Gripla - 20.12.2017, Qupperneq 125

125
in society. He takes on Glámr to test his strength and be praised for it, and
he swims across the fjord for fire in order to be praised by the merchants.
these actions, resulting from his desire for social acceptance,97 lead to
his outlawry. Grettir’s tragedy as an outlaw is, as he says, that ‘vera varð
ek nǫkkur’ [“I had to be somewhere”],98 but he cannot find a place within
society. Socialisation of the unruly child has failed because it was attempted
through violence, and as an adult Grettir turns against society as he once
turned against his father.
Hörðr’s relationship with his father is different but no less problematic.
He grows up caught in the tense relationship between his father Grímkell
and his maternal uncle torfi which, from his earliest childhood onwards,
teaches him to be suspicious of affinal kin. Moreover, his father gives him
away to be fostered. When Hörðr is introduced to the saga he destroys his
mother’s necklace at the age of three, resulting in her becoming very angry
and saying,
‘Ill varð þín ganga in fyrsta, ok munu hér margar illar eptir fara, ok mun
þó verst in síðasta.’ […] Grímkell kom í því í stofuna ok heyrði, hvat hon
kvað. Hann greip upp sveininn þegjandi ok reddist mjök þessum orðum
[…] Svá var Grímkell reiðr orðinn, at hann vildi eigi, at sveinninn væri
heima þar.99
[“Your first walk was bad, and many bad ones will follow, but the
last one will be the worst.” […] Grímkell came into the room at that
moment and heard what she said. He quietly picked up the boy
and became very angry at these words. […] Grímkell had become so
angry that he did not want the boy to be at home there.]
Grímkell thus projects his anger at his wife onto his young son. this is
later mirrored by torfi first exposing Þorbjörg and then giving her to the
vagrant Sigmundr and his family to be fostered in attempt at hu miliating
Grímkell.100 these tales of unwanted, unwelcome children show how
97 See Kathryn Hume, “the thematic Design of Grettis saga,” Journal of English and Ger-
manic Philology 73 (1974): 476.
98 Grettis saga, 169.
99 Harðar saga, 17–18.
100 Ibid., 24: ‘eigi er eins konar fjandskapr Torfa við mik; deyddi hann fyrst móðurina, en rak nú
barnit á húsgang.’ […] Alla vissi Grímkell ráðagerð Torfa, ok því vildi hann ekki, at mærin væri
“HE HaS LonG forfEItED aLL KInSHIP tIES”