Gripla - 20.12.2017, Síða 60

GRIPLA60
Þorsteinn var iðjumaðr mikill ok smiðr ok helt mǫnnum mjǫk til
starfa … Þorsteinn hafði látit gera kirkju á bœ sínum. Hann lét
brú gera heiman frá bœnum; hon var gǫr með hagleik miklum.
En útan í brúnni undir ásunum, þeim er upp heldu brúnni, var
gǫrt með hringum ok dynbjǫllur, svá at heyrði yfir til Skarfsstaða,
hálfa viku sjávar, ef gengit var um brúna; svá hristusk hringarnir.
Hafði Þorsteinn mikinn starfa fyrir þessarri smíð, því at hann var
járngørðarmaðr mikill.60
[Þorsteinn was a great craftsman and smith, and people thought a
great deal of his work … Þorsteinn had built a church on his farm.
He built a bridge on the way home from the farm; it was made with
a lot of skill. And out on the bridge, under the boards that held the
bridge up, it was made with bells and chimes, so that it could be
heard over at Skarfsstaðir, half a week across the sea, if anyone went
over the bridge; then the bells would peal. Þorsteinn had put a great
deal of work into this smithing, because he was an accom plished
blacksmith.]
Guðni Jónsson observed that a very similar bridge is described in Tróju-
manna saga and that the unusual word dynbjallar appears in Þiðreks saga,
both of which are indisputably earlier compositions than Grettis saga.61
Jesch felt that the episode therefore said little regarding Þorsteinn that
could not have come from the author’s imagination. Þorsteinn’s diligence is
contrasted with Grettir’s workshy attitude, just as Þorsteinn’s hot-headed
behaviour contrasts with Þorkell’s more rational approach in Laxdœla
saga. according to Jesch, it therefore simply “serves to reiterate Grettir’s
well-known laziness when faced with work, and fits this into a pattern
which recurs in the saga – in which Grettir goes from farm to farm, always
having to leave when his enemies hear that he is there”.62 This is not to be
argued against – the episode continues themes that run through Grettis
saga – though it might be asked whether the saga had any reason for us-
ing Þorsteinn to explore them once more. after all, Grettir stays at many
60 Ibid., 173.
61 Trójumanna saga, ed. Jonna Louis-Jensen, Editiones Arnamagnæanæ, series A, vol. 8
(Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1963), 5; Þiðreks saga af Bern, ed. Henrik Bertelsen, 2 vols.,
StuaGnL, vol. 34 (Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, 1905–11), II, 239.
62 Jesch, “Lost Literature,” 268.