Lögberg-Heimskringla - 04.06.1970, Blaðsíða 4

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LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 4. JÚNÍ 1970
Lögberg-Heimskringlo
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Njala And Laxdaela
by ROBERT JOHANNSON
The Penguin Classics’ series
has recently published the Lax-
daela Saga in a new translation
by Magnus Magnusson and Her-
mann Palsson. These two excel-
lent translators have managed a
translation that is exceptionally
readaible while at the same time
retaining much of the subtlety
of the original. They have also
translated for Penguin Classics,
Nj'al’s Slaga, King Haralds Saga,
and The Vinland Sagas.
Njal’s Saga and Laxdaela Saga
are generally considered among
the greatest of the family sagas.
Th!ey weire both written in the
Thirteenth Century by anony-
mous authors and deal with the
saga period of the late Tenth and
early Eleventh Centuries, the
period of the settlement and the
conversion.
Njal’s Saga tells the story of a
blood feud from its minor be-
ginnings through the finai death
of the hero, Gunnar of Hlidarend,
and of the sage, Njal, to dts final
end when Kari, Njal’s son-in-law,
f i n a 11 y is reconciled to Flosi
Thordarson the leader of the men
who burnt Njal and bis sons to
death.
The Laxdaela Saga is a story
of the doomed love of Kjartan
Oiafsson a n d Gudrun Osvif’s
daughter, that eventually results
m the death of both Kjartan and
his best friend Bolli, after Bolli
marries Gudrun While Kj'artan is
away in Norway.
In this essay I have tried to
bring out a few of the more in-
teresting elements of the two
sagas. As a result I have concen-
trated on the literary questions
rather than the more scholarly
questions of sources, authorship,
and historical accuracy.
The sagas are historícal.
They purport to state what
happened in the past. But
they are interested in more
than merely recording past
events. They are not chroni-
cles.
The historiam is concerned
with the society in general,
with the great movements
that shake the society. When
we read Ari the Learned we
see that he concentrates on
the settlement of Iceland, the
discovery of Greenland, the
coming of Christianity, and
the men that were lawspeak-
ers. These are things that are
important to the society as a
whole.
The writers of the sagas are
also concerned with this
aspect of history. In Njal's
Saga and Laxdaela Saga both
authors discuss the coming of
Christianity; they both men-
tion the settlement; they both
stop at times to give the ety-
mology of place names. In
this sense, that they mention
major historical events, they
are historical.
But they are historical in a
more modern sense. The mod-
ern historian has tended to
take more of a sociological
look at history. He is inter
ested in social institutions;
how they work and how they
chamge. Ari gives us a list of
the lawspeakers, but very
little idea of how the law
worked. Whem we turm to
Njal's Saga we fimd that it is
about the law ais a social in
stitution, not just who the
lawspeakers were or what the
laws were, but rather how
the law affected people; how
the law worked when people
brought their conflicts to it.
Throughout the saga we
have on the one hamd the com-
flict betweem those who are
clever lawyers amd attempt to
avoid respomsibility by a clev-
er mamipulatiom of the law
and on the other hand those
who try to avoid the Law by
resorting to force. The con-
frontation of Hrut amd Mord
Fiddle is a good example of
this. Mord Fiddle by his craft
tells Unn how to divorce
Hrut. When they come to the
Althingi, Mord Fiddle wants
all of the marriage settle-
ment. Hrut on his part is un-
willing to give it to him be-
cause it would include his
part of the settlement as well.
To avoid the legal decision
Hrut appeals to trial by com-
bat. Mord Friddle, of course,
is no match for him in a fight
and therefore backs down,
losing both parts of the mar-
rilage settlement. In this in-
stance neither side stands for
a just settlement. Through
manipulating the law Mord
Fiddle hopes to get it all. By
force Hrut mamages to keep
it all.
The inability of the Alth-
ingi and the law to come to
a just settlement in the case
of Hrut and Mord Fiddle is
merely one aspect of the
weakness of the law. When
we come to the blood feuds
we find that the law is help-
less to settle them. The money
that is given for the dead man
never provides an adequate
recompense and the killing
goes on. Njal’s Saga is histor-
ical in the sense that it deals
with the workings and weak-
nesses of al major social in-
stitution, the law.
