Orkneyingers' saga
1. THERE was a king named Fornjot1, he ruled over those lands which are called Finland and Kvenland;
that is to the east of that bight of the sea which goes north- ward to meet Gandvik; that we call the Helsingbight. Fornjot
had three sons; one was named Hler, whom we call Aegir, the second Logi, the third Kari; he was the father of Frost, the father
of Snow the old, his son's name was Thorri; he (Thorri) had two sons, one was named Norr and the other Gorr; his daughter's
name was Goi. Thorri2 was a great sacrificer, he had a sacrifice every year at midwinter; that they called Thorri's
sacrifice; from that the month took its name. One winter there were these tidings at Thorri's sacri- fice, that Goi was lost
and gone, and they set out to search for her, but she was not found. And when that month passed away Thorri made them take
to sacri- fice, and sacrifice for this, that they might know surely where Goi was hidden away. That they called Goi's sacrifice,
but for all that they could hear nothing of her. Four winters after those brothers vowed a vow that they would search for
her; and so share the search between them, that Norr should search on land, but Gorr should search the outscars and islands,
and he went on board ship. Each of those brothers had many men with him. Gorr held on with his ships out along the sea-bight,
and so into Alland's3 sea; after that he views the Swedish scars far and wide, and all the isles that lie in the
East salt sea; after that to the Goth- land scars, and thence to Denmark, and views there all the isles; he found there his
kinsmen, they who were come from Hler the old out of Hler's isle4 and he held on then still with his voyage and
hears nothing of his sister. But Norr his brother bided till snow lay on the heaths, and it was good going on snow-shoon.
After that he fared forth from Kvenland and inside the sea-bight, and they came thither where those men were who are called
Lapps, that is at the back of Finmark. But the Lapps wished to forbid them a passage, and there arose a battle; and that might
and magic followed Norr and his men; that their foes became as swine5, as soon as they heard the war-cry and saw
weapons drawn, and the Lapps betook them-selves to flight. But Norr fared thence west on the Keel6, and was long
out, so that they knew nothing of men, and shot beasts and birds for meat for themselves; they fared on till they came where
the waters turned to the westward from the fells. Then they fared along with the waters, and came to a sea; there before them
was a firth as big as it were a sea-bight; there were mickle tilths, and great dales came down to the firth. There was a gathering
of folk against them, and they straightway made ready to battle with Nolr, and their quarrel fared as was to be looked for.
All that folk either fell or fled, but Norr and his men overcame them as weeds over cornfields. Norr fared round all the firth
and laid it under him, and made him- self king over those districts that laythere inside the firth. Norr tarried there the
summer over till it snowed upon the heaths; then he shaped his course up along the dale which goes south from the firth; that
firth is now called Drontheim. Some of his men he lets fare the coast way round Maeren; he laid under him all whithersoever
he came. And when he comes south over the fell that lay to the south of the dalebight, he went on still south along the dales,
until he came to a great water which they called Mjösen. Then he turns west again on to the fell, because it had been told
him that his men had come off worsted before that king whose name was Sokni. Then they came into that district which they
called Valders. Thence they fared to the sea, and came into a long firth and a narrow, which is now called Sogn; there was
their meeting with Sokni, and they had there a mickle battle, because their witchcraft had no hold on Sokni. Norr went hard
forward, and he and Sokni came to hand- strokes. There fell Sokni and many of his folk.
2. After that Norr fared on into the firth that goes north from Sogn. There Sokni had ruled before in what is
now called Sokni's dale. There Norr tarried a long time, and that is now called Norafirth. There came to meet him Gorr his
brother, and neither of them had then heard anything of Goi. Gorr too had laid under him all the outer land as he had fared
from the south, and then those brothers shared the lands between them. Norr had all the mainland, but Gorr shall have all
those isles between which and the mainland he passes in a ship with a fixed rudder. And after that Norr fares to the Uplands,
and came to what is now called Heidmörk [now Hedemark]; there that king ruled whose name was Hrolf of the Hill; he was the
son of Svadi the giant from north of thc Dovrefell. Hrolf had taken away from Kvenland Goi, Thorri's daughter; he went at
once to meet Norr, and offered him single combat; they fought long together and neither was wounded. After that they made
their quarrel up, and Norr got Hrolf's sister, but Hrolf got Goi to wife. Thence Norr turned back to the realm which he had
laid under him, that he called Norway; he ruled that realm while he lived, and his sons after him, and they shared the land
amongst them, and so the realms began to get smaller and smaller as the kings got more and more numerous, and so they were
divided into provinces.
3. Gorr had the isles, and for that he was called a sea-king; his sons were they Heiti and Beiti, they were
sea-kings and mighty overbearing men. They made many inroads on the realm of Norr's sons, and they had many battles, and now
one, now the other won the day. Beiti ran into Drontheim and warred there; he lay where it is now called Beitsea and Beitstede;
thence he made them drag his ship from the innermost bight of Beitstede, and so north over Elduneck, that is where the Naumdales
come down from the north. He sat himself on the poop and held the tiller in his hand, and claimed for his own all that land
that then lay on the larboard, and that is many tilths and much land. Heiti, Gorr's son, was father of Sveidi the sea- king,
the father of Halfdan the old, the father of Ivar the Uplanders' earl, the father of Eystein the noisy, the father of earl
Rögnvald the mighty and the wise in council7.
4. Earl Rognvald joined Harold fair-hair1 when he seized the land, but he (Harold) gave him lordship
over both the Maeren and Romsdale2; he had to wife Ragnhilda the daughter of Hrolf nosy; their son was Hrolf who
won Normandy, he was so tall that horses could not carry him; for that he was called Ganging-Hrolf; from him are come the
Rouen Jarls and the English Kings...
1.Mythical: Fornjot, king of Finland
2.Mythical: Thorri, king of Finland
3.The sea in which are the
Åland Isles in the Gulf of Bothnia
4.Now Laessö in the Gattegat
5.That is, where panic-stricken and rushed wildly
about
6.Keel: The ridge of mountains, which forms the watershed, back-bone, or keel, between Sweden and Norway
7."He
was called Rögnvald the mighty and wise in council, and men say both were true names."
8.Harold, fair-hair king of Norway,
A.D. 868-931
9."Both the Maeren" are North and South Maeren, which are divided the one from the other by the Romsdale
firth. They stretch north-eastward along the coast from Stadt to Naumdale."
Source: ICELANDIC SAGAS, and other historical documents relating to the settlements and descents of the northmen
on THE BRITISH ISLES, VOL III: THE ORKNEYINGERS' SAGA, with appendices; translated by Sir G. W. Dasent, printed for Her Majesty's
stationery office, London, 1894
A more immediate source is Juha Javanainen's web page from which this page was derived.
Changes last made on: 28 December, 2007 18:20
