Sources of Hamlet

Gollancz, Israel. The Sources of Hamlet: With an Essay on the Legend. New York: Octagon, 1967.

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THE LEGEND OF HAMLET

“’Tis said,” sang Snaebjorn, “that far out, beyond the skirts of the earth, the Nine Maidens of the Island Mill stir amain the host-cruel Skerry-quern—they who in ages past ground Hamlet’s meal. The good Chieftain furrows the hull’s lair with his ship’s beaked prow.”

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To Snori Sturlasson …earliest known reference to the legendary hero…

Snori’s…Skaldskaparmal, or Gradus to the Northern Parnassus, the second section of his famous hand-book of the art of Poetry, known as The Prose Edda, composed about the year 1230.

…the great World-Mill deep down in the sea, the great cosmic force, which the ancient Northerners and other races conceived as the cause of storms and showers, and of all the disintegrating changes wrought on mountains, rocks, and shores. The fierce whirlpools and currents of the Arctic Ocean may easily explain this great idea of a gigantic World-Machine…

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SNÆBJORN AND AMLOðI

…distinguished from what is called “the Lesser Mill,” which the two captured giant-maidens, the Valkyries Menja and Fenja, were forced to grind for greedy King Frothi…

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… “the Nine Maidens of the Island-Mill” are the nine daughters of Aegir, the Ocean god.

One of these, at least, to judge by her name, “the Dove,: must have had kinship with the gentle daughter of Aegir’s Celtic brother-monarch, the much-harassed Lear.

… “ey-luðr,” translated “Island-Mill”…

SNÆBJORN’S VERSES

According to this view, it is the limbs and joints of the primeval giants, which on Amloði’s mill are transformed into meal.

…editions of the Corpus Poeticum Boreale state, Hamlet is here an Ocean Giant…

All that can be said at this point in the investigation is that the verse quoted in the Prose Edda gives us a reference to some old legend concerning “Amloði,” whose name is identical with that of the hero known to us as Hamlet.

SNÆBJORN’S FAMILY HISTORY

…Snæbjorn was a sailor-poet, and the lost poem must have been descriptive of some voyage in the Arctic seas.

Snæbjorn…his cousin, Ari Marson, is said to have landed on “White Man’s Land,” or “Great Ireland”—that part of the coast of North America which extends from Chesapeake Bay, including North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida—and became famous as one of the earliest discoverers of the New World.

Here follows the tragic story of Snæbjorn the Boar:--

“Snæbjorn, son of Eyvind the Easterling, the brother of Helgi the Lean, took land between Mjovafjord and Langadalsa; he had his dwelling at Vatnfjord…”

Snæbjorn was fostered in the house of Thorodd at Thingness (but at times he was with Tungu-Odd or his mother). Halbjorn, the son of Odd of Kiðjaberg, the son of Hallkel, the brother of Ketibjorn the Old, took to wife Hallgerð, daughter of Tungu-Odd. The couple were with Odd during the first winter after their marriage; Snæbjorn…

SAXO GRAMMATICUS

Some two hundred years after the events recorded in the foregoing story, Saxo Grammaticus, the learned Dane, emulous of the great Roman historians, took upon himself, at the bidding of Absalon, “Chief Pontiff of the Danes,” the task of compiling into a chronicle the history of his country. The labour was a heavy one—too heavy for his weak faculty, as he modestly puts it—for the materials to hand must have been very slight…

…mainly drawn from Latin historical writers (such as Bede, Adam of Bremen, and Dudo, “rerum aquitanicarum scriptor”), from Danish traditions, and from Icelandic sagas and poems.

…Icelandic friend, Arnoldus Tylensis, Arnold of Thule, a skillful narrator, learned in ancient lore.

“Nor may the pains of the men of Thule be blotted in oblivion; for though they lack all that can foster luxury (so naturally barren is the soil), yet they make up for their neediness by their wit, by keeping continually every observance of soberness, and by devoting every instant of their lives to perfecting our knowledge of the deeds of foreigners.

…I have examined somewhat closely, and have woven together no small portion of the present work by following their narrative, not despising the judgment of men whom I know to be so well versed in the knowledge of antiquity.”

…Saxo’s Norwegian contemporary, Theoderic the Monk, according to whom the men of Thule, the Icelanders, were the only Northerners who had preserved the ancient history of their race; their writings were the only available sources for Northern historians.

…among the Norwegians and Danes, popular legend, a mass of mythic and traditional lore, still preserved, however obscurely, the memory of the ancient gods and heroes. In the matter of Northern mythology, the first nine books of Saxo’s History are of supreme interest; and it has been well said, the “the gratitude due to the Welshman of the twelfth century, whose garnered hoard has enriched so many poets and romancers from his day to now, is no less due to the twelfth-century Dane, whose faithful and eloquent enthusiasm has swept much dust from antique time.” Geoffrey’s priceless gift of Arthurian romance has not proved richer than Saxo’s wild barbaric tale of Hamlet’s fate. “had fortune been as kind to him as nature,: so wrote the historian, “he would have equaled the gods in glory.”

SAXO’S HAMLET

The story of Amlethus, or Hamlet, as told by Saxo, divides clearly into two periods—the first dealing with his early career and the consummation of his vengeance, the second with his accession to power and the subsequent events of his life. The former is to be found at the end of Book III., the latter at the beginning of Book IV.

Horwendil and Feng succeed their father, Gerwendil, as governors of Jutland. Horwendil’s valour gains the favour of King Rorick, who gives him his daughter Gerutha to wife. They have a son who is named Amleth. Feng is jealous of his brother’s good fortune, murders him, and takes his wife, alleging that Horwendil had treated her badly. Amleth, fearing lest too shrewd a behaviour may make his uncle suspect him chooses to feign dullness, and pretends an utter lack of wits. He is altogether listless, and unclean in his habits, and seems to be a very freak of nature. At times he sits over the fire and fashions wooden crooks, shaping at their tips certain barbs. He says he is preparing sharp javelins to avenge his father. The courtiers grow suspicious, and try various tests; more especially they make use of his foster-sister for the purpose. A foster-brother warns him of the trap, and he baffles them. He gives cunning answers to all their questions; “he mingles craft and candour in such

wise that, though his words do not lack truth, yet there is nothing to betoken the truth and betray how far his keenness goes.” Thus, as he passes along the beach, his companions find the rudder of a ship, and say they have discovered a huge knife. “This,” says he, “is the right knife to carve such a huge ham;” by which he means the sea. Also, as they pass the sandhills they bid him look at he meal, meaning the sand; he replies that it has been ground small by the hoary tempests of the ocean. A friend of Feng suggests that Amleth be spied upon while closeted with this mother. But Amleth has his antidote for the treachery. Afraid of being overheard by some eavesdropper, he at first resorts to his usual imbecile ways, and crows like a noisy cock, beating his arms together to mimic the flapping of wings. Then he mounts the straw and begins to swing his body and jump again and again, wishing to try if aught lurks there in hiding. Feeling a lump beneath his feet, he drives his sword into the spot, and impales him who lies hid. He drags him from his concealment and slays him. He cuts the body into morsels, seethes it in boiling water, and flings it through the mouth of an open sewer for the swine to eat, bestrewing the mire with the hapless limbs. He

then returns, upbraids his mother, and explains to her his passion for vengeance. Feng cannot find his friend the spy. Jestingly, folk ask Amleth whether he knows aught; he answers that maybe the man has fallen through the sewer, and stifled by the filth, has been devoured by swine. His uncle at last determines to send Amleth to the King of Britain with a message that he should slay him. Before his departure Amleth gives secret orders to his mother to hang the hall with knitted tapestry, and to perform pretended obsequies for him a year hence.

