Gripla - 01.01.1995, Blaðsíða 168

166
GRIPLA
lvcianvs *spurdi [sv Sth. 2, sagde AM 667] hvat þetta merkti þa
svaradi Gamaliel þetta erv helg/r donw vorer Sa er ravdar rosor
hef/> þat er vor herra hinn helgi stephanvs er hvilir til hægri
handar j avstr att fra havgs dyrvm en an/zar kistill er nichodemvs
sa er hvilir j gegn dyrvm. Enn hin// silfrligi kistill er abibas son
min er hreinlifr andadizt ok af þvi syndr silfri biartare med
godvm ilm en// hn/m hvilir j enni somv steinþ/o sem ek
(46val8-32; Hms 299:29-300:1; AM 661:14rl8-14vll)
The dream is bipartite, consisting of the vision and its explication.
The two parts are joined by a transitional sentence containing Lucia-
nus’s request for an interpretation. Three of the texts (Sth. 15, Sth. 2,
and AM 661) share an inconsistency: Lucianus is shown four caskets,
but the contents of only three are explained. One of the caskets con-
taining white roses (flowers) is superfluous, since the four bodies rest
in three caskets, and this is in harmony with the account Gamaliel
gave Lucianus about the burial. One of the caskets is of bright silver,
and this is explained as symbolizing Abibas’s virginity. In the vision, as
reported in Sth. 15, Sth. 2, and AM 661, not only the numbers are
flawed, since one casket is left unaccounted for, but also the symbol-
ism, for if Gamaliel, Abibas’s father, who is not a virgin, rests next to
his son in the silver casket, then silver as representative of virginity is
an imperfect metaphor, since it is applicable only to one of the bodies
in the coffin.
The text in AM 655 XIV transmits the faulty symbolism, but the
scribe must have realized either that the number of caskets contradic-
ted the account of the entombment of the saints or that one casket was
left unaccounted for, and thus he corrected the number of golden cas-
kets in the manuscript - as Widding pointed out (p. 154) - from three
to two, and the total number of caskets to three. Widding concluded
(p. 154): „Forlægget har utvivlsomt nævnt 4 Skrin ialt, tre Guldskrin og
et Splvskrin ligesom Holm 2 fol. (29931) og Homil. (20211 [=Sth. 15]).“
Widding did not account for the revised numbers, but the explanation
is simple: the scribe attempted to reconcile the vision with the facts of
burial reported earlier by Gamaliel. His intervention in the text was
not thorough enough, however, for he failed to realize that once there
were only two gold caskets he needed to make an additional change.
As the text stands, the snow simile applies to the gold caskets, and the