Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Síða 60

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Marianne Kalinke
wins this round, but also receives his cognomen “vandræðaskáld.” His positioning
vis-á-vis the king has not yet concluded, however, for when, after the recitadon
of the poem, the king asks him to become his retainer, Hallfreðr once more
negotiates:
Ek var fyrr hirðmaðr Hakonar j(arls). Nv mun ek ecki geraz þer hand genginn ok
engum pðrum hpfðingia nema þu heitir mer þvi at mik hendi enga þa lutí er þu segir
mik þer af hendan e(ðr) rekir mik fra þer. (1:387,17-20)
The king realizes the possible consequences of acceding to Hallfreðr’s exorbitant
demand, but acquiesces nonetheless: in effect Hallfreðr is pleading for the king’s
absolute acceptance of his person without regard to his future behavior.
Hallfreðr’s reaction to the king’s invitation to become his retainer, that is, to
accept him as his lord, as well as to the earlier exhortation to take Christ as his
heavenly lord, not only has a bearing on subsequent events but also serves to
elucidate Hallfreðr’s former behavior in Iceland. Ursula Dronke interpreted
Hallfreðr’s series of verses on the divine powers, which displeased King Óláfr so
much, as “a brilliant way of expressing the two facts known about the poet
Hallfreðr, (1) that he was ‘difficult’ and (2) that he moved from a heathen to a
Christian patron.”13 Her understanding of Hallfreðr as re-enacting “the traditio-
nal drama of defiance to conversion” (p. 26) is well taken, but tells only half the
story; in its portrait of Hallfreðr, the saga goes beyond depicting him as protesting
the new faith. The skáld challenges the new religion inasmuch as it is symptomatic
of the authority the king wields, and in his case that is also paternal authority.
Not for nothing has King Óláfr become his godfather, a substitute for his
biological father. Hallfreðr’s grudging acceptance of Christianity, not accomplis-
hed without getting something in return from King Óláfr, anticipates his grud-
ging submission to the king as his retainer.
Hallfreðr’s negotiations as he enters into both a spiritual and a secular relation-
ship with the king elucidate his relationship with his biological father. It is
especially the promise he extracts from King Óláfr when the latter invites him to
become his retainer which throws light on Hallfreðr’s psyche. When he elicits
from the king a promise not to reject him under any circumstances, Hallfreðr is
pleading for an absolute love, something not granted to him by his own íather.
With the substitution of King Óláfr’s spiritual and political authority for Óttarr’s
parental authority, Hallfreðr actually begins to assert himself in action, and not
solely in verse as had been the case in Iceland. At home his deeds had been
circumscribed by his father and grandfather, while in Norway both are now
subject to the critical scrutiny of the king; nevertheless, only in relation to the
king is Hallfreðr able to establish a delicate balance between his own desires and
the will of a father figure. The erstwhile rebel is beginning to mature.
Hallfreðr’s repeated testing of King Óláfr’s patience and willingness to give in
13 Ursula Dronke, “The Poet’s Persona in the Skalds’ Sagas,” Parergon, 22 (1978), 26.