Two retainers of Feng accompany him to Britain, bearing a letter graven on wood—“a kind of writing material frequent in old times ;” this letter enjoins the king to put to death the youth who is sent to him. Amleth obtains the letter, and substitutes an order of the death of his companions, adding an entreaty that the king grant his daughter in marriage to the wise youth whom he sends to him. The king receives the guests and treats them all hospitably and kindly. Amleth disdains the rich food placed before him, much to the king’s annoyance. A man is sent into the sleeping-room to take note of Amleth’s talk. He reports how Amleth told his companions that the bread was flecked with blood and tainted, and further, that the king had the eyes of a slave, and that the queen had in three ways shown the behaviour of a bond-maid. All this, on special investigation, turns out to be

true, and the king adores the wisdom of Amleth as though it were inspired, and gives him his daughter to wife. Moreover, in order to fulfill the bidding of his friend, he hangs Amleth’s two companions. Amleth, feigning offence, treats this piece of kindness as a grievance, and receives from the king, as compensation some gold, which he afterwards melts in the fire, and secretly causes to be poured into some hollowed sticks. After a year he returns to his own land, carrying away of all his wealth only the sticks containing the gold. He then again puts on a grotesque demeanour, and, covered with filth, enters the banquet room where his own obsequies are being held. The guests jeer at one another, and are right merry. They ask him concerning his comrades; he points to the sticks, saying “here is both the one and the other.” Then he plies the company with drink, and to prevent his loose dress hampering his walk, he girds his sword upon his side, and purposely drawing it several times, pricks his fingers with its point. The bystanders accordingly have both the sword and scabbard riveted across with in iron nail. The lords drink so heavily that they fall asleep within the palace. Anon, Amleth takes out of his bosom the stakes he has long ago prepared, and goes into the room where the ground is covered with the bodies of the sleeping lords. Cutting away its supports, he brings down the hanging his mother has knitted, which covers the inner as well as the outer wall of the hall; this he flings upon the sleepers, and then

applying the crooked stakes, he knots and binds them up in such insoluble intricacy that not one of them beneath, however hard he may struggle, can mange to escape. After this he sets fire to the palace, which is soon enveloped in flames. He hurries to his uncle’s chamber, and awakening him, tells him that Amleth is come, armed with his old crooks, to help him. Seizing his uncle’s sword, and placing his own in its stead, he easily exacts the vengeance, long overdue, for his father’s murder.

This is the story told in Book III. In Book IV…Amleth eloquently harangues the assembled Jutlanders, who appoint him Feng’s successor by prompt and general acclaim; how he returns to Britain…with a wondrous shield whereon all his exploits are depicted; how his father-in-law discovers that it is his bounden duty to avenge Feng’s death on his own son-in-law, and hopes to spare himself the task by deputing him to go and woo for him a fierce unwedded queen reigning in Scotland, whose suitors have invariably paid for their insolence with their lives; how the queen, becoming enamoured of the young prince, plays on him the very trick he had himself erewhile used, changing the purport of the letter so that it reads as a commission from the king that she should wed the bearer; how he yields to her pressing solicitations that he should transfer his wooing, and make over to her his marriage vows, and learn to prefer birth to beauty. It is further told how he returns

to Britain with a strong band of Scots, and is met by his much-injured wife, who, in spite of her wrongs, reveals to him her father’s plot to entrap him. An under-shirt of mail saves him from the king’s cunning blow. He is however, anxious to exonerate himself from the guilt of treachery towards his father-in-law, and wishes to make the whole blame recoil on his Scotch queen, Hermutrude; but the king pursues him, and so reduces his forces that he resorts to a device in order to increase the apparent number of his men. He puts stakes under some of the dead bodies of his comrades to prop them up, sets others on horseback like living men, and ties others to neighbouring stones. The plan succeeds, and the Britons, terrified at the spectacle, flee without fighting; the king is killed, and Amleth, having seized the spoils of Britain, goes back with his wives to his own land.

Amleth foresees that the war will prove fatal, but he is more anxious about the future widowhood of Hermutrude, so greatly does he love her, than about his own death. She protests: the woman who would dread to be united with her lord in death was abominable. But ill she keeps her boast; for when Amleth is slain by Wiglek in battle in Jutland, she yields herself the be the conqueror’s spoil and bride.

This, then, is the story of Amleth as told by Saxo towards the end of the twelfth century.

…two places in Jutland are still called Ammelhede.

Muller…“The story told is that two petty kings lived by Virring, half-a-mile from here (Ammel and Krog); they quarreled and slew each other. One, hight Amel, lived by Ammelhede; he is buried in a little mound right est of it. “Ammelhede” may perhaps = Amlæðæ-heðæ (Amlæðæ, according to Olrik, would be the West Danish form of the name Amloði; hence Saxo’s Amlethus)…

…a Jutland folk-tale, De Kloge Studenter, “The Clever Students,: has much in common with Hamlet’s wisdom in disdaining the King of Britain’s banquet, and in discovering the secret of his mother’s low origin.

…we have no trace of the Hamlet story in the sagas and poems belonging to the two centuries intervening between Snæbjorn’s verse and Saxo’s History; but it seems probable that some account of “Amloði” was given in the lost Skioldunga Saga, that part of it which contained the Lives of the Kings of Denmark from the earliest times.

“Among others we have here to mourn the loss of the Icelandic Saga of Hamlet (Amloði), Hagbard and Signy, King Frodi, etc., which we take all to have been included in the mythical part. The Skioldunga is mentioned as late as 1462 in the inventory of the church of Modrvalla.” Professor York Powell, Saxo Grammaticus…is of opinion that a brief chapter on Amloði may have formed an episode in the early part of Skioldunga; there may even have been a scrap or two of verse of an old Amloði’s lay in this chapter.

THE SOURCE OF SAXO’S HAMLET

…poetical metaphor concerning the sand of the shore, “ground small by the hoary tempests of the ocean,” may well have been derived from some Icelandic original in prose or verse; at all events, the latter passage gives us the twelfth-century explanation of Snæbjorn’s reference to “Hamlet’s meal,”…

…some important incidents have been borrowed from legendary Roman history.

…striking likeness between the tales of Hamlet and Lucius Junius Brutus. Apart from general resemblances (the usurping uncle; the persecuted nephew, who escapes by feigning madness; the journey; the oracular utterances; the outwitting of he comrades; the well-matured plans for vengeance), there are certain points in the former story which must have been borrowed directly from the latter.

