Hrolf Kraki's Saga

The narrator says that the Skjoldungs were believed to be descended from Odin of the Aesir whereas the Ynglings were descended from Frey of the Vanir and that one Yngling was an ancestor of Harald Fairhair, who is the father-in-law of the title character of Poul Anderson's Mother Of Kings and the great-great-grandfather of the title character of Anderson's The Last Viking Trilogy. I know that I keep emphasizing this historical interconnectedness of Anderson's works but that is because I like it.

Between the Skjoldungs and the Ynglings are the Gotar who include Beowulf, who appears in this book! Thus, Anderson's works connect not only with each other but also with other works of literature. Beginning to reread the ...Saga, I find a passage that recalls similar passages in Time Patrol and War Of The Gods but also find that I have remarked on it before here. The references are:

"...the Great King had given so much law to his dominions that it was said a virgin with a sack of gold could walk unmolested across all Persia."
-Time Patrol (New York, 2006), p. 65.

"At last a maiden could walk alone, mile after mile, without fear."
-War Of The Gods (New York, 1999), p. 218.

Early in ...Saga, we also find two princes in danger of assassination sheltered in humbler circumstances, a familiar story.

Uppsala II

See Uppsala.

In the shaw behind the temple, King Adhils makes conventional offerings of men and animals hanged, speared and left for Odin's ravens and also practices unorthodox witchcraft.

In the center of the city, Adhils has a wide stockaded square of buildings around a flagged courtyard. A gallery on one of these buildings gives a view of:

the royal garth;
the town;
grainfields;
the River Fyris;
woods to the south.

Adhils is an Yngling and rules Svithjodh. The Gota-King Bjovulf/Beowulf helped Adhils to gain his kingship. It is good to read of Beowulf's deeds other than those in Beowulf. After everything, Helgi made a good end. Having failed to persuade Yrsa to leave Adhils and return to Denmark with him, he set off on the return journey only to be treacherously attacked and killed by Adhil's men.

Now I must read more of a novel that will be discussed on Science Fiction.

Bjarki

Poul Anderson, Hrolf Karki's Saga (New York, 1973).

The Skjoldung Kings of Denmark are descended from Odin.

The Yngling Kings of Sweden are descended from Frey.

The Kings in the Keel mountains of Upland Norway are descended from Thor.

In the Keel, when the old king Hring's young son, Bjorn, refuses the clandestine advances of his father's new young wife, Hvit, she transforms him into a were-bear which kills the king's herds until it is hunted down and killed. However, Bjorn's lover, Bera, bears his three sons, Frodhi, Thori and Bjarki. I have condensed this account as far as I could. At last we have found our way to the title character of Part V, The Tale Of Bjarki. How Bjarki becomes Hrolf's son-in-law will have to wait till a later post.

Meanwhile, when Bera lived with Bjorn in the wilderness, she might have encountered:

a niss;
a nicor;
a dwarf;
a troll;
the Asgard's Ride;
the elves.

The elves are described on p. 153, tall, grave and Tolkienesque.