The Song of Eric
It was once seen as a valuable source for Migration Period history, but is now regarded as inauthentic fakelore created during the 16th century.
The Song of Eric deals with Eric, the first king of Geatland (fyrsti konunger i Götalandinu vidha). He sent a troop of Geats southward to a country named Vetala, where no one had yet cultivated the land. In their company was a wise man who was to uphold the law. Finally, a king named Humli set his son Dan to rule the settlers, and after Dan, Vetala was named Denmark.
The song was first published in a Latin translation in Johannes Magnus' Historia de omnibus gothorum sueonumque regibus (1554). He states that the original song was widely sung in Sweden at the time.
Read more about this topic: Dan (king)
Famous quotes containing the word song:
“Half of my life is gone, and I have let
The years slip from me and have not fulfilled
The aspiration of my youth, to build
Some tower of song with lofty parapet.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)