Gripla - 01.01.1975, Page 133

ANTIPAGAN SENTIMENT IN THE SAGAS 129
A verse in which Hallfreðr admits that he formerly enjoyed the
worship of Óðinn brings on a second debate with the king, in which
Hallfreðr speaks only in verse. Gradually the verses become less
pagan and more Christian until the king’s displeasure with his ‘diffi-
cult skald’ (vandræðaskáld) is mollified. The king’s ire is aroused
again when Hallfreðr slays one of his courtiers and is accused by the
slain man’s brother of secretly engaging in pagan sacrifice and carry-
ing with him an image of Þórr. To regain the king’s good graces,
Hallfreðr is to kill or blind a certain pagan as punishment for his
refusal to accept Christianity.
After putting out one of the pagan’s eyes, Hallfreðr proceeds to
Gautland (ch. 7), where he is set upon by a highwayman. In dire
straits he calls upon the White Christ for help, and succeeds in over-
coming his adversary ‘with the help of God and the good luck of
King Óláfr’ (með fulltingi guðs ok giptu Óláfs konungs). In Gautland
(ch. 8) Hallfreðr marries a pagan woman, and is so highly esteemed
and so well treated by her kinsmen that his observance of Christianity
gradually diminishes to blowing over his drinking horn in the form of
a cross and perhaps singing an occasional psalm: ‘Þat hafði hann
helzt til trúar, at hann blés í kross yfir drykk sínum, áðr hann drakk,
en fátt söng hann.’
In the third year of Hallfreð’s sojourn among the heathen (ch. 9),
King Óláfr appears to him looking very angry. He reproaches him for
having cast off his faith and commands him to return to the court.
Here a priest hears Hallfreð’s confession and baptizes his wife Ingi-
björg and their two sons. To atone for his weakness in the faith and
for having lived so long among pagans, Hallfreðr at the behest of the
king composes a poem on the creation.
During a brief interlude in Iceland following the death of his wife,
Hallfreðr challenges his old rival Gríss to a duel, but King Óláfr, as
so often, appears in a dream and warns against it. News of the death
of his royal patron shocks Hallfreðr so deeply that he plans ven-
geance against Jarl Eiríkr. Again Óláfr appears in a dream and urges
Hallfreðr to commemorate the Jarl in a drápa instead.
In the description of Hallfreð’s death and burial the author master-
fully depicts and resolves the conflicting forces in the life of the
Gripla 9