Gripla - 20.12.2015, Side 228

GRIPLA228
torfason. four years after his death a volume of his hymns was published, and
over the next hundred years this collection was reprinted on twelve occasions. Lbs
2676 4to is a sizeable manuscript known as Lystiháfur, and a number of its items
have already been printed, though not its text of ‘Kötludraumur’, the poem which
immediately precedes ‘Ljúflingur’ in the manuscript. Benedikt’s poem was com-
posed as a response to the huldufólk beliefs that find expression in ‘Kötludraumur’,
and for which he had little sympathy. ‘Ljúflingur’ is the earliest known source for
the custom of inviting elves into homesteads on new Year’s Eve. the poem is
extant in 19 manuscripts, which are discussed briefly in the article. It seems to have
circulated in manuscript form rather than in oral tradition.
the second part of the article discusses gísli Sigurðsson’s article ‘Kötlu-
draumur. flökkuminni eða þjóðfélagsumræða?’, published in Gripla IX (1995),
189–217. An edition of the poem had been scheduled for inclusion in the third vol-
ume of Íslenzk miðaldakvæði, a pre-reformation verse project which Jón Helgason
initiated in 1936 but which was never completed. of the 80 or so manuscripts of
‘Kötludraumur’, gísli makes use of just 12 of Jón’s transcripts, and only some of
these derive from the oldest manuscripts of the poem. the poem survives in two
main versions, A (the shorter) and B (the younger). the oldest sources for the
poem occur in jón lærði Guðmundsson’s Grænlands annál (1623), and jón repeats
this material in another work published in 1641. Jón refers to the A-version, as do
all the oldest sources about the poem. Jón Helgason believed that ‘Kötludraumur’
pre-dated the reformation, and gísli suggests that this view may derive from Jón
lærði. However, Jón Helgason’s dating was based on linguistic evidence. the poem
tells of a love-affair between Katla, a married woman, and an elf, with the union
leading to the birth of a son. the present article questions gísli’s suggestion that
the poem’s popularity may be associated with an important 1564 law (Stóridómur)
concerning incest, adultery and fornication. It should be noted that extra-marital
affairs involving married women were the least common (5%) of all breaches of
this legislation and, of course, the easiest to conceal. moreover, the story is set in
the long-distant past.
Einar Gunnar Pétursson
Prófessor emeritus
Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum
Árnagarði við Suðurgötu
101 Reykjavík
egp@hi.is
GRIPLA XXVI. - 12.12.B.indd 228 12/13/15 8:24:55 PM