Studia Islandica - 01.07.1966, Page 21

19
first hand, but Daniel enjoyed a high reputation as a source
of dream-interpretations in the middle ages, and it is prob-
able that the book was available in the vernacular.
A popular book of dream-lore that was in the middle ages
ascribed to Daniel, and is now sometimes referred to as
the Pseudo-Daniel, survives in many versions from several
European countries.1 It is now known that a version of this
book also existed in medieval Iceland.2 It may well have
been known to the author of Rau'Öúlfs þáttr, although there
do not seem to be any very striking parallels. But he clearly
drew on popular dream-lore of this kind to supplement his
biblical source. The dream of Hálfdan the Black has already
been mentioned: Hálfdan dreamed he had splendid thick
hair that fell in locks of varying lengths and colours. One
lock was the longest and most beautiful of all. The locks
symbolised Hálfdan’s descendants, who would vary in im-
portance and greatness, and the longest symbolised one des-
cendant who would be especially great, and it was believed
that this lock represented St Óláfr.3 Similarly, the figure in
the dream in RauSúlfs þáttr had a long flowing lock (or
locks4) of hair that symbolised St Óláfr’s renown spreading
throughout all the world.
Although in outline the dream and its interpretation is
based on Nebuchadnezzar’s, the symbolism in RaúSúlfs þáttr
1 See G. Turville-Petre, “Dreams in Icelandic Tradition,” Folklore
69 (1958), pp. 93—111, esp. p. 107. Several versions of the Pseudo-Daniel
are edited by Max Förster, “Beitráge zur mittelalterlichen Volkskunde”
II, IV, V, IX, Archiv fúr das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Litera-
turen CXX (1908), pp. 302ff.,CXXV (1910), pp. 39ff.,CXXVII (1911),
pp. 31 ff., 48 ff., CXXXIV (1916), pp. 264 ff.
2 This is shown in an unpublished paper by G. Turville-Petre.
3 See p. 12, note 3 above.
4 gulligr lokkr, ÓH 674/14, lokkar þeir inir gulligu, ÓH 675/12-13.
The inconsistency seems to be the author’s. Only one manuscript (AM
75 c fol.) has the plural both times, and although this manuscript has a
reliable text of Óláfs saga generally, the text of Raúðúlfs þáttr in it has
been subject to extensive editorial changes. The author of the þáttr uses
the symbol of the golden lock(s) in different ways on the two occasions
they are mentioned.