Gripla - 20.12.2012, Síða 191

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this clearly-drawn line between light and dark ones is unparalleled and
therefore suspicious in terms of it being a genuine trait in heathen tradi-
tions (Hall 2007, 24–25). In fact, this sort of categorisation might be seen
to be what Hall has called “a paganisation of Christian angels” (Hall 2007,
25) and is probably best taken as reflecting a Christian mind-set making
sense of ancient heathen traditions.39
It is exactly such a “paganisation of Christian angels” that the dísir in
Þiðranda þáttr ok Þórhalls are subjected to, originating as they do in heathen
belief, yet employed in this context to convey a strongly Christian mes-
sage. this is only part of the point, however. By taking up Christianity in
the next chapter of the saga, Hallur shows that he has understood the mes-
sage: there is a relationship resembling cause-and-effect between Þiðrandi’s
tragic death in one chapter and his father’s conversion in the next.
there are strong Christian parallels to Þiðranda þáttr. Parallels to the
vision of demonic and angelic forces described in Michaels saga ch. 3 are
clear; the black and white dísir opposing each other over Þiðrandi also re-
calls the biblical reference in Jude 9 where the archangel Michael and the
Devil himself fight over the body of Moses.40 the two narratives involv-
ing Moses and Þiðrandi, although they portray different outcomes of the
struggle, convey the same notion of the white, angelic forces representing
what is good against dark and evil forces.
furthermore, the norwegian Draumkvæde tradition is particularly rel-
evant here, too, since it portrays st Michael in ways that are reminiscent
of the black and white dísir. Although this poem was only recorded very
late (many versions were collected from telemark in norway during the
mid-nineteenth century) it has much in common with medieval visionary
poetry in that it concerns a person’s journey to the underworld during
a deep, long-lasting sleep. the poem tells of olav Åstesson and how he
fell asleep on Christmas eve and did not wake up again until the twelfth
39 Mundal speaks of kristen påverknad på fylgjetrua, “Christian influence on the belief in
fylgjur” (Mundal 1974, 124).
40 see also edwards 1982, 41. the visionary in Michaels saga ch. 3 is, incidentally, named
Moses (unger 1877, 679). the motif Angels and devils contest for a man’s soul (e756.3) com-
monly occurs in tales about The Devil’s Contract (Atu 756b). It is widespread and is found
in many folklore traditions documented in recent centuries. one version of it portrays black
and white birds instead of devils and angels; this looks like a special variant of Atu 756b
with a narrower distribution, seemingly limited to the scandinavian area (see Bek-Pedersen
forthcoming).
st MICHAeL AnD tHe sons of síÐu-HALLuR