Gripla - 01.01.1975, Page 124

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GRIPLA
unless we deliberately disregard the author’s own explicit words—that
in this story, as in Njáls saga, fate or destiny is closely associated with
pagan sorcery and witchcraft.
As a final example of a saga hero whose lifelong misfortune and
eventual tragic death seem to derive less from his conflict with society
or from a combination of personal ógœfa and impersonal fate than
from the baleful influence of witchcraft and black magic let us review
briefly three of Grettir’s encounters with various kinds of supematural
powers. At a haunted farm a thoroughly un-Christian shepherd named
Glámr is slain mysteriously during the Christmas season. He retums
as a revenant and wreaks such havoc that no one dare dwell in those
parts until Grettir overcomes him (Grettis saga, ch. 35). But the re-
venant puts a double curse on Grettir, so that he will henceforth
dread the darkness and all of his deeds will tum to great personal
misfortune (snúask þér til ógæfu ok hamingjuleysis). The farmer
thanks Grettir for ridding him of this unclean spirit (þenna óhreina
anda), and this juxtaposition of pagan concepts and Christian term-
inology is not without significance.
The outlawry and killings predicted for Grettir by Glámr become a
reality, and Grettir seeks to establish his innocence of having deliber-
ately burned the sons of Þórir to death by submitting to an ordeal in
Norway. King Óláfr gives his permission, but before Grettir can
undergo the test, a boy in the church baits him into striking him.
King Óláfr thereupon withdraws the right to undergo the ordeal, de-
claring that it is not possible for Grettir to overcome his innate mis-
fortune (ógæfa). Most of those present, however, think the mysterious
lad must have been an unclean spirit sent to enchant or bring
misfortune to Grettir (en þat ætla menn helzt, at þat hafi verit
óhreinn andi, sendr til óheilla Gretti). Again we find this significant
juxtaposition or near-identification of Christian and pagan concepts:
óhreinn andi and ógœfa, óheill.
And finally, Grettir’s death is brought about through the black
magic of an old witch named Þuríðr, who cuts mnes on a tree root,
reddens them with her blood, and chants magic incantations over
them (tók hon kníf sinn ok reist rúnar á rótinni ok rauð í blóði sínu
ok kvað yfir galdra). When Grettir tries to chop up this óheillatré for
kindling, the axe skids off and wounds him, and this wound so