Studia Islandica - 01.06.1994, Blaðsíða 149
147
later ok gefr rúm at sitja hjá sér, ok taka þau tal saman
(131). In parting, the king’s sister Ingibjörg gives Kjartan
the famous headdress as a wedding gift to Guðrún with the
words, vil ek, at þær íslendinga konur sjái þat, at sú kona
er eigi þrœlaœttar, er þú hefir tal átt við í Nóregi (131).
When Oláfr Höskuldsson is seeking the hand of
Þorgerðr, daughter of Egill Skallagrímsson, the suit seems
ill-fated until Oláfr takes things into his own hands: Síðan
taka þau tal milli sín ok tala þann dag allan (65). The sig-
nificance of the description of the warm relations between
Kjartan and Guðrún, again couched in the terms þótti
Kjartani gott at tala við Guðrúnu (112) has already been
discussed.
Understatement and irony can be used to play upon the
emotional responses of the audience. When Kjartan Óláfs-
son has announced to Guðrún his intentions of sailing to
Norway, but promises to make it up to her by doing what-
ever she asks, she requests to be allowed to accompany
him, adding only, því at ekki ann ek íslandi (115).
Similarly, when Bolli announces to his foster-father Óláfr
his desire to marry Guðrún and Óíáfr asks what Guðrún
thinks of the idea, Bolli replies: ok kvað hana hafa ekki
mjök á tekit (129), when in fact, Guðrún told him in plain
words that it was pointless to discuss such things, since she
intended to marry no other man so long as Kjartan was
alive.
These anything but accidental literary characteristics,
only some of which have been briefly mentioned here, are
legion in the saga. Although many of them are of para-
mount importance to the saga, they have met with what
could at best be described as inconsistent treatment at the
hands of translators. The latter often appear to be almost
unconscious of the function of these various features, or at
least extremely casual in their attempts to maintain the
communicative dimensions they represent.