Gripla - 20.12.2007, Page 19

THE FANTASTIC ELEMENT
also contained the treasure, and Þórhallur Vilmundarson has pointed out
(1991:cxxxi), that an early (oral) version of the saga may well have contained
fantastic elements. Þorskfirðinga saga has several things in common with
Egils saga, but in my opinion the two sagas lie on either side of a boundary
with regard to the function of the fantastic. Egill is a fantastically good fighter,
and there is an archaic semi-mythical trait in the personalities of Kveld-Úlfr,
Skalla-Grímr and Egill, a trait that however disappears entirely from the
family with Þorsteinn Egilsson. Both Skalla-Grímr and Egill possess treasures
like Gull-Þórir, but the silver-chests of Egils saga have their origin in human
dealings, acquired as compensation for his brother, whereas Þórir’s hoard is
acquired in a truly mythical way from dragons residing under a waterfall.
Skalla-Grímr and Egill hide their treasures before they die, but their death is
normal and they are buried according to custom. Egill’s bones even end up in
a churchyard, whereas Gull-Þórir disappears with his hoard, and the saga says
that it is believed that he turned into a dragon lying on his gold-chests. The
saga has crossed the boundaries to heroic myth and fairy tale while retaining
significant generic indicators that pin it down as an Íslendingasaga. It is closer
to folktale and myth than Grettis saga, although its fantastic elements are not
as effectively integrated in the narrative.
I have put Bárðar saga last of my examples because of all the sagas classi-
fied as Íslendingasögur it is the only one whose protagonist is not entirely
human; Bárðr’s father Dumbr is of the race of giants and trolls while his
mother, Mjöll daughter of Snær the old of Kvenland, is “a pretty woman and
nearly the largest of all women who were human.” Bárðr is brought up with
Dofri in Dofrafjöll (also appearing in Kjalnesinga saga, as well as Ágrip and
later kings’ sagas) and later goes to Iceland. When his daughter Helga has
been thrown into the sea by her cousins (and in seven days drifts on ice to
Greenland) Bárðr falls out with his brother and soon leaves human society for
the mountains, preferring to live in a cave in a glacier rather than continue life
as a farmer. From this point onwards Bárðr seems to be roaming around in the
wilderness, able to appear swiftly out of nowhere to assist those who summon
him. Bárðr and his children constantly cross the borders between the world of
men and giants or trolls. In fact Bárðr, much like Esja in Kjalnesinga saga, is
mysteriously identified with the land, and the name Snæfellsáss marks him out
as a landvættr rather than a human hero. Bárðar saga has no signs of being a
parody or a tongue-in cheek comedy. Its tone is in fact rather melancholy as if
the attitude to Bárðr and his children in this saga is a mixture of compassion
and admiration.
17