Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Qupperneq 124

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Alison Finlay
comes to nothing, either because of the betrothed man’s own defection or, as in
Laxdœla saga, because of a rival’s deceitful intervention.
It is significant in this context that the narrative of Laxdœla saga turns on a
scene in which Kjartan approaches Guðrún, not in order to propose marriage to
her as both she and the reader have been led to expect, but to announce his
decision to go abroad:
Litlu síðar ríðr Kjartan til Lauga oksegir Guðrúnu útanferð sína. Guðrún mælti: ‘Skjótt
hefir þú þetta ráðit, Kjartan.’ Hefir hún þar um nkkur orð, þau er Kjartan rnátti skilja,
at Guðrún lét sér ógetit at þessu. Kjartan mælti: ‘Lát þér eigi þetta mislíka; ek skal gera
annan hlut, svá at þér þykki vei.’ Guðrún mælti: ‘Entu þetta, því at ek mun brátt yfir
því lýsa.’ Kjartan bað hanasvágera. Guðrún mælti: ‘Þávil ekfara útan með þér ísumar,
ok hefir þú þá yfir bœtt við mik þetta bráðræði, því at ekki ann ek Islandi.’ ‘Þat má
ekki vera,’ segir Kjartan; ‘brœðr þínir eru óráðnir, en faðir þinn gamall, ok eru þeir
allri forsjá sviptir, ef þú ferr af landi á brott, ok bíð mín þrjá vetr.’ Guðrún kvazk um
þat mundu engu heita, ok þótti sín veg hváru þeira, ok skilðu með því. (ÍF 114—15)
Soon afterwards Kjartan rode to Laugar and told Guðrún he was going abroad. Guðrún
said, ‘You have decided this very hastily, Kjartan.’ She had more to say on the subject,
so that Kjartan could tell that Guðrún was not pleased about it. Kjartan said, ‘Don’t
be upset about this; I will do something else that will make you happy.’ Guðrún said,
‘Keep that promise, for I can tell you at once what I want.’ Kjartan told her to do so.
Guðrún said, ‘I want to go abroad with you this summer; then you will have made up
to me for your hasty decision, for I do not like Iceland.’ ‘That is impossible,’ said
Kjartan; ‘your brothers have not settled down, and your father is old, and they would
be left without any care if you went out of the country. Wait for me for three years.’
Guðrún said she would make no promise about this, and they each had their own
opinion about it. With this they parted.
The contrast between anticipated betrothal and impulsive desire to travel
rehearses a theme familiar from Bjamar saga and Gunnlaugs saga, eacli of which
establishes a tension between the hero’s ambitions for travel and advancement
abroad and his desire to marry. Gunnlaugr is criticized by both his father and his
prospective father-in-law for being óráðinn [unstable]:
Ertu eigi ráðinn til útanferðar ok lætr þó, sem þú skylir kvángask? Er þat ekki jafnræði
með ykkr Helgu, meðan þú ert svá óráðinn (ÍF 3, 66).
Have you not decided to go abroad, and yet you are saying that you must marry? It
will not be an equal match between you and Helga while you are so unsettled.25
It could be argued that óráðinn here means ‘immature, not yet settled in life’, as in Laxdcelasaga,
where Kjartan refuses to take Guðrún abroad with him because her brothers are ‘óráðnir’ and
in need of her care (ÍF 5, 115). If so, Þorsteinn is not finding fault with Gunnlaugr’s
temperament but reserving judgement because of his youth. On the other hand, Þorsteinn uses
the word ‘óráðinn’ again in a context where Gunnlaugr’s temperament is unfavourably