Gripla - 20.12.2016, Page 109

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spare Indriði in the first instance, since he had recently killed not only
ormur but also Jón, and conversely no good motivation for him to kill
Sörli in the latter incident, especially since Þórður’s encounter with Sörli
occurs after everything has finally been satisfactorily settled and Ásbjörn
has married his sister.
the saga tells us specifically that the encounter with Sörli took place
at Lurkasteinn, a landscape feature that marks the entry into Eyjafjörður.
It is, in other words, just outside of the boundary of Skagafjörður. By
contrast, the sparing of Indriði happens at arnastapi, exactly when Þórður
enters into Skagafjörður and can literally see Hjaltadalur. Similarly, the first
sparing of Özurr takes place within Skagafjörður, the area right around
Hjaltadal. It occurs as Þórður leaves a Christmas celebration at Kálfsstaðir.55
the text draws attention to Þórður’s decision to spare Özurr:
Eptir fundinn gekk Þórðr at Özuri ok kippti honum ór blóði ok
skaut yfir hann skildi, svá at eigi rifi hann hrafnar, því at hann mátti
sér enga hjálp veita. allir flýðu undan menn Özurar. Eigi váru
menn Þórðar færir til eptirferðar, því at engi komst ósárr af fundi
þessum. Þórðr bauð Özuri at láta græða hann. “Eigi þarftu að bjóða
mér lækning,” segir Özurr, “því at jafnskótt skal ek drepa þik sem
ek komumst í færi við þik.” Þórðr kveðst ekki at því fara ok sendi
Þórhall yfir í Ás til Þorgríms, er þar bjó, at hann sækti Özur ok
græddi hann.56
[after the encounter, Þórður went up to Özurr and pulled him
out of the blood and set up a shield over him so that the ravens
could not pick at him, since he was unable to defend himself. all
of Özurr’s men had fled the scene. none of Þórður’s men were
fit to pursue them, since no one had emerged unscathed from this
encounter. Þórður offered Özurr to get his wounds patched up.
“You do not need to offer me doctoring,” replies Özurr, “because
I will kill you the very second I get another chance against you.”
Þórður replies he is not worried about that and sends Þórhall over
55 this farm, located today directly across the stream from Hólar, is likely used within the
fictional frame of the saga as a pre-1106 stand in for Hólar itself, since the saga time is circa
950 a.D., before the bishopric was established.
56 “Þórðar saga hreðu,” 204.
COMPLETING Þ Ó R Ð A R S A G A H R E Ð U