Gripla - 01.01.1975, Qupperneq 117

ANTIPAGAN SENTIMENT IN THE SAGAS
113
Oddly enough, however, there seems to be no connection between
these references to Christianity and an earlier prophecy made to Þor-
steinn under very strange circumstances. In a dream he becomes in-
volved in a fight in a burial mound between twelve red-clad men and
twelve men dressed in black (or blue) garments. After the black-clad
men have been defeated with Þorstein’s help, the leader of the red-
clad men thanks and rewards him and declares that this is the be-
ginning of a series of courageous deeds he will perform abroad. He
concludes with these interesting words:
‘Þú munt ok taka siðaskipti, ok er sá siðr miklu betri, þeir sem hann mega
hljóta, en hinum er erfiðara um, sem eigi eru til þess skapaðir ok slíkir eru
sem ek, því at vit bræðr várum jarðbúar. Nú þætti mér miklu máli skipta,
at þú kæmir nafni mínu undir skírn, ef þér yrði þat auðit at eiga son.’
‘You will also be converted, and the new faith will be much better for
those who may be granted it. But it will be more difficult for those who are
not destined for it and for those like me, for my brother and I were
tumulus dwellers. Now it would be of great importance to me if you were
to have a child christened with my name if you should be fated to have
a son.’
As a final example of Christian prophecy in the Sagas of Icelanders
let us review the words of Þorsteinn Eiríksson in Grœnlendinga saga
(ch. 6), spoken from his ‘good place of repose’ in the world beyond:
‘Mér er annt til þess, at segja Guðríði forlög sín, til þess at hon kunni þá
betr andláti mínu, því at ek em kominn til góðra hvíldastaða. En þat er
þér at segja, Guðríðr, at þú munt gipt vera íslenzkum manni, ok munu
langar vera samfarar ykkrar, ok mart manna mun frá ykkr koma, þroska-
samt, bjart ok ágætt, sætt ok ilmat vel. Munu þit fara af Grænlandi til
Nóregs ok þaðan til íslands ok gera bú á íslandi; þar munu þit lengi búa,
ok muntu honum lengr lifa. Þú munt útan fara ok ganga suðr ok koma
út aptr til íslands til bús þíns, ok þá mun þar kirkja reist vera, ok muntu
þar vera ok taka nunnu-vígslu, ok þar muntu andask.’
‘I am eager to tell Guðríðr her fate so that she will be able better to bear
my death, for I have come to a good place of repose. But you must be
told, Guðríðr, that you will be married to an Icelander, and your wedded
life will last long, and you will have many descendants—vigorous, bright
and splendid, sweet and of good fragrance. You will sail from Greenland
to Norway and from there to Iceland, where you will establish your home.
You will stay there for a long time and you will outlive your husband.
You will go abroad on a pilgrimage to Rome, and return to your farm in
Iceland, and by then a church will have been erected there. You will
remain there and take the veil, and there you will die.’
Gripla 8