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in Q-Os. Neither of these differences, however, changes the essen-
tial agreement of these two episodes in the sagas. As was the case
with his use of Pidr, the author of Blv modified the material in Q-Os
to suit his om narrative. The inclusion of a second leader would
have been an awkward and unnecessary burden on the composi-
tion of the saga at this point. It was the author’s purpose to let
Åki and Eddelon become comrades, and a third figure would thus
have weakened the structural integrity of Blv. In Q-Os GarSarr,
Sirnir, and Oddr have of course been companions for some time,
so it is only natural that we find all three of them participating
in the fight with the finngållcn. The addition of a second finngdlkn
to Blv may have been intended by the author to enhance the pres-
tige of Eddelon and most assuredly that of Åki. In any case it
heightens the suspense of the situation and leaves the outcome of
the battie in doubt up to the very last moment.
As to the possibility that this episode might actually have been
borrowed from Blv by the redactor of the longer version of Q-Os,
I can only State that the evidence at my disposal seems to argue
against it. The earliest manuscripts containing the longer version
of Q-Os (AM 343, 4to and AM 471, 4to) date from the fifteenth cen-
tury (AM 343 being possibly from the beginning of the century)4.
The longer version of this saga was therefore probably composed
in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century. In an unpublish-
ed dissertation I attempted to determine the age of Blv, and I
could find no valid reason for assuming that it is any older than
the latter half of the fifteenth century.
II. Abduction by a Winged Monster
The abduction of a human being by a dragon (dreki) or a vul-
ture (gammr) is a motif frequently encountered in fornaldar- and
lygisggur. Four such sagas, Blv, Q-Os, Pidr, and Flores saga konungs
ok sona hans, contain abduction episodes which are all quite similar
to each other. An outline of the incident in each saga will be given
in order to ascertain whether any of these passages might possibly
have been deri ved from any of the others.
4 Katalog over den arnamagnæanske håndskriftsamling, udgivet af Kommissio-
nen for det arnamagnæanske legat (Copenhagen: 1889), Vol. I, pp. 578, 654; and
Islendzk æventyri, ed. by Hugo Gering (Halle a.S.: 1882), Vol. I, p. xxix.