Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1960, Page 79

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Fostbrædra saga is brief, and it is not possible to conclude from it
whether Grettir was ‘handed over’ or not. (‘E>vi spfnuSu bændr
sér li5i ok toku Gretti hpndum ok dæmSu hann til dråps ok reistu
honum gålga ok ætluSu at hengja hann.’)
We have said that Grettisj'ærsla contains nothing which recalls
the detailed conversation of the farmers discussing what to do with
Grettir. This conversation is as follows:
Eptir pat attu peir um at tala, hversu vid hann skyldi gera; bådu
peir Helga af Laugaboli taka vid honum ok annask hann, par til at
Vermundr kæmi heim af pingi. Hann svarar, at ‘annat ætla ek mér
parfara en låta huskarla mina sit ja yfir honum, pvi at ek å Ipnd erfid
ok kemr hann aldri i mina ferd.’ t>å bådu peir Porkel i Gørvidal vid
honum at taka; kvådu hann vera nogtamann. borkell mælti i moti
ok kvad engan kost å pvi, — ‘par sem ek ligg einn i husi ok kerling
min, en hvar fjarri pdrum mpnnum; ok komi pér ekki peim kassa å
mik,’ sagdi hann. T>u, Pdrålfr å Eyri,’ spgdu peir, ‘tak vid Gretti ok
ger til hans vel um pingit, ella fær pu hann af pér til næsta bæjar ok
åbyrgsk, at hann verdi ekki lauss; set hann svå bundinn nidr, sem nu
tekr pu vid honum.’ Hann svarar: ‘Eigi vil ek vid Gretti taka, pvi at
ek hef i hvårki til f png né f é at halda hann; hef ir hann ok ekki å minni
jprdu tekinn verit; lizk mér heldr vandrædi en virding vid honum at
taka eda gera npkkut med honum, ok hann kemr aldri i min hus inn.’
Eptir pat leitudu peir vid hvem bonda, ok mæltu allir i moti. (Islenzk
fornrit, VII, pp. 167-8).
In Grettisfærsla Grettir is said to be able to do various kinds of
work and he is depicted as erotical to excess. None of this is referred
to in the passage quoted from the saga. In the poem there are
curses and conjurations, but none in the saga. In other words it is
clear that Grettisfærsla was not based on this conversation of the
farmers. We have said that Grettisfærsla in the form in which it is
preserved cannot be older than Grettis saga, nor, if the saga was
written about or shortly after 1300, can it be as old. The main
argument for dating the saga in this way, and one which can
scarcely be ignored, is based on the information the saga gives
about when Grettir’s spear was found: ‘Spjotit ... fannsk eigi
fyrr en i peira manna minnum, er nu lifa; Jo at spjot fannsk å ofan-
verSum dpgum Sturlu lpgmanns IPorSarsonar .. . ’ We must thus
assume the passage about Grettisfærsla in chapter fifty-two of
Grettis saga to be the interpolation of a copyist, and that only