Summary of the Thidrekssaga

Now they went out into the garden and sat below a treeVon der Hagen: apple tree and kings Osantrix and Nordung saw where they were sitting. And Sigurd took off his hatWhy is this important? and said: I deceived king Osantrix and you, lady, I’m not Sigurd but RodolfVon der Hagen: Rodinger, king Attila’s messenger. He asks you to become his wife, and he will mae sure you will get sons, have knights and castles, and you’ll be the greatest queen of all the world.

Erka became angry and called out: My dear sister Berta, hear now this man’s mission. He is Rodolf, and has deceived me and myStrictly speaking our father; Berta is also Osantrix’ daughter father. Quick, go tell my father what happened, for he has killed five hundred of his knights and will hang for that.

Rodolf said: Rather, lady, go with me to become king Attila’s wife and queen, and young BertaAccording to 28 she is older than Erka; or is "young" meant as a lower rank? Or did Osantrix just have two wives at the same time? will become my wife.

Then Berta said: Lady, as a king’s daughter you shall not betray a manVon der Hagen: foreign man who has come into your power. Rather, you should allow him to leave. But didn’t you at one time say, sister Erka: Holy God in Heaven, make me queen of Hunnenland? Now you can get what you asked of God. Don’t betray this man. Become Attila’s queen and I will come with you.

Before Berta had ended her piece Rodolf wanted to leave, because he had heard Erka say that she would tell her father everything. But now Erka called out: Hear, good knight Rodolf, and don’t leave. I will become king Attila’s wife, and I give you this gold ring as a pledge of thatVon der Hagen adds: And my sister and I will keep quiet about you, but you must help us escape.. Osantrix and Nordung saw Erka give Sigurd a ring, so they thought she would accept king Nordung, but it did not turn out that wayThis last sentence is not in Von der Hagen.

Then Sigurd went back to the town with the king, and king Nordung asked him how his mission went, and promised him riches and a jarldom if Erka would become his wife. But Sigurd replied: Erka will not take a man in the next twelve months, and she gave me a ring for that reason. But I tried as best as I could.

Then Nordung said he would gladly wait, and gave Sigurd another twelve months to complete his missionVon der Hagen adds: and promised him his friendship if he succeeded. Then he rode home.

One day king Osantrix called Sigurd to his high seat, and told him: Good friend, you’ve been here for two years now, and you’ve been a courteous knight and clearly of noble birth in your homeland. I wish you to lead my retainers andVon der Hagen: become marshal of the court and deliver the king’s messages and protect the country with the army.

Sigurd replied that he had not paid back Attila for killing his brothersVon der Hagen adds: and king Attila is not yet lord of all of Hunnenland, and he hasn’t yet gone through a reversal of fortune. And Osantrix replied that he’d give Attila a goal and would visit him in Hunnenland, and Sigurd said he’d love to be part of that invasion, and that he wanted to fetch his brother Alibrand and bring him to Osantrix’ court as a vassal. King Osantrix agreed.

Now Rodolfthe saga switches names frequently now: when he is among his own men he is Rodolf/Rodinger, when with Osantrix he is Sigurd rode away to the place where he had left his men47. He took young Osid, Attila’s nephew, to Osantrix’ courtIn Von der Hagen he first explains his plan. Osantrix greeted Sigurd, who introduced him to his brother Alibrand.

Once they had been at court for seven daysVon der Hagen: a while, and then has Sigurd inform Erka and Bertha to be ready in seven days, Sigurd and Alibrand went for their horses with their weapons and money. They rode to queen Erka’s castle, where Erka and her sister Bertha came towards themVon der Hagen: with all their jewelry because they wanted to travel with them. Now they rode as hard as they could, night and day.Von der Hagen has them arrive at their men now instead of in the next chapter.

When king Osantrix found out he armed his knights and himself and rode after them. Now both parties rode quickly, and Rodolf came to his men, who had thought him already lost. They rode to Hunnenland, pursued by Osantrix, who came so close that Rodolf saw they wouldn’t escape. Then they rode for a castle called Markstein in the Falsterwald.

Osantrix set up camp before this castleVon der Hagen: erected wall breakers and stormed the walls, but those inside defended themselves manly, but Rodolf sent two men to king Attila to tell him what had bedome of the expeditionVon der Hagen adds: One dark night they rode away, and Osantrix' guards thought they were their own men, and thus they rode through the enemy camp. When Attila heard what had happened heVon der Hagen adds a long praise of Rodinger here called together his men, an overpowering army, and rode to the Falsterwald as quickly as he could.

Rodolf had defended the castle and killed many of Osantrix’ men, either by sorties or by fighting from the walls. Before king Attila arrived he had lost 40 men, but Osantrix 100Von der Hagen: 60 and 300. But the castle was so strong that Osantrix couldn’t win it. When he heard of Attila’s approachVon der Hagen adds that he had only a small army, and that his counselors advised him to withdraw he broke camp and rode back to his kingdomVon der Hagen: And Rodinger's men now rode out and killed two hundred more of Osantrix' knights, and they returned when they heard king Attila's horns.

