Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1967, Page 57

the poetry of egill skalla-grímsson
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seat; he, too, had a sword across
his knees, and having thus sat for
a while, he drew his sword from
the scabbard, took a gold-ring from
his arm, great and good, drew it
°ver the sword-point, rose, walked
on the floor, and reached the ring
°ver the fire towards Egill. Egill
rose, drew his sword and walked
°ver; he stuck the sword in the bend
°f the ring and drew it towards
him: went back to his place and the
king went to his high-seat. Sitting
hown, Egill placed the ring on his
arm, then1 his eye-brows came to
rest. He then laid down his sword
and helmet, accepted a horn coming
io him and recited a stanza.
Thereupon Egill drank like the
°thers and spoke to people. After
that the King had two big chests
brought forth, carried by two men
each, both full of silver. The King
said: “These chests, Egill, you shall
have, and if you get to Iceland bring
this fee to your father in an atone-
^nent for his son, but some of it you
Can distribute to your and Þórólfr’s
relatives, those who are the most
n°ble. But you yourself shall take
atonement for your brother right
bere at my hand, land or loose
S°ods, whichever you prefer. And
^ you will stay with me for any
^ngth of time, I shall bestow on you
"’orship and honor according to
y°ur own wishes.” Egill accepted
the fe6j thanking the king for his
gifts and his friendly words. From
then on Egill began to cheer up,
then he recited another stanza.”
ft does really concern our theme
which is Egill’s poetry — how
e for ever after watched his silver
chests, never parting with them and
not sharing even one penny with
his father and relatives. In his old
age Egill once had the happy idea,
truly worthy of Óðinn, to take the
chests to the Althing and scatter
the silver among the crowd and
watch people fight over it. But
when a younger and more sober
generation prevented him from
carrying out this genial idea, he was
content to follow the example of
his father and bury his silver in a
gully. Many have been on the look-
out for this treasure, but only three
coins have ever been found; it was
in 1725 and one of the coins bore
the inscription AN(S)LAFR. This
inscription proves that it must have
come from the treasure which King
Athelstan took from Ólafr Kvaran
at Brunanburg.
But to return to the poetry. The
gist of the story, so effectively told
in the saga-passage I quoted, is also
to be found in verses 17-20. One of
these stanzas tells of Þórólfr’s fight
and fall, another of Egill’s fighting,
the third celebrates the King’s giv-
ing of his ring, and the fourth
describes masterfully the effect of
the ring on Egill’s mind and looks.
To paraphrase it:
The craggéd eaves, for grief’s sake,
of mine eye-brows droppéd.
Now find I him who forehead’s
unsmooth places righteth.
My girdling rocks from face-ground
the great Prince hath lifted —
those scowls have left mine eyes
now —
with pulling of an arm-string.
The drooping of the mountains of
his forhead have been straightened
out, the rocks of the face have re-
turned to their original shape. Here