The lay of Helgi Hjörvardsson is furthest from the original, for there
is no feud with Svava's kindred, nor does Helgi die at their hands;
but it preserves a feature omitted elsewhere, in his leaving his bride
to his brother's protection. Like the wife in the English ballad of
_Earl Brand_, and the heroine of the Danish _Ribold and Guldborg_,
Svava refuses, but Hedin's last words seem to imply that he is to
return and marry her after avenging Helgi. This would be contrary to
all parallels, according to which Svava should die with Helgi.

The alternative ending of the _Helgi and Kara_ version is interesting
as providing the possible source of another Scottish ballad dealing
with the same type of story. In _The Cruel Knight_, as here, the
hero slays his bride, who is of a hostile family, by mistake. One
passage of _Helgi Hundingsbane II._ describes Helgi's entrance into
Valhalla, which, taken with the incident of Sigrun's joining him
in the howe, supplies an instance of the survival side by side of
inconsistent notions as to the state of the dead. The lover's return
from the grave is the subject of _Clerk Saunders_ (the second part)
and several other Scottish ballads.

_The Song of the Mill_.--The magic mill is best known in the folk-tale,
"Why the sea is salt"; but this is not the oldest part of the story,
though it took most hold of the popular imagination which loves
legendary explanations of natural phenomena. The hero, Frodi, a
mythical Danish king, is the northern Croesus. His reign was marked
by a world-peace, and the peace, the wealth, the liberality of Frodi
became proverbial. The motive of his tale is again the curse that
follows gold. It is told by Snorri, in whose work _Grottasöngr_
is embodied.