Gripla - 01.01.1990, Side 315

OLD NORSE RELIGION IN THE SAGAS OF ICELANDERS
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tive paganism in Iceland the dedication of an ox by Þorkel the tall
would alone have been enough to get Glúm out of Þverá. We have on-
ly to take account of the portents accompanying the gift, and also to
notice Frey’s subsequent answer, revealed to Glúm in dream accord-
ing to the saga. Sacrilege in the field was also bound to do Glúm great
damage, according to the concepts of Norse paganism. In terms of the
general religious outlook, it was a case of grave and gross sacrilege,
not likely to be left unavenged by the gods. The third point, the sancti-
ty imposed on Þverá by Frey and the god’s prohibition of the presence
of men under penalty, is especially interesting from the point of view
of theology and administration. The motif here expressed, indistinct
and laconic though it is, turns our thoughts to the links between ad-
ministration and pagan worship in tenth-century Iceland, a matter that
has been much discussed. Elsewhere I have given rather full attention
to these links, and to the role of the goðar and their activity in this ar-
ea; so I refer you to this work.26 But the isolated motif shown here
gives valuable support to conclusions already reached by other means:
that a close and unbroken link existed between cult and administration
in tenth-century Iceland.
I have just glanced at the accounts of Frey in Víga-Glúm’s saga in
the light of Norse beliefs. If these beliefs are regarded as a living reli-
gion, and the god Frey as an active object of worship, then these tradi-
tions preserve memories of forces which could well be the basis and
explanation of a momentous result. There is an obvious logic in this
account of Frey, and it is easy to perceive the causes and effects which
set a story or tradition on its way.
The next step is to consider the place of these traditions of Frey in
Víga-Glúm’s saga itself, and what part they play in the development of
the story. The short answer is that these passages make little differ-
ence to the development, and nowhere count as a motive force in the
plot. When Glúm kills Sigmund in the field Vitazgjafi, it is simply
stated as a fact, and the mention of Þorkel the tall sacrificing an ox is
entirely neutral. The same is true of the passage where Víga-Glúm
pollutes Þverá by secretly sheltering his outlawed son. No particular
results of this deed come into the story. Towards the end of the saga it
26 Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson, ‘Blót and Þing. The Function of the Tenth Century
goði’, Temenos 21, Helsinki 1985, pp. 23-38.