Gripla - 01.01.1975, Qupperneq 158

154
GRIPLA
since one of its first orders was to forbid the eating of horse flesh.
Nevertheless, its role remains considerable in the samtíðarsögur. The
horse was also supposed to possess certain powers, amongst others,
the ability to foresee the future. And indeed, it appears in several
dreams in Sturlunga (Hrafns Saga Sveinbjarnarsonar, ch. 18; lslend-
inga Saga, ch. 190). Particularly interesting is Sighvatr Sturluson’s
dream in íslendinga Saga, ch. 132, where Sighvatr sees his own horse,
named Fölski: the horse asks his master why he does not invite him to
eat and drink; then, he takes his place at Sighvatr’s table and devours
everything at hand, the plate included. Just then, Sighvatr recites a
vísa (number 54 in íslendinga Saga) which, mark the point, contains
a metaphor which is directly borrowed from his brother, Snorri
Sturluson (Hunger is Hel’s plate, see Gylfaginning, ch. 34). Is Fölski
Sighvatr’s fylgja, since it is clear that his appearance foretells Sighvatr’s
death? The common name fölski, which also occurs in Gylfaginning,
applies to the ashy remains of an object which has been burned be-
yond recognition. Moreover, Fölski devouring the plate, strongly
reminds us of Logi eating up the trough, once more in the Gylfaginn-
ing (ch. 46) in his match against Loki. This makes in all three direct
references to Gylfaginning, and we must bear the fact in mind for a
while.
There remain a few details concerning earlier heroes which deserve
attention. In the famous chapter of Jóreiðr’s dreams (íslendinga Saga,
ch. 190), Guðrún Gjúkadóttir appears, and says, notice the fact: ‘It
does not matter whether I am pagan or christian, but I am the friend
of my friends’: a declaration which shows a visible contempt for all
religious feelings; it may seem quite natural also that Snorri Sturluson
called his búð at the althing Valhöll (íslendinga Saga, ch. 80). And if
the valkyries are present in the famous vísa 4 in íslendinga Saga
(Guðr and Göndul), perhaps also in same text ch. 122 (the woman
who tears out men’s heads with a kind of net), their images are purely
symbolical: they belong, as J. de Vries would say, to the mythological
apparatus of heroic poetry, not to the faith.7 Let us notice that the
Church, here too, has assimilated the notion: the saint hermit Hildr is
7 Altgermanische Religionsgeschiclite, 2 ed., Berlin, 1956, § 193.