Gripla - 20.12.2010, Blaðsíða 200

GRIPLA200
Þá spurði Hrollaugr: “Villtu, at ek fara?” Jarl segir: “Eigi mun þér
jarldóms auðit, ok liggja fylgjur þínar til Íslands, þar muntu auka ætt
þína ok mun gǫfug verða í því landi.”(ÍF XXXIV, 10)
Then Hrollaugr asked: “Do you want me to go?” The Earl said:
“You are not destined for the earldom, and your fate lies in Iceland,
there you will raise a great family and become famous in that
land.”
The phrase liggja fylgjur þínar til Íslands is above paraphrased as ‘your fate
lies in Iceland’, but the words have a more complex and anachronistic
meaning. Rǫgnvaldr’s words refer to the beliefs in guardian spirits, often
in female form, which accompanied people throughout life and could
sometimes be associated with families.6 Fylgjur (singular fylgja) protected,
aided and provided luck for their charge. The concept shared a number of
features with (but was not identical to) the concept of hamingja (a personi-
fication of luck and protection) and the dísir (guardian goddesses).
Rǫgnvaldr’s prophecy, however, relates specifically not only to Hrollaugr’s
spirits, but also their close relationship with Iceland. As such it is a proph-
ecy regarding settlement, of which there are many in saga tradition. In
particular, there are a number of stories about early Icelandic settlers whose
farms, livelihoods and even persons are aided and protected by spirits asso-
ciated with the land or land-spirits – the term landvættir (‘land-spirits’) is
only used in a handful of instances, but is a useful term under which to
classify all these spirits who seem to be particularly related to the landscape
or country itself.7
6 On the concept of fylgjur in general see Rieger (1898, 277–290); de Vries (1956–1957, I,
§163, 226–227); Ström (1956–1978b, 5, 38–39); Turville-Petre (1964, 227–230); Mundal
(1974, 72–142; and 1993, 624–625); and Jochens (1996, 37); in particular relation to this pas-
sage from Orkneyinga saga see Turville-Petre 1972. Probably the most relevant comparable
instances of female guardian spirits (whether described as fylgjur, hamingjur or dísir) are the
giant woman seen by Víga-Glúmr in a dream representing the hamingja of his maternal
grandfather (ÍF IX, 30–31) and the woman following the ship in which Hallfreðr vand-
ræðaskáld lies dying (ÍF VIII, 198). Both these examples exhibit the relationship between
fate, luck and one’s family found in Rǫgnvaldr’s prophecy.
7 I have discussed land-spirits and their relationship to the wording of Rǫgnvaldr’s enigmatic
prophecy in greater detail in Cochrane 2006. Among the instances of landvættir are the
bergbúi (‘rock-dweller’) encountered by Bjǫrn Molda-Gnúpsson in a dream in Landnámabók