Gripla - 20.12.2017, Page 120

GRIPLA120
ing apart, but which had still been contained in the narrow confines of
Haukadalr. now, however, Þórdís has to decide where her allegiance lies,
and the distress these conflicting loyalties cause her is highlighted in the
narrative. Shortly before he leaves Haukadalr in the spring, Þorgrímr’s
brother and Þórdís’s second husband Bǫrkr asks her ‘at þú segir mér, hví þú
vart svá óglǫð fyrst á hausti, […] ok þú hefir því heitit at segja mér, áðr en ek fœra
heiman’ [“that you tell me, why you were so unhappy at first in the autumn,
[…] and you have promised to tell me this, before I leave home”].78 Þórdís
is not only sad to discover that her brother Gísli had killed Þorgrímr, but
this shows also that it has taken her a while to decide whether or not to tell
Bǫrkr about her discovery. the longer version of the saga has Bǫrkr state
explicitly that ‘ek hefi þik stundum eptir spurt’ [“I have asked you about this
sometimes”],79 indicating that it takes Þórdís until his departure to decide
whether or not she wants to betray her brother. Moreover, her attempt on
Eyjólfr’s life at the end of the saga shows that Þórdís is never able to make
a clear decision, but remains in conflict for years.
further evidence for Gísli’s disruptive effect on his family is the fact
that the people he infects with his potential monstrosity are his wife, auðr,
and foster-daughter. the shorter version of the saga makes this explicit
by having Eyjólfr say to Auðr ‘Máttu ok á þat líta,’ segir hann, ‘hversu óhall-
kvæmt þér verðr at liggja í eyðifirði þessum ok hljóta þat af óhǫppum Gísla ok sjá
aldri frændr ok nauðleytamenn’ [“You should also consider,” he said, “how
unpleasant it must be for you to be confined to this desolate fjord and suf-
fer this because of Gísli’s bad luck and never see your relatives and close
kin”].80 Eyjólfr himself does not carry a lot of luck away from his encoun-
ter with the outlaw, assaulted as he is afterwards by a woman, suggesting
that, at least in the eyes of Þórdís – the only family left to make judge-
ments at this point – he has infected himself with monstrosity through his
involvement in Gísli’s death.
unlike the other outlaw sagas, however, Gísla saga is a narrative about
internalisation and its effects. Not only does it limit its focus to the family,
as mentioned above, with its action unfolding in a “claustrophobic web of
marital and sibling relationships, an inward-looking, over-bonded social
78 Gísla saga, 61.
79 “Gísla saga,” ed. Loth, 40.
80 Gísla saga, 99.