Hamlet’s device of putting the gold in the sticks…could not be due to mere coincidence…

LEGENDARY ROMAN HISTORY

…evidence seems to show that Saxo himself borrowed this incident from the account of Brutus in Valerius Maximus…

Saxo must have also read the Brutus story as told by Livy, and by later historians whose versions were ultimately based on Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Dio Cassius, etc.; he may have seen some such epitome of Roman history as that of his contemporary Zonaras…

…while Livy, Valerius, and others make mention of Tarquin’s murder of the elder brother of Brutus, Zonaras, as well as Dionysius of Halicarnassus, gives the important additional statement that the father of Brutus had also, from motives of jealousy, been put to death by his brother-in-law, Tarquinius Superbus.

LIVY’S INFLUENCE ON SAXO

Livy…“While Tarquin was thus employed (on certain defensive measures), a dreadful prodigy appeared to him: a snake, sliding out of a wooden pillar, terrified the beholders, and made them fly into the palace; and not only struck the king himself with sudden terror, but filled his breast with anxious apprehensions: so that, whereas in the case of public prodigies the Etrurian soothsayers only were applied to, being thoroughly frightened at this domestic apparition as it were, he resolved to send to Delphi, the most celebrated oracle in the world; and judging it unsafe to entrust the answers of the oracle to any other person, he sent his two sons into Greece, through lands unknown at that time, and seas still more unknown. Titus and Aruns set out, and, as a companion, was sent with them Lucius Junius Brutus, son to Tarquinia, the king’s sister, a young man of capacity widely different from the assumed appearance he had put on. Having heard that the principal men in the state, and, among the rest, his brother, had been put to death by his uncle, he resolved that the king should find nothing in his capacity which he need dread, nor in his fortune which he need covet;

and he determined to find security in contempt, since in justice there was no protection. He took care, therefore, to fashion his behaviour to the resemblance of foolishness, and submitted himself and his fortune to the king’s rapacity. Nor did he show any dislike to the surname of Brutus, content that, under the cover of that appellation, the genius which was to be the deliverer of the Roman people should lie concealed, and wait the proper season for exertion.

“He was, at this time, carried to Delphi by the Tarquinii, rather as a subject of sport than as a companion; and is said to have brought, as an offering to Apollo, a golden wand inclosed in a staff of cornel wood, hollowed for the purpose, an emblem figurative of the state of his own capacity. When they arrived there, and executed their father’s commission, the young men felt a wish to inquire to which of them the kingdom of Rome was to come; and we are told that these words were uttered from the bottom of the cave:--‘Young men, whichever of you shall first kiss your mother, he shall possess the sovereign power at Rome.’ …Brutus judged that the expression of Apollo had another meaning, and as if he had accidentally stumbled and fallen, he touched the earth with his lips, considering that she was the common mother of all mankind.”

It is clear from this, thathowever much the Hamlet story may have already resembled the Brutus story before

its appearance in the Danish History, Saxo must have recognized the kinship of the two stories, and added to their common traits. These points of contact, however, belong only to the earlier career of Hamlet, as narrated in Saxo’s Third Book. An ingenious theorist has even gone so far as to maintain that the Hamlet story is nothing more than a Northern transformation of the Roman Brutus saga. He deepens the likeness between the two tales by suggesting that Tarquinia, the mother of Brutus and sister of Tarquin, was regarded as the wife of Tarquinius, and became identified with the wicked Tullia; after the murder o f her husband, Tarquin’s bother, who might easily have been identified with the father of Brutus, she became Tarquin’s wife, aiding an abetting him as an accomplice in all his wickedness. According to this view, the name “Amloði” was merely a translation of the Latin “Brutus,” i.e. “The Dullard.” Even as it has been suggested that the story of Brutus’ pretended idiocy was invented to explain the fact of so wise a man being called by such a name, so, according to this view, the name “Amloði” was originally a common noun, meaning “simpleton,” or “fool,” which became the descriptive nickname of the hero.

Livy’s influence on Saxo is unmistakable, even in the very arrangement of the materials. Thus the story of Brutus fills the last chapters of Book I. And the earlier chapters of Book II., the former ending with Brutus’ election to the consulship, the latter beginning with the consul’s address to the excited people…

…an excellent folk-etymology; in all probability the ending of the word (oði = mad) helped to fix the popular usage of the name “Amloði.”

HAMLET’S FATHER

…the later events, described in Book IV. (viz. The chapter of Hamlet’s adventures in England, the story of Hermutrude), find no parallels in the Latin story.

…Hamlet’s father, Horwendillus, the Scandinavian “Orvandill,” the German “Orendel,” the English “Earendel,” whose myth was christianized by Germanic Europe, and whose star was glorified as the “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”

…old English poet…

“Eala, earendel, engla beorhtast,

Ofer middan-geard monnum sended,

And soð-fæsta sunnan leoma,

Torht ofer tunglas, þu tida gehwane

Of sylfum þe symble inlihtes;”

“Hail, heavenly Light, brightest of angels thou,

sent unto men upon this middle-earth

thou art the true refulgence of the sun

radiant above the stars, and from thyself

illuminest for ever all the tides of time.”

…Cynewulf’s Crist,…In the Prose Edda it is told how Thor carried Orwendel from Jotunheim in a basket on his back; Orwendel’s toe stuck out of the basket, and got frozen; Thor broke it off, and flung it at the sky, and made a star of it, which is called Orvandels-ta. In Anglo-Saxon glosses “earendel, or “oerendil” is interpreted jubar, but “dawn” or “morning-star” would probably be a better rendering, as in the only other passage known in old English literature, viz. The Blickling Homilies, “Nu seo Cristes gebyrd at his æriste, se niwa eorendel Sanctus Johannes; and nu nu se leoma þære so þan sunnan God selfa cuman wille;” i.e. “And now the birth of Christ (was) at its beginning, and the new day-spring (or dawn) was John the Baptist. And now the gleam of the true Sun, God himself shall come.” Orvandill, Earendel, etc., are probably rightly compared with Sanskrit usra, the morning-red; Latin, aurora; Greek, ios. It is interesting to note that the old Germanic spring-goddess “Austro” (whose existence has been evolved from Bede’s “Eostre,” i.e. West Saxon “Eastre”; must have been identical with usra, aurora, etc.; as Kluge points out, the old Indo-Germanic Aurora became among the Germans a spring-goddess in place of a dawn-goddess: the Christian festival commemorating Christ’s resurrection coincided with the pagan festival of Easter, which was celebrated at the vernal equinox, whence the transference of the pagan name to Christian purposes. “Earendel” and :Easter” have evidently the same root…

THE ORWENDEL MYTH

“The first hero ever born,” as Orwendel is described in the preface to the old German Spielmanns Gedicht, was certainly, as his name implies, a radiant god of dawn or of spring; and does not Saxo make him battle with and ultimately slay King Collerus, i.e. King Cold? He kills him in “a spring-tide wood,” and in due course is himself slain by his own brother, and avenged by his own son. The hapless Gerutha, the giant mother “Groa” of the Edda is Mother Earth, who in the forced embraces of cruel Winter longs for the return of her beloved Spring.

…while Dr. Symons maintained that Saxo’s Danish legend is associated only in name, and not essentially, with the Orwendel myth. Even so, the Hamlet story may very well have borrowed certain elements from the ancient Northern myth of the struggle between Spring and Winter.

