Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1959, Síða 40

38
PETER G. FOOTE
There is the notice of Klakk-Harald’s journey to Saxland and his
conversion to Christianity there (291, ll16'18). Most significant is
the connection established with I (c), the Conversion, in Klakk-Har-
ald’s interpretation of his first vision:
En Jjat hyG ec vera mvno fyrir siþa scipte þvi er koma man á
þesi loNd oc man sa siþr vera meþ meira blóma oc iarteína þav
en fogrv epli. En sa siþr er hyngatt til hefir veritt man tacna
en forno epli er niþri lagv á jorþv oc mvndv þar fvna oc verþa
at dvsti £Íno sva man oc þesi siþr niþr leGÍaz þa er hyN gengr
yfir lavNdin oc man þa verþa att ongv oc hverfa allt seM myrkr
fyrir liose (291, 105'13).
The language might well be Gunnlaug’s. Oddly enough, there is a
noteworthy parallel between the passage describing this vision and a
passage in Jóns saga ens helga, also the work of Gunnlaugr. Cf. 291,
712-18. 36
þa sa þeir þar staNda eík .i. þa er þeim þotti mjok meþ kynligv
móte vera þar varo vaxin á æpli helldr smá en þav varo græn
oc blomgvtt . . . þeir vNdraz þetta miok oc segir jarl at honom
þyckir þetta vNdr mikit er gríén varo eplin jþaN lÍMa misera
seM þa var;
and Biskupa sögur, I, 1857'9:
Ok er þeir höfðu upp lokit leiðinu, þá fundu þeir þar grös, þau
er mönnum voru ókunn, hverskyns voru, ok græn, sem á
sumar; þeim þótti undarligr grænleikr grasanna í þat mund
missera —.
It will of course be objected that Gunnlaug’s original works were
in Latin, and that parallels of Icelandic phrase cannot be traced to
them, and that much less can scribal practice in Icelandic texts be
ascribed to the use of different sources in an original Latin text. A
reply to such an objection can only be based on certain assumptions,
not unreasonable in themselves but rarely or never capable of proof.
First, that Gunnlaugr translated his texts himself, or at least super-
30 The phrase vera meS blóma and the image of light casting ont darkness
are commoner, but both may be parallelled in Jóns saga, cf., e.g., Biskupa sög-
ur, I (Kaupmannahöfn 1858), 16512, 21517-20.