he younger Angantyr, would seem to have lived
some four or five centuries before his great grandfather and namesake
who perished at Samso--if indeed the latter story rests on any genuine
tradition. In spite of these and similar inconsistencies, however,
the saga is on the whole perhaps the most attractive of all the
_Fornaldarsoegur_.

[Footnote 1: This MS. is identical with the one referred to as
_A_ in the Introduction to the _Thattr of Nornagest_ (cf. p.
11 above).]

[Footnote 2: Quoted by Heusler, _Eddica Minora_ (Dortmund,
1903), p. vii.]

[Footnote 3: _Fornaldarsoegur Northrlanda_ (Copenhagen, 1829),
Vol. I; _Antiquites russes_ etc. (Copenhagen, 1850-2), Vol.
I.]

[Footnote 4: _Oldnorske og Oldislandske Litteraturs Historie_,
Vol. II, p. 839 f.]

[Footnote 5: _Eddica Minora_, pp. 106-120.]

[Footnote 6: Cf. _Forord_ to N. M. Petersen's edition of
_Hervarar Saga ok Heithreks Konungs_ (published by the
'Nordiske Literatur-Samfund,' Copenhagen, 1847).]

[Footnote 7: See _Fornaldarsoegur Northrlanda_ (Reykjavik,
1891), Vol. I, pp. 309-360.]

[Footnote 8: Copenhagen, 4th edition, 1889.]

[Footnote 9: _Oldnorske og Oldislandske Litteraturs Historie_,
Vol. I, p. 201.]

[Footnote 10: _Geschichte der Norwegisch-Islaendischen
Literatur_ (Strassburg, 1904), p. 605.]

THE SAGA OF HERVOeR AND HEITHREK

Here begins the Saga of King Heithrek the Wise.

I. It is said that in the days of old the northern part of Finnmark
was called Joetunheimar, and that there was a country called Ymisland
to the south between it and Halogaland. These lands were then the home
of many giants and half-giants; for there was a great intermixture
of races at that time, because the giants took wives from among the
people of Ymisland.

There was a king in Joetunheimar called Guthmund. He was a mighty man
among the heathen. He dwelt at a place called Grund in the region of
Glasisvellir. He was wise and mighty. He and his men lived for
many generations, and so heathen men believed that the fields of
immortality lay in his realm; and whoever went there cast off sickness
or old age and became immortal.

After Guthmund's death, people worshipped him and called him their
god. His son's name was Hoefund. He had second sight and was wise of
understanding, and was judge of all suits throughout the neighbouring
kingdoms. He never gave an unjust judgment, and