Gripla - 20.12.2017, Page 61

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farms, and any one of them could become the location of a fantastic bridge
and a hard-working smith in an author’s imagination.
the church evokes status, wealth, and probably the ability to im-
port timber; Laxdœla saga attributes the ownership of a ferja [ferry] to
Þorsteinn, which adds consistency to the accounts, although it could
be a coincidence.63 Dynbjallar usually adorn exotic royal standards, as in
Þiðreks saga, Sigrgarðs saga frœkna and Vilhjálms saga sjóðs, and it is King
Solomon who owns the bridge described in Trójumanna saga.64 Bridges in
Scandinavian archaeological contexts, like Ravning Enge in Denmark and
the bridge connected with the Kuli stone in norway, are also associated
with royal power and prestige, particularly in a Christian context.65
on the other hand, there is the well-established connection between
blacksmiths and social marginality, and Solomon’s bridge is designed spe-
cifically to warn him if his enemies are approaching. Grettis saga does not
make it explicit that the bridge is designed with Þorsteinn’s enemies in
mind, nor is it the bridge that alerts him to the approach of Grettir’s pur-
suers.66 for such a piece of defensive architecture to go unused in Grettis
saga seems, furthermore, to indicate a lack of imagination on the author’s
part rather than its opposite. this is a subjective impression, but we could
have been told of Þorsteinn’s smithing and Grettir’s aptitude for assist-
ing without the description of the bridge. Even just by mentioning that
the bridge’s bells can be heard across the fjord at Skarfsstaðir when it is
crossed, the saga encourages the audience to question the purpose of this
feature. Is it to warn of enemies or trespassers, or to allow the landowner
to offer a warm welcome to guests?
as much of an artifice as the fantastic bridge is, being possibly a mé-
lange of at least two pre-existing written sources, it complements other
depictions of Þorsteinn remarkably well. this could be the result of an
author’s knowledge of the other sagas in which Þorsteinn appears, as Jesch
has suggested, or it could be the product of a more widespread knowledge
63 Laxdœla saga, 218.
64 Late Medieval Icelandic Romances, ed. Agnete Loth, 5 vols., Editiones Arnamagnæanæ,
series B, vols. 20–24 (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1962–65), V, 51; VI, 97.
65 Else Roesdahl, The Vikings, trans. Susan M. Margeston and Kirsten Williams (London:
Allen Lane, 1991), 80.
66 In rímur about Grettir by Magnús Jónsson (1763–1840) these obvious connections are
made. ÍBr 95 4to: 60r.
THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF ÞORSTEINN KUGGASON