…in Saxo’s “Hamlet” we have a general framework probably derived from Northern mythology (or rather from Northern mythology which had passed through the various stages of heroic-myth and pseudo-history); in Book III, the story presents remarkable analogues to the Brutus story, and is indebted to it for many of its most striking details; in book IV, the series of incidents seems to belong to an entirely different stratum of legendary lore.

III

HAMLET AND HAVELOK

While Hamlet may be regarded as a sort of Northern counterpart of the Roman Brutus, another Danish prince, whom the elder Grundtvig aptly styled “Hamlet’s mythical half-brother,” recalls the most striking element in the legend of Servius Tullius. Prince Havelok, degraded to the servile condition of scullion and buffoon, reveals his high lineage, during sleep, by the flame-breath issuing from his mouth.

…Anglo-Danish romance of Havelok, three versions must be differentiated:--(i.) Gaimar’s version, found at the beginning of Lestorie des Engles; probably originally inserted between the lost Lestorie des Bretons and the extant history; (ii.) an Anglo-Norman Lai de Havelok found at the end of a copy of Lestorie in the college of Arms, Gaimar’s version being omitted; (iii.) Havelok the Dane, an English poem belonging to the thirteenth century, probably based on popular legends, and more especially on the local legends accounting for the origin of Grimsby; the Grimsby seal, which may go back to the date of the poem, epitomizes the story.

Gaimar’s terser version, which may safely be assigned to the first half of the twelfth century.

HAVELOK THE DANE

“They may fairly be called foster-brothers,” writes Dr. Ward, in an excellent and summary analysis of the two stories; “they both grow up in a the court of a usurping uncle, and are both famous for their quaint sayings. But here the first resemblance ends. In the case of Havelok, the usurper is not the uncle of Havelok himself, but of Argentille. Havelok’s simplicity is real. He is quite content with playing pranks before the court at Lincoln, where the king treats him as a sort of jester. He is aware of the marvelous flame-breath, but it never makes him dream of being the heir of kings, or of having any wrongs to avenge; indeed, he is ashamed of it until Argentille becomes his Valkyria (even the crowning war trick is her device, for it is done par conseil de la reine); and she informs his splendid body with the spirit of a hero. Hamlet, on the other hand, schemes of revenge; and his sayings are in character with his assumed madness. But the course of the two stories often brings the same incidents to the front. Thus each of the heroes is a disinherited Danish prince; each marries an English princess, and regains his power in Denmark; each returns to Britain, and marches against an English king; each is accompanied by his own Valkyria (the English Argentille and the Scottish Hermuthruda); each of them half loses the first day’s battle and each wins the second day by staking up the dead men in squadrons. These are marks of the same workshop, at the very least.”

“Havelok Cuheran” is identical with the name of the famous Viking, perhaps the greatest warrior of the house of Ivar, Anlaf Curan, the vanquished hero of Brunanburgh and Tara. Anlaf Curan, or Olaf o’ the Sandal, was the son of Sihtric Gale, or Caoch, a Viking chief of the house of Ivar, who first came to Dublin in 888, and who subsequently gained and lost the kingship of Dublin and died as king of Northumbria in 925; a year before his death he had married the sister of King Athelstan. Sihtric’s son Anlaf was the child of another wife, but the Wessex king stood very much in the relationship of uncle towards his sister’s stepson. It was however, the policy of Alfred’s ambitious grandson to make himself king of all England, and Northumbria was to be added to his rule. He drove thence Godfrey, Sihtric’s brother, Godfrey’s son Anlaf, and his nephew Anlaf; the latter was destined, as Anlaf Curan, to cause much trouble to the English. Expelled from Northumbria, Anlaf took refuge at he court of Constantine III, king of Scotland, whose daughter he eventually married.

HAMLET AND ANLAF

There can be no doubt that the romance of “Havelok Cuheran” is little more than a romance of the life of “Anlaf Curan,” or rather of the many legends fathered upon him, some belonging to ancient story, some derived from various episodes in Hiberno-Anglo-Danish history. The romance must have originally been developed among a Welsh-speaking population… "Abloec,” or “Abloyc”

Gaimar’s “Havelok” and Saxo’s “Hamlet” have many traits in common, as has already been shown. Havelok is but a romance of “Anlaf Curan.”

As regards the earlier career of Hamlet, there is nothing much more strikingly parallel than the part played by Anlaf’s usurping uncle. Unfortunately , the story of Anlaf's youth has not come down to us; there is a blank of ten years in the annals, from the death of his father in 927. But the Hamlet of Saxo’s Fourth Book, who journeys to Scotland to woo the fierce virago Hermutrude, whose cruel arrogance made her always loathe her wooers, may be identified with the son-in-law of Constantine of Scotland.

…while Hermutrude resembles Anlaf’s first wife in her country, she resembles his second wife, Gormflaith, in her character; for though, according to Saxo, she had previously resisted all offers of marriage by reason of her chastity, yet at Hamlet’s death “she yielded herself unasked to be the conqueror’s spoil and bride.”

…the stratagem of setting up the dead men and so gaining the battle; this incident seems to belong peculiarly to Anglo-Danish or Hiberno-Danish history.

…must be referred to the traditional exploits of Anlaf Curan.

In the Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters, under the year 917 (=919), a striking account is given of the great battle of Ath-Cliath, i.e. Kilmashogue (near Rathfarnham, in the county of Dublin). A mighty victory was gained by the Northerners under Imhar and Sitric Gale; twelve Irish kings and princes were struck down in the fight. Chief among these was Niall Glundubh, son of Ædh Finnliath, king of Ireland, “after he had been three years in the sovereignty.” Concerning this battle, adds the annalist, several songs were made.

HAMLET IN IRISH

Queen Gormflaith, daughter of Flann (who must not be confused with Gormflaith, daughter of Murchadh, Anlaf’s wife, already referred to). These words are quoted from her lament:--

“Olc ormsa cumaoin anda ghall

Marbsat Niall Cearbhall:

Cearbhall la hUlbh comall ngle

Niall Glundubh la hAmhlaidhe.”

“Evil to me the compliment of the two foreigners

Who slew Niall and Cerrbhall;

Cearbhall was slain by Ulf, a great deed;

Niall Glundubh by Amhlaide.”

The last word, “Amhlaide,” is certainly the Irish form of “Amloði” or “Hamlet.”

This passage in the Irish annals yields us the earliest instance of the name “Amloði” or “Hamlet” to be found anywhere in literature. The Irish Queen Gormflaith, about the year 919, introduces it into her verse as the name of one of the Northern heroes a the battle of Ath-Cliath.

The Saxon Chronicle, Simeon of Durham, Henry of Huntingdon, Gaimar, and other authorities, all state that “Sitric slew Niel,” though they made the strange mistake of calling him Sitric’s brother, king of Northumberland.

HAMLET AND AMLAIDHE

If, then, it can be shown that Sitric, the father of Anlaf Curan, was the slayer of Niel, it follows that “Amlaidhe,” the Irish form of “Hamlet,” in Gormflaith’s song, must have reference to him; yet nowhere else, so far as it is discovered at present, is Sitric referred to under this name.

