Studia Islandica - 01.06.1956, Side 71

69
dent þáttr. It was kept in X, and taken over by M,
although in this stage it is a superfluous epithet.
6. in the passage discussed in section 8.1 M has pre-
served the better reading.
19.5. Our research completed, we have to decide in favour
of one of the schemes 7-9.
1. Scheme 9 is least acceptable. Even while replacing
V by a longer and better version of V. Gl. we are
left with the unsurmountable difficulty of V. Gl.
and R. being in agreement against M.
2. Scheme 8 is improbable. Although V is a corrupt
text, in it would have been preserved, from its
better prototype V. Gl., at least some more correct
details as a residue from R.
3. Scheme 7 deserves preference over the others.
R. in all probability is the latest version, com-
plete and satisfactory, in contents and in style typi-
cal of its author. In order to complete and criticize
the þáttr R. will have found material in oral tradi-
tion.
Adding a longer V. Gl., which once existed, thus
completing scheme 7, we arrive at the following
pedigree:
Kálfr episode Skútu þáttr
V______________)
V
X
i
M
i
V.Gl. -> R.
I
V
L