Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1994, Page 142

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Marianne Kalinke
one recalls the Tristan legend, loans from which are not uncommon in the sagas.31
The night that Víglundur is tempted to kill his rival, he goes to the bed in which
Þórður and Ketilríður are sleeping, and lifts the covers. The couple have their
backs to each other: Ketilríður is turned toward the wall, while her husband is
turned to the outer edge of the bed. With the support of his brother, who comes
upon the scene, Víglundur resists the strong impulse to kill his rival, and then
wonders “að svo var langt í millum þeirra í sænginni” (p. 1983). The scene is a
variant of the sword-between-the-lovers motif that was introduced to the North
through Tristrams saga, and which can be found in several other sagas.32 Indeed,
at the conclusion of the saga, Þórður explains that Ketilríður is still a virgin and
that what seemed to be one bed, actually was not. The edge of the bed served in
effect as a type of bundling board (“rekkjustokkur tekur upp á millum rúma
okkarra” [p. 1986]) .
The explanation for the modest demeanor of Þórður and Ketilríður in bed
comes at the conclusion of the saga where, with the exception of Þorbjörg,
Ketilríðurs mother, the entire cast of principals is reunited. Þórður now reveals
that the marriage had never been consummated, that the unusual arrangement
had been the work of Hólmkell, Ketilríðurs father, that he, Þórður, is in reality
Víglundurs uncle Helgi, and that the time has come for Víglundur to become
reconciled with Hólmkell. The saga concludes with a triple wedding: in addition
to the marriage of the protagonists, Helga (Víglundur’s sister) and Ragnhildur
(the daughter of his uncle) marry the two sons of Ketill of Raumaríki, the suitor
from whom Víglundur’s mother Ólöf had been abducted in the prefatory
narrative. The only second-generation character not accounted for at the end of
the saga is Trausti, but he had already been united to Ingibjörg, the third child of
Ketill of Raumaríki, when the validity of Þorgrímur’s and Ólöf’s union was
confirmed in Norway (p. 1978).
The conclusion of Víglundar saga is reminiscent of Friðþjófi saga in the sense
that the hero gets his bride at last. Whereas the outcome of Friðþjófs saga is
narratively weak at best — the old king bestows both his wife and his wealth on
the protagonist and then has the courtesy to die — the ending of Víglundar saga
suggests that the author, who knew Friðþjófi saga well, was loath to resort to a
fairy-tale ending, to a deus ex machina, as it were. The author solved his narrative
dilemma by means of a sham marriage contrived by the fathers of the lovers. In
effect, while Hólmkell gave every appearance of being browbeaten by his wife, he
actually worked behind the scenes, together with Víglundur’s father, to further
Víglundur’s bridal quest. His behavior is consistent with his emotional attach-
31 Cf. Paul Schach, “Some Observations on the Influence of Tristrams saga ok ísöndar on Old
Icelandic Literature,” in OldN'orse Literature andMythology: A Symposium, ed. Edgar C. Polomé
(Austin: Univ. ofTexas Press, 1969), pp. 81-129.
32 In ch. 19 of Kormáks saga and ch. 9 of Sturlaugs saga starfiama, the sleeping arrangements
resemble that in Víglundarsaga, except that the couple sleep in one bed with a partition between
them. In ch. 24 of Göngu-Hrólfi saga and ch. 29 of Völsunga saga, however, the couple are
separated by a sword as in Tristrams saga.