…nicknames…”Gale” or “Gaile,”…I would hazard the suggestion that “gaile” is the Norse galiðr = galinn, “bewitched,” or , more commonly, “mad” (the past participle of gala, “to enchant”). May it not be that “amlaidhe,” as used by Gormflaith, was synonymous with “gaile”?

…so far as the legend of “Amloði” is concerned, it must be borne in mind that we find no northern reference to he name before the time of the Icelander Snæbjorn, probably some twenty or thirty years after Gormflaith’s reference to “Amlaidhe.”

… “amhlair,” “amadon,” and “amlaidhe” may once have been synonymous in Irish speech for that most popular character among all folk, and especially the Irish, to wit, “the fool,” and that “amlaidhe” may perhaps represent the confluence of the characteristic Northern name “Aleifr” (Anlaf, Olaf), Irish “Amlaibh,” and some such Celtic word as “amhaide,” sour, sulky, surly (“amaideac,” silly, absurd, fantastic, foolish, idiotic).

AMLAIDHE AND AMLOðI

…among the Irish, in the Scandinavian kingdom of Dublin, Anlaf Curan’s father was known as “Amlaidhe,” or “Hamlet.” Later on, the father and the more famous son were no doubt blended in popular story, the confusion being perhaps helped by the likeness in sound between “Amlaibh,” the Irish form of “Anlaf,” and “Amlaidhe.”

The story of “Hamlet” in Saxo certainly owed a great debt to this Hiberno-Danish history; and the accretions from this source grafted upon the older mythical story, especially the late matter to be found in Saxo’s Fourth Book, may now easily be accounted for. Indeed, the evidence here adduced seems to point to the Celtic West, more particularly the Scandinavian kingdom of Ireland, as the locality where the Northern tale of “Hamlet,: as we know it from Saxo, was finally developed some time in the eleventh century—about the same time that the Welsh minstrels of Strathclyde were forging their tale of “Havelok.” The tenth-century Icelander Snæbjorn must have known the tale at an earlier stage of its development, before the legends of the house of Ivar had been added thereto.

Dr. Ward calls attention to the curious fact that a word almost the same in sound as Amloði formed the name of one of the old Welsh heroes. This was Amlaudd, of whom nothing is known except that he was the father of heroines, one of whom was Eigr, the mother of Arthur. Dr. Ward ingeniously makes the following observation:--:This forms, at all events, some sort of connection between him and Abloyc (or Avallach), the son of Cunedda, whose name was transferred to Anlaf Curan. We think it quite possible that both names were used for Anlaf by different romancers, and that whilst one became Havelok, the other became Hamlet.

…the heroes stupidity, assumed or otherwise, was the important element of the tale as known to him.

The mutual influence of the Celts and the Scandinavians has received increased attention at the hands of scholars.

“We may therefore take the Lays to be a parallel development in the Western Isles to the Saga in Iceland, composed for the same purpose, popular entertainments, after the initiative of some great poet who arose among the Norse emigrants somewhere in the West (Ireland, Man, Northumberland, or Scotland, we know not which.”Professor Bugge is the chief exponent of the influence of Irish Christianity on Scandinavian mythology…

…Snæbjorn…the poetess Gormflaith, whose husband, Niall Glundabh, was slain by Amlaidhe, was among his kinsfolk; she probably died when he was a youth. It is indeed a curious coincidence that the earliest instances of the name “Hamlet” should be found in Gormflaith’s Irish lament, and in Snæbjorn’s Icelandic poem of adventure in Arctic Seas.

…English folk-lore and folk-speech have not yielded any very clear traces of the story…

‘AMLAGHE OUT OF GRECE’

In “The Wars of Alexander,” and alliterative romance, translated for the most part from the famous “Historia de Preliis,” and composed somewhere in the north of England, towards the end of the fourteenth or in the early years of the fifteenth century…

…Alexander the Great being scoffed at by Porrus of Inde as “Amlaye out of Grece”:--

“I, Porrus, that as principall possessid am in Ynde,

To this michare (petty thief) out of Messedone this mandment I write

thou Alexander, thou ape, thou Amlaye out of Grece,

Thou little thefe, thou losangere, (liar), thou lurkare in cites…

Madding marred has thi mode (mind) and thi mynd changid;” (3540-3546)

while Darius, inquiring about Alexander’s appearance, is shown by his courtiers a caricature thus graphically described:--

“And thai in parchement him payntid, his person him shewid,

Ane Amlaye, ane asaleny, ane ape of all othire,

A wirling (dwarf), a wayryngle (little villain), a wawil-eyid shrewe,

The caitifeste creatour, that cried was euire,” (1704-1707)

In disdain Darius sends him a ball to play with, a golden headpiece, and a hat made of twigs, together with a letter, bidding him abandon his folly, and bethink him that he is but “a dwining, a dwaye, and a dwerye”—a dwarf and a grub; he must learn to “feign with fairness..”

…if the word should prove to be, as it seems, identical with the Scandinavian “amloði,” it can only be accounted for by derivation from the Celtic form “amlaidhe.”

…if the Middle English Amlaye may be traced to Amlaidhe, and so equate with Old Norse amloði, it may similarly also equate with Amlaibh, i.e. Old Norse Anleifr (Olaf).

It would appear that the linguistic problems of “Amlaye” illustrate in an interesting manner the literary problems, already discussed, of the fusion of the legendary myth of “Amloði” with the legendary history of Anlaf Curan.

HAMLET IN ICELAND

From the investigations summarized in an earlier section of the essay, it seems at least probable that the Hamlet story, as known to the Icelander Snæbjorn, was fundamentally identical with the groundwork of the story subsequently elaborated by Saxo Grammaticus.

…in some form or other the legend lived on among the myth-loving Icelanders throughout the Middle Ages independently of the more distinguished literary form impressed upon it by the genius of the Danish historian.

… “Series Regum Daniæ,” compiled by the learned Icelander Torfæus (born 1636) century…

“As regards Saxo’s Amlethus,” observes Torfæus, “as a boy at home in Iceland I frequently heard the story of Amlode told by wretched old crones, but I regarded it as merely an old wives’ tale; later on, however, when I came across Saxo’s noble account of the hero, I abandoned my boyish notion, and thenceforth left my friends no peace, but worried them to find out for me the old story I had once heard; yet without success. At last, a few years ago, they sent me a story of Amlode, but no sooner had I perused it than I cast it aside, as altogether worthless and quite modern. It actually makes Hamlet not a Dane but a Spaniard! It must have been composed after the time of the Scythian Tamberlaine, for some of the details are certainly derived from his history.”

THE AMBALES SAGA

The manuscript sent to Torfæus…is substantially identical with the “Ambales saga” issued in the present volume.

…Arni Magnusson…in 1705, received a copy of a professedly ancient story of Amlode…

…in its present form the Saga is a modern production, belonging to the sixteenth or perhaps early seventeenth century.

…especially in the earlier chapters, there may still be found elements belonging to the pre-Saxo Hamlet legend. ...the bulk of the Saga is drawn from the Danish history, remodeled under the influence of popular folk-tales, Charlemagne and Arthurian romances, and the stories of Tamberlaine…

Of the Ambales Saga there are many manuscripts, though the oldest cannot be assigned to an earlier date than the seventeenth century.

