Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.12.1957, Qupperneq 312

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correspond to their namc (Ofeigr, Ospakr), or to bc given a name which
corresponds to the character (Bjålfi).
THIRD MAIN SECTION. SOURCES AND PATTERNS
The author maintains that the chief persons in the saga must be histor-
ical, since they are known to us from other and more trustworthy sources;
but that most of the events, and the delineations of character, are literary
creations. He endeavours to show that a fundamental starting-point of the
action, viz. that the nautical hero Oddr is destined to become a rich chief
(godi) at Melr and win the bride who perhaps is the most desirable match
in Iceland, governs to some degree the selection of the chiefs involved in
the events that are related.
The author goes on to look for literary models which must or may
underlie the saga. Among written sagas apparently utilized by the saga-
writer, Qlkofra Battr and the Laxdæla Saga are especially important;
also, among Edda poems, the Lokasenna. On the other hånd, Gretti’s
Saga is founded on our saga, and the same may be true of Njal’s Saga.
Some of the main motifs in the saga need not, however, have been taken
from, or solely from, other literature, as they are well known in oral epic
folk-tradition. Thus in the saga hero Oddr we recognize the kolbitr type,
and in the old man Ofeigr we have the “dilatory” type, while Ospakr
has traits from the old tales of outlaws and apparitions. Certain elements
of the story can be traced back to widespread popular beliefs, such as the
prediction which causes its own fulfilment, or the shot which causes sick-
ness. All these types of motifs from popular tradition and beliefs, except
some that are only found at the end of the saga, make their parallel ap-
pearance in both forms of the story. This does not support the theory that
the two forms were handed down independently by popular tradition.
For that would normally result in each form of the story having, or lack-
ing, a considerable amount of traditional subject-matter found in the other
form.
WHERE AND WIIEN WAS THE SAGA WRITTEN?
The place where the saga was written cannot be identified with cer-
tainty. But the high standard of literary culture and the anti-aristocratic
bias of the saga would together seem to indicate that it arose in a milieu
influenced by he Church. Precisely in the area where the characters of
the saga had their homes was the Pingeyrar monastery, an important
literary centre. It is not unreasonable, therefore, to suppose that the saga
emanated from that monastery, or its neighbourhood. Phrases such as
vestr i Midfirdi, ib. p. I2, and nordan or Sbgrdum, ib. p. I5, would fit
in with this.