The Frithiof Saga

The Saga is a kind of literature that originated in Iceland and tells the tale of a heros life and adventures in a fixed regular structure. The Saga is typically meant to be recited aloud but it is never written in the traditional versified manner of poetry. There are still many of these Sagas that are related to Iceland Greenland North America and the Norse kingdoms and the Frithiof Saga is one of the most beautiful ones. It describes the thrilling adventures of that hero of the Northland and Viking of its waters. Its subject is admirable heroic and devoid of overblown sentiment or overdone description. The main driving forces behind the Saga are Frithiofs love for Ingeborg the daughter of King Bele; her brothers refusal to approve of their union because the hero is not of royal birth; her unwilling marriage to the old King Ring; Frithiofs exile; and their eventual union following the death of her husband and her brothers reconciliation. Some of the old tales of which none is more beautiful than the death of the mild deity Balder are interwoven with the story itself which is full of dramatic events. The magnificent tale that the German author has so expertly told is infused with the very breath of the North.