Gripla - 2019, Side 99

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object is cast between risar and jötnar, Geirröðr stipulates that whosoever
should drop the fiery head shall become an outlaw and forfeit his prop-
erty, and anyone who does not suffer to hold it shall be called a níðingr.59
These outrageous rules would have been a clear sign to the saga’s audi-
ence of the social monstrosity of the jötunn and his court. The portrait
of uncouth jötnar offered here is consistent with those that other saga
authors present. The initial characterisation of the jötnar in Þorsteins þáttr
contrasts with that of Goðmundr. To his appeal to law we might add his
introduction to the protagonist Þorsteinn, briefly mentioned earlier in
this discussion, which speaks to his social refinement. The saga has it that
“nú sér Þorsteinn þrjá menn ríða vel vápnaða ok svá stóra, at enga menn sá
hann fyrr jafnstóra. Sá var mestr, er í miðit reið, í gullskotnum klæðum á
bleikum hesti, en hinir tveir riðu á grám hestum í rauðum skarlatsklæðum”
[Þorsteinn saw three men riding well equipped with weapons and so large
that he had not seen men so large before. He who rode in the middle was
greatest, in gold-decorated clothes and on a pale horse, and behind him two
rode on grey horses and in scarlet clothes].60 Besides the visual splendour
of these figures, Goðmundr’s retinue is also arranged hierarchically, with
rank apparently indicated by clothing and riding order. The rigid organisa-
tion of these risar provides a contrast to the picture of chaos that is the hall
of the jötunn geirrǫðr.
The opposition between risar and jötnar which the author presents
in this text extends to physical characteristics as well. This is expressed
in the wrestling match between Goðmundr and Agði, Geirröðr’s under-
ling. When describing the match, the narrator comments that “eigi þótt-
ist Þorsteinn sét hafa tröllsligri búk en á Agða. Var hann blár sem hel.
Goðmundr reis mót honum. Var hann hvítr á skinnslit” [Þorsteinn thought
he had never seen such a monstrous torso as Agði’s. It was black as Hel.
Goðmundr rose against him. His skin was white in colour].61 That this
59 The word níðingr is impossible to satisfactorily translate. Bernt Øyvind Thorvaldsen sug-
gested that “the Old Norse noun níðingr refers to an abhorrent person who is devoid of
honor and disrespects the basic norms of society,” “The Níðingr and the Wolf,” Viking and
Medieval Scandinavia 7 (2011): 171.
60 Guðni Jónsson, Fornaldarsögur, iv, 328.
61 Guðni Jónsson, Fornaldarsögur, iv, 334. Agði is most often called a tröll in this text, though
he is said to exhibit a jötunmóðr “jötunn-rage.” As suggested at the beginning of this
discussion, however, Icelandic authors did not distinguish greatly between the terms jötunn,
tröll and þurs.
A PROBLEM OF GIANT PROPORTIONS