The Laxdaela Saga on the
other hand is not concerned
with a social institution. It is
concerned with the land. It is
the story of Laxdaelir. As
such, it is closer to history in
the sense that a list of kings
is history; for it tells of who
controlled the land and how
the land changed hands. We
are told at the beginning of
how Unn the Deep-Minded
settled the land, and when
she dies we are told exactly
how the land is divided.
Njal's Saga on the other hand
begins its concem with the
law right at the beginning
with the story of Hrut and
Unn, and the battle over the
dowry. Whereas the settle-
ment is the importamt evemt
im the Laxdaela Saga because
it is closely concerned with
the land; the comimg of Chris-
tianity and the establishment
of the fifth court are impor-
tant events im Njal's Saga be-
cause of its concem for the
law.
Hrut is a character in both
of thé sagas, and his different
concems reflect the different
concerns of the authors. In
Njal's Saga he goes to Nor-
way for his inheritance and
the trip is important for it
results in the curse put on
him by the Queen of Norway
that disrupts his marriage.
This leads to the fight over
the marriage settlement. In
the Laxdaela Saga on the
other hand he comes from
Norway to Iceland to collect
his inheritance and it is am
iniheritance not of money or
chattels but of lamd. He is
concerned mainly with the
land.
The land becomes almost
an actor in the drama. It is
as though the land formed
the people and their fate. We
are told the story of Killer
Hrapp and how his ghost
seems to hang over the land.
It is finally at his old farm
that Gudrun and Bolli settle
and there seems to be a kind
of connection between their
fate and the land that they
live on. The story of the
freedman that Hrut settled on
the boundary between his
land and Hoskuld’s is rele
vant as a battle over the land.
For the basic conflict between
Hrut and Hoskuld is over the
land.
All we know of Bergthor’s
Knoll is that Njal lives there.
But if Njal's Saga is Jittle
concemed with the land, then
L a x d a e 1 a Saga is equally
little concerned with the law.
It does not portray any Alth-
ingi battles. The only event
that occurs at the Althingi is
the killing of Thorkel.
We can see then that both
the sagas are concemed with
history in more than simply
the sense that they discuss
events that are supposed to
have, in fact, happened. But
if the sagas are history, they
are also entertainment. They
are concerned not with the
abstraictions of land and law,
but with the people that lived
on the lamd amd the people
that tried to work the law.
The cemtre of Njal's Saga is
the buming of Njal, just as
the centre of Laxdaela Saga
is the killing of Kjartam by
Bolli. The centre of the saga
is the fate of individuals
rather than the society. Both
are concemed with the forces
that drive people into strange
crimes. They are stories as
much as they are history.
Because it is primarily con-
cemed with individuals, the
saga becomes involved in the
problems of conflict and mo-
tivation. One of the hardest
things to grasp immediately
in these sagas is the family re-
lationships that are involved,
but they are one of the more
importamt parts, for mamy of
the struggles involve conflict-
ing loyalties. Thus Ketil of
Mork is sworn to avenge Hos-
kuld Hvitaness Priest, but he
is also married to Njal’s
daughter. Perhaps one of the
strangest things is how Gunn-
ar and Njal remain friends
while their wives are engaged
in a blood feud. Loyalty to
friend amd family become ’as
destructive as the pride amd
greed that start most of the
b a 111 e s . For the otherwise
good characters are drawm
imto the struggle by the need
to avenge their friends and
relatives.
The personal motives that
start the feuds are generally
pride and greed. The men are
proud and they will kilt any-
one that insults them. Gunm-
ar kills Otkel in the Ranjg
River b a 111 e after he is
wounded by one of Otkel’s
spurs. But in the main this
pride and desire for revenge
is held in cheek by a sense
of prudence and greed. Gunn-
ar and Njal are willing to set-
tle for a cash settlement in
the killings. Grim’s relatives
seem even more interested in
the money than they are in
The women in the sagas are
seldom persuaded from their
desire for revenge, and their
pride is a constant source of
conflict. It is Hallgerd’s pride
and Berthora’s insult that
starts the feud between them.
Once it is begun neither of
them is willing to put an end
to it. They constantly- goad
the men until there is re-
venge. When Hoskuld Njals-
son is killed, his mother
Hrodny demamds a blood re-
venge by bringing the dead

Saga translations by Magnús Magnússon
and Hermann Pálsson