Gripla - 01.01.1975, Page 130

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GRIPLA
ing pagan temples and holy places and idols. As related in Kristni
saga, the conflict between pagans and Christians rose in a crescendo
until it reached its climax at the Alþingi in the year 1000. For a time
it seemed as though the impasse between the pagan and Christian
parties could be resolved only by armed conflict. But in the end
reason and moderation prevailed over fanaticism, and the pagan Law-
speaker, Þorgeirr Ljósvetningagoði Þorkelsson, resolved the conflict in
favor of the Christians. Before proceding to a discussion of some of
the ways in which saga writers three centuries later reflected and
developed the pagan-Christian conflicts reported here, let us pause for
a moment to recall three examples of comic relief with which the
author of Kristni saga (ch. 11) interspersed his terse account of the
conversion.
During the deliberations news came to the Alþingi that a lava flow
was threatening the farm belonging to Þóroddr goði. Immediately one
of the pagans declared the volcanic outburst to be divine punishment,
since the wrath of the gods had been incited by talk of Christianity.
To this Snorri goði retorted with the question: ‘What were the gods
angry about when the lava burned that we are now standing on?’
After coming to the momentous decision to abandon the religion of
their forefathers in favor of the faith proclaimed by Óláfr Tryggvason,
the national leaders of Iceland refused baptism at the Alþingi because
the water was too cold. They insisted on being baptized in warm
springs on their way homeward. And finally, when Rúnólfr Úlfsson,
one of the most obstinate and aggressive pagans, was undergoing
baptism, Hjalti Skeggjason could not refrain from the un-Christian
gibe: ‘Now we are teaching the old goði to mumble the salt.’
We noted above that Þorkell krafla was eager to have his kinsman
Óláfr baptized before he died, but that he himself put off conversion
until Christianity had been adopted by the Alþingi. It was suggested
that political considerations might have motivated this delay. It is
also possible that Þorkell was not yet inwardly ready to become a
Christian. Not a few saga heroes were converted to Christianity over
a period of time—in stages, as it were. Some, like Egill Skalla-Gríms-
son, did not go beyond the prima signatio. In the case of others, such
as the titular hero of Orms þáttr Stórólfssonar (ch. 8), the prima