Note Footnote 8: — PART I

The motif of a chief or his lady standing on the pinnacle of a tower of the fort and looking out over the surrounding country for an approaching army is a very common one in ballads. The motif of the above passage from Hervarar Saga, including the armour of the foe and the shining shields, occurs in the opening stanzas of the Danish Ballad De vare syv og syvsindstyve8, which probably dates from the fourteenth century (though it may possibly be later9) and which derives its material ultimately from old heroic lays10.