r of Nornagest_, shows evidence of a
definite structural plan and falls into three distinct parts. In the
first two chapters the scene is laid among the gods, and the story is
set in motion by the forging of a necklace for the goddess Freyja by
some dwarfs. This is stolen by Loki and given to Othin, who refuses
to restore it to Freyja till she promises to bring about a perpetual
battle between two mighty kings.

Then in chs. III and IV we have an account of the adventures of a
Viking prince named Soerli, from whom the story takes its (somewhat
inappropriate) title[2]. Soerli comes into contact (first as an enemy,
later as a friend) with another prince called Hoegni, and this leads up
to the main theme--the friendship and subsequent quarrel of Hethin
and Hoegni, in whose tragic fate Freyja's promise is fulfilled. The
perpetual battle between these two heroes is finally ended by one of
Olaf Tryggvason's men, and it is through this that the story comes to
be introduced into his Saga.

The story of Hethin and Hoegni was a favourite one in the North. It
is told in _Skaldskaparmal_, ch. 49 and in Saxo Grammaticus' _Danish
History_, Book V (Elton, pp. 195-198). The earliest Norse reference to
it is to be found in Bragi's _Ragnarsdrapa_, str. 3-7. The story must
also have been well known in the Orkneys, since we find the following
verses in the _Hattalykill_ by Jarl Roegnvald (1136-58) and an
Icelandic skald Hall who flourished 1140-48[3].

Who planned to carry off Hild?
Who fight all day long?
Who will be reconciled at last?
Who incited the kings?
Hethin planned to carry off Hild;
The Hjathningar are always fighting;
They will be reconciled at last;
Hild incited the host.

Who reddens the keen blades?
Who chops meat for the wolf?
Who makes showers of helmets?
Who stirred up strife?
Harold reddened the keen blades;
The host chops meat for the wolf;
Hoegni makes the shower of helmets;
Hjarrandi stirred up strife!

In the Shetlands the story survived down to modern times in the form
of a ballad known as _Hildina_, which was taken down by George Low[4]
from the recitation of an old man on the Isle of Foula in 1774. The
Norwegian dialect (Norn) in which it is composed is so obscure as
we have it in Low's script as to be almost untranslatable, though a
serious attempt at its interpretation has been made by Dr M. Haegstad
in _Skrifter udgivne af Videnskabsselskabet i Christiania_, 1900
(_