Gripla - 20.12.2007, Page 20

GRIPLA
This very brief and incomplete survey of fantastic elements in fourteen sagas
usually dated in the fourteenth century ought to have given some impression
of the variety of elements we find in them, some fantastic in nature, others
more realistic or mimetic. As stated earlier, fantastic elements appear in sagas
from early on. We need only to think of the tale of Snjófríðr in Ágrip, to see
that there are fantastic elements in one of the earliest king’s saga texts. Exag-
geration of strength and fighting skills is an inheritance from heroic tales and
poems; we find it in early sagas of Ólaf Tryggvason and in Egils saga, but in
the fourteenth century sagas they are such a fixed characteristic of the heroes
that there is seldom any doubt about the outcome of their fights.
Folktales of various kinds, some historical and local in nature others fan-
tastic, were no doubt among the sources of Íslendingasögur, as well as forn-
aldarsögur. Although most fornaldarsögur may not have been written before
the fourteenth century, there can be no doubt that their most popular motifs
were known and widely used in oral tales referring back to the viking age. A
fight with a notorious viking, often fought by the coast of an island or a pro-
montory, is quite a common motif in fornaldarsögur. It is sometimes found in
Íslendingasögur; in Njáls saga, for instance, both Hrútr and Gunnar are in-
volved in such figths and win glorious victories. Duels with famous cham-
pions, berserks or blámenn, often on behalf of a king, is another fornaldarsaga-
motif frequently found in the late Íslendingasögur, but also in Bjarnar saga
Hítdœlakappa, a saga that is usually considered to be rather early (Theodore
M. Andersson 2006 and others; Bjarni Guðnason considers it to be late, around
1300 or even later, 1994:84). Not only does Bjƒrn win all Russia (Garðaríki)
for the king in Kiev in a duel but later kills a flugdreki, ‘flying dragon’. Such
a dragon appears again in Þorskfirðinga saga. Both in thirteenth century and
fourteenth century sagas such adventures most commonly occur in episodes
that take place outside Iceland, and they become increasingly frequent. Al-
though events taking place in Iceland are for the most part also less exag-
gerated in the fourteenth century sagas, they are marked out by the concentra-
tion on the excellence and survival abilities of the hero, which are demons-
trated in loosely connected scenes. The difficulties the protagonist is up
against are created by evil enemies rather than any social bonds.
The difference between fantastic elements of exaggeration in the thirteenth
and fourteenth century sagas is mostly one of degree; that is, fantastic ele-
ments occur more frequently and exaggerations are usually greater in four-
teenth century sagas. More importantly, fantastic elements of a supernatural
kind play a significantly different function in a few of the late sagas from any
18