THE SCENE: Since nothing in Norse Sagas is done with half-measures, even the hero Sigurd’s harp-playing is powerful enough to literally rock the room.
THE TEXT: King Godmund sat in the high seat with the bridegroom by his side. The tale doesn’t say how the chieftains were placed, but it’s said that Sigurd played the harp before the bride and her ladies. When the ale for the memorial toast was brought in, Sigurd played so well that men said that his like would never be found, but he said that it wasn’t worth notice at the beginning. The king asked him not to quit. And when the ale blessed to Thor was brought in, Sigurd struck up a tune again. Everything that was loose began to stir, knives and dishes and everything that no one was holding.
Then the ale for the toast to Odin was brought in. Sigurd opened up the harp, which was so large that a man could stand up straight in its belly; it was all worked with gold. He picked up white gloves, embroidered with gold. He struck up the tune called “Headdress Blower”, and all the headdresses flew off the women and danced above the cross-beam. The women and all the men jumped up, and not a thing there stayed still.
When that toast was drunk, the ale that was blessed to Freyja came in and that one had to be drunk last. Sigurd touched the string that lay across the other strings, and told the king to prepare for “The Powerful Tune.” This startled the king so much that he leaped up, and so did the bridegroom and the bride. No one danced more nimbly than they did, and this went on for a long time.
– The Saga of Bosi and Herraud, 14th Century AD
