Note Footnote 1: — PART I

The texts of the 'Stories of Ancient Times' which have come down to us date as a rule from the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth centuries though the actual mss. themselves are generally later. Most of the stories, however, were probably in existence before this time. The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1200) was familiar with many of them, including the story of Hethin and Högni1 and one of the scenes recorded in Hervarar Saga2. And we are told that a story which seems to have corresponded, in its main outlines at least, to the story of Hromund Greipsson was composed and recited at a wedding in Iceland in 11193. But in many cases the materials of our stories were far earlier than this, though they no doubt underwent considerable changes before they assumed their present form.