Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Blaðsíða 65

51
Only one Norwegian ballad based on the Kms has been preserved, Ro-
land og Magnus kongen, the source of which is branch VIII. Unfortun-
ately, the ballad is only a fragment48.
Both the Norwegian and the Faeroese ballads were written down in
the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and they must have been handed
down orally since the late Middle Ages. They have thus undergone many
changes, some details having been lost, others added, and they have been
combined with other ballads. The Faeroese Karlamagnus ballads have
been influenced by the Karl Magnus Krønike, (cp. the name Angelund
for Agulandus), but there are several details in them which agree with the
original saga against D.
The Danish ballads are known from MSS written in the 16th century,
and one of them, Holger Danske og Burmand49 is based on the story of
Oddgeirr danski as told in branch III of the saga. The ballad describes
the fight between Oddgeirr (Hollger, Udgierd, Olger) and the pagan
Burnament (Burmand in the ballad). The ballad also exists in a Swedish
MS from the first part of the 17th century. In the version of this branch
which is preserved in D, there are several additions to the original frdttr,
i.a. a description of the precious stones in Burnament’s helmet, and the
conversations between Udger and Burnament50. Some of these additions
are also found in the ballad, and Storm51 therefore thought that the ballad
was based on D. To me another solution seems more likely: the ballad is
based on the Kms in its original form, and like so many ballads, it has
become popular in all the Scandinavian countries, and has reached Den-
mark in the Middle Ages; the author of the Chronicle knew the ballad,
and Oddgeirr being a Dåne, he was particularly interested in the branch
of the saga which described his prowess; finding certain details in the
ballad which the Kms did not mention, he added them in his account of
the battie between Oddgeirr and Burnament.
The rimur mostly follow their sources closely, and they have been
written down and preserved in MSS from the beginning, so that they may
occasionally have preserved readings of the original Kms which have been
48 Ed. in Norske folkevisor fraa millomalderen, ved Knut Liestøl og Moltke Moe,
pp. 11-15.
“ Danmarks gamle Folkeviser I no. 30, pp. 391-97 (four versions).
50 Brandt’s ed. pp. 39-42, cp. Storm: Sagnkredsene, p. 163.
51 Op. cit. pp. 183-87.