Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1977, Blaðsíða 138

136
other scholars. Bjorn M. Olsen is the founder of the so-called “Ice-
landic school” of saga research.
Even though the method Maurer used in his research on Hænsa-
Boris saga is considered very modern, it is not surprising that other
scholars have reached fresh conclusions ahout the saga after a
full century of further research. Maurer came to the conclusion
that Hænsa-Boris saga was written much later than had been be-
lieved. He himself thought that it was written in the first part of
the 13th century. Scholars now think that it was written about
1280, and I will deal with that matter later. Maurer also assumed
that there had been interpolations and changes in the saga in the
14th century, but scholars now see no need to make such assump-
tions. For foreigners who are not used to German, Maurer’s style
appears rather heavy, with long and involved sentences. Perhaps
because of this some commentators seem not to have perused
Maurer’s work with due care. They sometimes credit younger men
with ideas and suggestions that are really his.
Many of Maurer’s conclusions, such as the influence of Hænsa-
]>6ris saga on Landnåmabok, have however endured. Before I
discuss this further it is hest to familiarize ourselves with some of
the main points of the saga.
Blund-Ketill, the son of Geirr the Wealthy, who was himself
the son of Ketill biundr, lived in Ornolfsdalr in BorgarfjorQr. He
was a wealthy man who owned and rented out many farms. On the
next farm lived another rich man named Borir, who had amassed
a fortune selling chickens. He was therefore named Hen-Borir
(Hænsa-Borir). “But even though he made a fortune, there was
hardly a more unpopular man than Hænsa-Borir”, says the saga.
In order to consolidate his position he fostered a boy named Helgi,
the son of the head of the district, Arngrimr go5i. The man over
Arngrimr was Oddr, named Oddr of Tunga; he lived at Brei&abol-
staSr farther out in the district.
One particularly hard winter Blund-Ketill’s tenants ran out of
hay. First he gave them hay from his own stock, but later he asked
for hay from Hænsa-Borir, who still had plenty. Borir refused,
despite Blund-Ketill’s good offer of repayment. Blund-Ketill got ,
together a group of men and took the hay from Borir by force,
but not so much that Borir would not have enough to last for his