Gripla - 2021, Side 278

GRIPLA276
As this passage demonstrates, in Griplur the number sixty is given,10 while
in 17HsG and 19HsG we find information about sixty battles and the
thirty-three years of a military career:
We can assume, therefore, that the number thirty-three is borrowed from
17HsG into 19HsG. There is, however, some discrepancy between the
sagas. In 17HsG (and also in Griplur, at least in Finnur Jónsson’s reading
of them) it is Hröngviður who fought sixty battles and never lost, but in
19HsG, for some unknown reason, it is Kári. Did the saga-writer intention-
ally merge 17HsG and Griplur and then change the meaning? This seems
unlikely, as the text of 17HsG is fairly straightforward. Therefore, we
should allow for the possibility that this reading is a result of a double layer
of misinterpretation, for instance through the lost rímur of Hrómundur
composed in the years 1775–77 by Benedikt Jónsson Gröndal (1762–1825)
or through oral tradition.
A similar explanation can be given to other episodes in which it is
difficult to determine whether the saga-writer of 19HsG misunderstood
Griplur or whether they intentionally changed the meaning of the story.
It is especially frequent with direct speech, where it seems as if the saga-
writer frequently confused which character is saying which stanzas. For
example, stanza II:59 of Griplur is spoken by Vóli: “Oss mun (blossa)
brugðið við (kvað báru spennir) – tveir eru meir en tuttugu þrennir – trǫll
ef ǫllum þessum rennir,” but in 19HsG, it is paraphrased and put into
Þráinn’s mouth: “Þráinn mælir fleyri sóctu mic heim forþom, þegar Lxij
menn veitto mér ásteytíng meþ ráni oc róti á hús kofa mínom, oc fengo
þeir lítit til ábata” (112r:3–6). 17HsG reproduces the contents of this stanza
10 It is problematic to determine whether the number in Griplur refers to sixty battles (Sextigi
stála hjaldri), sixty years (Sextigi sumur), or sixty men killed (lét sextigi seggjum).
17HsG
Hraungviþr mælti: “Ek
hefi heriaþ sumar oc
vetr, i xxxiij ár, oc
háþ lx orustur, oc
feinget jafnan sigr”
(1r:21–22)
19HsG
Kári qvaþst ecki kunna því at hrósa. “en í xxxiij vetr
hef ec í vícíngo verit, oc margt sjeþ oc heyrt, eþa
villto leggja til atlögo vit mic?” Hraungviþr mælir
“á morgun skalto sanna þat, at ec skal ecki undan-
teljast.” Kári mælir “þat þykist ec sjá, at fáa muni á
þinn fund fýsa, því ec hefi LX sinnom einvíg haldit”
(107v:11–15)