Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1967, Síða 64

Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1967, Síða 64
46 TÍMARIT ÞJÓÐRÆKNISFÉLAGS ÍSLENDINGA that he is unable to exact ven- geance, the most sacred duty and the dearest prerogative of every individual. The Persian emperor Xerxes is said to have beaten up the sea, when it broke down his bridge: Egill has the will to strike the God of the Ocean, but realizes the futility of such an act. That again reminds him of his own defenceless state: being old and weak and having no one to rely on. The effect of this lament is much enhanced when one calls to mind what kind of a man was here being whipped into subjec- tion by his fate. Praise, of his parents and his sons, often in tender terms, is scattered about the poem. But though one might expect it in an epitaph, this is not the core of the poem. Egill’s own feelings are the main theme: his helplessness, his hopeless state, his despair. In this subjectivity Egill stands alone not only in Iceland but apparently in the Old Germanic world where the historian Tacitus says that people keep their sorrows to themselves but do not forget. In a similar way the Eddic poem Háva- mál maintains that silence and con- templation shall be practiced in the face of difficulties. But in the last four stanzas of the poem Egill raises himself above his despair it seems by a peculiar understanding or reckoning with his old friend Óðinn. Now Óðinn was the god of fight- ing, of magic, of runes, and of poetry. It was natural for Egill the Viking, the magician, and poet to have pledged to Óðinn his lifelong friendship, though his father, the farmer, might have honoured Þórr or Freyr. It is clear that both these gods, and especially Þórr, were rooted in the Scandinavian soil, Óð- inn was the fashionable god of the restless, but independent Vikings who had become separated from the family moorings. Under such cir- cumstances it is likely that the Vik- ing tried to replace the old ties of family with those of friendship; it is safe to say that Egill and Arin- björn are a classical example of this type of transfer. It is characteristic that in Hávamál, the ‘Sayings of Óð- inn,’ the family is conspicuous only by its absence; on the other hand the bonds of friendship are highly praised in this poem. Egill is sore at Óðinn, he says as much as: I became foolish enough to trust you, but you have deceived me, and if I sacrifice to you I do not do it gladly. But why should Egill trust Óðinn, who by repute was a habitual deceiver. That Egill must have known all along. The oldfashioned family and farm- er’s god, Þórr, on whom it was also good to rely during hazardous voy- ages, might have protected Böðvar if Egill had kept up his friendship with him. From the fickle Óðinn one could not expect any protection. The great question in Egill’s mind at this critical point of his life must have been, whether he had made the right kind of choice when he as a young man gave up the friendship with the dependable god of his forefathers in exchange for the ex- citing faith in the unpredictable Óð- inn. The loss of kinsmen was a try-
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