FRIDTHJOF'S SAGA

By Esaias Tegne'r




NOTE BY THE TRANSLATORS


Tegne'r's poem, "Fridthjof's Saga," has been printed in Sweden in many large
editions and in almost every possible style. It has been illustrated, and it
has been set to music. It has been translated into nearly all the modern
European languages. Moreover it has been rendered into English by eighteen
different translators, and has been twice reprinted in America. Bayard Taylor
edited an American edition of a translation by Rev. William L. Blackley of
Dublin, and published it about ten years ago. Professor R. B. Anderson has
just published in his "Viking Tales," a translation made by Professor George
Stephens of Copenhagen, and which received the sanction of Bishop Tegne'r
himself.

And yet we venture to add another, and present here the _first_complete_
American translation. Mr. Taylor said in his preface to Blackley's version
that there had never been an English Fridthjof's Saga which was satisfactory
to Swedes. This is probably owing to the fact that the Swedes have become so
familiar with its original measures and so accustomed to its peculiar rhythm,
that they cannot willingly dispense with any part of the form which Tegne'r
gave it. Several of the metres employed by him were unknown to Swedish readers
until they appeared in this poem. Tegne'r's experiment of introducing them was
a successful one; and they are now, in the minds of Swedes, as much a part of