The most striking divergence from Saxo’s account is the statement that Ambales had an elder brother who was killed by the slayer of his father because he showed unfeigned resentment, while Ambales saved his life by concealing his feelings under the guise of heartless folly. Saxo says nothing of an elder brother. Now, this very point differentiates the various versions of the Brutus story. According to some historians, Tarquin had put to death the father of Brutus as well as his elder brother; other historians (notably Livy) refer only to the brothers murder. “Amlethus” has but to avenge his father’s death; the early history of “Ambales” more closely resembles that of Brutus, in that he narrowly escapes an elder brother’s fate. The resemblance can hardly be accidental…

BRUTUS IN THE ICELAND ANNALS

It does not, however, necessarily follow that we have here and element derived from a version of the Hamlet story earlier than Saxo’s.

…it would not be surprising to find that scholars of the sixteenth century had recognized the debt Saxo’s Danish Amlethus owed to the Roman Brutus.

…that scholars two or three hundred years ago definitely regarded Hamlet and Brutus as twin-brothers, does not absolutely negative the possibility that the author of the Ambales Saga engrafted upon his romanticizing of Saxo certain elements of a current folk-tale of Amlode derived in far-off pre-Saxo days from Roman legend. The Icelandic form of Hamlet’s name, “Amloði,” is perhaps the best evidence we possess that some story of the hero was once on the lips of the people, though by the sixteenth century, if not sooner, the name had degenerated into a mere nickname for “an imbecile weak person, one of weak bodily frame, wanting in strength or briskness, unable to do his work, not up to the mark.”

THE TALE OF BRJAM

…in spite of its fictitious character, the Saga may well preserve some noteworthy traits of the ancient story, lost in Saxo’s more stately history.

The Icelandic fold-tale of Brjam, though first written down from oral tradition in 1705, is certainly nothing but a leveling down of the story of “Hamlet,” cleverly blended with another folk-tale of the “Clever Hans” type. The interest attaching to Brjam is mainly due to the fact that it substantially agrees with the Ambales Saga where the Saga diverges from Saxo.

…the folk-tale has been evolved from the Saga, or it must be taken as evidence that the Sagaman availed himself of some popular tale of Amlode for certain striking elements of his romantic transformation of Saxo’s story, and furthermore, that this popular tale is preserved in the story of Brjam.

…the old heroic myth of “Amloði” had been reduced to the humbler condition of a folk-tale before the composition of the Ambales Saga. It is easy, moreover, to understand why the hero of the folk-tale, as we have it, is not named “Amlode,” but “Brjam.” “amlode” had already ceased to be used a s mere personal name; the story is therefore told of an “amlode” whose name was Brjam.

…the latter name is not without significance in connection with the previous observations tending to associate the development of the Hamlet story with the critical period of the Norsemen’s occupation of Ireland. “Brjam” is the Icelandic form of the Irish “Brian”; and the very occurrence of the name in Iceland is evidence of the close relationship of Norsemen and Irish in early times.

…the name of the hero in the folk-tale [is]…identical with that of the mighty hero of the decisive battle of Clontarf (1014), the closing scene in the long struggle between the Irish and Norsemen.…Brian Borumha…

…the hostile Norsemen were intimately connected with their Irish foes; the wife of Sitric, Anlaf Curan’s son, was Brian’s daughter; Brian’s wife was Sitric’s mother, that notorious Queen “Gormflaith of the Three Leaps.” Oral tradition certainly confused at times the achievements of the two sides.

THE STORY OF BRJAM

Once upon a time there lived a king and queen who ruled their realm. They were rich and wealthy, and scarcely knew the number of their precious possessions. They had one daughter; she was brought up as most other story-children. For a time nothing befell there, in the way of tales or tidings, noisings or news, unless one were to tell a lying tale.

Now in Wall-nook dwelt an old man and his wife. They had three sons. One cow supported the whole family. This cow was so good that she gave milk three times a day, and at noon she came by herself home from the pasture.

Once the king went a-hunting with his men, and passed by the herds belonging to him; the old man’s cow was

there near the herds.. the king said: “what a fine cow have I there!”

“Nay, sir,” said his men, “that cow is not yours; it belongs to the old man in the cottage yonder.”

The king answered: “It shall be mine.”

And so the king rode home; and when he had sat down to drink, he recalled the cow, and resolved to send his men to the carl asking him to exchange it for another. The queen prayed him not to do this, as the poor folks had nothing but the cow for their support. The king, however, would not listen, and sent three men to bargain with the carl. He and his children were out in the fields when the messengers came. They told him the king’s message, that he wished to take his cow in exchange for another.

“The carl answered: “The king’s cow in not dearer to me than mine is.”

They pressed him, but he would not give way, and at last the king’s men killed him. Then the children set up a wail, all but the youngest, whose name was Brjam. The messengers asked the children where they felt the greatest pain. They struck their breasts, but Brjam slapped his buttocks and grinned. Then the king’s men killed the two children who had slapped their breasts, but said there was nothing lost by letting Brjam live, for he was a witless fool. The king’s men then went home, and took with them the cow. But Brjam went in to his mother, and told her all that had befallen, and her grief and sorrow were great. He bade her not weep, of they gained little thereby; he would do what he could.

Once it so happened that the king was having a bower made for his daughter, and had given to the builder enough gold to gild it both within and without. Brjam came to the place, behaving like a fool, as was his wont.

The king’s men said to him: “What good word have you for this, Brjam?

He answered: “Lessen measure much, my men!” and went away.

But the gold that had been given them wherewith to gild the bower shrunk so much that it was only enough for half the building. They went and told the king; he thought they had stolen the gold, and had them all hanged.

Brjam went home and told his mother. She answered: “You should not have said it, my son.”

He asked: “What should I have said mother?”

She replied: “You should have said, ‘Grow three-thirds!’”

“I shall say it to-morrow, mother,” quoth Brjam.

Next morning he met some people carrying a body to the grave. They asked him: “What good word have you for this, Brjam?”

“Grow three-thirds, my men!” he said. Then the corpse grew so heavy that the carriers let it fall to the ground. Brjam went home and told his mother

She said: “You should not have said that, my son.”

He asked: “What should I then have said, mother?”

“God grant peace to thy soul, thou dead!’ you should have said,” replied his mother.

“I shall say it to-morrow, mother,” answered he.

Next morning he went to the palace of the king and saw a barber strangling a dog. He went up to him, and the barber said: “What good word have you for this, Brjam?

He answered: “god grant peace to thy soul, thou dead!”

At this the barber laughed, but Brjam ran off to his mother, and told her what had happened.

She said: “You should not have said that.”

“What should I then have said?” he asked her.

She answered “:”You should have said, ‘Why! Is it the king’s thievish cur you are handling there?’”

“I will say it to-morrow, mother,” quoth he.

He went to the palace next morning, and it so happened that the king’s men were driving the queen round the city. Brjam stepped up to them. “What good word have you for this, Brjam? Said they.

“Why! Is it the king’s thievish cur you are handling there, my men?” said he.

They cursed him. The queen bade them desist, nor do the boy any harm. He ran home to his mother and told her.

She said: :You should not have said it, my son.”

