Gripla - 01.01.1977, Page 16

12
GRIPLA
Many have written about this brief passage of narrative, the present
speaker among them. On this occasion, however, I propose to say a
few words on only three points.
1) In the first place it is difficult to establish clearly where the saga-
writer supposes Gunnar to be when his horse stumbles and he leaps
from the saddle and gazes up at the slopes and farm of Hlíðarendi. In
most manuscripts it is said that they rode ‘fram at Markarfljóti’ (down
to Markar River), whereas in two manuscripts, each of a different group,
the words used are ‘fram með Markarfljóti’ (along Markar River), which
complicates matters. In various places in the saga it may be seen that
the author considers the Markarfljót to flow east of Dímon (Rauða-
skriður). But the further eastwards Gunnar went, the less clearly would
he have seen the farm at Hlíðarendi and details of the actual slopes,
though the shades of colour on them might be clear enough, as by
Gunnar’s account they were. Now it is possible that an arm of the Mark-
arfljót once flowed further west than the main river (in the area later
know as Alarnir), which would make everything much simpler. It is
unlikely, on the other hand, that Gunnar could have been on the far
(southern) side of Dímon when he gazed up at the slope. It may be as-
sumed that the grassy islets in these glacial streams would hardly remain
unchanged. Anyone who has seen them will realise this, and how they
shift in the ground flats.
It is also possible that the saga-writer telescopes the distances, es-
pecially if the saga was written far from the district and perhaps a long
time after he had last seen Fljótshlíð.
2) It is clearly stated in the saga that Gunnar’s horse stumbled ‘ok
stokk hann ór soðlinum’ (and he leapt from the saddle). Here I have
diverged from our translation, changing the words ‘had to leap’ to
‘leapt’ in accordance with the orginal text. The first translation ever
made of saga, the Latin version of 1812, has, correctly, desilit. Many
have since followed this, though some have interpreted it in the sense
that Gunnar fell off his horse. The present translators adopt a com-
promise. They are doubtless aware that some have seen in the stumbling
of the horse the call of Destiny. But of this the saga says nothing; only
that Gunnar leapt off his horse. Now a man who ‘vaults into the saddle’
when mounting, using his halberd, dos not fall off his horse. It was said
earlier (ch. 54) that, when setting off for the fight at Hof, Gunnar ‘vault-