When Osantrix had gone Rodolf left the castle and came to king Attila in a field, with forty thousand knights, and there he presented Erka Osantrix’ daughter to king Attila. Then they rode home to Soest. A little later Attila had a great wedding prepared for Erka, and also for Bertha, whom he gave to duke Rodolf, together with great lands in Hunnenland. The feast lasted seven days.

Now king Attila ruled over his kingdom with his wife ErkaVon der Hagen: and margrave Rodinger was Attila's most respected man, as he deserved. They had two sons, Erp and OrtwinVon der Hagen does not mention them. There was a feud between Hunnenland and WilkinenlandVon der Hagen: and these occurrences were the cause, and many wars between Attila and Osantrixfor the first time in 134, and with Waldemar, king of the Reussen. Things remained like this for some time.

• The chromology is off here. Sigfrid and Witig were of the same generation, so Wieland was a lot older than Sigfrid and it's unlikely they were ate Mime's together.
• Possibly Mime was inserted here to explain why Wieland called his masterpiece Mimung.

The giant Wade, son of king Wilkinus and the sea-womanSee 23 lived in Seelandthe main island of Denmark on an estate granted to him by his father. And he was no particularly great warrior, but was content with what has father had given him.

Wade had a son called Wieland. When Wieland was nine winters old Wade wanted him to learn some craft somewhere. He had heard of a smith in Hunnenland called Mime who was the best and most artful of all smiths. Wade went there with Wieland and gave his son to Mime as a pupil so that he would learn how to forge iron. Then Wade went back home to Seeland.

In these days Sigfrid also lived with Mime, and did bad things to his fellow pupilsSee especially 165. When Wade heard that his son was often beat up by Sigfrid he returned and took his son home to Seeland. Wieland had been in Hunnenland for three years, and he was now twelvesays Mb; A and B say fifteen winters old. He stayed with his father for twelve months.

All this time there had been a feud between king Attila of Hunnenland and king Osantrix of WilkinenlandSee 56, and both had had victories and defeats. King Attila had grown stronger, and had made friendships with many powerful lords, and he was loved in his realm with all peoplesThe saga really presses this point home.

King Osantrix had aged, and had become harsher, and the people in his realm could hardly bear the heavy yoke he put on to them, and everybody suffered from him, rich and poor, courtiers and subjects, and foreign merchants. And although he gave his knights land, he still managed these lands himself and gave it to whomever he wanted. And the heavy wars with king Attila cost him a lot of money, so he demanded more and more tributeThe saga really presses this point home.

King Osantrix still had with him the two giants, Widolf with the Staff and Aventrod, his brother. But he had sent another brother of these giants, Etger, to king Isung of Bertangaland because of their friendship, and there he guarded the entry to that realm.

• The three parts of the army are announced. Dietrich's, Attila's under Rodinger, and Erka's under her sons and Diether. Apparently Attila's and Erka's men will form different groups.

Now Soest was filled with sounds of weapons, and shouts, and neighing of horses. The entire town was so full of men that no one could pass through, and no one could hear anyone unless they were close to them.

Now king Attila went up into a tower and called loudly: Hear me, men, and be quiet, and hear my commands. And the town fell silent.

Then the king said: Now a great army has gathered here, and now you must go as I will tell you. King Dietrich will travel alone with his army, and my man margrave Rodinger will go with another part of the knights that I have given to king Dietrich, and all the other men will follow my sons and young Diether. And all did as king Attila had commanded.

Now margrave Rodinger rode forth from Soest with his army. And Erp and Ortwin mounted, and in their following were duke Nudung of Walkaburg, who bore Dietrich's bannerpresumably because of Diether's presence in this group?, and Wolfhart and Helfrich, both Dietrich's relativesHelfrich's relation is not mentioned anywhere else, and the details of Wolfhart's are unclear..

And when the latter mounted queen Erka said: Good friend Helfrich, guard my sons well, and let them ride beside you when the armies meet. And Helfrich said: I swear by God, I won't come home from this war if I lose your sons. And queen Erka thanked him.

Now duke Nudung rode from Soest, and next Diether, and then Erp and Ortwin and the good knight Helfrich, then Wolfhart, and then all their warriors. Now king Dietrich mounted his horse Falke, and master Hildebrand bore his banner and went before king Dietrich, and then Wildeber and the warriors who followed Dietrich's banneri.e. the personal retainers Dietrich brought with him on his flight. And in these three groups there were no less than ten thousand knightswhich would give Dietrich 7,000 knights; seems rather too much to me and a great lot of other people.

The giant Aspilian owned many estates in this Langobardenland. He was as big and strong as before36,45 and unpleasant to deal with. He had a large treasure because people didn’t dare to refuse him anything he wanted.

The monks owned a rich estate, but Aspilian took possession. The abbot sent monks to the giant, and he said he had more rights to the estate than the monks. The monks replied that the estate had been given to them for God’s sake.

Then Aspilian said: Appoint a man to fight me. When I lose the estate is yours, when I win it’s mine. This is the law of the land: where two men have a conflict over something, they shall fight a duelholmgang. The monks could do nothing because the giant followed the law, but they didn’t know which man would fight such a strong giant.

They informed the abbot, who told all monks and said that they would have to let the estate go if they did not find a suitable man. The monks were displeased and sent men far and wide to find someone who would fight the giant, but found no one.