Gripla - 20.12.2012, Blaðsíða 192

GRIPLA190
night; during this period, he was transported to the otherworld and
saw both the torments of Hell and the bliss of Paradise, although there is
rather more of Hell and Purgatory than there is of Paradise in the story.
the dating of Draumkvæde has proved difficult but the tradition is likely
to have come together in the form in which it was collected in the 1840s at
some point during the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries (strömbäck 1957,
204–205).41
some versions of the poem refer to st Michael explicitly as the helper
of souls and leader of angels in direct opposition to the leader of the evil
forces, Grutte Greybeard.42 the following quotation is from the version
known as L4, 14–15 (Barnes 1974, 170):43
Draumkvæde thus presents a scene that is very similar to the one in Þið-
randa þáttr but involves no heathen dísir and no specifically heathen beliefs,
celebrations or other features. Instead, the context is entirely Christian,
likely inspired by the biblical apocalyptic imagery from Revelation 7–9
(where Michael and the angels fight and overcome the dragon and his
angels), and Revelation 19 (where Christ arrives, dressed in white, riding
a white horse and leading the heavenly army to defeat the beast). Indeed,
strömbäck (strömbäck 1949, 31–32) argues that the þáttr is influenced
by medieval visionary literature.44 Arguably, the context of Revelations,
41 Paasche draws comparisons between Draumkvæde and the twelfth-century Sólarljóð, argu-
ing that Sólarljóð also portrays Michael, although not by name (Paasche 1914, 51–74).
42 Grutte Greybeard bears some resemblance to óðinn but also to the Christian conception
of the Devil (Paasche 1914, 47–48).
43 version k1, stanzas 23–24, also contains the motif (Barnes 1974, 177).
44 Cf. Mundal 1974, 123. the motif itself is ancient, as the reference to Michael in the Hebrew
Apocrypha proves (see n. 11 above).
Her kjæm i fær her sonnate
Aa den Rei naa so tvist
fyri Rei st. saale Mikjel
ete kom jesom Christ

He kjæm ei fær her norate
den Rei naa so Qvast
fyri Rei Grutte graasiæje
alt mæ sin svarte Hat
there came a flock from the south
and it rode so quietly
foremost rode st Michael of the souls
after him jesus Christ

there came a flock from the north
and it rode so hard
foremost rode Grutte greybeard
in his black hat