the Orkneys, is still a living reality in the imaginations
of the country people[1].

Unfortunately _The Saga of Hromund Greipsson_ is preserved only
in late paper MSS., of which none apparently are earlier than the
seventeenth century. None of the verses of which the notice in the
_Saga of Thorgils and Haflithi_ speaks (cf. p. 58 above) have been
preserved. There is, however, a rhymed version of the saga known as
_Griplur_, dating apparently from about the year 1400 and evidently
taken from a better text than any of those which have come down to us.
A short extract from these rhymed verses will be found on pp. 173-75.
For a full discussion of the relationship of the _Griplur_ to the
extant texts of the saga and to the later ballads, the reader is
referred to Koelbing, _Beitraege zur Vergleichenden Geschichte der
Romantischen Poesie und Prosa des Mittelalters_ (Breslau, 1876), pp.
181-83, and to Andrews, _Studies in the Fornaldarsoegur Northrlanda_[2]
in _Modern Philology_, 1911, 1912.

A full bibliography of texts, translations and literature relating to
this saga will be found in _Islandica_, Vol. v, p. 30.

[Footnote 1: Cf. Joseph Anderson, _Scotland in Pagan Times:
The Bronze and Stone Ages_, pp. 278-279 (publ. by Douglas,
Edinburgh, 1886).]

[Footnote 2: It is pointed out by Andrews, p. 2, that the form
Lara (which appears in Rafn's and Asmundarson's editions, ch.
7) is due to a misreading. The MSS. have Cara.]

THE SAGA OF HROMUND GREIPSSON

I. There was a King called Olaf, the son of Gnothar-Asmund, and he
ruled over Garthar in Denmark, and was very famous. Two brothers, Kari
and Oernulf, both mighty warriors, were entrusted with the defence of
his territories. In that district there was a wealthy landowner called
Greip, who had a wife called Gunnloeth, the daughter of Hrok the Black.
They had nine sons whose names were as follows: Hrolf, Haki, Gaut,
Throest, Angantyr, Logi, Hromund, Helgi, Hrok. They were all promising
fellows, though Hromund was the finest of them. He did not know what
fear was. He was blue-eyed and fair-haired; he was broad-shouldered,
tall and strong, and resembled his mother's father. The King had two
men called Bild and Voli. They were wicked and deceitful, but the King
valued them highly.

On one occasion King Olaf was sailing eastwards with his fleet along
the coast of Norway. They put in at Ulfasker, and lying to off one of
the islands they began to pl