Gripla - 01.01.1975, Page 122

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GRIPLA
Interesting variants of the theme of infant exposure are found in
several sagas. Although the motivation in Finnboga saga (ch. 2) is
different, several details in this episode are similar or identical with
the one in Gunnlaugs saga. The order to have the yet unborn child
exposed to die is issued as the father is about to leave for the Al-
þingi, and the mother’s protest that such a deed would be unthinkable
even among destitute people recalls the condemnation of the author
and of Jófríðr in Gunnlaugs saga. In Þorsteins saga uxafóts (ch. 4)
there is a reference to and a condemnation of the pagan law: ‘It was
legal in those days for poor people to let their children die of ex-
posure, if they wished, but it was not regarded as a good thing to do.’
(En þat var þá lög í þann tíma, at út skyldi bera óríkra manna börn, ef
vildi, ok þótti þó eigi vel gert.) In Harðar saga, as in Gunnlaugs saga,
it is a girl child who is exposed to die, while in Vatnsdœla saga it is
Þorkell krafla, mentioned above as a hero whose superiority over his
kinsmen was based on the fact that he was a Christian whereas they
were pagans. However the various episodes dealing with the theme of
infant exposure may differ in motivation and detail, they are similar
in two respects: the theme is essential or at least important to the
action of the story, and the practice itself is identified with paganism
and directly or indirectly condemned by the author. In other words,
the theme of infant exposure is a function both of plot and of mean-
ing much as the generation-gap theme is. In one case we find implicit
or explicit condemnation of the marauding Viking and praise for the
peaceful farmer, and in the other, condemnation of a cruel pagan
practice tempered by the suggestion that even during the time of
heathendom it was not a widely practiced or approved custom.
By far the most feared and powerful pagan practice was that of
sorcery. Saga characters have much to say about fate and fortune,
for both of which there are several names in Icelandic, but it is re-
markable how frequently saga authors explain the fate or fortune of
their characters on the basis of magic or sorcery or enchantment, for
which there are also many designations. Several attractive and in-
genious explanations of Kormák’s puzzling failure to marry his sweet-
heart have been advanced by modern scholars, but contemporaries of
the author must have found his explanation satisfactory: the sorceress
Þorveig put a curse on his love for Steingerðr because he slew her