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The main outlines of Halfdan's saga reappears related as history, and more or less blended with foreign elements, in Saxo's accounts of the kings Gram, Halfdan Berggram, and Halfdan Borgarson (see No. 23). Contributions to the saga are found in Hyndluljod (str. 14, 15, 16) and in Skaldskaparmal (Younger Edda, i. 516 ff.), in what they tell about Halfdan Skjoldung and Halfdan the Old. The juvenile adventures of the hero have, with some modifications, furnished the materials for both the songs about Helge Hundingsbane, with which Saxo's story of Helgo Hundingicida (Hist., 80–110) and Volsungasaga's about Helge Sigmundson are to be compared. The Grotte-song also (str. 22) identifies Helge Hundingsbane with Halfdan.

For the history of the origin of the existing heroic poems from mythic sources, of their relation to these and to each other, it is important to get the original identity of the hero-myth, concerning Halfdan and the heroic poems concerning Helge Hundingsbane, fixed on a firm foundation. The following parallels suffice to show that this Helge is a later time's reproduction of the mythic Halfdan:

Halfdan-Gram, sent on a warlike expedition, meets Groa, who is mounted on horseback and accompanied by other women on horseback (Saxo, 26, 27).	Helge Hundingsbane, sent on a warlike expedition, meets Sigrun, who is mounted on horseback and is accompanied by other women on horseback (Helge Hund., i. 16; Volsungasaga, c. 9).
The meeting takes place in a forest (Saxo, 26). Halfdan-Gram is on the occasion completely wrapped in the skin of a wild beast, so that even his face is concealed (Saxo, 26).	The meeting takes place in a forest (Vols., c. 9). Helge is on the occasion disguised. He speaks frá úlfidi "from a wolf guise" (Helge Hund., i. 16), which expression finds its interpretation in Saxo, where Halfdan appears wrapped in the skin of a wild beast.
Conversation is begun between Halfdan-Gram and Groa. Halfdan pretends to be a person who is his brother-at-arms (Saxo, 27).	Conversation is begun between Helge and Sigrun. Helge pretends to be a person who is his foster-brother (Helge Hund., ii. 6).
Groa asks Halfdan-Gram: Quis, rogo, vestrum dirigit agmen, quo duce signa bellica fertis? (Saxo, 27.)	Sigrun asks Helge: Hverir lata fljota fley vid backa, hvar hermegir heima eigud? (Helge Hund., ii. 5.)
Halfdan-Gram invites Groa to accompany him. At first the invitation is refused (Saxo, 27).	Helge invites Sigrun to accompany him. At first the invitation is rebuked (Helge Hund., i. 16, 17).
Groa's father had already given her hand to another (Saxo, 26).	Sigrun's father had already promised her to another (Helge Hund., i. 18).
Halfdan-Gram explains that this rival ought not to cause them to fear (Saxo, 28).	Helge explains that this rival should not cause them to fear (Helge Hund., i., ii.).
Halfdan-Gram makes war on Groa's father, on his rival, and on the kinsmen of the latter (Saxo, 32).	Helge makes war on Sigrun's father, on his rival, and on the kinsmen of the latter (Helge Hund., i., ii.).
Halfdan-Gram slays Groa's father and betrothed, and many heroes who belonged to his circle of kinsmen or were subject to him (Saxo, 32).	Helge kills Sigrun's father and suitors, and many heroes who were the brothers or allies of his rival (Helge Hund., ii.).
Halfdan-Gram marries Groa (Saxo, 33).	Helge marries Sigrun (Helge Hund., i. 56).
Halfdan-Gram conquers a king Ring (Saxo, 32).	Helge conquers Ring's sons (Helge Hund., i. 52).
Borgar's son has defeated and slain king Hunding (Saxo, 362; cp. Saxo, 337).	Helge has slain king Hunding, and thus gotten the name Hundingsbane (Helge Hund., i. 10).
Halfdan-Gram has felled Svarin and many of his brothers. Svarin was viceroy under Groa's father (Saxo, 32).	Helge's rival and the many brothers of the latter dwell around Svarin's grave-mound. They are allies or subjects of Sigrun's father.
Halfdan-Gram is slain by Svipdag, who is armed with an Asgard weapon (Saxo, 34, to be compared with other sources. See Nos. 33, 98, 101, 103).	Helge is slain by Dag, who is armed with an Asgard weapon (Helge Hund., ii.).
Halfdan-Berggram's father is slain by his brother Frode, who took his kingdom (Saxo, 320).	Helge's father was slain by his brother Frode, who took his kingdom (Rolf Krake's saga).
Halfdan Berggram and his brother were in their childhood protected by Regno (Saxo, 320).	Helge and his brother were in their childhood protected by Regin (Rolf Krake's saga).
Halfdan Berggram and his brother burnt Frode to death in his house (Saxo, 323).	Helge and his brothers burnt Frode to death in his house (Rolf Krake's saga).
Halfdan Berggram as a youth left the kingdom to his brother and went warfaring (Saxo, 320 ff).	Helge Hundingsbane as a youth left the kingdom to his brother and went warfaring (Saxo, 80).
During Halfdan's absence Denmark is attacked by an enemy, who conquers his brother in three battles and slays him in a fourth (Saxo, 325).	During Helge Hundingsbane's absence Denmark is attacked by an enemy, who conquers his brother in three battles and slays him in a fourth (Saxo, 82).
Halfdan, the descendant of Scef and Scyld, becomes the father of Rolf (Beowulf poem).	Helge Hundingsbane became the father of Rolf (Saxo, 83; compare Rolf Krake's saga).
Halfdan had a son with his own sister Yrsa (Grotte-song, 22; mon Yrsu sonr vid Half-dana hefna Froda; sa mun hennar heitinn vertha börr oc bróthir).	Helge Hundingsbane had a son with his own sister Ursa (Saxo, 82). The son was Rolf (compare Rolf Krake's saga).

A glance at these parallels is sufficient to remove every doubt that the hero in the songs concerning Helge Hundingsbane is originally the same mythic person as is celebrated in the song or songs from which Saxo gathered his materials concerning the kings, Gram Skjoldson, Halfdan Berggram, and Halfdan Borgarson. It is the ancient myth in regard to Halfdan, the son of Skjold-Borgar, which myth, after the introduction of Christianity in Scandinavia, is divided into two branches, of which the one continues to be the saga of this patriarch, while the other utilises the history of his youth and transforms it into a new saga, that of Helge Hundingsbane. In Saxo's time, and long before him, this division into two branches had already taken place. How this younger branch, Helge Hundingsbane's saga, was afterwards partly appropriated by the all-absorbing Sigurdsaga and became connected with it in an external and purely genealogical manner, and partly did itself appropriate (as in Saxo) the old Danish local tradition about Rolf, the illegitimate son of Halfdan Skjoldung, and, in fact, foreign to his pedigree; how it got mixed with the saga about an evil Frode and his stepsons, a saga with which it formerly had no connection;—all these are questions which I shall discuss fully in a second part of this work, and in a separate treatise on the heroic sagas. For the present, my task is to show what influence this knowledge of Halfdan and Helge Hundingsbane's identity has upon the interpretation of the myth concerning the antiquity of the Teutons.