Harald Foss - Heming og Harald kongen (Norwegian folk song)

Artist: Harald Foss

This is a Norwegian medieval ballad about a young man, Heming, and the Norwegian King Harald harđrádi (1015-1066 A.D). Heming has his own small norse saga (a þáttr) from the early middle ages called Hemingsþáttr, thats the roots for this ballad. There are also several versions of this ballad.

The ballad tells about King Harald, who was known as a very athletic man, bragging that no man can best him. One of his servants tells him there exist a warrior so fierce he can wring blood or water out of steel. Hearing this, king Harald is eager to meet him and he sails northwards to 'Aslaks land' to find him.
When Aslak sees the king arriving he asks his youngest son, Heming, to sit inside and drink mead together with the women; but Heming protests and says he is not a child anymore.

The next morning Heming meet the King and they compete in archery. The king tell Heming to hit a walnut laying on his brothers head, and Heming does so. After this and a few other challenges which all Heming succeeds at, King Harald is angry and gives Heming a set of impossible missions. He shall find a man without any relatives(living or dead), he shall light a light in a stream, and he shall revive a man at the bottom of the sea.

The King demands this and adds that Heming shall go skiing down the steep Snara-mountain. Heming says he is willing to do that, if the King will stand at the bottom of the mountain to watch him. King Harald agrees. Heming goes skiing down the mountain, fast, and just as he is about to pass the King he grabs him, making King Harald fall with his face first to the ground so hard his nose is buried in the soil. Heming skis away on his oak skis, and nobody has seen him since.

There is also another equally old ballad about Heming, called 'Hemingen og gygra' (Heming and the gýgr, i.e a female jotun). I have several versions of both ballads on my channel.