Gripla - 20.12.2004, Page 118

GRIPLA116
121. Um gƒngumanns erf›. Ef gƒnguma›r ver›r dau›r inni at manns
flá á sá ma›r flat fé at taka er inn hefir hann, bæ›i flat fé er hann hefir á
sér, ok svá flat er hann spyrr til at hann hafi átt (Grágás Ia:229–230).
On inheritance from a vagrant. If a vagrant dies in someone’s house,
then the man who is housing him has the right to take his property,
both what he has with him and what he learns he had [elsewhere]
(Dennis, Foote and Perkins 2000:11–12).
Ch. 249. Um austmanna arf hér á landi. Ef austma›r deyr út hér, sá er
hér á engi frænda. ... Ef austma›r andask í vist, flá á búandi sá er hon-
um veitti vist ef eigi er félagi til. (Grágás Ib:197)
On inheritance left here in Iceland by a man from overseas. If a man
from overseas who has no kinsman dies here in Iceland .... If a man
from overseas dies in a lodging, then the householder who gave him
lodging has the right to take what he leaves, as long as no partner
exists (Dennis, Foote and Perkins 2000:213–14).
These paragraphs nowhere mention gesterf› or gestir, but the essential idea is
identical to that in the gesterf› paragraph in Gulaflingslög. Individuals away
from home, engaged with the system of hospitality, are also entangled in the
system of inheritance. They are, whatever they may be called, potential
mediums for the transfer of goods. Thus we have one more positive associa-
tion with Tóki, who dies within the system of hospitality in such a way that he
might be such a medium, but without the label of gestr.
6. CONCLUSIONS
The past as guest is a complicated metaphor, it would seem, and the im-
portance of understanding it is perhaps not limited to the interpretation of these
specific narratives. Interpolations have been regarded rather like guests in later
manuscripts and texts. The metaphor of interpolation as guest has not to my
knowledge been made explicit, but designating an episode or detail as an
interpolation confers many of the same conceptual benefits described above,
benefits of separation and systematization, without the lexically-driven,
problematic associations with dubious members of the medieval hir›. The