Studia Islandica - 01.07.1966, Side 15

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Morkinskinna a boy became ill as a result of being unable
to dream (draumstoli). He was advised among other things
to sleep in King Magnús the Good’s bed. He did so, and as
a result had a dream and was cured.* 1 Such rituals are part
of the popular dream-lore of the middle ages, and similar
accounts are found in (modern) folk-tales.2
The dream itself in RauSúlfs þáttr is closely based on the
dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel ii. Nebuchadnezzar had
a bad dream but could not remember it when he awoke. He
summoned all his advisers to see if any of them could tell
him what his dream had been and what it signified. Only
Daniel was able to do this. In his dream the king had seen
“a great image ... whose brightness was excellent”. The
head was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly
and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, the feet part of iron and
part of clay. As the king gazed on the vision a rock struck
the image, shattering it. Daniel interpreted the parts of the
figure to represent successive “kingdoms” (regna), and the
shattering of the figure their final destruction.
King Óláfr’s dream keeps remarkably close to this origin-
al. King Óláfr is made to take the place of Nebuchadnezzar,
Rauðúlfr that of Daniel. Like Daniel, Rauðúlfr is asked first
to relate the dream and then interpret it, although this is
not because the king has forgotten it: but the motive of
Daniel’s clairvoyance is perhaps reflected in Rauðúlfr’s re-
velation of the king’s thoughts before he went to sleep — a
revelation that seems to have annoyed the king somewhat.3
draumr.” Cf. ÓH 660: “En þat geri ek stundum, sagði ÍJlfr, þá er ek vil
forvitnask í draumi sannindi stórra hluta, at ek tek ný klæði . ..”
1 Morkinskinna, ed. Finnur Jónsson (Kobenhavn 1932), pp. 118—
119. It is interesting that modern psychology also recognises the harmful
effects of “dream starvation” or the lack of deep sleep.
2 See G. D. Kelchner, Dreams in Old Norse Literature (Cambridge
1935), pp. 75—76. Cf. Sir Orfeo, ed. A. J. Bliss (Oxford 1954), pp.
xxxv ff., on the effect of going to sleep under an ympe-tre.
3 Compare Daniel ii 29: “As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came
into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter” with
ÖH 672/8 f.