Gripla - 01.01.1975, Page 58

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GRIPLA
assume, is to allow for the possibility of the material from Skjöld-
unga saga reaching the 147 text of Ragnars saga if not directly, or
through an intermediate link on the direct line, then by way of
Ragnarssona þáttr and X. Nevertheless, one feels that the right-hand
downward line ought to be rather more tentatively drawn—not least
in view of the close verbal similarities, pointed out by Olsen, between
the þáttr and the 147 text of Ragnars saga.41
Bjarni’s stated reason for introducing X into the stemma is that the
versions of Ragnars saga reflected in 1824 b and 147 ‘can hardly
have direct literary relations with each other’ (‘geta naumast haft bein
rittengsl’).42 By this Bjami presumably means that, in view of the
differences between the versions as they are reflected in the texts, and
in spite of their similarities, neither one of them can have directly
influenced the other, and that a common source, X, must therefore be
assumed for them both. Now since, in Bjarni’s expressed opinion, 147
had a ‘more original’ (‘upprunalegri’) text than 1824 b, in addition to
the material inherited from Skjöldunga saga,43 it would seem to be
obvious that, unless he is using the adjective upprunalegur in a sense
not exclusively textual, Bjarni regards X as more faithfully represen-
ted in 147—for all its fragmentary state—than in 1824 b. This im-
pression is somewhat upset, however, by a sentence following on soon
afterwards from the ones already quoted, in which Bjarni writes as
follows: ‘We assume that there was very little difference between X
and the 1824 b text, as 147 testifies’ (‘Gert er ráð fyrir litlum muni á
X og Rs. í 1824 b, eins og 147 ber vitni um’).44 The first half of this
very unclear sentence momentarily gives the impression that in Bjami’s
opinion the 1824b text and X were virtually identical; and if this were
the case it would mean, of course, that the shorter, pithier text of
147 would have to be explained by the view that abridgement took
place at some point on the line leading from X to 147. The second
half of Bjarni’s sentence, however, ‘as 147 testifies’ (‘eins og 147 ber
vitni um’) suggests the meaning that the 1824 b text of Ragnars saga
41 See the reference given in note 35 above.
42 Guðnason (1969), 32.
« Guðnason (1969), 32.
44 Guðnason (1969), 32.