Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1975, Qupperneq 358

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In Fis Sékundus relates how a vulture flew with him in its claws
to its mountain nest. The vulture cast him down before its weak
{vesalir) offspring and went to sleep. Since escape from the nest
was impossible, Sékundus was forced to remain there for a long
time. He sustained himself by eating the meat the vulture had
brought back to its young. He was finally rescued by a king’s daugh-
ter and her hånd maidens. He left the nest without killing the vul-
tures6.
From the foregoing paragraphs it should be apparent that the
incidents in Q-Os and Fis contain exclusive parallels (i.e., parallels
found only in these two works): the abducting monster is a vul-
ture; it carries the hero off in its claws; its lair is on a high moun-
tain from wliich escape is impossible; its young are unable to harm
the hero; the hero keeps himself alive by feeding on the meat the
vulture brings to the nest for its young; he is finally rescued by a
third party. The incidents in Blv and Pidr also have exclusive sim-
ilarities: the abducting monster is a dragon; the hero is carried
off in its tail; the dragon’s young eat the victim which the dragon
has brought back in its mouth; the dragon falls asleep, and its tail
relaxes allowing the hero to free himself; the hero finds armor and
a sword and kills the dragons; he leaves the lair without the help
of a third party.
There seems to be little doubt that the source for this episode
in Blv is Pidr. Whether or not Pidr also influenced the authors or
redactors af Q-Os and Fis, as Lagerholm asserts,7 is open to debate,
but need not concern us liere.
III. Love of a Giantess
The motif of the love of a giantess for the protagonist also occurs
frequently in fornaldar- and lygisaga literature. Both Q-Os and Valdi-
mars saga contain descriptions of this motif which closely parallel
a passage in Blv.
In Q-Os the giant who helped Oddr escape from the vulture’s
nest takes Oddr to his home and gives him to his daughter. Think-
6 Drei Lygisggur, ed. by Åke Lagerholm, Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek, Heft 17
(Halle a.S.: 1927), pp. 158-60.
7 Ibid.y p. 159, fn.