Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.12.1957, Blaðsíða 309

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winter harbourage in Hrutafjorbr, when he returned from any voyage.
In M he constantly lands at a place on the coast of North Iceland, be-
tween EyjafjgrSr and HrutafjgrSr. In K the area within which he lands
is much wider, extending as far as Hvita in West Iceland. This corre-
spondingly reduces his good fortune as a navigator. But text K afterwards
lessens the discrepancy from type M by adding en optast i HrutafjgrS, ib.
p. 52E (Cf. pp. 25-26).
At the wedding (Ib. pp. 70—71) Oddr is advised to give Egill valuable
gifts. In M the advice is given by Gellir, while in K it is given by Ofeigr.
Yet the loosely attached words Gellir olli mjgk gjgfum vid Egil in K,
ib. p. 7115, a piece of information not illustrated by concrete actions, sug-
gests that the original of type K here resembled type M. (Cf. pp. 101-102).
Comparison of the two forms of the saga shows that they are every-
where more or less dissimilar. Nevertheless, they contain much more of the
same matter than a rapid reading is likely to reveal. This is because a
rcmarkably large proportion of the dissimilarities is due not to omissions
or additions in the actual content of the story, but to the faet that identical
matter has been placed in different contexts in the two forms. When a
feature has changed places, we very often find that its context is natural
in the place where it stands in text M, but more or less unsuitable where
it stands in K. Clear examples to the contrary have on the other hånd
been difficult to discover. This would seem to prove that such changes of
place arose as the type K was formed. Examples of such changes:
One of the major discrepancies in the composition is that Ofeigr’s threat
that Oddr may burn the farms of some of the other confederated chiefs
occurs in the conversation with Gellir in M (ib. p. 537~16), but in the
conversation with Egill in K (ib. p. 4523-30. The threat would be well
calculated to frighten the gentie and loyal Gellir, but not to the same
extent Egill, who in the saga is hard and not easily intimidated. Here
we have an example of the most common form of ‘re-shaping’ in type K,
where a portion of the text which has its proper place further on in the
saga has been inserted too early. This may be termed ‘anticipation’.
Another example of such ‘anticipation’ comes in K, ib. p. 2822~25, where
Styrmir begins to explain a point of law to the wise Borarinn. In M
Styrmir says something similar to Oddr (ib. p. 298-10), as is more natural,
since Oddr is conspicuously lacking in knowledge of the law. (Cf. p. 48).
‘Anticipation’ may, again, explain why Ofeigr, as already stated, gives
Gellir the purchase money for the bride at an earlier stage of the dialogue
in K than in M.
The second main method of re-shaping in K is called ‘repairing’. This
refers to attempts to neutralize the effeet of mistakes that have got in
previously. Examples of this have been noted already in connection with
insertions in text K, ib. pp. 524 and 7115. ‘Anticipation’ of a passage is
particularly apt to lead to ‘repairing’ when the writer responsible for shap-
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