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24. HALFDAN'S ENMITY WITH ORVANDEL AND SVIPDAG (cp. No. 33)

Saxo relates in regard to Gram that he carried away the royal daughter Groa, though she was already bound to another man, and that he slew her father, whereupon he got into a feud with Svipdag, an irreconcilably bitter foe, who fought against him with varying success of arms, and gave himself no rest until he had taken Gram's life and realm. Gram left two sons, whom Svipdag treated in a very different manner. The one named Guthormus (Gudhormr) who was a son of Groa, he received into his good graces. To the other, named Hadingus, Hading, or Hadding, and who was a son of Signe, he transferred the deadly hate he had cherished towards the father. The cause of the hatred of Svipdag against Gram, and which could not he extinguished in his blood, Saxo does not mention but this point is cleared up by a comparison with other sources. Nor does Saxo mention who the person was from whom Gram robbed Groa, but this, too, we learn in another place.

The Groa of the myth is mentioned in two other places: in Gróugaldur and in Gylfaginning. Both sources agree in representing her as skilled in good, healing, harm-averting songs; both also in describing her as a tender person devoted to the members of her family. In Gylfaginning she is the loving wife who forgets everything in her joy that her husband, the brave archer Orvandel, has been saved by Thor from a dangerous adventure. In Gróugaldur she is the mother whose love to her son conquers death and speaks consoling and protecting words from the grave. Her husband is, as stated, Orvandel; her son is Svipdag.

If we compare the statements in Saxo with those in Gróugaldur and Gylfaginning we get the following result:

Saxo: King Sigtrygg has a daughter Groa.
Gylfaginning: Groa is married to the brave Orvandel.
Gróugaldur: Groa has a son Svipdag.
Saxo: Groa is robbed by Gram-Halfdan.
Saxo:
Hyndluljóđ:
Skáldskaparmál:
Hostilities on account of the robbing of the woman.
Gram-Halfdan kills Groa's father Sigtrygg.
Saxo: With Gram-Halfdan Groa has the son Gudhorm.
Gram-Halfdan is separated froma Groa.
He courts Signe (Almveig in Hyndluljóđ; Alveig in Skáldskaparmál), daughter of Sumbel, king of the Finns.
Gróugaldur: Groa with her son Svipdag is once more with her first husband.
Groa dies. Svipdag's father Orvandel marries a second time.
Before her death Groa has told Svipdag that he, if need requires her help, must go to her grave and wake her out of the sleep of death. The stepmother gives Svipdag a task which he thinks surpasses his strength. He then goes to his mother's grave. From the grave Groa sings protecting incantations over her son.
Saxo: Svipdag attacks Gram-Halfdan. After several conflicts he succeeds in conquering him and gives him a deadly wound. Svipdag pardons the son Gram-Halfdan has had with Groa, but persecutes his son with Signe (Alveig).

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