Gripla - 01.01.1990, Blaðsíða 199

THE NEGLECTED GENRE OF RÍMUR-DERIVED PROSE
195
tas rímur is one of about only a dozen rímur which can be said to be
derived from an ævintýri,33
Dating the composition of Jónatas rímur unfortunately supplies only
a very early terminus post quem for the saga. The presence of a final
unstressed syllable in end rhyme (mannsönginn/menn 1,9.1,3; hann sig/
merkil/g 1,37.1,3; frijda hring/ouirding 1,62.1,3; hrædih'g/pijneR mig
II, 18.3,4) probably indicates a composition for the poem no earlier
than around 1550, as does the rhyming of i and y (e.g. dylia/skilia
1,12.2,4; neytÍR/beiter/veiter 111,22.1-3; þýdum/lydum/fridum
III, 46.1-3).
Since the narrative content of the rímur versions is so fixed by the
meter, one would expect to encounter difficulty in placing the saga in
the rímur tradition. However, the name of the hero’s father in the
saga, which is given there as Golifriddus, indicates that Lbs. 990, 4to
could not be the source, since it gives the king’s name as Golferius, as
opposed to Golifridus in AM 605, 4to and as Golefrijdus in AM 612g,
4to. In addition, Lbs. 990, 4to omits numerous stanzas, among which
are several containing information used in the saga (11,11; 111,18;
111,22). AM 612g, 4to leaves out a half stanza at 11,45.1-2 with the im-
portant fact that Jonatas returns to his mother, but this information is
to be found in the saga (165,22-23). Near the end of the rímur, AM
612g, 4to reverses two stanzas (111,42-43), but this is not reflected in
the derived prose version (170,18-24). It would appear that the saga is
closly related to the vellum AM 605, 4to, but whether from this manu-
script directly or from earlier or later related versions cannot be said
with certainty.
The rímur is in turn indebted to a fifteenth-century ævintýri, but it is
obvious that JS 408, 8vo must be derived from the rímur and not from
one of the seven extant ævintýri manuscripts. First of all, there is no
striking verbal parallel between the saga and the ævintýri, which one
might reasonably expect between two related prose works. There are
several passages in JS 408, 8vo which deviate significantly from the
prose versions, but in each case these can be derived from the rímur.
During Jónatas’ trek from the end of the world, for example, the hero
in both the rímur and the saga is afflicted with leprosy after swimming
33 Björn K. Þórólfsson, Rímur fyrir 1600, p. 236.