Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1992, Page 249

Reykjahólabók
247
although here too a corresponding Low German text is wanting, the
Icelandic wording easily permits the foreign source to shine through:
“<V>mm morgvnnen þegar at klvckan hafde slegit sex. en þat er aa vore
thavlv vmm midmorgvns skeid” (I, 330:26-27); and “<V>mm morgvnen er
klockan hafde slegit atta en þat er aa vorv male jafnnære badv hadeige og
dagmalvm” (I, 338:24-25).
The Icelandic translator had a sure grasp of Low German; nonetheless,
the Low German orthography or possibly an already existing scribal or
printer’s error occasionally produced a rather unusual translation vis-á-vis
the text transmitted in the Passionael. One amusing variant occurs in the
legend of St. Nicholas of Tolentino. The saint experiences a vision in which
the suffering soul of a certain deceased Brother Peregrinus appears to him
and begs him to say the Mass of the Dead. Nicholas is the week’s heb-
domadarian, however, and thus bound to say the Mass called for by the
liturgical calendar. Therefore he tells the suffering Peregrinus that he cannot
grant his request just now. Peregrinus won’t take no for an answer and leads
Nicholas into the woods. According to the Passionael Nicholas now sees
many men and women on a meadow - ”vp ener wisck” (Cxlix, c) - who
implore him to say the Mass of the dead for them, otherwise they shall
perish. At this Nicholas awakens from his vision. The corresponding
anecdote is much longer in the saga and contains a curious deviation. When
Nicholas comes into the woods, he sees there not a meadow but a lake,
en j vathnennv saa hann hvar fiollde folks var og sathv ofann aa einvm fiske.
qvinnvr og menn allra handa stettar. enn fiskvren vellthe sier vmm kringh sem
annad hiol. og vorv þaa stvnndvm nidre vnnder fiskenvm j kafenv. Enn stvndvm
ofan aahonvm. en þaaþeir qvomv vpp vr kafenv þaakóllvdv aller sem med einv
hliode er aa fiskenvm vorv. Nicholae þv kære fader myskvnna þv þier yfer oss
med þinne salv messv. og bid þv til gvdz fyrer oss. þa verdvm vær frelstar af
vorvm qvolvm og pislvm. (II, 155:29-156:5)
Either the Icelandic translator or - what may be more likely - the
redactor of his Low German source had interpolated the matter. The
unusual variant presumably was generated by an orthographic error or a
misreading. The Low German word for meadow is wisk, but for fish visk.
Whether the interpolation in Reykjahólabók is the translator’s doing or that
of his Low German predecessor, one can explain it as the result of reading
visk for wisk and trying to make at least a little sense of such a strange vision.
Since the deceased souls are clearly suffering, it must be because the fish is
causing them this suffering. No matter to whom the modification is to be
attributed, it suggests familiarity with the medieval notion that a whale’s
back looks like a forest so that travelers mistake it for an island, drop
anchor, and light a fire on it. This fanciful notion was well known through-
out Europe and was transmitted to Iceland more than three centuries before