Book 3: 'Arrow Odd'

APPENDIX D: HELGI 'ARROW ODD' WAS PRINCE OLEG OF KIEV

So the foretold death of Arrow Odd was by Witch Heid in Chapter 2 of his saga, whereas the whole tale of Oleg-Helgi's earlier prophesy and later death are told together in the year of 912 of the Chronicle. We must go to the start of Chapter 3 of Odd's tale to find out what happens next:

"Odd and Asmund took Faxi and bridled him and led him behind them until they came to a valley. There they dug a hole so deep, Odd had to struggle to get out of it. Then they killed Faxi and dumped him into the hole, and they brought the biggest stones they could find and poured them into the hole and packed gravel between the stones. Then they piled a mound atop the hole in which Faxi was buried. When they had completed their work, Odd said: 'I think that trolls shall be interfering if Faxi is ever seen again, and I think I have just now frustrated the fate that foretold of my death."

There is a slight difference in the handling of the horse in the Christian Rus' tale versus the Aesir Norse tale, but both versions seem to have overcome the prophesy. Now we must go to Chapter 36 of the saga to see what becomes of Odd:

"Odd now sailed out from Hrafnista until they came to Berurjod. Then he told his men to reef the sail. Odd went ashore with his troop and came to where Ingjald's farm had been, and it was now only ruins grown over with turf. He looked over the place and then said: "This is terrible to see, that the farm should be in ruins, instead of what it was before." He then went to where he and Asmund had practiced archery and where they had gone swimming, and then named off every landmark. And when his men had seen it all, he said, "Let us be on our way." Now they went down to the bay, and everywhere about the ground had been eroded. Odd said: "I think that now hopes are fading that Heid's prediction will ever happen, as the old witch saw for me long ago. But what is that, there?" Odd asked. "What lies there exposed? Is that not a horse's skull?"

"Yes," his men chimed in, "and extremely old and bleached, very big and all grey outside."

"Do you think it could be the skull of Faxi?" Odd prodded the skull with his spear shaft. The skull flipped over and an adder sprang forth and struck at Odd. The snake bit his leg above the boot, so that the venom worked at once, and his leg swelled up. The poison took Odd so fast that they had to lead him down to the sea. Odd sat down on a huge stone on the beach and said, "Now you must divide up into two groups. Forty men must stay next to me because I want to compose a drapa about my life and each of you must memorize a verse. The other forty must make me a stone coffin and drag it over here. They must lay a fire inside and burn up everything together when I am dead."

And, after Arrow Odd composed his drapa, he died, and his men did what was ordered. So, one can see very clearly that there is more to this pre-ordained death than a cursory one line statement that Experts often make when trying to gloss over the matching tales as mere coincidence.

There are other similarities in the stories of the two characters lives that lead me to believe they are one and the same man.

"6388-6390 (880-882). Oleg set forth, taking with him many warriors from among the Varangians, the Chuds, the Slavs, the Merians and all the Krivichians. He thus arrived with his Krivichians before Smolensk, captured the city, and set up a garrison there. Thence he went on and captured Lyubech, where he also set up a garrison.

"He then came to the hills of Kiev, and saw how Askold and Dir reigned there. He hid his warriors in the boats, left some others behind, and went forward himself bearing the child Igor'. He thus came to the foot of the Hungarian hill, and after concealing his troops, he sent messengers to Askold and Dir, representing himself as a stranger on his way to Greece on an errand for Oleg and for Igor', the prince's son, and requesting that they should come forth to greet them as members of their race. Askold and Dir straightway came forth.