Bodvar Projection

King Hrolf leapt from the high-seat, now that he’d drunk for a while with all his champions. They leave the good drink for then, and are outside in an instant, all except Bodvar Bjarki. None of them saw him, and they thought that very strange, and they supposed it not unlikely that he was somewhere else, captured or killed.

And the moment they’re out, a tremendous battle breaks out. King Hrolf presses forward himself with the standards and his champions beside him on both sides together with all the garrison, which amounted to no small number, although they counted for little in a fight. Hard blows could be seen there, to helm and hauberk. Many a sword and spear could be seen in the air, and so many dead, they covered every inch of the ground.

Hjalti the Gallant said, “Many’s the byrnie now slit and many weapons broken and many a helm destroyed and many’s the brave rider dashed from his steed, and our king is in fine spirits, for he is now as glad as when he drank ale so deeply and strikes always with both hands, and he is most unlike other kings in battle, for it seems to me he has the strength of twelve kings, and many a doughty man has he killed, and now King Hjorvard can see that the sword Skofnung bites, and now it rings loud in their skulls.” The nature of Skofnung was such that it sang aloud when it tasted bone.

Now the fight grows so fierce that none can withstand King Hrolf and his champions. King Hrolf strikes with Skofnung, it seemed a marvel, and they make such inroads into the army of King Hjorvard, and the enemy fall in heaps.

Then Hjorvard and his men see a huge bear going before the King Hrolf’s men, always nearest to where the king was. He kills more men with his paw than any five of the king’s other champions. Blows and missiles glance off him. But he bursts under him both men and horses of King Hjorvard’s army; and everything that comes in his way, he crushes in his teeth, so that panic sweeps King Hjorvard’s army.

Hjalti looks around now and can’t see his mate Bodvar, and said to King Hrolf, “What can this mean: Bodvar sheltering himself like this, and not coming near the king, such a champion as we thought him to be, and all the times he’s proved himself?”

King Hrolf says, “He’ll be where he’s most needed, helping us, if he has any choice. Look to your own glory and courage, and don’t do him down, for none of you is his equal, and I don’t blame any of you for that, for you are all doughty champions.”

Hjalti sets off at a rush now and home to the king’s dwelling and sees Bodvar sitting there motionless.

Hjalti said, “How long must we wait for the most famous of champions, and this is a monstrous disgrace. Why don’t you stand on your own two feet and try out those strong arms of yours that are as strong as a bear’s. Up now, Bodvar Bjarki, my better, or must I burn the house and you in it, and this is a crying shame, a champion like you, that the king should put himself in danger for us, and now you’re ruining that great reputation of yours, that you’ve had all this time.”

Bodvar stood up then with a sigh and said, “No point trying to scare me, Hjalti, because I’m not scared yet, but now I’m ready to go. When I was young, I fled neither fire nor iron, and fire I’ve seldom tried, but I’ve endured iron many times, and yielded to neither so far, and you shall tell truly that I want to fight to my utmost and always have King Hrolf call me champion in front of his men. I have much to repay him, first a wife and twelve estates that he gave me, together with many treasures of worth. I killed the berserk Agnar, a king no less, and that deed has been remembered.”

Bodvar tells him of his many great deeds, which he has performed, how he’s been the death of many men, and assured him that that he wouldn’t be scared to go into battle, “and yet, I think we’re dealing with something far stranger here, than we’ve met before. But you’ve not been as helpful to the king as you think, in doing this, because it had almost been decided which side would win, but this was more through ignorance on your part, than any wish to harm the king, and none of his other champions could have done this, apart from you, could have called me out, except the king, but anyone else would have been killed. Now no plan will work, and what will be, will be. I tell you truly, that now the help I can give the king is many times less than it was before you called me up from here.”

Hjalti said, “It’s clear that I’m concerned for you and King Hrolf, but it’s hard to know what to do, when things turn out like this.”

[...]

After this urging from Hjalti, Bodvar gets up and goes out to the battle. The bear has disappeared from the army now, and the battle was starting to go against them. Queen Skuld had used none of her tricks while the bear was in the ranks of King Hrolf, sitting there in her black tent on her seid-stand. Now the situation changes as suddenly as dim night coming after a bright day. Now King Hrolf’s men see coming out of King Hjorvard’s ranks a monstrous boar. It looked no smaller than a three-year-old ox and was wolf-grey in colour, and an arrow flew from each of its bristles, and it went through the king’s retainers like nothing on earth, felling them by the dozen.

Bodvar Bjarki ploughed into them now, hacking two handed, his only thought to do as much damage as he could before he fell. And now they fall in heaps before him, one on top of another, and both his arms are bloodied to the shoulder, and he felled so many, the dead were stacked all about him. He stormed on as if he was insane. But however many men he and Hrolf’s other champions kill, from the army of Hjorvard and Skuld—it’s incredible but—their numbers aren’t a bit diminished, and it’s as if the champions are doing nothing, and they can’t recall encountering anything so strange before.


- The Saga of Hrolf Kraki and his Champions (Hrólfs saga kraka), Part 7, Chapters 50 and 51