[142]. Venger—a Vikingr of old times—the Stag, his battle-ship.
[143]. The alliteration of the original line, and its peculiar poetic beauty, which consists in an allusion to one of the fables of the Northern mythology, is happily preserved in this translation. Gardar-rike—Russia, the Russian land. Gerda, a mythic poetic name for Harald’s mistress Elizabeth. Gerda was the beloved of Freyr, the god of the sun, whose love was so long resisted by Gerda. Freyr had also offered to Gerda a golden ring—hence the allusion.—F. Magnussen, Lex. Myt. Bor. 116. 439.
[144]. Yet only seven are enumerated. Professor F. Magnussen supposes the original second line may have been
Oð fet ek lið, at smiða.
Which may be rendered—I make verses—I arrange the battle—I forge (or smith) the ore.
(These notes are from Wheaton, p. 343.)
[145]. We merely allude to English occurrences, the detail of which must be sought in our own history.
[146]. Harald, Canute, Olaf, Eric, Nicholas or Niels.
[147]. Mallet, tom. iii.
[148]. But was she not his step-daughter? Had he married the mother Gunhilda some years before, and lost her by death? We are not very clear as to the degree of affinity.