Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1992, Qupperneq 51

Women and Men in Laxdæla saga
49
Þeir Hrútur sáu eigi fyrr eftirreiðina en þeir áttu skammt til garðs á Kambsnesi.
Stíga þeir Hrútur þegar af baki og binda hesta sína og ganga fram á mel nokkurn
og sagði Hrútur að þeir mundu þar við taka, kvaðst það hyggja þótt seint gengi
fjárheimtan við Höskuld að eigi skyldi það spyrjast að hann rynni fyrir þrælum
hans. Förunautar Hrúts sögðu að liðsmunur mundi vera. Hrútur kvaðst það
ekki hirða, kvað þá því verrum förum fara skyldu sem þeir væru fleiri. (19:1558)
In spite of the fact that numbers are against him, and that he could easiiy
have come to shelter and presumably more aid at home, Hrútur chooses to
fight, like a true hero in what we may think of as the classic saga style. The
fight itself continues to be narrated in this style, and Hrútur kills two of
Höskuldur’s men “í einu athlaupi”.6 Such heroism is not ascribed to the
main male figures of the saga (except to Kjartan and Bolli at the moment of
their death).
Höskuldur’s other activities in Iceland are unimpressive. He is asked by
local farmers to protect them from a nasty fellow named Hrappur (ch. 10),
and it is said that he gave aid to Þórður goddi who was being bothered by
Hrappur (“Höskuldur sá um með honum [Þórði] svo að hann hélt bústað
sínum”, 11:1545). But the next thing we learn about Höskuldur is that he
goes abroad, and although Hrappur’s behavior gets worse and worse, no one
does anything about it. Fortunately, however, he dies a natural death. Later
(ch. 17) Höskuldur has the body moved to a remote place, and it is
eventually Ólafur pái who disposes of the body effectively by burning it (ch.
24). The main thing to notice is how little Höskuldur actually does about
Hrappur - and that this is the only area in which he was active in Iceland
apart from fighting with his brother.
His activities on the one journey abroad which is described are even more
disappointing. His motivation is not to serve the king, or put his manly vigor
to the test, but merely to satisfy his own taste for magnificence by acquiring
the wood to build a finer hall. Although he is a member of the king’s court,
he avoids going to him (ch. 11), and the following summer goes to the
Brenneyjar when he hears the king is going there for a “stefnuleiðangur”
(12:1545). But again he fails to greet his king, spending time with relatives
and purchasing a concubine instead. When he finally goes to the king,
Hákon comments sardonically on Höskuldur’s delay but nonetheless invites
him to stay and help himself to all the wood he needs. On parting, the king
says to him: “Eigi skal dvelja þig hér með oss lengur en þér líkar en þó þykir
oss vandfengið manns í stað þinn... . Að sómamanni hefi eg þig reyndan”
(13:1547).
Once again the reader is bewildered. On the one hand is a man who does
nothing in the way of heroic deeds and is concerned only with buying a
6 Note Hrútur’s other heroic act in ch. 37, where, though he is eighty years old, he
prevents Eldgrímur from stealing the horses of Þorleikur Höskuldsson. For this he is
treated in a shabby, cowardly fashion by this son of Höskuldur Dala-Kollsson.