Gripla - 01.01.1975, Qupperneq 44

40
GRIPLA
sögu eru því miður svo ung, að niðurstaðan er til einskis gagns að
þessu leyti. Elzta uppskrift dansins er eldri. En á hinn bóginn gefur
niðurstaðan til kynna, að dansar um norræn yfirnáttúrleg efni hafi
naumast verið jafn ókunnir á íslandi við lok miðalda og ætla mætti af
þögn ritaðra heimilda um þá.
SUMMARY
This article reviews the problem of the relationship between the fornaldarsaga
and the ballad about Illugi Gríðarfóstri, kappen Ulugjen. In 1910 Knut Liestpl
reached the conclusion that the ballad must be based on the fornaldarsaga in its
present or a similar form.
The inter-relationship of fornaldarsögur and ‘trollvisor’ is a field of study in
which facts are hard to establish. It was therefore natural that Liestpl’s conclusion
became a rather important fixed point in the formation of his and other’s opinions
on these matters in general.
This is not a detailed summary of the article. Much is left out. But it is hoped
that the following brief re-statement in English of its main findings may be of
use to some readers.
There is no doubt that the fornaldarsaga and the ballad are made of the same
story-matter. In their development of this material, however, they differ in some
important points. Contrary to previous opinion which has accepted the saga as the
earliest of the two, these differences are here found to show that the ballad gives
us the story closer to its original form and that in comparison the version of the
legend in the fornaldarsaga is clearly derivative.
Saxo Grammaticus’ account of Thorkillus’ (Þorkell aðalfari’s) second joumey to
the magical North is of key importance in this connection. It contains the story of
the ‘three truths’ which the hero has to utter to giants that dwell in a cave in return
for the fire needed by his companions. This tale, which is one of the elements in
the Illugi legend, helps us to see how the ballad and the saga are constructed. The
Ulugi legend appears to be a combination of two different tales grafted on to each
other: 1. The tale of the fire and the three truths. 2. A simple folktale about the
rescuing of a princess from a giantess who keeps her in captivity. The essential
features of these two tales in combination constitute what amounts to a correct
synopsis of the story told in the Illugi ballad.
As to the fornaldarsaga, a critical look at its composition, particularly the ways
in which it differs from the ballad, produces further evidence for the conclusion
that the simpler tale of the ballad is the (more) original one and that the more
complex tale of the fornaldarsaga must be derived from it.