Saga - 2001, Page 208

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HERMANN PÁLSSON
wards. In early Icelandic MSS similar statements uttered in comparable
situations are attributed to St. Paul, Thomas Becket, King Ólafr
Tryggvason, and King Ólafr the Saint. In each case the speaker knows that
he is a doomed man and that he has come to the place of his death. In
Njáls saga, after the arsonists set fire to the farmhouse of Bergþórshvoll,
the title hero and his wife go to their bed. "... I shall not move from here,
no matter how much the smoke or flames distress me," he declares. And
in Grettis saga the outlaw on Drangey makes the same decision some time
before his actual death: "... I am staying here whatever happens."
After the battle of Örlygsstaðir was over, six men, including two of
SighvatTs sons, were beheaded with SighvatTs axe on GissuTs orders.
The choice of this particular instrument of death is highly significant. The
underlying reason was expressed thus by Publilius Syrus in the first cen-
tury B.C.: "Doubly destroyed is he who perishes by his own arms."
Gunnarr of Hlíðarendi in Njáls saga echoes this sentiment in his last fight
when he reaches out for an arrow belonging to his enemies and shoots it
back at them: "It will be a disgrace for them to be injured by their own
weapons." A similar notion is memorably used in Heiðarvíga saga. The
whole execution scene at Örlygsstaðir recalls the successive beheadings in
Jómsvíkinga saga. In particular, Hermund's death is clearly modelled on an
incident in that saga. However, the death of Þórir jökull is evocative of the
killing of Jökull Bárðarson in Ólafs saga helga.
The characterisation of Gissur in íslendinga saga taken as a whole
includes certain features which are reminiscent of the two protean gods of
Norse mythology, Óðinn and Loki. Like Óðinn, Gissur had a treacherous
nature so that his friendship was not to be trusted, and neither he nor
Óðinn had any qualms about breaking their pomises. GissuTs eloquence
and skill as a counsellor also suggest an affinity with Óðinn as he is
described in Heimskringla by Sturla's uncle, Snorri Sturluson. But when
Sturla accuses Gissur of malicious cunning (slægð), he is probably allud-
ing to Snorri's description of Loki in the Edda. There is no reason to doubt
that Sturla Þórðarson's library must have included these two famous
books by his favourite uncle. Finally, the point should be made that vari-
ous other passages in íslendinga saga contain indications of Sturla's read-
ing.