Gripla - 01.01.1975, Page 134

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GRIPLA
troublesome poet. Fatally injured when struck by a sailyard during a
storm, Hallfreðr sees his guardian spirit in the form of a large woman
wearing a mail coat and walking on the waves. He takes leave of her,
and she then becomes the fylgjukona of his son Hallfreðr. Thereupon
he recites his last poem, declaring that he could die peacefully if he
knew his soul were saved. He fears nothing except hell, yet he is
willing to let God decide where he will live in the next world. His
coffin, containing three gifts from King Óláfr, drifts ashore in the
Hebrides, where it is plundered and the body sunk in a bog. Apprised
in a vision by King Óláfr of the desecration, the abbot of a nearby
monastery has the body properly buried:
Lík Hallfreðar var flutt til kirkju ok var grafit virðuliga. Kalekr var gerr
af hringinum, en altarisklæði af skikkjunni, en kertastikur ór hjálminum.
Hallfreð’s body was brought to the church, where it was buried in a worthy
manner. A chalice was made from the ring, an altar cloth from the cloak,
and candle sticks from the helmet.
I have dwelt at some length on Hallfreðar saga because of the fact
that this story is usually interpreted as a conventional skáldasaga, i.e.,
a love story with a poet as hero. Yet not even the most cursory
reading of the saga permits such an interpretation. Hallfreð’s intro-
ductory description occurs in chapter 2 and his affection for Kol-
finna is briefly reported at the end of chapter 3. His first confronta-
tion with King Óláfr occurs in chapter 5, and from that point on,
except for a brief interlude following his wife’s death, Hallfreð’s
thoughts and actions result from or are closely bound up with the
struggle between paganism (which, among other things, supplied the
metaphors for his poetry!), and Christianity, embodied in the stern,
dominating, inescapable figure of the missionary king. Spiritually
Hallfreðr is caught between these opposing forces just as he was
fettered physically on three occasions. Although King Óláfr gradually
dominates and directs his life more and more, Hallfreðr is not comp-
letely freed of traces of paganism until he takes leave of his fylgju-
kona (walking on the waves as if on land!) and, despite his under-
standable fear of hell, confidently commends his soul to God’s mercy.
The completion of the transition from paganism to Christianity is
symbolized by the transformation of the king’s three gifts into objects
associated with Christian worship.