{Brodeur translation} - some of the lexicon have pop-ups

"Battle is called Storm or Snow-Shower of the Hjadnings, and weapons are termed Fire or Wands of Hjadnings; and this is the tale thereof: that king who was called Högni had a daughter named Hildr: her King Hedinn, son of Hjarrandi, took as the spoils of war, while King Högni attended an assembly of kings (→*49-1). But when he learned that there had been raiding in his realm and his daughter had been borne off, he departed with his host to seek Hedinn, and heard tidings of him, that he was proceeding northward along the land. When Högni had come into Norway, he learned that Hedinn had sailed westward over the sea. Then Högni sailed after him, even to the Orkneys; and when he landed at the place called Hoy, Hedinn was already there before him with his host. Then Hildr went to meet her father, and offered him a necklace on Hedinn's behalf, for reconciliation and peace; but if it were not accepted, she said, Hedinn was ready to fight, and Högni might hope for no mercy at his hands.

"Högni answered his daughter harshly; and when she returned to Hedinn, she told him that Högni desired no reconciliation, and she bade him make ready for battle. So did both parties: they went to the island and marshalled their hosts. Then Hedinn called to Högni his father-in-law, offering him reconciliation and much gold in compensation. But Högni answered: 'Thou hast made this offer over-late, if thou wouldst make peace: for now I have drawn Dáinsleif, which the dwarves made, and which must cause a man's death every time it is bared, nor ever fails in its stroke; moreover, the wound heals not if one be scratched with it.' Then said Hedinn: 'Thou dost boast in the sword, but not in the victory; I call any sword good which is faithful to its lord.' Then they began that famous battle which is called the Hjadnings' Strife, and they fought all that day, but at evening the kings went to their ships. Now Hildr went to the slain by night, and with magic quickened all those that were dead. The next day the kings went to the battlefield and fought, and so did all those that had fallen on the day before. So the fight went one day after the other: all who fell, and all those weapons which lay on the field, and the shields also, were turned to stone; but when day dawned, up rose all the dead men and fought, and all weapons were renewed. It is said in songs that in this fashion the Hjadnings shall continue unto the Weird of the Gods. Bragi the Skald (→*49-2) composed verses after this tale in Ragnarr Lodbrók's Song of Praise:(→*49-3)

And the belovèd Maiden
Of the veins' blood-letting
Purposed to bring, for wrath's sake,
The bow-storm to her father:
When the ring-wearing lady, (5)
The woman full of evil,
Bore the neck-ring of War-Doom
To the Battler of the Wind's Steeds.

That gory Wound-Amender
To the glorious Monarch offered (10)
The necklace not for fear's sake,
At the mote of fatal weapons:
Ever as restraining battle
She seemed, although she goaded
Warriors to walk the death-road (15)
With the ravening Wolf's dire Sister.

The Prince of Folk, the Land-God,
Let not the fight, wolf-gladdening,
Halt, nor slaughter on the sands cease,—
Hate, deadly, swelled in Högni, (20)
When the stern Lords of Sword-Din
Sought Hedinn with stern weapons,
Rather than receive
The necklet-rings of Hildr.

And that baleful Witch of Women, (25)
Wasting the fruits of victory,
Took governance on the island
O'er the axe, the Birnie's Ruin;
All the Ship-King's war-host
Went wrathful 'neath the firm shields (30)
Of Hjarrajidi, swift-marching
From Reifnir's fleet sea-horses.

On the fair shield of Svölnir
One may perceive the onslaught;
Ragnarr gave me the Ship-Moon, (35)
With many tales marked on it.

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Origins/Source:

* The tale is told by Snorri in Skáldskaparmál "Poetic Dicticion" part of Prose Edda. A differently transmitted version of the tale occurs in the so-called Sörli's Tale (aka The Saga of Hethinn and Högni. In the Tale (or tháttr), it is Freyja or one of her minions who calls herself Göndul who plays the role of inciting the two kings to war, whereas in the quoted poem it is very clear that the daughter Hildr takes that blame.

Footnotes.

^*49-1 * On the battle between Hethn and Högni, it is more elaborately told in the Sörla þáttr (or the Saga of Hethin and Högni). [BACK]

^*49-2 * Bragi Boddason(9c.) the skald, also styled "Bragni (enn) gamli" ("the old"). He composed the Ragnarsdrápa to reciprocate the gift of a fine shield he received from Raganr Lothbrok ("Hairy Breeches"). [BACK]

^*49-3 * The meaning of this skaldic poem — Interpretations vary depending on the scholar. It is somewhat surprising to find Hilr being cast as a villain or the source of their woes, since she is a benign existence in Sorli's Tale. However, the elopement of Walther of Aquitaine and Hildegund parallels our tale in many ways, and in the fragmentary Anglo-Saxon version Waldere, we see that Hildegund appears to encourage her lover face Hagano/Hagen (~Högni of our tale) in combat. [BACK]

• li. 4 bow-storm—< Eysteinn Björnsson's site and others interpret this as "battle", but M. Ross construes this as "warrior", namely Hethinn.
• li. 7 Wind's Steeds— More literally "fair wind's steed", but either way indicates "The Hjadnings". Hence the "Battler of the Hjadnings" would be a kenning for Högni. In other translations, the "Wind's Steeds" is interpreted to be the ship that conveyed Högni's troops.
• li. 9 Wound-Amender— The origninal text (li. 10)metaphorically mentions Thrur, who is a daughter of Thor, and here used merely metaphorically. Rán (the sea goddess) and Sif (wife of Thor), who are prominent figures and Norse mythology, have been used likewise in preceding lines.
• li. 16 Wolf's dire Sister— Hel is the queen of the underworld and a sister of the monstrous wolf Fenrir.
• li. 18 wolf— In this stanza, the word "wolf" does not appear per se. however glammi (meaning perhaps "noisy") is a heiti(byname) for 'wolf'.
• li. 28 O'er the axe, the Byrnie's Ruin— In the original text (line 26), we read "giantess of byrnie" which is a kenning for "axe". and Vidrir which is a nickname(heiti) of Odin. So we have a compound kenning "ax of Odin" indicating "warrior".
• ll. 29-30 Shields of Hjarrandi— Literally "Hjarrandi's door" or wicket. A very similar expression, Herjans hurðir [ON] or "Othin's door" occurs in Íslendingadrápa by Haukr Valdísarson) and means "shield". Anthony Faulkes seems to go further and apparently emends "Hjarrandi" to "Herjan" as a mistake propagated by a redactor. Hjarrandi of course is the father Hedinn mentioned at the opening of the tale, and perhaps is the cause of the confounding.
• li. 31 Reifnir— is the name of a sea-king.
• li. 32sea-horse—marr means both 1) ocean and 2) steed, and both senses are apparently overlapped here.
• ll. 33-34 fair shield of Svönir—is a compound kenning.
• li. 35 the Ship-Moon— In the original text, we have Ræs reiðar or "Rær's vehicle", which is a "ship", since Rær is yet another sea-king. And to complete the compound kenning, the ship-moon" means a "shield". Rows of propped round-shields would line the gunwales of viking-ships, and glowed above water like the moon.
      Thus here the poet is talking about the very shield given him as a gift, depicted with many heroic scenes.
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