Note 18 — The Greenland Ballad of Atli

The manuscript indicates no gap, but most editors assume the loss of a line after line 1 or 2; Grundtvig adds, after line 1: “Black were his feathers, | with blood was he covered.” Atli’s spirit: the poet’s folk-lore seems here a bit weak. Presumably he means such a female following-spirit (“fylgja”) as appears in Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar, prose following stanza 34 (cf. note thereon), but the word he uses, “hamr” (masculine) means “skin,” “shape.” He may, however, imply that Atli had assumed the shape of an eagle for this occasion.