A Comparison Of Volund And Hrolf Kraki

Before Christianity permeated European cultures, polytheist religion was central to society. This religion consisted, as all do, of stories meant to teach societal values and important lessons. Thus, many of these tales, including “The Saga of the Volsungs,” “The Lay of Volund,” and Hrolf Kraki, had similar patterns and themes. However, as the culture started transitioning to Christianity, its stories began transitioning as well. Thus, there are often two very similar tales that “originate” from two different locations. Older stories are often heroic, meaning that a large consideration is in the success of a family or group, rather than an individual. The people of these stories valued family more than marriage. Conversely, chivalric tales

emphasize the rule of law, such as marriage law, which means that marital relationships are prioritized over familial ones. People no longer focused on their clans, but instead on their kings. Both types of stories speak to the hierarchical structure and values of the cultures at the time, which shows the transition that values from the south had on the people living in the north.
In “The Lay of Volund,” the reader is introduced to three Finnish brothers making their home in Sweden. The start of this story alone shows the value put on family by people living in the north. Kinship was highly emphasized by society because the survival of the group as a whole was more important than any one member, which means “Volund” is a heroic tale (Office Hours 12/13/2017). Volund was a very skilled smith, and after being captured, the Swedish king at the time, Nidud, forced Volund to be his own person smith by cutting his hamstrings. In the end, Volund raped Nidud’s daughter, Bodvild, and made wings so he could fly back to his homeland (Poems of the Elder Edda). Bodvild stays faithful to her family, despite having the connection to Volund of being the mother of his child, once again emphasizing the importance of family and kinship.
“Velent,” is a story traced to south of Scandinavia.

The storyline starts much earlier in the character’s life. There is an aspect of the heroic pattern to the story, since Velent’s father dies, leaving him to come of age alone. However, the story does not follow many of the other aspects of the heroic pattern identified by Lord, nor those by Raglan (Lecture 09/26, 28/2017; Theorizing About Myth). Velent is taken in by the king, Nidung, and is appointed as a personal knife-watcher for the king. Much more of this story centers on Nidung and the relationship Velent has with the king, showing the transition from importance of family to importance of kings. This makes “Velent” a more chivalric tale (Office Hours 12/13/2017). Velent eventually goes through similar experiences to Volund, in that he rapes Nidung’s daughter and flies away to safety. However, after Nidung dies and his son succeeds him, Volund returns so he may be part of his son’s life, and can be a proper husband to Nidung’s daughter (“Velent” PDF reading). This close to the story shows the significance placed on marriages by people of the south, and the influence of Christianity on their values, since Christianity strongly promotes the sanctity of

marriage.
Examples of the shift from familial to marital values can also be found in “The Saga of the Volsungs” when comparing it to Niebelungenlied. In the former, Sigurd is killed in bed, and Gudrun protects her brothers, despite their killing her husband. In its German counterpart, Niebelungenlied, Sigfried is killed on a hunting trip and Kriemhild is so angered that she takes revenge on her brothers because they killed him (Lecture 11/21/2017). Of the stories, “The Saga of the Volsungs” places a lot of importance on familial relations, as Gudrun continues to fight with her brothers against the new husband she does not love, and she tries to protect them and warn them of danger. Niebelungenlied shows the shift that has begun to take place in society by Kriemhild prioritizing her marriage over her family. Not only does this parallel with the values of Christianity, it shows that the societal structure has changed as well. Instead of one’s family or home village having the utmost power over one’s life and actions, people were becoming more independent and placed their own individual marriages above their blood relations, which began to have a lessor place in society. With this shift, it seems plausible that a shift of power to the husband rather than father or brother may have happened as well, since it was a consistently patriarchal society throughout the transition. Although it will not be discussed, the difference between the heroic story Beowulf and the chivalric “Hrolf Kraki” stories also shows this transition.
Each of these myths individually represent the important transition that took place in Scandinavia between approximately the tenth and fourteenth centuries (Office Hours 12/13/2017). Society changes as values do, which means that the stories teaching values change as well. As Christianity made its way from the south to the north, its lessons influenced the tales told by the people who believed in it, so new values were promoted, and new stories evolved. This phenomenon can be seen in “The Lay of Volund” highlighting the importance of family while “Velent” emphasizes the importance of marriage. With the coming of Christianity and changing societal values came a shift in heroic stories to chivalric ones.
In modern society, many of the same patterns that are seen throughout myths can be found in popular culture.

For example, the seven books of Harry Potter include most aspects of the heroic pattern as defined by Albert Lord and Milman Parry. This shows that society still values the idea of everyday people being able to make a difference and rise to challenges. The heroic pattern is one that people relate to, and people aspire to be like the heroes they know the stories of, as these people embody many of the values of society – courage, kindness, intelligence, forgiveness, and stamina. The main character in this particular modern heroic story, Harry Potter, possesses all of these principles, and he fits the heroic pattern identified by Albert Lord. First, he is orphaned as an infant. His challenge is to defeat Lord Voldemort, who singled him out while he was a baby due to a prophecy and killed his parents while attempting to kill him. He is mainly helped by Albus Dumbledore, a wise, old, cunning wizard. Harry must go on a quest to find all of the horcruxes that must be destroyed in order to defeat Voldemort. While he is retrieving a horcrux with Dumbledore, the latter dies. Eventually, Harry defeats Voldemort, and he is celebrated throughout the wizarding world. This story fits six out of seven requirements of heroic oral epic theory proposed by Lord and Parry. Harry does borrow equipment, but that is not a central part of the story, nor is it from divinity (Structure

Patterns handout). This modern, written story holds many of the aspects of highly regarded oral tales, which shows that despite all of the changes humanity has undergone in the years since oral stories were at their peak, we are still enthralled by the same basic ideas. Despite the technological advances, the religious changes, and the political disagreements, we are connected to our ancestors by more than just genetics. What we all truly idolize in others has been steadfast, which can be seen through the similarities between heroes today and heroes from years ago.