Gripla - 01.01.1990, Page 203

THE NEGLECTED GENRE OF RÍMUR-DERIVED PROSE
199
og fer med þad til skola Sijns 11,50.4
og fór hann enn til þeB Stadar sem adur hafde hann vered
166,5-6
vt j heimsins ysta part 11,55.3
iit a odda þeB lands, sem ýtst er i verólldu 166,16-17
The fact that there was indeed a conscious attempt on the part of
the author to disguise the poetic heritage of Jónatas saga would ac-
count for the fact that the archaic vocabulary and numerous turgid
kennings so typical of the rímur are not carried over to the prose re-
daction. Likewise the plethora of alliterating phrases, which play an
important part in the production of pre-Reformation poetry, is not co-
pied in the prose paraphrase. Even such a suspect saga passage as the
following:
kom mödur hans honumm i skoola, og fieck honumm hrýngenn,
hvorn hann bar daglega a synumm Arme, hann var hlýdenn og
högvær vid hvorn mann, og unnu honumm aller hugástumm, so
huor eirn þottest gödu bættur, sem mest gat lid synt honumm,
hafde hann þad iir huórs manns hende 162,16-23
corresponds to stanzas which do not use initial h as an alliterating
stave. At 167,14-15 there is a suspiciously alliterative line (hann hugde
helst til bigda hörfa), but although the corresponding passage contains
the same word (bygda 111,11.1), the alliterating stave in the poetic line
is a v, not h.
Looking at the saga from a larger, compositional perspective, it can
be established that the saga writer devoted more effort and space to
the final ríma than to the others. The same amount of text is devoted
to the third ríma alone as to the first two rímur combined. Several pos-
sible reasons for this come to mind, including increased proficiency at
translating the poetic text, but the most plausible explanation, at least
in this instance, is that the final ríma, with its eventful trek through the
woods, the visit to the castle, and the reacquisition of the magic ob-
jects, provided more interesting narrative material on which to con-
centrate.
It is hoped the preceding discussion has demonstrated that it is pos-
sible to study the art of the post-Reformation saga writers, not only
with regard to structure, themes and emphasis, but also on a stylistic