Gripla - 2021, Qupperneq 270

GRIPLA268
The more laconic description in 17HsG does not describe the poten-
tial opponents of Kári as Vikings (“at vícíngar neinir séo hino meginn
Eyarinnar”), nor does it mention Kári reciting verses about the ships (“Kári
settist niþr oc qvaþ margar vísr af ágæti scipana”). Both these details appear
only in 19HsG and are actually borrowings from Griplur, as will be demon-
strated in the following section.
The Relationship between 19HsG and Griplur
Just as it is difficult to establish the relationship between 17HsG and
19HsG without using evidence from Griplur, it is equally difficult to dis-
cuss the relationship between 19HsG and Griplur without using evidence
from 17HsG. As is presented in the next section, the most convincing clues
for the relationship between 19HsG and Griplur are provided by the epi-
sodes which appear only in these two manifestations of the story and are
absent from 17HsG. At the same time, we can assume that if the saga-writer
of 19HsG used Griplur directly, we would be able to observe some trace
of alliterations or rhymes in the prose text, originating from the rímur.
While there are numerous examples of alliterating word pairs, upon closer
examination, it appears that some of them also appear in 17HsG, and they are
therefore not necessarily signs of a direct borrowing from the rímur. The
alliteration of three words in one sentence that appear in the rímur but not
in 17HsG would be more convincing evidence for direct borrowing, but I
have not identified such an example.
There are, however, other strong indications that the saga-writer uti-
lized rímur directly, even though they adapted the poetic language to the
narrative form very skilfully, not leaving many traces of poetic influence.
These include the following borrowings:
Griplur
breiðr um herðar, bjartr á hár, blíðr og
snarr í augum (I:19)
ertu fretkall flatr og aumr og faðir ins illa
Kára (I:56)
ekki ertú sem menskur maðr (III:36)
og blæði úr hverju sári (I:44)
hǫfuðlaus allur herrinn stóð (VI:25)
Gálgi merkir gamlan hest (VI:33)
19HsG
bjartr á hár, hýr í tilliti, en snar í augom,
breiþr á herþar (107r:3–4)
þú mant vera þinn ólukko fretkarl, faþir
Kára (109r:13)
ecki erto mennscr maþr (113r:3–4)
þó mér blæþi or hvorjo sári (107v:19)
allr herinn yþar stóþ höfotlaus (127v:15)
gamall oc latr hestr merkir gálga (128r:11)