Comparison of Runes and Magic in Beowulf and the King's Saga Hrolf KrakiThere are runes and magic in the narratives of the poem Beowulf and the King's Saga Hrolf Kraki, an Icelandic saga representing 1000 years of oral traditions before 1300 when it was written. Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon narrative poem whose oral traditions date back to the 6th century (Ward v1,ch3,s3,n11). Beowulf opens with a brief account of the victorious Danish king Scyld Scefing, whose pagan ship burial is described. His body was transported aboard a ship, loaded with weapons and treasures: the ship passed out into the sea, from where Scyld had come to the Danes as an abandoned child - a probable indication of an enchanted and magical life. In the Saga of King Hrolf Kraki we meet Yrsa (also found in Beowulf), who is a poor child of uncertain birth (Byock xi); she will later become queen: another charmed life. But, surprisingly, she becomes one of the few women in the saga not to use magic. In Beowulf the reigns of Scyld's son and grandson, Beowulf and Healfdene are mentioned, and then we meet Hrothgar, Healfdene's son. In the Saga of King Hrolf Kraki we also meet a Hrothgar, but his name is shortened to Hroar. He and his brother Helgi saw their father, King Halfdan, killed by King Frodi, who would have killed the two sons if not for the magic of the commoner Vifil with whom they were hiding. King Frodi, in his attempt to kill them, “sought the help of seers and soothsayers” and, when that failed, “sorcerers” (2). But Vifil's magic was so strong that it obscured the supernatural vision of women (witches?); Vifil knew that “powerful spirits visited the island [where he lived] (3) and thus saved Helgi and Hroar. Subsequently Hroar ​​is a notable figure, much like in Beowulf, who rules the northern English kingdom of Northumberland until forced into a disastrous conflict. Meanwhile, as children, Hroar ​​and Helgi's sister Signy display an extraordinary poetic ability to speak in beautiful verse when Jarl Saevil escorts a group to King Frodi's celebration; It seems magical to me. At Frodi's banquet a seer named Heid is placed high on a trance platform and asked to reveal any information about Hroar ​​and Helgi.