, is, as a consequence, assigned the rôle of joining his brother Hrörik in slaying his half-brother Hroar. Thus the idea of Frothi (corresponding to Frothi V in Saxo) as a fratricide is retained. But as Ingjald is succeeded on the throne by Halfdan's sons, Hroar and Helgi, there is no opportunity for Ingjald's son Frothi to become king. It will also be remembered that Frothi IV in the Skjọldungasaga, who, like Frothi IV in Saxo, was slain by Swerting (or his sons), was himself a fratricide, having caused the death of his brother Ali. Frothi IV in the Skjọldungasaga corresponds to the Frothi mentioned in the Hrólfssaga. Thus, as a fratricide, Frothi IV in the Skjọldungasaga corresponds to the Frothi in the Hrólfssaga, and as the victim of Swerting, he corresponds to Frothi IV in Saxo; while the account of Frothi, Ingjald's son, as the slayer of his half-brother Hroar, preserves the idea that Frothi V (in Saxo) is his brother's slayer. The Skjọldungasaga has, therefore, amply retained the idea of Frothi as a fratricide, and contains an account that, in a way, embraces the essential features of the treatment of the same period in the Hrólfssaga, on the one hand, and in Saxo, on the other. The relationship in the Skjọldungasaga of Frothi (Ingjald's father), Swerting, Ingjald, and Swerting's daughter is identical with that in the Ingjald lay.

Thus we see how, at the most conspicuous and interesting juncture of the Danish royal line, the Skjọldungasaga harmonizes conflicting traditions.[184] This involves a train of consequences, among which are the following:—