Gripla - 20.12.2004, Blaðsíða 94

GRIPLA92
2. THE PRESENCE OF THE PAST
The narratives described are Nornagests fláttr, Tóka fláttr Tókasonar, and two
episodes without formal titles: Ó›in’s visit to Óláfr Tryggvason at Ögvaldsnes
and a similar episode in Óláfs saga helga. The table below sets out the major
essential affinities and points of difference among the narratives most perti-
nent to this study.
I am essentially in agreement with Joseph C. Harris and Thomas Hill, who
see Nornagests fláttr and these allied texts as a means of mediating the contra-
dictions involved in thinking about the pre-Christian past and especially in
reusing that past (Harris and Hill 1989:121). There must have been, as Harris
and Hill note, a dimension of real spiritual danger at play in the vexed desire
Flateyjarbók fols the guest tells tales of turns out to be conclusion
Nornagests fláttr 45v Norna-Gestr Sigur›ur 300-yr old He takes
(ÓlTr) – an old man, Fáfnisbani, man, Christianity
47r a stranger, Starka›r inn primesigned is baptized,
very wise gamli, Ragnars- but unbaptized and dies.
synir Lo›-
brókar
Ó›inn at 49v Gestr/gestr, King Ó›inn, i.e., He
Ögvaldsnes _ an old man Ögvaldr and the Devil or vanishes
(ÓlTr) 50r with one eye his cow his messenger during the night.
Ó›inn kom 95r Gestr, a heathen kings, Ó›inn, i.e., He vanishes
til Óláfs2 – stranger Ó›inn among an unclean when Óláfr
(ÓlH) 96r with a low hat them spirit in the moves to
shape of Ó›inn strike them.
Tóka fláttr 96r Tóki, an old King Hálfr. An old man He takes
Tókasonar man, a stranger Hrólfr kraki, destined to live Christianity,
(ÓlH) and their two lifetimes, is baptized,
champions primesigned and dies.
but unbaptized
2 This name (or more properly ‘Odin kom til Olaf’,) was first assigned to the narrative by Sig-
ur›ur Nordal in his doctoral dissertation (Sigur›ur Nordal 1914:92). It is derived from the
chapter rubric in Flateyjarbók itself (II k. 106): Ó›inn kom til Óláfs konungs me› dul ok
prettum. Another version of Sigur›ur Nordal’s title is used by Jón Helgason and Oscar Albert
Johnson (‘Odin kommer til Olav’) in their edition of Óláfs saga helga (Jón Helgason and
Johnson 1941:771), but subsequently it seems to vanish from scholarly tradition.