Studia Islandica - 01.07.1966, Blaðsíða 29

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by ok, one of which is the word on which the pun is made,
while the other is a near-synonym amplifying or clarifying
its significance:
Svá ferr ok ævi þín, hvgss váru upphpfin . . . HgrS
munu ok verða endimgrk ...
Hans ævi mun vera með góðri stjórn ok blóma miklum.
Hann mun ok fylgja skgpum sínum ok forlggum.
Þá munu þeir deila mannliga ok jafnliga.
Mun þeirra ríki fara eptir réttri skipan ok almenni-
ligri mennsku.
.. . hverjar mislggur þeir mundu hafa ok misgorSir.
... hverr gðrum mýgja vilja ok til jar'Sar koma.
There is one other case of word-play in connection with
the dream in the þáttr, although in this case it is not part of
the interpretation of the dream. When the king asked Rauð-
úlfr whether it was true that either the sleeping chamber
or the bed he slept in was revolving, Rauðúlfr replied that
it had been constructed in that way so that the sleeper should
always be facing in the direction of the sun (horfa á sólina),
and so that his dream, his actions, and his questionings
should turn out propitiously (ganga at sólu).
There are many other dreams in Old Icelandic literature
where the interpretation depends on word-play symbolism.
In Jómsvíkinga saga King Gormr’s dreams, like King Óláfr’s
in RauSúlfs þáttr, are based on an Old Testament dream,
although in this case too the author has considerably elab-
orated the symbolism and has added many motives to his
biblical model. Gormr dreamed of cattle coming out of the
sea, just as Pharoah dreamed of cattle coming out of the
river (Genesis xli). The cattle had great horns (váru hyrnd-
ir mjgk) which signified that many men would be losers
(hornungar) of all their possessions.1 In the same saga Jarl
Haraldr had a vision of a tree bearing fruit and blossom
(blómgaSr) in the middle of winter. This meant that a new
1 Jómsvíkinga saga, ed. N. F. Blake (London 1962), pp. 3—4.