Gripla - 20.12.2014, Qupperneq 118

GRIPLA118
tuck Sigurðr into bed when he wishes to sleep but the question of sexual
relations between them is left open. Such a relationship would fall in line
with the usual behaviour of fornaldarsögur heroes when they encounter gi-
antesses in the wilderness: for example, Hálfdanar saga Brönufóstra’s pro-
tagonist has an affair with the giantess Brana, which produces a daughter.
In Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar, we are not explicitly told whether Þorsteinn
and the giantess Skellinefja, a bewitched princess and his future wife,
have sex in her cave, where she lets the wounded Þorsteinn recover after a
gruelling battle, but at the end of the saga, the narrator mentions that their
daughter was conceived there. these episodes seem to be about tabooed
relationships across class or ethnic divisions, and while sex is permissible,
marriage is not.108 While the fornaldarsögur occasionally problematise this
custom by having the giantesses reproach their human lovers, or grieve
for their loss, the faithful giantesses in Sigurðar saga þǫgla voice no such
criticisms.109 they are happy to provide services and magic objects to the
hero when he is in need, but otherwise they are portrayed as being content
with their lot. Men can marry up, since Sigurðr manages to subjugate,
impregnate and marry sedentiana, but unless the giantess turns out to be
a princess, it is impossible for these relationships to last.
the sisters’ role as the hero’s helpers draws attention to the fact that
one of the primary roles of women, whether human or monstrous, in
the manuscript, is to help men out of trouble. I have already mentioned
Skellinefja, who nurses Þorsteinn back to health after being wounded in
battle, and Brana, who helps Hálfdan vanquish another, more hostile, gi-
antess, and later woo the princess Marsibil. Also notable are the Saracen
women who rescue the imprisoned heroes in Flóvents saga and Ectors saga,
and the warrior women Ermenga (as Hirtingr) in Mágus saga and Hrólfs
saga Gautrekssonar’s Þornbjörg (as Þorbergr). Grettis saga’s female charac-
ters have not received much attention, but on the whole, they are positive
figures. While, as rowe has noted, mothers in some of these sagas are con-
spicuously absent, grettir’s mother Ásdís loves him dearly and he seems
to reciprocate this love.110 the skörungr Þorbjörg digra – who, like the
maiden-kings, rules her realm temporarily – appears at a critical moment,
108 schulz, Riesen, 196–197.
109 jóhanna katrín Friðriksdóttir, Women in Old Norse Literature, ch. 3.
110 rowe, ‘Absent Mothers,’ 145–147; Poole, ‘Myth, Psychology,’ 8–9.