Gripla - 2021, Side 265

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Based on the verbal similarities between the saga and the rímur, the fol-
lowing order of stanzas in the third ríma lying behind the saga can be
proposed: 28, 26, 27, 5, 25. The proposed order does not follow any of the
known texts of the rímur (cf. Kapitan 2020), which suggests a separate
branch of the Griplur tradition. Therefore, it seems safe to assume that the
saga was based on some other branch of the rímur tradition than those extant
today. Moreover, we might be tempted to follow Andrews’ (1911, 539) lead
that 17HsG is actually based on the lost Griplur, which used to be preserved
in AM 603 4to – a manuscript preserving a number of defective rímur in
which Griplur were registered in the early eighteenth century but which
disappeared sometime during the late eighteenth or early nineteenth
(Kapitan 2018, 164–67). This hypothesis is impossible to prove, but if the
prose adaptation of Bragða-Ölvis saga in AM 601 b 4to, whose transmis-
sion history appears to be closely related to that of Hrómundar saga, turns
out to be based on the version of Bragða-Ölvis rímur preserved in AM 603 4to,
we could entertain a hypothesis that it was also the case with Hrómundar
saga.6
At the same time, we need to consider whether the verbal similarities
between particular stanzas of the rímur and the text of the saga deliver suf-
ficient evidence to assume that there was a separate “version” of the rímur
behind the saga and whether it is not possible that the saga-writer freely
adapted the text of any of the versions of rímur into the prose style with-
out paying too much attention to the order of the stanzas. The answer to
this question depends on our understanding of how an early modern saga-
writer worked. Did the saga-writer have a manuscript(s) of rímur at hand
when they converted the verses into the prose, or did they write the story
down from memory? If the story was written down from memory, then the
transpositions of stanzas would be more natural than if the story was based
on the written text of the rímur. There is not enough comparative material
to allow us to draw a conclusion about this matter, but I will come back to
the problem of stanza order later in the section devoted to the younger saga
and its relationship to Griplur.
Without identifying any specific branch of the Griplur tradition, it is
6 Teresa Dröfn Njarðvík is currently researching the transmission of Bragða-Ölvis saga
and related rímur. Her work will provide valuable insights into the question of the
relationship.
HRÓ MUNDUR IN PROSE AND VERSE