Studia Islandica - 01.06.1956, Page 62

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14. The result of our analysis, carried through in sections
11-13, can be formulated as follows:
The distribution of the stylistic features shows a
general similarity in all respective chapters of the three
versions as compared with the rest of the sagas, as well
as some remarkable differences.
Consideration of these differences in the distribution
leads to one and the same conclusion: M alone is the
representative of a text containing the features in a
most markedly characteristic way.
V and R. both contain as a nucleus that part of the
þáttr which in its most original form is incorporated
in M. What they contain besides this nucleus should be
considered as the work of another author or authors,
probably of those who wrote the rest of the saga.
This result confirms our impression founded on the
analysis of the contents in section 7 and 8.
15. For our insight into the character of the þáttr a com-
parison between some details of V. Gl. and R. should
justify our expectation of confirmative results.
a. The prefix Víga- is in M applied twice. In the first
sentence of ch. 16 it is stated that Glúmr gave his
daughter Þorlaug to Víga-Skúta at Mývatni narör. This
is what one would expect in any saga, when at the
opening of a new chapter a person is introduced for the
first time. Skúta does not play a part outside this epi-
sode; after the introduction he is always simply called
Skúta.
Of more importance is the second sentence spoken by
Skúta, in the opening part of the story itself, to his
visitor, the einhleypingr. Skúta says: ‘You shall go on
an errand to VígarGlúmr’.
One might credit the author with a fine feeling for
the situation: the einhleypingr should not be mistaken;