Spangarheath

Spangarheath is the poor steading in Norway where the harp-bearer is murdered and the child Aslaug is found — a small cruel place at the root of the Ragnar legend's romance. Here a poverty-stricken old couple murder the wandering harper for the gold he carries, and find inside his great harp a beautiful little girl — Aslaug, the hidden daughter of Sigurd and Brynhild — whom they raise as their own soot-smeared drudge, hiding her royal blood. From this mean steading the cinder-girl will rise to become Ragnar's wise queen. Spangarheath is the saga's image of the humble place that hides a hero's child — the poor Norwegian steading of murder and concealment where the daughter of the two greatest figures of legend is kept disguised in rags, until a passing king sees through them.