Studia Islandica - 01.06.1956, Qupperneq 60

58
V 99, 36:... brýtr spjótit af skaptinu ok hefir fyrir
staf, tekr ok af sgðvlinn ok ríðr berbakt, snýr nú
veslinu ... Síðan reið hann at sauðum ok œpir
mjgk hátt.
R.: leitar nú ráðs, brýtr af skaptinu spjótit ok hefir
fyrír staf, tekr af hestinum sgðidinn, en snýr
veslinu, ok reið nú at sauðum ok hóar fast á féit.
Both passages in M are beautiful specimens of close
correspondence between the outer and the inner form.
The repeated asyndeton symbolizes tension, during ap-
proach as well as during escape.
In the first passage all three asyndeta are eliminated
in V and R., by adding a pronoun, an adverb or a con-
junction; or two of these in combination. The whole of
the pattem is destroyed.
In the second passage the original pattem is still
visible both in V and R.,V having preserved one asynde-
ton out of five, R. three out of five.
Should an original longer V. Gl. have shown one
asyndeton only, M would have reached a climax by in-
troducing seven more. Should R. have been the source
of M, this ms would have added five extra cases.
We are inclined to hold the other view: V, a corrupt
text, has spoiled the flavour of these passages by its
verbosity; R. did the same, only to a lesser extent.
The asyndeton is a feature typical of the original þáttr,
best preserved in M.
13. A small but not insignificant feature of the lower
level of style should be noted here.
The author of R. is in the habit of often using the
phrase svá (þat) er sagt, which is found 37 times in the
13 chapters 17-25 and 27-30; only two chapters, 27 and
29, are without it. Its frequency becomes boring in ch.
18 (12 times!) and ch. 24 (6 times).