Like the Volsung legend it is the story of a curse; and there is a
general similarity of outline, with the exception that the hero is in
this case a woman. The curse-laden treasure is here the sword Tyrfing,
which Svafrlami got by force from the dwarfs. They laid a curse on it:
that it should bring death to its bearer, no wound it made should be
healed, and it should claim a victim whenever it was unsheathed. In
the saga, the story is spread over several generations: partly, no
doubt, in order to include varying versions; partly also in imitation
of the true Icelandic family saga. The chief actors in the legend,
beside the sword, are Angantyr and his daughter Hervoer.
The earlier history of Tyrfing is told in the saga. Svafrlami is
killed, with the magic weapon itself, by the viking Arngrim, who thus
gains possession of it; when he is slain in his turn, it descends to
Angantyr, the eldest of his twelve berserk sons. For a while no one
can withstand them, but the doom overtakes them at last in the battle
of Samsey against the Swedes Arrow-Odd and Hjalmar. In berserk-rage,
the twelve brothers attack the Swedish ships, and slay every man
except the two leaders who have landed on the island. The battle
over, the berserks go ashore, and there when their fury is past, they
are attacked by the two Swedish champions. Odd fights eleven of the
brothers, but Hjalmar has the harder task in meeting Angantyr and his
sword.
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