SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

Treatment of Sources in the Volsunga saga 331
from his paraphrase HH 54/1-2 k6mo par 6r himni /
hialmvitr ofan, (nor does he specifically mention that they
helped Helgi - his alone was the victory). In HH 21/3
it seems clear from the phrase ofloptthat Helgi's messenger
must be one of the supernatural warrior-maidens, but the
compiler, consistent in his approach, omits the of lopt and
speaks of menn who do his bidding (VS 15/20). He also
omits disir sutJramar of HH 16/4, where disir could only
have the supernatural connotation. Shield-maidens they
may be, but valkyries - no!
The noms, as we have seen, were mentioned, but with
what brevity! Two lines of prose (VS 14/rrf.) do duty
for three whole stanzas of the original (HH 2-4).
The ravens and their prophecy in HH 5-6 are likewise
passed over by the compiler (VS 14/13) as is the whole of
st. 12 (VS 14/26) which contains a reference to 6din, nor
does he include the Viaris grey of HH 13/7 (VS 14/26), the
einherjar of HH 38/5 (VS 16/20), the Fenris element of the
Fenrisulfa of HH 40/2 (VS 16/21), K6lgo systir of HH
28/3, lEgis d6ttir of HH 29/6, Ran of HH 30/6 (VS 15/30­
16/3, see also (5) above), Mistar marr (whatever its precise
significance) of HH 47/7 (VS 17/7), and as we saw when
considering the compiler's excision of unnecessary detail,
he omits one of the insults exchanged before the battle,
and this, too, contains a reference to Imoar d6ttir (HH
43/6 : VS 16/29).
The supernatural and mythological references of this
source dwindled away until comparatively few remained.
And yet - none of these omissions in any way materially
affected the main outlines of the narrative. Here, the
mythological and supernatural elements were on the
whole expendable. One of the few that the compiler did
take over was a concomitant circumstance of Helgi's birth
which he wished to mention, all the others without
exception belong to the exchange of insults before the
battle, and these he could hardly have discarded if he
wished to keep that scene at all.