Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1959, Page 39

JÓMSVÍKINGA SAGA
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Connection belween Jvs. and Skjgld. is thus almost certainly
established. There is also some connection to be traced between
Skjgld. and Gunnlaugr Leifsson. It is believed that the early Danish
material (from the story of Knútr inn fundni down to the death of
Gormr) found at the opening of the Jvs. texts in AM 61 fol. and
Flat., ultimately based on Skjold., is likely to have come into these
works through the medium of Gunnlaug’s Óláfs saga.32 The precise
relationship these portions of the text may have to Gunnlaug’s work
and to other versions of the same story requires further investigation,
but if it is true that this material is from Gunnlaugr, then he must
have made use of Skjgld., and the possibility thus exists that I (a) in
291, with its Skjold. material, is also related to his work. There are,
of course, major differences between the narratives in AM 61 fol.
and 291, though they show occasional minor verbal similarities, and
if the suggestion that both are connected with Gunnlaug’s work were
to be defended, it would be necessary to presume large-scale
alteration in one or both of them. It is in fact clear that in the story
of Knút’s death an entirely different tradition has been preferred in
291.33 On the other hand, the absence of the omens in AM 61 fol.
points to abridgment in its source, since it is likely that Skjold. had
some account of Gorm’s dreams on or before his wedding-night,34
and it may also be argued that Klakk-Harald’s first vision (see
below) is likely to have been part of Gunnlaug’s work because of its
close connection with the account of the Conversion in T (c).
There are some elements in I (a) which, if attributed to Gunn-
laugr, would not seem inappropriate. There are Gorm’s dreams of
the oxen, betokening famine, wliich are based on a biblical motive.35
32 Flat., I, 98, 101, 106 (chs. 71, 74, 79); Óláfs s. Tr. en mesta, I, 121—131
(= Fornmanna sögur, I, 110—119); see Amgrimi Jonae Opera, IV, 115; Bj.
Aðalbjarnarson, Sagaer, 90.
33 It might then be that the connection with the sons of Ragnarr to be traced
in 291 (211) is a relic from the source and not newly introduced.
34 Cf. Saxo’s account (ed. A. Holder (Strassburg 1886), 31935—3204).
35 Ilollander, 219—221; the other biblical motives he suggests are less
eonvincing.