The Dwarf-sword Tirfing

: Folk-lore And Legends Scandinavian

Suaforlami, the second in descent from Odin, was king over Gardarike

(Russia). One day he rode a-hunting, and sought long after a hart, but

could not find one the whole day. When the sun was setting, he found

himself plunged so deep in the forest that he knew not where he was. On

his right hand he saw a hill, and before it he saw two dwarfs. He drew

his sword against them, and cut off their retreat by getting between

t em and the rock. They offered him ransom for their lives, and he asked

them their names, and they said that one of them was called Dyren and

the other Dualin. Then he knew that they were the most ingenious and the

most expert of all the dwarfs, and he therefore demanded that they

should make for him a sword, the best that they could form. Its hilt was

to be of gold, and its belt of the same metal. He moreover commanded

that the sword should never miss a blow, should never rust, that it

should cut through iron and stone as through a garment, and that it

should always be victorious in war and in single combat. On these

conditions he granted the dwarfs their lives.



At the time appointed he came, and the dwarfs appearing, they gave him

the sword. When Dualin stood at the door, he said--



"This sword shall be the bane of a man every time it is drawn, and with

it shall be perpetrated three of the greatest atrocities, and it will

also prove thy bane."



Suaforlami, when he heard that, struck at the dwarf, so that the blade

of the sword penetrated the solid rock. Thus Suaforlami became possessed

of this sword, and he called it Tirfing. He bore it in war and in single

combat, and with it he slew the giant Thiasse, whose daughter Fridur he

took.



Suaforlami was soon after slain by the Berserker Andgrim, who then

became master of the sword. When the twelve sons of Andgrim were to

fight with Hialmar and Oddur for Ingaborg, the beautiful daughter of

King Inges, Angantyr bore the dangerous Tirfing, but all the brethren

were slain in the combat, and were buried with their arms.



Angantyr left an only daughter, Hervor, who, when she grew up, dressed

herself in man's attire, and took the name of Hervardar, and joined a

party of Vikinger, or pirates. Knowing that Tirfing lay buried with her

father, she determined to awaken the dead, and obtain the charmed blade.

She landed alone, in the evening, on the Island of Sams, where her

father and uncles lay in their sepulchral mounds, and ascending by night

to their tombs, that were enveloped in flame, she, by the force of

entreaty, obtained from the reluctant Angantyr the formidable Tirfing.



Hervor proceeded to the court of King Gudmund, and there one day, as she

was playing at tables with the king, one of the servants chanced to take

up and draw Tirfing, which shone like a sunbeam. But Tirfing was never

to see the light but for the bane of men, and Hervor, by a sudden

impulse, sprang from her seat, snatched the sword, and struck off the

head of the unfortunate man.



After this she returned to the house of her grandfather, Jarl Biartmar,

where she resumed her female attire, and was married to Haufud, the son

of King Gudmund. She bore him two sons, Angantyr and Heidreker; the

former of a mild and gentle disposition, the latter violent and fierce.

Haufud would not permit Heidreker to remain at his court, and as he was

departing, his mother, among other gifts, presented him with Tirfing.



His brother accompanied him out of the castle. Before they parted,

Heidreker drew out his sword to look at and admire it, but scarcely did

the rays of light fall on the magic blade, when the Berserker rage came

on its owner, and he slew his gentle brother.



After this he joined a body of Vikinger, and became so distinguished

that King Harold, for the aid he lent him, gave him his daughter Helga

in marriage. But it was the destiny of Tirfing to commit crime, and

Harold fell by the sword of his son-in-law. Heidreker was afterwards in

Russia, and the son of the king was his foster-son. One day as they were

out hunting, Heidreker and his foster-son happened to be separated from

the rest of the party, when a wild boar appeared before them.



Heidreker ran at him with his spear, but the beast caught it in his

mouth and broke it across. Then he alighted and drew Tirfing, and killed

the boar. On looking round him, he saw no one but his foster-son, and

Tirfing could only be appeased with warm human blood, so Heidreker slew

the poor youth.



In the end Heidreker was murdered in his bed by his Scottish slaves, who

carried off Tirfing. His son Angantyr, who succeeded him, discovered the

thieves and put them to death, and recovered the magic blade. He made

great slaughter in battle against the Huns, but among the slain was

discovered his own brother, Landur.



So ends the history of the Dwarf-Sword Tirfing.