''Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis'' is a late

legendary saga A legendary saga or ''fornaldarsaga'' (literally, "story/history of the ancient era") is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the settlement of Iceland.The article ''Fornaldarsagor'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1991 ...

without an apparent historic basis. It is about two children of a

jarl Jarl is a rank of the nobility in Scandinavia. In Old Norse, it meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. ''Jarl'' could also mean a sovereign prince. For example, the rulers of several of the pet ...

, and one of them is Hjálmþér whose evil stepmother commands him to work as a

thrall A thrall ( non, þræll, is, þræll, fo, trælur, no, trell, træl, da, træl, sv, träl) was a slave or serf in Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age. The corresponding term in Old English was . The status of slave (, ) contrasts wi ...

until he has performed an impossible task. In its present form, it stacks different motifs on top of each other. However, according to Icelandic philologist

Finnur Jónsson Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic-Danish philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature. Finnur Jónsson was b ...

the variou
Hjálmþésrímur
which appear in the saga reveal that it once had a different structure. There are many folk tales similar to ''Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis'', including a number of medieval Irish stories,Ralph O’Connor, ‘ “Stepmother Sagas”: An Irish Analogue for Hjálmþérs saga ok Ölvérs', Scandinavian Studies, 72 (2000), 1–48. the

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

n tale ''

The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh ''The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh'', also known as ''The Laidly Worm of Bamborough'', is a Northumbrian ballad about a princess who is changed into a dragon (the "laidly worm" of the title). Synopsis In the Kingdom of Northumbria, a kind k ...

'' (also known as ''The Laidly Worm of Bamburgh'' (or ''Bamborough'').

Sources

* Ohlmarks, Åke. (1982). ''Fornnordiskt lexikon''. Tiden.

References

External links

The textEntry in the ''Stories for All Time'' bibliography
Legendary sagas {{saga-stub