“What should I then have said?” asked he.

She answered: “You should have said, ‘Is it the glorious life most precious to the king which you have charge of now, my men?’”

“I shall say it to-morrow, my mother,: answered the son.

Next morning he went toward the palace and found two

of the king’s men flaying a mare. He walked to them and said: “Why! Is it the glorious life most precious to the king which you have charge of now, my men?:

They hooted at him, and he ran off to his mother and told her all. She said: “Do not go thither any more; some day or other they will kill you.”

“Nay, my mother, they will not kill me,” said he.

III

Once the king had ordered his men to go out a-fishing. They were getting ready to go in two large boats. Brjam came to them and asked them to let him go with them; but they drove him away and mocked at him. They asked him, however, “What will the weather be like to-day?” He looked now up at the sky, and now down to the ground, and said: “Wind and not windy, wind and not windy, wind and not windy!” they laughed at him. They rowed out to the fishing-bank, and loaded both boats with fish; but when they turned to row ashore a storm arose, and both boats were lost.

Now nothing of note happened, till once on a time the king bade all his friends and favoured comrades to a grand banquet. Brjam asked his mother to give him leave to go to the palace that he might see how the banquet went off. When all had taken their places at the richly furnished tables, Brjam went to the smithy, and began shaping small pieces of wood with his knife. Those who saw him at work asked him what he meant thereby. He answered:

“Avenge father, not avenge father.” They said: “You don’t look unlike it,” and so went away. He drove sharp spits of steel into the ends of his pieces of wood, and then stole into the guest room, and nailed quietly to the floor the clothes of all who sat at table, and then walked off. When the guests attempted to get up from their seats in the evening, hey found themselves fixed to the benches; and they charged each other with having done this; and at last it came to blows, and one killed the other, till none were left alive.

When the queen heard this she was sorely grieved, and she bade them bury the dead. That morning Brjam came back to the palace, and offered himself as the queen’s servant. She was glad to get him, for she had but few servants left. Brjam discharged his duty well, and at last married the king’s daughter, and became king in that realm and laid aside all his hare-brained folly. Thus ends this story.”

…Hamal’s words, “you thought you had harboured a sheep (einen Hammel), but it was a grey wolf,” recall Cicero’s citation of a fragment of Accius to the effect that Tarquin dreamed he led two rams to the altar, and while he slew one the other struck him down from behind. The augur warned him to beware of him who pretended to be as simple as a sheep, but who had a wise heart in his breast. The parallel is striking in view of the undoubted influence of Roman legend on the Hamlet story.

HAMLET BALLAD CYCLES IN ICELAND

…thirteenth century the great Sagas of Iceland were already becoming “unread classics,” and were giving place in popular estimation to “Spurious Sagas” (Skrok Sogur) and “Fictitious Sagas” (Riddara Sogur); the former based, however slightly , on Icelandic tradition, the latter founded directly on the Romances of Chivalry, or, at all events, indebted for much of their machinery to the medieval Romance Cycles. From the French Metrical Romances the idea was probably taken of casting the Sagas, the Old Sagas as well as the later Spurious and Fictitious Sagas, into metrical form—rimur, as they were called, or “ballad-cycles”…

A “ballad-cycle” (rimur) represents the versifying of the successive chapters of a Saga…

The long winter nights were passed in listening to the story unraveled in the successive ballads, the wandering rimur-chanter meanwhile being the welcome guest of the household, more especially of the women-folk…

Even the most modern of rimur link themselves, by their phraseology, to the elaborate mythology of Northern paganism; by their mastery of alliterative effect, to the characteristic system of Teutonic versification; by many of their quaint devices, to the oldest extant remains of Northern poetry.

…in the same way as the eighth-century Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf. By runic signatures, acrostic-wise, they attest their authorship; by means of the same archaic symbols they tell us many autobiographical facts—the name of their patrons, their homesteads, and important data in their life-history. This personal note is often the main, if not the only charm of these special versified Sagas…

…Ambales Saga went through the process of being be-rhymed; no less than four ballad-cycles exist, dating from the seventeenth century, if not earlier, onward.

Saxo’s story of Amlethus reached England through the medium of Belleforest’s Histoires Tragiques, which, in its turn, probably after the publication of the Second Quarto of Hamlet, was rendered into English, The Histoire of Hamblet…

In the story as in the play we have the murder of the father by a jealous uncle; the mother’s incestuous marriage with the murderer; the son’s feigned madness in order to execute revenge: there are the vague originals of Ophelia and Polonius; the meeting of mother and son; the voyage to England:…

…the ghost, the play-scene, and the culmination of the play in the death of the hero as well as of the objects of his revenge, these are elements which belong essentially to the Elizabethan Drama of vengeance.

…distinction between the easily understood Amleth and the “eternal problem" of Hamlet.

Taine has said that the Elizabethan Renaissance was a Renaissance of the Saxon genius; from this point of view it is significant that its crowning glory should be the presentment of a typical Northern hero—an embodiment of the Northern character:

“Dark and true and tender is the North.”

APPENDIX

THE AMBALES SAGA

CHAPTER I

There lived a king hight Donrek, and he was King of Spain, and Hispania, and Cimbria, and Cumbria, and divers other islands and realms: he was passing rich and mighty, what with his folk and a many brave retainers; many a vassal-king and dukes and earls owed him their service and helped him nobly in his land’s defence and in achieving treasure. As for him, he was the hardiest fighter, far-seeing, fierce to foes, yet kind and gentle unto friends, and wise of counsel,--great wisdom was lent him. His queen hight Selina’ they both were very aged when this saga befell. The king gat three sons by his queen; she was daughter of Hawk, King of Hosltein, after whom the king’s first son was named; the second hight Balant, after the king’s father; the third Salman, after King Donrek’s foster-father. The brothers were all great warriors, and they were grown up when this saga befell.

Now when King Donrek died, the lands were parted into inheritances, and Spain fell to Hawk, Hispania to Balant, while Salman became king of Cimbria. Balant ruled Hispania till his death, and he was a hardy fighter. King Hawk held his heritage but a short while, for a heathen king slew him and usurped his realm; he hight

Malpriant, by birth of Scythia; the saga will tell of him anon. Salman was King of Cimbria, the which lieth to the east of Valland, and was under Rome at the time; and he there became a fierce-tempered warrior, alike indomitable of will as invincible in warfare, yet therewithal gentle unto friends; his was a righteous rule, and he was beloved of all the greatest and the least; in battle he never failed of victory. He took to wife a noble dame, Amba by name, daughter of the Duke of Burgundy in France. King Salman greatly loved his queen, and suffered her to take no hurt, nor brooked he aught a man might do in her despite: their wedded life was of honourable accord; she was of gentle mood and yielding to her lord, and therewithal of so discerning mind that men deemed her passing wise; all marveled at her and at her wisdom, and they loved her from their hearts; oft-times she saved the king from error, they had not been together long when the queen bore a man-child, fair and noble, and the child was brought afore the king that he might give it a name; the king let besprinkle it with water in Christian baptism,--for the king kept the faith of Christian men after the papal rite,--and the boy was given the name of Sigurd, and therewith the lands afore-named, save Spain, the which King Malpriant cowed from Christianity, as has been told.

