Gripla - 01.01.1979, Qupperneq 105

ÞJÓSTÓLFS SAGA HAMRAMMA
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had become a persona non grata as a copyist, being forced to sell his
transcriptions with the aid of Magnusen. The former seems to have
fallen out of favor with Suhm, for the Dane appended to a note on the
flyleaf of Nks. 254, foi: “Den er ellers meget ilde af skrevet, ligesom
alt med Adeldahl” (‘Otherwise it is very poorly copied, just like every-
thing by Adeldahl’). In addition to the problematic AM 839, 4to, there
are other source manuscripts which may be missing leaves due to Adel-
dahl’s negligence, a flyleaf correctly copied in Nks. 1021, fol. but now
missing in AM 308, 4to, and leaves gone from AM 587e, 4to and AM
669c, 4to, other parts of which Adeldahl used for Nks. 1760, 4to and
Nks. 1598, 4to.
If the missing manuscripts or portions thereof had made Adeldahl’s
presence undesired either at the Arnamagnæan collection or as Suhm’s
scribe, it would be significant if Þjóstólfs saga turned out to be neither
a copy of an Arnamagnæan manuscript nor sold to Suhm. It certainly
does not seem that the saga was extant in Copenhagen (or elsewhere)
at the time Adeldahl was there. There was a plethora of Grettis saga
manuscripts, however, and the events in Þjóstólfs saga are sufficiently
close to arouse the suspicion that the former was the donor. Þjóstólfr,
like Grettir, has an unpromising childhood and kills a man at age 14.
After a neighbor has lost sheep and had his shepherd murdered, Þjóst-
ólfr takes the job and chases down the troll. There ensues an episode
where the troll is induced to help the hero slay her relatives in a cave,
similar to common folktale versions, cf. Háljdanar saga Brönufóstra,
Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis. Þjóstólfr then breaks into the grave of Karl the
Red and takes a sword and treasure (but the battle with the barrow
dweller has been replaced by a conversation—in verse). His host helps
him prepare for a voyage abroad and gives him a sword (plus a shield,
a blue cloak and gloves embroidered with gold). Þjóstólfr then meets
Earl Hákon, who is displeased with him because the hero had killed a
member of his court, and Þjóstólfr is forced to fight with a polar bear.
(The actual battle, however, resembles more closely that in Finnboga
saga ramma or in Vilmundar saga viðutan than Grettir’s battle with the
bear in the cave). Then, in a passage reminiscent of Auðunar þáttr
vestfirzka, the earl first askes to buy, then asks to receive as a gift the
hero’s marvelous gloves, but the latter replies that they are for someone
else. After leaving the court, Þjóstólfr meets a group of vikings, defeats