Gripla - 01.01.1975, Page 61

MANIFESTATIONS OF RAGNARS SAGA LOÐBRÓKÁR 57
probability written as an introduction to Ragnars saga.53 Against this,
de Vries argues principally that if Völsunga saga had been written as
an introduction to Ragnars saga, the author of Völsunga saga would
not have included in it, as he does, material which is quite unrelated
to Ragnarr loðbrók, such as the stories about Helgi Hundingsbani and
Jörmunrekr.54 Even if Áslaug is regarded as the true protagonist of
Ragnars saga, and the two sagas together are regarded as a single
long Völsunga saga, as Bjarni would have it, it has to be admitted
that, in its use of material not directly related to the dynastic theme,
Völsunga saga differs somewhat from Ynglinga saga and Skjöldunga
saga, both of which Bjarni sees as possible models for the long Völs-
unga saga he posits.55
de Vries goes on to develop quite convincingly a view which takes
as its starting-point a consideration with which Bjami agrees, namely
that Ragnars saga originally existed independently of Völsunga saga.
If this is accepted, says de Vries, then it has to be admitted that
Chapter II of the 1824 b text of Ragnars saga shows every indication
of marking the original beginning of the saga. This chapter, which
deals with Ragnarr’s slaying of the serpent in Gautland, begins in tme
saga-fashion with the following sentences: ‘HeRuþr het iarll rikr ok
agetr a Gautlandi. Hann var kvongadr. Dottir hans het Þora,’56 etc.
Chapter I of this same text, on the other hand, begins in a manner
which presupposes a knowledge on the reader’s part of certain of the
characters and events of Völsunga saga, and does not tie up logically
with events dealt with in subsequent chapters of Ragnars saga. The
content of this first chapter may be briefly summarized as follows:
Heimir of Hlymdalir, the foster-father of Brynhildr Buðladóttir, re-
ceives the news that Sigurðr and Brynhildr are dead. Heimir, who is
also the foster-father of Brynhildr’s three-year old daughter by Sig-
urðr, Áslaug, now resolves to save the latter from all possible future
harm. He hides her with some treasure in a skilfully made harp, sets
out with her on a long journey, and eventually arrives in Norway,
53 See Eugen Mogk, Geschichte der nonvegische-islandischen Literatur, 2. Auf-
lage (1904), 843.
54 See de Vries (1915), 188-89.
55 See Guðnason (1969), 35.
58 See Olsen, 116.