CHAPTER II

Now time passed and the queen was with child a second time. But there in the land of the king was a spae-wife or wise woman, come of high descent; she was

not of elfin-kind, but so grim withal that folk were adread of her; and she was eke a great clerk of necromancy and of ancient lore; she was sprung from the eastern realm of Gardar, and had fared through northern lands, and was held in worship of kings and noble chiefs, for she was sought whenas queens and the wives of famous men were a-nigh child-bearing, that she might bespeak the children’s fate and fortune, the which men deemed followed her spells mostwhiles at least; wherethrough she grew mightily rich and very masterful. Now when Queen Amba bore the aforenamed son, the witch was not besought to sit by her as was the wont; whereat the witch waxed very wroth, and she enfierced her wrath by magic spells. And when the time was nigh the queen should be abed, the witch betook herself to the palace of the king, till she met the queen within her pleasaunce, when she greeted her thus:--“Thy fortune and thy life’s delight stand now in fairest bloom, but lay this to heart that ere long thou shalt lose all save life alone. Thy king shall be slain in war; of his weapons none shall strike home when he fights against his foes; thy son too shall meet a death of shame, and so hard shall it go with thee that death shall seem to thee dearer than life; and that son of thine thou goest with shall be of little joy to thee, for all men shall hold him witless. Ofttimes have I met with honour from princes higher than ye be, and the greatest of men and chieftains have ne’er slighted me in anywise, much less my peers, but ye two have done so exceedingly,--but your pride shall be brought low.” at this foreboding of the witch the queen was sorely troubled, and she went afore the king, and told

him of all that had passed. The king grew very wroth, called his men to him, and bade them seize the witch and let her die a wretched death, but the queen spake:--“Our bale is not thus bettered, for if the witch sees not remedy for our woes none other will avail, and more belike, if some friendliness be shown her.” The king said: “dost thou deem that from that evil sprite aught of friendship will be shown us for our son’s avail?” “I will assay it,” said the queen, “and let us spread a banquet for the witch with great pomp and largess, and I would now, king, that thou go with me to her on this errand.” The king made answer that the worst of sprites might to her in his stead. The queen went then from the king to seek the witch, and made her blithe of speech, though her heart was sad within. As she reached her the witch was journey-bound; the queen said to her;--“From my want of wisdom have I done this to put dishonour on thee, and I would fain now make amends, and I offer thee our friendship, and gifts, and feasts, and all the worship we may show thee, and I would that thou bide with us here until my child be born into the world.” The witch said:--“This I shall not grant, for it will be long time ere thy folly may be mended, but I shall come again when thy child-bed begins, and thou shalt then not need to seek me out.” Thus they spake and the witch went her way. And when the queen knew her sickness near, the witch came again, and she was then otherwise than she was erst, in her temper to wit. The queen gave her a blithe welcoming, and the witch was wondrous tender with her, and placed her on a stately bed. The queen had a long sickness and hard, and bore at length

a man-child, the which was very big and unsightly, dark-skinned and with bristle hair, black as coal, yet beautiful by reason of his eyes. The queen had the boy brought before the king, but he became thereat most cross and heavy, and forthwith bade then take the child away; he would pay the child no heed, nor give it a name, but least would he set eyes upon the witch, or have aught friendly dealing with her; whereat the queen was sore aggrieved, and the witch was filled with grim anger; and all men deemed the king’s behaviour was unseemly herein. The witch nurtured the queen with greatest care, and brought her from her bed at the wonted time; she tarried their thereafter for three months, and the queen bade her live there to the day of her death or so long as she would: the witch said something else was toward. The queen sped her with rich farewell-gifts, and the witch was well content; but the day the witch was going thence she entered the chamber where the queen abode and where the child was fostered; the queen was holding her little son in her arms, at the breast; the witch grew sad, for now she felt tenderly toward the queen; fain would she bid her farewell. Said she to the queen:--“to no one have I been angered out of all measure save to thee, and evil have I boded of thee and thine. This may not be bettered, if fate above rules, swayed by Him who is mightier than men, but ‘tis meet that I should guerdon thy kindliness, and this son of thine shall profit of thy merit somewhat at least; he shall be the honour of all his race: thou shalt name him after thine own name, for he shall favour thee and his mother’s kin.” Then she kissed the queen and the boy, weeping the

while, and said:--“My mere promise will stand him in little stead. She then went her way, but the queen sat still beside the cradle of the child, rocking it to soothe the child; she heaved a deep sigh from her troubled breast and called the boy Ambales. Now the king’s sons grew up in the realm each unlike the other in all things. Sigurd was passing fair to look on, and hard-tempered so that he yielded no whit to any man, and in all skill and cunning he was most famed and foremost. Ambales was all unsightly, much bigger than his brother, would hearken to none, nor learn aught good; but was most stubborn with all men; he was larger-limbed than other folk; in all his ways he seemed to have but few his like, and the courtiers and the king called him Amlode.So time passed till the king’s sons were ten and eight years old, and in these years nought befell but what is told.

NOTES

1. Introductory Essay

313

p. I….On the passage, cp. Finnur Jonsson: Den Norsk-Islanske Skjoldedigtning (Arna-Magnaean Commishon, Copenhagen, 1910). The paraphrase and interpretation of the lines vary, according to the different authorities. Professor Finnur Jonsson arranges the words thus:--

… “they say that the nine brides of the skerries move, violently, the stormy sea, outside the edge of the land, cruelly to men,--they who long ago ground on the quern of Amloði; the ring-breaker cuts the wavy sea with the stem of the ship”

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In Professor Joseph Wright’s Dialect Dictionary, we find duly recorded the Yorkshire phrase to play Hamlet with, to play “the deuce” with; to give one a “good blowing up,” e.g. “Mi muðe plead amlit wi im fa stopin at lat et nit,: i.e. “my mother played Hamlet with him for stopping out late at night” (quoted by Professor Wright, from his own persoal knowledge of the idiom. In an interesting article in the Yorkshire Weekly Post, August 4, 1917, my lamented colleague, Professor Moorman, discussed the phrase and its usage inYorkshire. “To play hamlet” with a thing is to smash it in pieces. There is also “Hamlet to pay,” where Hamlet is “a bogey of the popular imagination” = “ there will be the devil to pay.” In the west Riding the bogey is “Hamlet,” but Professor Moorman discovered that a Yorkshire variant is “Avlot” or “Avlecjk.” “Last winter,” he wrote, “was a terrible one for the rabbits on the Yorkshire fells; they descended into the valleys and endeavoured to avert starvation by gnawing the bark from the trees, woods, gardens, or hedgerows. When I pointed out to a Swaledale woman the damage they had caused, her reply was: “Oh! Rabbits has fair played Avlot wi’ t’trees this winter,” while in Upper Wharfedale the same phrase took the form “to play Avlock.”

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…Moorman…we have here a memory of the terror struck in the hearts of the Yorkshire farmers of the tenth century by the harrying raids of Anlaf Curan.

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…it is not clear, as Dr. Malone states, that the Middle English “amlaxe” can hardly be interpreted otherwise than an equivalent in sense to amloði, i.e. “mad fool”…