Gripla - 01.01.1995, Page 146

144
GRIPLA
ok mællti þetta eitt ord þadan íra medan hann lifde, drottenn
taktu anda minn, ok hafde hann þau ord j munne sem Stephanwí
þa er hann uar griote bardwr, (22v5-8)
That this early sixteenth-century manuscript actually transmits an orig-
inal reading is attested by Sth. 15, which reads:
oc mælte haN þetta éitt orþa síþan meþan haN lifþe. DrótteN
tacþu anda mÍN. Oc hafþe haN þæ orþ síþarst i muNe sem
stephanus þa es haN vas grióte barþr. (96vl-3)
There is a second example of loss of text because the same word is
repeated twice within a short interval, but this time only in Sth. 3. In a
miracle tale relating how a woman - failing to get cured by super-
stitiously wearing a ring around her neck - turned to St. Stephen and
was healed, the account concludes in Sth. 3 with the following re-
marks:
þaa hafde hvn þessa jartheiknn til vitnis heilsv sinnar þeirrar sem
hvn væntte sier af envm sæla Stefano. fieck hvn þaa sidan gavfvgt
giaf ord j borg þeirre er Karthago heiter. (243:33-244:2)
The readings in Sth. 15, Sth. 2, and AM 661 attest that this time a
scribe’s eye skipped from the first mention of stephano to the next,
thereby dropping an original text, as attested by Sth. 15, which writes:
þa hafþe hon iartéin þessa. fyr vitne héilso sÍNar þeÍRar es hon
vætte af stephano. oc castaþe hon fingrgolleno a cóna. oc tóc hon
héilso sem hon vætte afenom helga stephano. Hafþe síþan gaofogt
giaforþ í borg þeÍRe es cartágo heiter. (97r5-8)
The passage is also transmitted in Sth. 2 (48vb20-25; Hms 308:6-10)
and AM 661 (97r5-8).
Throughout Stefanus saga in Reykjahólabók there is additional com-
pelling evidence that it is an occasionally flawed copy of an older Ice-
landic redaction, and the Inventio section of the legend provides fur-
ther evidence of matter dropped or misread in the course of copying.
St. Stephen’s body is laid to rest in Jerusalem in the main church,
which is called Sion, because, according to the Sth. 2 redaction,