"Stolt Herr Alf" ("Proud Lord Alf", SMB 206, TSB E 58) or "Álvur kongur" ( CCF 14) is a medieval Scandinavian ballad with Swedish and Faroese variants, based on the same legendary material as the Icelandic

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 ...

'' Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka'', from pre-Christian times. There are two different manuscripts of this ballad in the

National Library of Sweden The National Library of Sweden ( sv, Kungliga biblioteket, ''KB'', meaning "the Royal Library") is Sweden's national library. It collects and preserves all domestic printed and audio-visual materials in Swedish, as well as content with Swedish ...

, and some dialectal words indicate that the ballad was current in south-western Sweden before its documentation.''Stolt Herr Alf'' in ''Svenska Fornsånger''
by Adolf Iwar Arwidsson (1834). Stockholm, P. A. Norstedt & Söner, Kongl. Boktryckare. p. 11. The Norse god Odin is appealed to with an epithet which has aroused scholarly interest, and he is called ''Oden Asagrim'', meaning "Odin, leader of the

Æsir The Æsir (Old Norse: ) are the gods of the principal pantheon in Norse religion. They include Odin, Frigg, Höðr, Thor, and Baldr. The second Norse pantheon is the Vanir. In Norse mythology, the two pantheons wage war against each oth ...

". The suffix -''grim'' is a virtually unique word for "leader" which is otherwise only attested in the runestone Sö 126, but in the earlier form ''grimR''. It is not attested as a noun in the sense "leader" in West Norse sources. In

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

, the basic meaning of the adjective is "heartless, strict and wicked", and so is comparable in semantics to Old Norse which meant both "wrath", "king" and "warrior".Runic Dictionary Entry for grimmR
at the runic dictionary of the university of Nottingham.

Synopsis

The ballad tells that Lord Alf's wife woke up from a nightmare. She informed her husband that she had dreamt that she had seen a stone and brick house at her father's estate in which her husband had been burnt to death with his

retinue A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a noble, royal personage, or dignitary; a ''suite'' (French "what follows") of retainers. Etymology The word, recorded in English since circa 1375, stems from Old French ''retenue'', ...

. Lord Alf told his wife that she must not worry and instead go to sleep again. The next day Lord Alf rode to his father-in-law, King Asmund, with his retinue and asked the king for a house where they could sleep during the night. King Asmund told them that they could sleep in a house at the orchard.''Stolt Herr Alf'' in ''Svenska Fornsånger''
by Adolf Iwar Arwidsson (1834). Stockholm, P. A. Norstedt & Söner, Kongl. Boktryckare. p. 12. The king then appealed to Odin: Odin responded that King Asmund should bar the door of Lord Alf's house and set its gables aflame. In that way, he could defeat Lord Alf without incurring any harm.
by Adolf Iwar Arwidsson (1834). Stockholm, P. A. Norstedt & Söner, Kongl. Boktryckare. p. 13. Toward the end of the ballad, the people decide to take vengeance and slay King Asmund because he refused to pay

weregild Weregild (also spelled wergild, wergeld (in archaic/historical usage of English), weregeld, etc.), also known as man price ( blood money), was a precept in some archaic legal codes whereby a monetary value was established for a person's life, to ...

—usual punishment, according to medieval Scandinavian laws when a killer refuses to pay

(as in the story) or commits

quickfire Arson in medieval Scandinavia ( Old Norse ''hús-brenna ''or ''hús-bruni, ''"house-burning") was a technique sometimes employed in blood feuds and political conflicts in order to assassinate someone. In committing arson, a group of attackers w ...

.'' Eyrbyggja Saga'' § 31.

Notes and references

{{reflist Scandinavian folklore Ballads