Hjalmar's Last Gift
Who does Hjalmar want his ring taken to?
Hjalmar lies dying on the island. His helmet is split and his armour torn. His body bears 16 wounds. Angantyr's sword has struck him near the heart. Wounded by its poison-hardened blade, he feels darkness closing in.
Hjalmar says that he owned 5 estates, yet was never content with his life. Now, wounded by a sword, he waits to die on an island. In his father's hall, the household men are drinking mead. Drink makes them suffer, while he suffers from his wounds.
Hjalmar asks his companion to take the red ring from his hand and carry it to young Ingibjorg. He says that she will grieve deeply when he does not return to Uppsala. A raven flies from the east, followed by an eagle. He tells the eagle that he offers his body as its final meal.
Sources for this story (1)Hjalmar's Last Gift
*Hjalmar's Death Song* and the related poems appear in *Hervor's Saga*. They are absent from the Codex Regius and appear in the appendix of Guðni Jónsson's edition. Here, these heroic tales about the sword Tyrfing come at the end of the chapter, in the order they follow in the Saga.
Drag þú mér af hendi
hring inn rauða
Take the red ring from my hand.
“The Lay of Hjalmar” Stanza 7
“The Lay of Hjalmar”Hjálmarskviða
Image details
Lorenz Frølich “The fight on Samsø. As told in the sagas of Saxo, Hervor and Orvarod.” 1845 Public domain View original image
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