Studia Islandica - 01.06.1975, Síða 171

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continuation of the sanxe ríma tells of the giant’s life-egg.
Here there is a considerable similarity to the Irish story,
but from this point onwards influence from Arthurian
works also seems to increase: There are a number of wonders
in rima 14; the abduction of noble ladies in rímur 13—14;
the “Loathly Lady” in rímur 14—15, and the account of the
giant Ríkon in ríma 17 is completely Arthurian.
The eleventh chapter of the article concems the personal
names in the rímur, but it is clear that more research needs
to be undertaken on this particular aspect.
The final chapter is a discussion of possible theories of
the development of the legend. Two points are indisputable:
I. That the Icelandic Sveins Saga Múkssonar was in exis-
tence in 1569, and that the rímur are based on the saga’s
rendering of the story, and contain fewer deviations from it
than was once thought; 2. That an important source for the
saga was a now lost poem or prose piece which was probably
written in England, in either English, French or Latin. This
work must have been similar both to the Irish sources, and
to the oldest French poems. It is not possible to say in what
form the saga author came to be acquainted with his mate-
rial, which the rímur in fact reproduce, yet his source may
well have been a collection of shorter poems, or short prose
pieces; a collection which perhaps contained the surprising
variety of material that we find in Sveinsrímur.