The Gesta Danorum (Books I-IX) on Hardgrep
The Danish History, > Book One.
attestation: Hardgrep, daughter of Wagnhofde, tried to seduce the young Hadding, arguing she deserved his first marriage bed as his foster-mother.
"Hardgrep, daughter of Wagnhofde, tried to enfeeble his firm spirit with her lures of love, contending and constantly averring that he ought to offer the first dues of the marriage bed in wedlock with her"
attestation: Hardgrep sang to Hadding, urging him to abandon warfare for love and reminding him she had nursed him.
"Why doth thy life thus waste and wander? Why dost thou pass thy years unwed, following arms, thirsting for throats?"
attestation: Hardgrep claimed she could change her size at will, shrinking to human form or expanding to giant height.
"I change my bodily outline in twofold wise, and am wont to enjoin a double law upon my sinews"
attestation: Hardgrep won Hadding's embraces and followed him in man's attire when he sought to return to his own land.
"she obtained the embraces of Hadding; and her love for the youth burned so high that when she found him desirous of revisiting his own land, she did not hesitate to follow him in man's attire"
attestation: Hardgrep carved dreadful spells on wood and placed them under a dead man's tongue, forcing the corpse to speak a prophecy.
"she graved on wood some very dreadful spells, and caused Hadding to put them under the dead man's tongue; thus forcing him to utter, with the voice so given, a strain terrible to hear"
comparison: Hardgrep compared herself to Proteus in her ability to shift between shapes.
"He who knows of Proteus should not marvel at me. My shape never stays the same"
attestation: During their journey, Hardgrep and Hadding entered a dwelling where funeral rites were being conducted.
"she chanced to enter in his company, in order to pass the night, a dwelling, the funeral of whose dead master was being conducted with melancholy rites"
attestation: The raised dead man prophesied that demons would attack them in a grove and that Hardgrep would perish for her rash necromancy.
"the woman who hath made the wretched ghost come back hither, crushed by her own guilt, shall appease our dust; she shall be dust herself"
attestation: A giant hand appeared in their forest shelter; Hardgrep expanded her limbs to grip it, and Hadding hewed it off.
"a hand of extraordinary size was seen to wander over the inside of the dwelling. Terrified at this portent, Hadding entreated the aid of his nurse. Then Hardgrep, expanding her limbs and swelling to a mighty bigness, gripped the hand fast and held it to her foster-child to hew off"
attestation: Hardgrep was torn to pieces by her giant kindred as punishment for helping Hadding.
"she paid the penalty of this act, presently being torn in pieces by her kindred of the same stock"