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XI, 301–302). The saga mentions several episodes of note in the battle
such as Þorsteinn’s reluctance to carry the Earl’s standard. When three of
the Earl’s standard bearers are killed, the Earl asks Þorsteinn to carry the
standard. Þorsteinn replies curtly: Ber sjálfr krák þinn, jarl! (ÍF XI, 301)
(‘Carry your own crow, Earl!’). The significance of this passage can only
really be understood with reference to Orkneyinga saga where it is told that
Sigurðr’s mother makes a standard in the likeness of a raven and prophesies
that the man before whom this standard is carried will have victory but he
who carries it will die (Orkneyinga saga also mentions the death of three
standard bearers but at a battle in Orkney rather than Ireland) (ÍF XXXIV,
25). Thus rather than merely being frightened or rude, Þorsteinn is
demanding that Sigurðr show the courage of his conviction to do as he
would command his followers to do and Sigurðr in picking up the standard
is fully aware that he is sacrificing his own life.25 These details are not
mentioned by the saga writer, suggesting the mere reference to the raven
standard must have been enough to call such details to the mind of those
among the audience familiar with the tradition.
After the defeat of Sigurðr in Dublin, Þorsteinn chooses not to flee as
he cannot hope to reach home by nightfall, a detail also present in the Njáls
saga account of the battle (ÍF XI, 302; ÍF XII, 451). Þorsteinn is given
quarter and goes to Norway and according to the saga joins the court of
King Magnús Óláfsson, although historically this would be some two dec-
ades before Magnús comes to the throne. There is, however, some evi-
dence to connect Þorsteinn with Magnús and it seems likely that, in a
more perfectly preserved tradition, he would return to Norway later.
There is a þáttr preserved in Morkinskinna and Flateyjarbók in which
Þorsteinn falls out of favour with Magnús after failing to pay a landing tax
on an unauthorised trading trip to Dublin and is outlawed, but eventually
pardoned and reconciled (ÍS III, 2285–2291). Even more interesting is the
25 Njáls saga tells the story of the Earl’s standard somewhat differently from Þorsteins saga
Síðu-Hallssonar. In the former Ámundi hvíti discourages Þorsteinn from carrying the
standard as all who have previously done so have died (ÍF XII, 451). It is worth noting that
in neither Njáls saga nor Þorsteins saga Síðu-Hallssonar is the battle really a victory (despite
the death of the Irish King Brjánn) and therefore the prophecy is imperfect in the preserved
tradition.
SÍÐU-HALLS SAGA OK SONA HANS