Gripla - 20.12.2016, Qupperneq 105

105
7. Mapping farmsteads
to illustrate how cognizance of the real-world locations of places men-
tioned in a text can influence understanding of the saga, I want to start
with Chapter 6 of the Complete version.48 In rather common saga con-
vention, it interrupts the narrative to introduce new characters who will
come into the saga. Each new character gives the audience a clue as to the
narrative that will thereafter unfold, and each personality trait assigned to
them, as well as each juicy bit of gossip we learn about them, will come to
have import in the story. this is normally understood as the saga style of
foreshadowing plot:
Özurr hét maðr. Hann bjó í Skagafirði á þeim bæ, er á Grund
heitir. Hann var Arngrímsson. Jórunn hét móðir hans ok var systir
Miðfjarðar-Skeggja. Özurr var höfðingi mikill, því at hann hafði
goðorð um inn efra hlut Skagafjarðar ok út til móts vid Hjaltasonu.
Hann var ódældarmaðr, ok ekki var hann vinsæll, meiri ok sterkari
en flestir menn, ótrúr ok undirhyggjufullr. Þórhallr hét maðr. Hann
bjó á Miklabæ í óslandshlíð. ólöf hét kona hans. Hon var væn kona
ok inn mesti skörungr. Þórhallr var vellauðigr at fé; engi var hann
kempa kallaðr ok heldr hræddr ok at öllu it mesta lítilmenni. Hann
var hælinn ok inn mesti skrumari ok þóttist flest ráð kunna. ólöf,
húsfreyja hans, var Hrolleifsdóttir, þess er nam Hrolleifsdal upp af
Slettahlíð. Hon var fyrir þeim um alla hluti. Hafði hon verit gefin
honum til fjár. Hon var ung, en Þórhallr við aldr. Hon var læknir
góðr. Kálfr hét bondi einn í Hjaltadal. Hann bjó á Kálfsstöðum.
Hann var mikilhæfr bóndi. (Íf XIV, pp. 190–191)
[there was a man named Özurr. He lived in Skagafjörður at that
farm which is called Grund. He was arngrímsson. His mother was
called Jórunn and she was the sister of Skeggi of Miðfjörður. Özurr
was a great chieftain, because he had authority over the outer part
of Skagafjörður and all the way out until the claim of the sons of
Hjalti began. He was an unkind man, and not popular, although
he was stronger and more powerful than most other men, untr-
48 “Þórðar saga hreðu,” in Kjalnesinga saga, ed. Jóhannes Halldórsson, íslenzk fornrit, vol. 14
(reykjavík: Híð íslenzka fornritafélag, 1959), 190–191.
COMPLETING Þ Ó R Ð A R S A G A H R E Ð U