Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1960, Blaðsíða 64

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Grettir’s capacity as a serdir, or fututor, and this now becomes the
principal theme of the poem (lines 14-27). All kinds of people are
mentioned, women less often than men, and it is said that Grettir
had sexual intercourse with them all. It was doubtless this section
above all that was responsible for the poem’s erasure. The section
clearly does not very well fit the situation of the saga, as Grettir is
here presented as an omnivorous erotical monster whom nobody
would be likely to want near him. But this is probably what is
referred to when the saga speaks of ‘joking words for the amuse-
ment of men’.
In line 27 we read: ‘Jdvi færi ek Jjér Gretti’, and these words do
fit the saga: nobody wants to take Grettir. The one who is trying
to get rid of him seems to appeal to a family connection between
Grettir and the person he is speaking to (‘hann er Joér skyldr’,
1. 28). Here a new section of the poem seems to begin, but reading
is now so difficult that it is hard to see what the meaning is. First,
in lines 29-32, are a number of curses, which appear to end with the
words: ‘haf {ju Jjat, en ek Jjagna’; they could be directed at some-
one who has refused to accept Grettir. In the fol lo wing lines pu is
again used, and it looks as though here again Grettir’s good points
are being stressed—to the one who takes him he will be as the lamb
to the ewe, the young pig to the sow, the foal to the mare. But so
much is missing that the context is doubtful. ‘Bat sé J)ér ok veri’
(1. 37) marks perhaps the end of this section. From this point rhyme
seems to be lacking altogether, making reading even more difficult.
The first eight lines on 53 recto show a clear relationship to the
poem known by the name of Ljuflingsmal (and by other names), of
which there are a number of copies from the seventeenth century
and later. This is printed in Olafur DaviSsson’s Islenzkar gåtur,
slcemtanir, vikivakar og pulur, IV, Copenhagen 1898-1903, pp. 255-9,
but the edition is not entirely satisfactory. Ljuflingsmal is a lullaby,
and is associated with a story, which precedes the poem in the edi-
tion (also printed in Jon Årnason’s Islenzkar pjodsogur og ævintyri,
I, Reykjavik, 1954, p. 63). The story is briefly this: A giri had a
child by a huldumadur (a male fairy), but no one would believe her
about its paternity. One evening the child was crying and the
mother could find no way to comfort it. She was scolded for this,
and began to weep. The child’s father, the huldumadur, came to the