The White Falcon - 01.04.1971, Side 12

Iceland in Art
Icelandic sagas: A look at history
by OT3 Ken Burrows
There are those dim ages, eras
without record, whose wages of
war and death leave only silent
passage. It is from these ancient
shadows that legends are spawned,
yet the Icelandic Sagas have pen-
etrated and interpreted the depth
of an age when darkness ruled the
North.
The Sagas,
or "something
said," are a
form of Icelan-
dic prose which
offers biogra-
phical and his-
torical insight
intoan era from
the early 8th
to the 15th Cen-
turies. Its
origin as lit-
erature stems
from carefully
preserved ver-
ses that had
been recited and
set to memory
by bards, cler-
gymen, or heads of households
throughout the land.
Historical records of Scandin-
avia during the 8th and 9th cen-
turies are vague, being the pro-
duct of diffusion and rumor to
those of the more southern cli-
mates. Mass migrations in flight
from Harald the Finehair of Nor-
way, Viking plunder and enterprise
along the northern coasts, and
biographical narratives of famil-
ies and ancestry were all recor-
ded and set to prose. Icelandic
people, whose ideals were bound by
severe pride, praised good poetry
and held the Sagas in high esteem.
The Saga of Harald the Fine-
hair perhaps gives light to his
motives in conquering Norway.
According to the story,his desire
of dominion was mainly due to the
words of a woman, who refused to
consider his wooing of her so
long as he remained king over a
few small districts. Upon hearing
of her dissatisfaction he vowed
he would neither cut nor comb his
hair until Norway was conquered.
In 872 A.D., in a great sea fight
at Hafrsfirth, Harald settled
Norway's destinywith afinal blow.
There was a dual purpose in the
telling of the sagas. They offer
entertainment and were instructive
in political and social history.
The early meetings of the Althing,
the first legislative body of Ice-
land (930 A.D.),incorporated them
as news releases given by men who
had been abroad orhad been invol-
ved in feudal warfare, which had
been widespread at that time.
The reputation of the Vikings
and their sagas increased as they
penetrated farther into the south-
ern cultures. Poetry had been
the means to gain the favor of
many foreign courts and there are
accounts of Viking courtesans
in Sweden, Denmark and even Eng-
land. Whether the guest of a
court or a thrall (newly freed
indentured slaves of Iceland),
the sagas demanded a skillful
tongue and shrewd memory. Stuf
the Blind, one such poet and
courtesan, is said to have learn-
ed over thirty encomia("drapur"
or long verses) and as many shor-
ter ones (flokkar).
Though poetry began to decline
throughout the rest of Scandi-
navia, around the latter part of
the tenth century, it remained in
the highest traditions of Ice-
landic heritage. Because of the
lack of historical text concerning
this earlier era in the north
much history about this period is
drawn from the annals of the
sagas. Even though the sagas may
have slight variations from time
to time, its accuracy is seldom
doubted due to the severe pride
of the Vikings and their great
distaste for lies. Falsity of
the verses could result in severe
consequences which included dis-
honor, banishment, torture and
often death.
The saga of the burning of Njal
is a good example. "In the saga
of Njal it is told that when
Kari and his
comrades landed
in the Orkneys
o n Christmas
Day,and went up
to the hall of
Earl Sigurd,
they found Gun-
nar Lambason in
the act of tell-
ing how Njal's
homestead and
its inmat^d
were burned ifl
Flosi and h^Q
warriors. Gun-
nar, who had
also taken part
in the burning,
was seated on a
chair before
King Sigtrygg of Dublin, and all
the seats in the hall were filled
with hearers. As Kari and the
others stood listening outside,
King Sygtrygg asked, 'How did
Skarp-hedin stand in the burning? '
'Well at first, ' said Gunnar.'but
in the end he wept, ' and all
through the story he told much,
both unfairly and falsely. Kari
could not stand this, sprang in
with a drawn sword, and swept off
Gunnar's head in a moment."
In the year 1000 A.D., Christ-
ianity was finally made the na-
tional religion, but only after
much resistance. Other than the
"Runes", a brief inscripticallet-
tering system, there was no wide-
spread lettering system until the
integration of Latin by the
Christian churches. It is from
this beginning that the sagas,
retained by memory for centuries,
finally became an indelible part
of the Icelandic culture.
"HAIR" — The premiere of the
Icelandic production of "Hair"
is scheduled for Monday, April,
5, at the Glaumbaer. Curtainl
time is 8:30 p.m. "
WHITE