Battle_.--No Eddic poem survives on the battle of the
Hjathnings, the story of which is told in prose by Snorri. It must,
however, be an ancient legend; and the hero Hedin belongs to one of
the old Germanic heroic races, for the minstrel Deor is a dependent of
the Heodenings in the Old English poem to which reference will be made
later. The legend is that Hild, daughter of Hoegni, was carried away by
Hedin the Hjathning, Hjarrandi's son. Hoegni pursued, and overtook them
near the Orkneys. Then Hild went to her father and offered atonement
from Hedin, but said also that he was quite ready to fight, and Hoegni
need expect no mercy. Hoegni answered shortly, and Hild returning told
Hedin that her father would accept no atonement but bade him prepare
to fight. Both kings landed on an island, followed by their men. Hedin
called to Hoegni and offered atonement and much gold, but Hoegni said it
was too late, his sword was already drawn. They fought till evening,
and then returned to their ships; but Hild went on shore and woke up
all the slain by sorcery, so that the battle began again next day
just as before. Every day they fight, and every night the dead are
recalled to life, and so it will go on till Ragnaroek.

In the German poem, _Gudrun_, the Continental version of this legend
occurs in the story of the second Hilde. She is carried away by the
minstrel Horant (who thus plays a more active part than the Norse
Hjarrandi), as envoy from King Hettel, Hedin's German counterpart. Her
father Hagen pursues, and after a battle with Hettel agrees to a
reconciliation. The story is duplicated in the abduction of Hilde's
daughter Gudrun, and the battle on the Wuelpensand.

Another reference may probably be supplied by the much debated lines
14-16 from the Anglo-Saxon _Deor_, of which the most satisfactory
translation seems to be: "Many of us have heard of the harm of Hild;
the Jute's loves were unbounded, so that the care of love took
from him sleep altogether." Saxo, it is true, makes Hild's father
a Jute, instead of her lover, and Snorri apparently agrees with him
in making Hedin Norwegian; but in the _Gudrun_ Hettel is Frisian or
Jutish. The Anglo-Saxon _Widsith_ mentions in one line Hagena, king of
the Holmrygas (a Norwegian province), and Heoden, king of the Glommas
(not identified), who may be the Hoegni and Hedin of this tale.

The Anglo-Saxon and German agree on another point where both differ
from the Norse. The Anglo-Saxon