Gripla - 01.01.1998, Síða 163

FOLKTALE AND PARABLE
161
spear and the sacrifice of the king). Both associate the worship of Óðinn —
particularly the practice of sacrifícing to him — with negatives: the foolish-
ness and death of the peasants and the bad luck and suffering of Starkaðr.
Unlike Saxo Grammaticus, the narrator of Gautreks saga does not com-
ment on Starkaðr’s character, so we have no overt indication of the reason
why this legend is included in the saga. However, the elements that appear to
have been added to the story provide a clue. These are Starkaðr’s genealogy,
the account of his birth, the emphasis on the earlier part of his life, when he
fought with King Víkarr against the grandsons of Friðþjófr, and on the
consequences of his betrayal of the king.15 Evidently the saga-author wanted
to provide a basis for comparing him with Gautrekr on one hand and with
Refr on the other. Moreover, the reader is led to pay particular attention to
Starkaðr’s position with respect to King Víkarr (Gautreks saga:28):
Starkaðr var mest metinn af öllum [köppum Víkars] ok kærastr kon-
ungi, þar hann var öndvegismaðr hans ok ráðgjafi ok landvamarmaðr.
Hann þá margar gjafir af konungi.16
These special emphases, additions, and selections constitute such an integral
part of the saga’s meaning that most probably this version of the Starkaðr
legend was consciously and deliberately written for inclusion in Gautreks
saga. That meaning cannot be fully understood without having first examined
the story of Refr, so we will proceed on to it.
The story of Gift-Refr is a humorous parallel to Auðunar þáttr vestfirzka,
one of the finest Islendinga þættir (see Boyer 1979).17 It seems likely that
Auðunar þáttr is not just an analogue, but is actually the source for this
story.18 In Gautreks saga, Refr gives Earl Neri his father’s prized ox. Neri
rewards him with a whetstone and some advice, which results in the par-
15 Cf. Hermann Schneider (1933:147-50), who claims that the account of Starkaðr’s youth
was not derived from Víkarsbálkr (as some of the other material in Gautreks saga was), but was
added by the saga-author. (He goes on to postulate a *Starkaðar saga which contained this infor-
mation and served as the source for Ynglinga saga, Skjöldunga saga, Hervarar saga, and Gaut-
reks saga, but his hypothesis is not currently accepted.)
16 „Starkaðr was the most valued of all [Víkarr’s champions], and dearest to the king; he sat
in the seat of honor across from him, and was his advisor and the defender of the land. He
accepted many gifts from the king.“
17 For the discussion of the íslendinga þættir, see Harris (1972, 1976).
18 For the date of Auðunar þáttr to 1200-1230, see de Vries (1956:338). Auðunar þáttr is
found in Vestfirðinga SQgur (1943), íslendinga þœtlir (1935), etc. It has been translated by Her-
mann Pálsson, Gwyn Jones, Pardee Lowe, and Alan Boucher.