"Saevil and Signy dwelt near Haven. Each year when the herring ran, this hamlet came aswarm with fishermen..."
(Hrolf Kraki's Saga, p. 23)
The narrator describes Saevil's and Signy's hall which, with its accompanying buildings, forms a small town. We have read descriptions of such steadings in other works by Anderson.
"Frodhi was not keeping this Yuletide at Leidhra, but in a lesser hall he owned north of Haven." (p. 28)
Grandfather Frodhi the Peace-Good had built this hall both because of its convenient location and because it is beside a holy shaw. When the present King Frodhi goes there for Yule, the two young sons of the brother whom he had killed burn it with him in it. They succeed as kings and rule from Leidhra. Haven turns out to be the setting of great events.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I've been wondering, did Poul Anderson think Frodhi the Peace-Good the son of King Hadding? If so, King Frodhi seems to have heeded his father's teachings on how best to rule at least in part if he was remembered so well by later generations.
Sean
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