Gripla - 01.01.1975, Qupperneq 115

ANTIPAGAN SENTIMENT IN THE SAGAS 111
The church of Skarð was later built on the place where the rowan
bush grew: ‘according to what we have heard wise men say’, says the
author of the þáttr. This passage reflects superstitions connected with
the rowan bush, which was sacred to Þórr in pagan belief.
In Gísla saga (ch. 22) it is the better dream woman who foretells
the coming of Christianity in the first of a series of dreams. She ad-
monishes Gísli to renounce the pagan faith and to abjure all magic
and witchcraft. She urges him to deal kindly with the blind and the
lame and the poor and the helpless. As the admonition of the good
dream woman shows, the renunciation of paganism implied much
more than the abandonment of sacrifice to heathen gods. (Gísli had
already given up blood sacrifice following a visit to Denmark, where
he presumably first came in contact with Christianity.) The renuncia-
tion of paganism also implied the rejection of witchcraft and magic
and all forms of demoniac behavior. In Eyrbyggja (ch. 61) we are
told that Þrándr stígandi had been a shape changer as long as he was
a pagan ‘but most witchcraft ceased when people were baptized’.
Under Christian law the berserksgangr was punishable by heavy pen-
alties, and even the hólmganga, which is referred to several times in
saga literature as a pagan practise, was abolished by the Alþingi
shortly after the advent of Christianity. We shall return to the matter
of witchcraft and sorcery presently.
Since Hávarðar saga exhibits many traits of travesty or caricature,
it is not surprising that Hávarðr should receive his revelation of the
advent of Christianity under somewhat farcical circumstances. Actu-
ally, it is less a revelation than a recollection. During the crucial fight
to avenge the slaying of his son, the rejuvenated hero is swimming in
hot pursuit of his archenemy, Þorbjörn. Þorbjörn comes to land first,
and as Hávarðr approaches, he sees his adversary waiting with a
huge rock poised above his head. At that moment Hávarðr recalls
having heard abroad about a religion different from the one in the
North. He promises to accept this as the better and loftier faith if he
succeeds in overcoming his enemy. No sooner has he made this de-
cision than Þorbjörn slips and falls over backward, the huge stone
striking him on the chest. Thirteen chapters later Hávarðr learns that
King Óláfr is proclaiming the true faith in Norway. With his wife and
a kinsman named Þórhallr he hastens abroad to receive baptism.