Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1960, Blaðsíða 84

76
beings: the Finnish story of Sampså-Pellervo (cf. Kaarle Krohn’s
‘Sampsa Pellervoinen < Njordr, Preyr?’ in Finnisch-ugrische For-
schungen, IV, pp. 231-248; and Jan de Yries: Altgermanische Eeli-
gionsgeschichte, § 472), and the Old English story of Sceaf. It is
said of Sampså-Pellervo that he is laid to sleep with his stepmother
(or sister) on a sheaf of corn on a corn-ship or on a sledge. In the
spring he is brought from a treeless island in the sea, in order to
sow the earth. Sceaf is called Scyld Scéfing in Beowulf, and is more
fully described in the writings of Æthelweard and of William of
Malmesbury. The latter says of him: *... Sceaf. Iste, ut ferunt,
in quandam insulam Germanniæ Scandzam de qua Jordanes,
historiographus Gothorum, loquitur appulsus, navi sine remige,
puerulus, posito ad caput frumenti manipulo, dormiens, ideoque
Sceaf nuncupatus, ab hominibus regionis illius pro miraculo ex-
ceptus, et sedulo nutritus: adulta ætate regnavit ..(Chronicles
and Memorials of Great Britain and Ir eland during the M iddie
Ages, London, 1887, p. 121).
It is possible to explain the curses of Grettisf'ærsla (53 r, 11. 9-30)
in two ways. If our reading of line 29 is correct (‘heimtir Ijessi fé’
and ‘Ok leysir Joik af’), reference is there made to certain condi-
tions which are imposed upon some person, and the curses seem to
have to fali on this person if he does not do as he is told. If this is
so, it is most probably Grettir to whom these harsh words are
addressed. The custom involved would be similar to those known in
many parts of Europe, which J. G. Frazer refers to in The Dying
God (The Golden Bough, IV, third edition). He cites in particular
‘Burying the CarnivaP and ‘Carrying out Death’. Frazer gives many
examples of the making of figures, often of straw, which symbolise
the Carnival or Death, and they are used in certain games which
are relics of heathen rites. The games cften end with the burning
of the images, but in some places they are beaten or torn apart,
and in some places they are cursed, e.g. in Poland: ‘In Poland the
effigy [of Death], made of hemp and straw, is flung into a pool or
swamp with the words “The devil take thee.’” (p. 240).
There is another possible explanation of the curses in Grettis-
færsla, but it depends on the very doubtful reading of 53 reet o, line
20: ‘en leyni hvern ]mt sem sé5 ... ’ If this reading is correct, those
present when Grettir was passed aro und swore some kind of oath